> Fallout Equestria: Shadow Games
>  by Cenkic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Mornings Are Evil!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pain.

That’s all I felt as two powerful hooves smashed into me with the force of a moving truck that sent me airborne. That flight was incredibly short lived as I crashed into a wall, and then landed in a pathetic heap onto a cold metal floor. Darkness threatened to overtake me, and I was tempted to accept its embrace.

'Hey, this is a big party! So open those eyes and get back into it silly!' A small, pink bouncing voice spoke in the back of my mind.

Not even questioning how a voice could be ‘pink’, I forced my eyes open. I was rewarded with a world that that was blurry and distorted, and I couldn't help but wonder if this is what being underwater was like. Yet, a targeting icon appeared clearly in my center vision,  and as I looked up, it followed suit. My vision landed on a large black armored demon straight out of hell itself. Green glowing eyes looked down at me with cold detachment as each sound of its hooves echoed through my ears like thunder. As it approached, the target icon locked on and the creatures body suddenly became highlighted, and underneath the target icon was the name ‘Enclave Experiment 02’

As I stared helplessly at the horror before me, I could feel myself drifting away...
    
“Amber, wake up.” A voice spoke from the darkness, shattering my dreamscape.

In response, I curled up in my sleeping bag and tried to repair my dream world. I was utterly intent on hiding from the evil voice that wanted to steal me from my safe and warm haven.

“Amber, I know you're awake,” the voice said again, this time more sternly, “Get up, or I use my claws.”  

I let out a feeble groan and reached out a hoof  for my glasses. When I couldn’t find them, I grumbled and stuck my head out of my sleeping bag. Immediately a target symbol appeared in the center of my vision, and wherever I looked, the target followed along. Soon an item was highlighted in my vision, and while I could barely make it out, the words ‘Ambers Glasses’ conveniently appeared and were clear as day to read. 

Putting my glasses on, the world came into focus. It was a sorry world, given that most of it was rusted metal, broken seats, and missing windows. It took me a moment to remember that I was in a ruined skybus that we had chosen to camp in. Standing in the door of the skybus was the perpetrator who disturbed my slumber. My target icon landed on a dark grey gryphon with a nasty scar running from his beak to between his eyes, and his body gained a small highlight with a name tag showing him as ‘Gildann’. If I wasn’t so used to him, I might have screamed in shock, fumbled for my weapons, and tried to shoot him. 

When I saw that it was still dark outside, I was tempted to do so anyway. 

I glanced at my PipBuck for verification and let out an inaudible grumble. “Gil. It’s not even bloody eight in the morning.”

“We have company, bar girl.” He stated calmly.

I narrowed my eyes knowing that he was making fun of my heavy accent that starkly contrasted his Equestrian, “I am not a ‘bar girl’ who likes drinking or getting into hoof cuffs.” I sunk into my sleeping bag and pouted, “Stop bringin’ up me accent.”

He just chuckled, “Well, learn not to be so sensitive about  it.”

I yawned in response, “So, my Eyes Forward Sparkle doesn’t show any nearby hostiles and you have your gun slung over your shoulder, so you are not expecting trouble. Why am I awake?”

“Got a visitor actually.” He stared me for a moment, and I stared right back without moving. He cocked his head before understanding passed over his face. Eyes rolling, he  exiting the skybus, he snorted, “Really? Don’t know why you care what I see.” He began as I forced myself out of my still very comfortable sleeping bag, “Not like I’m into ponies, and more than a few don’t wear anything.”

I let out a small shiver as I stepped into a nippy morning, “Well, a mare like meself has to have some standards in this wasteland. Otherwise I’d be no better than a raider.” Finding my stable suit, I stared at the yellow emblem with the number ‘86’ for a long moment before I began to dress myself, “So who’s visitin’?”

“More like a what.” I raised an eyebrow as I turned to him, though he was still looking away, “Wanted to talk to you in particular.” 

“That’s odd…” I began as I turned my PipBuck light on and dug into my saddle bag, “It’s not like I’m well known or anythin’…”

“No kidding.” He replied snidely.

I ignored the statement as I found what I was looking for. Setting a small mirror on an old seat and gave myself a quick look over. My short, dull red mane was a little disheveled, and though my stable suit covered most of my body, black grease still clung to my face. While it seemed like a futile gesture, I pulled a (not yet dirty) cloth from my saddlebag and and wiped it away, revealing an equally dull brown coat under the grime. 

I really wanted a bath, but such luxuries were all but unknown in the wasteland. Still, it didn’t hurt to look somewhat presentable.

Rolling up my sleeping bag and putting the other items away, I double checked to make sure my laser pistol and my personal favorite spear shovel were in their holsters. Satisfied, I slung them over my shoulder and jumped out of the skybus. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the low light, and I could make out the main screen of the outdoor movie theater that we had camped in. 

“So, where's the guest?” I asked.

Gil gestured to a run-down dinner that was connected to the theaters projector tower. Moving around rusted cars and carefully avoiding stepping on any skeletons, we walked up to the booth where snacks and tickets could be bought in a time long past. Inside, a small circular robot floated in place. With four mechanical looking bug wings, two large antennas on the top of its head with a smaller one on the bottom, and a small laser weapon near the front, it looked like somepony took a grill from a car and meshed it with a big insect to make some weird cyborg bug thing. 

I couldn’t help but grin as I rubbed my hooves together, “Ooooh, a sprite bot! Been wanting one of these floating toys for awhile now!” I dug into my saddle bag and pulled out a monkey wrench and a screwdriver.

“Please refrain from dismantling this sprite bot. At the moment it's not yours to use.” A voice spoke over the bots speakers.

I stood motionless for a moment before putting my tools back and turning to the gryphon. “It just talked right? These annoying buggers that I can never seem to get to before something kills it, always playing that stupid polka music on endless repeat… just talked?”

Gil nodded in silence, which caused me to sigh. “Guess the lack of music should have been a clue, shouldn’t it?” He nodded again and I threw my tools into my saddle bag in annoyance, “For Celestia's sake, I’m never gonna get me hooves on one.” 

It was the gryphons turn to give me an odd look, “Well if the conversation isn’t important, you could just take it.”

It was really too early in the morning for this, it really was, “Gil… there are several things wrong with that idea.” I didn’t bother actually going over them, instead I shook my head and turned to the robot, “So, what can I help you with?”

“You’re offering help, and you actually sound sincere.” Though the voice was monotone, I could pick up a certain level of surprise in the tone, “That's-”

“Ooh, a new friend?” Another voice spoke up.

The sprite bot and I turned our attention to a unicorn stallion coming down the stairs that lead to the projector room. His coat and mane color were exactly like mine, with even his eyes being the same color. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was a mare earth pony, and he was a stallion unicorn, we would look like mirror images of each other. Of course I was able to see all of this because he wasn’t wearing anything.

