//------------------------------//
// Chapter III 
// Story: Linkin Pony Recharge: The Catalyst 
// by Kaciekk 
//------------------------------//

	It wasn't late when the ponies arrived at the base, but the ponies were so out of it that they decided to rest fort the last part of the day. They tried to get situated in their new home, but it wouldn't be easy. They have been to the base before, but now they had to live there.
The base was an old building, it was hard to tell what it was used for before. But the ponies found it perfect, like it was made for them to use. There were enough rooms for six bedrooms, a mainroom, a meeting room and a good place for storage. It was off the city grid in a rural area with a small neighborhood. Still, that didn't mean that they wouldn't see any Hybrids. 
BlazingFlair had gotten up early, only because he had went to bed so early. IT felt good to sleep, but he still was wary to see if there were any Hybrids. 
He came out of his small room and his green eyes studied the gray hall. Blazing's surroundings seemed so different. He placed his gold hooves forward and every clop echoed through the space. He paced through into the mainroom slowly, and only looked around. He had a sense of loneliness.
Blazing walked though the stale aid of the rooms. He entered into the meeting room. A large oval table stayed in the center. The orange pony passed by the counters that had cabinets below. He scanned  over to where he had came in; to the right of the entrance was a door that led to where most of their food storage was. 
Blazing's green eyes looked to the window. Pass the glass was the dying world, so dull and gray. It was morning, and not much light from the sun showed normally. Everyday it was humid still, and it was even uncomfortable inside. Blazing still watched to the outside
 I wonder if if any ponies know about this place. Who left it? It doesn't look like there are any Hybrids out there.  His thoughts skipped subjects naturally.  Geez, what time is it? None of the guys are up yet.  Blazing looked over to the digital clock, but it wasn't on. They did not want to waste any energy they had, even if they  had  any left known of.
Blazing wanted to get something to eat soon; most of the food was canned or tightly packaged. He didn't feel hunger, and he didn't feel like getting something out. His body was sore and is limbs ached.
BlazingFlair stood in front of a door at the end of the room, opposite of the entrance. He knew it was there, but  he kept forgetting. It was mysterious. Blazing never knew what was on the other side. He remembered the structure of the base outside, but it seemed that nothing would be there. Did the door lead to something underground?
The stallion's curiosity grew, and he placed his gold hoof though door handle. Though Blazing pulled, it wouldn't open. The door was locked.  There has to be a key somewhere.  Blazing took a glance around the room. Then he began to pull again. He used all the strength he had left from the day before. Blazing checked too see if he could see anything under the door. He just kept fiddling around with the handle, lock, and hinges.
"Blazing!"
The orange stallion flipped around with wide eyes, startled.
CharmingRhythm was standing on the other side of the meeting room. His eyes were dull and weary, probably from lack of sleep. "What are you doing?"
"I- there's this door... and well, I have no idea whats on the other side," He began. "I want to know. But this door is locked. Why is it locked?" Blazing always said a lot of statements, and fast. "There has to be a way in. Why do we need this door? Do you have any idea what's inside? Have you seen-"
"Blaze, shush..." Rhythm spoke very unenthusiastically. "It doesn't matter. We'll figure out whats on the other side later.  We still have to get situated. We have to set rules-"
"Rules?!" BlazingFlair cocked his head. "Why do we need rules? We're all friends, we know what we need to do, right?"
The Unicorn took a pause and tried to straiten his attention. "Rules, or like... plans. We have to set jobs for each other. We can't stay unorganized."
"Alright... so we can check the door later?"
Rhythm sighed, but gave a small smirk, "Yes. Now, we need to get the others up. Could you get-"
"This early?"
"Blazing, it's better to get up early and go to bed early. Especially when we need all the light we can get. Now," Rhythm rolled his eyes, "Can you get up SpinningNote and EchoBeat?"
Blazing just glared at him for a moment with an annoyed expression, then he straiten up and replied. "Yes, sir."
The orange pony retraced his steps back into the hallway. Rhythm followed behind to wake up the other two ponies. Blazing went to the second to last door on the left side of the hall. SpinningNote's room was small, the same size as Blazing's. Spinning had placed his saddlebag carelessly on the floor. The Unicorn slept on the bed in the right corner of the room with his red-violet foreleg falling to the side. 
Blazing stepped up and ruffled Spinning's stringy hair and spoke, "Hey dude, you gotta get up."
Spinning just waved his hoof around aimlessly.
"C'mon."
"Why?" The Unicorn moaned.
