//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Secure Living (ST) // Story: Fallout Equestria: Friends in High Places // by Twilight_Sparkler //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Sapphire Talisman I woke up crying. Okay, not the most dignified thing ever. Once I was fully awake I pulled myself together. I felt a bit better getting up, the nightmare vanishing from my memory. I headed towards my usually pristine bathroom. Living in a stable didn't leave me many things to do, I would usually end up cleaning my room in my free time if I felt up to it. I went into my bathroom and started to brush out all the knots in my mane and tail. After five minutes of vigorous brushing (100 strokes!) and cleaning my teeth, I went back to my room, got my saddle bags on, and quietly snuck out the door. I hoped Mom kept her deep sleeping habits. What greeted me on the other side was the hallway that connected all the housing sectors for all the ponies in the stable, pardon the Overmare of course. She got special treatment in every part of the stable, it is "her" Stable after all. Of course she got her own room in a separate part of the stable, twice the size of a normal housing sector. On my way to class I trotted down the long hallway that seemed to go on forever. The vast (albiet repetitive) journey led me to my first hour class. As I opened the door I tripped over my own hooves, which wasn't uncommon. I pulled myself up, went over to my seat, put my textbooks down and sat at my desk. About fifteen minutes later Kiwi burst into the class giving excuses of why he was late, like usual. After giving him a tardy slip he slid into the chair next to me and pulled out his "new" book. He avoided my eye contact so when he pulled out his book I took it from him with my magic. "Where'd you get this?" "Overmare found a crate of books in the underground storage they just unlocked. Gave it to me when they found out what was inside it." What a nerd. I thought "I can see why, since you're probably the only one who reads for fun." This was a lie obviously since I loved reading but I preferred novels to comics. "Well, can you give it back?" His voice filled with fake sorrow and sadness. "Nope!" I said with such enthusiasm that it made me smile just a bit as I dropped the book into my saddle bags. "Just be sure to get it back to me soon, ok?" I only barely heard him because he continued to speak over the announcements, which was particularly bad for him because they where pretty important. So my next hour was not a living hell like Kiwi's. Mine was quite relaxed for a literature class. My teacher, Mrs. Quil, was pretty laid back and favored me over all the other brats. I could've get away with murder if I wanted to. I quickly finish my class work and then pulled out the book I nabbed from Kiwi. It was an older book, most likely a pre-war one. I lost interest very quickly and pulled out my beloved novel about Greek gods and their half mortal half demi-gods and how they saved the world from ancient monsters. I had read it about 200 times and it never seems to get old. Reading was a quiet wonderland where I could forget that I was in a giant concrete box underground. Needless to say I didn't get to stay in that happy place for long. The bell rang and I was ripped out of my dream world and dropped back into reality. My next class was with Kiwi and to no surprise he was late. As he sat down I gave him the 'give me' signal and he gave me his other book. This was for two reasons. Reason one. he couldn't focus with a book near by and reason two, I was curious as to what he was reading. After receiving the book and a glance at the cover I dropped it into my saddle bags to keep Kiwi from getting distracted. As the teacher went on about the land outside and it's inhabitants (I was "arguably" happy we weren't doing math.) Kiwi tried to fall asleep and each time I would lean over and thwap him in the stomach. He needed to pay attention because I wouldn't always be there to explain it to him afterwards. After a few more hits to the stomach I just gave up. If he didn't care, then I wouldn't help him. After about five minutes of awkwardly standing in the hall the teacher, Mr. Tech trots to the door and lets us in. I immediately start to head to the desk closest to his computer. This was my only safe haven because Mr. Tech actually liked me. So of coarse when in his class I was typically left alone. Right as I began to sit down ponies flooded into Mr. Tech's room. Each and every single one avoiding me. I turned to the black board on the front wall to try to decipher the hoof writing on it. Mr. Tech's class was arcane science, which in my opinion, is the best class ever. It wasn't consistent but it was certainly fun. Today's assignment was so original I thought I might cry. The assignment was to create a power source. I levitated over my beautiful chemistry set and started to work. It was about five minutes before class ended when I finished, while everypony else continued to work on their power source. So I walked over to Mr. Tech's desk and gave it to him. He scanned the class then looked back at me and smiled. After getting back to my desk I started packing everything up and caused a tad bit of a distraction. Everypony looked at me like I had no life and was too smart. After withstanding a few minutes of uncomfortable stares the teacher stood up and cleared his throat. "Your projects are due tomorrow." The whole class groaned and started to pack up. The moment the bell rang I was out the door. After finishing up Hoofball with Kiwi, I rushed home. Huh, Mom isn't home. Must be at the shop, somepony probably broke a talisman. After I got there I promptly dropped my saddle bags on the floor and slipped into my Stable 100 armor. Once I had acquired my new look I set out for