“Bones! Your cloths!” I hissed at him. 

He looked down and nodded. “Ah right, thank you Fixer Pony.”

His horn began to glow a green color, and I shook my head violently, “No, we have guests!” I said, frantically gesturing at the sprite bot. 

He looked at the robot and then back to my frantic expression and nodded, “I see, I’ll just be a moment.”

He trotted back up the stairs, and all I could do was offer a not-suspicious-at-all smile and nervous chuckle at the robot, “So, you were sayin-”

“Robot!” A new voice spoke behind me, “Those make good explosions! Though, that one looks too small for anything decent.”

‘Oh Celestia help me.’ I thought as I facehoofed. “Good mornin’ Crackerjack.”

I turned to look at the final member of the group. The earth pony had just worked himself out of a junk pile and had a slasher-like grin as he looked at the robot, his grenade launcher unslung and pointed at it. If that wasn’t bad enough given how close I was to his target, the orange stallion had an assortment of other explosives and grenades on his leather jacket, more than enough to leave a crater in anything he set his mind to. 

“Can I blow it up?” He asked in a tone that wouldn’t have been unusual if somepony was asking if they could have a cookie.

“No, its friendly.” I began, “You’ll find somethin’ decent to blow up though, I promise.”

Somepony might have actually put themselves between their ‘comrade’ and a ‘friendly’ to emphasize their point, but I stood where I was. In fact, I readied to jump away at a moment's notice. Even Gil had taken a few steps back

He sighed and put the grenade launcher away, “Fine.” He said with an incredibly bored tone, “So, what’s with the floating target?”

“I too would like to know! New friends are the first step to a better tomorrow.” Bones said as he came down the stairs. This time he was wearing a full lab coat, with glasses that also looked exactly like mine. I walked up to the take-out window, brushed aside the debris, and put my head on it. I was already getting worn out, and the sun hadn’t even fully risen.

“Mornins’ are evil.” I said aloud before turning my attention to the sprite bot, “Sorry, you’ve been right patient with us, what’d you want to talk to us about?”

The sprite bot turned to face me. “You have experience with Stable Tech security systems correct?”

My ears perked up and I slowly lifted my head from its resting place. “I do, but who's askin’?” I tried and failed miserably to hide my suspicious tone.

“You can call me Watcher, and it’s nothing as sinister as you might be imagining.” As Watcher identified himself, the highlight over him went from ‘sprite bot’ to ‘Watcher’. I never could figure out how or why the PipBuck system could do that.

Watcher faced away from us and looked out into the dark, “To the east of here, there is a long abandoned stable that has something of interest to me.” He turned back to the group, “I was hoping to ask all of you to go there and retrive it.”

“What’s the item you seek Mysterious Eyebot?” Bones asked.

“A data file.” He began, ignoring the nickname suddenly given to him, “The contents have a military grade encryption, but the file itself can be transferred. I want you to retrieve the file and bring it to me.”

“What's the file?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me, “Why’s it so important?”

Watcher was silent for a long moment before answering. “Due to safety concerns, I would like to keep that private.” 

“Well that's going to cost extra.” Gil took a step forward, “We aren't going to do this for free.”

I opened my mouth to protest, and was met by a glare from the gryphon. I hated it when he had a valid point, “He’s right. We will need some compensation-”

“Six thousand bottle caps per creature if you succeed should be more than adequate I think.” Watcher said calmly.

A wave of surprise went through the group, and I was no exception. My brain tried to comprehend that amount of caps, and for a moment I couldn’t even find the words to speak. Most jobs we had been taking were usually in the mere hundreds of caps, which included clearing out the movie theater of ghouls that we had camped in. But this...

“That’s plenty of caps for explosions, but I smell a catch.” Crackerjack said, and all I could do was nod in agreement.

“I need a stable dweller to open the door, and stables are known to be dangerous.” He said.

“Which is why you sought us out in particular.” I began as I looked at my PipBuck, “Because I can more easily access the system with this.”

“Correct.” He turned to face me. “I also have it on good authority that you can be trusted to handle something like this.”

I closed my eyes for a moment as I began to consider everything that I heard. I was curious on who his ‘good authority’ was, but I wagered that I wouldn’t get an answer. I also thought about the fact of how suspicious it seemed that a sprite bot had just come out of nowhere to offer a job to us. I wanted to refuse outright, since it seemed sketchy. Such a payoff would definitely be a big help to us, but it sounded like a huge risk. 

Yet, I couldn’t deny that something felt really familiar about this whole thing. Nothing that I myself had gone through personally, but something that teased at the edges of my memory that I had seen. Moreover, though I couldn’t explain why, I felt that Watcher could be trusted. But it was not my decision alone.

I opened my eyes and looked at the others, “Thoughts?”

“That many caps? We’d be crazy to say no.” Gil said.

Crackerjack nodded. “Sounds like a good place to blow things up and buy more explosions.”

Bones shook his head, “It's still hard to grasp this concept that bottle caps get you things. But if such a gain can help with my search for the yellow and pink one, then we should accep  t.”

“Yellow and pink one?” Watcher asked as he turned to the unicorn.

“Don’t worry about it.” I waved a hoof in front of it to get its attention. “More importantly Watcher, looks like you have a deal.”

The sprite bot moved as though nodding, “Excellent. I’m sending you the location of the stable, name of the file, as well as where to meet once you succeed. I wish you the best of luck.”

After a moment of static, annoying music started to play and the floating cylinder began to hover off. For the briefest of moments I considered tackling the thing to see if I could reprogram it, but I decided against it. Instead, I looked at my PipBuck which now showed the location of Stable 66, as well as the name of the file in question. 

The sound of a sudden explosion made me dive for cover and pull out my laser pistol. I looked around and saw the destroyed remains of the sprite bot rolling to the side. 

I glared at the smiling earth pony, “Crackerjack, why in the name of Celestia did you do that?!”

“It wasn’t important anymore.” He said innocently with a smile akin to a child's. 

Bones looked at the earth pony with a horrified look. “You just blew up a new friend! That’s a bad thing.”

He waved his hoof. “Nah. He was just controlling it from afar, so he can always get another one to talk to us.” Crackerjack then patted his grenade launcher. “Besides, that music was annoying.”

“So… no friend was lost.” He clapped his hooves together with a smile, “That is a good thing! After all, the teachings of the pink and yellow one dictate…”

As Bones went on, the gryphon looked at me expectantly. “Well, might as well loot it for parts.”

I let out a small sigh as I got out my tools. 

