//------------------------------//
// Chapter2: Everything To Gain 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Sisterhood 
// by Crowseph Crowstar 
//------------------------------//


Nothing to lose, everything to gain. 


After the gamble of a lifetime and positive conclusion to the introduction of my new sister to the family, things were looking up. Of course I too was looking up, but not in the spirit sense. Me and my clone were bedridden and banned from leaving the house together for the time being. Money didn’t grow on trees around here so wasting healing potions on us was a no go, so mom and dad decided we’d do our healing the old fashioned way. A second hammock was set up in our shared room so the two of us could rest until our bruises and battered bodies could do their thing.

“Oh Muddy, I have lunch for you two. It’s something I got a good deal on in the market and I think you two are going to love these.” Mom sang happily as she entered our room with two strange looking fruits hanging from her saddle bags. They looked like some kind of bloated pear mixed with an octopus. Carefully she sat them down in our hammocks for us to grab a hold of. Weirdest thing was, despite how weird they looked, the fruit smelled nice and was as big as three apples combined. “Now before you girls start eating we’re going to go over some ground rules.”

Uh oh, that didn’t sound pleasant. “What kind of rules are we talking about?” Together me and the other Muddy spoke up with equal amounts of worry from the both of us. We didn’t even mean to speak in unison this time. It was an unspoken agreement we wouldn’t do that to mom or dad since it tended to creep ponies out. Sure enough, mom sprouted a deadpan look almost immediately.

Vivid Grove’s eyes bounced back from me to the clone. “I had a different rule for rule one, but now the new rule one is you're grounded if you ever do that to anypony else. Rule two, if you go out together you need to wear something that covers you up. I would have gotten the doctor to heal you two, but the same doctor helped with your birth…ponies are going to know something is going on if two of you suddenly pop up. So keep this a secret no matter what, understand?” We shook our heads in agreement. 

We had an idea to just tell everypony there were always two of us from the beginning, but that would be a little difficult if the clinic spotted us. It’s not like anypony else could refute the evidence of a twin sister except for the actual town doctor. 

“Rule three. For the love of Luna DON’T follow us when me and your father go out on a date! I shouldn’t even have to explain this.”

I did it once as a filly just out of curiosity and swore never to speak of it again when I learned too much. Together, the Muddy Waters weren’t going to live this down anytime soon. “Yes ma’am…” this hurts. Hurts my soul.

“And finally rule four, if you’re going to go against my wishes and try for that blasted Stable, then at least prepare for it and take some help with you.” 

I mean we were going to do that, but mom seemed to understand our desire for the unknown and possibly valuable. “What makes you think we were going after the Stable? It’s full of crazy clone ponies. We’d need an army to take it.” That thought alone was pushing me to try anyway. If I could get back down there, I could make my own help.

“Sweetie, don’t play dumb with your mother. I was an overeager explorer and prospector when I was your age, ya know? If my momma told me to not go after a fortune, you could damn well bet I already had a pair of saddle bags with essentials packed.” The smirk she wore felt familiar. When I looked at my sister I remembered she had a similar look at one point during our adventure. Maybe the apple fell pretty close to the tree.

“Rough said he had something he wanted us to meet with him about. We’ll check in with him.” We’d need his help after all. 

“As long as we’re on the same page. So help me Celestia and Luna, do not do anything stupid out there. You’re a big girl, but I’m not gonna lose you. So play it smart, and play it safe.” Mom pointed her hoof to her eyes before quickly pointing to us. Yeah, she was watching out for us, but more likely she wasn’t about to let us get go before she knew we were ready.

“Thanks mom for siding with us. We’ll play it safe.”

“We know where to go and how to avoid trouble.”

With a nod, mom left and went back to her own devices. Dad wouldn’t be happy about us going, but the wealth we could have by going back would make up for any risk. We just had to win. 

A plan was needed too, but I’d leave that to Rough. For now, it was sweet, easy living and fresh food.


***


Easy living didn’t come easy after all. That night, the distant roars of irradiated beasts plagued us. Like a ship's horn the monsters within the swamps bellowed their mighty calls and shook the native ponies to their cores. I was usually asleep by now happily skipping the nuisance of listening to wild animals all night.

“Mating seasons here for the bog-crawlers.”

Took me a second to realize Clear Waters was still awake in the padded mattress beneath me. He took after dad when it came to being a fisher-pony, so it made sense he’d know what was going on when I didn’t.

“When the fog rolls out from the river, or the western swamps, the bog-crawlers go into heat around this time of year. They’re signaling to potential mates across the river.” 

I’d never seen one of those before. I always made sure to avoid trouble or anything that looked like a monster nest. Pretty sure if they were as big as their mating calls, I wouldn’t have survived an encounter. With a whisper I asked the question floating around  in my mind.

