The walls around me were dirty. That isn’t, exactly, news to me. I should have known that the Vault would be like this. Two hundred years without maid service tends to do that to a place.

Despite the grime and dirt, I looked at the hallway with a bit of awe. I had managed to find the stairway easily enough, but as I stood there, I suddenly felt very… I don’t really know, honestly. Afraid? I guess that could explain a bit about what I feel. I did just see Deathclaws running around. I closed the door behind me when I left DA and Sunday so they would be alright.

Why did I care, though?

They weren’t exactly friends to me. Good ponies, sure, even if Sunday could be a bit rough. But they aren’t friends. I started to walk down the stairs as I remembered my brothers.

Guess I didn’t tell you about them, did I? I should have talked about this at the beginning.

I’m the oldest of four brothers. Wasn’t the cushiest position in my life, I’ll tell you. My mother died when my brothers, triplets, by the by, where born. So, imagine an eight year old boy helping his dad raise three kids. It sucks a bit when I look back and realize that I had spent my entire teen years trying to be a second dad.

Yeah, my dad did a good job raising us… well, he’s doing the best for my brothers.

Kenny, the oldest, always does a good job keeping the others in check when he realizes that me and dad need them to settle down. I could see him taking over in my absence.

Ted would be a problem, as the youngest. Trouble that actually caused stitches and the use of the check book could be directed to him saying the words “Hey, guys! I got an idea!” Still a good kid, though.

Yuri is the one that will probably cause the biggest problems, though. He… he had troubles with authority. He would listen to me and Dad because we were always in charge. Kenny would have to earn his authority to him.

But it would only be for a while. I had to get back. Why didn’t I think about them yesterday? Why did it take so long to think about my family? I kept on thinking about my “magical” adventures in Pony Hell, when my dad and brothers where… where probably glad that I was out of their hair.

Another bout of confession from good ol’ Jerry, folks. I was a high school dropout. Now, before you say “Oh, well, taking care of your brothers takes a lot out of you.” save it. Once I turned 17, I went to work so I could get myself out of the house and make money. I made a mistake because I wanted a bit of freedom. Two years later, I managed to realize how stupid I was and I got my GED. Two years that I wasted, thinking that I was going to be free from responsibilities when I could have actually been getting a better education. I could have gotten a scholarship, gotten to a college, made myself into something better than a guy who has worked in retail stores and fast food joints.

I want to make sure my little brothers didn’t have that happen to them. I prayed that they learned from my mistakes. My dad would hammer it in, telling them that “Dropping out was like giving up on life.”

Was I a quitter to him?

I never asked him about that. I always thought that he was ashamed of that. Ashamed of me.

Huh. More liquid courage ran down my cheek.

“Guess I’m about to do something badass” I lied to myself.

I used my sleeve to wipe the wetness from my cheek as I reached the end of the stairs. I peeked around the corner, and saw to my left, two doors, and to my right, one room. No turrets, no alarms that I could make out. I stepped out and looked at the wall. It read:

<= Private Quarters and Office

Laboratory and Research =>

Alright, Jerry, think this through. I am in a Vault, looking for a big payoff. What should I expect here?

Abandoned Vault, Big Payoff… needs information. Can’t get information just in the Lab. Easiest thing to do is look at the Private Quarters. Even if no one was here, I needed to look and see if there were some pants that I could use to mend my bullet ventilated posterior. Plus, I knew better than to just assume that it would be easy to get to whatever Fleur wanted.

That’s another thing that bothered me. Fleur De Lis was, essentially, the only thing that connected me to this place. A familiar stranger that brought any sort of comfort I could actually suck out of this experience. I need to talk with her. Figure out more about what made things the way they were. Maybe she heard of ways for me to get home. I’ll find a way to get home. No quiting.

Maybe I shouldn’t quit on DA, Sunday and the others. They aren’t bad ponies, as I’ve said before. Just very rough. Maybe I was supposed to be their friend.

Except for Sunburn. He’s an asshole.

I followed the arrows till it leads me to another set of stairs going down. I looked down and saw the flickering lights. It made the whole experience like something from Friday the 13th, with Jason Voorhees waiting around any corner ready to kill any unsuspecting teenage couple that wanted to fool around.

So, I’d be safe.

Maybe I should go to the lab instead, I thought to myself as I turned only to hear the echoing growl of the Deathclaw.

Hello, scary, dimly lit third floor! Guess who’s going to be visiting?

I did my best to go down the stairs quietly and quickly. Once I got to the bottom of the stairs, I heard the clicking of several turrets moving. I looked back up at the staircase and saw a looming figure looking down at me. I didn’t realize which way the turret was, so I blindly chose to run down the right side, my arms up to cover my face from the inevitable hail of bullets that would make me into a (temporarily) living slice of swiss cheese.

I heard the turret fire, but didn’t feel the hot death. I looked back to see the Deathclaw, the same one from earlier, running down the opposite way to attack the turret. I turned around just in time to kiss the wall I was running at full force. I stumbled blindly for a few seconds, and stumbled into a room as the doors slid open. I hit one more thing before I finally went down, hearing doors slide shut and a mixture of howling and metal being bent and torn apart as everything went-

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Sunday glared at me as we continued to yell at each other.

I haven’t seen her this mad since yesterday when we were looking at that tip The Boss got two weeks back. She thought that she saw some mutant minotaur, and I had to be the sensible one and get her on track.

You know what would be funny? If it turned out that the minotaur turned out to be Jerry. Man, that would be hilarious!

But then Sunday might have killed him before we got to know him. Probably a good thing I pulled her away to do our job. He’s got to know a thing or two about human ladies. Maybe I could learn to be a master pick up artist. Oh, so much to –

Two thwacks woke me from my glazed look as I saw a rolled up newspaper above my head, ready for another smack. “What did I do? What did I do?”

“Jerry left us!”

Oh, Shit!

I looked around the rooms, and it was confirmed. He’d just… vanished!

“I thought that we took the Stealth Boy away from him!” I thought aloud as I poked around, hoping to find him.

“No, Dumbass! He just snuck out when you started arguing with me!” Her shouting was not helping me. At all.

“You where the one who… fuck, never mind about that! We’ve got to find him, or the Boss’ll kill us!” I looked at the computer and began to maneuver my Skeleton Key over the keyboard. Metal or not, my stuff works when it’s at point blank range. It’s sort of like a shotgun, except with information.

A few seconds later, and I managed to bring down a monitor. I began to scry through the cameras, one being offline (Probably the turret) till I found him near the stairway going down to the lab.

“He’s not leaving the Vault?” Sunday was surprised as she looked at the big guy make his way down the stairs. “I don’t get it.”

I looked at the video of him walking down the stairs, his gaze looking like he’s looking beyond the walls around him. It was… weird.