“This is going to be a long day…”    

~~~~~~~~~Hoofnote~~~~~~~~~
*Starting Perks - Four Eyes - You can see well with your glasses, but without them you are near blind. 

*Wild Wasteland Trait - Be prepared, you will encounter no end of weirdness that no one else notices or understands...
> Chapter 1: Sad Reminders
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You have a sad face, Fixer Pony.” Pincer said as he looked at me inquisitively, “This is the right place, is it not?” He asked, but I couldn't bring myself to answer.

An hour had passed since Watcher’s sprite bot exploded, and we made our way through the ruins of northern Manehattan. While it was somewhat slow going due to collapsed buildings and damaged roadways, it was thankfully (and surprisingly) a quiet trip. By about midday we found ourselves near the coast, and I couldn’t help but stare at the destination.

The stable was inside an old elementary school. 
    
Faded and slightly misshapen signs made by colts and fillies dotted the building, with little pictures of silly ghosts, smiling pumpkins, and fluttering bats next to them. Each sign, put together with care and affection, and somehow surviving the abuse of over two hundred years, said ‘Happy Nightmare Night.’

I closed my eyes, “Such a happy place once..." My words trailed off.

My own mind began to wander to more carefree times. I remembered my own childhood in the stable, trying to come up with a complicated robot costume for Nightmare Night. In the end I looked more like a walking scrap pile, but I still beamed with pride at my accomplishment. It was a happy night, giving thanks to Princess Luna for protecting the night, getting free candy, and not having to worry about a school day. All children should be able to enjoy such happy times. 

“Fixer Pony?” Pincer asked.

“Sorry...” I let out a sigh, “It's just… a location like this… it’s just a sad reminder of all that has been lost.” 

The gryphon scoffed, “Then don’t think about it.”

“Or blow it up?” Crackerjack suggested.

The gryphon thought about it for a moment, “How about after we get our payday first.”

Part of me wanted to yell at them for such callous disrespect, but I held my tongue. They were born of the wasteland and could not appreciate what was before us. Although a very small part of me was envious that they simply didn’t care like I did. That part of me quickly got mentally bludgeoned into silence.

“I don’t understand.” Pincer said, looking at me expectedly.

I shook my head at him. “Don’t worry about it. We have a mission to accomplish.”

As I walked up to the doors, they highlighted in my vision with a name appearing. ‘Little Sun Elementary.’ Steeling myself, I pushed the main doors open while the others prepared their weapons. When nothing came charging at us, Gil took the lead in entering the facility, and we followed close behind. 

“Gah!” I let out on reflex when I entered the building. The others tensed as they looked around, and I couldn’t help but feel sheepish, “Sorry, my EFS just suddenly lit up with dozens of hostile markings.”

“Any idea what they are?” Cracker asked with a smile.

I ignored his teasing as best as I could and focused on the markings, “No, but based on the erratic movements, I’d say mutated bugs. Bloat sprites or radroaches most likely.” I replied, secretly praying that they were bugs and not...

I shook the thought from my mind and took a moment to look around. Though it was the middle of the day, thick clouds hung over the sky, which in turn allowed for only the faintest of sunlight to squeeze through the holes in the roof, casting even more gloom in the abandoned hallways. More faded Nightmare Night signs decorated the halls as dozens of row of lockers stood rusted and empty, while piles of abandoned school supplies and broken roofing littered the hall in a haphazard mess. 

For the briefest of moments, a small amount of sunlight shined through both the eternal cloud blanket that held the sky and a small hole in the ceiling. From the darkness an overlooked foal’s saddlebag was bathed in its light, though I was the only one who seemed to notice. I trotted over and noticed something sticking out of the bag. I picked up the thing and the item highlighted as ‘Whinnie’, a teddy bear that had somehow survived the ravages of time. I brushed off some dust as I looked at it with a smile, fondly remembering my own stuffed toy when I was a filly.

“All alone for Celestia knows how long… maybe we can find a child to care for you. That sounds nice, right?” I whispered to the toy.

The light faded and the the sharp bang! of a locker door caused me to jump and drop the toy. Quickly drawing out my shovel spear, I frantically looked around for an enemy attack. Instead, I found that the others were going through the lockers looking for anything of value. Pincer in particular was helping by picking any locks that he came across. 

“Seriously…?” I asked as I placed the teddy bear in my saddlebag.

“Hey, never hurts to check for extra caps,” Gil began as he continued to lead the others in their little search, “Besides, you took something from that bag, didn’t you?” 

I opened my mouth to argue, but a chittering sound distracted me. Paying attention to my EFS, I noted several red icons moving much more quickly than before. Looking at a nearby stairway, I could see shapes moving in the shadows, all of them coming right at us. The things were the size of small dogs, though their six legs and carapace backs gave away what they were.

“Radroaches, about eight.” I stated as I drew my shovel spear. The others instantly stopped their looting and began drawing weapons. “Don’t waste ammo on them, just squish ‘em up close.” I stated when I noticed a few going for their guns.

“We aren't novices, Amber.” Gil said as he slung his rifle back over his shoulder, “Ugh, what an annoyance…”

He moved in first and got only a few steps before a terrible crack suddenly echoed through the hallway as his claw went right through the floor. He let out a surprised screech as he slammed into the ground in a pathetic heap. One of the radroaches lunged at him and bit down on his tail. The bug held onto the thrashing appendage for a few seconds before it lost its grip and was flung right at me. 

“Eeep!” I let out as I instinctively closed my eyes and stuck my shovel forward.

I felt an impact, and opening my eyes, I saw it twitch for a moment on the spear before it went still. Pushing the disgusting thing off, I rushed into melee combat. Crackerjack stabbed at them with a combat knife, though looked really disappointed with the results even as he expertly cut through them. One of the things lunged right at me, and was rewarded for its efforts by getting batted into an old trophy case with shards of jagged glass. It was at that moment that I noted that Pincer was missing, but I wasn’t worried. In fact I was a little annoyed, but that could be dealt with later.

“Gildann, you alright?” I asked as I speared a third bug that had jumped on top of the gryphon.

Gil let out a screech of rage as he ripped his claw out of the floor. “No, I’m not fine! That was completely embarrassing!” He pointed at Crackerjack who finished off the last one, “He was more useful in melee than I was! I didn’t even get to-” 

A second crack echoed as the floor that he was standing on collapsed. I barely jumped away in time to avoid joining him, only to land right on top of a dead radroach. Crackerjack just took one step back and the floor miraculously stabilized right where he was standing. Without even looking. I wanted to grumble about his seeming good fortune, but I let out a cough as dust flew in my face.

“Gil?” I asked again, waving  away the dust cloud. 

He yelled out a number of obscenities in response which I didn't care to repeat. But that meant he was fine.

I stuck my head into the hole to check on him, and saw that he had fallen almost two stories. I wondered how he had not managed to break anything, and a wave of concern washed over me. When he flexed his wings, a piece of debris beamed me in the head, causing that concern to quickly disappear. As I rubbed the new injury, I noticed a small red light near the gryphon.

“Hey, what's behind you?” I asked.

He turned around and stared for a moment before looking right at me. “Our objective.”

“Well, that's convenient.” An odd voice spoke behind me.

I instinctively swung my spear around at the unusual voice, and just barely stopped myself from hitting something that looked straight out of a nightmare. The thing was pony shaped with a black exoskeleton instead of fur, holes in his hooves, see-through insectoid wings, and fangs that looked straight off a fruit-bat. It was also wearing a familiar Ministry of Peace doctor suit.

“Damn it! I nearly smashed your head in, Pincer!” I began as I put my weapon away, “How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?” 

