> Fallout: Equestria - Hidden Enemies
>  by Zantetsuken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1- Stable 64
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, all living beings thrived under the rule of the Twin Sisters. The many different types of ponies walked together side-by-side as friends, together paving the way to a brighter future. But it was not to last. Fear, anger and disharmony tore apart this peaceful world, smothering millions beneath clouds of ash, fire, and magical radiation.

Still, the flame of ponykind’s spirit was not extinguished completely. The Stables, which had been built to preserve Equestria’s best and brightest in the event of the worst, survived the balefire bombs and catastrophic megaspells that laid waste to all else in the world above their underground corridors. One such place was Stable 64, a place where unicorns and earth ponies alike lived together in mutual harmony such that Equestria itself seemed to live on within. However, when infected by even the smallest trace of fear and suspicion, even the strongest balance can come crashing down. War… war never changes...


---


I cracked my eyes open, groaning and stretching my body to get myself awake. I slowly brought my PipBuck to my face, squinting at the bright green light.

After my eyes adjusted, I read the time. 10:00 AM. Dear Celestia, I was not a morning pony. I groggily crawled out of my bed, and started walking forward and stretching my legs to shake the last bits of sleep away.

Another day… another boring day… maybe something exciting will happen. Maybe. Probably. Not really.

I walked out of my room and into the living area of my residence, leaning against the wall to keep myself up as I was still not fully awake and looking around for my father. He wasn’t there. “Probably in the cafeteria getting breakfast,” I muttered to myself.

My name is Seren Starfall. I'm a security mare for Stable 64. I've had the job ever since the day I got my cutie mark—a plain old teal star. Ironic, considering that there's no room for stars in the stable. I guess I can pretend that it's a decent stand-in for those silver sheriff's stars you always see in the old Western adventure novels. I never really paid much attention to it, anyway, since I can't really pursue its meaning when I'm stuck in this job.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the only reason I'm even in security is because my mother was, as well? Sadly, she suffered a tragic death when I was just a filly. In Stable 64, it was tradition to take the same job your parent had when they died. That tradition could be broken if the pony who died didn't have any fillies, as the job would go to the most qualified pony in the stable... well, most of the time. Oh, ma, if only you could see me now… breaking up fights over sweet rolls, taking down rude posters from ponies' doors, and busting teenagers making out in the atrium. A real chip off the old block.

I did what I do every morning: take a shower, put on my jumpsuit, and walk to the atrium. Ponies tend to not notice me much as my gray coat and eyes make me blend into the background, or so they tell me. I was one of the blandest-looking ponies in the stable, my most notable trait being my messy black and white mane and tail, colors that many other ponies in the stable had. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to deal with any ‘zebra pony’ teasing, today.

The atrium was the main area of the Stable. Above, there were two balconies on either side of the room, with a suspended bridge connecting both of them. The Security and Medical offices were located on either side of the balcony. Straight ahead, you had the circular window of the Overmare’s office overlooking the ground floor. On the ground floor, you had a cafeteria and other various branching hallways with staircases that led down to the Residential area, which was the floor below the main atrium. This is the room that I usually patrol on my shift, and it gets kind of boring, to be honest.

I walked into the atrium, looked around, and decided to do something I don’t usually do. Eat at the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was one of the largest rooms in the Stable. Somepony was always in there, whether they were in food prep or just getting a bite, which easily made it one of the busiest rooms you could find at any time on the clock. In addition, there was the massive hydroponic farm right behind the cafeteria, though I’d only been back there once or twice; I certainly didn’t envy the ponies who had to sit around giant UV lights and troughs of nutrient solution every day. It was our only real source of fresh food, so nopony complained.

I trotted into the cafeteria and surveyed the area. Nothing unusual, just ponies getting their food and sitting down at the tables.

I walked further into the cafeteria, silently brushing my way past other ponies trotting by, until my gaze landed on a familiar yellow-maned and blue-coated unicorn mare sitting at one of the tables in the middle of the room. She had a green-silhouetted radio tower with three radio waves emitting off the top of the left and right sides for her cutie mark. It was Golden Riversong, my longtime friend since foalhood. I hadn't had the chance to talk to her in a while, since we worked entirely different jobs in different parts of the stable. I completely forgot about getting something to eat and started making my way over to her.

As I approached, I noticed that she was already talking to another unicorn mare sitting across from her. Ah, Starlight. If that dark blue coat and green eyes didn’t give her away, her flowing light-blue mane that she always kept brushed so straight certainly did.

I slid right into the seat next to Golden, which caused them both to abruptly stop talking and give me a surprised glance. Not the brightest move on my part, but Starlight took the initiative with a smile. “Oh, hey there, Seren. What’s up?”

A tired sigh rushed out from my lips. “About a hundred and one meters of solid metal and rock,” I deadpanned, drooping my head down on the table. “As a start. You know how it is.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow at me. “You don’t usually come here, though.”

"Hey, you try wolfing down yesterday's dried apples for breakfast three times a week by yourself. Then talk to me about routines."

“Alright, alright, you got me there,” she said, and gave out a light chuckle. “At least get your head off the table, it’s dirty.”

“Fine,” I muttered back, slowly lifting my head off the one-legged metal stand, before turning to the orange-eyed pony next to me. “So, uh... how are you, Golden?”

Golden gave me a soft smile. “Actually, I’ve been feeling a bit better, thanks to Starlight.”

I smiled in return. "It's good to see you out and about, actually. We don't see you around the cafeteria much."

"Pot calling the kettle black," Starlight muttered with a snicker. “Anyways, yeah, I just thought I’d swing by her office and ask if she wanted to shoot the breeze for a little while. I figured, ‘must get boring looking at machine parts day in day out.’” A knowing expression came onto her face. “‘Plus paperwork. Especially the paperwork.’”

“Yeah,” Golden nodded. “Things have been real exhausting for me lately, so its just nice to know I have someone to talk to.”

I smiled back. “So what are you two talking about, exactly?”

“Oh, nothing much, really,” Starlight replied. “Just checking up on her about her new job and all.”

Oh, right. Head of Maintenance. Can’t imagine that being easy for her to handle. I turned to Golden and asked, “How’s that going for you? You holding up okay?”

“It’s a bit busy,” she replied meekly. “I-I’m still trying to get used to it, and I have to keep track of a lot of things, so...”

“You’ll get the hang of it, don’t worry,” Starlight smiled reassuringly. “It’s only been two weeks, after all.”

“I know,” said Golden. “It’s just that I… I…”

I then noticed her starting to tear up. “Golden?” I asked, my brow furrowing slightly in concern.

“I…” Golden croaked one more time, before shaking her head. “I need to get back down to Maintenance, I’ll… I’ll talk to you two later…” She slowly lifted herself from the table and promptly walked out of the cafeteria, with several ponies looking on after her. I could’ve sworn I saw a few tears drop on her way out.

Ok, that didn’t look like regular old stress. I guess I could chalk it up to having a last-minute work ticket to take care of, but... 

“Seren.”

It was only then that I realized I’d been staring at the cafeteria doorway for the better part of a minute. I turned to Starlight with a start, noting the worried expression on her face. “Hm?

“I’ve been very worried about her lately. Ever since her mother Sharp Eye died two weeks ago, she just hasn’t been… herself, you know?”

“Well, I would think that’d be kinda obvious…” I replied. Of course, I guess I wouldn’t really know, since I barely even knew my own mother to begin with. “What have you been seeing with her, exactly?”

“Ever since she got her new job as Head of Stable Maintenance from her mother dying, she’s just been very… distant.” She sighed. “Every time I approach her about it, she just doesn’t want to talk about it and… walks off.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Like right now?”

She nodded. “Exactly.”

A little pang of guilt wormed its way into my chest. I had to find a time to visit Golden one of these days. “Well, I guess the most we can do is be there for her. She’s never been good at dealing with stress like this, especially since she tries to drown it out by finding excuses to double-check the electric circuits or CO2 scrubbers. Golden’s always been a bit of a workaholic. At least with her knowing she can come to us, she has options, so...”

Even though I trailed off a bit uncertainly, Starlight picked up on it with a slow, affirmative nod. “Can’t help but agree with that.”

We sat there in silence for a few moments, just letting the clanks of silverware and chatter of the cafeteria fill the gap in our conversation.

There was one more question I wanted to ask, though. “Hey, Starlight?”

“Hm?”

“Do you really think Golden was the one that poisoned her mother?”

She frowned. “No, I don’t.”

“Good, because I don’t either,” I said confidently.

She waved her hoof in dismissal. “Just an apocryphal rumor some stupid and insensitive ponies made up. Don’t let it get to you.”

“Hey…” I began slowly. “Starlight, what was the name of the poison that killed Sharp Eye, again?”

Starlight tapped her hoof against her chin for a few seconds before saying, “Oh, yeah... I think they said there were traces of cyanide found in her coffee. Very deadly stuff, but surprisingly, it doesn’t do anything to you right off the bat; it has to mix with some kind of acid to be toxic, first. Like what’s in your stomach. Or in coffee, since that’s basically chock full of acids.”

Poor Sharp Eye must have never had a chance, I thought to myself. “Why exactly would something like that be in the Stable, though? Is it useful for something?”

“Well, they usually keep it around in Maintenance for certain applications involving metals, or in Medical for experiments with synthesizing organic compounds, as I understand it,” Starlight responded. She absentmindedly fiddled with one of the salt shakers between her hooves. “I don’t know much about that, but Medical did report a missing bottle of it a few hours after the murder. It still hasn't been found, actually.”

“Yeah, I remember hearing about that in the security briefing a couple weeks ago,” I chimed.

“Oh, you mean you actually listened that time?” she smirked.

“Shut up.” I glared at her, which just made her smile even wider. “Maintenance isn’t even my beat, and I don’t really know anypony aside from Golden down there, Security or otherwise.”

After a few more moments of thought I had remembered that I was looking for my dad, maybe Starlight would know where he is.  

“Oh, uhm... Starlight?” I said. “Have you seen my father?”

Starlight pondered for a moment. “Oculus, right?”

“Yeah.”

To my disappointment, she shook her head. “Sorry, can’t say I have.” She started to get up from the table. “Anyway, I have to get back to Intelligence. It was nice talking with you, Seren. Have a nice day.”

I smiled at her. “You too.”

And with that, she got up and trotted off, leaving me alone as the sole occupant of the table.

Not too much longer after Starlight left, I got up from the table and started walking to the back door of the cafeteria. I wasn’t looking towards where I was going, however, and wound up slamming into another pony.

I grunted in surprise, taking a couple steps back. And then I got a good look at just who I’d bumped into.

“Oh, uh, sorry Combine,” I quickly apologized. “I’m just, you know, lost in my thoughts right now…”

Combine didn’t respond and just glared at me coldly with her sapphire eyes, until she finally said, “Seren, you really need to watch where you’re going.”

With that, Combine just trotted off towards the front door of the cafeteria.

Combine, much like myself, was in security, and we were on the same shift. She was usually easy to pick out because of her bright-orange coat and yellow-green mane. For some reason, she didn’t seem to like me and would always glare at me, or shoot me dirty looks behind my back. I really wish I knew why she hated me, but I just shrugged it off and went out the back door of the cafeteria.

What I really needed right now was some sort of clue as to where my father could’ve gone. One thing that Stable 64 had were Data Management Terminals, or DMT’s, which were just used for archiving files. There were three DMT’s in all, one on each floor, which anypony could access if they needed to. DMT2 was somewhere in Residential, while DMT3 was located at the hallway entrance right outside the cafeteria.

However, most interestingly there was Data Management Terminal 1, which was located somewhere down in Maintenance. It was only accessible by the Head of Maintenance and the Overmare, as well as the Head of Security should the need arise. It was designed to watch over and access every single terminal in the Stable, which meant the Head of Maintenance could see every file stored in them and pull them up. The system may have initially been for network maintenance, but it was one of the most unsettling things in the Stable to know that somepony was always watching you. Of course, the only terminal that the DMT1 couldn’t access was the Overmare’s.

I logged into Data Management Terminal 3, hoping that I would find a note that my father would have typed up, preferably on where he would be going. I didn’t find anything. Just then, I looked at the clock on my PipBuck, and to my horror it was 12:05PM. I was supposed to be in the Security office for the B shift briefing five minutes ago!

I sprinted as fast as I could to the Security office, thinking to myself that Fairlaw would kill me for being late for briefing again.

Just as I came up to Security, I saw a light-blue coated mare walking out of the room. Speak of the devil. Upon seeing me, she rolled her purple eyes. I said to her, “I’m sorry, Miss Fairlaw, did I miss the briefing?”

She scoffed at me and whipped her short black mane. “Oh, so nice of you to show up, Seren. And just in time to watch me leave!” With that, she walked away and said, “Ask one of the other ponies about the briefing. You should know better than to show up late.”

Fairlaw Baton was the Head of Security, and one of her pet peeves was when ponies were not there to hear her briefings, so I knew she would probably penalize me later.

I trotted into the office. Many of the B shift ponies didn’t notice me since they were too busy putting on their equipment and barding. I looked around the room until my gaze landed on a scarlet-coated mare putting on her barding. I hurried over to her and said, “Hey, Arcanea!”

She turned around and looked at me with her magenta eyes, a bit surprised. “Oh, hey, Seren. You missed the briefing.”'

“Yeah, I know,” I murmured. “So can you tell me about it?”

Thankfully she didn’t seem too annoyed. “Basically, Fairlaw said that it’s a normal day. A filly was reported lost so we need to keep an eye out for her, but other than that —” She brushed back her red and yellow striped mane. “—we just stick to our usual routes and just keep an eye out for any crime.”

Alright. Just another boring day. Aside from a stray filly possibly appearing I was just stuck patrolling the atrium. Again.

I put on my security barding and started gathering my equipment. All the security ponies in Stable 64 were issued the same gear: a baton, a keycard, and a 9mm pistol. The keycard was used for accessing locked doors, and despite the fact that it’s basically useless for anypony not assigned to patrol Residential, everypony was assigned one. Everypony was also assigned a 9mm pistol; however, I never took mine with me even though everypony during their shift was supposed to have one for their protection. It’s not that I don’t know how to use guns, I just don’t like to use them. Besides, what would I need it for if I had my baton, anyway?


---


I’d been in the atrium for at least four hours. Only half my shift had gone by. Dear Celestia this is boring, I thought to myself. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do to pass the time without getting scolded by Fairlaw or even the Overmare. Sometimes, when nopony was around I would take practice swings with my baton. Fairlaw would get on my case with that, too, claiming that I could hurt somepony. So mostly, all I could do to pass the time… was patrol. Of course, Stable 64 was overly peaceful. One thing that security looked for was bad talk about the Overmare, but since the Overmare was so good at her job, not a lot of ponies bothered to talk badly about her. Another thing was ponies committing crimes, but since Stable 64 was no bigger than medium-sized, that didn’t really happen except for maybe once a month. 

Sometimes I question why Stable 64 had a security force in the first place. I also questioned my duty, which was to walk the floors of this atrium room eight hours a day doing nothing but “looking for troublemakers.” Troublemakers that seldom appeared, if at all. When I thought about it, I shuddered at the fact that I’d probably have to do this for the rest of my life.

I emotionlessly scanned the atrium with my eyes. Just as boring and uneventful as always, with nopony to talk to. However, I was very concerned with where my father could’ve run off to. The life of a stallion in Stable 64 was relatively boring. Stallions weren’t allowed to work; they were supposed to be in Residential watching over foals, or if they didn’t have foals or a spouse, they would keep their living areas clean. Males weren’t only restricted to Residential, though. They were free to roam around as they pleased. That being said, a stallion roaming the hallways looking for something to do was not an uncommon sight.

And just then, I saw Golden Riversong come out from one of the hallways into the atrium. She must have been done with her work already.

I smiled. Screw it, the atrium wasn’t going anywhere. “Hey, Golden,” I called out. “How’s it going?”

I didn’t get a response. Her eyes were glued to her PipBuck.

A worried frown pulled at my lips. I trotted closer to her, saying, “Hey… Golden? Are you okay?”

Again, no response. I went right over to her and pulled on her foreleg and brought her PipBuck to my face, just to read whatever she had. That seemed to get her attention.

“Oh, uh, Seren!” she yelped. “W-Where did you come from?” she asked in a timid voice.

“I’ve been here the entire time, silly,” I said, still reading her PipBuck. “So what are you reading here? Must be some real... good...”

I trailed off mid-sentence, and raised my eyebrow at the text.

Stable-Tec Sleeper Agent. Activation Code: [DATA USED]. This agent has awoken and is ready to carry out Project SI64

Sleeper Agent...?

Golden?

My frown deepened even further. What the hay was going on here?

Golden suddenly yanked her hoof away, and started backing away nervously. “S-sorry Seren,” she stammered. “I-I gotta go!”

And then she started to make a break for the hallways. Now whether she was my friend or not, it didn’t matter in that moment. I thought that message looked suspicious and that it should be reported to the Overmare. Without hesitation, I quickly levitated my baton and tripped her up, causing her to fall onto the ground with a thud. When she looked back and saw me approaching her, she immediately cried, “Seren, please! I… I can explain!”

“Sit up,” I ordered.

“But Seren, please! I—”

“Sit. Up.”

She whimpered and promptly sat on her haunches, shaking like a leaf. She continued pleading to me and said, “P-please, Seren! It’s just a misunderstanding! L-look, I—”

Her pleas were cut short when I placed a pair of hoofcuffs on her forelegs, locking them together. She immediately started to panic and hyperventilate. She looked up at me again, this time with tears in her eyes. “Seren, please don’t do this to me! You don’t understand!”

I really didn’t want to do this to my best friend, but I had to follow the next part of security policy. “You are hereby under arrest for possession of suspicious files on your PipBuck, and will be escorted to the Overmare’s office for further questioning. Failure to comply will result in immediate placement in a detention cell for an indeterminate amount of time. Do you understand?”

She blankly stared at me, with a profound expression of dread on her face.

“Golden Riversong!” I nearly yelled. “Do you understand?”

She recoiled a bit from my outburst, but then tried to plead with me again. “Seren, I… I… the message! It’s not my fault! It’s just—”

“Answer my question right now or you will be sent directly to a detention cell.”

Her ears wilted as she looked down and dejectedly said, “Yes… I understand…”

“Follow me, then,” I said.

She complied, and we both walked to the Overmare’s office without another word.


---


Finally, we arrived at the entrance of the Overmare’s living space. I activated the intercom next to the door and said, “Overmare, are you there?”

A voice droned in response. “Yes, I’m here. What is it?”

I then told the Overmare about what happened and what I saw on Golden’s PipBuck.

“Fine, come in,” said the Overmare. I heard the door unlock, allowing me to open it. Both of us walked through and entered.

The Overmare’s living space was expansive compared to the rest of the residences in the stable. We stood in front of the entrance of the main room, which was simply a wide rectangular area that connected the other parts of the living space. To the left, there were doors lined along the wall that led to a restroom, a locked supply closet, and a couple of guest rooms. Ahead to the right was the entrance to the Overmare’s office. We approached it and entered.

The Overmare was one of the more distinct ponies of the Stable, being one of the few ponies that had a legitimate green coat. She had a pink-and-blue striped mane and tail, and hazel eyes. Because of her unique appearance, many ponies were able to identify her quickly. She sat at her rounded desk in the center of the room, her gaze focused on some paperwork spread out in front of her.

She looked up with her hazel eyes and saw us enter through the door. I ushered Golden in and I approached the desk as she stayed near the doorway, her legs a bit wobbly.

I looked at the Overmare and said, “Good afternoon, Overmare. Sorry to bother you about this.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” she replied in a bored tone. “So what’s all this about?”

“Well, I found a strange file on Golden’s PipBuck and I think you should take a look at it.”

“All right, give me her PipBuck, then,” she said.

“Yes, Overmare,” I affirmed.

In addition to a keycard and other tools of the trade, security ponies also carried a special key designed specifically to unlock PipBucks and remove them from Stable citizens, should the need arise. Golden’s eyes widened in terror as I approached her with the key in my telekinetic grasp, slid it into the barely-perceptible slot along the back side of her foreleg, and levitated the Pipbuck to the Overmare.

I sat beside the Overmare’s desk as she fiddled with Golden’s PipBuck a bit, before motioning to Golden to come closer. She displayed the file in question, showed it to her, and asked, “Would you like to explain the meaning of this?”

Golden glanced at her PipBuck and slightly flinched. “W-well,” she stammered, “I was doing maintenance on one of the data management terminals… you know... r-routine stuff! A-and I... found it... I didn't know what was in it, s-so I saved it so I could look at it later…”

It was clear from the Overmare’s face that she wasn’t playing around. “I don’t believe that for a second,” she muttered, causing Golden to wince. Then she pulled back the PipBuck, brought up the file, and started reading it.

Golden just sat there with her ears drooped down. She looked like she’d been whipped or something. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

The Overmare began reading the message aloud, snapping me back to attention. “Stable-Tec Sleeper Agent. Activation Code: Data Used. This agent has awoken and is ready to carry out Project SI64" The Overmare looked up at her again. “Who sent you this?”

Golden just stared at her with fear in her eyes, like a mouse trapped in a corner. The Overmare continued to stare at her, waiting for her response.

The only response she gave was a pitiful squeak.

Obviously the Overmare wasn’t going to deal with this today. She let out an annoyed cry and slammed a hoof down on her desk, startling the poor mare. “Golden Riversong,” she growled, clearly on the verge of exploding at her. “I don’t have time for games, or any of this nonsense. If you’re not going to talk, then I’m afraid there will be consequences.”

She glanced at me. “Seren, you caught her, you’re in security,” she sternly said as she briskly turned around to her terminal. “Lock her up in a cell and I’ll deal with her later. Check her PipBuck for any more suspicious files and report to me your findings.”

“Yes, Overmare, ma’am,” I said with as much professionalism and confidence as I could manage. With that, I escorted Golden out of the office, who was now even more visibly shaken.
> Chapter 2- Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When I turned Golden in, I wasn’t really expecting the Overmare to ask me to fully investigate her PipBuck. What could Golden be hiding? I thought to myself as I escorted her to Security.

We arrived at Security in no time. I placed her PipBuck on a nearby table, dispelled her hoofcuffs, and ushered her into the cell. I requested Intelligence to send one of their ponies to help me investigate the files on Golden’s PipBuck.

Much to my surprise, of all the ponies they could have sent, they sent Starlight. She trotted into the office with a scowl on her face. She walked towards me, before giving a cold glare at Golden. “I really expected better of you.”

Golden didn’t say anything back. All she did was hang her head in shame.

It hurt me seeing her like that, but I had to do what was asked of me. As Starlight investigated the PipBuck, I glanced over to Golden, who looked at me with tears welled in her eyes and a look of betrayal on her face. Before I could ask her about her problems, Starlight called over to me. “Hey, Seren,” she said, “you might wanna take a look at this.”

I trotted over to her, and she pointed at the PipBuck. “Did you notice the date on this activation message? It was two weeks ago.”

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “So what?”

She simply looked at me as if I was stupid. “Don’t you remember? Golden’s mother was poisoned two weeks ago.”

I blinked in surprise. “You don’t think there’s a connection, do you?”

She looked down and muttered, “Maybe, but I can’t say for sure…”

I didn’t think much of it and just brushed it off as a coincidence.


---


It was 6:30PM. Starlight had been looking through the PipBuck for a good forty minutes. The first couple of ponies on B-shift started to walk in to wait out the rest of their shift as C-shift started at 8:00PM. On slow nights, sometimes I would be asked to fill in for some C-shift ponies. I wasn’t sure if that would be the case tonight. I was usually on B-shift, the “liveliest” time of the day.

Starlight let out a sigh and finally said to me, “Seren, it’s finished.”

As I walked over to her, she continued, “I found the one suspicious file and three encrypted files. I was only able to break the encryption on one, though.”

Before I read the file, I gave Golden a glance as she laid there motionless and sobbing. I turned back to the PipBuck and read the file.

Your objectives for obtaining ARG#0064 are as follows:

1.     Become Head of Stable Maintenance

2.     Access Data Management Terminal 1

3.     Hack the Overmare’s Terminal from DMT1

4.     Retrieve file codename ARG#0064

5.     Erase all traces of hacking

6.     Deliver ARG#0064 to its requested destination

I took another look at Golden, who was now more nervous and with real fear in her eyes. I walked over to her, levitating her PipBuck and brought it to her face. “Would you like to explain this?” I asked firmly.

She lifted her head up and looked at me with tears streaming down her cheeks, sniffling, “T-they promised me freedom... freedom from the stable...” Another sniffle. “T-They said if I was able to retrieve the files, I would be able to leave...” She looked down shamefully, tears dripping onto the floor. “I c-couldn't tell anypony about it... nopony... nopony should've known... not even the Overmare...” She slowly drops her head back down onto the floor, starting to sob again. “J-just kill me already... it's pointless... I'm g-gonna die anyway...”

The two B-shift ponies looked over to the cell and one of them asked me, “Hey Seren, is she alright?”

“She’s fine,” I replied, “she’s just a little upset.” I turned back to Golden and asked her, “Why you?”

Before she could answer, the Overmare walked in. The two B-shift ponies stood at attention. “I’m here,” she said, with a hint of irritation. “Now what have you found out?”

I told the Overmare everything, and even had her read the file. She just stood there dumbfounded, staring in confusion at the message on Golden’s PipBuck for almost a full minute. Slowly, deliberately, her expression turned to a baleful glare straight through the cell bars.

“I had a feeling about you… but even I didn’t think things would go this deep,” she said, her voice low. “So you poisoned your mother, who just so happens to be the Head of Maintenance, and then you want to compromise the entire stable—my stable—by giving away our secrets? Did you really think you’d just get away with this?!”

Golden didn’t answer. She simply shook her head, a movement so small it was almost imperceptible.

Silence fell between them. I really didn’t like where this was going; I was already holding my breath. It was almost half a minute before the Overmare spoke again, in the tone I’d only heard her use when making announcements to the entire Stable.

“Golden Riversong, for conspiring to endanger Stable 64 and the lives of its citizens, and for the murder of Sharp Eye, former Head of Maintenance, I hereby sentence you to death.” 

I froze.

Wait… what?!

Before I could even recover, the Overmare abruptly turned to face me. “Seren, as the officer who caught and detained her, I commend you on protecting this Stable from outside threats. As such, I order you to execute her.” She nearly yelled her last word, “Immediately!”

I didn’t answer, or even salute. I couldn’t. But the Overmare didn’t seem to care, as she hastily stepped away from the cell and walked right past me, straight out of the security office. The door slid shut behind her with a hollow boom.

And still, I was too stunned to even move, let alone speak. This had to be a joke. She couldn’t really expect me to…

“U-um... “ Starlight piped up. Her ears were flat against her head. “I’d… better go,” she said, barely audible. She sounded like she was holding back tears. When Starlight’s eyes met mine, I saw her mouth working soundlessly, trying to come up with something to say. Golden was her friend, too, I remembered. Probably a lot more of one than I’d been lately.

“I… ‘m gonna go.” She tore her gaze from me, then made for the door at a brisk trot, practically mashing the opening switch on her way out.

As she left, another B-shift pony looking to finish up her shift walked in. As irony would have it, it was none other than Combine herself. She greeted the other two B-shift ponies already in the room, but when she looked over to me, she said, “Oh, hi, Seren,” in a more dismissive and dark tone of voice. She noticed Golden in the cell in front of me, and asked the two security ponies, “What’s up with her?”

“Apparently the Overmare is convinced that she’s a spy and ordered Seren to kill her,” one of them replied.

