“C’mon let’s go!” I ran, practically dragging Gris down the street towards the hill on the outskirts of Los Pegasus. Nearly half an hour ago the radio started spurting the code red civil defence alarm, which meant the megaspells hit a large city, probably Manehattan. We left the family casino, leaving dad behind to destroy all our family documents. I knew he wasn’t going to make it to the Stable, but I had to keep telling Gris he’d catch up. And only about ten minutes ago the cloud city above Los Pegasus was vaporised by a megaspell. What a lovely day..
“NO, we should go back for dad!!” Gris stumbled after me as I pulled her to the stable. She was always far more sentimental than me. I was a little bit more objective oriented.
“He will catch up sis. He said not to worry. We have to go now!” In reality, he’s staying behind to make absolutely sure that nobody found out about our families research in the bottom of the casino. He was always very devoted to it and somehow linked it to our success on the Los pegasus strip. Something about our blood making us lucky...
We ran up the hill up to the Equestrian soldier and two steel rangers guarding a big fenced area. A crowd had begun to gather, demanding to be let in the stable but the soldiers were checking a list to make sure people were on it, of course only a few were on the list, including us.
“H-hey, my name is Oscura Silver and this is my sister Gris, we are on the list.” I spoke nervously to the soldier, hoping we came to the right stable and we weren’t going to get turned away like the crowd. He checked his clipboard a little slower than I would have liked and nodded to us, “Head on in. Hurry now.”
I smiled and took my teary eyed sister towards the stable door. We were instructed to stand on a metal platform with the yellow number ‘111’ printed on it.
Bwwrrraaawwwwrrrr!!!!
All eyes turned towards downtown Los Pegasus to see the black and green light of balefire engulf the town. Then everything was a blur… “DAD!!!” Gris tried to lunge off of the platform towards the city but I held her back. I could hear a soldier shouting to send the platform now as the air blast came rattling towards the hill. The creaking of gears and the screeching of metal signified the platform was lowering, the blastwave flying right over our heads the second the platform was below ground level. As we went lower huge blast doors closed over the platform.
--- 0 ---
Everything was strangely silent. I suppose everyone was catching their breath and waiting on this squeaky elevator to hit the bottom. I held Gris in my arms as she whimpered our dads name over and over.
The elevator made it to the bottom and a large steel wire fence gate raised up. Some bucks in white coats led us onto a platform past the gear shaped door that was the signature trait of a stable.
“Welcome to your new home, please take this stable jumpsuit and proceed to the room at the end of the hall for your medical check up and decontamination before we go deeper into the stable.” A buck in a white coat over a stable jumpsuit was handing out the blue and yellow uniforms.
“Deeper? Can we just have a moment to collect our thoughts?” A stallion asked, his wife nodded behind him.
The pony frowned a little at this, showing concern on his face, “I’m sorry sir. We can’t afford to let you do that, you must go deeper to protect yourselves from further radiat...”
That was all I managed to hear, as we were being ushered into a room with a mare for our medical checkups. “I’m gonna need you guys to get out of your old clothes and get in the vault suit after I check your eyes and take a quick blood sample. Leave your old clothes in a hamper on the far side of the room when you leave.” The mare proceeded to do a quick blood test on both of us then put the test tubes with our blood in a refrigerator on the far side of the room. Then she came over and shined a flashlight in Gris’ eyes, then nodded to her, “You’re good to go, head to the room at the end of the hall and wait for instruction.”
“I’ll see you soon sis..” She looked down in disappointment as she mumbled under her breath. She was likely trying to cope with the shock. She took off her clothes and slipped into her stable suit. As I thought about this, the mare shone the flashlight in my eyes. “Eh, it looks like your eyes are slightly off.”
I blinked, “What, no they…” I just noticed it, a slight blur that hadn’t been there before. “I heard you were on the last platform down just as the bomb hit, you didn’t look right into the blast did you?” I nodded, indicating I had looked into the blast. “Ah, look through this lense, see if your vision gets better or worse..” She picked up a lense and we tried several different prescriptions until we got it right. Then she trotted over to a fancy looking terminal and typed in some numbers, and two lenses popped out of a little case on one side of it. She fitted them into a pair of black glasses and put them on my face, my blurred vision instantly corrected.