The thing looked at me curiously, “None, why? Also, doesn’t your weapon do more piercing than slash-”

“Don’t get technical with me right now, and I shouldn’t have to tell you not to do it in the first place!” I pointed a hoof at him, “Especially your... umm, true form!”

He cocked his head, “Changeling form?” 

“Yes, that! In fact why did you-”

The sound of metal cutting into flesh distracted me, and I turned to see Crackerjack gutting the radroaches for meat. My anger towards Pincer faltered as I cringed. 

“How in Celestia's name did ponies ever even consider eating meat?” I asked, sticking out my tongue in disgust.

“So, are you idiots just gonna stand there all day, or are we going to get on with this?” Gil asked from below.

“On our way!” Pincer said happily as he fluttered down, while Crackerjack jumped and grabbed onto a strangely convenient Stable Tech banner and landed no worse for wear. 

I on the other hoof took out a length of rope and wrapped it around some railing near the stairs. After verifying that it was secure, I carefully lowered myself down to the others. When I got down, I immediately went over to Gil who just brushed me aside.

“Took you long enough,” He said as he got the last of the debris off of himself. He then gestured behind me, “I don’t need a checkup, Amber. Just open the door.”

Nodding, I turned my attention to what Gil had found. Before me stood the pinnacle symbol of achievement for the innfamous Stable-Tech corporation. An imposing metallic door shaped like a giant gear with the numbers 66 emblazoned on the front of it. Nothing short of a high-yield, point blank balefire bomb could even hope to physically affect it, and the console that connected to the door had only a single button on it that did nothing when pushed. To many, it stood as a nigh impossible mini-fortress that allowed none to enter or leave. 

However, I was undaunted by the challenge. Reaching down to my pipbuck, I carefully pulled out a unique connection wire, and then revealed a hidden slot on the console for it. I plugged it in, and after a few moments my pipbuck flashed with a ‘Connection Verified’ message. I then pushed the button, and after a few moments a green light lit up on the console and the giant gear door began to roll aside with a near deafening sound of grinding steel.

The scent of rusting metal and mildew slammed into us as it opened. Lights attempted to flicker on, but they weakly sputtered out and were replaced with dim red emergency lights. I began to think of my own home that-

“Get lost in thought later.” Gil’s voice shattered my train of thought, “We have a mission to complete.”

I huffed at him, but quietly agreed with his statement. I flicked on my pipbuck light while Pincer made his horn glow a low green to highlight. A bridge slowly extended so we could actually walk into the stable proper. The initial area had little of interest, with a security station with non-working terminals on one side, and a maintenance station on the other. The others quickly checked for anything interesting but all they found was rusted tables and worthless debris. 

Going down the main flight of stairs, we came into a large opening that was all but covered in darkness. Even with our respective lights we could make little out, but the smell of mildew was much stronger. 

“So, where do we need to go to find this file?” Gil asked, doing his best not to breathe through his nose.

I looked at my pipbuck for a moment as I judged the layout. “It’s too different from my own stable for me to be sure of the route, and if those elevators over there are any indication,” I gestured to some doors with red lights above them, “This place is in low power mode. We should find the Overmare’s office so I can turn on some lights, and maybe locate a map.”

“You’ve been in other stables before, Fixer Pony?” Pincer asked.

I nodded. “That’s right, this is your first excursion with us. Not counting this one or my home, I’ve been in about three alongside Gil.”

“Well, I helped with one of them.” Crackerjack’s face scrunched as he remembered a bad memory, “Really don’t like fighting in them though.” 

“Places are too cramped for my liking.” The gryphon grumbled.

“Exactly! I can’t use my explosives in places like this.” 

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Except for certain areas, these things were barely designed to handle even two ponies in the same hallway. So let’s get this wrapped up so we can get out of here.

The others nodded in agreement. 

Locating the Overmare’s office wasn’t difficult, and it was in slightly better condition than the rest of the stable, if only just. A large circular desk sat in the center of the room, with a window that overlooked the stable proper. While the others fanned out and began searching through smaller desks and filing cabinets for anything of value, I sat in the Overmare’s chair. It was quite comfortable, and I allowed myself a moment fantasy as being the ‘most powerful pony in the stable.’

‘Access Denied’ popped up in bright green letters on the main computer, dampening my little fantasy like an annoying raincloud. I started looking through the drawers for a password or keycard that would let me in. While most had minor junk like pencils and paper clips, the last one I checked held several old audio files. While they only had basic labels on them, my targeting indicator showed me more complete names of the files. Yet another strange mystery of the pipbuck. 

With no password, I resigned myself to working on hacking the system itself. Before I did, I looked through the files and found one called, ‘Overmare’s Directive’. I placed it into my pipbuck and allowed it to play while I began my work on hacking into the terminal.

“Damn it… damn it all! How the hell did it all come to this?! This shouldn’t even be necessary, it shouldn’t…

“…"
“I’m sorry. This is Scootaloo, vice-president of Stable-Tech. You have been chosen to be the Overmare of the specially designed Stable 66. While Stable-Tech HQ is more than likely gone, as is deserved, you will continue to live on with our ideals of a new and better Equestria. Yet, we cannot allow ourselves to make the same mistakes of the past, and we must learn what went wrong. So your stable has been chosen to perform a special experiment to ensure that the failures of the past don’t repeat themselves.

“...Princess’s help me, this is so much harder than I thought…"

“I’m sorry for that. Your stable has been chosen to test the viability of a younger population ruling over those stuck in the past. Therefore, every five years, any pony age fifteen or older must vacate the stable. A specialized AI program has been installed within the stable with full control of the automated robots to insure that order is maintained and that the younger generation is well educated. Meanwhile, those going outside the stable will be given training and equipment to survive, with the hopes that they can establish a new settlement for the next generations to follow. Now if those who leave have children, and things are deemed too dangerous on the outside, then those children may be allowed back into the stable until they grow up."

“However, if things go out of control or the lives of your charges are ever threatened, there is a failsafe. The AI can be placed into a standby mode, or even shut down completely from several points. The command program exists within the Overmare Pipbuck, along with Head of Security, Chief Mechanic, and even the Chief Medical pony has it. Just plug into any terminal that the mainframe is connected to and upload the program, and it will be overridden. But if this is done, it will erase the current personality of the AI, so use it as a last resort. But please, above all else make sure that your charges are well taken care of. Especially the kids… that’s why your stable was built after all. To give them a hopeful future in this forsaken hell. This is Scootaloo, signing off.”

I flipped through the programs and quickly found the ‘command program’, though it was unlike anything I was expecting. It was more than a simple off switch, but instead was a massive and complex program. I began the download and it quickly began eating up storage space on my PipBuck.
    
“This stable was used to experiment on ponies?” Pincer asked, interrupting my thoughts.
    
I nodded as the download completed, “All stables were supposed to be like that, unfortunately. Safe havens built to protect generations of ponies was the sales pitch, but…”
    
Gil chuckled. “Instead they were test subjects in ‘social experiments.’” He used his claws to emphasise the point, “So much for supposed pony kindness and friendship.”
    
If looks could kill, the stable and half the city would have been vaporized with the glare I gave him. However, as much as I hated to say it, I couldn’t refute his point. 
    