“Oh, this should be good,” said Combine, chuckling in an evil manner.

I simply rolled my eyes and looked back at Golden, who was still whimpering from the Overmare's order. Between her sobs, she croaked out, “W-what are you waiting f-for...? D-do it... I don't belong here any-m-more...” She clenched her eyes tightly, still crying, waiting on me to do what I was supposed to do.

In truth, I didn’t know what to do. I was completely at a crossroads. The Overmare now saw her as a threat to the Stable, but I couldn’t just kill her. I just couldn’t.

I looked over to a gun and began to levitate it with my magic, but I quickly put it down. I just stood there deep in thought on what to do. In the back of my mind, I knew that if I didn’t do this, then another pony would just kill her anyway, but another thought came up in my mind: did she really deserve to die in the first place?

Just then I heard a shotgun cock behind me. “Get outta the way, Seren!” shouted Combine. “It’s the will of the Overmare.”

The will of the Overmare. I was so tired of hearing that. Whenever somepony doubted an order given to them by the Overmare, they would just have to tell themselves ‘it is the will of the Overmare’ for motivation. I personally hated this saying because it painted the Overmare as some sort of god when all she did was watch over the Stable. Nothing more, nothing less.

I turned around and looked at her sternly before shouting, “No!”

Combine immediately fumed with anger. “Fuck you, That bitch needs to die!” She rushed up and roughly shoved me out of the way. She quickly levitated the shotgun and took a random shot at Golden and missed, hitting the wall instead.

At that moment I immediately pulled out my baton and activated S.A.T.S, or the ‘Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell’. It was a function of the PipBuck that slowed down time and allowed me to focus and line up my attacks on a target. I only had a limited amount of magical energy for it, so every shot needed to count. With three well-aimed swings, I knocked her out cold.

The other two B-shift ponies were paralyzed in fear at what I just did. Especially when I shifted to face them after taking down Combine, brandishing my baton in front of me. “I’m not letting Golden Riversong get killed!” I shouted. “She doesn’t deserve that!”

I picked up the cell key, turned to the cell door and opened it. “Golden, come on,” I said, “I’m going to get you out of here!” I knew in the back of my mind that I was committing high treason, but I didn’t care. The only thought in my mind was that she needed to get out of here.

I glared at the guards, who were just looking at me with disapproval. “I hope neither of you plan on stopping me,” I warned. They were still shocked at what I did to Combine, but I knew she wasn’t dead.

Golden slowly looked up at me, still having dried tear stains in her eyes, and slowly stood up onto her hooves, her face showing clear signs of panic. “W-what are you doing?!” she shouted. “You're gonna get yourself killed!”

I knew that the security that would most likely be after us would be C-shift, which was taking over in about an hour. I forced my most reassuring smile and said, “Don't worry, you’re safe with me.” There was only one mare I hoped we would not run into.

I escorted her out of her cell, gave her back her PipBuck which she spent no time putting it back on her right foreleg, and we started walking towards the doorway.

But as per my luck, just as we were walking out of Security, she walked in.

“Oh, uhh, good evening, Miss, uhm, Fairlaw!” I quickly said.

It was Fairlaw Baton. I figured she had come in to start preparing her briefing for C-shift. However, upon seeing me and Golden, she didn’t look too happy.

“So I hear reports of a spy in the stable who should be dead right now.” Her eyes narrowed. “And I see you trying to escape with her. What in tartarus are you doing, Seren?”

I just stood there and said nothing, while her ice cold gaze remained locked on me. “Alright, give her to me, Seren,” she demanded authoritatively, causing Golden to shudder a bit. She continued, “Oh, and you will be put in the holding cell with her, because you are in just as much if not more trouble now.” 

I should have seen that coming, but I wasn't going to let Fairlaw have her way. “No!” I screamed.

What was I doing? I was standing up to the Head of Security! I must have been insane.

She seethed in anger, gritting her teeth. “You dare go against the Overmare and plan to escape with a fugitive? I will have all three shifts on your ass if you don’t give her to me right now!”

“I’m not afraid of you, Fairlaw!” I shouted. In truth, I was actually terrified of what she would do.

Fairlaw shoved me out of the way, then whipped a revolver from her barding like lightning and fired two shots at Golden. She yelped and immediately tried to dodge, but even though the first bullet missed completely, the other caught and penetrated her left foreleg. Golden screamed out in pain and tumbled onto the floor.

And that was when several things happened at once.

Without thinking, I quickly turned towards Fairlaw and shouted, “You bitch!” as I pulled out my baton and swung it at her face as hard as I could. She didn’t have time to entirely replace her expression with surprise before it connected, knocking her out cold and leaving her in a heap on the floor.

"Holy sh— Take her down!" Like the flick of a switch, the two security mares snapped out of their shocked state, and I immediately heard the bone-chilling sound of guns being drawn.

Acting on instinct, I crouched as low as I could to make myself a smaller target. The first pair of bullets sailed straight over my head, but the third just barely grazed my leg and sparked off the wall right behind me. The guards may have recovered quickly, but I was faster. I swung my baton in their general direction with a quick burst of magic, causing them to yell in consternation and whiff their follow-up shots.

My eyes locked onto Fairlaw's revolver on the floor. Normally, I wouldn't have had the time to pick it up and aim before the guards riddled me with holes. When I slipped into S.A.T.S, though, it was like they were moving at the speed of molasses. I yanked the revolver off the floor with my magic, brought it up to eye level, and took aim at their heads. Sixty percent per shot. I wasn't likely to get a better chance.

BANG! BANG!

As luck would have it, both shots landed one after another. The guards' shouts went silent as the bullets entered their skulls, sending a spray of blood to coat the floor and much of the opposite wall. I wasn't surprised; Fairlaw's unique revolver, "One Shot," was one of the most powerful and accurate weapons in the stable.

A real killer.

I stared down the barrel of the still-smoking gun. There was no movement. No sound. They were dead. I'd just killed two security ponies who were just doing their jobs. Mares I knew, no less. I was a killer. A murderer. The revolver slipped from my magical grasp, clattering on the cold metal tiles below. Warm tears began to sting my eyes.

Oh, goddesses... forgive me…

It was only then that I remembered Golden Riversong, now completely terrified and bleeding from the injury to her leg. “Oh sweet Celestia, I’m so sorry, Golden!” I cried, “Let me get you a medkit!”

I quickly went to the front of the room, grabbed the medkit hanging on the wall, and tried to the best of my abilities to patch up Golden's foreleg. I wanted to be long gone by the time most of C-shift came along; it was already 7:15 p.m and evening briefing started at 8:00, which meant I didn’t have much time.

Golden sat up as I started wrapping a clean white bandage around her leg, and she briefly winced. “W-why?” she weakly muttered.

“W-why did you save me?”

“Because I refuse to let you die for no good reason,” I quickly replied. “Now hold still."

“S-Seren,” she hissed in pain. “You can’t stay here. T-They’re going to—”

I tied off the bandage with a firm tug, cutting Golden’s speech off mid-sentence. Now at least her leg wouldn’t bleed out anytime soon, but I still needed to find a healing potion for her. “We’re going to get out of here, Golden. I don’t plan on staying here, and you certainly can’t, either. Our only choice is to go to the Wasteland.” Great. Now I just had to deal with the entire Stable security force coming for us loaded for bear, and the easy task of opening the reinforced steel blast door leading to the surface.

Golden looked at me shakily. “Seren… what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to get you out of here, that’s what,” I responded simply.

“Ser—agh!” she tried to move her leg, but immediately stopped, seething in pain. “Why? Just… Seren, you can’t take on the whole Stable yourself! It’s over! Fairlaw and the Overmare are gonna get us no matter what, we won’t even get close to—”

“Golden!” I snapped, cutting her off. My eyes met hers with as much determination as I could muster. “You’re my friend. You’re one of the few ponies in this stable that I actually care enough for to do this, I can’t just let you die like this! What do they even have on you? Just a stupid PipBuck file! They didn’t even give you a chance! I could never forgive myself if I let them murder you like that! I don’t care what Fairlaw and the Overmare say; you and me are getting out of here. Okay?”

Golden just stared at me in shock. Finally, her body slowly started shaking, and she started gingerly moving her leg with only a wince here and there. “Seren…” she said quietly. “Y-you know they’re not gonna let you back in, right?”

“I’m pretty sure they won’t,” I replied. “I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of here, but I’ll think of something.” I was probably one of the worst ponies when it came to formulating ideas, but even so I needed to think of something fast.

I noticed Golden’s pupils shrink suddenly, almost as if she was going into a trance-like state. I figured it was probably the Med-X I gave her, but still I asked her, “Uh, Golden? Are you all right?”

She stood up very firmly and said in a cold, robotic voice, “I am fine. Now I must go down to Maintenance.” Suddenly, she galloped out of the room as if she was never shot.

I decided to follow her. I took one final glance at the gruesome scene I created in Security. I muttered under my breath, “I’m sorry,” before catching up to Golden.

I followed her through Residential, begging her to slow down and asking why she had to go to Maintenance. She didn’t respond; she just ignored me and acted as if I didn’t exist. I also questioned how she was able to run so fast especially after being shot with one of the most powerful guns in the Stable. I urged her to go slower because of this, but she kept running anyway.

We got down to Maintenance, which was completely different from the rest of the Stable. While the Stable was well-lit and relatively spotless, Maintenance was a bit darker and was cluttered with pipes and other strange machines that only ponies that worked in this dank place would understand. Also, since Maintenance was very big, it was easy to get lost in, but the many frightening sounds the machines made kept ponies from venturing too far into Maintenance. Also, there weren’t a lot of reasons any ponies who were not Maintenance workers would go down here.

We got to the Maintenance office, which was spotless compared to the rest of Maintenance. It was one of the few rooms in the entire Stable to have actual carpeting. In addition to being the office for the Head of Maintenance, it usually doubled as a residence for the Maintenance Head and any family they may have, featuring two bedrooms and a relatively large living space.

I caught up to her and yelled, “Golden Riversong!”

She turned around and said in that monotone voice, “Shut up. I need to do this.” Then she just walked straight into the room with the door marked “Data Management Terminal 1.”

I was taken aback from the sudden remark. She had never told me to shut up once in all the years I’ve known her. I didn’t know what was up, but she was acting like a completely different pony.

That’s when I remembered about the “sleeper agent” message on her PipBuck. Did that have something to do with this? But what could have triggered such a drastic shift in personality? This just wasn’t like her at all.

Not being able to follow her into the room with DMT1, I decided to look around the living space. For some reason, I was drawn to the kitchen, and upon seeing the table I muttered to myself, “This must’ve been where Sharp Eye died.”

I quickly exited the kitchen and looked at some of the pictures in the living area. I saw a few pictures of Golden with Sharp Eye. They really did love each other with all their hearts. I levitated one of the pictures up to my face, and again muttered to myself, “This must’ve been such a hard loss for you, Golden…wait, what…?”

With a start, I noticed that the picture frame was far too bulky for its size; it wouldn’t need all that space just to fit a picture. I turned it over with my magic, and to my surprise, I found a tiny little latch right on the bottom of the frame.

A frown creased my face; I probably shouldn’t be looking into other ponies’ private belongings like this, especially with Golden’s family… but… something just didn’t feel right. It would only take a look, anyway. I pried the latch open easily, and the back of the frame lifted open on a hinge; it was a secret compartment!

And then I almost dropped the whole thing right there in horror. Right there, in the compartment of Golden’s picture frame, was a single, tiny amber vial with a broad white label.

Potassium Cyanide

No.

No, it couldn’t be. There was no way… this was the exact same kind of poison that killed Golden’s mother… what in Tartarus was it doing here? In her family's only living space? Was it part of some kind of experiment, or… did Golden really…?

I shook my head angrily. No. No, I could not accept that. Golden wasn’t the type. She was my friend. I’d known her since forever…

But did I really? What was all that with her cold ‘sleeper agent’ mode, before? What was it that she wasn’t telling me?

Why?

Just then, I heard an agonizing scream of pain come from the DMT room. I dropped the vial to the carpet, almost threw the frame back on the shelf, and ran over to the metal door. “Golden!” I yelled. “Are you okay in there?!”

All I heard coming from the room were muffled cries of, “My leg, my leg!”

Frantic, I started banging on the door and yelling, “Golden, open up! Let me in! Let me help you!”

I knew that nopony except for the Head of Maintenance was supposed to be in the DMT1 room, but this was an emergency. I heard Golden grunting a bit as she crawled over to the button on the other side of the door. Seconds later, it swung open with an audible hiss, and I saw Golden shaking like a leaf on the amber colored carpet floor.

I quickly rushed in. “What happened?” I asked her.

Her only response was, “Why am I here?! How did I get here?!” She frantically turned to me and said, “Seren, why am I in here?!”

“You ran all the way here from Security, told me to shut up because you needed to do this, and just went in here!” I told her.

“B-but I don’t remember doing any of that!” she whimpered, “W-why would I tell you to shut up? You’re one of my best friends!”

“I don’t know,” I replied, “but I think it has something to do with that sleeper agent message on your PipBuck. I need to dull the pain in that leg again. Do you have any healing potions or Med-X?”

She nodded, with tears in her eyes. “I-in one of the kitchen cupboards,” she said meekly..

With that, I quickly rushed to the cupboard, found the medical supplies, and brought them to her.

While administering the Med-X, I said to her, “The reason that your leg hurts so bad is because you ran all the way from Security to down here. That’s a long run.”

She nodded, and said, in pain, “I know…”

I tried to calm her and sit her down in the living area.


---


It was about 7:50PM when I finally got her to settle down. I asked her sternly, “Why don’t you tell me all you know about those files?”

She sighed. “Well, I don’t know all that much… all I know is that I picked them up from a strange radio signal around two weeks ago…” she continued, “They seemed strange as morse code, so I converted them to text…”

“And those were the files you ended up with?”

She nodded. She started pressing a few buttons on her PipBuck, before bringing it up to my face. “Here,” she said. “Read them…”

I assumed she’d removed the encryptions that Starlight couldn’t break when she looked at the PipBuck earlier. The file read:

    We believe that Stable 64 is in possession of a very valuable document. We have codenamed this document ARG#0064, however its real name is the “Stable 64 Defense Plan,” which was written by one of the Stable’s previous Overmares.

We are very interested in seeing what this document has to offer, and we have a mission for you. Retrieve this document. With this file, you will receive three more files. A list of objectives for your mission, an address to bring the ARG#0064 to, and your sleeper agent activation code.

Get this document for us and we will guarantee you freedom from the living hell you know as the Stable.

~ Anonymous

“So they promised you freedom?” I asked as I finished reading.

She gave a weak nod, with tears starting to form in her eyes. “It seemed like an easy thing to do, but it ruined my life… I lost my mother, I don’t know how to do my new job as the Head of Stable Maintenance, and I almost lost you as a friend…”

I looked at her with a sad expression, before checking the fourth and final file that she received. It simply read:

Room 506, Tenpony Tower, Manehatten

That must be the address she was supposed to bring this to, I thought to myself. I asked her, “Do you know how far away Manehatten is from here?”

She said, “Not too far… about a few hours south on hoof, I think…”

I was surprised by the apparent fact that ponies were still living in Manehatten, as most ponies were killed when the balefire bombs fell many many years ago.

“Why did you want to leave the Stable, anyway?” I asked. “Aren’t you happy here?”

Golden looked off to the side and timidly said, “Well… I…” Suddenly, she scowled and firmly said, “N-no! No I’m not, and I’ll tell you why… it feels like this place is a prison sometimes…”

I could see where she was coming from. Life in the stable was pretty repetitive and boring. It was easy for ponies to begin feeling trapped in their own mundane lives. Even I felt it from time to time.

“I’ve had to live here like a rat in a cage… just running on a wheel… for almost all my life, Seren. I-I loved my mother, but… I never really had any chance to do anything else but Maintenance jobs. Everything was just… always the same. Fix a broken fuse here, reset a radio system there...” She pawed at the floor with her forehoof. “That’s why I wanted to leave… why I took that offer. I just can’t stay here anymore, Seren. I want… I want to grow up.”

I looked at her for the better part of a minute. Her eyes actually seemed different… there was something in them that I’d almost never seen before: resolve. Still… “You know that the Wasteland probably isn’t much better than here, though, right? You’ve… got nothing out there, except a contact you’ve never met in a city you’ve never been to.”

Golden nodded without missing a beat. “I know, I’ve thought about that. But even if this mess hadn’t started… I still wouldn’t want to stay here, Seren. I don’t want to keep running on that wheel… living in the shadow of other ponies day in and day out. I know it’s not going to be easy out there, but… at least there’s a chance. Everypony should have that chance, I think.”

“And nopony should have to go it alone,” I added with a soft smile. “I feel like I should go with you. I’m not sure what I could do, but I'm pretty sure we’ll have a better chance out there together. Between your technical skills and whatever I can dish out, I’ve got a good feeling about it.”

Golden let out a warm laugh. “Thanks, Seren… you always were my best friend.”

I couldn’t help but blush. We sat there in silence for almost a full minute, and I almost laughed at the sheer awkwardness of the situation, but I was eventually reminded that we still had a job to do. I broke the silence by asking, “This might be a weird question, but… can I see DMT1?”

“Nopony is supposed to see it,” she said with a sigh. “but I really have nothing to lose, so follow me, please.”

I went into the room with DMT1, following closely behind her. She walked over to the machine and timidly said, “H-here, let me show you how it works…”

She sat down and pulled up a huge list of all the terminals in the Stable. I looked at it and said, “Wow… that’s pretty cool…”

She gave a kind giggle and said, “You can see any file anypony ever wrote.”

Despite already knowing what it could do, I couldn’t help but be amazed. It was different actually seeing it with my own two eyes. It could’ve been a myth for all I knew.

Golden continued, “I was supposed to get the ARG file from the Overmare’s terminal, but this is what happens whenever I try to access it.” She scrolled down the list until she found the Overmare’s terminal number, and clicked on it. Immediately a notification appeared on the screen, saying:

“RESTRICTED ACCESS. YOU HAVE BEEN LOCKED OUT OF THIS TERMINAL.”

It really didn’t surprise me, seeing as it was the Overmare’s terminal, but it also made me wonder why the Overmare’s terminal was listed in the first place. If it couldn’t be accessed, why include it in the list?

“T-they expect me to hack it,” said Golden, “but I tried multiple times and always got this… I don’t even know if I can hack it…”

I thought to myself that the fact that she was locked out of the Overmare’s terminal pretty much removed all hope. Just then, an alarm in the Stable went off, with a voice over the Stable intercom saying:

“ATTENTION! BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR TWO UNICORNS, SEREN STARFALL AND GOLDEN RIVERSONG! THEY ARE BOTH CHARGED WITH MURDER AND OTHER CRIMES, AND MAY BE ARMED AND DANGEROUS! IF YOU SEE EITHER OF THESE PONIES, APPREHEND THEM ON SIGHT! IF THEY RESIST, DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED! ALL MAIN OFFICES IN THE STABLE WILL BE ON LOCKDOWN! ANY PONIES SEEN OUTSIDE OF THEIR RESIDENCE WILL BE EITHER APPREHENDED OR SHOT ON SIGHT! SECURITY PERSONNEL ONLY! REPEAT! ANY PONIES SEEN OUTSIDE OF THEIR RESIDENCE WILL BE EITHER APPREHENDED OR SHOT ON SIGHT! SECURITY PERSONNEL ONLY! LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN INITIATED!”

With that, all the lights turned red and the door to Maintenance clamped shut. “B-but I never killed anypony!” cried Golden.

They’re probably charging you with the murder of your mother, I thought to myself.

Obviously this was Fairlaw’s doing. As Head of Security, she could initiate lockdowns with the Overmare’s permission. She could also ask all three shifts to work at once if need be.

Shit.

Golden cried and grabbed my legs. “What’re we gonna do, Seren?! I don’t wanna die!”

Deep down, I was just as sad as she was. On the outside, I was seething with rage. “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re gonna get out of here.” I looked down at her. “Do you have any weapons?”

She slowly let go of my hooves and stood up. “I… I do, but… Seren, you’re not really going to—”

“I will if I have to,” I interrupted. “It’s in self-defense.”

“I have a shotgun in the cabinet in my bedroom,” she said in a somber tone.

“Go get it,” I said, “I’ll stay here and keep watch for anyone coming.”

She nodded and closed the door to DMT1 and ran to the bedroom as I ran to the window, ducking down to keep myself hidden. I took a look around the once charming-looking Maintenance office, now bathed in an ominous blood-red light, and the strident-sounding sirens. It was as if I was in a completely different room than the one I was in fifteen minutes ago.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the clock on my PipBuck. It was 8:06PM. Apparently Fairlaw must’ve issued this lockdown directly after briefing C-shift. “Huh. Figures,” I muttered under my breath, still seething with rage against Fairlaw herself.

I then heard Golden yell, “Seren! You see anyone yet?”

“No, Golden!” I shouted back. “Just get the shotgun, all right?”

“O-okay!” she replied back.

She then came out of the bedroom a few moments later. “I’m sorry,” she whimpered, “I only have four extra shells…”

Six shots plus four meant that we only had ten shots. It wasn’t a lot, so I had to conserve my ammo. Even though it wasn’t much, I said to Golden, “Thank you, it’s good enough.”

She gave a weak smile.

I pointed at the door. “Can we get out of here?”

“You would think that, but, despite the fact that this is…” she paused for a moment and said with a sigh, “…my office… since this is a lockdown, I have to hack the door to get it to open.”

“Well, it seems like it’s our only option,” I said.

She gave a weak nod and started to work on the door. I kept watch at the window, keeping low with the shotgun in my hooves. Fortunately, it took her only about thirty seconds to open the door. I immediately darted through, with Golden trailing behind me.

We walked through the hall, with the sirens blaring and bathed in more ominous red-light. I hated this red light. It made things so unsettling. As we walked to the end of the hall, I heard the door at the top of the steps open. Realizing that it could be security checking Maintenance for us, I urged Golden to back away as I stayed closer to the door.

It was at this moment that I turned on my E.F.S on my PipBuck, the Eyes Forward Sparkle. It’s a function that allowed me to see who is hostile and who wasn’t within a certain radius. Most ponies in Stable 64 didn't even know of the function. The Stable had been peaceful for so long that over time security just stopped using it and forgot it was there. I’m not even sure if Fairlaw knew about it.

Upon turning it on, many green bars appeared, most of them in the direction of Residential and a few red bars. In fact, there were too many. There were so many bars that my EFS was all green and red. Realizing this was not going to be of any use to me I turned it off and just had to rely on my senses.

Just then, I heard a mare’s voice call out. “Is anyone in here?!”

I did my best not to reply, while Golden sat at the end of the hall with a blank expression on her face. I thought I recognized the voice, but my mind was moving too quickly to put a name to it. I was only ready to kill whatever was waiting for me and Golden behind that corner.

Before I could even as much as go into S.A.T.S., a shot rang out and I was immediately blasted with buckshot, sending me flying back about fifteen feet until I landed on the hard ground, making me fumble the shotgun from my hooves.

If I hadn’t been wearing my security barding it would have definitely killed me, but that shot did a number on my barding, punching a huge gaping hole in the chest area. I didn’t think I could take another hit like that.

Laying disoriented on my stomach, I slowly looked up and saw two ponies approaching wearing security barding, one of whom was levitating a shotgun smoking from the barrel. The shotgun pony came up to me and took off her helmet as the other one went towards Golden.

“What’s up, bitch?” the mare spat.

Quickshot. One of the best shots in the Stable. I should’ve known.

I couldn’t do much by just lying there on the ground, so I simply looked up at her in pure hatred and said, “F-fuck you, Quickshot…”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” she said triumphantly as her horn glowed, forming a pair of hoofcuffs around my forelegs.

I was in too much pain to think about Golden but I figured her situation was pretty much the same as mine. The only difference was that she’s not nearly on the verge of death.

Just then I heard the other mare say, “Security, this is Glitter, the suspects have been apprehended. Awaiting further orders, over.”

I heard Fairlaw's voice over the speaker respond. “Ahh, good work. I knew I could count on you two. Bring them up to the Overmare’s office as soon as possible.”

“Roger that,” Glitter responded.

“Well then, that’s that,” Quickshot said. She then looked down at me, scowling. “Come on. Get up. I know you’re a pussy but this is ridiculous. I’ve seen fillies that are more resilient than you.” She then deftly kicked me in the stomach as she trotted towards Golden's direction, with me grunting out in pain.

Then as if from nowhere out of my blurred vision, I saw at the end of the hallway a pony completely covered from head to hooves in a rust-brown colored cloak, levitating some sort of revolver. It looked like she was aiming at me, so having nothing else to do I closed my eyes, thinking it was the end.

A shot rang out, followed by a thud. “Quickshot!” I heard Glitter scream. “Security! This is Glit—” Her call was interrupted by another gunshot. Judging from the fizz and the sound of metal cracking, I could only assume the mysterious pony had destroyed her radio. Then another gunshot. I then heard Glitter scrambling for a weapon. From what I heard, it sounded like she found a shotgun. She cocked it back, and started firing blast after blast at the mysterious pony. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the fact that there was an intense gunfight happening right in front of me.

I heard two more shots from the revolver before hearing a flat thud besides me. I opened my eyes again only to see the cloaked pony at the end of the hallway putting her revolver away. “Both of you need to leave this place right now!” the mare shouted authoritatively. Before I could ask her any questions, I saw her run opposite of the direction to the stairs leading up to Residential, going deeper into Maintenance.

I probably wasn’t going to see her ever again.

After allowing myself a few more moments to think, I used my magic to get rid of the hoofcuffs attached to my forelegs and used two healing potions and a Med-X to get myself back on my hooves.

Now free to move and no longer in pain, I was finally able to see the scene that took place behind me. Two dead security mares, their lifeless bodies seeping blood all over the floor, and at the back right corner of the hallway, Golden, in hoofcuffs, was curled up into a ball, shaking in complete terror. I walked towards the scene, trembling a bit at the sight of the two dead ponies in front of me. It didn’t help that the hallway was still bathed in that same unsettling red light. The continuously blaring lockdown sirens didn’t help, either.

I looked at Quickshot, now completely lifeless. “The best shot in all of Stable 64.... killed by a single bullet to the back of the head.” I then looked over to the other security mare and I noticed the two bullets that shot her dead were in very small unprotected areas of the security barding. Upon seeing this, I was stunned, and thought to myself, how could she have known where those unprotected areas on the security barding are? Only security ponies know that! It couldn't have been luck or S.A.T.S. These particular unprotected areas were undetectable without prior knowledge of the security barding worn by the security ponies in Stable 64.

Despite me aching to know how she knew about those unprotected areas, I didn’t have time right now. Whoever she was, she was right. Golden and I had to leave this place right now. I quickly ran down to the hallway to where Golden was. I looked at her. I had never seen her so scared in my life, but we had no time to waste. I quickly dispelled her hoofcuffs and said to her in a firm voice, “Come on, 

Golden, we need to get out of here!”

She didn't even seem to hear me, so I tried again.

“Golden... come on! We need to get out of here!”

She only continued to sob and curled up into a tighter trembling ball. It was then that I had finally lost my patience with her. I stomped my hoof and yelled, “GOLDEN RIVERSONG!”

She didn’t respond but she very slowly rose to her hooves, still shaking like a leaf and an uncontrollable sobbing mess.

“We need to get out of here before more of them come! Do you want to die or do you want to leave?!” I asked, still upset at her.

