The four of us stood in a semi-circle around the body on the ground before us. Only its shriveled matted head was visible from underneath a rather clean lab coat, its eyes staring through unblinking lids.

"Well, let's see what we can find out from our stiff." I moved closer to the body. I lifted up the lab coat and leaned in to get a better look.

The near-skeletal creature was equine in form, though it was no larger than a preteen. Two small horns jutted out between its ears. Its spotted hide was stretched taut against its bones, with barely any sign of muscle. Its small hooves were cloven.

"Well, he's a Pudu. That much is sure," I said.

Sorbet learned in over my shoulder. Her eyebrows were raised. "I've never seen one up close."

"So you've seen one far away, have you?" I remarked, smirking.

"No, I saw a picture of one in an almanac. Except the one in there looked a lot more alive."

"Heh, was he in a group of scientists or at a casino?"

"Casino," Sorbet replied.

Éclair was flipping through the booklet on Summer Sunset. "But why would tiny tribal deer be at a casino? Or a group a scientists?" she asked, turning the booklet sideways.

Sugar Rush cleared her throat. "Well kid, All Pudu are born geniuses. Back in the day they were often allowed to become researchers for the many of Equestria's R&D teams. The Ministry of Technology, Stable-Tec, Trotworth Independent Technologies, Western Equestrian Armaments; you name it, they most likely were in it."

"But the casino?" Éclair's head was tilted and her brows were furrowed.

I smiled. "Equestrian Immigration regulations were extremely strict. In order for a Pudu to get citizenship, they had to be either a scientist, or a member of a scientist's family," I explained. "So the families of these scientists did what wasn't considered a proper job at the time. They ran casinos. This was so common that almost every single casino in film had a Pudu manager."

"Okay," Éclair finally said. I returned my attention to the Pudu. Carefully, I pulled the lab coat off of his corpse. I patted the coat down for pocket, but to no avail.

Sorbet cleared her throat. "So how did he die? And how long ago, if you can tell?" I scratched my chin with my hoof.

"Well, judging by the complete lack of tissue, rotted or otherwise, I'd say he starved to death." I hazarded a guess. "He's very well preserved, The optical orbs are still intact. Otherwise I'd say he's at least a century old." I draped the lab coat back over the body.

"So there is a possibility he could’ve been an original worker here." Sorbet turned away towards a door. "Well this can be either a good thing or a bad thing. Let's keep moving so we can find out."

Sugar Rush trotted up next to her. "You got it, boss." Éclair followed closely after her. The door hissed as it slid open.

I started my way towards the girls, but turned back around. "Rest in peace, friend."

The next room we entered was a long corridor. Monitors and terminals lined the wall opposite of us. Chairs were pulled up intermittently to the equipment. Sugar Rush was right next to the row of machinery, eyeing each bit like a foal would a shelf of comics.

"This is a pretty elaborate set up for a communications room. You could hold a dozen radio calls at once with this set up!" She sat down in one of the chairs. It protested with a loud creak, for it was old and not used to so much weight.

"It looks like it's even connected to a local database, too!" Sugar Rush said excitedly.

"Can you figure anything out about the rest of the facility?" Sorbet said.

Sugar Rush poked her head underneath one of the terminals. She resurfaced with a hoofful of cables and a huge grin. "Wanna see something cool?"

Sorbet rolled her eyes. "Sure, why not."

"Well, I connect this here," she explained while attaching one of the cables to one connected to her head. "And this one here. Then finally this -HURK" Her head violently lurched back and slammed into the terminal.

"Holy shit!" I think I said. I was a split second from pulling those cables when the monitors on the wall came to life.

"Look at the screen." Sugar Rush's voice echoed. Its tone was distorted and not coming from Sugar Rush's mouth.

The monitors started to fill with random letters and symbols, forming the vague image of Sugar Rush’s laughing head.

"Ah, that NEVER gets old. Don't worry, I am completely fine," Sugar Rush said by proxy. I looked at her body. A small pool of drool was forming around her limp mouth, her eyes wide open and unmoving. I looked back at the image, raising my eyebrow as high as I could. Sorbet and Éclair were slack jawed and wide eyed.

"What the fuuuuuck?" Éclair eventually said. Sorbet, still staring, tried swatting Éclair in the back of the head. She missed completely. Sugar Rush simple giggled.