The changeling had a horrified look on his face. “Why would ponies do this?” 
    
“Because war made everyone stupid.” Crackerjack offered helpfully with a smile on his face. 

That line caused everyone but Pincer to chuckle, though mine was for a different reason. After my third try I finally got through the system security, and I began going through the files. After a few moments of work, power began to flow through the stable. About half of the lights came back on, and the elevators now showed power running through them..

The others were going over the few bottle caps and junk items they had found, trying to see what was valuable. Just as I was about to get up and join them, I remembered what I heard in the log and looked through the terminal again. 

“Hmm, I’m not seeing anything suggesting that this area is connected to the Mainframe mentioned. I’m guessing something happened that disconnected it from at least some, if not all of the systems.”

“And that means what exactly?” Crackerjack asked. 

“That either the security was shut down, or more likely, that it’s still active in some form. Which means normal method of shutdown won’t work.” I then looked at the rest of the group, with some still giving be vacant stares. “Ugh. Whatever happened to this stable could still be a problem, so we should proceed with caution.”

Affirming nods of understanding went through the group. “So what happened to the ponies that were here?” Pincer asked.

I shrugged. “Picked up several audio logs, so perhaps something is there. We can listen to them while we explore, unless there are any objections?”

Gil nodded. “Actually yes, let’s listen to them after we are out of here. I don’t want the logs distracting us, or attracting any potential threats.”

“Good point.” I began as I looked at the map, “So combining Watcher’s intel and the stable schematics, the file in question is in the Crusader Mainframe.”

“For those of us that don’t have a computer strapped to our legs, where is that?” Gil asked impatiently. 

Crackerjack laughed. “At the bottom, obviously.” All eyes turned to him, and he shrugged. “What, you never done this before?” He gestured at the window that overlooked the Stable. “When you are looking for something important, its always at the top or bottom of a place. Since its not here, it’s obviously at the bottom.”

All eyes turned back to me, and all I could do was shrug. “He’s right.”  

I then trotted over to the window that gave an overlook of the stable. At the bottom, a small little green arrow highlighted where I needed to go, heedless of what walls or obstacles that might be in the way. “Like Crackerjack said, something like that should be-wait.” I squinted through the window, “Who are they?”

The others clustered around the window, and we could see multiple ponies entering the stable, though it was hard to make anything out through the grime on it. 

“Alright, how do we want to handle this?” Gil asked as he looked at me.

Crackerjack opened his mouth, but I put a hoof on it, “I’d rather avoid a fight if possible,” I began as I looked around, “I’m guessing that you didn’t find a back door?” When they shook their heads, I removed my hoof from Crackerjack as I pondered. 

“Peace is preferable to conflict, as the yellow and pink one would say, so I shall talk to them.” Pincer said with confidence. 

I resisted the urge to scoff. “I don’t know if-wait, where are you going?!” 

Green magic surrounded the insectoid being and once again he transformed into a male version of me, and before I could stop him, Pincer walked out with a confident smile. 

“Greetings, fellow explorers!” He said aloud, gaining their full attention.

“Hold your fire! We only want to talk!” I yelled as I scrambled after him. I filled myself with surety that we could reason with whomever had come in. After all, not just anypony would enter into a stable, right? 

Karma (being the malicious little twat it was) was clearly reading my mind as I could see just who had entered the stable. About a dozen of the ponies were dressed in simple clothing and barely old enough to be even wielding guns. The weapon they did have were such low quality pistols that I figured I could do better with scrap metal, duct tape, and pipes. Such ponies wouldn’t look strange inside a settlement, but there were others that stood out. Five of them were dressed in armor that seemed more for intimidation than functionality, with rifles that looked of similar build. The real deal was what had to be the leader. Standing taller than the others, he wore a buffalo skull as a helmet and was decked out in spiky metal armor with what I guessed were blood stains on it. What concerned me  was that he had a freaking missile launcher on his back. 

Everything about the six screamed raiders, some of the most vile things to ever exist in the wasteland.

“Well, well, wasn’t expecting to actually see any stable dwellers still living in this dump, especially a bookish cutie like you.” The leader said with a lecherous tone as he looked right at me.

I did my best to ignore it and the looks the five armed ponies were giving me. Instead, I opened my mouth to speak, but Pincer beat me to it.

“She is not a tenant here, but in fact a mercenary. Based on your gear, I would guess that you too must be a mercenary of skill to command so many.” Pincer said with a level of confidence and certainty that I was not use to hearing from him.

“Yeah, something like that.” The leader chuckled, “What's it to you?” 

Pincer smiled as he pointed to himself, “We are ponies of business of course. These stables are quite dangerous, so not just anypony comes here without a plan or a reason.” He then extended his hoof, pointing at the other raiders. “You have clearly brought a large crew to investigate something, I would wager good caps that what you are after and what we seek are unrelated and useless to the other.” The raider leader opened his mouth to speak, but Pincer quickly stopped him. “Ah, ah, ah, this area would have been utterly, completely inaccessible without my techy associate here. Since we opened the doors, I think it is fair that you tell us why you have ventured here first.”

My jaw just hung open as I stared at Pincer. I couldn’t believe what he was saying, or the fact that he sounded so damn convincing when saying it.

Even the raider leader seemed to stutter for a moment as he looked for  words. “I-I’ve…umm, we are looking for a water purifier.” 

“Really?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. “Why are you looking for one?”
He sneered as he looked at me. “Nothing that concerns you, heavy accent. Seriously, where did you even pick that up, somewhere up north? More importantly, why are you here?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but once again Pincer stopped me. 
“Now, now, no reason to get fussy.” He then turned his eyes back to the raider. “We were hired by somepony to retrieve a data file of unknown type, but we are being paid decently for its recovery.” 

“How much, exactly?” The raider asked, now interested when money had been brought up. 

“Enough to warrant our attention to this place, but certainly not enough to afford what you are looking for.” I let out a silent sigh of relief that he didn’t actually tell them how much. “But, this is how I see things…”

“I still can't believe that worked.” Gil said as we made our way down the stairs to the bottom level. “You’ve been holding out on us.”

The ‘unicorn’ shrugged. “I just said what I thought needed to be said. They seemed reasonable enough.”

“‘Raiders’ and ‘reasonable’ don’t usually go in the same sentence.” I said as I moved away from a dripping pipe. Still, I couldn’t deny the results. Pincer had not only convinced the raiders to stand down, but to allow us to freely explore the bottom passageway while they explored the upper areas. Pincer had promised to give them the water talisman if we came across one in exchange, but it seemed like a good deal. For the raiders anyway. “I’m just glad you didn't mention the actual payment.”

“Well, you said to avoid speaking about having many bottle caps right, so I did. But how do you know they’re raiders?” He asked as he looked right at me, “You said raiders are the most evil of all things that wear shabby armor, but most looked like town ponies to me.”

I nodded. “The five with the armor and the one with the missile launcher and chained mare are definitely raiders. But you’re right, the others don’t look like-”

“Wait, chained mare?” Pincer asked, with both Crackerjack and Pincer giving me odd looks. 

“Well, yeah. While you were talking, I noticed that there was a mare hiding behind that raider leader. Couldn't get a good look, but I definitely saw a chain around her neck.” I turned to Gil, “You noticed at least, right?”