“What do they look like? Are they big fuckers like mud dragons or Swamplurk queens?” I’d never seen those either, but the stories from outlanders and local sailors alike described demons that could sink ships and turn ponies to mince meat.

He shook his head. “They’re not that big, but they’re big enough to clear the deck of all life if they get aboard your boat…”

What a lovely picture to have painted in my mind. Before I could press for more, he continued with the faintest of whispers. “They used to be tiny. Back before the war I think they used to be shrimp. Now they’re full of taint and Luna knows what else to make 'em that size. Evil monsters those things…”

It left me wondering how ponies survived out there in the wilderness. Homesteaders typically left Wayward to make their own lives elsewhere, usually in some hovel or self-built house hidden from wanderers and predators alike. Trappers did the same, but instead of hiding they were the things animals and ponies tended to hide from. At least according to dad.


***


“Alrighty then! Glad you two trouble makers could…make it…”

We were up, no longer content with laying down when there was the possibility of a grand and luxurious future just waiting to be taken. Rough was kind of surprised to see us so early and more than a little shocked to find both of us arriving at his stand of junk and junk accessories. Just as he was servicing a customer, the Muddy twins arrived on the scene clad in the usual dirty cargo outfit I enjoyed. My sister, well…we had to steal from dad’s clothes to fashion her something to cover herself with.

“...Muddy…Is that dad’s old barge hoof outfit and one of mom’s towels? Scavenged rags dress code was a joke ya know.”

The red jumpsuit, now blacked from years of cable grease stains, was a good fit for the scavenger sisters and mom wouldn’t mind one of her old towels being used as a head covering. It was genius to be honest, but I could do better. Eventually.

“Doesn’t matter! What matters is we have an opportunity to push the Water’s family out of this cramped lifestyle. You did want to talk to us about that, right?”

His eyes darted from one side to the next before grabbing a hold of my jacket collar and pulling me behind the stand. The other Muddy followed close behind. “Hush. We can’t let just anypony hear…alright, yes I did wanna talk about it. I don’t know what momma thinks, but I know dad isn’t gonna be happy about it. However, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. So let’s be quick.”

There was a moment I wanted to talk about that, but the moment disappeared as soon as it presented itself. Rough was already fishing out a large trunk from under some tarp behind his stand. When he pulled it free and opened it, my sister immediately went to town poking her nose into it.

“Well I’ll be shark bait, when did you own so many pipe guns? You looking to protect yourself, or deal some damage?” Her snark was contagious. I'll give her that. It got me smiling with an urge to laugh, but I kept it to myself.

Rough Waters rolled his eyes and snorted, “Oh I’m not the one looking to go head first back into danger. These are for you and the ponies down the ramp.”

Other ponies? Me and my twin looked at one another before staring a hole through Rough. I put as much threat and venom into my stare as my sister spoke out. “You can’t be serious. You want us to hire other ponies to do this? We don’t need help! We don’t want it.”

“Yeah! Me and her can do this all day, as long as it takes. We even promised mom to be careful when she flipped on her side about this.”

He shook his head and sighed, clearly annoyed. “You two came home with an extra version of yourself and bruises up and down your sorry hides. It seems like a job for a whole crew of mercs to handle, not two teenagers with no experience. This is all a part of the plan I came up with in my free time.”

Rough was swift to grab a sheet of paper from the trunk and lay it out before us. It was an entire bullet point list of steps to secure the Stable. “That’s a long freaking list dude. You got a lot of free time, I bet.”

“Shut it Muddy. Business has been ass since the last of the easy spots ran dry. Scrap just ain’t as valuable when the only scrap left is barely usable garbage. Now focus, sis’. We got a job to do.”

Step one, grab the local mercenaries or just anypony willing to do odd jobs and arm them if necessary. Step two, get to the Stable’s lower levels and secure the creepy lab. Step three, reach the maintenance level and shut down the power long enough to disable life support. Step four, escape the Stable and seal the door long enough for everything down there to suffocate and die. Step five was to return a day later and equip a diver’s suit with an oxygen tank and switch the power back on before the tank ran dry. Everything else was just to clean up, take inventory, and bribe the hired help with a spot in the Stable to not spread the word about the fresh bounty. Frankly, I thought the plan was abysmal, but I couldn’t think of something like that even if I tried. 

My plan would have been just to shoot everything until we won, or die trying. Probably would have ended up dying, but it’d still be a wild ride up until that point.

“As you can clearly see, this plan will definitely work so long as you figure out where the doo-dads are that make the air breathable down there. I figure that’ll put down those Jelly ponies you mentioned.”

“Jellybeans actually, and yeah…not eager to get the crap beaten out of me a second time.”

“Then that settles it! Now hurry on and nab yourself some extra hooves. Plenty of scavs looking for work since the scraps runnin’ out.”

Before he could rush us out from behind his junk stand, my sister dug her hooves into the asphalt and stood her ground. “Now wait just a moment! Where did you get all these guns and ammo from? This looks like some serious caps right here.”