It was even stranger when we both saw him rubbing his eyes. I looked back to Sunday, and she looked angry. Like, real angry. She is normally alright with the Boss. Able to do anything for her. But here she is, acting like he was her…

Wait a second…

“Sunday, are you thinking about Wick again?”

Wick was one of those subjects that you have to be real careful about. If you don’t say the right things in the right tone, then things just go to shit real quickly.

Case in point, Sunday punched me square in the jaw, sending me reeling back!

“Fuuuck!” I rubbed my jaw as I looked back at her. “Sunday… the Fuck!”

She looked at me, angry at first, till she looked down at her hoof, and shook her head. I’m used to being smacked and shoved by Sunday. She’s like one of the guys, making it easy to hang out with her. But when she straight up punches you, you know something’s wrong with her.

Granted, I was talking about her late-

“I’m sorry, Dumbass… I don’t know what happened.”

Okay, this was serious. She’s apologizing now. She never apologizes. Normally, she just hits me, and that’s it. Nothing else. I walked over to her and gave her a shove and a smile to bring her back.

“Hey, no need, Fearless Leader. Now, let’s go get Jerry before he gets turned to living swiss cheese…”

She smiled at me. An honest smile. If she was a human with a nice rack, I’d have problems trying to keep my hooves off her. It was kind of sad when the smile melted away as she looked behind me. I looked back and saw it. The fucking Deathclaw from earlier had returned, and was running past us, smelling something.

If Jerry didn’t close the door behind him when he left, it would have probably killed us. I looked at Sunday, as she snapped back to reality, taking out her shotgun, loading in her explosive rounds. I followed suit, replacing my usual ammo with my “shredder” ammo. It does a good job taking care of the nasty wasteland bastards not in combat armor.

My assault rifle is so nice. I modded this bad boy myself, with extended mags, special rifling for reduced recoil, even a nice flame decal for effect. The only thing that would make it more awesome would be if I could find a grenade launcher for it.

Or a beer tab, but that would be silly. That’s more of a missile launcher mod.

The door opened and we stepped out as I heard more footsteps from the staircase. I turned just in time to see the heads of two small deathclaws turn their sights on us.

Bloody Sunday stepped in front of me and waited for the first baby deathclaw to charge at her at full speed, only for its chest to be filled with a helping of blown to Tartarus stew, sending it flying. The second Deathclaw managed to get past its litter mate. Sunday’s shot went wide as the little bastard smacked the glowing death stick up at the ceiling, but before it could latch onto her neck, it’s mouth was blown apart by my little baby assault rifle.

It reeled back, wanting to scream, but Sunday raised her forelegs up and mercifully killed the little blighter before it could do anything else.

We didn’t waste time congratulating ourselves. No point in it. We ran to catch up with the real threat. Sunday was galloping on all fours as I stood up on my rear hooves, walking behind her.

I’m alright with firing with my mouth, much like anypony, but I find that I get better results when I am on my rear hooves. Kind of weird, I know, shooting Griffon style, but hot damn, it works like a charm.

I kept my eyes on our flank as I followed Sunday down the hallways. We heard the roar from the Deathclaw as we reached the stairs leading down to the private rooms in the vault. I peeked down the stairs, and saw the hulking son of a bitch’s back as it walked down.

I made eye contact with Sunday, who was already making her way down the stairs. We quietly stepped down. We both knew that a wounded Deathclaw could be twice as dangerous as one who just jumps into a fight. The only chance we had was to surprise it. We made it to the end of the staircase, and Sunday looked over the side. The look on her face scared me.

/////////////////////////////////////

I didn’t know how long I was out. Probably a few minutes, maybe an hour, but I know that when you wake up to the smell of hot, rotting meat in your face, that at some point during the day, you made a poor decision. Even before I opened my eyes, my hand was on my laser pistol. I pulled it out as I slowly opened my eyes.

Inches in front of my face were the slitted, reptilian eyes of a Deathclaw. You’d think that they didn’t have pupils. That’s because of how closed the slits in the eyes are.

It’s breathing was ragged, and blood was dripping from its nose and mouth, but it still managed to let out a growl. I was frozen in place as I saw it’s mouth open, its sharp teeth and fangs getting ready to surround my neck. It was slow.

I don’t think it was adrenalin, or magic. I think it was dying.

The fear melted away from me as I brought a hand up and petted the creature on the face. It stopped its slow motion attack, and it looked… confused. To be honest, I was just as confused.

The embers of anger and primal instincts just petered out as its legs gave out; it’s head now on my lap.

It was whimpering as I continued to pet its head, trying to comfort it.

I always found the idea of a Deathclaw pet an impossible dream. They were apex predators, creatures with no equal and no fear, the perfect symbol of the Wastelands. When I thought of Fallout, Deathclaws would be the first thing to pop into my head.

Now, I was petting a slowly dying one in my lap. My voice was low as I tried to soothe it as its eyes closed. Its body struggled to keep on living, it’s chest rising a few more defiant times, till it finally…

How can you describe what just happened? The thing was going to kill me if it wasn’t already at deaths door. It wanted to kill me. But then… I didn’t want it to die like this. Fighting Enclave, tearing apart giant radscorpions, but… two turrets and a fat guy? That’s how stupid raiders or radroaches die. I wanted to laugh at that, but I didn’t deserve to be in the same room as this creature.

I heard hoof steps walking over towards my location. I barely could move my neck up as I saw Sunday’s forelegs.

“It died…” was all I could say, still petting the Deathclaws head.

“I know.” Her voice was the warmest it had ever been. She stood there for a moment. I looked up at her, trying to force a smile on my face. My hand gave a final pat on the head of the beast before it slid down to my side.

“It… it’s a lot heavier than I thought it would be.” I tried to move my legs out from under the massive creatures chest. Sunday’s magic pulled the creature up, allowing me to slide out from under it. She rested the large creature’s body down and carefully stepped over it as I stood up.

My pant legs where the only part of my body covered in blood. Sunday took out her rag again and, after spitting on it, began to wipe my face. I let her as I looked at the creature. I felt like the numbness I had moments ago was slowly easing away. I thought about what had just happened, and while a part of me was still sad, I was glad to still be alive.

Sunday stopped cleaning my face, and I turned to her. She had the strangest look in her eyes. It took me a while before I realized what it was.

I gave that same kind of look to my brothers when they did something that scared me half to death. I wasn’t surprised when she brought a hoof back and gave my shoulder a series of hard hits. Nothing serious. She was a lot stronger than me, and could do damage if she wanted, but she hit me hard enough to get the point across. I winched as I held onto the hit arm, groaning as I looked back at her as she, visibly, forced herself not to hug me.

“Don’t you EVER do that again, understood?”

I nodded, absentmindedly as I turned to DA, who looked over the body of the Deathclaw, then at me.