--{ Perception +2 }--
“Now hurry along down the hallway, this took a little longer than expected, they are probably ready to decontaminate by now.” I nodded, “Thank you for getting my glasses, by the way, what’s your name?”
“Oh, its Golden Skies.” She fluttered her wings and pointed to a stitched on tag on her white coat, “See, it’s on my name tag.”
“I’ll see you around Golden,” I smiled to her, I could probably ask her for coffee tomorrow, and she just smiled a sad looking smile in return. I couldn’t imagine any other reason to be sad besides what happened up top so I shrugged it off and ran to the room.
When I reached the room, ponies were already getting inside these pods while the stallion who was handing out the stable jumpsuits spoke, “Alright, we will start the process when everyone is inside.” I saw my sister get into a pod at the far end of the room and the door closed after she was in. I had wanted to say something to her, but I shook my head, I can tell her after. I took the pod across from her and got in. There were little windows on the doors, letting us see out after we were inside.
Apparently everyone was inside because the buck in the coat said something about starting the process. A speaker came on and said, “5-.... 4-.... 3-.... 2-.... 1-....” And my vision went white.
--- 0 ---
My eyes opened as I heard the sound of yelling and there was a flashing red light on the far side of the window. I peered through and wondered if we were decontaminated. I noticed I was a little colder than before but that was nothing to worry about.
“Quick! Get the girl and get out of here!” A loud buck yelled but was muffled slightly. Two ponies who were disguised in what appeared to be radiation suits ran to the pod in across from me, my sister’s pod.
They opened the pod and my sister looked drowsy, stumbling about, “Come with us dear, we are here to get you to safety.”
She shook her head to wake from her drowsiness, “B-but what about everyone else, what about my sister??”
“Shh, It’s okay, come with us. We will come get her later, but we have to get you out of here.”
“No! I’m not going anywhere without my sister!” Gris clung to a support bar and wouldn’t let go. I begun to pound on the window, trying to get out, but the pod wouldn’t open. “Gris!!!”
Nobody seemed to notice my pounding as the ponies in radiation suits attempted to pull her out. She continued to struggle until a new buck walked into view, this one was wearing a suit and smoking a cigarette. He pulled out a gun of sorts and aimed at my sister. “We don’t have time for this..” He shot her with a dart of sorts and my sister went limp.
“Sir, you shouldn’t have done that! You could pollute her.”
“It doesn’t matter. Either way, if she fails, at least we have a backup.” He turned to me and grinned as I pounded on the glass and I could get a full view of his face. He was a cyan pony with a grey mane, it was pulled to the side so I could get a plain view of his scar over his left eye. He seemed rugged, not one of the ponies from outside when the bombs went off. I was very angry at him though, seething with anger. I remembered every feature on his face, the pony that stole my sister.
They started walking out, carrying my sister on a stretcher and the speaker started speaking again. “5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1..” and everything was white.
--- 0 ---
I awoke with a jolt and started pounding on the glass as the speaker overhead said something muffled. My pod began to open and mist from the change in air pressure filled my vision as I stumbled out. “G-gris..” I waved my hoof in front of my face and realized the speaker was saying, “Critical failure…” on a repeat message. I groaned and tuned it out, seeing as I was still alive, a critical failure didn’t seem to be too much of a problem.
I moved towards my sisters pod to see that it was, in fact, open. All that was left was a tuft of her brown mane laced in with her grey fur. I tried to think of a reason why those ponies would take her but came up with nothing. I wandered back into the main stable corridor and walked down the hall. I found a little 9mm pistol and levitated it up. I released the clip and looked in it. 7 bullets.
If that scarred pony was still around, I sure was gonna give him hell. I looked around and made my way towards the front of the Stable. Then a giant cockroach crossed my path as I walked by. Wait. A giant cockroach???!