“…well…” I could see the gears turning inside Rough’s head as he debated on the next words to come from his mouth. After a moment, his ears drooped low. “I’ll be honest, little sisters. Business is rough, no pun intended. The last of my caps went into the guns. Mom came to me earlier and bought the ammo.”

He knew about mom before we did. Go figure she’d lend an invisible hoof to help.

“That last venture was my biggest score and you know it fell through. If this don’t work, McGreedy is gonna shut me down. I’m putting all my eggs into this basket and praying it works.” With the beans spilled and the truth out, it was no wonder he was doing this for us. And probably why he was so eager to see us succeed.

“Uuuuuh, who’s McGreedy?” Yet again my sister joined me in unity as our words combined. Thankfully, Rough rolled his eyes and went with the flow.

“You’ve lived here, on this planet, in this town, for sixteen years and you don’t know who the council is? He’s the top dog, the main council pony. More like a merchant’s guild to me, but he’s got the most successful business here so he’s throwing the most weight around.” Rough sprouted a nasty glare as his thoughts must have turned to this McGreedy stallion. Just under his voice I could have sworn he whispered ‘fat ass too’.

“I don’t talk with anyone. I’m not much of a conversationalist, if it wasn’t obvious.”

“Believe me I know. You always did manage to get on the wrong side of the gossip cuz of it.” Ouch. That surprisingly stung, even though I didn’t care to chat with other ponies most of the time. I blame myself.

“Alright alright that’s enough now. Let’s go before dad figures out or mom changes her mind.” Have I mentioned how much I love the way my clone thinks? Together we bundled the weapons into our duffle backpack and bid our farewell. Rough told us to stay safe, and we said we would, but as we walked down the ramp towards the ground the group of ponies Rough mentioned were walked passed and ignored by us. 

Sure they were waiting for a client that was told would come, but there was a problem of us not actually wanting their help. Not that I could talk with them if I wanted to, I was genuinely unable to start a dialogue with strangers and it was becoming more apparent as I looked outward instead of clinging to my own personal bubble. That still wasn’t enough of a motivator to get me to change that, which led to Rough’s hard thought plan to be ignored just like the mercs.

“I’m guessing we have the same idea on what we’re doing?” Muddy eyed me looking for a response. Of course I could freely talk to myself, that wasn’t an issue.

“Yeah. Where one sister could be made, why not more? Think about it. This is our shot at a future, why risk sharing it with those nobodies when we could share it with ourselves.”

“Regardless of how many ‘ourselves’ there are? How far are we going to take this?”

I smiled with a grin I could only assume looked devious. I tried at least. “Why…as far as we can take it dear sister. As far as we can reasonably take it.”


***


The journey back to the Stable wasn’t what I’d call a challenge. We knew the way, but retracing our steps wasn’t the hard part. It was making sure nothing killed us on the way there. When we got to the bottom of the ramp and laid our hooves on solid dirt, our eyes trailed to where Shazan’s wagon once was. We could only assume after our aggravated assault and forced entry he wasn’t willing to stick around and risk other attacks.

Thinking back on the whole ordeal made me feel like shit for all of five minutes before the thought was crushed under my apathetic nature. Still needed to work on that, someday.

“We got like, what, a third of the way to Friendship and freight before we went west?” Sister was in charge of the compass while I was in charge of the map. 

“It was between west and north west, an hour's journey I'm pretty sure.” I said that with as much confidence as someone who refused to believe they were lost. Because we might have been a little lost given the fact neither of us kept track of how long we’d been walking.

You see, if we had a third Muddy Waters there would be enough brain power between the three of us to remember that key detail.

We did see a familiar face after a while, which came in the form of a swamplurk with two bloodbug stingers jutting out from its shell. They were broken and bloody like arrows sticking out of a wild beast and their rightful owners lay dead and in pieces around the swamplurk’s burrow. I gripped my revolver between my teeth and my fellow Muddy Waters grabbed her own single shot shotgun. A clean Romare-o with a slug round inside, courtesy of big brother Rough.

With no distractions the swamplurk turned its beady eyes to us and clicked his mandibles before charging us, its head lowered now to put its hard shell between it and our bullets. I fired once, the hammer coming down and unleashing a 45 caliber round against its shell, but the mutated crab was undeterred.

“I’ll kill it. Come on! Come get me ya overgrown shellfish!” She waited with frightened patience as it got closer and closer. Sure enough, the moment it realized it was now in range to snip my sister in two it raised its head and screeched. It’s battle cry was met by the roar of a shotgun slug tearing its body a new hole just below the head and into its torso. As it reeled in pain the other Muddy took her chance to back away as she loaded another slug into the Romare-o. I took my chance to start rotating around it. And popping another shot into its leg. It turned with my movements, tracking me with those unthinking eyes and rushed to put me in its claws.