She finally managed to say, “I-I'm n-not cut out f-for this, S-Seren… M-maybe you should… g-go on with… without me…” She was barely able to speak at all, nearly choking on her own words. I looked at my completely broken friend and decided to do something I rarely do and lie.

“Golden,” I started in the most sincere voice I could muster, “look at the two dead security mares in front of you.” I paused for a moment to give her a chance to look over to them, which she did. I continued, “This is what life in Stable 64 has become… is this what you want? Or do you want whatever the outside has to offer?” I said this knowing that the outside could only be worse, but we needed to get out of here right away. I knew other security guards would be coming any minute.

“I… I-I want the out… outside,” she croaked.

“Then please wipe those tears and follow me,” I replied. “And I promise we will leave this awful place together.”

She did exactly as I asked and tried to snap herself out of it. I smiled and said, “That’s the Golden I know. Let’s go!”

Before I could start galloping down the hallway, I felt Golden put her hoof around me. I looked at her and said, “What?”

“Umm… can… can you please walk me past the… um… them? I-I just… I don’t have the stomach for this kind of thing yet…”

Realizing my own fear of walking up on the scene earlier, I softly said, “Sure. Just stay with me.”

As Golden and I walked back past the scene, I saw my shotgun laying next to Glitter's dead body and picked it up using my magic. Seeing it next to Glitter’s body made me worry. It was my shotgun she shot at the mystery pony with, and not with Quickshot’s like I had hoped.

As Golden and I reached the other end of the hallway, I looked at how much ammo was left in the shotgun. 

“Oh shit. There are only two shots left,” I said under my breath. I couldn't see or find Quickshot’s gun for extra ammo, so I just decided to keep going. We had no time to go back and look, anyway. I then remembered that I had extra ammo.

Just then I saw Golden going up the stairs. “Golden, wait a minute! Let me reload!”

Golden turned around and looked at me with fear in her eyes.

“Trust me, I don’t like it any more than you do, but Security has orders to kill us and we need to take these precautions,” I said as I reloaded the shotgun.

Golden just stood silently as I approached her and went up to the door to Residential. “Please… whatever you do, stay behind me.”
With that, she nodded and we both walked through the door to Residential.

We got into Residential, with the hallways still red and sirens still blaring.

Residential was a big area and it was likely most security ponies were looking here for us. Though the hallways of Residential were bathed in this awful red light, the actual residential areas had their original lighting and were soundproofed so as to not disturb the residents.

As Golden and I got into Residential we immediately darted into the hallway on the right and turned left into another hallway. Just then I heard galloping and caught a quick glance of two security ponies heading down into Maintenance. Obviously the backup sent to check on Quickshot and Glitter.

I didn’t want to stay in one spot in the hallways for too long because of how exposed we were, so we had to keep moving. I motioned Golden to stay low as I slowly emerged from the corner and started walking down the hallway, with her trailing behind me.

The whole Stable was on lockdown, which meant all of the Residential living spaces were sealed shut. Knocking or banging on them won’t help because I doubt anypony would want to get involved, and plus it would only attract attention.

I wanted to get out of the hallways as quickly as possible, which left only one option. “Golden,” I whispered.

“H-huh?” said Golden, her voice a bit shaky.

“We’re going to make a stop at my residence to get out of the hallways and hide there for a bit. Just stay quiet and we’ll be fine, all right?”

“B-but, the lockdown…”

“I know,” I agreed, “but I just hope that my dad’s in there to let us in…” I could’ve used my keycard to get into any residence, but I left it in the Security office when I went running out after Golden.

“W-will he?”

“I don’t know,” I said, frowning. “But it’s our only way to wait this out a bit until it’s safe.”

“But… wouldn’t they check there first?”

“Yeah, but hopefully they would have checked there by now. They might check it again, so we can’t stay there for long.” I peeked around a corner leading into another hallway on the left. “If you have a better idea, then I’m all ears.”

“I… I don’t…” she said, her voice trailing off.

Hallway was clear. I turned my gaze to her to check on Golden, and saw her shriveling form. She was constantly looking all over the place, her mane and coat starting to get drenched in sweat. I turned to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder, which seemed to calm her down a bit. “Hey,” I said to her. “You’re doing fine. Just keep following me and you’ll be okay.”

She took a deep breath and let it out, and gave a brisk nod. “Okay…” Suddenly, I saw her eyes widen, and then she grabbed me and dragged me into the hallway left of us.

I grunted, trying to regain my balance. “Golden, what—”

She quickly covered my mouth with her hoof, and started to peek around the corner.

Cautiously, I decided to take a peek as well, and saw a couple of armed security ponies emerge from another hallway ahead on the left side. Then they stopped and started looking around. I quickly pulled Golden back into the corner, my heart now beating furiously. Both of us leaned against the wall, trying to control our breathing. I tuned and focused my ears to listen.

After a few moments that seemed like hours, I started to hear the sound of hooves clopping away. Slowly, I decided to take another peek around the corner. When the security ponies trotted down the end of the hallway and took a left, I briefly looked down the hallway in the opposite direction. With the hallway clear for the moment, I emerged from the corner and motioned for Golden to do the same.

Unfortunately, the patrol was on the same route to get to my residence, so we had no choice but to follow them. I didn’t want to risk any chance of encountering them head on.

We made our way down to the end of the hallway and took a peek around the corner. Sure enough, there was the door to my residence a bit down the hallway on the left side, but the patrol was still making their way down slowly. Painfully slowly. I briefly turned around and took a glance behind me. The hallway we were in was clear for the moment, but I knew that if a patrol emerged from one of the hallways from the side they’d be able to see us. Which could be any moment now.

I turned to Golden. “Watch my back. If you see a patrol coming, tell me.”

She nodded, and turned around and started watching down the hallway.

I continued peeking around the corner, still seeing the patrol casually making their way down.

“P-patrol coming,” I heard Golden whisper.

Crap! The patrol was still in the hallway, but we had no choice. I growled and pulled Golden alongside with me as we went around the corner and crouched down. I kept my eyes locked onto the patrol still ahead of us, feeling my heart start to thump faster. I even felt that I was starting to sweat.

Okay, you can do this, Seren. My residence is right there. Just stay low, and you’ll be just fine.

I cautiously crept up to the wide, rounded-rectangular window of my residence, and peered inside. Please be in here, please be in here, please…

I immediately lit up as I saw my father sitting on the couch in the living area. I tried flailing my hooves around to get his attention.
After a couple seconds he looked up, his eyes widening. He quickly got up and bolted to the door and opened it, and ushered me and Golden inside.

We rushed in and he quickly closed the door and turned to me, his face showing clear signs of panic. “Okay, what the hell is going on, Seren?! The first thing I hear over the intercom is you being wanted for murder, and before I knew it I was forced to stay in here with Security constantly on my ass about you! I want you to explain yourself, right now!”

I started to sob, and hugged him. “Dad, please! It wasn’t my fault! They tried to kill Golden for no good reason! I… I had to defend her!”

“No good reason?” He pointed at Golden, raising his voice. “Seren, isn’t she the one who poisoned her mother?! And yet you choose to defend her? Are you out of your mind?!”

I heard Golden start to whimper, finally pushing me past my breaking point. I slapped my father as hard as I could and screamed, “No! She didn't do that! Shut the fuck up!”

I didn’t realize what I had done until I saw my father stumble backwards, still stunned at what I did. “Dad, I’m so sorry!” I shouted, helping him up. I hugged him and burrowed my head into his chest, sobbing. “I… I didn’t mean to do that! It was just you were shouting and then I—”

“It’s… it’s fine, Seren,” my father said hastily, rubbing my back for comfort. “I was just… so worried about you…” I looked up at his wistful face with tears still in my eyes. “Look, Seren, I know that you can’t stay here for long, but I need answers.” He then took a glance at Golden. “And maybe some proper introductions are in order.”

I nodded and let go of the hug, wiping the tears from my eyes. He walked back to the chair he was sitting on. I turned to Golden and said, “Golden, this is my father. His name is Oculus.”

Golden looked up, still a bit hurt from earlier. “Well,” she softly said, “he certainly looks like you…”

Well, maybe a little. We had the same shade of gray for our coat color but that was about it. My father wasn’t even a unicorn; he was an earth pony. He also had dull blue eyes and a white mane and tail.

“Well... I love you, Seren.” I heard my father say shakily from the chair.

I was confused at the sudden remark. “Um… I love you too, Dad, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Security has orders to kill you,” he replied in a very sad voice. “They told me upfront… They’ve checked here multiple times already, threatening to even arrest me just because I’m your father. I managed to stop their pestering by convincing them that I would turn you in if you came here.”

A sudden chill ran up my spine. “D-dad… you wouldn't actually do that, w-would you?”

“If I was, I would’ve done it already,” he replied. I sighed in relief, but then he continued. “It really wouldn’t matter anyway. You’re going to die either way, so I guess I'll leave it up to you. If you want me to turn you in, I’ll… do it.” He shook his head, his eyes shut to keep the tears from falling. “This is just too much for me… I… I don’t want to lose you Seren… you are all I have left… what will I do if you die?”

He then got up and walked over to a table across the room and picked up a framed picture. As he lifted it up, I recognized it immediately. It was a picture of my mother smiling with her foreleg wrapped around me. I was only a filly then, but I knew that was the last picture we took before she died.

He held the picture in his hooves, wistfully staring into it. “Do you remember your mother, Seren? Do you remember Cosmosia?”

I quietly replied, “Vaguely.”

He continued, slowly shaking his head, his voice trembling. “Oh, she would have been so proud of you... she would have loved to see the fine mare you grew to be...” He let out a sigh. “I’m not sure how she would feel about this.” He then put the picture back on the table and gently laid it face down.

I wanted to ask him more about her, but… “Dad. That actually brings me to why I'm here. Golden and I don't plan on dying.”
My father turned around and looked at me in complete disbelief. “You… plan to kill all the other twenty-nine Security ponies in the stable?”

“No,” I said. “I'm planning to leave the stable with Golden.”

He froze, before muttering, “Are… are you insane!? Nopony ever leaves the stable!”

I shot him a glare, letting him know I was dead serious.

His ears drooped down as he said, “Holy shit, you are really planning to do it…” He then tried to talk me out of it. “Seren, honey, please! Do you know how awful the wasteland is?!”

I quickly shot back. “You know I know you are just as clueless as I am.” I softened my expression. “I'm sorry, Dad… it’s our only option.”

He hung his head and muttered, “I can't... I can’t even…” He then walked to the kitchen area and came back to the chair carrying a large bottle of whiskey in his mouth. He put it on the table, sat down, and took a sip.

At that point I looked through the window and saw that Security was passing by the residence again. “Shit! Golden, get to the bedroom, quick!”

We both bolted to the bedroom. My heart stopped when I heard a knock at the door. Golden became instantly stricken with terror. “Seren, you don't th—”

“I don’t know!” I hissed. “Just be quiet…”

I heard Oculus say, “I'm coming.” He opened the door and we were able to hear the conversation, and to make matters worse, I heard a voice I never thought I would hear.

“Good evening, Oculus. A bit early to be hitting the booze, isn't it?”

Even Oculus seemed surprised that she appeared. “Wha… Fairlaw? What are you doing here?”

“Oh you know, just checking up… making sure you aren’t hiding anyone from me.” Golden and I both started to shake uncontrollably. If Fairlaw ordered another search, we would most definitely be found. I sat there and prayed to Celestia that would not happen.

“Look Fairlaw,” I heard my father say. “Your goons have already turned this place over twice, and—”

He was interrupted by the sound of a revolver cocking. I heard Fairlaw shout, “My WHATS!?”

My father stuttered and said, “Um, y-your Security team, I mean!”

She hmph’ed in response. “That’s better. You will treat Security with respect. Anyway, I think another search of your residence is in order.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” my father said, “it’s been twenty minutes!”

“Yeah, and?”

“Do you honestly think anything has changed?”

Just then I heard a new voice. A mare. “Umm, Miss Fairlaw, with all due respect, twenty minutes is a pretty short time interval between searches…”

Oculus continued. “And besides, I even told Security that if I saw them I would turn them in.”

“Did he say that?” asked Fairlaw. “I can’t remember.”

The mare’s voice replied again. “He did, Miss Fairlaw.”

“Well,” said Fairlaw. “This is your daughter we’re talking about here, and frankly I don’t think you would have the guts to report her. I think you're lying.”

My father scoffed. “Bitch, I don’t even—”

BANG!

The sound of glass shattering echoed through the bedroom door. My heart skipped a beat, but I could easily guess what it was she’d shot.

“Don’t you ever call me that again,” growled Fairlaw.

My father didn’t seem fazed from the shot. “Well, thanks. That was my last whiskey,” he droned.

“Yeah, well, tough shit,” she snapped back.

“Look,” said my father, “Point is, I don’t care about Seren anymore. As a matter of fact, you see that picture over there?”

“Yeah, what of it?” asked Fairlaw.

“That’s a picture of Seren and her mother. The reason why it's face down is because I don’t care about her anymore. I already lost my wife, and now the same’s going to happen to my daughter. The fucking stable can take everything I have at this point and I wouldn’t care, so I swear to Celestia and Luna that if I see them I will turn them in. Okay?”

For a brief moment it went quiet. All I could hear in the background were the lockdown sirens. Then Fairlaw broke the silence by saying, “Fine. I will send two ponies here in a half-hour for another search. And Oculus, let me tell you something.” Her voice suddenly grew dark. “My revolver has one bullet left, and if I find out you were lying, I will personally see that it ends up in the back of your head, and I will make Seren watch. Got it?”

Oculus quietly replied, “Yes, I understand.”

I heard her holster her revolver. “Good.” Then I heard her trot out into the hallways, shouting, “Everyone, back to your routes!” With that, the door clamped shut.

Golden and I were still in a state of complete shock and terror. Oculus stumbled into the room and threw himself on the bed. “Fuck it, what’s the point anymore?” he groaned.

“Dad?” I timidly asked. “Where were you all day?”

He sighed and said, “I really didn’t want to tell you until it was ready, but down in maintenance, I discovered a small sealed-off part of the stable. Not even the Overmare knows about it. It’s pretty spacious and could make a decent shelter, so I started fortifying it. I was planning on sleeping there tonight and being back by the time you woke up tomorrow morning, but I came back here because I thought it would be suspicious if the father of one of the ponies wanted for murder just so happened to be missing.”

“Why?” I quietly asked.

“If Stable 64 ever comes under attack, I’ll be able to get ponies in there and potentially save hundreds of lives.” He got out of the bed stood up and said, “Would you like me to mark its location on your PipBuck?”

I thought for a moment, and quietly replied, “I’m not sure how it would help me in any way, but I guess it couldn’t hurt.”

I stuck out my foreleg as he walked over, brought up my map, and marked the location. I looked at the map and saw the location, and nodded. “Okay, thank you.”

He nodded back, and firmly said, “Right. We need to get you out of here.” He then walked over to a floor safe in the corner of the room, opened it and gave me a large hunting knife. “If you find any security ponies anywhere else in Residential, sneak up behind them and stab them in the back.” He then gave me a round metal device I have never seen before.

“Uhh, dad? What’s this?" I asked.

“That is a Stealth-Buck,” he replied. “It lets you turn invisible for a healthy amount of time, and they are very rare. Only use it if you absolutely need to.”

I put it away, smiled, and croaked, “Thank you, dad.”

He looked at me and said with a trembling voice, “Well… I guess that’s it then…”

I started to get misty-eyed as I walked over to him and gave him one last hug. At that moment, we both broke into tears. My father said, “No matter what happens, you will always be in my thoughts. Please stay safe, honey…”

“I love you, dad,” I whispered to him with tears in my eyes.

With that, we finally let go of each other. He looked over to Golden, who was also trying as hard as she could not to cry. “I’m sorry that all of this happened to you, Golden,” he said. She glanced up at him as he continued. “I know you didn’t do anything wrong, and don’t worry, Seren will protect you with her life.”

I gave a brisk nod in agreement.

“T-thank you,” said Golden.

“Well, you both better leave, Security will be back here soon,” he said.

We both ran into the living space and looked out the window. After seeing no patrols, we exited the residence and swiftly made our way further down the hallway.


---


After a few minutes of sneaking that felt like hours, we finally made it to the last hallway in Residential. Golden and I were both still high on adrenaline, and fortunately I didn’t have to use the hunting knife even once.

I took a peek around the corner, and saw a security pony patrolling the entire hallway. At the other end of the hallway to the right, I saw the staircase that led up to the atrium. Unfortunately, the security pony was pacing up and down the hallway, making it impossible for us to get by her without getting caught. I didn’t want to use the Stealth-Buck because I felt like it wasn’t worth it just to kill one pony. I didn’t want to use the hunting knife either, but… the way she was patrolling gave us no choice.

I then saw her turn around and start walking in our direction. I pulled back from the corner and brought the knife to my face. As I heard her hoofsteps come closer, I became more anxious as my heart started beating faster. I knew that there was no way for me or Golden to hide from her. No matter what we did, she would see us, so I would have to kill her quickly by aiming for her neck.

…oh Celestia, I’m actually thinking about how to kill her…

As she approached the corner, I jumped in front of her. I heard her gasp right before I plunged the knife deep inside her neck. After stabbing her, I motioned Golden to follow me. We said nothing as she bled out while we ran up the stairs leading to the atrium floor.

We finally got to the main atrium floor. The lockdown alarms could still be heard and the hallways were still lit in that awful shade of red. Coming up into this floor, I knew killing Security would be unavoidable here and I cringed at the thought of having to having to kill more innocent ponies.

The moment we got to the top of the stairs, a security pony saw us and screamed, “HEY! Stop right there!” She started galloping towards us with her pistol drawn. We quickly darted to the left into a hallway, and before we knew it we were at a dead end. Having no other choice, I pulled out my shotgun and readied it. “Stay behind me, Golden,” I said sharply.

Then I saw the security pony round the corner, and saw me levitating the shotgun, stopping her dead in her tracks. I pointed the shotgun at her head and coldly said, “Take as much as one shot at us and I will blow your head clean off.”

It was at that point that the security pony took off her helmet. When I saw who it was, my heart sank. I took a few steps back as I stuttered, “A-Arcanea?!”

She glared at me icily and said, “What was that about blowing my head off?”

My magical grip on the shotgun started to falter. “D-don’t make me do it, Arcanea, ‘cause… I will if you shoot!”

At that moment, I was expecting her to just shoot us right then and there, but then I saw her soften her expression. “I’m supposed to kill you on sight,” she said.

I looked into her eyes, now visible with sadness. “Wait… are you...?”

She glared at me again, before letting out a deep sigh, holstering her pistol. “I can’t… I’ve never had to kill a pony before, let alone a friend…”

I was relieved to finally meet a pony that didn’t want to blast me in the face. I lowered my shotgun and said, “Arcanea, can you please help me and Golden get out of here?”

She tilted her head. “Well, if you’re planning on leaving the stable, the only way you can do that is through the Overmare’s office since Security barricaded the hallway leading to the door.”

“I know,” I said, “and that’s where we’re going, but I need you to help clear out the atrium first. I… I don’t want to have to kill any more ponies…”

She thought for a moment and said, “How about you and I shoot each other?”

“W-what?!” I exclaimed. “Arcanea, I’m not going to shoot you!”

She raised a hoof, stopping me as she continued. “You hit me and hide in that utility closet there.” She pointed at a sealed door to my right. “When they come to check on me, I’ll tell them that you ran back into Residential, and when they all go down there, you two can make a break for it. It won’t be long, but it should be enough time for you two to get inside her office.”

I still didn’t want to shoot her, but as far as plans go I didn’t have any, so I nodded and said, “Okay, let’s do it.”

“Alright,” she said. She then walked over to the utility closet and unlocked the door with her key card. She went back and when we were in position, we aimed at each other. “Non-lethal,” she said. I nodded, and with that, we both shot. I was able to hit her in the leg, and as soon as she fell both Golden and I darted into the utility closet.

The closet itself was very cramped and there was barely enough room to fit two ponies. Almost instantly, I heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching, and then I heard a muffled female voice shout, “Arcanea! What happened?!”

I cringed as I heard Arcanea grunting in pain, before she muttered, “Th-they shot me and… w-went down to Residential…”
“Right,” the female voice said. “Let’s go!”

Then I heard another female voice say, “Hey guys, I’m going to look after Arcanea!”

I recognized the voice right away. It was Liaison, who was a very kind pony from A-shift, and was Arcanea's best friend.
But she was also Fairlaw's daughter.

I knew she didn’t have any problems with me normally, but I highly doubted she would let us go, especially seeing how seemingly determined she was to walk in her mother’s hoofsteps because by tradition if something were to happen to Fairlaw, her daughter would take her place. Everypony in Security knew that she was too timid and kind for a Head Security position, or even Security in general. The only reason she was in Security besides tradition was to make Fairlaw proud of her. She also acted tougher and more courageous than she actually was for the same reason.

I then heard Arcanea say, “N-no, Liaison! I’m fine! Just go down and search Residential with the others. I can take care of myself!”
“No, you need medical attention! Just hang tight, I’ll get you some healing potions!”

After hearing her gallop away, I heard two knocks on the door. I quickly opened it and we both emerged from the closet. I looked down to my left and saw Arcanea sitting against the wall, the wound on her leg still bleeding.

“Here, drink this,” I said, bringing out my last two healing potions. I brought the potion to her mouth and tipped it, getting her to drink it. After the second potion, the wound slowly closed up and the bleeding stopped. She let out a relieved sigh and said, “Thanks.”

At that moment, I hugged her and said, “Thanks for everything, Arcanea…”

She slowly returned the hug and said, “Well, that’s what friends are for, right?”

I finally let go and stared at her, probably for the last time. “I’m going to miss you, and dad, and everyone…”

She smiled. “I’m gonna miss you, too.” She then glanced at Golden, then to me. “You both take care now, alright?”

I nodded, and with that, we both said our goodbyes and walked down the hall towards the atrium.

Upon entering, I saw Liaison coming down from one of the staircases levitating a couple of healing potions. When she saw us, she yelped, and started drawing her pistol. I quickly drew my shotgun, causing her to flinch. “I don’t want to hurt you, Liaison!” I shouted. “Just let me and Golden through!”

I could already see the fear in her eyes, but she held her ground and kept her pistol aimed at us. “I… I can’t do that, Seren! Orders are orders!”

I cautiously took a step forward. “Look, Liaison, you don’t have to do this. Fairlaw—”

“Stop! D-don’t take another step!” she shouted.

I stopped. Then, carefully, I said, “Just… lower your gun and let us through, then I won’t have to hurt you, or Fairlaw.”

She scowled and started approaching us, making us back away. “Y-you… you killed innocent ponies, and now you tried to kill Arcanea, my friend!”

I firmly kept my shotgun aimed at her, but it didn’t seem to deter her at all. “L-look,” I stammered, “I can explain, just—”

“No!” she shouted. “I’m- I’m not scared of you Seren! I’m gonna make my mother proud and I’ll do it by killing you!”

She fired two shots at us, forcing us to run back down the hall, this time towards the cafeteria.

Upon entering through the back door, I saw Liaison appear at the front door pointing her pistol at us. “I’m not an idiot, Seren!” she shouted. “I know this stable like the back of my hoof! You will not escape me!”

“Liaison, I don’t want to have to kill you!” I shouted back. “Just let us go!”

“NO!” she screamed. “I’m not sure if you know this yet, Seren, but I’m going to become the Head of Security someday, and I need to set a good example!” She fired another shot at us again, causing me and Golden to duck behind the nearest table.

“Fine,” I muttered. “Have it your way.” I got up from the table and fired two shots at her, one of them hitting her and causing her to flinch. While she was distracted, I ran towards her with my baton and smacked her in the head as hard as I could, causing her to tumble to the side and fall down onto the ground. She looked up at me with panic in her eyes and tried to get up, but I smacked her again this time on the back, pushing her back down.

At that point, her whole body was trembling. “P-please, I’m s-sorry! I-I’ll let you go, just please don’t kill me!”

I looked down at her and glared. “Begging for mercy, huh? You didn't seem to want to show me any a second ago.”

She looked off to the side and said, “I-it’s my job, Seren. Just… let me go and I promise I won’t tell anypony I saw you here!”

I sighed and said, “I'm sorry, Liaison, but... I can't take that chance.” With one more swing of the baton, I knocked her out cold. Golden gasped at the sight, but I ignored it and said, “Give me the shotgun, Golden! We need to get out of here before Security comes back!”

As Golden walked over to me while levitating the shotgun, she asked, “You didn’t—” she gulped, “—kill her… did you, Seren?” 
I looked down at her in sadness and said, “No. She’s still breathing.”

Golden let out a sigh of relief. I grabbed the shotgun with my own magic and cocked it back, and with that, we both got up and made our way out of the cafeteria. We then went up the stairs that led up to the Overmare’s office, grabbing the two healing potions that Liaison left behind.

We made it to the door to the Overmare's living space. Much to my surprise, it was unprotected. Golden quickly went to work to hacking the door. She then let out a grunt and said, “this one may take a while…”

I instantly became worried as I knew Security would come back up any minute, see Liaison's unconscious body and immediately rush up to inform Fairlaw of her daughter’s injuries. I couldn’t use the Stealth-Buck because one of us would still be caught. I started to sweat bullets. I could see that Golden was just as worried, trying as hard as she could to hack the door as quickly as she could.

Finally, after a couple minutes, the door slid open. “I… I can’t believe I did that so fast,” she said in amazement.

“Me neither, Golden, but come on. We gotta get in there before Security gets back!” I said.

At that moment, I heard a voice from the atrium shout, “Everypony, back to your stations!” Wasting no time, we got through the door before it snapped shut behind us. Golden fiddled with the door a bit, before saying, “I made it so that the door can’t be opened from outside, so nopony will be able to follow us.”

Suddenly, out of the Overmare's office walked a scowling Fairlaw, levitating her revolver and pointing it at us.

I pointed my shotgun at her. She just stood there unnerved, glaring at us, not saying a word, so I decided to break the silence and said, “Good evening… Miss Fairlaw.”

Her brow furrowed even more, intensifying her glare.

“Look, Fairlaw,” I said, “Do you think I wanted all of this to happen? Because I really didn’t. I refuse to let Golden die just because of a suspicious file and with no evidence to prove she committed any sort of crime. I didn’t want to kill anypony…” I paused, with tears starting to form in my eyes.

Fairlaw just stared at us with pure resentment in her eyes. I spoke again and said, “Fairlaw, please… the very last thing I want to do is hurt you, but I will if I have to. Please just let me and Golden leave…”

“And give me one good reason to do that,” she finally said through gritted teeth.

I gulped and meekly replied, “Nopony else will have to die…”

“Oh, like that really fucking matters to you,” she retorted. “If it did, you wouldn’t have killed any of my security ponies to get up here. Give it a rest, you bitch!”

Just then we heard a voice on Fairlaw’s radio. “Fairlaw, are you there?” asked a muffled voice. “We have very serious news! Your daughter was found unconscious in the cafeteria!”

A chill ran down my spine when I saw her eyes widen in shock. The pony continued. “she’s still alive but she’s knocked out and there is a bruise on her back! We also found a security baton not too far from the body! We think Seren did it! We haven’t found her yet, but we’ll keep a lookout for her!”

“T-thank you. Proceed with first aid Protocol,” she said shakily.