DA waved Sunday over, very worried. I brought my attention back to the room itself as they talked out in the hallway. I didn’t pay much attention to what they were saying, as I focused on the room itself. It was a small bedroom, but it was lived in, even if it was for only a little bit. I went to the dresser and started looking through the drawers. Pants and coveralls with the vaults number stitched onto the back filled it, mostly, but I did notice a few jeans and shirts in it. I eagerly pulled them out and looked them over.

I needed to focus on patching the hole on my pants. I had to keep my mind busy till I can get some time to myself.

As I riffled through the drawer, my finger felt a sharp prick hit it. I recoiled as I saw a droplet of blood appear at the end of my finger. A small hiss, but nothing else escaped my lips as I, carefully, looked into where my hand was. I pulled out a thimble and needle, with a spool of thread nearby. After a few seconds, I took my pants off and tore a piece of fabric off the pants and went to work.

It didn’t take long to sew the hole closed, and used the patch to keep it together. I looked over my work, and made a note to get some scissors to cut off the frayed edges of the patch.

I didn’t notice till I was done that DA was looking at my handy work.

“Wow… that’s pretty nifty.” He said as he watched me put my pants back on. “How did you learn to do that?”

“Mom taught me, and I learned to perfect it because of my brothers.” I said automatically. He looked up at me, his brow furrowed. “She died when I was young, and I had to help take care of them.”

His ears rested on the side of his head for an instant. “Sorry to hear that.” He said. He didn’t dwell on it for long as he turned to a now relaxed and serious looking Sunday.

After putting my pants back on, I went to the desk near the drawer and began to rummage through it. I found a few holotapes and notes, as well as a bit of caps.

DA picked up the caps quickly, but I looked over one of the notes.

“Dear Doctor Saddler,

As of this writing, I have come to the not so subtle idea that our project is currently being watched by undesirable eyes. The Princesses have done their best to quash such things, but our research always seems to be one step away from being revealed. I am sorry, but I must act as a diversion, so that our shared enemies can be stopped.

I hope that your research with the subjects are fruitful. I wish that I could be there when you finished.

May the Sun always shine on your back.

Sincerely,

With the greatest love,

Lavender Steel”

I turned the note to the back and saw three separate words on it. “Manticore, Hydra, and Centaur.”

I put the notes into my pocket and the holotapes into my backpack. I looked at Sunday and DA with a smile as I walked towards them. “Good thing this was all worth it. Would suck if there was just a bunch of coveralls and shoes in the…” I looked back at the closet, and realized something. It was wooden inlay, and actually built INTO the metal wall.

Something didn’t feel right.

“Hey… you two take a look at the lab on your way down?”

I didn’t know it was in DA, but he glared at me with the SAME exact intensity as Sunday did. Very impressive.

“Yeah… stupid question…” I slowly went back to the closet, pulling out the laser pistol as I began to pull the cloths out of the offending closet. As the last coverall was thrown to the floor I saw the two ponies realized what I was after and got their weapons ready. I rubbed my hands over the wood, and felt dust slide off the outline of what I would assume was a control panel. A quick press and the wood panel slid to the side, revealing a key pad and mini-monitor.

“Oh… now this is interesting…” I looked over the numbers as I thought. “I wonder what the code is.”

It didn’t take long for Sunday to speak up. “Nine, five, seven.”

DA and I looked over at her, confused.

“That is the number of letters in each of the words; Manticore is nine letters, Hydra is five, and Centaur is seven.” She walked past me and entered the three numbers and entered it. Without even missing a beat, we all three heard a hiss as a screen appeared and a breadbox sized circular opening was revealed.

A human woman appeared on the screen, a woman not much older than me, wearing a white lab coat and brown hair that hadn’t seen a comb in weeks. She looked at the camera with a deffinate note of quiet desperation. She had been through something recently, and she didn’t like it at all.

“This is the… the final entry of Doctor Becky Saddler, Co-Lead supervisor of the projects Lazarus, Mariam and Mary. I can’t tell for the life of me what the date is… a few weeks, maybe even a few months after the attack. I have done what I could for Lazarus. The other two facilities for the other two thirds of the project have been cut off. I had hoped that we would have been able to keep into contact with them, but… as the only survivor in New Pittsburg, I can’t stay here in the vault. I don’t know how it’s like out there, except there is a lot less radioactivity than I expected to read. It’s safe to walk about, and I need to know what happened…” She was beginning to cry. “Lavander Steel left me after the third week. I need to find him. If you are hearing this, then I didn’t make it back to the Vault, which either means it became unsafe for me to return, or that I died. I hope that if you are a part of the project that you will continue our work, or at least attempt to do so. To continue, I ask that you put your left arm through the hole below the screen.”

I looked back at DA and Sunday, my focus more on Sunday. “So… what do I do, Chief?”

Sunday knew what I was asking. The Doctor said “Arm”. Not “arm or foreleg”. That meant that a human had to operate it.

And unless DA had stuffed a manikin arm into my backpack, I was the only one who had arms.

She looked at the screen, unhappy, but nodding. “Put your arm in.”

I took a deep breath and followed my orders. My hand slipped inside the cold opening. My fingers attempted to touch the sides, but aside from the lip, my hand didn’t feel anything else. My elbow touched the opeining, and that was when I fealt something freeze my hand into place.

“What the…?” There wasn’t any temperature change, no numbness, nothing besides me trying to pull my trapped hand from the hole. “Okay, I don’t like this. It’s like those Halloween games where they peel grapes, blindfold kids and tell them that it’s eyes.”

“Your people are sick.” DA said in a strange chuckle.

You know, I’d argue that, but I don’t have a good counter argument besides “Nuh uh”.

I suddenly felt it. Something clamped onto my wrist, and what felt like leather or latex started to stretch over my hand.

“Ooookay! That’s weird!” I was starting to feel scared. Very scared.

“Initiating Pip Boy integration.”

“Pip Boy?” I smiled weakly, till I looked at Sunday and DA’s face. “Oh, this is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

They nodded.

I now know how lava going through your blood stream feels like, by the way, since I felt what was like a bracelet of used hypodermic needles jabbing into me and a steady flow of heat flooding my blood vessels. My jaw was open wide, my eyes felt like they were escaping my eye sockets, and despite the quickening of my breathing, I couldn’t even scream. I felt every single pain receptor as my blood stream betrayed me, pushing the lava throughout my body.

Probably would not be the last time my body did something so blatantly turncoat.

Thankfully, as the pain reached my heart, it almost ceased and became comfortable warmth throughout my body, but the pain in my arm only intensified as I felt electrical charges going through my wrist. A cruel ding was heard as the pain reached its crescendo, and plummeted back down till I was only screaming slightly in pain; my breathing finally being a healthy rhythm, and a strange pulsing was all that remained of my wrist abuse.