“GAH WHAT THE FUCK!” I jumped and shot 3 bullets into its disgusting body. Turns out it was dead with the first shot so I moaned for my wasted bullets. I told myself the next time I see a cockroach I’ll just kick it. As I made it further forward into the stable I checked the medical checkup station, remembering Golden Skies and the glasses on my face. As I walked into the med bay I saw a skeleton in a white coat hunched over a terminal on the desk.
I jolted in shock but decided to get closer to see who it was. I checked the front of the coat and it had “Golden Skies” on the front. I sighed and frowned. I had just told her I would see her soon… Either way, the skeleton was completely dry, what I thought was just a few moments ago, would have to have been decades or more ago. I wondered if I time traveled or something.
I moved her chair to the side and checked the terminal to see if it had any information on what was going on. It was locked, but two or three password attempts later I was in.
In the top left corner, the date read December 2, 2168. I frowned. I must’ve time traveled.. The day I left for the stable was October 17, 2077. I looked down at the documents and read the first log “Cryogenic status log 52”. I facehoofed. Of course. Time travel wasn’t possible anyways.
“Day 52, December 7, 2077: The test is going as expected. All vital signs of the ponies are normal and the cryogenic process seems to be able to keep them in complete stasis. Everyone has been quite restless since the mandatory amount of time to stay inside after a megaspell attack passed 2 days ago. Some of the security guards are arguing with the Overmare. They say that if she doesn’t let them see if the surface is habitable, they will force their way out.”
“Day 53, December 8, 2077: The cryogenic pods are running expecte…. What the fuck am I even doing anymore. Writing these reports is useless. Just today the security team tried to force their way out. The Overmare shot one in the head as an “example”. It seemed to calm them down for the time being. But they will undoubtedly make another push for the exit soon. The Experiment will fail if they escape. This Stable was not only a test of the Cryo pods, but also a test to see how ponies react under the stress of being underground without a job to do. The security team are the ponies that test is being ran on. It’s only a matter of time before they escape.”
“Day 57, December 12, 2077: Oh goddesses. The security team just killed the Overmare. She told them about me and my part in the experiment after she opened the door. The security team has no interest in escaping now. They are pounding on the door, saying they will kill me… I locked myself in the lab. This will be my last entry. I’ll be OD-ing on Fixer as soon as I finish writing this. Fuck you Stable-tec. Why’d you have to turn us against each other. Now I’ll be dead because of you. Shit.. Bye”
I finished reading the log silently. I was sad for Golden Skies but I also was confused, Stable tec Experiments? Why would they experiment on the ponies they were trying to save?
I pushed it to the back of my mind seeing as my sister is gone and her whereabouts are the biggest mystery at the moment. I gave Golden a moment of silence. I didn’t know if we were friends, but she seemed like a nice mare.
I moved to the entrance and passed the Overmare desk. I turned towards it, and saw the terminal on the desk. My curiosity drove me as I walked to the desk. Just as I sat in the Overmare’s chair another giant roach crawled out from under it and scared the living shit out of me. “Damnit.” I kicked the roach into a wall and it died on impact.
I looked at the terminal and broke the password in one attempt. It had no log, but just two prompts, “Disengage Stable door lock”, and “Open desk safe.” I selected both options. I heard a hissing noise as one of the drawers on the desk slid open, revealing it to be the safe. The contents were exactly 1 holotape, a 10mm pistol, and several boxes of ammo, adding up to be 28 bullets. There was some bits and a letter addressed to her family. I didn’t pick the letter up, since I didn’t see any reason to, nor was it my buisness. I put the ammo in my stable jumpsuit pockets and slid the holotape in alongside it. I dropped my 9mm pistol and held the 10mm one
I noticed a skeleton by the door console to leave the stable. I assumed it was the Overmare’s, since it was wearing a pipbuck and a cord ran from the side of the tool to the console. As I got closer, I noticed the hole in her skull and shivered. I unlocked the pipbuck from her leg and slid it onto mine. She wouldn’t be needing it anymore. On the screen, an option to open the stable door flashed. I hit it and a loud beeping noise filled the room as a claw came down from the ceiling and latched itself to the door. With a loud screeching and a hiss of steam, it pulled the door out and rolled it away to the side as a bridge extended to the other side of the door.