Fairlaw stood there for a few moments. “Y-you hurt Liaison…” she managed to stutter, before letting out a loud cry in rage. “That’s it! I'm fucking done with you two! Nopony EVER hurts my daughter! Now you die! You first, spy cunt!” She then pointed the revolver at Golden and fired, hitting her in the chest, causing her to stumble back and fall onto the ground. She then pointed her revolver at me, and I flinched as she cocked it back.

Click.

Fairlaw let loose a particularly vile oath. It looked like her revolver actually lived up to its name. In lieu of a bullet, Fairlaw simply threw the gun at my still-blinking eyes. I reacted faster, however, and simply ducked low to avoid the improvised projectile as I whipped my shotgun up to chest level.

Suddenly, I saw Fairlaw charging straight at me with her taser drawn. Not wasting a second, I slipped into the cold trance of S.A.T.S. 

Ninety-five percent at point blank.

BLAM! BLAM!

Two blasts of buckshot rocketed straight into Fairlaw’s face. Her body fell to the ground with a thud, ending her reign of “justice.”

It was only then I noticed Golden behind me, who was lying on the floor in a growing pool of blood, choking as she was barely hanging on to life. “Golden!” I quickly ran to her and brought my hooves to hold her head up, trying to comfort her. “Golden, please don’t die… please, stay with me!” I hastily brought one of Liaison’s healing potions to her mouth, urging her to drink it. “I’m not gonna let you die! Drink this, quick!”

I poured the contents of the potion into her mouth, slowly closing up the wound in her chest. I urged her to drink the last two healing potions to heal it, and with that, the bleeding stopped as the skin quickly sewed itself back together. She stopped choking as her breathing normalized, allowing her to shakily get back up on her hooves.

I was exhausted and could have used one for myself, but Golden's survival was more important to me and I was going to make sure she left the stable, even if I died trying to make it happen. Golden stood up and said to me with tears in her eyes, “T-thank you…”

She hugged me tightly, and I returned the hug as I smiled back. “You’re welcome…” I let go of the hug and said, “Now come on, Golden. Let’s confront the Overmare and get out of here.”

She gave a confident nod, and with that, we both walked into the Overmare’s office.

When we arrived, the Overmare was seated at her round desk, with a pistol visible on the top. “Hello, my little ponies!” she gleefully greeted us, making me cringe. “What can your Overmare do for you this evening?”

We both just glared at her, not saying a word. She continued and said, “My, my… you two look awful! How about you both take a nap in the guest room? Or perhaps I could get you some tea?!”

The fact that the Overmare was being so nonchalant about this made it obvious that she was playing her mind games on us. I wasn’t falling for it, so I said, “You know why we’re here, Overmare. Just give us the Stable 64 Defense Plan and we’ll leave quietly.”

Suddenly, the Overmare’s voice became very cold. “Oh, is that all you want? Do you really expect me to just simply give you the stable’s most valuable document and let you leave? Just like that?” She stood up from her chair, slamming her hooves down on the desk. “Let me ask you something, Seren. Why do you choose to help her?”

I took a bold step forward as I shouted, “Because she’s my friend and she doesn’t deserve to die!”

A knowing smirk creased the Overmare’s features. “Oh? She doesn’t deserve to die? What about the other ponies that you’ve killed to get up here, huh? Did they deserve to die?”

I tried to respond, but nothing came out of my mouth; I was at a loss for words. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. Those ponies didn’t deserve to die… they were just doing their jobs. I hung my head in shame and became lost in thought, causing me to drop the shotgun I was levitating to the floor.

The Overmare noticed this, and smugly said, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. You know what you did was abhorrent, and now you realize your mistakes.”

My train of thought was just a jumbled mess. Throughout my entire life I always tried to do the right thing. I only wanted to help Golden leave the stable because she doesn’t deserve to die and because she’s my friend, but I never wanted to kill anypony.

But I did. And I did it four times.

I was a murderer…

I started to tear up, when all of a sudden I heard Golden say, “Maybe none of this would have happened if you weren't so fixated on having me killed, with no proof I did anything wrong. If you just gave me a chance to explain to yo—”

“Be quiet, you cunt!” the Overmare shouted, cutting Golden off. “And don’t get me started on you, traitorous little bitch! You are the catalyst for ALL OF THIS! I know that you’re a spy, here to sabotage the stable! MY STABLE! And you think your little ‘sleeper agent’ message wasn’t obvious enough?! If you think you’re going to get out of my stable alive, then I will personally shove this pistol up your plot and fire upwards and—”

BLAM!

The Overmare fell onto the ground. She yelled in pain and clutched her right foreleg, which was now seeping with blood. I turned to my left and saw Golden levitating my shotgun with her magic, the barrel still smoking. Then I heard her mutter through gritted teeth, “Shut. Up.” As she dropped the shotgun to the floor.

“Golden, what did you—”

Before I could finish asking the question, I saw her run to the Overmare’s terminal and said, “Seren, hold her down!”

I glanced at the struggling Overmare, who was trying to get up and muttering obscenities towards us. I went over to her and pressed a hoof against her torso to pin her to the floor. Golden then asked her, “What’s the password to your terminal?”

The Overmare responded, “Give me one reason that I should tell you, you treacherous cunt!”

Golden glanced at me and tilted her head towards the shotgun, and said, “Seren.”

I picked up on her hint. I took hold of the shotgun with my magic again and levitated it towards the Overmare’s head, and pushed it against her skull.

The Overmare let out a loud, agonized growl, followed by a hopeless sigh and said, “The password is… ‘tranquility’.”
Golden entered the password into the terminal, and immediately went to work. After a few moments of typing, she turned to me and asked, “Do you know where I can get a download cable?”

I looked down and glared at the Overmare. She wilted under my gaze and said with resignation, “In the guest room… in one of the drawers…”

Golden trotted away from the terminal and into the guest room. I heard her rummaging through lockers and drawers, until she finally came back levitating a cable. Without wasting any time, she went back to the terminal, connected it to her PipBuck, and started downloading a file, which I assumed was the defense plan. After a bit more typing into the keyboard, she turned around and the Overmare’s desk began to rise a few feet, revealing a set of stairs leading down to an underground passage.

Then I heard the Overmare mutter below me, “There, you won. Happy?” I glanced down to her as she continued. “Can you please let me up and just leave my Stable?”

Golden nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go, Seren.”

I got off of the Overmare. I struggled a bit to regain my balance before following Golden down into the passage.


---


After a bit of walking down the passageway, we emerged and found ourselves in a small enclosed area within the stable’s entrance room. The area we were in had a set of terminals and other mechanisms lined up against the wall. A large, rectangular window with curved edges was carved into the wall, revealing the rest of the stable’s entrance room. To the far right, there was a closed door with a sign above it saying, “DANGER: ACTIVE TURRETS INSIDE, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.”

Golden sat down and examined her PipBuck, then asked me, “Hey Seren, would you like to see the defense plan?”

I nodded and walked over to her as she stretched out her hoof, revealing the file on the PipBuck to me. Before I read it I said, “Let’s see what we risked life and limb for…”

The Stable 64 Defense Plan

In the event of an attack, the security team will mobilize to the [DATA CORRUPTED - FILE CANNOT BE READ] through the Stable’s emergency service tunnel located in the room with DMT1.

Turret Deactivation Code
F0E220112PHOS

Turret Activation Code
120316OSF0E0H

Emergency Service Tunnel Code (enter into DMT1)
101424HEF0EOS

Stable Door Override Code
F0EOC122511

Stable Door Room Lockdown Code
FSAJRRDTSPPS_42X310//

“So Golden, what do you make out of these?” I asked her.

“Well, I have to enter the first code in the terminal or else the turrets will kill us,” she responded. She then got up and walked over to the terminal.

I didn’t think Golden was in that weird trance state again, but something was off about her. Being curious, I asked, “Golden, are you… okay? You don’t seem like yourself.”

She let out a deep sigh and slowly turned to me. She timidly said, “I… it’s just… after all the times that you’ve helped me and stood up for me, I felt that… I should start doing the same…”

I approached her and laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey. We wouldn’t have gotten here if we weren’t in this together.” I gave a soft smile to her. “Even in Residential, you were willing to pull through it all. Heck, if you weren’t watching my back, things probably would’ve ended very differently.”

She gave a soft smile in response.

I tried to further lighten up the mood by saying, “Hey. At least you didn’t faint on me while we were going through Residential.”

She chuckled lightly and softly said, “Yeah… I guess so… Let me put these codes in, and then we can finally leave this place.” She then turned back to the terminal and typed in a few words on the keyboard. After a keystroke, I saw the turrets in the entrance room stop moving, and the light of the sign over the door flickered out.

“Now for the door,” muttered Golden.

I approached the window to see what was going to happen. Just then I heard the alarms go off in the room as the various mechanisms of the door began sliding into place. Then I heard a hiss of steam, followed by the sound of scraping metal as I saw the giant gear-like plate slowly being pulled inwards. When the scraping stopped, the door slowly rolled off to the side, revealing only complete darkness and… dirt?

We walked out into the entrance room. Golden stared out into the darkness with fear in her eyes. I said to her, “This is it. We made it.”

“Y-yeah, we sure did,” said Golden, obviously trying to hold back her fear.

We both slowly walked to the open door. It was at this point that I decided to turn on the flashlight on my PipBuck, with Golden doing the same. I took in one more deep breath, before letting it out and said, “Okay… here we go.”

With that, we went through the stable entrance and started walking down the cave. For the first time ever I had walked on a surface that wasn’t metallic or carpet. The feeling of dirt under my hooves felt very strange, almost as if I was sinking into it. I tried not to pay it much mind, and trotted on, further into the darkness.

At that moment, I noticed that I wasn’t hearing another set of hoofsteps behind me, so I stopped and turned around to check on Golden. “Hey, Golden?” I called out to her.

She just stood there, looking back at the stable entrance, the lights of the stable being the only source of illumination in this dark… cave. I knew she was hesitant on leaving, and honestly I couldn’t blame her. The stable was the only home we had, and the only place that we knew and were familiar with.

I trotted back to her and said, “Golden? You coming?”

She shook her head to snap herself out of her thoughts. “Yeah, sorry, I was just… taking one look back…”

Suddenly, there was the hiss of steam and the sound of moving metal, and moments later the door sluggishly rolled back to its original position. With a loud scraping sound, it finally sealed shut, plunging us into darkness, our PipBuck lights being the only source of illumination.

I looked on and said, “Well, no turning back now.” I glanced at Golden, her eyes still fixated on the door. I tapped her on the shoulder. She looked at me, which then I said, “We better get going.”

She weakly nodded, and with that, we both continued walking into the darkness, not knowing on what lies ahead of us.

After a few minutes of walking through the cave, in the distance I noticed a faint glow, perhaps an opening of some kind. I motioned Golden to follow me, and we both ran towards it.

Before we knew it, right before our eyes, we had reached the Equestrian Wasteland.

---------------------

Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Security Mode - Maybe some of the skills you learned as a security mare can be of use to you in the Wasteland. Your Melee Weapons and Sneak skills are increased by 5.
> Chapter 3 - Enter Manehattan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I took my first steps into the world. I was shocked into silence at the bleak stillness of the wasteland as the cold, dead air chilled my skin. I couldn't see much because of the darkness; all I was able to make out were a few small hills in front of us. There was not a building, nor town, nor pony in sight. It was just me and Golden.

Golden and I stood outside the cave, staring out into the desolation. We stood there quietly for minutes that felt like hours, until Golden broke the silence. “So... this is the Equestrian Wasteland, huh?”

“Well, it really doesn't have much to it,” I replied. Not that I expected it to; it was called a wasteland for a reason.

“Seren?” My ears perked from the sound of my name. I turned my head to see Golden standing there, shivering. “S-shouldn't we get going? I'm cold and tired... we need to get to Manehattan.”

“Yeah, we should,” I said, “but let me check a couple things first, mainly where we are. Hopefully we can set a destination.”

It was clear that we were beyond exhausted, and we wouldn’t be able to get to Manehattan without getting some sleep, so we needed to find shelter fast. I looked at the map on my PipBuck, but it offered little help – all I saw was a mess of green lines that faded to black near the outer edges of the display. It seemed that the only option was for us to travel south on hoof towards Manehattan and hope to the goddesses that we didn’t faint from exhaustion. Or get attacked by somepony or something. I didn't know who inhabited the wasteland, but I knew we should keep our guard up.


---


After a few hours of walking through nothing but pitch-black darkness, I was beginning to think we wouldn't find Manehattan. I hoped Golden wasn't wrong about its location. I looked ahead of me and noticed Golden, who was moving at a trot. Which would be a normal pace... if we both weren't equally exhausted, and I knew for a fact that I was stronger than her. I hoped she wasn't slipping back into that trance. I really didn't have the energy to deal with that again.

Golden was walking about twenty feet ahead of me. It was at this point that I asked her, “Hey, Golden? Can you stop for a minute?”

She did and turned around, then responded, in a colder tone than normal, “What?”

As I approached her, I noticed her pupils had contracted slightly. I suggested, "Maybe we should find some shelter and get some rest. I’m exhausted."

"Why does that matter? All we need to do is get this file to Manehattan and we will be able to relax all we want," she responded, her voice nearly emotionless. I was becoming annoyed, since that didn't seem like something Golden would normally say.

I did not want to lose Golden again. I had to do something, and fast. I quickly rushed over to her and put a hoof around her. I tried to say in a sincere voice, "Golden… I really think it would be best if we found some shelter. Now come on, we’re in this together, aren't we?” hoping it would somehow snap her out of her trance.

I saw her glare and take a few steps away from me. "I can do this either with or without you," she said, her voice now completely cold and robotic. She then started walking at least twice as fast as she was before. "Come on, we need to get to Manehattan." Before I could respond, she took off, galloping full blast, disappearing into the darkness.

I knew I was too exhausted to run, but I fought my fatigue and pushed myself to try and catch up with her. No matter how fast I ran, I still couldn’t keep up. I was panting and I felt like my chest was on fire, but I mustered all the strength I could and shouted, “Golden! Stop! ...Please!”

It was no use. The only sound I heard in response was that of her rapidly galloping away. I couldn’t keep up with her anymore. Finally, my legs gave out and I collapsed onto the ground. I slowly lifted myself up, struggling to catch my breath as I heard Golden’s running slowly become consumed by the haunting winds of the wasteland. I looked ahead of me for some sense of direction, but I was met with nothing but barren hills and darkness.

A haunting chill went up my spine the moment I realized that I was alone in the middle of nowhere. I started to panic. I frantically searched my surroundings, looking for some kind of shelter, or even a landmark. There was nothing. The ground as far as I could see was nothing but cracked dirt and rocks.

I finally gave up and sat onto the ground on my haunches, breaking into tears. I was exhausted, I had no idea where I was, I had no idea how to survive, and my only friend out here had just run off. I took fleeting solace in the fact that Golden couldn’t be having it any easier than me, and she had to stop sometime.

Angrily blinking back tears, I pulled out my shotgun and checked for ammo. Not a single shell. The damn thing was little more than a glorified club now. I almost screamed in frustration as I tossed it into the dirt.

That was it. Alone, exhausted, and defenseless. It would only be a matter of time before I died.

All I could do was curl myself up in a ball, as tightly as I could, and wonder whether it would be the numbing cold or something else that got me first. Unable to go on any longer, I passed out from exhaustion.


---


My eyes flickered open to the sight of a gray wall, cracks running along its surface like spiderwebs. I tried to move my legs, but for some reason I was having trouble moving them, and something was causing a strange rattling sound.

Still barely awake, I looked down at my hooves to see metal cuffs, one around each of my hooves, held together by chains. 
A feeling of dread started to grow in the pit of my stomach. What’s going on? Where am I? Why am I in shackles?

As I became a bit more awake, I noticed my Stable jumpsuit and security barding was missing, as well as my PipBuck.

I turned over and noticed I was in a cell. This was too much to take in; the last thing I remembered was passing out in the wasteland on the verge of death from fatigue. Now I’m here, shackled, in a cell, without any of my items. What happened?

After a few more minutes I got up and walked over to the small mirror on the other side of the room, the chains of my shackled hooves dragging across the cracked, concrete floor. As I expected, I looked awful. My black-and-white mane was stained and messy with countless split ends, I had a collar on, my eyes seemed bloodshot, on my horn was a magic suppressing horn ring, and upon seeing this, all I had was a growing list of questions.

Where am I? Why am I in a cell? Why am I shackled? Where’s my PipBuck and Stable attire? Why am I here? Why do I have a collar on?  A hundred questions ran through my mind at once, but unable to do anything, I just sat down and hoped that whoever put me in this cell would show up and answer most, if not all, of them.


---


I must have been sitting here for an hour or longer, I thought to myself. All my questions were still unanswered as I just sat there in an eerie silence, looking at the stone wall on the other side of the cell bars. Just then, my ears perked up to the sound of a metal door opening, followed by multiple sets of hoofsteps coming my way from down the hall. I slowly sat upright on my haunches, anxiously waiting to see the ones that more likely than not put me in this stupid cell in the first place.

A moment later, three earth ponies trotted into my view. The first pony on the left was a, dirty, pink eyed, brown-coated stallion, with an unkempt dark-blue mane and tail, both tipped with small light-blue highlights. The second pony in the middle was a red-coated stallion with a yellow mane and tail wearing a grimy black suit with a red tie, an outfit I saw in pre-war books that ponies used to wear on special occasions. And finally, the third pony at the right was a pink-coated mare with a messy, fuchsia-colored mane and tail.

All of them stood there wordlessly in front of the cell, gazing at me with demented smiles on their faces, until the pink mare blurted out, "HA HA! Looks like she’s finally awake. Hey there, princess, what’s it like being OUR pet?!"

I didn't say anything, and shot her the most intimidating glare I could in response.

"OOH, she looks mad! What are you gonna do, little pony? I’m so scared!"

Just then, she was scolded by the red stallion in the middle, who said in a commanding tone, "Whip, that’s enough! What did I tell you about antagonizing slaves?”

My eyes widened in terror at the use of the word slave. I started to shiver with fear; I had no idea what these ponies planned to do with me.

"You. Stand up!" the suit-wearing pony in the middle commanded.

Having nothing else to do I just obeyed him, and he continued.

"Tell me your name!" he ordered, his cold purple eyes locked onto me.

"S-Seren Starfall," I timidly said, with a nervous gulp.

"HAH! What a gay-ass name," Whip blurted out.

The pony on the left yelled, “Shut the hell up, Whip! Orjusto is trying to talk to the slave!"

Whip cringed and walked away, saying, "Fuck this, I'm going back upstairs..." I heard the metal door open and close again.

Orjusto sighed and said, "I'm sorry you had to see that." It then occurred to me that for a pony who I could only assume was a slave owner, he seemed surprisingly level-headed. Maybe he could be reasoned with.

"Do you know why you are here, or even where you are?" I just looked down and shook my head.

"Well, let me answer some of your questions. We are a small group of slavers. You were found passed out in the wasteland last night by my buddy Driver." He pointed to the pony on his left. "He saw you and decided you would fetch a real nice bundle of caps, or what you would call money."

"I couldn't believe I found a Stable dweller! Do you know how rare you ponies are?” Driver said in a smug tone.

Orjusto continued to explain, "You are now a slave. We will sell you, and the pony who buys you can do whatever he wishes with you. Simple as that. Any questions?"

I knew that what I was about to ask was one of the stupidest things I would have said in my life, but it was still worth a shot. "L-Look sir... I'm nopony special and I'm not really useful... at all... would it be possible for you to, uhh... l-let me go, and just find somepony else? I’m sure there are plenty of ponies that would make better slaves than me."

Orjusto roared in laughter. "GAH HA HA HA HA! That’s cute! You slaves always crack me up! Look, just sit in your cell like a good little pony, Soren, and we’ll have a buyer for you in no time!" I looked down, starting to tear up. "Come on, Driver, we have to go." I looked up at them, weeping. I didn't get a look at Orjusto, but I saw Driver make what looked like a forced smile as he stared back at me.


---


I was pretty sure it was now nighttime. I was lying on the bed. Again. I felt so helpless, it was as if there was no point to my life anymore. I couldn’t use magic because of the horn ring, I could barely walk with these shackles, I had no perception of time or where I was without my PipBuck, and the thought of being sold to somepony who would most likely rape and kill me just made me sick.

It would have been nice if they could have at least given me something to wear. I was so cold I couldn't stand it. I had never felt so exposed and unclean in my life, and to top it off, there was Golden, who was more likely than not dead by now.

I heard the metal door open. I turned towards the bars of the cell to see who it was, and a few seconds later, Driver walked into view. He turned towards me with a somber expression on his face. “Uhh... hi.”

I just looked at him with a constant icy glare, and said in the most unpleasant tone I could manage, "What do you want? Come to drag my self-worth down even further than you already have?"

Driver let out a defeated sigh.

"No, not at all. I just want to talk to you."

I growled as I turned in the bed again to face the wall and said, "Well, I don't really feel like talking right now, Driver. I'm just waiting for you to sell me to some sick fuck who’s just going to use me as a sex toy and then kill me."

Driver then said, "Seren, please, if you would just hear me out, then—"

"NO!" I screamed, cutting him off. I got out of the bed as quickly as I could and stomped up to the bars. "What makes you think I want to hear ANYTHING you have to say to me? What can you and I possibly have to talk about? How can you even sleep at night, knowing that you ruin the lives of innocent wasteland ponies by enslaving them? You are a shit individual who should regret every life choice he ever made and die! And then you just want to talk like nothing ever happened? That’s awful! You are sick! I don't want your sympathy! I don't want your excuses or apologies! I just want you to go and die in a ditch! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!" I stood there for a moment, shocked at my own words, until finally my icy scowl returned.

I started slowly walking back to the bed, but on my way I took one more stare at Driver and saw him looking at me, his eyes wide with shock. I turned back and continued towards the bed. Just before I laid back down, I heard the sound of hoofsteps, starting out loud, but growing more distant. I laid back down on the bed, looking at the bars where Driver had been. A few seconds later I heard the door open and close.

I curled up into tighter ball on the bed, starting to regret what I said. What if he really did feel bad and wanted to get me out of here? I thought to myself, Did I just lose my only chance to be saved from this place?

My mind started to race, with another part of me thinking, No, Seren, you did the right thing, telling him off. Why would he let you go? You’re worth a lot of money to them, and he was probably just going to say how being a slave isn't so bad or give you an empty apology.

I just laid in the bed, torn and confused.


---


I was sure a couple more hours had passed, and it had just gotten colder. I had be doing nothing but thinking. Thinking about the kind of pony they would sell me to, thinking about Golden, thinking of finding a way out of here.

Every thought I had just led to death. I didn’t want to give up to the wasteland so easily, but I felt that nothing was stacked in my favor. I prayed to the goddesses for a miracle.

I had been laying in the bed, curled up in a ball, now thinking about just how cold I was when I heard the metal door open. I didn't care who it was. I turned my back to the bars and made it look like I was asleep, as I didn't want to deal with any of the slavers. I heard the hoofsteps come closer and stop.

“Seren… are you awake?” Driver asked in a bit of a distressed tone.

Of course I didn’t respond. After all, why would I? This pony ruined my life. I kept up the facade, hoping he would just go away and leave me to rot in peace. Even being able to hear his voice was more than I was able to bear at this point.

“Seren,” he started again, “if you’re awake, please hear me out, cause I kinda fucked up here real bad.”

My ears twitched a bit when I heard him say that. I didn't know what he was about to say, but he at least had my attention.

“I just got back from an attack we made on a rival slaver group who has been getting a lot of business lately, attempting to take them out, but they were way more powerful than we anticipated and I nearly died!"

I started to chuckle and said with my back still turned to him, “Good, you deserve it. Isn’t life a bitch, Driver?”

“Seren! Please! I’m trying to help you!” he pleaded, agitated. 

“You are now, are you?” I started to turn to face him. “Ok Driver, now tell me all abo-” I stopped when I finally saw what he looked like.

He was clad in what looked like some sort of makeshift barding, splattered with blood and bullet holes in many areas with some parts shot straight through, revealing almost exactly where he had been hit.

I sat up on the bed, still looking at him with wide eyes.

“W-What in Equestria happened to you?” I asked, surprised.

“A failed takedown of a rival slaver group, and I'm pretty sure they are on their way here now to finish us off!”

I was confused. “Umm... what does any of that have to do with me?” I asked while getting off the bed.

Driver glared and said, “I don’t want to risk my life for caps anymore. I’ve had enough, and I just want to be done with this slaver business. I’m just not getting the same rush I used to from it all. If that rival slaver group attacks to finish us off—which they will—I really don't want you dying from it. That's why I’ve come to let you out of here. I don’t need anymore blood on my hooves.”

I was stunned at what I was hearing. Was this pony for real? There was no way this could be happening.

“You're the only enslaved pony we have here, and it would be a pointless waste to let you die. So if it’s ok with you, I’m going to unlock the cell now.” I saw Driver bend his neck down behind the wall and bring his head back up with a ring of keys in his mouth.

I looked on with nothing but pure confusion. I wasn't falling for this, Driver seemed way too shady and this seemed way too good for me to fathom. “Wait a minute,” I said to him just before he put the key in the door.

“What is it?” he responded, causing him to drop the keys he was holding in his mouth. He looked down and glared. “Oh, damn it.”

“I don’t buy this for one second!” I shouted defensively, “So what's the catch? Am I your personal bitch pony or sex slave now? Or perhaps you're going to force me to be your marefriend? Well fuck you! I'm not looking for love! And even if I was, I don’t like your type anyway!”

“Seren,” he said with a look on his face I could only describe as priceless, “you're not MY slave, I want to free you because… I don't think you deserve to die just because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Please just trust me, I promise I mean no malicious intent, or harm. Besides, didn't you want to be freed anyway?”

I gave a sigh of defeat. “FINE, I’ll let you free me, but you do one thing to me and I swear to Celestia I will make you pay.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” he said as he picked up the keys again. He unlocked the door and it opened with an audible metallic creaking. He came up to me. “Ok, now I’m going to have to unlock those shackles, that collar, and take off that horn ring.”

Before he started unlocking my restraints, I asked him, “How are you so sure this rival slaver group will attack?”

“'Cause we showed weakness,” he started saying while he was unlocking the shackles, clenching his teeth to keep the key in his mouth, “They really weren't sure what kind of weapons we had and vice-versa, so they stayed away, but now that they know, they're likely to finish us off.”

He unlocked the shackles first. It was so nice to be able to move my legs normally again. He backed away and gave me a few seconds to stretch before going to unlock the collar and horn ring.

As he started unlocking the other two restraints, he started speaking again. “We didn't even stand a chance. They were slaughtering us with machine gun fire and carbine assault rifles. Hell, even with my best shooting I was only able to take out maybe two or three, if that. I tell ya, it was not pretty."

He finished the story just as he finished unlocking the horn ring. He backed away from me as I ripped off the horn ring, threw it against the wall, and gave a sigh of relief.

“Better?” Driver asked.

“Yes, thank you,” I responded, and thought for a moment. "So... do you know where my PipBuck and stable jumpsuit would be?"

He thought for a moment, then responded, "Well, I remember putting your PipBuck in the safe in Orjusto's office. As for your stable attire... I think Whip may have burned it."

"She WHAT!?" I shouted.

"I remember her snatching them from me asking, ‘what kind of fucking lesbian you were to be wearing that tacky-looking shit?’ Then she took them out back, claiming she was going to burn them. I think she just wanted to spite you."

I was upset about my clothing, but it could be replaced. The PipBuck was all I really needed.

"Driver,” I said, “I can't leave here without my PipBuck."