Just realized how that last part sounded. Would make a joke, but in too much pain.

My arm was released and I flew backwards as I began to nurse my arm.

“FRICK frack.. fricking… jackass! Shifty little… frick!” I continued to let out a stream of nonsense words as I looked down at the object that now was wrapped around my wrist.

Pain could be nursed away. I know that pretty well. The next thing to happen to me shook me to the core.

Everything went black. I could hear and feel and I knew I was awake, but it was as though as if someone had turned off the lights.

In fact, that’s what I thought happened for the longest ten seconds of my life, till I started shaking.

“Sunday? DA? You still there?”

I felt a hoof on my shoulder and I grabbed hold of it. “We’re right here, Jerry, just hold on.” It was Sunday, and she wasn’t so much coddling me as making sure I stayed on the ground.

“What’s going on? What happened to my eyes? Why can’t I see?”

“Just wait a few more seconds. The nanites are just making a colony behind your optic nerve.” DA said as I felt my still aching arm away from my chest. “You need to calm down and let it happen.”

“Let it… LET IT HAPPEN!? I’M BLIND! I CAN’T SEE SHIT! Oh, God, I’m going to be blind for the rest of my- why do I taste purple?” Oh, purple is such a weird taste…. It’s like blue, but with a bit of a redish texture in it…

Then, after the strange cue of chromatic culinary confusion, my world flickered back to life, with a few… additions.

“… I have a HUD now…? Health, AP… current weapon-“ I looked down at the Pip Boy for the first time, and I realized something. It looked like someone strapped an iPhone to a glove and called it a day. I can’t say that I am disappointed, but I can’t help but feel like I’m being jipped. I mean, this is a Pip Boy… Vault Tech technology. The kind of stuff that is both beyond modern day science, but with the asthetics stuck in the 1950’s. As long as there isn’t an apple logo on it, though, it shouldn’t be that bad, though.

The screen turned on, and it was, in fact a touch screen deal, with a single button to “wake” up the device if it wen to “sleep”. Well, the home screen opened up to my state screen.

“Name: Jerry Stine Karma Level: Good

Level: 3 Available Perks: 4

Special Stats: Strength: 7 Perception: 4 Endurance: 5 Charisma: 6 Intelligence: 8 Agility: 3 Luck: 10 “

As I finished reading it all, I couldn’t help but nod. It all seemed like me. Not fast, but lucky. Strong, but everything else seemed to be “meh”. The intelligence was kind of news to me. I never thought of myself as smart. I guess being a “media sponge” has it’s advantages.

Then the screen flashed to a new screen. “Upload Program Protocolls.”

I looked up at DA and Sunday, who had since backed away from me as I regained my sight. “H-hey, guys… um… we’re going to have to get to the lab, I think.”

“Ah, yes… after we look at the other rooms. You know, just in case.” DA had a bit of hesitation in his voice as he took a step towards me, helping me back to my feet. “Are you feeling alright? Any pain?”

I looked back at my hand as the last of the pain left my wrist. “Not anymore… why?” I looked up at the mirror over the dresser. A small thing, could easily fit in one hand. It wasn’t anything special that I noticed, till I saw my left eye.

Okay, I don’t know crap about biology. Don’t even know how this happened, but my left eye was slitted. Like a cat’s eye. I should have noticed it. I didn’t. I covered the eye, and noticed that I couldn’t see the hud any longer. I covered my normal eye, and the same thing. How, why, other question verbs where lost to me as I looked at my now miss matched eyes.

“Oooooh… okay…” I took a deep breath. “I’ve been here for… what, 14 hours? 18 hours tops? I’ve been shot at, slashed, almost molested and bled several times, and that’s from the GOOD guys. I have almost been killed by Death Claws, almost raped by raiders, and I am still hungry from those stupid Sugar Bombs. I could take that with a grain of salt. THIS!” I held up my left arm. “THIS stupid thing is rewriting God knows what in my DNA! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH ME!?”

“Hey, he thinks we’re the good guys, Sunday!” DA smiled as he looked at Sunday, then back at me. Sunday gave him a smack to the side of the head. “Shutting up.”

“Jerry… I don’t know everything, just that that isn’t the same kind of Pip boy made a long time ago… even then, though, the pip boys and pip bucks where not without side effects. Some made the wearer freeze as they looked through it.” Sunday began to explain as she walked towards me. “The Boss knows why it’s important. We’ll find out, and go from there.”

I managed to catch my breath. The fear of what could happen to me because of the Pip Boy was overshadowed by other fears. What was Flure trying to get from this? From me? How should I play my hand… so to speak? And can I trust Sunday and DA?

Well, DA is way too imperceptive to try anything underhanded. He probably has a very horrible poker face. Sunday… I can’t put my finger on it, but I can’t help but feel like she wants something from me on an emotional level. If I had to run from Flure, she might run after me, but she wouldn’t kill me. At least that’s what I feel.

If I had to trust someone… somepony… these two would be the best bet.

They saved me, threats from Flure be damned. I owe them.

I nodded. It didn’t take long for us to clean out the rest of the personal area. Got another two hundred caps, and found a good haul of Stim-packs and health potions. We also found more notes about this Lavender Steel and the good Doctor. It was an… interesting tale as we read it. Doctor Sadler operated in the Vault for her research. Apparently, while other stables and Vaults (both where, more or less the same, only the population ratios changing, with vaults having either entirely or mostly humans, and stables having the same with pony’s.) had the regular kind of sick and twisted tests being done, 101 and the two others were to be neutral ground, used for a special triumvirate of projects for a special reason. No word on what it was, but it was certainly something I needed to look into.

We began to make our way up the stairs. I took a final look at the body of the Death Claw, and gave it a slight bow. It’s the only thing I can do, really, to show any kind of respect. We continued up the stairs as I continued to look at my wrist.

“Damn it… it’s like I got an itch I can’t scratch all of a sudden…” I started to rub around the straps around my wrist in the vain hope of getting the damnable itch somehow. Sunday walked by my right side and gave me a solid punch to the shoulder. “GAH! THE HELL!?”

“Thinking about the itch?” she gave me a friendly grin as I rubbed my shoulder.

“… you know, if I didn’t know that you could buck me through these steel walls, I’d slug you.”

A handful of seconds passed, till my somber, angry face melted with a chuckle, as Sunday and DA joined in.

I didn’t even realize that we were already at the door to the labs till they slowly slid open. It was… weird. The three of us looked at each other, and I could tell what they were thinking.

“Why isn’t there a terminal to get in here?”

I took a step inside and was surprised at how clean and NEW the lab looked. I mean, it’s the kind of clean that Mark Summers would find obsessive compulsive.

… Who’s Mark Summers?

He was the host of Double Dare, that game show on Nickelodeon in the 90’s. You know, where families would throw gack and pies at each other? Anyone?