"Neural Interface," she replied, "I can inject my consciousness into any computer. If they have hard area connections. This way I can search for and read files at the speed of thought."

Sorbet's face relaxed and she cleared her throat. "S-so... any info on the facility?" Sugar Rush's image face smiled and closed her eyes.

"Do do do do... Wow, they wiped this thing. That or they severed the area connections. Registry entries... file removal logs... Oh, hey! Facility blueprints!" Sugar Rush's image beamed and nodded.

"Great. Can you display it for me?"

"I can do you one better! Walk over to my body and grab the red cable." Sugar Rush's image pointed at her body. Sorbet's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"O-okay," She walked over and picked up a cable near Sugar Rush's ear. "This one?"

One of Sugar Rush's eyes shifted, rolling slowly over to Sorbet's hoof. Sugar Rush's eye whirred as the pupil focused on the cable. Color drained from Sorbet's face.

"Yeah that's the one. There should be an access port on your PipBuck. Slot it in, and I can upload the blueprints." Sorbet guided the cable into the side PipBuck.

The PipBuck erupted in a series of hisses, screeches, and distorted jaunty tunes. Its lamp flickered like a strobe light. Sorbet was trying to distance herself from the device like it was about to explode. A split second later it ceased.

Sugar Rush's body jolted back into life. She rolled both eyes in opposite directions while twisting her neck. She arched her back like a cat that just woke up and smiled. "Done!"

"Greatletskeepgoingokay,okay!" Sorbet whipped around and inelegantly trotted to the door.

As soon as she rounded the corner, Sugar Rush chuckled. "Didn't figure her for a technophobe. She barely even uses that PipBuck. Everything except for the map, radio, and lamp is disabled. No HUD, no EFS, no SATS, no nuthin."

I looked over to her and raised my eyebrow as hard as I could. "You did most of that on purpose, didn't you?"

She sheepishly raised her hoof. "Guilty. Although, it's almost required to mess with others when you have a good opportunity."

"Yeah, look, just try to dial back the creepy machine factor if you can. At least until we get back on open water." I walked on to the exit.

"Pfft, on my honor as an Enginphilosopher of the Singularity, I will try my best not to fuck with you with my metal bits," she recited while rolling her eyes. I looked back at her with furrowed brows and a smirk.

Sorbet was inside a new chamber, with her eyes closed and breathing methodically. The room itself was extremely well lit. It was a long lobby with two raised platforms containing mossy dirt with rows of lights with a purplish tint suspended directly above them.

I walked next to Sorbet. "You good?" She exhaled sharply.

"I am now," she said flatly. "None of the rooms in the blueprint are labeled. That said, following Mainland building code traditions, The important stuff is at the lowest level.” She pointed at the other side of the room. “The stairs down are that way." I walked over to the area that she indicated.

The stairs down brought us to a wide corridor with a door immediately present and a path that turned a corner to the left of us. Sorbet peered down the hall while fiddling with her PipBuck.
"If we cut through this area," She pointed at the door, "we should be able to get to the bottom floor faster."

The door before us slid open. The floor became slightly spongy yet firm, and the walls were lined with mirrors. To the left of us was a rack filled with triangular weights in ascending size. A door was on the opposite side of the area.

"Hey, look! A running machine!" Éclair was on the right side of the room and there were, indeed, treadmills.

"Okay, I'm making a serious plea to tie a bell around her neck." I said, exasperated.

"You make it sound like I haven't tried that before," Sorbet said, dryly. She looked back down at her PipBuck with a slight grin. She pointed towards the door. "Through here."

She walked to the door and it slowly parted. Bright light poured through the opening with a short gust of warm air.

"Holy shit."

We were outside. In the middle of rolling hills and green grass. The sun beat down with nary a cloud in the sky. Sunflowers swayed over yonder with the wind. In the middle of the clearing we were in there was a singular tree with a tire swing. Two stone arches were present in this field.

Sugar Rush was next to me wide eyed and jaw dropped. Sorbet was vigorously rubbing her eyes. Éclair was trying get on the swing.

"How the, what... Huh?" Sugar Rush stammered. I could hear her eyes adjusting.