Either over eager to murder me or too frenzied from pain, but it didn’t take the cautious approach this time. It’s head was up and it’s eyes bore into mine as I lined up another shot. Again my revolver roared, its shot echoing through the air as the bullet mulched one side of its face, but again it continued to charge. A second later and I was forced into the defensive, quickly turning to run as it got close enough to take a snap at me and only getting some tail hairs for its trouble.

“Muddy! Crabby is giving me a haircut, I need some shotgun over here!”

“Bring him to me, I’ll finish him off.” Gun loaded and a fire in her eyes, I trusted her which meant I trusted myself. I moved and moved fast past her as she raised her gun through clenched teeth and waited for the beast to reveal its wounded maw. It raised a pincer to strike down my sister, but she was already firing by the time its claw came down to bat her aside. The slug ripped into its shoulder connected to the claw that slapped her aside, severing it and finally ending the Swamplurk with a satisfying crash into the mud.

“Well hell. You alright sis’?”

“I’m golden. Just a bruise, but holy cow aiming with a long weapon is harder than I thought.”

I shrugged. “Guess that’s why they use battle saddles with the longer shotguns. Mouth grips only get you so far. Or we could be unicorns and cheat by floatin’ em’ around.”

Her huff told me enough about what she thought. I already knew our shared opinion on battle saddles, cuz I hated them. Chafed my back all up and prevented me from using my backpack. 

“Hate unicorns. So damn lucky” she muttered as we left the swamplurk corpse behind us. Yeah, we didn’t have high opinions on unicorns. We were jealous they could float their guns around and not have to worry about dental problems.


***


Killing a swamplurk was easy pickings. There was some concern about leaving it without harvesting the meat, but we were on a schedule. Plus the gunshots were loud and would almost certainly attract the curious and the hungry. Sure enough, the curious and hungry came, but not the kind we were expecting.

“G-get down. Get down now!” 

I whispered to my sister as loud as a whisper could get for her to duck. She hadn't spotted them, but I had when I saw the rustle of the tall grass and bushes along with the splash of hooves trudging through the many streams and tributaries lining the wetlands. From the muck they emerged, trappers. They made no effort to conceal their movements as they hurried off into the distance towards the area we were just at, the very place where we fought the tainted crab. 

“Oh shit…you think the shots got 'em’ riled up?” 

I didn’t take my eyes off the group of three trappers as I whispered into my sister's ear. “They’re going straight for the swamplurk. Didn’t the last trappers say something about poaching?”

She nodded. “Yeah. We can’t risk running into more creatures. We’ll have to fight ‘em with our hooves, otherwise those ponies are gonna come running.”

“But we were just defending ourselves. Not like we were hunting it, it was hunting us!”

She shook her head and pulled out her compass to get us back on track. “Those ponies don’t seem like the type to care about that…meat is meat in the end.”

As we snuck away from the area to avoid getting hunted again by a different kind of predator, I could only think about how horribly things might have gone had we stayed and tried to get a snack from the ‘lurk. Wouldn’t end well that’s for sure.

Luckily time passed by with relative silence and peace. Plenty of things we had to get past quietly to avoid bringing another hunting party our way from the local trappers. Bugs, leeches, the occasional feral ghoul that we had no idea why it was out here, but still let it be as it slept silently in the puddle of mud. I think I’ll call these ghouls swamp ghouls. 

Eventually the large rock poking into the horizon like a claw pointing west was spotted yet again. Its moss covered structure made it look like a downed tree on one side, which was probably how I managed to not notice how high it got before falling off due to my own stupidity. Instinctively I rubbed my hoof as a phantom pain came from upon recollection of the memory. My sister was copying my idle fidgeting exactly as I was, her own hood hurting despite never having broken it herself. Technically speaking. 

Watching her copy me without realizing it gave me the worst out of body experience I’ve ever had so far. It was like looking at a mirror that was reflecting the wrong perspective, but the subject of its reflection was still me.

“You uh…..ahem. Are you ready for this? The plan is simple, simpler than Rough’s simple plan.”

“O-of course! Of course…reach the freight elevator, get to the bottom, find the owner of that voice…make new clones of ourselves. Take the Stable…”

I was, in all honesty to myself, scared of going back. We’d gotten beat up so badly last time that  it was a miracle we made it home. For how overweight and out of shape the Jellybean loving clones were, they hit hard and took punishment like a swamplurk. Except when we hit them in the head or neck. That seemed to put down the crazed clones no problem. I puffed up my chest and shoved the fear aside just long enough to make my approach to the wooden door and push past it. My sister followed close behind as always, though she made an effort to walk alongside me this time. Together we descended into the dungeon of doom that was Stable 98.

The cave, the rusted medical room, the hallway leading down deeper that continued forward but stopped at a metal door, then a small backtrack to find the hallway that led to the freight elevator. All of it was left behind as we marched forth into the unknown. Finally, the elevator itself where we had the piss beaten out of us. A fond memory better left forgotten. Preferably forever.