Damn, I feel old.

Anyways, back to two hundred year old clean room with toys and stuff.

As I walked through the lab, I noticed the computers around the room. The huge, gym-locker like contraptions hummed as I examined the room in it’s entirety. In the back of the room, I noticed three screens and a familiar breadbox sized hole. The tables around both walls leading to the back where filled with computers that where… not from the fifties.

I mean, if you know anything about Fallout, you can pretty much already tell what there is to expect from the typical screen. A single green/blue/ugly ass orange screen with similarly colored in the same manner, and nothing else. No graphics, just text.

The computers here? Nuh uh. Full on 64 bit screens, HD level details. One was in the middle of an intricate diagnostic of an earth pony. I walked closer to the computer and noticed that it was DA, standing on his hind legs firing an assault rifle. It wasn’t video. It was a full on computer generated model. I turned to DA and waved him over.

“Man, you’ve got to see this!”

DA walked over and looked at the computer. The look on his face? Oh, I wish I had a camer-

A sudden click came from my pip boy, making me turn my attention to it for a split second to see DA’s surprised mug on my screen, like a gremlin was living in my eyeballs, took out a polaroid camera, and took a picture. “Whoa…”

“Whoa!? Did you read this shit? It’s saying I’m not perceptive!” he said as his rifle swung around, almost hitting me in the leg.

I looked at the screen and saw, of all things, his own status screen.

“Dumbass Level: 6 Available perks: 2 SPECIAL stats: Strength: 5 Perception: 3 Endurance 4 Charisma: 6 Intelligence: 10 Agility: 8 Luck 6”

“Holy crap…” I whispered as I looked at the screen. “How did it get that information?”

“Diagnostics where done during fight between your forces and the Death Claws.” A slightly feminine voice said around us.

“FUCK!” DA shouted as he stumbled to get his gun up, only for it to drop to the ground.

“Damn it, Dumbass! It’s just the damn computer!” Sunday almost shouted as she walked over to us.

“Correct. This is the OS for the Lazarus Project Facility. All inquiries are welcome from Subject one and comrades.”

I felt the eyes of DA and Sunday on me as I looked up at the ceiling. “Let me guess… I’m Subject One?”

“Affirmative.”

“Okay… a good warm up question. What is Project Lazurus?” Sunday asked as she stood next to DA.

“Project Lazarus is part of the Trinity Accord. Further information is only disclosed to those who are a part of the Trinity Accord. Subject One must find Project Martha and Project Mary for more answers.”

We all stood there for a while, trying to think of what to say next. I, regretfully, decided to speak up.“Uh… over ride that, explain Trinity Accord’s mission… uh… Mission statement?”

“Mission Statement is the continued survival of Homo Sapiens, Equine Sapiens, and other sapient creatures of Eqqus. All on motive and protective measures are in the Projects files themselves.” The machine’s main screen flickered to life as a familiar lavender alicorn looked down. The audio changed to a more grainy quality as I looked at the smiling face.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, element bearer of Magic…” DA’s voice cracked as he looked at the main screen.

“Uhmmm… he-hello… I was assured that this recording would be for the use of our friends in New-Vaultek, if things are going… well… when the project proper starts working. I want to welcome you to the Trinity Accord! It isn’t anything too out of the ordinary for the voluenteer, just a new kind of pip buck… or pip boy, depending on the, uh… the species… Jamie, are you sure I have to be so… I don’t know… formal about this?” She giggled as she looked past the camera to someone behind it.

“Your Highness, it’s supposed to be for whomever is to be Subject 1. I know it isn’t something as wonderful as your other studies, but-“ A very masculine voice replied, and despite the words, it had an almost teasing tone to it.

“I know… “ Twilight took a deep breath and looked back into the camera. “If you are hearing this, then things have gone… gone badly for our country, and most likely, Luna and Celestia… as well as myself and Cadance have been either incapacitated, exiled or…” I knew the word she wanted to say, but it, Ironically, died in her throat. Her giggling self-sobered up as her eyes focused even more so on the camera. “Project Lazarus is the beginning of a long standing need to evaluate and reestablish the free ponies and people of Equestria. The best way to begin is for you, Subject 1, to pick out your OS… Operating System… for your Pip Boy… or Pip Buck. The choices for you are between D15C0RD, a prototype for manipulating ambient magical energies around the wearer for preferable outcomes, and the 50M8RA, used for tactical advantage, making shots taken on VATS much more effective. Once the decision has been made, there is no going back.” Twilight fought to bring a smile back to her face. “I doubt that I’ll ever meet you if you are needed, but if I do… I hope we can be friends.”

I forgot. I was two hundred years from ever meeting and speaking with the mane six. I read a Fan Fic about something like this. The main character was a Marine, I think, and he was caught in an explosion, sending him to, funnily enough, the Equestrian Wasteland. When it hit him that he’d never meet the Mane Six, it hurt him. I wondered about that when I first read it, but it was a passing fancy. I thought “Well, crap, sucks to be this guy. Now lets see him blow up some Raiders!”

Now… now I knew what he felt. It was painful. I felt it before. When Steve Irwin, Robin Williams and other celebrities I admired and respected died, it was like my world had just gotten smaller and darker. Cartoon characters shouldn’t have that effect on you, damn it. Even with Anime, if a fan favorite died, you gave a bit of a cry, but then picked up your hat and went on with your life. Here, it was like every time I tried to pick up my hat, someone would smack it out of my hand. I couldn’t ignore it. I could only accept it, leave the hat down, and walk on without it.

I sat down on a chair as I looked at the now still image of Twilight Sparkle, smiling at me.

“Their dead…” I tried to keep it to myself, but DA heard it.

“Wh-who?”

“Twilight… Fluttershy… Rainbow… hell, even Rarity. The Mane Six. The Elements of Harmony.” I looked up at the ceiling as I let out a depressed sigh. “The TV show I told Ragdoll about was about them. I get the opportunity of a lifetime, one that other fans of the show would more likely never get a chance to get, to come here, and I will never get to meet them.”

They didn’t say anything. I’m pretty sure DA wanted to know what I was talking about, but Sunday was looking at me with a mix of pity and something else. I sat back up, shaking my head back to attention as I looked at the screen. “You think the Boss knew her?”

Sunday smiled as she looked at the screen. “Just because she’s a unicorn from Canterlot, you think she knew her. Racist monkey.”

I smiled as she used the term on me. It was said with a strange kind of sarcasm I couldn’t help but enjoy. “Whatever, uni-cow.” I tried to match her sarcasm as I stood back up and walked over to the opening on the wall under the screen.

“Input verbal command for OS installation.” The all to familiar artificial voice rang through the room as I looked up at the screen, still adorned with the image of Twilight Sparkle’s smile.

