(story extract)
 
We headed out into the sunny (or at least as sunny as the wasteland got) air, the wind nipping a little at my ears, but compared to last night, I may as well be in swimming trunks. I looked around at the debris surrounding the facility as we marched on, cringing a little at the sight of the decomposed and… glowing… corpses littering the ground. One such formerly pony-shaped mass of goo was lying in a pool of radioactive waste, an eye dangling out of it’s socket in the nipping wasteland air. Gross. I looked down at my Pip-Buck as it clicked, tapping it a bit before the EFS kicked back on. Five rads per second?! Jeez, how does Twintails stand this? Lets get out of here before my skin starts to match The Docs. I said, picking up my pace.
 
Ah, come on, this aint that bad. Just a little healthy glow, is all~ Twintails simply matched my speed, still humming along to the song. He went back to bobbing his head along to the tune, myself rolling my eyes at him; I didnt spend all my time in the same room as an experimental reactor, thank you very much. I quite enjoy life without being a walking nightlight… or at least without having a nightlight whenever I go to the bathroom. We quickly made our way out of the radioactive swamp, climbing out of the small valley between a few mountains the facility lay in.
 
We headed down the road, now able to see beyond two feet in front of our faces. The valley that led into the N.E.A.M.O. basin continued along the road, some radioactive waste from the facility flowing into the frozen river. The song soon died down, quickly replaced by the voice of the DJ, garbled a bit by static. Hey all of you out there in this Winter Waste-erland, hope youre all having a wonderful… whatever season it is! A little breaking news, and its good this time. From the sound of it, two fresh-out-of-the-Stable-ees have just restored trading to Mooscow, drove a bunch of raiders out of the RobronCo factory up the street. Forget to set your alarm boys? The DJ chuckled. And you better watch out Short Fuses, these colts mean business. Alright, Ill stop jabbering, back to your favorite tunes. His voice died out before another song crackled to life. The tune was rather ridiculously upbeat for a song about some poor colt whose marefriend was caught outside when the bombs fell.
 
I thought a little about what the DJ had said - it sounded like there hadnt been a Stable opening in a long, looong time. Hey, Twintails, what was your life like in the Stable? I asked as we headed past a crushed wagon. He spun a dial on his Pip-Buck, turning the volume down.
 
“Mmm, well, It wasn’t terrible, but… working in reactor maintenance, you don’t really run into a whole lot of other ponies down there. Mostly I just watched old test films of captured Balefire Bombs and megaspell detonations, read all I could about them. Heh… could tell you exactly how big a boom that shell back behind Megaspell Mary had, if I could’ve seen behind the casing. Eheh… How about you? He asked, turning away for a moment and then facing back, curiosity in his eyes.
 
Eh… I shrugged Aside from the Overmare, I guess there really wasnt all that much wrong about it. I went to class, failed the G.O.A.T., became a technician and left. Thats how it goes for most ponies, right? I said, chuckling a little.
 
Twintails raised an eyebrow. Wait a minute… you failed the G.O.A.T.? How in the name of Princess Luna did you manage that?! I thought it was supposed to just be an occupational test, or is that all mixed up too in your crazy augmented life?
 
Thats just it; its a job assignment test. I tilted my head back towards my flank. Dont you think its a little odd Im probably, not to brag, one of the most plasma-knowledgeable ponies and I have a peppermint cutie-mark? Twintails seemed to think it over for a moment, before nodding and shrugging simultaneously. Well, according to that test I was best suited to be run a sweet shop. I was apprenticing for a good month or so, catering birthday parties and Nightmare Nights alike. I suppose I wasnt too bad at it, since my cutie-mark popped up… though I bet its probably more likely because of my obsession with the actual mixing machines than the stuff in them. I looked down at the ground, a suddenly feeling of nostalgia washing over me. I sighed a little as we walked along, the soft hum of the radio scarcely heard over the icy wind.