“Anyway we can take the elevator and not meet our ends at the hoof of a pony who can only say the word jellybean?”

I had an idea. That little key thing that was shoved into the panel just outside the elevator where all the buttons were was still in my pocket. It had the handle of a key, but the part that was supposed to be the rest of the key was some cup shaped object. There was a matching circle slot that fit the cup looking key just under the elevator panel, so I placed the key inside with my teeth and tried turning it.

“Maintenance mode activated. Elevator lock out engaged. Calling elevator.” A mechanical voice poured from ancient speakers as the familiar sound of moving machinery could be heard beneath us. 

“I think this will work. It’s how that one clone stopped our elevator and made it not wanna work last time. Maybe it’s an elevator key for maintenance ponies.”

“I trust you, but I’m keeping my shotgun pointed forward. Not looking to get jumped again. Never again.”

The pair of us waited for the door to open. As it dinged, I too readied my revolver. We both let a breath of relief go when the doors opened revealing nothing. I took the key from its slot and checked to see if there was anything else inside that could help keep the darn thing moving without interruption. There! A similar circle slot for the lockout thing. Slipping it in, I heard a buzz from the speakers that repeated the previous line to us. My clone pressed the button to the fifth level downward, while I sat down for a little relaxation before we had to deal with interacting with strangers again.

“I’m glad I kept that thing. If I leave it here, I'm pretty sure the elevator ain’t gonna move.”

“It’ll be our only way out. Better hope you’re right, for both our sakes.”

The tone of worry my sister had wasn’t misplaced, but I could have sworn I had my confidence in me. Since she was Muddy Waters in every way, I expected a bit more blind bravado and a general lack of caring. Guess this Stable had a humbling effect on her, but not so much me. I had faith in me, which meant I had faith in her. Even if we didn’t inspire much in the way of hope for ourselves.

The doors opened as we hit the final floor to reveal a familiar loading dock. Huh, the body of the clone we killed wasn’t in the elevator I noticed, but the blood was. Nothing down here either. Everything was as we left it. So without a word we moved forward towards the labs. Multiple doors opened effortlessly as we crossed their thresholds, but with each one we came up to I could hear the disengaging of locks just before we pushed them open. 

It was a scary feeling hearing somepony open doors for you and never being able to see them.

“Hello. Helllllooooooo! Hey lady, we came back. Didn’t tell nopony about the Stable….okay I lied, we told our family, but cross my heart we didn’t say where it was.”

“Hey! Voice lady! We survived that bullshit with the elevator too. Thanks for the heads up before the ass beating, dick head!”

A sudden crackle of ceiling mounted speakers startled us as we turned towards the source of the noise. In the corner of the room a black box echoed the words of our mysterious host.

“I saw what happened on the cameras. I’m so sorry you experienced that, but with the lock out tag out key it overrode my commands. Luckily you defeated Jellybean, or at least one of his many variants. I’m happy you’re alright and have decided to return…”

If she took offense to my sister's words, she didn’t show it. Not that she was showing anything, but it was something to remember for later. “So what do you want from us? You tried buttering me up last time I was here to help out, so here I am. Let’s make a deal.”

“Ah yes, I do have need of you. However, first let’s get to know each other. Face to face. Please holster your weapons. I’m putting much trust in you. All I ask is that you do the same for me. Enter the observation chamber across the room from the loading dock door.”

That room with the window into a room full of glass vats? I remember that room. Neither of us could forget it, especially my sister for her own clone related reasons. Together we followed the instructions and made our way inside. From there I noticed no changes or new faces. Before I could comment, the other Muddy voiced her concerns.

“So where’d ya go? What happened to the face to face, hmm?” Annoyance dripped from her words like rain drops, but I could only fault her so much. This place had bad juju for me, but very bad memories for her. Of course she’d have a short fuse here.

“Let’s clear the air and start fresh. A second first impression from me to you, my new friends. And hopefully by the end of this meeting I can call you my next best chance for the restoration.”

Restoration? What was she talking about? The stable? I guess it didn’t matter right now. I didn’t even bother trying to make my lack of understanding known as we waited for our host to arrive. Sis was looking through the door we came in in hopes of catching a glimpse of the voice's owner, hoping maybe she’d pop up behind us with a face that didn’t belong to the other clones here. What we ended up getting was….well I can’t really explain what I saw next without sounding like a liar.

From the ceiling a panel opened, leaving a square hole in which a jar lowered itself before us. Well not a jar, but a glass dome with a robotic eye tracking us as it moved along tiny rails circling the glass dome. What was in the dome you ask? Well I’ll tell ya…

IT'S A FREAKING BRAIN!