Something about the names of the operating systems jumped out at me as I thought about them. Random acts of magic with one, and better fighting capabilities with the other. It’s like it was based off of… something… famil-

“Discord and Sombra… why did they name them that? It couldn’t possibly be on accident.” DA finally talked after the video finished. He looked at me with concern. “We don’t know Shit about what these programs do. Could you… I don’t know… copy the other OS on a holodisk? Maybe we could switch the CPU’s of the Pipboy between missions?”

I looked at the screen as I shook my head. “I doubt that Twilight would do something like that. For all I know, she could have had it where the other OS is deleted after the choice is made. There are too many questions right now, and we…” A loud howl echoed through the Vault, startling me and the others as gunfire could be heard. “-we don’t have time.” I pushed my pipboy in (My pipboy. Still sounds weird saying that) as I felt the all to horribly familiar clamp around my arm.

“Install OS D1SC0RD!” Why was that the first thing that came to mind? Well, everything else about my stay felt random and crazy, why not complete the package?

Sunday didn’t leave any time as she ran to the door, closing it quickly as DA took my backpack and threw it onto a desk, getting ammo ready as we heard the muffled howls and gunfire, most likely happening at the entrance to the Vault.

“Fucking Nightmare bitches probably got the area surrounded, hunting down all the damn death claws in the area to be on the safe side. We’ll need to fight our way past them if we want to get out without any problems.” Sunday said as she pushed a desk in front of the door. Considering that it slid open, I could only guess why she did it, save to make it that much harder for an intruder to walk in and start shooting us.

Us… heh, it feels kind of good saying that. I’m probably liking this a lot more than I should.

I rested my head against the wall as I started to pray. When I opened my eyes, I noticed a red dot behind me on the compass. I turned and watched as the moderately sized dot moved about.

“Shhh! Guys, don’t make a move! I see a dot…”

Sunday looked at me, confused for a few seconds, till she nodded. She looked at DA, holding her hoof to her mouth, shushing him as he, quietly now, reloaded his assault rifle. I managed to pull out my pistol as I closed my eyes, continueing with my prayer as I now saw a progress bar with the percentage of the installation completed over it.

34%

I hope that this thing isn’t like Windows 8.

Mental note: I, apparently, have a love/hate relationship with both Apple and Microsoft. Between being underwhelmed with the iPad: Wasteland edition and taking pot shots at Microsoft's many failures, I might need to find ways around being so mean spirited towards those two pillars of technology. I like iTunes. I have an Xbox. Can’t we all just get along?

31%

Damn you, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. If I make it through this, I’m buying a PS4 and building my own PC… with Lenix, whatever that is.

The dot moved away from us. I can’t tell how I knew that, considering that I was, for all intents and purposes, stuck against the wall. I ignored the progress bar. I’d drive myself crazy.

“How much longer?”

Damn it, DA. Don’t make me look at it.

I groaned as I looked at and gave the report as quietly as I could. “Fourty five percent?” Huh… better than I thought it would be. “Ten minutes, tops.”

Honestly, I didn’t have a damn clue how long it would take. I give them something like that, and hope that they’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Unless a dumb, gray coated earth stallion wearing a leather jacket opened the door.

Thirty seconds of the four of us looking at each other. Me looking at DA, who looked at me with an obvious look of dread. Me looking at Sunday, who looked back with freshly brewed anger coffee. Then me looking at the stupid, stupid pony boy who was looking completely out of it. He looked sort of like Keanu Reeves in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”.

I don’t care what they say, I like Keanu Reeves.

Kind of glad that I stopped associating the idiot stallion to him, because now not-Keanu had a three kinds of shots fired at him; buckshot (HA!), three rounds from an assault rifle, and a shot of laser fire. Don’t know how, the only one that hit him was my shot, and it hit him right in the ass.

“How did you miss him!? He was right in front of you!” DA shouted as he reloaded his rifle.

“I’m sorry, Dumbass! I had just reloaded when the damn asshole opened up the door! How come YOU didn’t notice him, Jerry?”

“I don’t know! Maybe he was sneaking around!” I looked at my pistol and realized I couldn’t reload it. “At least I hit him!”

“Congradu-fucking-lations! You shot a stallion in the ass!” DA and Sunday said in unison, with DA being sincere, or at least hiding his sarcasm a lot better than Sunday.

I couldn’t help but give a chuckle. Don’t know why. It’s not exactly hilarious. I hazard a look at the loading bar.

98%

“Well, hot cocoa! It’s at nin-“

.09%

“… I will find the programmer of this thing, alive or dead, and give them a swirly. I swear this.” I muttered under my breath as I brought my weapon up, keeping my eyes on the door.

“Hellooooo in there.” I didn’t like that voice. It was the mare from before, and I could just feel my skin start to crawl. “Come on ouuuut… we’ll let you go if you’re a good bunch and give us a few minuets of your time.”

“Noooo thank yoooou. We’re already members of the Church of Don’t give a Fuck.” Sunday retorted with a smile.

“Oh, don’t be like that! I just want to know if you saw a dead body. You sound like a good little filly. Probablly have your choice of the mares and stallions. If you play nicer, I could see you go on your way, maybe with all your teeth.”

“Don’t talk to Sunday like that, you bitch!”

Oh, damn it… that was from both me and DA. We looked at each other, noticing our faux pas as we heard a slight growl from behind the door.

“Keep your studs silent before they get you all killed.” Whispering could be heard as the growling turned into a cackling laugh. “Oh, my… on second thought… new deal… Sunday, was it? You and your significant stud can walk out of there. No worries. Just leave the pink skin behind.”

I never heard a room quieter in my life. It didn’t last long, though.

“No.” Sunday’s voice was dripping with anger.

“Now, hold on. Let me give you a taste at what you’ve got to worry about. Get the Launcher ready.”

Sunday’s eyes opened wide as she slowly walked away from the door as scampering could be heard.

“FIRE!”

A sudden shock went through the air as a deafening boom went through the air. I felt my body shake.

“Installation complete.”

Oh thank God.

“Beginning initializing”

Oh God damn it.

“I’ll let you stew on that for a bit, Miss Sunday, but there is a time limit! Ten minuets!”

DA looked at Sunday, both shaken up as they made their way towards me.

“Please tell me it’s almost done, Jerry.” DA said as he kept his eyes on the door.

“It’s… it’s almost done.” No progress bar was there to make me a liar, but I just felt like I was still fibbing.

“Jerry… tell me the truth… how far is it?” Sunday was leveling with me. She didn’t like the odds. She knew that the Nightmares would just kill her and DA. There was no way to get out in a normal way. The Pip boy was the best way to survive.

“It’s initializing. I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”

She cursed under her breath as she turned to the door, but then looked back at me. “Don’t worry, Jerry. I’m not going to let them touch you, got it?”

She meant it. She wasn’t going to let them hurt me. DA nudged me with his hoof, smiling at me.