I unplugged the pipbuck and it normalized, taking inventory and checking all my vitals. I have to admit it’s a little weird that the pipbuck can know all that but I wasn’t bothered too much by it. It seemed that the pipbuck had an extra tab for unlocking Stable tec terminals too. It must have been a perk of being overmare.
I walked out the gear shaped door and moved to the elevator. I stood on the platform and hit a red button on the side labeled “up”. The elevator squealed and screeched then began to rise.
--- 0 ---
A breeze hit my mane as I rose to the surface, making some strands of hair fly into my face. Some went into my mouth and got on my tongue and I spit it out, totally ruining my ‘mare returns to surface’ moment. I shook it off and stepped off the platform into the dead grass. As I walked down the hill I took a glance at Los Pegasus. Last time I saw it, it was covered in green fire. The ruin looked ominous under the grey clouds. I wondered if our casino survived or if it just joined the ruin.
As I trotted up to the fence that had once kept ponies out of the stable, I now found myself leaving the stable. I had a bit of thought about it. The surface was cold, seeing as we were in the middle of winter. The surrounding landscape was withered and the dirt cracked under my hooves. I saw skeletons of what must’ve been 20 or more ponies all mixed together at the gate of the fence. I pulled a heavy leather jacket off of one and put it on over my stable jumpsuit. It was warm, and had the added bonus of practically being bulletproof since it was so thick. I also found a scarf which I put around my neck. I instantly felt warmer and safer.
[ DT +17 ]
I wandered down the hill a ways and made it to a little neighborhood that was in ruins. I went inside one of the homes and looked around. I couldn’t find much except some med-x and some buck behind the mirror cabinet. I hadn’t meant to be nosy, but I doubt the owners would care anymore, they must be long dead.
I managed to wander into what must’ve been a child’s bedroom and saw a filly crib. I noticed the skeleton of the dead child curled up around a stuffed astronaut pony. I slowly reached into the crib and picked up the toy. As soon as I moved it, the skeleton crumbled into dust.
I fell flat on my ass right that moment as the shock and realization of what had just happened, the bombs, the stasis, and my sister, hit me. I started feeling dizzy, the room started spinning and spinning. I fell on my face, passed out.
0oo0
Level Up. (Look at character sheet chapter 1) +12 skill points
Chapter 2 Progression Options
Main Story:
A- Oscura wakes up at night and hears ponies outside. She investigates
B- Oscura wakes up at day and scavenges the neighborhood. She finds some unique items and decides she should set up a sort of base of operations in her quest to find her sister.
C- Oscura wakes up at night and travels down the road towards Los pegasus to find her sister. Along the way, she finds ponies in need of assistance.
D- Oscura scavenges the neighborhood and finds some food and clean water bottles. She also finds a radio signal, the voice is of a mare who is says she is in dire need of food and water. Oscura goes to share with the mare.
(Happy voting. Voting for Ch1 ends on 8/12/16)
(Authors note: Hey guys, its me, diiscord. I want to know what you guys think of the progression options. Would you like me to make them more detailed? Or keep them vague? I made them the way they are so the next chapter still holds some mystery n’such. I have decided Oscura will get a new perk every odd level, so I wanted to know before next chapter if you guys would like to choose the perk she gets. Obviously the perk system will follow the same system as progression voting. And if you guys and gals want to choose perks, I will include them as a list of possible perks and their descriptions. For now, I am going to choose where Oscura’s skill points go, It will just be easier that way.
Finally, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I know I liked writing it. I know this whole situation is very reminiscent of fallout 4, but I assure you we will have some fun fun changes in the main plot, though I do base my story off of fallout 4. It’s honestly a great game.
Whelp, post which option you like the most in the comments below(a,b,c, or d) then also tell me one thing you liked about the chapter and one thing you disliked. I don’t mean to give y’all homework, but it really helps me get a good picture of what I’m doing right and wrong. Oh yeah, and don’t forget to tell me what y’all think about the perks.
Sorry about such a long authors note this week, I just had a lot to cover haha. Thank you for baring with me through this :3 have a nice day)