"Did... did we teleport or something?" Sorbet pondered. I looked behind us. The gym we just left was fading from view. All that was left was an empty archway in the middle of nowhere. Something clicked in my head.

"Hahaha! No way! They actually did it!" I yelled.

Sorbet looked at me, head tilted. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"They actually recreated the Illusion Deck from Space Frontier! Look, check this out." I pulled one of the knives from my bandolier and threw it into the distance. After about ten meters it bounced off some invisible barrier. The landscape by that barrier blurred and twisted revealing a silvery wall panel before reverting back to rolling hills.

"In that series, they used the Illusion Deck to create places and stories for recreation." I smiled as I retrieved my knife with my telekinesis.

"Back in the stable, the closest thing we had to this was plastic grass and a painted ceiling," Sorbet remarked. "I can even smell the grass."

"With a gym and a simulated outdoor area, this makes me think two things," Sugar Rush said.

"They don't want their scientists getting Cabin Fever?" I offered.

"Well, no. It makes me think that, one, they expected to be here a long time, and two, scientists weren't the only ones here."

"First point I get,” I said, “but why the second one?"

"What adult in a secret underground facility needs a tire swing?" she asked. I looked over to the tree and swing. Éclair fell off the swing and was clambering back on saying "I got it!"

"Point taken," I said. Sorbet was making gestures in the air and her eyes were rolled back slightly.

"Unless some crazy warp happened, the way forward is that way." She motioned to the stone arch on the far side of the field. We approached that arch, and a steel door manifested within the empty opening. It slid open as we drew closer. The grass abruptly stopped and gave way to metal flooring.

The room we had entered was filled with rows of lockers. Each of the lockers looked to be the size of a broom closet, and there were roughly twenty in each row.

"Oh, thank goodness! I found the mare's room!" Sugar Rush exclaimed. She trotted past me and out of view. "Excuse me for a sec." The slight hiss of a door opening echoed through the locker room.

"Oh hey, cool, communal showers." I heard Sugar Rush's voice say. I glanced over to the other girls. I waved my hoof towards the bathroom and raised an eyebrow. They looked at each other, then back at me, and shook their head. The hiss of the door opening echoed again.

"False alarm!" She trotted back with a sheepish grin. I rolled my eyes. Sorbet was already waving at us to join her at the next door. The door opened as we got near, revealing another locker room nearly identical to the first.

"Lotta folks work here I guess?" I guessed.

"At least a hundred. That, or they had extra storage space," Sorbet responded. "Given the bathrooms and these lockers being so close to each other, I'd say the residential area is somewhere back that way." She pointed towards the rear of the room.

"We've got plenty of time, I figure. Let’s go back and look around," I suggested.

"I would rather look for what we came here for before we start strip mining the place," she answered dismissively. "We need to go through this way to get to the bottom floor." She caused a door to open next to us.

Rows of tables filled the far half the room we entered. several chairs were placed neatly inverted on top of the tables. The area near where we were was an industrial-size kitchen and storage area. A large dishwasher with a conveyer belt was opposed to a range of ovens and stoves of various makes and models. I heard the slight whirring of Sugar Rush's eyes before I saw her dash past me to what looked like a pantry. She nearly ripped the door open with her cyber claws.

"Dude, this is simply impossible."

"What is it this time?" Sorbet sighed. Sugar rush pulled a box from one of the pantry shelves and shoved it in our general direction. The box has adorned with a cartoon of a flexing colt wearing a cape.

"Wonderfoal Flakes! Did you grow up under a rock!?"

"Does a train car count as a rock?" Sorbet responded. Sugar Rush rolled her eyes and pointed at the box with her cyber claws.

"This is the mother lode of rare cereals! This shit was on the market for a single month, before it got pulled," Sugar Rush explained, "This right here is the world's only cereal to be banned for performing exactly as advertised!" I leaned in to read the tagline under the label.

"'Guaranteed to make you big and strong.' Is it full of steroids?" I asked.

"Oh no no no. That was a controlled substance," Sugar Rush answered. "It's just chock full of essential vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and growth hormones."

"what the fu-"

"In any case, This box alone is worth at least a thousand today. And this pantry has a twenty year supply!" She started giggling.