Nerves clung from the brain to what I could only guess was a severed unicorn horn that poked out from the glass dome with seals around it to prevent leakage. Well severed might not be the right word, but it wasn’t connected to any head I’ve ever seen before. This was the cherry on top for the mad scientist aesthetic I envisioned for this whole laboratory full of nick nacks and a preserved brain.

“….”

“………”

“……………”

“Your silence is not inspiring confidence, Ms. Waters.”

The dam broke for the both of us as we panicked. “Sweet Celestia’s beard! It’s a fucking brain in a jar!”

“Holy shit! What in the hell?!” Sister was taking things about  as well as I am.

This revelation was going smoothly, even though my heart was racing a mile a second and my thoughts scrambled like eggs. The mare speaking to us this whole time was a bloody unicorn brain in a jar. Okay, breathing first! In, then out, then repeat until the shock goes away. In and out and shake it all about. 

“Are we going to gloss over the fact you met a living breathing copy of yourself and made friends with it, but THIS is what’s beyond imaginative comprehension? A mare’s brain on full display?”

Yikes. When she puts it that way… “okay okay, I’m freaked out a little. Cut us some slack. I have so many questions…like what hap…”

“WHY DID YOU CREATE ME?!”

I was shoved aside as my sister took the center stage of the conversation and rushed to ask the question I’m sure has been on her heart for a while. For the brain’s part, her mono eye rolled in its socket to look down at my sister  with a blue glow bathing the other Muddy. That eye was more than it seemed.

“I created you because I have captured and cloned every last would-be looter and scavenger to make their way down here. I need aid in my endeavor to restore not just the Stable, but the machine it’s meant to house. My life’s work, my mentor's vision for an Equestrian victory during the war. I’ve been trapped here, alone, stuck with these corrupted clones of the late maintenance manager, Mr. Jellybean. You ask why I created you? Because eventually I’d find a candidate, a template, that would make it through the machines corrupted code and breed a new generation of clones that could do more than fuCKING SAY THEIR OWN LUNA DAMNED NAME!”

The eye became red as the brain within twitched and spasmed with clear anger. So the other clones were just saying their name over and over? Weird, but insightful. 

She continued on without stopping. “I’ve been waiting here for somepony like you to show up. The others all gave life to inadequate clones who couldn’t do more than spout their own names and foolishly try and kill everything that wasn’t them. Jellybean was a combat engineer during the war, so with him dominating the Stable and producing endless reinforcements, cleaning up the scavengers and their respective failures was quick and painful. Though not by my hoof. That’s why I NEED you. You’re my only hope.”

This was a lot to take in, but I’m glad we finally got some answers. I guess that would explain any missing scavengers amongst the ponies of Point Wayward or the Trappers. Anypony who came down here likely didn’t make it past Jellybean. Heck, we almost didn’t. Without my clone helping me, I’d be a goner.

“So you’re telling me I’m just a test to see if Muddy could produce clones that DON'T go crazy?”

“Yes. That is correct. Since you passed, I’ll dub thee…Muddy Water’s Proto Production Type. Now we can move on to the Mass Production Type, pending your original’s answer to my next question.”

Her metallic voice bounced around in my noggin for a moment before I was able to process all the new information. I kind of didn’t like the way she talked down to my sister and not just because her brain was on the ceiling in a glass dome.

“I still have questions. You answer them and I’ll see about helping. Depending on what you need me to do…”

I was surprised, and a little disturbed, to see the brain move its front up and down as if it were nodding. “Alright then. I’ll humor your inquiries. Ask away.”

“First, who are you? Second, what is all this? I thought Stables were meant to keep ponies safe, not create clones.” I remembered a zebra who spoke or Stables as if they were evil spirits looking to cast black magic on the innocent.

“Too bad we scared away the one living creature who might have told us something about Stables.” I wasn’t the only one to remember it seemed.

“My name is Helix Twist, second in command of Project Mirror Mirror. If you look through the viewing class to the next room you’ll see just the tip of the iceberg for Project Mirror Mirror and what became of it after being shelved by the Ministry of Arcane Science. Fucking Twilight Sparkle. I hope she got what she deserved when the bale fire reduced my country to cinders and fallout.”

Sounds like somepony has unresolved hatred for another pony. Helix Twist sounded like my kind of pony if I ever cared to remember anyone besides myself. Besides that, one question has been answered. Now for the next dozen or so and we might get somewhere. “I got a good hoof-ful of questions, but what I really want to know is what you need me for?”

“Yeah! We aren’t exactly the smartest pony around. Doubt we’d be able to help fix your project.”

For Helix’s part, her robot voice just let the sweet giggles go as her mono eye swapped between me and my sister repeatedly. “Baby steps. Let’s take things one step at a time. Although fixing the project is the ultimate goal, we need to address one key issue. Getting my Stable back from the living failures that are the Jellybean clones.” The red tint of her mono eye returned with a vengeance.