security head quarters. The trip there was pretty simple since every corridor met at the auditorium at the middle of the stable. Reaching the auditorium, I turned to my left and started for the security hall, only to be stopped by the Overmare herself. The moment she saw me was the moment I knew she needed something from me. Naturally I tried to swerve around her but it was no use at this point. "Sapphire Talisman, I need you and Kiwi to report to my office at 10:00 P.M. tonight. Got it?" I just nodded in response like always. Once the Overmare was sure I understood she left for her own quarters and I continued on to security training. Upon my arrival everypony there stopped what they where doing to salute me. The reason is that jobs in the stable were usually passed on generation to generation, so of course when my dad, the head of security, died I took his place immediately. My dad was a good pony and he was friends with almost everypony. Therefore everypony in security knew me and followed me because of my dad. Which I hated. I wish they would respect me for being me, not for my father, not for my position, just for being me. When I walked in I dismissed everypony with a tad bit of a sour attitude and started towards my tutor's office. My tutor was my second in command. Since I had been rushed into my position, I didn't have much training and had quite a bit to learn. I walked into her office I stood there for a moment until she was done setting shifts and asked her what we would be learning today. "Sapphire, today we will be learning how to handle weapons. What kind of gun uses what ammunition and how to tell, so meet me in the training room in five." After receiving my instructions I went to go get my favorite weapons, a trusty shotgun and an assault rifle. Grabbing these I trotted over to the training station which was devoid of activity as it usually was by this hour. The stable had a strict curfew, anypony out after 9 o'clock was to be punished unless they were part of security. When I stepped into the training area I met Iron Hoof at a table covered in all sorts of weapons and ammunition from pistols to laser rifles. Once I got to the table my lesson would begin. "So Sapphire, what do you know about these weapons?" "They shoot things." "Yes, but they all shot things differently and you need to learn how to differentiate between the ammunition's cartridge size, the type of bullet and the material." She walks over to the far left side of the table where there were lead bullets and lead bullet using firearms. "These are measured by caliber or the circumference of the bullet end." She picked up a bullet and turned it to where the widest side was up. "Most bullets are labeled on the bottom but sometimes the bullet caliber has been obstructed. So how do you tell the difference?" This question was a new one but I remember hearing about it somewhere. "You can tell by the size if you have another bullet that has its labeled caliber. Then you just compare with the circumference." "Correct, you can compare the circumference of each and estimate the unknown size of the bullet." After saying this she set the lead bullet down and started for the right side of the table. "Here are laser and plasma rifles. These are very easy to load if you know how. To load either a laser or plasma weapon you must find a hatch on the gun its self. Now usually they are well hidden to deter reuse by the enemy, but are easy to use once you know where the hatch is." She picked up one of the complicated looking rifle off the table and gave it to me. "Now I want you to try and find the hatch on this rifle, and don't worry, its not loaded." As she said this I levitated the rifle up to eye level and inspected the entire thing. Now if I made guns where would I put the ammunition? I checked the top and sides with no luck but when I moved to the underside of the gun I saw a level patch that was about the size of one of the power cartridges. So I tried pulling on it and ta-da! The hatch opened! "Congratulations Sapphire, you are one of the few who actually found it without being shown. What was your thought process?" "Well I searched every side and when I came upon the flat part on the bottom I though it was about the size of one of the cartridges so I tried opening it and it did." "Job well done Sapphi-" She was stopped short by a burst of static on her Pipbuck. "Hello?" "Head home Sapphire. The Overmare just called me in for a meeting, we'll continue in the morning." "Alright." I went back to put my guns away and started back for home. I glanced at the clock. 9:45. Hmmmm. Once I got home I shed my layer of barding and went over to my desk. Once I sat down on my plush floor pillow I pulled my favorite fountain point pen and a crisp piece of paper and wrote Kiwi a note about our meeting with the Overmare. After it was written I got a gem and some string then tied the note to the glowing rock. Once this was done I quietly crept out of my housing sector and started down the dim hallway for Kiwi's housing sector. Once at Kiwi's I levitated the gem with the note through his open window into his room. Soon after doing so I saw what I assumed to be Kiwi's shadow over the window. After seeing him open the note through the window I receded back ino the shadows and started for the Overmare's office, and I knew nothing good would come from this visit. You didn't get called down to see the Overmare this late for a cup of tea. I walked in the shadows of the stable to the office where my life would change, forever. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Footnote:Level up! New Perk - Supply Blocked; You always were skilled at magic, you had the resources to be able to cast your spells. The only problem is, you can't exceed the cap put on your magic. +5% Mana Storage with each level gained