"I was worried you might say that. If that’s the case, then I may have to kill the two slavers that stayed here to make sure you didn't escape, ‘cuz the moment they see you out of this room, they'll open fire on both of us."

"Do you have any guns of your own?" I asked.

"I'm pretty good with a sawn-off, if my cutie mark wasn't enough of an indication."

It was only then I noticed his cutie mark: a shotgun shell with a blast behind it. I could only assume it meant he specialized in those kinds of weapons.

"Okay, then that will have to do," I said, "We should get going."

We then walked out of the cell and up the stairs to the metal door.

"My shotgun is in the room just on the other side of this door. stay here until you hear two gunshots, okay?"

I nodded, and he went through the metal door. I could hear the muffled voices of other slavers, clearly more than a little inebriated. Just then I heard two gunshots, and ran through the door.

The room was dimly lit and smelt of various liquors, with the majority of the lighting coming from a few neon signs that filled the room with a soft, constant buzz. I was surprised that this place had any power at all. It seemed to be a makeshift rec room with a few faded, reddish-brown couches in the two left corners of the room. The couches had tables in front of them bearing many differing alcoholic beverages, and an assortment of different syringes as well as various other medicinal-looking objects.

"Welcome to Casa de Slaver," said Driver jokingly as he reloaded his sawn-off, "Take a gun from one of the guards."

I looked at him, surprised. "Oh... umm, no thank you, Driver, I’ll just wait 'till I find a gun on my own.”

He gave me a shocked look.

“Are you insane? This is the wasteland! It’s kill or be killed, and it’s also loot or be looted. You won’t survive long if you don't loot the bodies of dead ponies, Seren!”

He did make a very strong point, and it seemed I had no choice. I took a sawn-off and six shells from one of the dead slavers.

I examined the sawn-off I took from the slaver and noticed it looked to be in poor condition. The weapon had bite marks from the pony using it last and it seemed scratched in multiple places, as well as having a bent trigger. What kind of dumpster did they pull this gun out of? I thought to myself.

“Driver?” I asked him, “Will this gun even work? It looks like it's been through tartarus and back!”

He came up, examined the gun, and frowned. “Yeah, I will admit this gun is in real bad shape. That's another reason that the rival slaver group was able to pick us off so easily: poor weapon maintenance. Unfortunately, you’re stuck with it for now.”

I gave a bit of an annoyed grunt.

“Ok,” Driver started, “the main room is just on the other side of this door. From there it’s a straight shot to the exit, but we may have to deal with Orjusto, so just stay near me.”

Driver and I were about to start walking to the door when it opened up, revealing a familiar fuchsia-maned mare. “Driver, you backstabbing cunt!” she screamed.

Driver quickly stepped in front of me. “Whip!? What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be fending off the rival slaver group!”

“I knew you were up to no good! That’s why I followed you back!” she shouted, “You're going to sell the slave and keep all the money for yourself!”

I gasped and jumped from behind him, readying the sawn-off and glaring at him. “Is that true?” I growled.

“No!” Driver yelled.

Whip gasped when she finally got a better look at me. “Y-You unlocked her restraints? Are you out of your fucking mind, Driver!?”

“No, I’m not,” said Driver, “I just don’t want to risk my life for caps anymore. I'm happy with what I have and I'm leaving with her ‘cause... she doesn't deserve to die.”

A smirk grew across Whip’s face. “Ahh, that look in your eyes, that way you're talking. You have a crush on this slave, don't you?”

“No, I don't! And besides, she said she doesn't like my type anyway!” he snapped back at her.

Whip started laughing hysterically. “Y-you mean you mean you a-actually ask-asked her?” she managed to say through her laughing, “Ohh, that is rich. Just shot down like a bitch.” She began to regain her composure. “And speaking of shooting down...” She readied her shotgun and pointed it at me, causing me to point mine at her. “I'm supposed to kill any slaves seen outside of their cells, so...”

Driver readied his own weapon.“Take one shot at her and I will kill you right where you stand,” he said with a glare.

A knowing smirk grew across Whip’s face. “You wouldn't do that to me, Driver. You don't have the guts.”

She started to laugh when a shot rang out right beside her face, startling her and causing her to look at Driver in disbelief. “Try me,” he said in a dark tone, furrowing his brow.

She glared and pointed her gun at him. “Fine then! I’ll just kill you and lock the slave up again! Then everyone wins!”

Just as Whip was about to pull the trigger I said, “Take one shot at him and I will kill you right where you stand,” while aiming at her head.

“Yeah, right,” she said smugly, and shot at Driver.

BANG!

Driver immediately dodged her aim and took a shot at Whip, missing her. She backed away and tried to aim at Driver again, but seemed to forget about me. I had gotten nervous in the heat of the moment and took a shot at Whip, hitting her in the leg rather than the head.

“ARAGGH! FUCKING DAMN IT!” Whip screamed.

She shakily got up and glared at both of us. “Get out now, Whip,” Driver commanded, his voice brimming with hate.

Whip slowly took a few steps backwards towards the door and managed to stutter, "Y-you c-cocksuckers! Don't think this ends here! You just wait! I’ll kill both of you!" And with that, she limped out the door.

“Hey! she's getting away! Let's finish her off!” I said, starting to gallop out the door.

“No, Seren! Let her go!” Driver said to me before I got out the door. 

I looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. “She tried to kill us, Driver,” I said, “We can't let her hurt anymore ponies!”

“Some ponies just aren't worth killing, Seren, and I believe Whip is one of them.”

I let out a sigh of defeat. “Fine… so, I guess it's safe then?”

Driver came up to the door saying, “Should be.” He used one of his forehooves and pushed it open.

We came into the room and were standing in between two staircases. I was able to make out more features as we made it out of the makeshift corridor. The room was spacious but horrible looking. The walls were a sickly yellow color and there were chairs all over the floor. The staircases led to a partially intact second floor overlooking the first floor. There were a few doorways I could see, but some were blocked off.

Upon walking into the middle of the room, we looked around and saw Orjusto standing behind a very long desk on the right side of the room. He glared at us and said, "You betrayed me, Driver."

Driver looked down, saying, "Sorry, Orjusto, but I just don't want this kind of life anymore."

Orjusto replied with, "That’s all well and good, but I'll be damned if I let you escape with a Stable Dweller slave. So here's the deal." He leaned back behind the desk. "You give her back to me, and I lock her up again, nice and tight, and you go free. If you resist, I’ll kill you both. Now come on, Driver. Look at her! Think of all the caps we could make." 

He glared at Orjusto and said in a very serious tone, "No, I'm leaving with her."

"Wrong answer."

My eyes widened as I saw Orjusto pull a submachine gun out from under the desk. Driver violently pushed me behind the staircase and quickly ran over to a chair, crouching down behind it. I took out the sawn-off and fired two shots at Orjusto.

Without my PipBuck, I couldn't use S.A.T.S, so I had to rely on my own aim. I thought I landed one of the two shots, but I couldn't tell. Thinking he was hit, I peeked out from behind the staircase, only to be proven wrong by another burst of gunfire. Just then, I heard two more shotgun blasts to my right and the machine gun fire stopped, followed by a loud thud.

I saw Driver stand up from the behind the chair, spit, and say, "That bastard."

We both walked over to Orjusto's corpse. Driver took a few seconds to examine the submachine gun and hissed. "This isn’t even worth taking, just a piece of junk. It would probably break after one use." He threw it back down on the ground.

We walked into Orjusto’s office. I went over to his safe, but I didn't know how to lockpick it. I asked Driver if he knew how, but to my disappointment he shook his head.

"No, sorry." Driver walked over to Orjusto’s terminal. "Hmm... he was logged in." He pressed a button and the safe popped open.

I gasped in awe. "How did you do that?!"

He chuckled lightly. "Heh, I just selected the option that said ‘Unlock Safe’."

I thanked him again and opened the safe, revealing three healing potions, one bag of some weird orange substance I’d never seen before, and my PipBuck! I quickly nabbed it without any second thought and squealed in delight.

"Oh, thank you so much, Driver!"

Driver responded with "Happy I could help, Seren.” He walked over to the safe.

I spent no time clamping the PipBuck back onto my foreleg. It never occurred to me just how much I used it until I lost it. I guess that’s why I was so happy to have it back.

As we walked out of the office, Driver said, “Oh right, I almost forgot.” He looted Orjusto’s body and passed me the round, metal device my father gave me. “Here, this is the only other thing you had on you when I captured you. I forget what Orjusto called it, but it was yours, so take it.”

My eyes widened a bit. “Oh, thank you!” I said, “My father gave that me to me before I left the Stable. I don’t remember what it’s called.” I tapped my hoof against my chin in thought for a few seconds. “Stealth, something, I think.”

Before approaching the doors, I followed Driver over to the left corner of the room where there were a few saddlebags.

“Here,” he said, pointing at the saddlebags, “put one of these on.” 

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Why?” I quietly asked.

He answered my question with another question. “Where are you going to put all your stuff?”

I thought for a few moments before finally saying, “Ok, point taken.” Using my magic, I put on the saddlebag and dropped the stealth whatsit inside. Driver put one on as well.

I turned to him and said, “Well, I guess this is the part where you leave me, right?” 

“Well, only if you want me to,” he said. “But I think it would be in your best interest if we stuck together a bit longer.  No offence, but you don't really seem like a pony who is ready for the wasteland yet, at least not alone.”

I couldn't help but nod in agreement. “Yeah, that probably would be for the best,” I said, looking down.

“Right, well, let’s go then!” Driver exclaimed.

We walked outside the building, and what I saw were ruins. Nothing but ruined buildings as far as the eye could see. The only intact building was one tall, well-lit tower that didn't look too far away.

Out of curiousity, I checked my PipBuck for our location. When I opened up the map I saw a notification saying you have discovered the Manehattan Metropolitan Police Station. “What the?” I quietly said in confusion. I looked at where my current location was and it said Manehattan Ruins. I was completely stunned and fell to my haunches.

I asked Driver in disbelief, “th-this is... Manehattan?” I was struggling to comprehend the fact that all that was left of one of Equestria's most well-known cities was one single tower with various ruined buildings around it.

"Yeah, it is," he nervously replied, "Look, Seren, we need to get away from this building before that rival slaver gang gets here."

I tried my best to snap myself out of it, and after galloping away from the building and turning a few corners, I was finally able to ask Driver some questions.

"Hey, what's up with that tower over there?" I asked, pointing at it.

He looked in the direction I was pointing.

"Oh, that’s Tenpony Tower, the centerpiece of Manehattan and one of the nicest places left in the Equestrian wasteland... or so I’m told. I've never actually been in there, seeing as how I was... you know."

I looked down in response and quietly replied, "Yeah, I know."

I tried to shake the negative emotion, asking Driver, "Is there anything else I should know, or any enemies we should be on the lookout for?"

"Yes, bloodwings."

I didn't like the sound of the name, even from the outset. I timidly asked, "I know I’m going to regret asking, but what are they?”

“They’re giant bats and they eat ponies,” he replied. My mind instantly ripened with terror. I started shaking and frantically looking around as he continued.

"Their agility makes them very hard to kill. If we ran into a group, we wouldn't stand a chance, and we’d be nothing more than a midnight snack to them. Fortunately for us, most of them stay in the ruins of real dark buildings, so as long as we keep our heads low and don’t linger, we shouldn't have much trouble. If we’re going to be sleeping, a low building that wouldn’t be able to fit one would be best.”

Thankfully, they seemed fairly easy to avoid. Still, the thought of being eaten alive was beyond terrifying.

"Actually, we need to keep on moving here. Follow me." Driver started quickly trotting down the street, with me trailing close behind him.

"A-Anything else?" I asked with a gulp as we kept moving.

"Ummm, yeah, there are also manticores. They’re kind of like a lion and bat hybrid with a scorpion tail. Our chances of killing those are pretty narrow as well.”

I let out an annoyed grunt. “Is there anything that can't eat us?”

He replied by saying, “Manticores and bloodwings are the only real threats I know of, that and the occasional raider or slaver.”

Driver suddenly stopped, causing me to crash into him and fall. As I was getting up, I asked him, “Hey, what's going on? Why did you stop?” I saw him gazing at a mostly intact building.

“We should check in here,” he said.

I turned on my PipBuck light as we cautiously stepped into the building. The first floor was stripped completely bare. Nothing but dust and rocks littered the ground. The doorway to another room was caved in by rubble, as we slowly crept up the crumbling stairwell. I couldn't help but feel a chill as the sound of the wind outside slowly died down, leaving only the soft noise of our hoofsteps.

We got upstairs and found four mattresses around the room, almost as if someone was camping there. I raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

Driver looked around a bit before saying, “I think this will be a safe place to stay for the night. Not many buildings this intact left in Manehattan, and with no bloodwings. We got very lucky!”

I asked Driver, “Umm, Driver, why are there mattresses here?”

He turned to face me and replied, “Oh, probably something some other wastelander ponies left behind. We will be fine.”

I gave a small sigh of relief as we both went and took a separate mattress. I sat on the mattress and looked down. I couldn't stop thinking about Golden. I would feel so bad if the next time I saw her she was dead, and it would have been all my fault. I prayed to the goddesses that she was still alive. Even though I was tired and scared, I needed to find her or die trying.

I stood up on all fours and told Driver, “Driver, I came out into the wasteland with a friend. I need to find her.”

He looked at me in surprise as I started walking down the stairs, until finally yelling, “Seren, wait!”

He ran in front of me and stood in my way.

“Please get out of my way, I need to do this,” I deadpanned.

He glared at me and said, “I don't know who this ‘friend’ is, but I can tell you are in no condition to go looking for her. You can barely stand!”

“I’m fine, Driver, just get out of my way!” I said again, now slightly annoyed.

“I’m not going to do that, Seren. If you go out there you would be eaten by bloodwings, you would faint in the street, and they would have you picked clean by morning. I'll help you look for this friend first thing tomorrow when we both are awake.”

I pondered for a moment before hanging my head in defeat and accepting Driver’s offer.

“Who is this friend anyway?” he asked.


---


I told Driver all about Golden, a little more about myself, and what happened in Stable 64. At the end of my story he looked at me with wide eyes.“You're telling me you killed 4 armored security ponies!?” 

“Yes, and I’m not proud of it...” I let out an annoyed cry before burying my head in both my forehooves in shame. “Ugh, I wish I had never turned Golden in to begin with! I should have just left the poor mare alone, she has enough problems. I mean, she just lost her mother 2 weeks ago!”

“Well, you can't change the past, Seren,” Driver said, “both of us have abundant regrets for what we did. Me for what I did as a slaver, and you for the things you had to do to leave the Stable. I have learned over the years that crying and whining about it won’t do you any good. What we have to do is better ourselves."

“Well, what about you?” I asked Driver.

“Hmm...” He glanced at me. “What about me?” he echoed.

“Well, I told you about me… why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself?” I asked him out of pure curiosity.

He gave a regretful sounding sigh. “Well, first off, I wasn't always the way I am today. I originally became a slaver so I could get caps to get my family into Tenpony Tower. You can’t just get in there like anywhere else, you need to either pay, or be there on business, or something.” 

“Did you?” I quietly asked.

“No,” he swiftly replied, “S’ been a few years since I've been to my settlement, seen my family. I guess I just… enjoyed the thrill and the caps so much I didn't care. During that attack something just kind of snapped in me and I realized I didn't want to lose my life for this. I have over seven thousand caps, Seren, and the reason why is 'cause I had nothing to spend it on! What am I gonna do!? Spend it on a hot marefriend-slave? Pay the guys who were paying me? Ehh, whatever, I’m rambling anyway.”

I couldn't help but giggle at the mini rant.

He continued. “Point is, I'm happy and content enough with the caps I have, even if it is kinda ridiculous."

Driver sighed and rubbed his forehead a bit. “Look, it’s late, and I’m a bit too tired to think clearly, so why don't we just get some sleep?"

“Yeah, I think it's about time we got some rest,” I said before laying down.


---


The next morning, after both of us woke up, Driver and I were getting ready to look for Golden. I stepped out of the building after Driver. It was the first time I had been able to see the wasteland in the daytime. I looked up and saw nothing but gray. Gray clouds as far as the eye could see. I remember reading books back in the stable and seeing the sky in them, bright, blue, and happy, with white, fluffy-looking clouds, and maybe a pegasus or two. This was not the same sky from those books. This sky was bleak, dark, and depressing, nothing but another boring, gray ceiling. I was disappointed.

Driver and I had agreed to split up. He was a little weary on the idea at first but I convinced him that I would be able to take care of myself, and it would increase our chances of finding Golden.

As I walked the streets of Manehattan, fascination and wonder consumed my mind. I couldn't stop looking at the remnants of all the decimated structures around me, both towers and smaller buildings, constantly making me wonder what this city looked like before the war.

As I wandered through the seemingly endless jungle of mangled buildings and cracked roads, I had to keep telling myself to concentrate so I would be able to find Golden. I felt so free, but at the same time, so imprisoned. I loved exploring and discovering new places, something I could never do in the stable. The fact that I was looking for Golden and had to be aware of manticores, among other threats, honestly annoyed me a bit.

At one point I had to stop and refocus myself, “Come on, Seren, you can explore the ruins later. Just focus on finding Golden… that’s the important thing right now.”

I started slowly walking again and thought, Wow, not even three full days out here and I’m already talking to myself.

After walking for a couple more minutes, I heard a low growling noise. I instinctively hugged the wall of the building to my left and creeped over to the left end to look down the street where I heard the sound come from.

I saw a creature that looked like a cross between a lion and a bat with a scorpion tail. It matched the manticore description Driver gave, and it was coming down the street towards me. I instantly became scared and galloped down the street, back the way I came. 

I thought I was safe, when all of the sudden I heard a roar from behind me and turned around to see the creature chasing after me.

I immediately screamed and ran as fast as I could.

Oh please, Celestia, no! Oh please, goddesses, no! I thought as I ran from the creature with all my strength.

The manticore was gaining up on me, slowly but surely. I started to pant and sweat. I tried to go down other streets and move in complicated patterns to throw this thing off my tail.

It just kept getting closer! I was becoming exhausted and frustrated, and I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep up this speed.

In addition to my chest beginning to feel like it was on fire again, tears were starting to form in my eyes as I was literally running for my life.

“I didn't come out here just to be a manticore’s lunch!” I shouted as I levitated my sawn off.

I knew it wouldn't work, but I needed to try to slow this thing down, lest I be pinned and promptly eaten.

I quickly whipped the shotgun around and shot at the creature twice, causing it to stop dead in its tracks. I didn't want to celebrate early, so I kept running.

A couple seconds later I looked behind me and saw the manticore charging at me, running faster than before, the wounds I inflicted only serving to make it want to kill me more.

I had no other options. I couldn't stop the beast, and I couldn't run anymore. Just as the manticore started to lunge at me, I jumped into the nearest opening in a ruined building that I could fit myself into.

I landed on my side, facing the way I jumped in. I saw the manticore come up to the window I jumped into. It wasn't able to fit through it, so it started clawing at the stone pillar that separated the two squares in the wall that once were windows, trying to break in and finish me off.

I couldn't believe what was happening. I was trapped. This creature was out for my blood no matter what.

I shakily got up on all fours, my whole body quivering with fear and fatigue, and started slowly walking backwards, one hoofstep at a time as the manticore chipped away at the stone wall.

The ruined area I was in wasn't very large, and only went back about fifteen feet. I backed into the wall of rubble and fell to my haunches.

This is it… this is the end… I’m going to die, I thought to myself. I couldn't do anything but helplessly watch the manticore furiously assault the stone wall. Tears started to well in my eyes.

I could tell that it wouldn't be too much longer until the stone wall gave way and the manticore would have me. I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.

I heard two shots ring out, causing the manticore to stop clawing at the wall.

“Over here, bitch!” a familiar voice yelled out. I opened my eyes and saw the manticore hit by two more shots.

After stumbling back, the manticore let out a mighty roar and went charging after its new attacker.

I sat there for a few minutes, trying to get my bearings and comprehend what just happened. All the while listening to who I'm pretty sure was Driver, antagonizing and taunting the manticore in between the sounds of shotgun blasts, only becoming more faint. 

Around ten minutes later, the same voice called out, “Hey, is someone in there? Are you ok?"

I heard the hoofsteps getting closer until Driver walked into view. Upon seeing me, he gave a smug smile. “Well look who we have here,” he said.

“So, what do you have to say for yourself now, Miss 'I can take care of myself'?” he asked mockingly.

“Don’t make me smack you,” I growled, walking over to him.

“I told you it would happen. You would be dead now if I didn't notice that Manticore was trying to eat somepony, 'cause manticores usually don't claw at walls like that unless they’re trying to catch a prey that pissed them off.”

“Where is the manticore now?” I asked.

“Knocked out,” Driver swiftly replied, “Took some effort, but my strategy worked. It seems like a young manticore, not even a fully grown one.

“Wait a minute,” I interrupted, cutting him off. “Young? But that thing couldn't even fit through the window!”

He chuckled a bit. “Well, it was a young manticore, not a baby manticore. I was able to weaken it by shooting some soft spots. I finally knocked it out by shooting out the cable supporting an old overhang causing it to fall onto the manticore.”

“I tried so hard to outrun it,” I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

“You can't outrun a manticore, especially if it catches your scent. Manticores are adept hunters, and can track a pony by their scent. It was kill, knock it out, or be killed for you.” Worry seeped into his voice as he continued. “But, uhh, I was looking for you to tell you that I found Golden and got her to the place where we stayed last night.”

I gasped, looked at my map for the marker, and started walking towards it.

“Tell me everything on the way there. Come on!” I said while quickly trotting away. I would have galloped, but I didn't have the strength. It was even a struggle to trot at the speed I was already moving at, causing me to pant heavily.

I could tell Driver was concerned, but he did what I asked. He caught up to me and said, “Well, I found her in a small crevice, not too far from the docks, actually. Too small for a bloodwing to reach, and too far back for a manticore to get at her. I actually almost missed her completely, but I pulled her out as gently as I could. I’m no doctor or anything, but I could tell she was close to death. I gave her a healing potion and made sure she was maintaining a steady heartbeat. After that, I got her on my back, and got her to that building.”


--- 


Before long, we arrived at the ruined building where we stayed. I trotted upstairs and saw Golden, whose appearance horrified me. Her entire body had small cuts and bruises, and her mane and coat were both stained and filthy. She still had her stable jumpsuit on, but the fabric was torn in multiple places. She had a black eye, and her Pipbuck was missing.

“Mother of Celestia!” I yelled as I bolted over to the mattress she was on. “Driver, quick, give me another healing potion!” I demanded as I held Golden in my hooves. Thankfully she still had a heartbeat, but it was neither strong nor steady.

Driver quickly threw a healing potion, and I caught it with my magic. I quickly gave it to Golden. Aside from making her heart beat a little more steadily, it didn't seem to do much.

I stayed by the mattress Golden was on, just looking at her comatose body. I could see her struggling to breathe, barely clinging on to life.

“What happened to her PipBuck?” I asked Driver with urgency as I held Golden in my hooves to monitor her heartbeat, as I wasn't sure how bad her current condition was.

Driver gave me a blank expression for a few seconds before asking, “Oh, right, all you stable ponies have those Pipbuck things, don’t you?” He thought for a moment before saying, “I don’t recall seeing one near her. I found her just like that; I was more concerned with getting her somewhere safe rather than looking for a glorified bracelet. Sorry, Seren, I don't know.”

I glared at him.

He noticed my glare and said, “What?!”

I gave a grunt and turned my attention back to Golden.

I tried to listen to her heartbeat again, but it was getting slower, and I didn't know what more I could do. I turned to Driver, panicked, and said, "Driver, she’s not getting better. I'm scared. I don't want Golden to die like this. What do we do?"

I could see Driver was concerned for Golden as well. He thought for a moment and said, "The only other thing I think could be wrong with her is that she could have radiation poisoning. I'm not sure if she does or not, it's hard to tell, but I should tell you that rad poisoning can be life threatening. If she does have it, she needs RadAway, otherwise she may die."

I’d never heard of that illness or medicine before. I said nothing. I just turned back to Golden and looked at her near-lifeless body, thinking all hope was lost. I was just starting to weep when I heard Driver say, "Wait a minute, I think I may have taken a RadAway out of Orjusto's safe when we got your PipBuck back!" He quickly turned to his saddlebag, and after a moment of frantic searching, he found one and threw it to me, exclaiming, "Hurry! Give that to her right away!"

I caught it with my magic and did as Driver said. "Please Celestia, let this work," I muttered as I administered the RadAway to her. After a couple minutes, I noticed her breathing became a little bit stronger. For good measure, I gave her another healing potion and she seemed to be in much better condition. I felt that all I could do now was wait.


---


It had been about an hour since I had given Golden the RadAway. I was now sitting on one of the other mattresses in the room, and Driver was taking a well-deserved nap. I just stared at Golden, hoping that she was at least still alive.

While waiting to see if she would be ok, I couldn't help but think about what happened in Stable 64 and the things I did to get into the wasteland. I also felt stupid for not finding out why Golden needed the defence plan in the first place.

I saw her barely crack one of her eyes open. I didn't move. I just sat there and quietly spoke her name.

"Golden?"

I saw her start to make small movements. She gave a grunt and some weak sounds of her wincing in pain. I ran over to the mattress, trying as hard as I could not to explode with happiness and wake Driver. I knelt down next to her and asked, "Golden, are you okay?"

She opened her eyes a bit more and looked around, then weakly asked, "Wh...where am I?" Her eyes landed on me. "Uhh, S-Seren? Is.... that you?"

I couldn't hold my excitement in anymore. I started tearing up, and I gave her a hug and cried, "Oh, Golden! I'm so happy you're still alive! I was worried you died!"

Golden was only able to respond with another weak grunt, and as I thought, my outburst woke Driver up. Oops, I thought to myself.

He said in a groggy tone, "Ugh, what's with all the shouting? I'm trying to get some rest over here!"

I quickly responded, "Oh, sorry, Driver. But look! Golden’s alive!" Golden was still looking all over the place as if she were on some alien planet.

Driver replied, "Yeah, that’s nice, but keep it down! I’m trying to take a nap over here..." He laid back down for a few seconds, then frantically got up and said, "Wait a minute, she's ALIVE?!"

I chuckled a little bit and said, "Yes, come look!"

"No way," he replied as he quickly got up and trotted over to the mattress.

Golden looked at him and asked, "Who... are you?"

I told Golden all about Driver and what I had been through since she deserted me.


---


After my story Golden just looked down. “I… I’m so sorry that happened to you, Seren.” She gave a sigh. “I bet you blame me for all this… don’t you?” she timidly asked with her head hung in shame.

“We’re both to blame, Golden,” I said, “You can’t blame yourself for everything. We had no choice but to leave the stable; what else could we have done?”

The three of us just sat there in an awkward silence, all looking in different directions until I glanced at Golden’s stable jumpsuit.

“Umm, Golden?” I spoke up. She looked at me. “Do you think you might wanna take off that stable jumpsuit?” She looked at her attire as I continued. “It’s in tatters, and honestly it won’t offer you much protection as it is now.”

She looked at it for a few moments and said, “I guess you're right,” and using her magic, she slowly took it off. She was panting afterwards. Obviously doing that took a lot more out of her than it should have.

She then timidly said, “Hmm, it feels... strange. Not wearing anything.”

Driver said, “Well, it is recommended that you at least wear some form of protection in the wasteland. A few ponies can get by without, but it’s not a good idea.”

I looked down and replied, “Well, we will just have to go without for now. We don't have anything to wear.” I looked over to Golden's stable jumpsuit. “Well… nothing that will offer any protection, at least.”