“We had an idea about shutting down life support and sealing the door so the clones would all die. I think you’re going to tell us why that plan wouldn’t work, right?” I’ll admit, I was a little sure of myself with that one. Maybe even smug about it, but the validation I felt when I watched the brain nod its gray matter again felt nice.

“Naturally. That is a terrible plan. First, there is a legion of Jellybean clones, most of which are located within the engineering level just above us. You’d need an army to clear them out of their favorite floor, considering Jellybean was the maintenance manager before the nightmare began. He’s done well keeping the Stable running the last century, which means oxygen.”

This was an ear full, but useful all the same. She continued, “Secondly, the Stable door has been reported as damaged. Likely it has rusted open due to the intense moisture in the air. The screening room and main entrance have suffered similarly, but the door beyond has kept the moisture out. The only solution is to simply kill them all I’m afraid…manually.”

Crap. That was bad news, but not unexpected news. After all, my own plan was to overpower the other clones with my own. Speaking of which, no more beating around the bush. With my sister remaining silent in contemplation, I took my opportunity to ask the obvious.

“We can do that, though we can’t do it alone. You made my sister, why not make more Muddy Waters?” 

“My dear, what makes you think I haven’t already~?” Her mono eye turned to the viewing glass window above the consoles.

I guess she wanted us to see into the room with the hanging vats. When we pressed our heads to the glass and held our hooves close to our eyes to try and make out what was on the other side, my out of body experience returned with more than just a vengeance. It came to throw a mid-life crisis at me at the ripe old age of sixteen!

There, in the tile floor room that looked like a large shower room was the six glass vats from before with one still being broken. The rest were full of a clear liquid that kept five new clones floating within. Their manes floated in all directions as they slept soundly with closed eyes and peaceful smiles plastered on their features.

“Luna and Celestia, full of grace…this is…this is nuts…”

Helix turned her mono eye towards us again and flickered in some kind of simulated blink. “Impressed?”

Sister remained silent, which was unlike me. I responded to the question since she wasn’t willing to put any words in. “I guess. I expected this, but good goddesses. Kind of just hits me more than I thought. Still…”

“You still need them regardless. When you’re ready, place your head in the helmet so the personality copy can commence. It’ll be just like the first time you had your head in one of these. Only less drugs.” Her instructions were clear. The center console opened and a helmet with wires and bulbs sticking out was raised up for a user to wear.

Slowly I raised my hoof to take the helmet, but it was met by another hoof stopping me. Sister was ready to talk now, and the look in her eyes spelled she wasn’t ready for this. There was a desperation in them that gave me pause as I looked upon my own face.

“What about me……..w-will I be forgotten about? When you got so many clones…what will you do…wi-with m-me.” Her body shook as the weight of uncertainty set in. I wasn’t alone in my identity troubles it seemed.

I huffed in response, placed my hoofs on her face and squished those familiar cheeks. “You stop that. You’re my sister. I love you like I love myself, which is a hell of a lot! Not in an egotistical way, but you get what I’m saying. We….we are bond sisters forever and ever! Are you picking up what I’m putting down, sis?”

Oh, maybe I shouldn’t give motivational speeches to my clone. Tears filled her eyes as she let a sob escape before wrapping me in a hug and holding on for dear life. Something inside me felt strangely warm and fuzzy about this as I wrapped my hooves around my sister and returned the hug.

“T-t-t-thank you!!!” She cried as her emotions ran down my shoulder and over my cargo outfit. Not that I cleaned this thing anyway, but still. Gross.

I’m also happy to report she only cried for two whole minutes! Existential dread really hits hard, huh?

“Touching as this is, I believe it’s time to move our quest along. Ah! Before I forget again you will need this too. Go ahead and slip these on. The machine to your left will assist in the process.”

Two manipulator arms came down from the hole Helix Twist arrived through. Their three clawed hands carried one PipBuck each. The spindly mechanical limbs placed the advanced pieces of technology in front of us before curling back into themselves and receding into the ceiling. We took them as instructed, but I was busy with the helmet. While I went ahead and placed the device over my eyes and mane, my sister went to the machine and placed the PipBuck over her right hoof and held it above the left most console.

Another set of manipulator arms with some kind of tools worked the PipBuck over until it was secured on her hoof.

“Spell matrix coming online. Memory transfer in progress. Copy data initializing. All systems are functional. Vital signs are normal. Mirror Pool binary engram activated. Please stand by…”

I couldn’t see what was going on, but I could catch a brief flash of light bouncing off the clean floor as the helmet plugged every memory I owned into a computer and spat it right back out into five separate bodies. It was like watching my entire life flash before my mind’s eye. Boy let me tell you it was an experience and a half!

I just wish my life wasn’t so shallow. 

Wishing for something and actually striving to get it were two separate things and I wasn’t the striving type usually. “Did it work? Can I take off the helmet now?” 