“No, I was taking stock of the enemy.” He held out his claws as he went through the numbers, “Two of em are armed with shotguns, sawed-off variant. One with a sniper rifle that's about as useless as Pincer in melee,” I noted that the ‘unicorn’ didn’t seem to take offense as Gil continued, “Plus two with hunting rifles. Even combined they shouldn't be an issue when we fight, but that missile launcher will be a problem, no mistake.”

“So they are… bad ponies?” Pincer asked, almost horrified at the prospect. 

I sighed, but mostly at myself. I had given him a general rundown of things to avoid in the wasteland since meeting him, but this was (surprising in retrospect) the first time we had actually come across raiders, or any other pony for that matter that actually aligned against us. I opened my mouth to explain the raiders further, but I suddenly found myself gagging. The others were not doing much better.

“Ugh, what in the shadows of the moon is that horrific stench? Smells worse than that time I tried cooking with gunpowder.” Crackerjack said.

A large swimming pool sat at the center of the bottom floor, murky green water with small patches of seaweed dotting the top. I imagined for a moment what it would have been like to have a working swimming pool in my own stable, and I couldn’t help  feel a bit jealous. However, as I held my hoof near it, my pipbuck began making ticking sounds at me, the telltale sign of radiation.

I turned to face Pincer.  “Trust me, you don’t want to go into that. Even though absorbing radiation does well for you, it wouldn’t be worth it.” 

He looked at me with a disgusted look. “I may have much to learn about this land, but I’m not so foolish as to jump into… that.” 

“Yes, let's just bask in this wretched cesspool all day. It’s not like we have a payday or anything to worry about.” 

Gildann’s sarcastic tone notwithstanding, I agreed with the sentiment. Looking around, I spied an area that looked to be restrooms or perhaps a shower area. Beyond the stairs we had entered in from, there was a single main hallway that lead deeper into the facility. Unlike most areas of a stable, this hallway was easily big enough to accommodate all of us comfortably. Taking the only route available, we pushed forward. The first room we came across had see-through windows that were covered in gunk, but a quick investigation found that the rooms were once hot tubs that were likewise spoiled by foul seawater, rust, and decay. Beyond them  other room held a variety of old exercise equipment, shooting ranges, and other recreational setups that I could only guess at what their function was.

I couldn’t help but think of the comfort that those living here were able to once enjoy. But by the same token, I didn’t envy them for when they had to wake from their fleeting dream and get thrown into the deep nightmare of the wasteland. No amount of training could ever prepare any stable dweller for what they would be walking into. 

As we walked, I saw less recreational rooms and more pipes, along with haphazardly placed metal supply boxes and maintenance bays. Gil suggested breaking into them to see if there was anything of value, but I dissuaded him. Instead we pushed forward, with me following my pipbuck arrow, as it led us to the very end of the long hallway and clearly highlighted where I needed to go next.

“Fixer Pony, why are we staring at the middle of a wall?” Pincer asked. 
“Because the magic computer arrow told her to.” Crackerjack replied in such a tone I wasn’t sure if he was mocking me or not. 
    
I chose to ignore it as I looked at my pipbuck and then the wall again, “I’m guessing there is a secret door here or something. The pipbucks GPS system usually lands on the mark.” I said as I tapped the wall, checking to see if it was hollow.
    
“Except when it’s wrong,” Gil said with an evil smile, “Like the time you kept going around in circles to find something when you really just needed to take the next stairwell-”
    
“That was one time Gil!” I whined, which cause the others to laugh; even Pincer was chuckling at me. 

Indignant, I began looking around the surroundings for anything that stood out, but all there was to see were more pipes. Though as I stared at them, I began to see a pattern in their path. After a few more moments I realized that most of them were very large, all of them ended here, and they went downwards.
    
“Amber?” Pincer asked. 
    
“Hold a second, I think I might be onto something,” I began as I looked at them more closely, “If these pipes are any indication-” Gil tried saying my name, but I was locked in thought, “Then that must mean that there is another level, one that wasn’t in the map system. That means-”
    
“That there is a secret elevator like this one I found that leads down to the lower level?” Crackerjack asked.
    
“More like a maintenance elevator but-wait, what?” I turned around and sure enough, there was now an elevator door where before there had been a wall. I turned to the other earth pony who was pointing at a faded ‘Maintenance Switch’ that I had missed, and somehow hadn’t heard open. I gave Crackerjack an annoyed look, “I dislike you sometimes.” 

The others laughed at me as Crackerjack rubbed his hooves together. “Now onwards to that six thousand cap per pony payday!” 

“Six thousand?!” A voice yelled from down the hallway.

Gil pulled his service rifle out and fired, while Crackerjack let out a laugh that wouldn’t be out of place at a birthday party as the familiar thump of his grenade launcher echoed close to my ears. Screams of pain quickly followed as bullets started flying around us. I quickly dove for cover and took a peek at who we were fighting. Laying in a pool of blood was one of the civilians, with at least three more of them cowering in fear. Leading them were two of the raiders with automatic weapons, who barked orders to open fire. The remaining ponies jumped behind the old metal crates for cover and began firing back.

“Just shoot the raider looking enemies, not the civi looking ones!” I cried out.

“They are shooting at us too, ya know!” The gryphon complained as he let out another burst. 

“I’ll pay you 200 extra caps for each one that lives, Gil!”

The gryphon eyed me for a second before nodding. “Deal.”

I then turned to the other earth pony, “Crackerjack, I bet a grenade that you can’t hit only the raiders!”

The look Crackerjack gave me was priceless as he loaded his weapon. “Challenge accepted!” 

He lobbed another grenade down the hall, but the ponies were now taking cover behind some of the crates and it detonated harmlessly against them. He grumbled, loaded another round, and this time fired it at the wall near one of the raiders, causing it to ricochet and detonate behind them. One was thrown from his position and onto the floor, which Gil took advantage of. I couldn’t help but noticed that a large number of the bullets initially missed their target as he got back up and nearly made it behind cover before a bullet from Pincer own pistol slowed him down enough for Gil to finally land a killing blow.

“Drop your weapons and surrender! You stand no chance of actually beating us!” I yelled before pulling out my laser pistol and joining the fray.

“You’re the ones who started shooting first!” One of them yelled back.

I answered by firing my laser near his position, forcing him to duck back down. I really didn’t feel like arguing about semantics at this point. The last raider apparently decided that we weren't worth the effort, ducking down and making a break for it. I fired my laser pistol in rapid succession to keep the two civilians pinned down as Gil slung his weapon over his shoulder and leaped into the air, just barely having enough room to open his wings fully. Within moments he caught up to the raider and pounced on him like a predator. I charged forward, my pistol still firing shot after shot to keep the two ponies from firing at us. I jumped on top of the crate and looked down at both of them with as much menace as I could.

“Fro down yer wapons!” I commanded while still holding my weapon in my mouth. 

This was the first I was really getting a good look at the two. Both were young stallions, a unicorn and earth pony just past their teen years by my best guess. The unicorn diligently let go of his pistol  and raised his hooves. The other looked at me with a terrified look, and glanced over to the final death throes of the raider. When he dropped his weapon as well, I smiled inwardly as I holstered my weapon. 

“Now, I have some questions for-” I began, only to note that the earth pony had something in his mouth, something that shouldn’t be there.

A grenade pin out of its grenade.

Without even thinking, I lunged forward and slammed into the unicorn just as the sound of an explosion rang across my ears, and everything went white.