"So it's rare. So wha-"

"We've also got MMMMs, Corn Pops, Chocolate Horns... They even have Lion Chips! That's the only cereal tailor made for Griffons!" Sugar Rush continued. "If you sold all of this, You'd be set up for life! And still have enough left over to stuff yourself silly once a week!"

I thrust my hoof out and gingerly bopped Sugar Rush on the top of the head. She yelped and shrunk back.

"Sorbet already said we’ll strip mine the place later. Make a mental note, and get it later," I reprimanded her. She frowned at me and stuffed the box into her saddle bags.

"You guys going to stand there all day or are we continuing on?" Sorbet called from across the cafeteria.

“Coming!” I called out to her. Sugar Rush and Eclair jogged up to Sorbet. I looked back at the pantry. Something didn’t sit right. If this was a twenty year supply, how the hell did hell did that guy upstairs starve to death?

“Today, Riptide!” Sorbet yelled.

“I’m on my way! You’ve got four legs, I’ve got two. Be patient,” I yelled back.

The next area was an oddity beyond compare to the rest of the facility. It had signs! Which was a good thing, considering there were six doors, counting the one we just came from. We had just come from the dining area. To our left was the administrative office, the two doors on the opposite side of the room were labeled “Medical Center”, and to our left was the hobby shop. Nestled next to the door we came from was a label with “Library/Theater”.

"Wonder if I can find something in there that Thespian would like," I blurted out.

"Wazzat?" Sugar Rush asked.

"Something for later. Let's keep moving. Our fearless leader will surely dock our pay if we ask for any more detours." I prodded Sorbet in the shoulder.

"Pfft. We need to get through the hobby shop for stairs access." She approached the door, and it slid open just like all the others. She started to walk forward, but froze mid step. Her eyes widened. Her lips quivered. The beginnings of what would be the goofiest smile in the known universe.

Sadly, this wonder was quickly shot to pieces and stomped on with a severe frown, furrowed eyebrows, and swift marching to another door.

I looked to Sugar Rush for some explanation, but all I received was a dropped jaw, similar wide eyes, and general obliviousness. I traced her gaze to a four wheeled vehicle on stilts. It had silver paint job with Black stripes across both sides and no roof to speak of. The hood was open, revealing a disconnected sixteen cylinder monster of an engine. I heard a small squeak of noise from my partially robotic companion.

"T-that's a K12 Roadster. THE fastest car on the planet. Zero to one hundred and twenty in two point three seconds," Sugar Rush stammered. "I feel torn; the only acceptable places for this piece of art are a museum or a race track."

"Come on, we can figure out what to do with it once we finish up our other business," I said. This place was starting to worry me. Every single step of the way, we are assailed by distractions of a magnificent nature. I wrapped my magic around Sugar Rush and started to pull her through the door. Éclair was ahead of us, bouncing up and down.

"Stairs!" She beamed while pointing ahead. Sugar Rush bolted past me, breaking my magic connection with her, and rushed ahead.

The next door was a lobby of sorts. An open door labeled "Lab Access" next to a long glass window that gave a clear view of descending stairs. One door was near the open one, labeled Medical Center. Other than that there was a pair of restrooms on the right side of the room.

"Awesome!" Sugar Rush yelled, "Let's find the thing so we can loot the place proper!"

"Race ya!" Éclair Ran towards the stairs.

"I'll win! Running doesn't make me tired!" Sugar Rush bolted after the little filly. Sorbet shook her head.

"Rushing won't find it fast-" An ear piercing screech blared from the ceiling. The room went red. A feminine voice rang out.

"Unauthorized entry detected. Commencing lockdown."

Sorbet's eyes widened. "Quick! Get back here!"

The opening the two mares ran through slammed shut with a resounding CLANG! Smaller clangs thumped through the metal door as Sugar Rush beat on the door with her hooves.

Running into view, she reached into her saddle bags and pulled out two grey metal weapons: two drum fed, wire covered, triple barreled, hateful-submachine-gun-looking things that fired lasers. She pointed them at the window. Rapid flashes of burning light enveloped my sight. Once light show stopped, I looked back to see the damage. Or lack thereof.

The window was unscathed save for a nearly fifty glowing hot dots. Sugar Rush looked at her guns like they had betrayed them.