"Just 'cause," Blazing answered blankly.
He decided to leave Spinning because he knew he would get up eventually. Blazing strutted across the hall. He opened the door and peeked inside. A little more light came in because the window faced more towards the east, but it was still dim.
EchoBeat laid in his bed with the sheet up to his shoulders and one hoof staying on top. Blazing couldn't understand how it could be comfortable with a sheet when it was this humid. Echo's long bangs spread across his pillow and he slept with his mouth slightly open.
Blazing came down by Echo's head and started to talk in a softer tone than he did to Spinning. "Hey Ec, you should get up."
Echo's brown eyes showed faintly and he mumbled with his mouth still open. Echo's mouth usually stayed slightly open. "Can't I just sleep?"
"CharmingRhythm said we all got to get up, so yeah..."	
"Alright," Echo said as he pushed himself up. 
Blazing walked out of the room. It seemed that all the stallions were gathering in the mainroom. They stood in a circle and glanced at each other. HyperBlitz was the last to get to the circle, lacking energy.
"What?" He groaned.
"We need to set some rules," Rhythm replied.
"Rules?" FeatherTune said tiredly. "Isn't it a bit early to make rules. I mean, not like time, but like, we just got here."
"Yeah, we've haven't even been here for a day," Echo added.
"Would you guys just bare with me here," Rhythm said with his eyes shut.
"CharmingRhythm, we know how you want things to get done," Hyper said, "It's just that, yes, we did just get here. What kind of rules would there be? We're all friends, of course we'll be fair about things. Is it that we need 'jobs'. There isn't much that we know to do right away. Would it be stuff like working the water filter, collecting any resources we can find, going out if we need simple supplies... stuff like that?"
"Yeah... I guess... We would all sorta be equal for that, I guess taking turns, we just don't want anypony to do  nothing ." Rhythm replied.
"You know we wouldn't do just nothing," Spinning told him.
Rhythm gave a glance of annoyance at the Unicorn, but it wasn't directed for just him. "I think that I have to agree that we need time to pass to make some more principles. Though I do think it's a good idea we get up early, we want to save daylight..... barely any daylight."
"Don't we have a meeting room?" FeatherTune questioned.
"Yes... we'll have meetings if something important comes up," Rhythm nodded. "I think there needs to be a pony to announce meetings and important things. I guess a leader. I know we are all equal minds, but somepony has to lead... but not complete control... It's hard to say..."
All off the ponies paused and thought about who could possibly be a leader. Then the circle of stallions turned their heads to Rhythm. All of them except Feather, who then caught on and looked to Rhythm too. The blue-gray Unicorn gave a surprised expression, and twisted his head around as if he thought there was another pony.
"Me?" He said with a cracked voice.
"Rhythm, you pretty much lead us already even if you don't realize it," Hyper explained.
"You're defiantly the best for a leader," Echo agreed. "You already do so much for the group. Since we are going to be living together we do need a basic leader. "
"I don't know," Rhythm blushed.
"Rhythm, don't deny it!" Blazing said with a smile and poked Rhythm with his hoof. "You know we'd listen to you. You're awesome enough to be a leader! And it's true that you sorta already are. C'mon!  We are all equal, but we agree that you are the best. Sure we need to figure some things out."
"Alright, alright, alright," Rhythm was getting tired of hearing Blazing talk.
"Sorry," Blazing backed away with his head down.
"Now what?" HyperBlitz said, a bit annoyed. He wasn't the type of pony who liked to get up early.
Blazing watched the yellow pony pass to the other side of the room. His wing stub looked so pitiful, covered with a clothe. 
"We can't go back to bed," Blazing spoke.
"Why can't we?" Spinning butted in.
"'Cause we can't..." The orange pony said vaguely. He glanced over to the meeting room entrance. "Can we check that door now?"
"Only if you find a key," Rhythm replied.
"Why do you think it needs a key?"
"It's locked, there has to be a key somewhere," The Unicorn explained.
"Are you talking about that door in the meeting room?" Echo said, but no pony answered him.
"Wait, what door? There's a door?" FeatherTune flipped his head. The pegasus opened the entrance door and stared across the room. He stood thee for a few moments then blurted out, "There is a door!"
BlazingFlair rolled his green eyes. He trotted pass Feather who was in the doorway. Blazing decided that he should get something to eat now that he felt a bit more hungry. Still he did not want to eat the packaged and canned foods, for they didn't taste the greatest. None of the ponies ate anything tasty in a long time.