~~~~~~~~~Hoofnote~~~~~~~~~
50% remaining til next level 
> Chapter 2: Stable 66 Blunder
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You are an idiot, Amber.” Gildann said.

“Maybe, but I’m alive,” I began as I tightened a fourth magical bandage on my body, covering the last of my injuries, “The poor fool who pulled the pin absorbed most of the blast anyway.” I gestured back down the hallway which was now a red mess that I’d rather not deal with. 

“You nearly died saving somepony who was shooting you!” Gil yelled as he glared at the pony in question, with me standing between the two, “I had to shove three health potions down your throat just to get you conscious, and you look like some ghoul trying to hide their deformities  with all of those bandages around you!”

“But I’m not dead thanks to you,” I put a hoof on his shoulder and offered a small smile, “I’m fine. Now, you and Crackerjack keep an eye out for any more surprises while we wait for the elevator. Pincer and I will have a chat with our new friend.” Gil grumbled under his breath, but nodded and walked off.

“Now, as for you-” I turned to the pony I had just saved, “I’m literally the only thing keeping you from a very grisly demise. You will answer my questions to the best of your ability, and if you behave, I guarantee your survival. Understand?”

He nodded hesitantly, eyeing Pincer who still had his weapon l pulled out. “Don’t worry ma’am, I’ll behave proper.” 

“Don’t call me ma’am, the name is Amber.” I said, then took the time to look him over. His clothing were worn tatters barely holding together, and he had the beginning signs of malnutrition, and even by wasteland standards there was a bad smell coming from him, “What's your name?”

“Well, everypony calls me Bob.” He said with such honestly that it helped me resist the urge to facehoof.

I did raise an eyebrow in annoyance however, “That’s not any pony name I’ve ever heard.”

He took a deep breath, “It’s short for Bobbity Delicious Golden Appleci-”  

“Stop!” I put my hoof on his snout. I looked into his eyes and got the feeling he was being serious, but I really didn’t have time for such nonsense and looked him over again. Through the tattered clothing, I could just barely make out a teacup cutie mark, “Your name is Teacup.”

“But my name is-”

“Teacup.” I stated, and for once was happy when I saw his title go from ‘Raider Pony?’ , to ‘Teacup’. He let out a little sigh of defeat and muttered something about his name, “Now, who is the raider boss and why are you here?”

“Steelhead? He’s from River Point, like most the ponies here. It's a small town near the northwest side of Manehattan. We-” He was interrupted by the ding of the elevator. 

As the door opened, it revealed a large maintenance elevator that would be easily large enough to carry the entire group. We walked onto the elevator and began a slow descent downwards. Gil was still giving Teacup a death glare which was clearly making him uncomfortable.

“You were saying?” I asked. 

He cleared his throat before continuing, “So, umm, our town had an underground well with untainted water. But something happened to it about a month ago and it suddenly dried up. We had enough caps to keep us going for a little while, but if something doesn’t change soon...”

“So you came to look for a water talisman?” Pincer asked, showing interest in the conversation now.

He nodded, “Just as we were starting to get desperate, Steelhead showed up with his goon squad and said he would find a new water source for us and make us stronger than before. Of course we had to make him leader.”

I resisted the urge to facehoof, “And you all just went with it?”

Teacup shrugged, “We have only a few days of water left and nopony was helping us. Plus he had a missile launcher, what else could we do?”

I had to admit, it would be hard to argue with a missile launcher. I had to wonder where a third-rate raider had even come across such a thing, “Ok good point, but how did you even know about the stable?” I asked, and he suddenly looked very nervous as he glanced at my companions. I gave him a flat look, “You were following us and getting ready to steal from us, weren't you?”

“Umm… sort of?” He answered softly, this time earning a glare from Crackerjack who hefted his grenade launcher at Teacup, “But not exactly! See, our towns always known about the stable here, but never had a way to get in. Steelhead said he had a way in, though he never said how. Maybe with that missile launcher?”

Crackerjack scoffed, “Not with that little toy! Could tell just from looking at it that clearly the idiot does not appreciate his explosives.” He shook his head in shame, “That launcher looked near ready to fall apart, and no missile from that would even scratch a stable door.” 