“And we’re going to get out of here. We ain’t going to die here, man. You still got to tell me how human females boobs are like.” We both let out a chuckle at that. Anything to get our minds off of… them.

“Oh, YES! I’m finally out of there!” A very familiar voice rang through my ears as I finally realized the lack of anything in my field of vision, save for the hud.

I was about to freak out when I saw one hell of a pop up in the right hand corner of my vision, right above my health and action point bar. There was a floating head that I could easily confuse as a donkey, with a goats horn as well as antlers. “Don’t bother telling them what’s going on, big guy. It won’t do you any good. Seems like you’ve got a problem or two.”

The world looked… slower all of a sudden. I couldn’t move, but it wasn’t like I was paralyzed. I felt like I was in between moments. Maybe this is how those pause screens really worked. A spike of perception? Maybe just over-focusing on time.

“Exactly, fat boy.”

Oh, shit. He’s reading the text.

“You think that Pinkie Pie is the only one who can break the fourth wall? Pshaw.”

Oh… well… makes talking with you a bit less troublesome.

“Yes, but as a narrative device, it’s going to hurt how people view your point of view. That and your atrocious use of grammar. You’ve been confusing your poor readers… both the real ones and the imaginary ones.”

…

“Whoops! Almost broke your brain there, huh? Your stream of consciousness isn’t, exactly on private land, boy. You’ve got visitors. Granted, your spiritual inklings already had you being stalked by the “Big Guy”.”

Don’t talk about Him like that.

“Alright, alright. I can only do this every once in a while, anyways. Just wanted to say “Hello, Roomie!” and that your friends should look in the desks. You’ll find a very WONDERFULLY chaotic solution to your problem. Ciao.”

The head popped out of existence, leaving me shaking as time slowly returned to normal. I can’t think about what he said. Got to think about what is going on. Brain braking can wait.

My arm was now freed, regretfully, I was in mid pull when it happened, meaning that I was now launching myself backwards. I tumbled between DA and Sunday, managing to actually roll, head over heels. Kind of funny, but still hurt a bit. I managed to sit up without a problem as I looked at Sunday.

“Once the world stops spinning, we might have a way out of here.” I managed to say before my vision was crowded my pegisi and pegasuses.

////////////////////////////////////////////

Roughly 203 years before…

Doctor Saddler loved her drives around New Pittsburgh. Human cities made driving their motorized carts so much easier than the dirt roads of the country. Of course, her new Quicksilver was the newly minted magic/plutonium hybrid. Radiation use was reduced to the point where accidental exposure was far more manageable than it was on Old Earth’s vehicles. Her studies in the use of Old Earth computers had brought her fame, especially during her last excavation through the portal to discover alternative methods of storing data.

A young woman of twenty, and she had seen more of two worlds than many would see in one. She remembered the few times her personal guards had protected her during her travels from Old Earth raiders and Caesar’s Remnants. She also knew the cycle that brought the Old World ruin was starting to repeat itself in her home world.

She tried to push back such things as her Quicksilver climbed up the hill to a fuel station that she was well accustomed to. One she hoped that she would only have to stay in for a few weeks every couple of months.

She mentally shook that thought out of her head. She knew that her work could be used for more than just a “reset button” if things did go wrong. It was a way to understand how magic and technology could finally be used as more than just new ways to make a cart move from point A to point B. The Trinity Accord will hold it all in place, she thought as she parked her cart at the side of the building.

The station itself was a rather out of the way location, which made Doctor Saddler question the plans of the Institution. It would have been far better, far wiser to build the facility closer to the city. Hide the tree in the forest, not at its edge. At least, in her opinion.

She had been to the Vaults in the Old Earth wastelands, and noticed how they were placed throughout the land. Some being in urban areas in the heart of the capitol, and others built in the side of mountains and hillsides, covered up by gas stations or, in one case, a casino. Her favorites where the Vaults in Washington. Granted, it was from her first excavation, and being in the shadow of both the then student of Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and the esteemed neo-archeologist Vladimir Vorchoski was an honor. The only part of the trip she honestly found distressing was when they had inadvertently stumbled across a slave camp.

One has to be reminded of how the wasteland can be cruel to appreciate the home you have. The lack of Old Earth Ghouls in Equestria is just another footnote of that fact. The poor souls’ main food source, radiation, was nearly non-existent in the Doctor’s homeland, meaning that the only kind of safety that she could afford them was the outposts connecting the worlds together.

She parked her vehicle at the side of the gas station and walked in. The store front was manned by two gaurds, one blue earth mare acting as the shop keep behind the register, and a hybrid Pegasus/human man in a greaser outfit, trying to play the role of a harassing teen. The two looked at the Doctor, and not being in the presence of civilians, saluted her.

“Doctor, it is a pleasure to see you again.” The mare said with a smile.

“At ease, Private Winslow, Sargent Yellow Streak…” She returned the salute and smile, but then turned to the Earth Pony. “I still don’t see why you go by that name, Sargent.”

“Mental warfare, Doctor. The enemy thinks too much about the meaning behind a name, and gets confused. Then, Wham! Two hooves in the face and a shock baton to the gonads for good measure.” The Sargent said with a tad too much enthusiasm as she hit her hoof on the counter.

“Well, how about two beeps and the code for today, for good measure?”

“Today is an oldie, Doctor Saddler. Swordfish.” Sargent Yellow Streak rolled her eyes as she hit a button on the bottom of the desk as Doctor Saddler walked to the back room. Closing the door behind her, Doctor Saddler quickly dropped her bag and brought her hands up as another hybrid, this time a much taller gray earth pony variant in the coveralls of a mechanic, stood to her left, holding up a plasma pistol and a voice recognition device as two turrets sprung to life, aiming at the Doctor.

“Password.”

“Swordfish.”

The device gave a happy ding as the turrets dropped down. “Welcome to Vault 101, Doctor Saddler. It’s good seeing you again.”

“Same with you, Hector. Is the entire first division stationed here, or just you three?” Doctor Saddler asked as she bent over to get her case.

“The Commander would rather you find out on your… oh, damn.” Hector dropped his pistol holding hand down when he realized that he had given too much information.

Doctor Saddler gave a wink to Hector, making him blush red. “Thank you, Hector. You know you’re my favorite.”

“Keep reminding me that when I’m on latrine duty for the next month.”

Doctor Saddler stifled a chuckle as the false wall gave out, and she continued down the stairs. She heard the mutterings of several people and ponies as they gathered in front of the Vaults door. She could easily make out a good portion of the staff, but was easily amazed at the number of fresh faces. As she made it past the stairs, an old, welcomed face meets hers. She was a zebra mare from her University days, a fellow Doctor by the name of Zelda, who Doctor Sadler handpicked for this project, political hazards be damned.