After a few more minutes, Golden was finally able to tell me and Driver everything that happened.

"It's kind of a long story," Golden said, "but you really should know." 

"Ok, Golden, tell us," I said eagerly.

“The last thing I remember was walking slightly ahead of you, and the next thing I knew I was in a small, enclosed space that felt like it was moving with some weird peaceful music playing. I started to get scared that I was trapped until the door opened. I slowly walked out, and I almost thought I was dreaming when I saw a sign that said Tenpony Tower Floor 5.”

"Another sleeper agent blackout, I bet," I muttered under my breath as Golden continued her story.

"I didn't really feel weak. I guess somewhere along the way I got some rest, I really have no clue. I remember after getting over my initial surprise I looked for room 506 and just wanted to get this whole defence plan thing done and over with. I went into the room and there were three ponies waiting for me."

"Golden, let me stop you right there," I interrupted.

"What is it?" Golden asked.

"Do you remember what the contact looked like?"

Golden thought for a moment. "Uhh... he looked like an older male unicorn. I think he had a golden mane and tail... kind of like my own color. A gray coat, and... Uhh... I’m sorry, I can't remember the color of his eyes."

I thought to myself, as nothing Golden said made him sound strange in appearance.

"Why do you ask?"

I simply replied with, "No reason. Please, continue."

"All right," Golden said timidly, "I walked in, and the pony said his name was Dr. Waterfall and that he was a Stable-Tec historian. He told me he needed the Stable 64 defence plan because it was, a landmark in stable history or something. He then took my PipBuck off my leg and thanked me for my services. When I asked him to give my PipBuck back he told me he had something better in mind, and then had the other two ponies grab me and lock me in a cage in a room off to the side."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I was speechless. All I could do was continue to listen to Golden tell her story.

Golden started to shudder when telling us the next part. "I think they kept me in there the entire next day, and then.... uhm... the two ponies from earlier came back with a syringe, and they injected me with something, and I blacked out. When I came to, I think I was in a sack... I tried to struggle all I could to get out, and then.... water surrounded me."

I stared at Golden for a moment, confused, until I heard Driver say, “Golden, are you telling us they tried to drown you in a sack?"

Golden looked at Driver and said, "Yeah... I think so."

I asked in amazement, "How did you get out?"

"I was getting to that," she quietly replied. "I was surrounded by water. I started hearing gunshots... I didn't know if it was the ones who threw me into the water firing at me, I was so panicked. I just continued to struggle, and then not too long after the gunshots stopped. I was able to slip out of the sack... maybe one of the bullets damaged the ropes, I think? I swam up as quickly as I could and tried to get to dry land."

Me and Driver both stared at her in amazement. I said, "Wait, Golden... you know how to swim?"

She sighed and said, "Well, I had read a couple books on it back in the stable, but I had never done it before."

Driver interjected with, "That must be how you got the radiation poisoning. Most of the water in Equestria is horribly irradiated."

"I still feel sick to my stomach," Golden said in reply, "It was a very traumatizing experience... I-I don't want to think about it anymore. After that, I was just wandering the streets and began to hear very frightening noises. I started to get scared. I could barely stand up as it was, so I crawled into that small space hoping I would be safe and passed out.... and I guess that’s where you found me."

I was amazed that Golden went through all that. It was definitely worse than my first day here.

I looked over to Driver, who was stroking his chin with his hoof. He then asked me, “Seren? Can you please tell me what the Stable 64 defence plan is?”

I started, “Well, it’s, um...” I just froze up. I couldn't remember. I let out a sigh and asked Golden, “Golden, can you please tell me what it is? I can’t for the life of me remember.”

Golden rubbed her hoof against her forehead and finally said, “Uhh, it contained codes for all of the stable’s defence systems, like the turrets and the stable door itself.”

I saw Driver trying to piece this together, before his eyes widened a bit and he said, “I think that your stable may be in danger, Seren.”

“What is that supposed to mean!?” I asked with a start.

Driver then explained. “Slavers and raiders have always talked about getting into Stable 64 to raid or enslave them, since it’s one of the few intact stables in the greater Manehattan area. If that Dr. Waterfall or whoever he is has Golden’s, umm… PipBuck, and it has that file, couldn't they possibly attack Stable 64?”

“I… I think they could,” I replied, surprised at the question, “But what makes you think that, Driver?”

“Well, they tried to kill Golden,” he said, pointing at Golden, causing her to flinch, “and stole her PipBuck thing. So whatever they are up to, it can’t be anything good.”

I thought for a moment before looking at Golden and asking her, “Golden, when you were in that cage, did you hear any talk about any kind of attacks on the stable?”

Golden groaned again before answering “I’m sorry, Seren, all I could hear was mumbling. I couldn't make out any conversation.”

I started thinking again. I wanted to go back to Stable 64 to make sure it was ok, but what if Golden and I walked back and were met with only a closed stable door and a dark, empty cave? It would be time and resources wasted, and I didn't want to go back without knowing for sure. I looked at Driver and said, "Well... I honestly don’t know what to do. Do you have any ideas?"

"Well, if you want to potentially find out more, I heard a rumor about some masked pony seen near the warehouses a couple weeks ago who was thought to be visiting a group of raiders in that area, so maybe we could check there."

Having no other solid leads and in need of supplies, we decided to check the warehouses Driver mentioned.


---


We waited for Golden to recover a bit more and left the building. I could see Golden was still having trouble, which wasn’t be surprising after everything that happened to her. I decided to let her lean on me to walk at a good pace, at least until she regained her balance. She was still obviously sick and needed some more medicine. Having nothing else to do besides following Driver, I decided to turn on the radio on my PipBuck. I heard the end of a nice song play followed by a deep voice.

"GOOOOOOD AFTERNOON, WASTELANDERS! THIS IS YOUR DJP0N3 WITH THE NEWS! And we got some real good news coming straight out of Manehattan today. The boss of a small slaver operation somewhere in the ruins was reportedly killed last night! It was thought to be the result of an attack that group launched on a rival slaver group elsewhere in the ruins. Let me just say they had it coming, and hopefully both of these slaver groups will crumble in due time! Also, in more troubling news, the mask–"

I turned off the radio in complete shock. Driver stopped walking, gave a slight chuckle, and said, "Yes, they were talking about Orjusto dieing." I was completely stunned and just stood there speechless as Driver said, "I don't know how or where they get their news from, but that DJPon3 reports nearly everything newsworthy story that goes on in the wastes. Also, want to know where they broadcast from?”

I was yet again lost in my own thoughts until Golden, who I completely forgot had been leaning on me this whole time, nudged me, snapping me back to reality.

"Hunh? Oh, umm, uhh... s-sorry, where?" I asked in a dazed tone.

Driver said nothing as he stuck his hoof in the direction of the monolithic Tenpony Tower rising high above the ruins surrounding us. Surprise surprise, I thought to myself.


---


We arrived at the warehouses. There weren't many left intact, so that only reduced the number of places this group could have hidden, assuming they were here at all.

Before long, we came to a warehouse with a locked door, and neither me nor Driver could unlock it. Golden was still sick, but at least able to walk on her own now. She examined the lock and said, “I can unlock it, but I need a bobby pin.”

Driver started looking through his saddlebag for a bobby pin, quickly found one, and gave it to Golden, who started going to work on the door. In a few seconds she opened it, and we walked inside.

There had been signs that someone had been living there, as evidenced by the mattresses on the floor and a table with plates and food on it among other amenities. We could see a second floor above the right side of the of the warehouse. There were also boxes everywhere, goddesses only know what could possibly be in them.

We were confident that we were in the right place, or at least on the right track, when we saw a few dead bloodwings and raiders in the corner of the room. Driver quickly went over to the ponies to see if they had anything good on them, motioning for me and Golden to come toward him.

I trotted over to him, with Golden doing her best to keep up with me. He gave me a combat knife in fairly good condition.

“Oooh, nice!” I exclaimed as I took it.

“Yeah, these raiders had some good stuff on them,” Driver said, happily.

“What do you want as a weapon?” he asked Golden.

I looked at Golden. She was staring at us with fear in her eyes, and she furiously shook her head in protest. 

I gave her a confused look. “Uhh, Golden… how will you defend yourself without a weapon?” I asked. 

She just looked off to the side and gave a weak squeal. 

I sighed and said, “I’ll talk with her later."

Driver examined the dead pony we just looted a bit more closely and raised an eyebrow. “Hunh… that’s odd,” he said.
“What’s odd?” I asked.

“Well,” Driver started to explain, “I’m looking at the armor this raider was wearing and it seemed really well made. I mean, yeah, the bloodwing tore right through it, but it seemed to be high quality.” I saw him trying to piece this together until finally saying, “Hmm… something tells me these aren't normal, run of the mill raiders.”

“Should Golden and I be worried about that?” I asked with a worried expression on my face.

“Maybe,” Driver said flatly, “but I can’t say for sure. I think we should check more of this place and see if we can find anything else of interest.” 

I nodded, and since we had already seen everything there was to see on the first floor, the three of us went over to and ascended the metal staircase to the second floor.

We got up to a second floor where we saw some lanterns, and above one of them a message on the wall saying ‘DON’T TOUCH THE FUCKING LAMPS!’ The floor was cluttered with various ruined items and whatnot.

After navigating our way through the maze of broken boxes and other items, we finally came to an open area. There was a terminal right in front of us, and to its right, a work bench with various parts on it. Against the back wall, on the far right, was a mattress and a first aid kit on the wall above it.

Driver went over to the first aid kit and took a look inside. “Hey Golden can you come over here for a sec?” He asked.

Golden raised an eyebrow and slowly walked over to him. “Wh-What do you need?” she quietly asked.

“Here, take this,” Driver said, giving her the bag of orange liquid.

She looked at it for a moment. “Oh, this is RadAway, isn't it?” she asked.

Driver simply nodded and said, “You should use it; you still seem sick.“ 

Golden promptly used it before thanking Driver. 

I went over to the terminal and tried to turn it on. I saw it was password protected and I had no clue how to even hack a terminal, I was never good with technology. The PipBuck was pretty much the only thing I knew how to use correctly.

I asked Golden if she could hack it. She said “I could try” and tried to hack the terminal. After a few moments of typing she turned the terminal off.

I gasped in shock. “What did you do?”

She turned to me and nervously said, “I-I needed to turn off the terminal so it didn't lock me out. If I put a fourth password in, and it had been wrong, it would have locked me out, so I have to try again.” After a few more moments of typing she said with a sigh that she’d hacked it.

We all decided to have a look at the terminal, which revealed four files. Across the top of the terminal it said Research Terminal: Dr. Waterfall.

“Golden!” I exclaimed, startling her. “Isn’t Dr. Waterfall the pony who took the defence plan?” I asked.

I saw her eyes widen as she replied, “Yeah, it is…. but why would he have a terminal here?”

Driver said, “Maybe if we read these files we would find a clue?”

Pip-Bucks and Infrasonic Tone Emitters

Back in the stable, I found out that certain models of Pip-Bucks have a very small device built into them, otherwise unused: an infrasonic tone emitter, or ITE. Its use is unknown, but my theory is that it may have been intended to put ponies wearing the Pip-Bucks with ITE's built into them into trance-like states and carry out complex commands. Stable-Tec, for some reason, didn't go through with it. That’s all I can think of, but it’s functional, so maybe we can use this to our advantage.

ITE research log 1

I have been working tirelessly trying to find out how this thing works. My findings have indicated a complex set up, something overly intricate even for Pip-Bucks. The ITE seems to respond and be activated by certain specially coded sleeper agent messages and Objective lists coded in ways that respond to the code found in the sleeper message used to initially activate the ITE, so further research is needed to find out how these messages are coded.

ITE research log 2

My research is almost complete, but I did find one troubling thing: these devices don't work constantly. It’s on and off with no clear interval pattern. Perhaps this is why Stable-Tec abandoned the project, but they do work and very well. We ran a couple tests. While in the trance state, your physical limitations are almost non-existent, your voice becomes cold and robotic, and you have no memory of your actions afterwards. Now that the research is nearing its end, I can finally begin work on the initial sleeper agent message.

The Sleeper Agent message is complete!!

FINALLY!!! After months of work and tireless coding, the sleeper agent message is finally complete! I will be sending it to a recipient in Stable 64 soon, and they will finally know the wrath of the wasteland. With their defences shut down, they will have no way to defend themselves. This is my revenge! Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the sleeper agent to arrive, but they WILL most definitely arrive.

After reading, I was enraged. I was ready to kill somepony. They used me, they used Golden, in the worst way possible. We were set up from the start. It was all an elaborate plan to destroy Stable 64!

“We need to go back,” I said through gritted teeth.

I heard Driver say, “Yep, I knew it. No way these are normal raiders, this had to be some kind of gang of bandits or something…”

I was paying attention to Driver, but I was too enraged to care who these ponies were. The fact that Golden was used to do another pony's bidding like some kind of slave. I couldn't take it anymore, I bolted out of the open area as fast as I could. Both Golden and Driver screamed my name in concern and asked where I was going. I didn't answer as I ran back through the warehouse and tried to leave.

On the way down the stairs I tripped and fell down, my body getting cut and bruised by the rusty metal staircase, finally being knocked out as I landed on the cold concrete floor.


---


I woke up lying on one of the mattresses on the first floor. I slowly opened my eyes and turned to the left to see Golden looking at me, concerned.

“Oh, Seren, you're awake,” she said, surprised as I only groaned in response. “I was so worried when you fell down those stairs, why did you run away like that?” she said in a distressed tone.

Before I could answer I heard a male voice say, “Well, well, well, look who's finally awake.” Driver walked into my view and sat down next to Golden. “Mind telling me and Golden what that was all about? You gave us quite the scare.”

I was still trying to collect my thoughts and figure out what happened myself. All I remembered was falling off the stairs, hitting the concrete floor, and passing out.

After a few more moments I was able to tell both Driver and Golden my feelings and why I ran off. “We need to get back to Stable 64 now! All the ponies there could be in danger!”

Golden had nothing to say. “Golden, what’s wrong?” I asked her.

She just looked down and said, “So you wanna go back? Just like that? Even after we had to go through so much just to get out here?”

I looked at her in disbelief. “B-but Golden,” I stammered, “Stable 64, it’s our home, it’s where we grew up, it’s where our friends and family are – oh.”

I stopped what I was saying when I realized Golden had no family to go back to, or at least check up on. Between her mother dying and her father just… disappearing one day.

I needed to convince her somehow.

“Driver, please help me,” I pleaded. 

Driver simply gave me a blank stare and said, “Sorry Seren, I'm not a part of this. I don't know anything, so I refuse to get involved.”

I looked back at Golden, glaring at her this time. She noticed my glare and became a bit nervous.

“Golden,” I said firmly, “What about that pony that stole your PipBuck? What if he’s there?”

She looked at me, her expression more hopeless this time, and said, “I just dont want to go there and be thrown into that holding cell again or something.”

Typical Golden. She would think something like that would happen again, and while it wasn't an entirely impossible scenario, I saw it as unlikely, especially since we would be going back with the intention of saving the stable. “Didn’t I say I wouldn't let that happen?” I asked.

She only gave a sigh in response and I continued, “Please come back to the Stable with me. I promise, I swear on my life, nothing bad will happen to us, and afterwards we will never go back again!”

She gave another deep sigh, followed by her saying, “I know I’m going to regret this, but fine, I'll go back with you.”

"Great! Then we better get moving, it's almost night time.” With that, we all left the warehouse.


---


It was getting dark by the time we got outside the city.

All of a sudden Driver stopped. I noticed this and turned around, asking him, "Driver, are you ok?"

He looked up at me and said, “Yes, never been better. But unfortunately I'm going to have to part ways with you here, Seren.”

My eyes widened. “WHAT!?” I shrieked, “Driver, wh-why?”

He said coldly, “I was planning to part ways with you when you decided to go check on Stable 64. I was planning to lead you out of the city and let you be on your way. I'm not getting involved in this whole stable thing.”

I just stood there, nervous about the fact that me and Golden would be alone again as he continued to explain, “There are some houses a bit north of here that you may be able to use for shelter, but be warned; they are sometimes inhabited by raiders.”

He started walking towards me and Golden.

“Here, take this," he said, and gave me a round, metal device.

Recognizing it, I said, “Oh this is a ... umm, what do you call it? A Stealth-bic?”

“Stealth-buck, Seren,” Golden said, correcting me.

“Oh, right, a Stealth-buck... but uhh... how did you get one?” I asked Driver.

“I actually found it on that workbench in the warehouse while Golden was trying to hack the terminal. I remember that you already had one, so I took that one to give to you later. I thought having another may help you. Go ahead and take it, I don't even know what these things do anyway.”

I said, “It will, thank you,” accepting the device. “Well, what about you now?” I asked Driver with concern.

“Don't worry, I have a plan,” he confidently said, “I’m going to use the caps I’ve made to get into Tenpony Tower. Set up a nice residence, get settled in, and then go back to visit my old settlement in a couple weeks."

I gave him a heartfelt smile.

“Well, thank you for everything, Driver,” I said, hugging him.

“You’re welcome, Seren.” He responded warmly.

“Well, that’s it then,” I exclaimed confidently, “I hope to run into you another time, Driver.”

He responded by grinning and saying, “Likewise. Now, I believe you have a stable to go check on. Good luck, Seren!”

“Right!” I affirmed, now beaming with confidence, “Let’s go, Golden!” With that we both ran north as Driver and I parted ways.

---------------------

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Sweet Talker - You have quite a way with words when talking to stallions. When talking with the opposite sex, you have a +5 speech increase, and with certain males have access to some unique dialogue options.
> Chapter 4 - Reclamation 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4
Reclamation

Golden and I bolted from Manehatten with newly-instilled confidence. I had no idea where it came from, but I was ready to take on anything.

It wasn’t long before Golden and I came across the houses Driver spoke of. They looked pretty decrepit from the outside, but there were quite a few of them. Many of those that were intact were either boarded up, or barely counted as ravaged husks of the houses that were once there.

Golden and I found some safes within the shells of some houses, but much to our dismay, all of the ones we found were cleaned out. We decided there was nothing more for us to see outside and looked for a house to stay in for the night.

We walked into a house. It was dark, so I turned on my PipBuck light. The house honestly looked better than I thought it would. I expected a horrid mess and a completely desolate room with no furniture, but instead, we got the opposite. It was an okay-looking room, nothing prestigious. There were couches and a table in the living room and counters with various items on them. The house seemed to be good-sized, so Golden and I decided to look for anything that may be able to help us. 

One of the tables had a broken picture on it that caught my eye; I picked it up to look at it more closely. It was a picture of two happy-looking ponies. One of them looked like a slightly older unicorn: blue-eyed with a white coat and a well-styled purple, curly mane and tail. Her cutie mark was hard to make out because of the age of the picture, but looking closely, it seemed to be that of three light-blue diamonds. The pony she was standing next to was an earth pony with cyan eyes, and an alabaster coat. Her mane and tail were a light shade of blue with a stripe of a lighter shade of blue in the middle, wearing what appeared to be some kind of shirt collar with a bowtie around her neck. She was a very cute pony, but unfortunately, I couldn't tell what her cutie mark was.

One of them must have lived here, I thought.

I looked over to Golden, who was checking the kitchen while I was in the living room. “Find anything, Golden?” 

“Sorry, Seren,” she replied meekly, “I don’t think there would be much we can use here.”

We decided to check the bathroom before going upstairs. The only thing of note we seemed to come across was a first aid kit. The design was particularly interesting, as opposed to what I was used to in the stable. The box built into the wall was a light, nearly butter-colored shade of yellow with a pink cross spanning the entire front. Three small silhouettes of butterflies could be seen in the middle. Unfortunately for me and Golden, it was locked. I found Golden a bobby pin to see if she could pick the lock, but she failed and broke the pin.

"I'm sorry, Seren," she said in a dejected tone, "I'm not familiar enough with old world locks to know how to pick these smaller ones yet."

"It's fine, Golden. Let's look around some more," I said, trying to get her mind off the failure.

Golden and I went up to the second floor, but we were only met with another restroom with nothing of interest and two bedrooms. One seemed to be a foal’s bedroom and the other a master bedroom with a queen-sized bed. We went into the master bedroom and Golden went and sat on the bed while I sat on the floor at the end of the bed.

I thought it might be a good time to check what I had. I took my saddlebag off and starting looking at what was inside. Among my possessions were the combat knife I got from the warehouse, the barely functional sawn-off shotgun that I only had four shells left for, two StealthBucks and one healing potion. I was a bit annoyed at myself simply because I could have been carrying so much more.  

I started to think about whether there was anything I missed while I was back in Manehatten until I heard Golden say my name.

"Seren?"

I looked up at her, "What is it, Golden?"

"Are you sure about Stable 64? I-I mean, uh, what if—"

"Please, Golden, I would rather not have this discussion again. I think it would be a good idea to rest here. You can sleep on that bed and I’ll go into the other room. After we wake up, we go straight to Stable 64."

She just let out a whimper and laid down. With that, I went into the other bedroom and did the same.   


---


My eyes cracked open to the sound of a door opening. I checked my PipBuck to see it was just after 3 AM. Golden and I had been asleep way longer than intended.

I got out of the bed and went to get Golden. While sneaking through the hallway I was able to hear a rough, gravelly voice from downstairs. "I hope no faggot-ass wastelander ponies wandered in here."

Followed by a female voice saying, "Ya say that every fuckin' time! I keep tellin ya no one is ever here; it's just us, ya damn retard!"

I assumed it was the house's rightful owners. Maybe two raiders, judging from their vocabulary, but I was far from sure. I remember Driver telling me a little bit about raiders while we were going through Manehattan. He said they have a tendency to swear a lot and are avid drug users. He also mentioned how, unlike slavers, they can’t be reasoned with, or talked to most of the time. There was also something he said about their armor being very distinct and easy to pick out. If he gave me any examples, I couldn't recall at that moment.

I went into the other room as silently as I could to get Golden. I knew I would more likely than not have to kill these ponies, so I readied my combat knife.

I shook Golden a bit to wake her up and before she said anything, I covered her mouth with my hoof and whispered in her ear, "Golden, we need to leave now, I think there are raiders here.” Her eyes grew wide with concern. “Just follow me and stay quiet." She got out of the bed and onto all fours. 

We heard the male voice from downstairs again. "I’mma go to fuckin’ bed!" 

We began to hear the steps creaking as the pony started making his way toward the room. Me and Golden became a bit more nervous. Not wanting to waste the StealthBucks on these ponies I knew there wouldn’t be a way out of the room without being seen, I levitated the knife and steeled myself.

We leaned up against the wall right next to the door and the hoofsteps sounded closer than before. The moment he came through the door, I screamed and thrust the combat knife as hard as I could, leaving a deep cut on the right side of his body, causing him to stumble back into the hallway.

"Grah! You fucking whore!" he grunted out while trying to draw his own weapon, but I stabbed him again this time in the chest, killing him. I heard another set of hoofsteps coming up the stairs. I quickly took his half-drawn 10mm pistol.

Before I could duck back into the bedroom with Golden, a second pony came up the stairs, clad in what looked to be some sort of well-made barding. She started shooting at me from the other side of the hall. 

I moved around, trying to dodge her shots. One hit me in the leg, causing me to scream and stumble, almost falling over. She took one more shot at me and I just barely dodged it before she fired. 

Not planning to go down so easily, I drew my newly-acquired 10mm, went into S.A.T.S. and took aim at her head. 

I didn't feel confident in the thirty one percent chance I had to hit. Nevertheless, I took two shots at her, with one missing (of course) and the other just barely hitting her ear, causing her to stumble back a bit. 

She backed too far down the stairs, out of sight. I quickly put the pistol away and took out my combat knife to finish her off. However, my injured leg made it so I couldn’t get to her as fast as I liked. 

I limped down toward the raider and met her on the stairs. I tried to stab the mare, but she pulled out her own combat knife and took a swung at me. I ducked and thrusted at her right forehoof, causing her to scream in pain and tumble down the stairs.

I stood there—still levitating the knife and panting—looking at her. I wondered if she was dead, I slowly made my way off the stairs and was able to see she was still breathing. “Look, I don't want to kill you so I suggest not forcing me to. You and I can settle this without more death if you just let me and my friend leave this house peacefully.”    

As a reply, she got up, clenching her knife in her mouth. She was growling, staring me down with the intent to kill. I readied my knife again, as she ran at me screaming, "You bitch!”

I heard the sound of ripping flesh, as her knife tore jaggedly into the left side of my body. My eyes grew wide with shock after she ripped the metal blade out, leaving a huge bleeding gash. The intense pain shot through me immediately. I screamed with pain as my vision started to blur and I felt my legs getting weaker.

The mare chuckled and and walked around my backside before stopping in front of me, waiting for me to fall. “I bet that really stings doesn't it, cunt?”     

I defiantly glared at her and focused all my energy for one final attack in an attempt to kill her before my body and magic gave out. I could see that she was about to finish me off so with one erratic movement I blindly took a stab at her with my knife plunging it into her right eye, causing her to collapse onto the floor, screaming in pain. I slowly staggered away from the dying raider.

She kept attempting to pull the knife out of her eye with her hooves, screaming obscenities and racist slurs I've never heard before at me. until finally falling to the floor, dead.

A couple of seconds after she fell to the floor, I joined her, feeling dizzy and lightheaded due to the blood loss.  

Scared of bleeding out, I screamed for Golden's aid. "G-Golden! Please c-come down! I need help!" 

Golden gasped in horror when she saw the gruesome scene. I saw her starting to hyperventilate. “Se-Ser… y-your—”

"Golden, please stay calm.” I coughed. “I need you to h-help me. Check if that raider I killed has a k-key to that first aid box."

I saw Golden take a deep breath to calm herself down and make her way over to the dead raider, wincing as her hooves touched the blood that seeped onto the floor. “Find the key, just find the key,” I heard her quietly mutter to herself.

While she was checking, I took my last healing potion. I knew it wouldn't fully heal me, but I needed Golden to have more time. I tried to look at my wound: it only looked like it closed up slightly. It was still bleeding badly, the blood starting to stain my light-gray fur. I found myself still unable to get up.

“Seren, I found some keys!” Golden exclaimed. I looked over to her and saw her levitating a ring with five different keys on it. Before I could tell her what to do next, I saw her dart off to the bathroom. I couldn't see what was happening, which left me a bit unsettled even though I knew Golden knew what she was doing. I heard her trying the keys on the box until hearing her say, “Got it!” in a proud and triumphant tone.

She rushed back into the room and laid three health potions down in front of me. “You're a life saver, Golden,” I shakily said before drinking two of them. They closed up the wound on my body, for the most part. The wound was still there and it still stung a bit, but it was good enough.

I was finally able to stand up again, causing Golden to smile. I cracked my neck and thanked her again.

“It’s the least I can do, Seren,” she responded in a happy tone.

I walked over to the raider and stripped her of all she had. This included a combat knife, a healing potion, a 10mm pistol, a fair amount of caps and her armor.

I turned around and saw Golden gazing at me with a profound look of confusion on her face. “Er... why did you take all her stuff?” 

“It’s one of the things we will need to do to survive out here, Golden,” I said as I made my way to the bathroom with her trailing behind me.