Suddenly, the red lights faded back into the normal lighting. A less screeching tone leaked out of the ceiling. A slight static noise kicked on as the voice began again.

"Lockdown complete. Please remain calm and await further instructions from your administrators. Section admins, report to your secure terminals for lockdown keys and instructions."

Sugar Rush's mouth was moving, but no sound passed through the glass. I pointed to my ear and shook my head. She frowned, then pointed to the ceiling, she then gestured to the two of us and made typing motions with her cyber claws. She repeated the typing motions after pointing to Éclair and herself. I nodded.

"She's saying we need to look for a terminal that may release the lock down. She's going to try the same," I relayed back to Sorbet. She was making motions around the door back to the hobby shop, but it remained motionless.

"Yeah, I was thinking something similar. Let's see if we can't get this door open; I bet you the admin office back this way has one of those terminals." She started to push the door. I turned to follow her.

The hiss of a door sliding open stopped me. I looked to my right and saw the open passage before me.

"Or we could try cutting through the med center." I pointed towards the opening next to me. Sorbet jogged past me without a word. I trotted after her as she rounded a corner through another open door.

The next room was a waiting room. Lots of chairs, tables with magazines, and a few board games. A pair of double doors was Sorbet's target. She shoved the doors open without breaking her stride. I held the doors open while rushing after her.

"Slow down!" I yelled.

"Keep up!" she yelled back. I growled as I tried speeding up. Then something clicked.

"We should check the med center first! It might have one of those terminals from the announcement," I called to her. She slowed down, finally.

"Yeah, rushing is bad in this situation. Doctor's office?"

"Most likely."

We ended up in a large operating room. There were a few areas with curtains, and a large glass closet with medications galore. In the corner was a small cubicle. Inside the cubicle was a terminal. I started typing away, going through the boot up keylog tactic of password detection.

"Damn it! This door is sealed!" I heard Sorbet say. I felt an odd chill go up my spine.

"Look for a crowbar or a manual override or something."

The screen flashed several options for me.

->Medical Files
->Scheduled Appointments
->Administrator Functions

>>Administrator Functions

Password protected function. HINT: Remember the fallen.
>enter PIN#

Shit... time to do some digging.

>>Medical Files
...
...
...

>A-E
>F-J
>K-P
>Q-T
>U-Z
>Obituaries

Well, that was easy.

>>Obituaries

>Alberto Pinion, Security
January 12th
Cause of Death: Allergic reaction to molting medication.(Suggest more extensive physical exams.)

>Dr. Berry Punch, Chief Chemical Engineer
May 27th
Cause of Death: Alcohol and Drug Toxicity. (Suicide? I know the world just ended, but damn.)

>Patty Cake
June 16th
Cause of Death: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. (Still gets to me.)

>Dr. Silver Suture, Chief Medical Officer.
December 25th
Cause of Death: Cardiac Arrest. (Godspeed, sir.)

>Dr. Melon, Assistant Medical Officer
January 4th
Cause of Death: Gunshot wound to head. (Crazy bastard, Psych evals increased to monthly)

>Toffee Apple, Robotics Engineer
January 4th
Cause of death: Stab wound to throat. (He got in the way.)

///Continue to part 2 of 12? Y/N///
N

Hrmm...

->Medical Files
->Scheduled Appointments
->Administrator Functions

>> Administrator Functions

Password protected function. HINT: Remember the fallen.
>enter PIN#

>>0112
Access denied

>>0527
Access Denied

>>0616
Access Denied

>>1225
Access Granted

"Yes! I'm in!" I exclaimed. It was quiet.

"Sorbet, I can end the... lock... down." In between each word was a tiny bit of fog drifting up from my mouth. I exhaled hard. Condensation formed on the monitor. I poked out of the cubical.

"Did it get really cold in her-" Sorbet was collapsed near a hospital bed. "Shit!" I ran to her side. She was shivering but unresponsive to anything I did to her. I lifted her on the bed. A red spot on her neck was immediately visible. It was lined with a ring of frost.

A stinging sharp pain erupted in the right side of my neck. My vision mixed together into one big color. A searing hotness followed by abrupt freezing hit me. It hurt to blink, so I closed my eyes. Breathing became hard, so I stopped.

Thinking was useless so I-