No answer was given, but the helmet was lifted off my head and carefully tucked itself back inside the console it came from. Panels clamped shut around it, concealing the fact there was a helmet here at all. Now it was just another machine with data flowing through a small screen so rapidly I couldn’t even make out individual numbers or letters.

“Copy and paste sequence has been successfully completed. All vitals are strong…awaken my children. The time to take back what is ours is here.” Helix was certainly eager about the whole ordeal. Her mono eye and brain were gone, but I could hear her voice coming from the other room where the hanging glass vats with my clones were.

My sister was too transfixed on what she was witnessing there to talk to me. Her wide eyes and slack jaw wasn’t the expression I felt myself wearing in a scenario like this.

“Okay, I’ll bite. Did it work? Where are the other Muddy Waters?”

“Sis’ you gotta see this!”

She ushered me over with the hurried wave of her hoof. I pressed my face to the glass like before to see the other side and bear witness to my new births. From each vat a clone of Muddy Waters was flushed from her glass womb in a torrent of liquid that filled the tub the body had been dropped into. As the strange viscous liquid drained into the tub and disappeared, she stood within and peered from the edge of the tub while rubbing her eyes clear of the liquid she’d been preserved in.

All five of them did, with movements so synchronized it looked like a perfectly rehearsed scene in some kind of play. There wasn’t the slightest hint of deviation as they rubbed their eyes in an attempt to see for the first time.

“Where the fuck did I just end up?! I took a bath a week ago! Celestia damn it.”

Oh. So this is why my sister was so shocked. Watching them move together like one mind in five bodies and speak in unison like a hive mind was more than a little surprising, albeit greatly disturbing to listen to. Now I know how other ponies felt when they heard us speak in unison. 

And it only got worse when the clones finally rubbed their eyes clear and looked on in a silent horror at the viewing glass they, in their own minds, were just on the other side of a minute ago. Then they looked at each other and finally themselves in a terrified, yet curious manner.

I tapped on the glass to get their attention. “Heeeeeey! Let’s keep it together bitches! No time for mind boggling nonsense! Out of those tubs and let’s get to work.”

At first I thought my clones were about to lose their minds in there, but the reality they found themselves in wasn’t one they couldn’t handle. With a shake of their heads and a slap of the cheeks, they were hopping out and forming a line on the other side of the door separating the control room with the cloning chamber. Occasionally the shaky legs would result in a few bumps and awkward apologies. At least I’m polite when I’m not isolating myself.

The door slid open and I was met with five pairs of eyes looking for guidance. Pretty sure they already knew what I was going to say, they were me after all. “You heard the brain in the jar. This Stable rightfully belongs to us! We have the guns, we have the gumption, let’s kick some ass!!!”

Sister stood beside me as a sense of determination filled the rooms we occupied. I could see it on their faces as the words of agreement left their tongues. “Yeah! Muddy Waters forever.”

“Let’s get em’ sisters!”

“Jellybean is going to hate us after today, that’s for sure.”

“Payback for the ass beating he gave us.”

“How many did ‘what’s her name’ say we had to get rid of?”

That’s a great question. I turned to my bonded sister who was still blown away by the cloning process and the sudden addition to a PibBuck on her hoof. Seemed like she was still trying to get used to all the things it was doing to her. I also needed to get mine attached at some point.

“Does the PibBuck say how many Jellybean clones there are sis?”

“O-oh! Well yeah, let me check the agenda…”

A moment passed as the group of Muddy clones bundled together around me, our eyes focused on the device wrapped around our sister’s hood. Another moment passed before something changed. Of course the change was her face falling into what I could only assume was despair. Maybe a little horror sprinkled in?

“Well? What’s it say?”

“Wow you look like you got bad news and worse news.”

“This can’t be a good sign.”

Now I was getting worried. Just a tad though. Nothing could be that bad right? “Sister, you gonna show us the number or what?”

Oh she showed it to me alright. By shoving the PipBuck in my face for me to see for myself. There on display under a tag labeled ‘What’s yours is mine’ was the mission objective ‘claim Stable 98. 207/207 remaining.

“TWO HUNDRED AND SEVEN JELLYBEAN CLONES?!?!”


***


PibBuck added to inventory. You’ve gained access to stats and level tracking!

Level up: level 3

Story Perk added: Perfect Template.

-you made it through the machine and can speak more than two words. Wow, science! You can be replicated once every twenty four hours. Try not to abuse this.

Perks already listed: Strong Back.

-All those years of scavenging have paid off, ya pack mule. You gain +25 to carry capacity.

Perks already listed: Fundamentally Unlikable

-Your low charisma S.P.E.C.I.A.L stat has hampered your abilities of communication. You cannot initiate dialogue with most forms of intelligent life unless you are spoken to first with few exceptions. Speech checks cannot be passed. Vendor prices have increased by 33 percent. You should probably find a way to fix this…