I went into the bathroom and checked the first aid kit. It was chock full of items, so much so that there was a hole in the wall behind it. I assume the raiders made it when the kit was getting full. I cleaned it out, giving me a bunch of medicines I have never seen before, including two more Healing Potions, two Med-X, two Mint-als, two Rad-X, one Hydra, one Buck and one RadAway. Aside from the Healing Potions and Med-X, I wouldn’t have known the names of any of them if they all had not been labeled. Even if they weren't, it was at this point I noticed that my PipBuck was keeping track of all the items I collected, I was astounded.

After taking all I could, I turned to Golden and said, “I think we should leave the house now In case more raiders come along.”

She gave me a confirmative nod in response and we both promptly left the house.


---
          

Golden and I made it back to the cave, looking eerily ominous over the dark, dimly colored clouds of the early morning. We didn't waste much time walking back into the cave. It was so odd, as it only felt like mere hours ago we were fleeing this cave. We didn't get too far in before I turned my PipBuck light on.

After a couple of minutes of walking I stopped Golden and gave her a 10mm pistol and a StealthBuck. "If we are going to hope to save the stable, I need you to help me. Okay?"

She looked down, I knew she wasn't ready for this, but it was what had to be done. She looked up and said quietly, "I'll try, Seren." With that, I gave her a nod and we both kept going.

I turned off my PipBuck light when we got close enough to see light from the stable door, mainly out of fear of getting caught. We both hugged the cave wall until I could see the entrance of the stable.

I saw two raiders, both armed with machine guns and well-fortified barding. Nothing Golden and I could take on, at least as we were now.

I sat up against the wall on my haunches and evaluated our options. Honestly, we didn't have many. If we tried to attack them directly, one of two things would happen, we would either be captured and tortured, or we would be killed right away. We could use the StealthBucks, but I wasn't sure how long they would last. What if they wore off while we were in the Atrium and it was filled with machine gun toting raiders? We would die so fast it would be shameful! We could try and get them to come to us, but that would just turn into a losing game of hide and seek.

I was becoming stressed, I turned to Golden. "Golden, there are two raiders at the entrance, both with machine guns. We need to find a way to get past them, do you have any ideas?"

I saw her instantly become worried and start to sweat a bit. "I—um uhh… I-I don't know," she stuttered.

"Golden, do you know how long those StealthBucks last?"

She quietly sighed. "I'm sorry; I’m not sure."

I looked down at the ground and dug one of my forehooves into the dirt, trying to think of another option without having to take a gamble on the StealthBucks. With nothing coming to mind, as much as I hated the idea, we needed to take a chance on the StealthBucks.

I knew that what Golden and I were going to see in the stable would most likely be gruesome. "Golden," she turned to me, indicating I had her full attention. "I've decided we are going to use the stealth bucks to go through the stable. No matter what we see, we have to keep moving. I know this will be hard, but we need to get as far into the stable as we can."

She gulped in reply. "I'm scared, Seren."

I looked down and whispered, "I am too... I just hope Dad’s shelter plan worked.” I brought up my PipBuck map. “We should be able to find it, I still have the marker Dad put right here."

I took out the StealthBuck and looked at it in confusion. “Umm… Golden, how do these things work anyway?”

“I think you just plug it into your PipBuck and it makes you invisible,” she quietly said.

“Okay then, together, from three… three, two, o—”

Golden tapped me on the shoulder, stopping me. “Umm, Seren. I don’t have my PipBuck anymore… I can’t use the StealthBuck.”

I looked at her in complete disbelief. “B-but can’t you just activate it with your magic?”

Golden shook her head “It’s a PipBuck accessory. It only works with PipBucks.”

And just like that, we were back at square one. I buried my head in my forehooves, growling in frustration. “Then what are we supposed to do now?”

Golden thought for a brief moment. “Well, I mean, you can still use the StealthBuck. Maybe you should just go without me; I’ll stay here.” She looked down and let out a sigh. “The stable probably hates me anyway.”

“I’m not going in there without you, Golden. There has got to be another way we can both get in there.” I paused as a moment of brilliance passed through my mind. “Would we be able to disguise ourselves as them?”

“I guess we could, but how would we get the armor?” Golden asked.

Apparently, I was ahead of my own thought process, I didn't really think about how we would get the armor, without killing any of them. I thought for a few moments and took another look at the stable door. I realized there was no other way and I let out a hopeless sigh.“I… I’m going to have to kill them. Golden, will the StealthBuck make my weapons invisible?”

“I’m not sure, but it should” 

“Okay then.” I took in a deep breath. “Wish me luck.” I activated the StealthBuck.

My eyes widened in surprise as the StealthBuck began to work. I was shocked at the sight of my hooves and body becoming translucent before my very eyes. I turned to Golden. “Did it work?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I can’t see you at all.”

“Okay then… Here I go.” I took another deep breath and steeled myself.

"Be careful, Seren,” I heard Golden say as I walked toward the stable door.

The closer I got to it, the better I could see the raiders. They didn't look too much like the raiders I fought earlier. I was able to hear them having a conversation, and they sounded like halfway intelligent ponies so much so that I questioned whether I would have to kill them, or not, but I couldn't take any chances. I also took note of the barding they were wearing, which was nothing like the barding I got from the raider I killed.

The barding I had, while well reinforced, seemed to be good quality makeshift at best. The barding they had was dark gray and metal plated, covering their entire body. They also had the same color horseshoes. In addition, they had what seemed to be a strange kind of riot helmet. It was made of a strange metal looking material with tinted glass covering the face area. One of the two guards seemed to have what looked like a metallic, mesh-like object covering his legs with no armored knee pads, while the other guard had just kneepads. I didn't know too much about old world barding, excluding the security barding we used.

I thought about how I could best kill them most efficiently and decided the best way to start would be with the helmets. 

I went into the doorway of the room to the right where me and Golden opened the stable door from when we had left. I flared up my magic and quickly yanked both of their helmets off.

They both look at each other in surprise. “What in Tartarus? My helmet just flew off!”

“Yeah, mine did too! Somepony’s in here!” I heard the sound of them arming their machine guns.

Becoming scared of getting found, I went further into the room and wanted to back into the hallway leading to the Overmare’s office, only to find that it was sealed off. I didn’t realize it until now and it may be too late. All I could do was go to the back of the room.         

I was almost too scared to move, one wrong move and I would be killed. Celestia, please be with me, I prayed. I had steeled myself and was beginning to move to attack the first one until I saw him come into the room and looked directly at me. My heart stopped. This was it, if the StealthBuck wore off now, I would be gunned down like nothing! I stood there—completely petrified—for a few seconds that felt like hours until the raider finally stepped back out of the doorway. 

“Where is this pony?” he growled, frustrated.

After taking a couple seconds to recover, I took a deep breath and started to go to attack him again.      

I quickly creeped up to him and with a swift motion stabbed him in the back of the neck with my knife. The other raider saw his partner fall and gasped. “The sh— is this place haunted?!”

He cautiously made his way over and inspected his partner’s dead body. “What the… a knife wound, but how did—” 

While he was thinking outloud I stabbed him in the neck in much the same way, causing him to die.           

I stood there for a few more seconds until the StealthBuck wore off.

I went to get Golden, so we could get the armor and put it on. She trotted after me into the stable. She took a few steps into the stable and looked down after hearing the all too familiar metal clang underneath her hooves. “It feels so weird… Just coming back here like this.”

I couldn't help but agree with her, but this was no time for reminiscing. I decided to take the one with the metallic mesh to cover my PipBuck. We carefully took the armor off the dead ponies and put it on ourselves. It was a bit too large for us and very heavy. While I was putting the armor on, I noticed something about the metallic mesh, it seems to be a shirt of sorts comprised entirely of linked chains. I had never see this stuff before, so I wasn't sure how effective it was during combat. One thing was for sure, it was very heavy and uncomfortable to wear. 

Luckily, me and Golden both had our own machine guns now and best of all, they looked to be in halfway decent condition. Well, at least compared to the sawn off I was still carrying around with me for some reason.    

Me and Golden finally got the armor on. After putting on the helmets, we could barely recognize each other. “Okay, first things first. Let’s hide these bodies,” I said to Golden. 

When the raiders died, they left very little blood on the floor, which was good for us since they had a lower chance of being found. Golden and I pulled both bodies into the room off to the right, laying them on the floor in the back.

“Okay, that should be good enough,” I said, panting slightly. “Are you ready, Golden?”

She nodded.

“Alright then. Remember, just act natural.”

And with that, we went through the door and continued into the Atrium.

We got into the Atrium and my jaw dropped. Right in the center of the room there was a pile of ponies, lying in a bloody heap, all of them lifeless and riddled with bulletholes. I started to shake and weep, I had never seen something so horrifyingly disgusting in my life. Despite my disgust and shock Golden and I had to force ourselves to keep walking forward.  

The room was being patrolled by raiders, all wearing, more or less, the same body armor as Golden and I. However, some lacked helmets. Everypony's legs seemed to be different, ranging from having no armor apart from the horseshoes to having both the metal looking mesh and the armored kneepads.

The longer I was here, the more difficulty I had controlling my rage and not blowing our disguises.

The room was more dimly lit than I remember, the light having more of an ominous green tinge to it now. The formerly plain metal walls had been redecorated with bulletholes and a couple of odd graffiti drawings. Needless to say I wasn't too pleased with the new décor.  

Both me and Golden were struggling not to react to the bloody mess of ponies in the center in a way that would cast suspicion on us. My eyes widened in terror when I heard Golden weeping and quickly kicked her to make her stop. 

A chill went up my spine when I saw one of the raiders start coming toward us. I thought our cover was blown. “Hey, why are you in here? Who’s patrolling the entrance?” he shouted at us.

I decided to lower my voice to a rougher, more gravely tone, to respond to him. “Yeah, about that, we were called down to Maintenance to check some shit. We were gonna be back in a few minutes.” Golden just nodded in agreement.

The pony looked at us suspiciously for a few seconds, before rolling his eyes. “Okay, but be quick! I’ll assign some others to guard the entrance.” 

After he walked off, we trotted into the hallway. I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. 

The floors in the hallway were smeared with blood, creating trails that led to the dead pony pile back in the Atrium. The walls also had shocking amounts of blood, accompanied by what I'm sure was a common stable sight now, bulletholes. Thankfully, the hallway was a straight shot down to Residential.  

We made it down to Residential. Golden and I still seemed to be in the clear. I saw the down the hallway and was completely disgusted. The entire floor was bloodstained, with dead ponies strewn about all over the place. With the doors to most of the residences open, I didn't need to look through the cracked glass of the windows to see ponies lying dead in their living areas, some in pools of their own blood. The walls had been defaced with various graffiti messages sprayed all over the hallway, as well as dozens of dents left in the wall by bullets.

Words could not express how badly I wanted to kill the few raiders we passed. I wanted to kill them all. I wanted to get revenge for what these awful ponies did. It took a lot of my willpower to force my anger down. I didn’t want to blow our cover, and I was sure I couldn't take any of these ponies down.

We soon made it to the stairs of Maintenance. Before we went down the stairs, I lifted up the metallic mesh covering my legs revealing my PipBuck. 

“What are you doing, Seren?” Golden asked. 

“I’m just making sure we know how to get to this room.” After a few seconds, I showed Golden my PipBuck. “Here, Golden, could you find where this room is and lead the way there? I mean, this is your part of the stable after all.”

“Alright.” She looked at the PipBuck’s screen. After a few seconds, she looked back up. “Okay, I’m pretty sure I’ve got it, follow me.” She continued down the hall.

I followed Golden. While we were passing by the hallway leading down to her residence, I heard some laughing and what sounded like some ponies having a great time. I was pretty sure it was more raiders. They probably made a mess out of her residence, maybe even broken into the DMT1 room. I was actually surprised at how few raiders were down here.

We soon found ourselves in the deepest darkest corridors of Maintenance; many ponies would call it a Tartarus incarnate. These hallways echoed with unsettling groans and sudden loud noises. Machines housed down here included the incinerator and recycling systems, huge generators and a couple of other machines that I doubted even Golden herself knew the purposes of. 

The walls were darker than normal and the lighting was almost nonexistent, bar a few orange-ish colored lights that acted as markers of sorts.        

After a bit of walking, I decided to stop Golden. “I’m assuming we’re pretty close, right?”

“Yeah, we’re almost there, why?” 

“I think it would be okay to take this armor off now; it’s safe to assume our chances of encountering a raider this far down are slim.”

Golden gave a hefty sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness. I was starting to get worried we’d still have to be wearing it as a disguise when we found the shelter.” She started slipping off the armor, as did I.

We took everything off save for the machine guns and continued to the room.   

We made it to where Dad marked the location on my PipBuck. Golden let out a surprised gasp. “Oh, I remember when I sealed this part of the stable off a few years ago. I should have known this was where he meant; it’s the perfect spot.” 

After feeling around a bit, my hooves came across a metal plate that was slightly bent in the top right corner. “I think I found it.” I pulled on the plate. “Golden, help me with this thing.”  

With Golden’s help, we were able to pry back the metal plate and slip behind it. I let Golden go in before myself. The metal plate snapped back into place after I got through.

“Don’t move a fucking muscle.”

I turned around and immediately froze up when I saw two security mares aiming their shotguns at us from behind a makeshift barricade. I recognized who they were right away: Nightshade and Daylight, the stable’s classic good cop, bad cop sister duo. They looked a bit roughed up—their barding was damaged and both of them had some small cuts all over their bodies.

“Why the fuck did you come back?“ Nightshade yelled. “And how did you get down here? You're in cahoots with those savages upstairs! AREN'T YOU?”

I had to say something quick if I didn’t want to get blasted in the face. “Please, I don’t mean any harm!” I pleaded. “And I’m not with the raiders!” 

Daylight humphed in response. “Yeah right! Give us one reason to believe you!” 

With my previous knowledge of Stable 64’s security procedures, I knew they couldn't shoot me unless I made any hostile or sudden movements. Then again, the regulations never took into account stable wide raider attacks. 

I gulped. “If I was in cahoots with the raiders and they sent me to kill you, I would have done, or uhh… tried to already, or I would have just told them where you were. Me and Golden used StealthBucks to get down here. I came back because I felt terrible about what happened and I wanted to help. Please, you don't have to believe me, just give me a chance.”

Nightshade growled at me. “If we weren't still following protocol, I would blast you right in the damn face for all you’ve done, you bitch! Do you know how many ponies have died because of you and that Golden cunt!?” She sighed. “Daylight, go get Oculus.” 

Daylight said nothing and started walking down the hall.

“Don’t you dare move a muscle! Oculus will decide what to do with you. He got all of us down here, so he decides who gets in. I will have no problem shooting you dead right in front of your father. Who knows? He may actually thank me for it!” Nightshade grinned, brandishing the shotgun.

I knew my dad would never have me killed. He knew I never intended for any of this to happen.   

A couple minutes later, we heard hoofsteps echoing through the hallway. My father trotted into view. I saw his jaw drop in surprise and start moving toward us quicker. 

He got up to us with a look of disbelief still plastered onto his face. 

“H-hi, Dad,” I said sheepishly.

“S-Seren… how did y—” 

“Oculus!” Nightshade yelled, snapping him back to attention. “What do you want us to do with them? Let them in? Or kill them?”

Oculus thought for a moment. “I’m letting them in, but they’ll be under high-threat probation.” He looked back to me. “Sorry, honey, but I’m afraid that, after everything that’s happened, we can’t fully trust you… yet.”

I knew what high-threat probation meant. If I drew any weapons, or showed any signs of violence, I would be shot and killed on sight. Same went for Golden. Even though I should have expected all this, hearing my own father saying those words to me was almost like being stabbed in the heart. I nearly cried, but tried to fight back the tears as I followed him down the corridor.

Daylight and Nightshade stepped aside, allowing me and Golden to continue. As I passed by Nightshade, I saw her mouth the words “lucky bitch” at me while glaring.

As we walked through the hallway, I was still struggling to grasp the fact that my own father had doubts about me now.

“Dad, do… do you think I wanted this to happen?” 

He kept walking.

“I honestly don’t know, Seren. I don’t think you would want this, but everyone else is thinking differently. They’re convinced that you and Golden planned all of this, or are at least accomplices in it.”

I was fighting to hold back tears. “Dad,” I croaked, trying not to cry. I could see we were getting near the room where all the ponies had taken shelter. “C-can I please tell you what happened? I… I don’t want to go into that room knowing that you don’t even trust me.”

“I think that would be a good start.” 


---


I told him the entire story, everything that happened after I left the stable.

“So you say you and Golden were unknowingly used, huh?” He asked raising an eyebrow. 

I nodded. “I know it’s hard to believe but please dad! I really did come back to help! I didn’t know any of this would happen!”

He looked off the the side. “I believe you… but the stable won’t. I know that you’ll face hostility if you go into that room. Let me tell them you are coming first for your safety. Do you have any other questions you want to ask?”      

"Do you know who all survived?" 

He explained to me, "Well, I only have rough estimates. I think there are some married couples, a few fillies. Not many members of the security team survived, but several managed to make it here. There seems to be an equal number of mares and stallions. All and all I would say there are somewhere around 80 to 90 ponies in there, if that helps.”

Another question popped up into my mind. “Did… did the Overmare make it?” I asked.

Oculus shook his head. “I don’t think so. Nopony’s seen her anywhere. I sincerely hope that she escaped, but I fear that those... things... upstairs may have gotten to her.”

As much as I despised the Overmare for what she did to Golden, nopony deserves to be heaped onto a pile and left to rot.

He started walking to the room and telling the other ponies of our arrival. We couldn't hear much of what he was saying which I preferred at this point. 

After a few minutes, he came back and let out a sigh. “Ok, you are good to go in now but be warned… Not many ponies are happy about it.”  

We walked into the improvised shelter. It was a fairly large, dimly-lit, hollowed-out room, with dark-gray metal walls. I could clearly see where the machines that were removed from this room originally stood from the indentations in the concrete floors and the covered pipes in the walls. To the left of the entrance was a partial wall splitting the room into two sections. The area behind the wall was much smaller than the main part of the room and had no lighting, which explained why nopony was there.

Golden and I walked into the room. Most of the ponies were glaring at us, and I heard lots of  whispering, both distinct and indistinct.

“How much ya wanna bet they’re in cahoots with those psycho ponies who attacked?” 

“I don't trust those bitches one bit.” 

“They’re both murderers, I heard they killed Fairlaw.”   

Golden and I made our way to the other end of the room. Many ponies were still giving us glares and some outright refused to make as much as eye contact with us. Golden looked to me, an expression of fear clear on her face. "I don't feel comfortable here, Seren." 

I placed a hoof on Golden's shoulder. "I know, but that's to be expect—" 

I was interrupted when suddenly, Liaison burst from the crowd, and, before I could react, she slammed me up against the wall by my neck, using one of her forelegs. I screamed in pain causing most ponies in the room to turn and gasp. She screamed at me tears streaming down her face, "How DARE you kill my mother! YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" She thrust her foreleg again, this time almost crushing my windpipe. 

I saw Oculus come up and try to pull her away saying, "Liaison, let her go dammit!" 

"Li-L—" I desperately tried to talk to her but I couldn’t. Not when I couldn’t even breathe. My vision was starting to blur when out of the corner of my eye I saw a gun appear on the left side of Liaison's head, her eyes widened as she looked at it.

I heard a vaguely familiar voice. 

"Let. Her. Go." 

I fell to the ground gasping for air, Golden trying her best to comfort me. My vision slowly started to come back into focus. I looked up to get a glimpse of the pony who saved me and saw a figure covered in a rust-brown cloak.

Liaison growled, then glared down at me. “I will get you back for this, Seren,” she said in a low voice. “I swear to the goddesses, my first order as Head of Security will be to have you shot dead, point blank!”

“Thank you for the extra persuasion, Cloak,” I heard Oculus say. “I can take it from here.” Then I heard him lead Liaison away.

The pony in the rust-brown cloak humphed in response and put her revolver back under her clothing.

She started walking away, with Golden staying by my side. "Are you okay, Seren?" she asked. 

I tried to respond to Golden, but couldn’t. I was only able to cough and gasp for air. I was finally able to speak again after about a minute of trying to catch my breath. “I’ll be f-fine, Golden,” I said to her through the panting.

After I gave myself a few minutes to recover, I looked around and saw that cloaked pony, who was not too far away from where we were. At that moment I recognized her as the same pony that saved us back in Maintenance when we initially tried to leave the stable. She was just leaning against a wall with nopony talking to her or even so much as noticing her. Something gave me the feeling that she enjoyed the isolation to some degree. I thought it would be as good a time as any to try and talk to her.

I told Golden to stay where she was as I walked over to the cloaked pony. “Umm... h-hi there,” I sheepishly said.

“What do you need?” she asked, her back turned to me.

I realized her voice was that of an older female pony and sounded eerily familiar, as if I heard it somewhere before, other than when she saved us in Maintenance. “I'm not sure if you realize it,” I said, “but during that lockdown a couple days ago you saved me and Golden, and I just wanted to thank you.”

She said nothing and just stood there; she didn't seem like a mare of many words. I tried to get a response from her by asking, “Uhm... do you have a name?”

She finally turned around. Her entire body was covered; even her muzzle was wrapped up behind a cloth of some sort. "You can just call me Cloak."

“Oh… uh okay, mind if I ask you a question?" She replied by saying nothing, I took her silence as a yes. "Umm, when you killed the security ponies in Maintenance, how did you know about the gaps in the security barding?"

She stood there silent for a few seconds. "I'm just... good with guns."

“Oh, okay. There’s just one more thing on my mind: why did you help me... twice now?” 

She turned her back to me again. “I tend to help ponies when I see them in trouble.” 

I could tell she was hiding something from me, but, even if she would tell me, I was too preoccupied to think about it right now. "Okay. Thank you." I walked back toward Golden.


---


After a bit of looking around, we came across Starlight, who was talking to a filly. Golden and I walked up behind her and I tapped her on the back with my hoof. She turned to see us and the filly who she was previously talking with quickly trotted away upon seeing us. "Wait! Come back!" Starlight shouted after her.

After the filly didn't return, she turned back to us with a glare. "What do you want? I was trying to comfort that filly." Her glare intensified as she started to walk closer to me. Her horn beginning to glow causing me to back away. "Who, by the way, lost her parents thanks to you letting those… those… murderers into the stable, Seren!" 

I was actually scared that she was going to lash out and attack me. I hadn't recalled Starlight ever being this upset before. 

Once she stopped yelling at me, she regained her composure and her horn stopped glowing. Starlight just glared at me, waiting for a response. Golden said in a disappointed tone, “I thought you would be happy to see us.”

Starlight turned to Golden. “Maybe if you two didn't have the blood of hundreds of fucking ponies on your hooves, I would be!”

I quickly sprang back up on all fours. “It wasn't like that, Starlight!” I yelled.

“I know about the defense plan, Seren!” she shot back. “Everypony in Intelligence does. Records indicated a download to a PipBuck the night you two escaped, the tag number on the PipBuck matching Golden's.” She glanced at Golden’s non-existent PipBuck and snorted. “And it looks like you were happy to deliver it, too.”

“S-Starlight,” Golden stammered, “I had no—”

Starlight interrupted her. “I don’t care! The only reason you would have taken them in the first place would have been to sell us out!” She turned to look at me again. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go comfort fillies that you orphaned!”

As she started walking away, Golden ran over and stopped her. “Please, Starlight, wait!” Starlight turned only to have Golden break into tears and hug her, pleading with her. "Please listen to me me, Starlight! Let me explain what happened! You're my friend! Please! I don't want to lose you! You and Seren are all I have left!"

I watched this unfold and noticed a few ponies were watching the scene, including Oculus. Golden let go of Starlight and said with a sniffle, "Please, Starlight." Starlight said nothing and the room fell into a dead silence.

Starlight turned around and, using one of her hind legs, kicked Golden upside the head, knocking her to the floor. I heard some ponies gasp in shock, while some others actually the audacity to cheer and say that she deserved it. 

"Starlight!" My father started yelling at Starlight, but the words didn’t matter to me. All that I could think about was how Golden, when she turned to Starlight—one of the few ponies she’d considered a friend—for support, she received an icy dagger to the heart. How could Starlight do something like that and walk away like it was normal?  Powerless to do anything about what just happened, I just stomped my hoof in frustration. 

"Dammit!" I angrily yelled, causing more than a few ponies to look at me. I withered a bit under their gaze and tended to my hurt friend.


---


Golden and I had just been sitting in a dark area of the room behind the partial wall. After helping Golden, she just stayed close to me. She hasn't said a word since Starlight kicked her, Oculus came up to us. "I’m so sorry about all this, Seren."

I just looked down. I felt so alone. The only one who had even a shred of respect left for us was my dad. He sat down and put his hoof around me. "Seren, me and the security team have been talking about clearing out the raiders." 

I looked at him, my curiosity perked. "I've convinced them to let you help but Liaison demanded to talk to you." I shuddered a bit; he must have noticed. "I'm not going to let her hurt you." 

I just looked back down and quietly said, "Alright." 

He got back up. "I'm going to go get Liaison."

Right before he started walking, I said, "Dad, wait!" 

He turned around. "What is it?" 

"Can you please tell me what you know about, umm… Cloak?" 

He tapped his chin for a few moments. “Oh yeah. That cloaked pony. Well, to be honest, none of us know anything about her. She just seemed to follow us down here. We don't even know if she has a PipBuck. It’s weird ‘cause I feel like I know her from somewhere. I just can't put my hoof on where or when. Nopony knows who she is, but she’s been helpful enough.”

Not even my dad knows her, but at least she’s seems to be on our side. “Okay, Dad, thank you,” I quietly replied.

A couple minutes later my dad came back with Liaison. I stood up to talk to her, it still looked like she’d prefer to kill me. "Why did you kill my mother? Why, Seren!" She asked with tears in her eyes.

I just looked down. "I had no choice, Liaison. She shot Golden in the chest and came at me with a taser."

She glared at me. "You’re just saying that as an excuse! I bet you wanted to kill her!"

I gave a sigh. "Why would I have wanted to kill your mother, Liaison?"

She didn't respond, and instead looked away. She started shuddering, before her hatred gave way to tears. "I-I'm just... I just feel so-so alone now!" 

I looked down and hung my head in shame as Liaison continued, "You don’t know what it's like, Seren! I never knew my father, I lived for my mother! I tried to impress her and push myself everyday, just so she could have a daughter she could be proud of. A daughter who she knew would be able to take her place as head of security one day. She never even told me she loved me. I never got the chance to be the daughter she wanted... Because you killed her!"

I slowly looked up. "Liaison... I hope you know Fairlaw loved you more than you think she did."

Liaison gazed at me, her face nearly red from crying. "H-how can you possibly know that?"

I was hoping to Celestia that what I was about to say would be enough to cheer Liaison up. "She tried to kill us, but do you know why?"

Liaison had a confused look on her face. “Because she tried her best to stop you from killing any more ponies!”

"Well, yes, that’s partly true, but she became enraged when she heard you were hurt, screaming that nopony hurts her daughter, before shooting Golden in the chest. If that doesn't prove she loved you... at least a little, I don't know what does."

Liaison’s eyes slightly widened in surprise as I continued. "I don't think Fairlaw would like it if you didn’t take charge right now as the new head of security and try to take back the stable. Just because she's dead doesn't mean you can't at least do what you think would make her proud."

Liaison looked at me, her face expressionless. I could tell she had no response to what I just said. After a few moments, she finally spoke again, "I will never forgive you, Seren... EVER, but for my mother... I'm willing to look past what you did, at least until we take back Stable 64, but I still hate you.”

I gave a firm nod. "That’s okay, Liaison. I don't expect you to forgive me. I know I wouldn't if I was you."