“Zelda! I’m so glad you accepted!” She knelt down and hugged the zebra, who returned the hug.

“Saddie, you know it would take more than a few political blowhards to keep me from here.” She pulled back, her short cut mane waving ever so slightly as she looked over her friend. “Have you been with your… *Ahem*… special someone since your last little trip to the Wastelands?”

Doctor Saddler smirked as she gave her friend a mock smack. “Don’t encourage him. The Commander is so much of a romantic, it wouldn’t take much for him to try and go after me… or you… or the cash register at the shop.”

The two females giggled as they continued their talks of exploits, both academically, and worldly, till the vault door opened. The steps leading up to the platform was occupied by several guards, both wearing official Dawn Guard attire, as well as Brotherhood of Steel power armor and the equestrian equivalent. The large group waited as a unicorn in full battle armor stood at the top of the stairs looking down. His voice rang through the group with a mixture of boredom and duty.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Mares and Gentlecolts, it is my pleasure to welcome you to your new living quarters for the next three months. I am the head of security, Commander Lavender Steel, but you may call me Commander, L.S., or for you select ladies, Sexy.” A slight bought of groans and laughter could be heard through the group. “Alright, I’m sure a good number of you are familiar with Vault and Stable protocol. No unauthorized weaponry, no non-prescription chems and drugs for recreational uses, yadda yadda yadda. My soldiers and I are here to keep you safe, and to maintain order, but we number only twenty. You lot are going to be, at the end of the day, swelled to the ranks of three hundred, many of you being civilians that thought that buying a bit of room in a Vault would be a swell idea. It might be, but this isn’t a three month vacation. We will be documenting the affects of long term enclosure in Vaults on native Equestrians, as well as making some improvements on the structure of this and other Vaults and Stables accordingly. It will be cramped, and the door will not (and I repeat, NOT) be opened unless there is a dire emergency that we can’t take care of. Considering that our staff will have some of the best medical practitioners from Her Majesties University of Health, I doubt that faking a heart attack will get you out of here once the code is put in.” More laughter comes from the group as the Commander steps aside. “With that said, I welcome you to Vault 101 proper! Living quarters are on the third floor, so put your bags and non-essencial items in your rooms before you reaquant yourself to your work areas.”

The large group slowly strode along as Zelda and Doctor Saddler re continued their conversation. As Doctor Saddler walks past the Commander, she notices a pink aura around his helmet as it is lifted off. Underneath was a very feminine whitish pink muzzle and sharp eyes staring right at her, only marred by a single scar on his cheek. His mane was cut short light pink with a white stripe down the center. The Commander’s eyebrow raises as he catched up to the Doctor.

“It’s been a while, Becky. It’s been, what, seven months since Vegas?”

“Eight.”

“Those NCR certainly didn’t know what to make of us, didn’t they?” The Commander smiled as he continued to steal glances at Doctor Saddlers figure.

“They thought I was a delusional amnesiac and you were a brain in a jar trapped in a robotic horse keeping me in my delusions of worlds filled with talking ponies, magic and dragons. It isn’t that difficult to figure it out.”

“Well, they did USED to think that way…”

“Till you slept with that platoon’s commanding officer.” Doctor Saddler responded with a rough, almost irritated groan.

The Commander stopped in his tracks, shocked at the tone momentarily, then made his way back to her side. “Look, Becky, I-“

“It’s Doctor Saddler, Commander Lavender Steel. We are on the clock, and till we have made headway in our research, I would appreciate if you would stop trying to hit on me and the rest of the female staff, at least till after the three months where up.”

“Duly noted, but I still have to speak with you about a current change in safety protocols.” The Commander managed to lead Doctor Saddler and Zelda away from the rest of the group and towards the laboratory. The door opened as the three entered the sterile laboratory. The Doctor took a deep breath at one of the few smells she enjoyed more than fresh air.

“Mmm… the scent of Progress…” She muttered to herself as her hand ran over the meticulously clean desks. There were very few individuals that matched Doctor Saddlers need for cleanliness in the workplace, and Princess Twilight's rumored Obsessive Compulsive Dissorder paled in comparison to Doctor Saddlers.

“And C-4…” The Commander managed to overhear the words uttered by Doctor Saddler, knocking the Doctor and her zebra friend to attention.

“What?” Zelda asked as she turned to Commander Lavender Steel as he took out a drawer and ever so carefully took out the contents and showed the two females the secret compartment for the insulated bags clearly marked “Plastic Explosives”.

“The Ministry of Defense came to the conclusion that the use of EMP traps on our own computers would be too risky. The idea that a slight discharge could accidentally set them off and ruin our chances of making true headway. One fatal slip, and blammo! Years of work gone in a flash.”

“SO THEY PUT EXPLOSIVES IN OUR DESKS!?” Doctor Saddler almost roared as she walked over to the floating drawer, taking it out of Commander Lavender Steel’s telekinetic grip. “What kind of IDIOT thought that was a good idea!?”

“Prince Blueblood.” Zelda said with a monotone groan. “It’s always Prince Fucking Blueblood.”

“You got that right, Zelda my dear.” Commander Lavender Steel said as he matched her tone. “At least he was smart enough to put it in magic and electrically resistant containers.”

“God Damn him! So, he wants us to blow ourselves up if we get invaded, or if our safety is compromised some other way? FUCKING BRILLIANT!” Doctor Saddler continued her ranting as she shook, wanting to throw the drawer against the floor as she stomped around the laboratory. “I’m going to talk with Princess Luna! NO! I’ll go right to Princess Celestia about this! This bullshit is inconceivable! Ridiculous! STUPID BEYOND BELIEF!”

“In other words, on par for Blueblood.” Both Zelda and the Commander said with a smirk.

“Absolutely!” Doctor Saddler panted as she finally sat down, catching her breath as the drawer laid on her lap.

“So, in the meantime, I should tell you that there is one similar brick in all of the desks, and each one is to be used on the terminals, in case of the unforeseen… and, yes, they do want someone to manually set off the detonation. No timer, no chance to get out. Just some poor fool being sent to Glory in a ball of flame.” The Commander sighed the explanation out of his lips as he looked back at Doctor Saddler. “I won’t let it come to that, and I also will make sure that they change it back to an EMP generator. I know you. You have hard-copies at the Canterlot Library and in Princess Twilight’s private quarters. If someone wanted the information, they would rather go for those than come here.”

Doctor Saddler looked at Commander Lavender Steel, looking exhausted. “Thank you, Commander… now can you please put the drawer back in the desk? I seem to have remembered that I have four pounds of highly dangerous plastic explosives in my lap.”

“As you wish, Doctor Saddler…” As Commander Lavender Steel put the drawer back in place, the three looked at one another, realizing what made things the way they were. The idea of death and destruction changing the face of Equestria till only one thing remained.

War.

And war never changes.