She turned resolutely to Oculus. "We need to finish planning."

He nodded and with that, they walked off. Liaison with her back turned to me said, "We will get you when we’re ready."

I said nothing in response.


---


We were setting up to take back the stable. Each team was composed of a group of ten or eleven ponies. Since I had both experience and was formerly in security, I was assigned as one of the group leaders. Some of the noteable ponies in my group were Golden, Cloak and, ironically enough, Starlight, who was still absolutely beyond livid toward Golden and me.  

As for how we would kill the raiders, I didn't like the look of our chances. Most of the security ponies were armed with their security barding, riot helmets and shotguns, while the remainder of the ponies had what they could improvise. They sadly didn't have any extra barding for me so I unfortunately had to remain unprotected. Of course, there was the raider armor, but wearing it didn’t strike me as a good idea, especially with what the stable currently thought of me. I had a feeling that friendly fire wasn’t out of the realm of possibility resulting from confusion… or malice.

Oculus only stored a few guns in the room, certainly not enough for everypony. Some of the more trusted ponies were given pistols and/or shotguns while most others had makeshift melee weapons made from various metal parts found around the room. 

Before the briefing, I told Liaison and Oculus how the E.F.S. worked. The entire stable was using it now, so I thought it would hopefully give us an advantage and I can only hope went a long way toward regaining some degree of trust amongst the stable population.


---


Despite my concerns, we were as ready as we’d ever be for the attack. I had a feeling of impending doom overtake me as Liaison began briefing the teams. “Okay, listen up!” she started in a commanding tone. “I'm not going to sugarcoat this! It is unlikely all of us will make it out of this battle alive. According to what I have been told, these are not normal raiders we are up against. They appear to have good armor and weapons. No matter what our past differences were, we need to put them aside and work together to reclaim this stable. So here’s the plan: each team will secure a part of the stable. Teams one and two, you will secure Maintenance; teams three through five, you will secure Residential; team six, you will secure the entire Atrium floor; and teams seven and eight will be going all the way up to the Overmare’s office. If we need backup, we will radio for help, but if we remain silent, the teams are supposed to patrol the area and eliminate any remaining or hiding threats. Any questions?”  

I was leading team seven and was surprised to hear we were going all the way to the Overmare’s office. I took a deep breath and steeled myself for the long battle ahead.

We slowly walked out of the shelter area. I looked at my E.F.S. to figure out where the enemies were, so we could get the sneak attack on one. Since my team, much to my dismay, was considered the strongest, we were first tasked with securing Maintenance. Though I’m sure some of them were just throwing me under the wagon. The other seven teams stood by in different parts of the area. We were to alert them if anything went wrong. 

The E.F.S. didn’t offer as much as an advantage as I’d hoped, since I saw nothing but a mess of red lines everywhere. I figured by what I heard when I came in, most of the raiders in Maintenance were near or inside Golden’s former residence.  

I knew a head on attack would be too costly and I didn’t want to have to wear that armor and get killed, because either side would be liable to shoot me, so we needed to find another plan.

“I hope you all trust me, ‘cause I think I have an idea,” I nervously said. They all just gave me blank stares. Taking their silence as a yes, I started to tell them my plan, “I’m thinking we need to make a sound so one will come investigate we hide behind these machines and then we all jump him.”

“How do we get through the armor?” one of them asked. 

“I’ll yank off the helmet if they are wearing one and we will just aim for the head. Two of us will also have machine guns so that will help. Is that good? We can pick up any of their guns that we find when we’re done.”    

Nopony else had a plan, so they all just agreed to mine, but they also decided I had to be the bait. And even though I was supposed to be in charge, they refused to have it any other way. 


---


My group was hidden and in position while I was standing at the far end of the hallway leading to Golden’s residence, quaking in fear. Even though the hallway was rather long and the door was on the left side near the end, I could still tell that it was open from where I was standing. I could faintly hear the voices of the raiders echoing throughout the empty hallway. After taking a few deep breaths and gathering my thoughts, I was ready. I took out my 10mm pistol with my magic. I aimed at the back of the hallway and took a shot.

BLAM! 

Two raiders rushed out of the residence, neither wearing a helmet, spotted me and drew their machine guns. “Hey, you! Stop right there!”

I panicked immediately and fled back to where I had to lure them keeping my PipBuck light on to let the others know not to shoot me. I glanced behind me and noticed they were hot on my trail. One was a unicorn and fired his machine gun at me while running, which I thankfully dodged. I responded by taking two completely blind shots at him with my 10mm, hoping to hit his head, but I only heard one bullet bounce off of his armor.

“Give it up, bitch! Stop running and let us kill you already!” one of them yelled. 

“If ya stop now, maybe we’ll have a little fun with you before you die!” the other raider laughed.

I ran into the dark passageway where everyone was waiting. Halfway down the hallway, I turned my PipBuck light off so the raiders wouldn't find me and ducked down behind a machine.

I heard the raiders come in behind me. “Where did that cunt go?”

“I don't know! You run faster than me!”

“Well, maybe if you weren't staring at her plot and thinking about fucking her if we caught her, you could have kept up!”

“Oh yeah, blame me, even though I'm totally a better shot than you! Who misses a pony running through a hallway?”

“Discord fuck me! Just look for her!” 

“Fine!” 

Despite the circumstances, I actually struggled not to snicker at the banter. I snapped back into serious mode when I heard the hoofsteps coming down the hallway. I drew my machine gun and gave the cue to attack.

“NOW!” I screamed.

With that, the ponies in my group attacked as one. I aimed my machine gun at their head and fired. They tried to return fire, but we didn’t relent in our attack and they fell quickly.

When we were sure we killed them, we turned on our PipBuck lights. We had done well, but two ponies were injured and one was even killed. We called a medic in to look after the two injured ones. Despite the fact that some were eager to get the machine guns, no one wanted the armor and considering what the stable’s previous opinions of me had been, I didn’t feel much like persuading them.

We went back near Golden’s residence and I saw one of the teams making their way down the hallway like an infantry squad and clearing out the room and just like that Maintenance was cleared out. 

Before going up to Residental, Golden told me she wanted to check her place. I was actually surprised at the request. I wasn't sure how the room looked, but I knew it couldn't be anything good. Nevertheless, I decided to oblige. 

We made it into her residence and to be honest, it didn't look that bad aside from the dead raider in the room. Some tables and chairs were turned over and a couple of things were broken, but nothing beyond that. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, the DMT1 room was untouched completely. Golden didn't give much of a reaction beyond a defeated sigh. “Why did you even want to come in here, Golden?” I asked. 

“I-I just wanted to see how bad it was,” she muttered.

We left the room and went to take out Residential.          


---


We had made it into the Atrium floor. To be honest, I couldn't believe we made it this far. We lost quite a few ponies in Residential—maybe about twenty or so between all the teams. Thankfully, our individual teams seemed to be doing ok. It was teams 6, 7, and 8 now, and between us we only lost 5 ponies. At least, I could be sure the other teams were safe, either securing or patrolling the rest of the stable. 

At this point, the raiders knew they were in trouble, and there were a few in Residental that simply fled. Between what the three teams collected, nearly all of us had guns now, and we were as ready as we could be to take the Atrium, but we still wanted to play things safe. 

After a couple minutes, we had discovered that they barred one of the two entrances to the Atrium. I figured they were trying lock us out or even trap us. With no other options available to us, we decided to take the way in through the Cafeteria, instructing our teams to stay behind while we checked the room. Liaison and I took cover behind the doorway with me on the right and her on the left. I glanced in and didn’t see anything; I was actually surprised that the front door was closed. Despite that, Liaison and I weren’t taking any chances and decided to take cover anyway.  

The two of us quickly made our way in. I jumped over and ducked behind the serving counter while Liaison went behind a table. Ironically enough, I think it was the same table I hid behind when I encountered her while Golden and I were escaping.

Suddenly, I heard the metallic hiss of the front door opening followed by the sound of hoofsteps. I was positive it was a raider, checking the room. I was nervous about Liaison getting caught and looked for something I could use as a distraction to get the pony’s attention, until my gaze landed on a full crate of Sparkle-Cola.

I lifted a bottle out of the crate using my magic and threw it at the raider. The bottle missed him, smashing on the floor with an terrifyingly loud shatter. 

“What in Tartarus? Who’s there?” we heard the raider say. 

“Hey what's going on in here?” An agitated voice asked coming from what sounded like the front entrance. “What did I tell you about about keeping this door closed? You know we’re getting fucked by these stable ponies!”

“I thought I saw something in here.”

“Well, check and get your ass back in here. And keep this door closed!”     

We heard the door close and I could tell the raider was quickly walking up to where he thought the bottle came from. He jumped over the server counter and saw me causing me to scream.

“Got ya, bitch!”

He took a few potshots at me with his machine gun. I threw another bottle of the cola at him hoping to obscure his vision as I ran into the kitchen.

I heard the bottle hit his helmet with another loud smash. “Stop that, you soda throwing cunt!” he screamed as I heard the sound of what I was sure was him removing his helmet.

“Ah damn! Where did you go?” I heard his hoofsteps coming closer once again and I readied my machine gun to to attack.

TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK!

I was surprised to see the raider fall into the doorway to the kitchen, dead. I looked around the corner and saw Liaison on the other side of the room standing up with the machine gun in her levitational grasp. I came out and carefully stepped around the now dead raider. “Thanks, Liaison.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you were thinking, but warn me next time! You had me scared shitless, I thought he was going to kill us both!” Liaison said, irately, slightly out of breath.

“I was trying to keep you from getting caught so I improvised.” I put one of my forehooves behind my head and gave a nervous grin.

Liaison let out a sigh. “Well, either way, he's dead. I think we should regroup in Hydroponics and plan our final part of this attack out.” 

I gave a nod of confirmation and we went to get our teams.

We entered Hydroponics. I hadn’t been in this room for years, but it hardly looked any different. It was a very large room that was lined with rows upon rows of troughs of nutrient solution, many of them growing differing food. The lights here were the brightest lights in the stable, meant to simulate sunlight, placed right above the troughs. On the right side of the ‘farm’ was a structure that was reminiscent of an old world shed holding all the supplies needed for growing fresh food.

The lights were on a dimmer setting to save power, which I thought was nice. If the raiders had been in here, they sure left the room in great condition because everything looked as it should have.

Of course I wasn't in here to sightsee or look around the room despite how much I wanted to. Liaison called both teams to attention, which quickly brought me back to reality.

We all gathered around Liaison as she began to explain the plan. “Okay, our options are kind of limited since all we can do is go in through the Cafeteria. I just say we play it safe, stay back, stay hidden and just slowly make our way in. That’s all I have unless anypony has any other ideas.” She looked around and nopony said anything, not even me. I was trying to think of an alternate suggestion, but her plan was honestly the only thing we could do given the circumstances.

We went to the door with most ponies on our teams hiding behind various tables and the server’s counter. Liaison gave me her keycard and instructed me to open the door, but stay in cover behind the wall. I obeyed her instructions, but before opening the door I decided to check my E.F.S for any threats. Sure enough, it indicated that there were three raiders inside waiting for us. 

I took a few deep breaths, then used my magic to open the door. Even though I was safely hidden behind the wall, having to be the one to open the door was still terrifying, even with magic. 

The moment I opened the door, we were greeted by ear-shattering gunfire.

The gunfire then stopped almost as abruptly as it started, with nopony willing to expose themselves. “We can stand here all day! Come at us bitches!” A menacing voice yelled from the atrium.

In response, a mare from one of our teams poked out from behind her cover and started shooting at the raiders. I tried to warn her, but it was too late. The raiders returned fire and she was killed instantly. 

She fell to the floor, the raiders in the atrium chuckling at the meaty thud her corpse made.

I was trying to think of what to do when I heard two loud shots ring out. 

BLAM! BLAM!

I turned my head and saw Cloak standing up from one of the tables wielding her revolver, with smoke coming out from the barrel. Then I heard a body fall to the ground on the other side of the door. “Oh shit! They killed Grunge!” a scared and saddened voice said.  

“Fuck Grunge, she was weak, we can still take um!” the menacing voice yelled back.  

“Screw you bitch, Grunge was my friend and I don't want to die next! I’m getting out of here! Fuck the Masqueraders!” I then heard the sound of galloping away.

The last raider fired into the room once more. “I ain’t scared of any of you damn stable ponies!” the menacing voice yelled. “I’ll kill you all myself! I don’t need any help anyway!”  

The only way I could think of to kill the last raider was to take a chance and use S.A.T.S.

I whispered to Liaison what my plan was and she nodded.

After a few more seconds and one more deep breath I quickly jumped into the doorway, startling the raider. I activated S.A.T.S. before he could react and aimed the machine gun point blank at his right foreleg, the only part of him that was exposed.

TAK—TAK—TAK—TAK … TAK—TAK—TAK—TAK.	

Time resumed normally, and the pony fell to the floor screaming in pain. Liaison took a quick look into the atrium, and stood up. “The atrium looks clear! Secure the area!”

The others slowly got up from their hiding spots. I motioned for Golden to come towards me and stay close. We slowly walked into the room, put the injured pony out of his misery, and looked around. We all began to scatter and secure the various parts of the room.

Liaison turned to me. “You and Golden go check the Overmare’s Office and tell me what you find. The rest of us will secure the stable in case of would-be counterattacks and search for any stragglers. If you don't come back in fifteen minutes, we’ll come up there and check on you. Ok?”

I nodded. “Let’s go, Golden.” We started going up the stairs. 

We were in the hallway that led to the Overmare’s office when a raider jumped out from around the corner and tried to stab me, catching me off guard. I panicked and pulled out my combat knife and blocked his blow, but he continued to persist and started forcing his knife against mine.

We were in a tense standoff with our knives crossed. The raider started pushing and overpowering me with his knife, drawing ever closer to me despite my best efforts with my own knife to keep him back. I had to distract him somehow, so I ripped his helmet off with my magic.

Before I knew what happened, my knife was knocked out of my grasp and the raider put one of his forearms around my neck, putting the knife to my throat. “Well, well, well. Lookie what we got here,” he said in a smooth voice, definitely not one I would expect a raider to have.

I looked over and saw Golden take out the pistol I gave her. “L-let her go!” she stammered, shaking like a leaf.

“Don't take another step, blue pony! Or your gray friend dies!” The raider threatened, putting the knife closer to my neck.

“I-I said let her go!” Golden demanded.

The raider chuckled. “You look like you don't even know how to use that gun!” He turned towards me. “Well, gray pony, this has been fun and you dented up my helmet, so why don't we just end this?” he offered, increasing the pressure until the knife was pressed firmly against my flesh, the blades threatening to pierce my skin at any moment. I started shaking in fear, and closed my eyes. 

“G-Golden!” I whimpered. 

“NO!!!” Golden shrieked.

BANG! BANG!   

I heard the metallic clang of something drop to the ground and felt something moving down my body. I opened my eyes and saw the body of the raider, limp and lifeless, with two bulletholes in his head.

I shoved the raider’s corpse off my body and slowly got back up on all fours, panting raggedly as I slowly walked up to Golden, my muscles shaking.

She was sobbing. Her face was buried in her forehooves. The pistol lay forgotten on the floor.

I knelt low, and wrapped my forehooves around her as smoothly as I could. 

A couple of seconds later Liaison and a few other ponies burst in. “We heard a scream in here! What happened?” she asked, frantically.

I turned to face her. “It’s nothing, Liaison, we handled it.”

“You want some other ponies to accompany you?”

“No we’re fine… but thanks anyway,” I reassured her. 

“Ok then. Well, we still want you to check the room, so try and get going,” she urged, and stepped back into the atrium.

I turned my attention back to Golden. “Seren...” she croaked. “I-I-can’t believe I killed him.”

“No, Golden. You saved my life, that raider was going to slit my throat!” she looked up at me. “Please don’t fall apart on me now. We’re so close.”

After giving her a few more seconds to gather her emotions, she finally gave me a nod and stood up wiping the tears from her eyes. “I’m… I’m just happy that you're safe.”

“So am I, here.” I said levitating the pistol to her.

She took it, thanking me. I then went down the hall and picked up my knife. After a moment of thought, I picked up the raider’s knife as well just for good measure.

We walked through the door into the Overmare’s living area. Everything looked as it should. It was so much like last time that I almost expected Fairlaw to come out of the doorway to the office again to confront us. But with nothing in our way, Golden and I just continued into the Overmare’s office.    

We walked into the Overmare’s office and saw a gray-coated pony with a syringe cutie mark on the far left side of the room. He was looking out the circular window that overlooked the Atrium. The Overmare was lying on the floor to the right of her desk, dead, seemingly executed, with a single bullet hole in her head. The room looked almost exactly as it should, bar a few dents in the walls and the dead Overmare.

“I must say, I’m impressed,” The stallion at the window said with a deep and low voice. “I guess death is all that is to be expected from ponies who want to become something they clearly lack the ability to be.”

“That’s him,” Golden whispered to me. 

“Who?” I asked.

“The pony who I saw at Tenpony…”

I stared at Golden for a few seconds, then nodded and turned to face the stallion. “So you’re Doctor Waterfall?”

“I prefer my whole name, Doctor Gray Waterfall,” he said turning around. I was finally able to get a look at his face. He was an older unicorn with a stern expression. Fitting the description Golden  gave me, the color of his mane and tail nearly matched her own to a T. What struck me as odd was that he also had the same eye color as Golden, orange fading to yellow near the bottom.

He glared at us for a moment before softening his expression. “Ah, Golden, it’s lovely to see you again. How are you?”

“Don’t talk to me, you… you monster!” Golden screamed.

“Hmm, such hostility,” Gray muttered while walking back to the Overmare’s desk. I kept my machine gun pointed at him, just in case.

“I hope you know you're wasting your energy pointing that gun at me. It's pretty clear that I'm unarmed and have no intention of hurting you,” he said to me while sitting down at the Overmare’s desk.

My brow furrowed. “Insurance, Gray.”

“Suit yourself. It’s your magic, not mine.” He waved a hoof in dismissal toward me.

The three of us just glared at each other for a few seconds until Gray broke the silence. “Well, as long as none of us seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere, let’s have a little talk.” He pressed a button on the Overmare’s terminal, closing and locking the door behind me and Golden.

Golden tapped me on the back. “Umm... Seren, he just locked us in here.”

I whispered to Golden, reassuringly, “Don’t worry Golden, he knows I’ll kill him if he doesn’t cooperate.” I turned my head back and held my stance, pointing the gun at him, relying on my training. “Open the door and step away from the terminal.” I demanded.

“Don’t worry, I'm not going to do anything nefarious. I just want to make sure no one interrupts me and Golden during this father-daughter talk.” A smug smile came across his face when my silence confirmed that I was prepared for neither the refusal nor the shocking declaration.

Golden gave the pony a confused look. “Wait. W-what do you mean father-daughter talk? I don’t even know you!”

He let out a chuckle. “Rest assured. I understand your confusion, but it is true. Golden... I am your father.”

Golden said nothing and stared at him in disbelief.

I was pretty sure this pony was insane. No way I believed this was Golden’s long lost father, but something inside me made me want to humor him anyway. “Okay, Gray, if you really are Golden’s father, then prove it! Tell me what day she was born!”

“October 19th,” he quickly said back. “And my wife, Sharp Eye Riversong, may she rest in peace, was born on July 27th. Golden’s grandmother is my mother. Her name was Signal Test, who used to be a very gifted stable radio technician.”

My mind went blank. I lost the grip on my gun, dropping it to the floor. No words came to my mouth as I tried to comprehend on what he just said. There’s no way that this maniac is my best friend’s father! Why would he leave the stable? Why would he leave behind Golden and Sharp Eye to take care of themselves? It didn’t make any sense!

Golden took a couple of steps back. “N-no... No! That’s impossible! M-my father is d-dead! He-he disappeared years ago!” Her breathing began to quicken. She whipped the dropped machine gun up with her magic. “W-who are you, really!? L-let us out right now! Or-or I’ll shoot you!”

“Oh, Golden, I know you won’t do that to me. You’re such a timid flower. You're just scared and confused about this.” He grinned.

“Give me the gun, Golden!” I demanded, snatching the gun from her shaky telekinetic grasp with my own. I resumed pointing the gun at him. “Why are you telling us this, anyway?”

He got up from the Overmare’s desk and walked back over to the window. “I was hoping, perhaps you two would like to hear how all this happened before the other survivors come in here and kill me… Hostile or not.”

I looked down. I didn't feel like it was my place to make that decision, especially if this was Golden’s father. I decided there was only one thing I could do, I turned to Golden. “Golden, this is your father. I feel you should decide if you want to hear what he wants to say or if you want me to kill him right here.”

“I… I want to listen to him. I want to—I need to know why… why he did all this.”

“As you wish,” Gray said. He walked back to the Overmare’s desk and sat down.

“It was years ago and I was known as Gray Riversong. Like any loving father. my daughter, Golden Riversong, was my pride and joy.”

I could barely fathom how hypocritical that statement seemed today. Gray didn’t seem to have any problems with mentally violating his ‘pride and joy’ and disposing of her in radiation-filled water, leaving her for dead.

“No doubt you already know what a stallion’s role in Stable 64 is, but I didn’t want to be a homemaker my whole life. I was hopeful that things would change for stallions in the stable. I had always wanted to be a doctor of sorts ever since I was a small colt. When I became a bit older, I started studying medicine.”

“When Golden was a very young filly, there was a virus going around the stable, notorious for providing a slow death. I had already been studying medicine for a few years and had a cutie mark from it by then. Since Medical couldn't find a cure, I quickly put my talents to work to make one.”

“D-did you?” Golden sheepishly asked.

“I actually did. I wrote some theories and a recipe for one and presented it to the Overmare. She turned it down ‘cause stallions don’t work in the stable. I showed it to Doctor Injecta, the stable’s head of medicine, the next day. She turned it down telling me the same thing the Overmare said. Then,” he let out a sigh, “a few days later, Golden was diagnosed with the virus. I pleaded with Doctor Injecta again to try my theories, but she said no. Golden and all the other ponies were eventually vaccinated, but it did no good.”

His voice began to take a more frustrated tone. “I became… angered. Scared of losing my daughter before she could so much as even talk properly. I decided to attempt to kill Injecta… I took a nine millimeter I had acquired and told Sharp Eye I was going out. I wanted Injecta to pay for her negligence; I wanted to kill her in hopes that a new head of Medical would take her place and cure the stable.”

“I walked into Medical, saw her, took aim and fired twice. Unfortunately, I missed. She ducked down and hid behind a support beam, I moved closer to her, intending to kill when I was stopped.” He glared at me. “By none other than your mother, Seren.” He let out a sigh. “Cosmosia shot one of my hind legs, causing me to fall to the ground. Obviously, she came running when she heard gunshots… She then arrested me on charges of attempted murder, possession of an unlawful firearm, harassment, and disorderly conduct. I can’t say I was sad to see that she died, even when there wasn’t enough left of her to recover.”

I struggled not to shoot him for saying that, even knowing that this was important. In the end, I managed to accept that it could wait a few more minutes.

“Anyway, I was thrown into a cell and it was decided that I should be exiled from the stable. They were going to release me into the Wasteland, leaving me for dead. It was extremely early in the morning, I think around three AM, when the Overmare came to get me.”

“She was so arrogant and so sure I would die in the Wasteland that she told me about how the defence plan would make sure I could never enter again. She said every trace of my existence in the stable will be erased once I stepped out that door. I no longer cared though, I had no reason to. I stepped out the door and into the Wasteland. And that’s where my story ends, for the most part.”

“After that, it's not too exciting. I got my way into Tenpony, and eventually manipulated the group of bandits—not raiders—that you just killed into carrying out this attack… That, at this point, has clearly been quite a failure.”

“And the reason I tried to invade the stable in the first place… Revenge... revenge and the promise of a position in one of the dominant factions in the wasteland, one which this group of bandits happened to also be interested in joining. It was simple enough to mislead them into thinking this would convince the faction recruiters. For the longest time I wasn't sure if the ponies in this stable were still alive. I started to use special tools to pick up the stable’s radio frequencies. Since they were still operational and changing, I knew ponies were still alive and operating them. Alive or not, I should have known that this is how it would end. We weren't strong enough. We thought we killed all the stable dwellers and got cocky.” He ended his story with a sigh. “And that’s all you need to know.”  

“B-But how did the stable make a working vaccine without you?” Golden quietly asked him.

“Well, turns out they did. I looked through the records in Medical and found the recipe I came up with only simplified in some areas and written under a different name, so—”

There was a loud banging on the door behind us. “This is security!” A muffled voice shouted from behind the door. “Open this door right now or we will force it open and not hesitate to shoot!”

Gray promptly pushed the button, opening the door.

Liaison walked in, gun at the ready. “Okay! Nopony move!” A look of surprise came onto her face when she saw the situation, before turning to us with an accusatory look. “Golden, Seren, who the hell is this pony and why is he still alive? Isn’t this their leader? You know, of the ponies who nearly destroyed the stable?”

Before I could answer her, Cloak followed through the doorway. She recognized the pony behind the desk immediately. “Gray Riversong!” she shouted, angrily, far more emotional than I’d heard her before.

Liaison looked slightly shocked. “Wait? Riversong? But Golden is… What the hell is going on here?”

“I’m sorry,” Gray said in confusion. “Do I know you?” he asked Cloak as she approached him.

“You used to,” she said, getting up to the desk. She put a gun to his forehead. “I had a feeling you were the bastard behind all this and now, I'm going to do what should have been done all those years ago!”

I was hopelessly confused at this point, and I had no idea how any of this made sense. Who could possibly know Gray well enough to recognize him after all these years? Injecta, the Overmare, Fairlaw, and absolutely anypony else who might still recognize him died. Who was this pony—could she even be an actual pony?

Gray continued to gaze at her in confusion. “I’m sorry but I have never seen you before in my life; I have no idea how you know me. All I can deduce is that you have me confused with somepony else.”

“I assure you that I haven’t, but it doesn't matter how we know each other because I will finish you off. One bullet. Point blank. Squarely in your forehead. A fitting end for one such as you.” She cocked the gun back. “Any last words?”

I decided to urge Golden to look away. Even though her father was a terrible pony, who’d done unspeakable things to her and others, something gave me the feeling that seeing him summarily executed like this would scar her, even if she didn't love him.

Gray gave a sigh. “I guess all I can say is that I failed… finish me off. I’m ready.”

For a brief moment, it was as if the world stopped turning. An eerie silence fell over the room. A part of me believed that Cloak wouldn’t pull the trigger. 

BLAM! 

And with that, Gray was dead… Stable 64 was safe.

“I always knew he would come back,” Cloak said.

“Who are you, dammit?! You’re hiding something and I want to know what it is!” Liaison screamed at Cloak. “Continue playing games with me and I’ll kill you!”

Cloak sighed. “I also feared this day would come, apparently I have said too much. Fine, I will do as you asked. I guess you deserve to know after that… display. But before I do I want to say one thing in advance… I’m sorry, Seren.”

“Sorry for what?” I raised an eyebrow.

She didn't answer as she unbuttoned her hooded cloak and, in with one swift motion, levitated it off her body. 

My jaw dropped as I started to hyperventilate. 

The pony standing before me was a unicorn mare with a dark gray coat, a black mane and a shorter than normal tail with a couple thin strands of white running down the right side on both. She had gray eyes and a gold security badge cutie mark.

It was my mother… Still alive.

“M-Mom,” was all I was able to say before I fell to the floor and my world went to black.


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Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Egghead - You receive one additional skill point for every skill book you read.