“Kinda thought the same, otherwise stables would be easy to get into right? Anywho, Spotter saw you lot, and when he reported you had a pipbuck,” He pointed a hoof at my little mobile terminal, “And saw you were heading towards the stable, Steelhead figured he hit gold, so to speak.”

“Is it just me, or does this elevator ride seem to be really long?” Crackerjack suddenly asked.

I had to admit now that he had brought it up, it did feel like the elevator was taking longer than it should have. Just as I opened my mouth to say something, the elevator lurched and the door opened. We all drew our weapons and had them at the ready, Gil was making sure to keep Teacup in front of him so the unicorn couldn’t try anything without being seen.

When we didn’t get jumped right away, we cautiously exited the elevator. Before us stood the dessicated remains of over a dozen various robots, with several empty maintenance pods that had once held them. Between the horrific damage they had taken, the amount of disgusting, slimy, hoof-deep water on the floor, and the amount of rust on them, any sane pony would know it was doubtful anything useful could be salvaged.

Any caution I felt went to the wayside as I let out a squee and rushed forward. “Look, look, look, look! We are inside a large robot maintenance bay! I see robot parts everywhere!  EEEEEEEEE-!”

“Amber!” Gil yelled at me. 

I jumped several paces backward and haphazardly pulled out my shovel spear, “What?!”

“Gut the robots after we are finished.” The annoyance in his voice was apparent.

I gave him the most adorable puppy eyes look I could muster, “But… but…”

Pincer fluttered up close to me, “We should take care, repair pony. We have to help the other ponies first before we help the robots.” 

I couldn’t deny his words and with gloomy reluctance, I put my tools away and joined the others. As we walked down the hall, I noted several smaller elevators that looked like they could reach various points of the stable. In fact, as I looked closer, I realized there were several differences with this level that I hadn’t noticed on previous levels. Besides the gutted robots, I was bumping into quite a few spent bullet casings, and there were faded plasma burns on the walls. However, there was one glaring thing I noticed above all else.

 “There is only one pipe.” I stated.

The others looked at me with mild curiously, “What do you mean?” Gil asked, if only out of reflex.

“The entire stable had pipes all over the place,” I extended my hoof for effect, “But from what I can see, there is only one giant pipe here.” When the others gave me confused looks I sighed, “That is a huge problem for a place like. From what I can tell, this one pipe was supposed to deliver water all over the stable. If something were to happen to it, the entire stables water supply would suddenly be at risk and could-”

Crackerjack gave out a bored yawn, and a spurt of water suddenly shot from the pipe and beamed me in the face. While my mouth was still open. Whatever wonderful wasteland drinks and food I had endured up until that point all paled in comparison to what was suddenly assaulting my tongue. One hundred plus years of stewing salt water inside a rusted pipe filled with what Celestia could only guess at, mixed in with magical radiation created something that even the most diabolical of zebras couldn’t possibly conceive. 

My body reacted immediately as I spat and heaved the horrific concoction out of my mouth, with a certainty my taste buds would never recover even as I sacrificed some of my own water reserves and even applied some radaway directly onto the affected spot. The others, even Teacup of all ponies laughed as I fought my futile battle.

“Repair pony, I think I found the talisman.” Pincer voice spoke over my coughing.

The others, especially Teacup, perked up as we looked at where Pincer was. Teacup reached it before the others and stared at it for a moment before looking back at me, “Umm, is it supposed to look like that?” 

Forcing myself forward, I followed to where the others were and looked at what had caught their attention. Suddenly the foul taste in my mouth intensified as I was filled with disappointment. Normally, a pure azure jewel would glow bright and pure in the middle of a carefully crafted heart shaped charm with a gold splendor that would create the water of life. Or, if not creating it, it would take water from any source, even seawater, and purify it into proper drinking water. However, the bright jewel now reflected a murky green whose magical essence seeped out of a small crack like a poison mist. It's careful architecture was now twisted and a deep dark which occasionally spat out disgusting green water, and had an indent of a bullet in its casing, which most likely caused the damage in the first place.

“No,” I let out a deep breath before continuing, “This thing is beyond help Teacup.” I could see a defeated look in his eyes, and I placed a hoof on his shoulder, “But I won’t give up. I’ll find some way to help your village.”

“Why?” Gil asked in an annoyed tone, “What do you have to gain from it?”

“Not to sound ungrateful,” Teacup began, looking surprised and confused, “But I’m with the gryphon on this one. Why help us?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do. We help ponies in need, right repair pony?” Pincer looked at me with an approving smile. 

I nodded, “Yes, that’s… that’s… what in Celestia is that?”

I lifted my hoof and pointed, and the others followed my gaze. Being pointed to by an invisible arrow from my pipbuck, a small stairway stood nearby, that had a metal door, but a see through window. Inside stood what only could be called a miracle of science. A massive computer screen with several other smaller ones connecting to it stood idle, completely untouched and uncorrupted by the passage of time, or damage from the stable. I wanted to sprint in there at top speed, but I controlled myself and began walking forward, only for a tug on my jumpsuit to stop me. 

Turning, I found Pincer gesturing at the corrupted water talisman, “What do we do with it?” 

“Leave it be for now. Dealing with a water talisman is tricky and careful business, even when it isn’t corrupted. That thing has all sorts of issues with it right now, and I don’t have the tools or protection to try and work with it in its current state.”

Crackerjack aimed his grenade launcher at it, “Could just blow it up.”

“NO!” I shouted louder than intended as I pushed his weapon away from it, “Doing something like that could release the poisonous magic that runs through it. We could be breathing poison gas, be flooded by radiated water, or-” I saw how bored he was looking at my explanation and I took a deep breath, “It would be bad, and you wouldn’t be able to blow things up anymore.”

“Ah.” He nodded and put his grenade launcher away.

Rolling my eyes, we walked into the room with the computer. Gil cautiously opened the door, and immediately my sense of smell was assaulted with a powerful cleaning solution. The others scrunched up their faces at the smell, but to me it was the closest thing to heaven I had smelled all day. In fact, I was starting to feel like I was home with the familiar cleaning agent. The feeling was compounded as we entered the room after Gil gave us the all clear.  The steel floors had a nice reflective sheen to them, and fully working automated lights came on as we entered, with no signs of rust or mildew anywhere! It was incredible, nostalgic, welcome and-

“This is different,” Teacup said.

A wall suddenly opened nearby, and all of us whipped around with weapons pointed and ready. What awaited us looked like a child who tried to draw an octopus and somepony made it a reality. A white cylinder floated in front of us, with three spindly arms arms ending in different appendages, complete with three beady eyes that stared right at us. Surprisingly, no one fired at the machine as it floated to the entrance that we had come in from and began cleaning the water tracks that we were dragging in. 

I stowed my weapon away and smiled, “Ah, a Mr Hoofy. Don’t worry boys, this thing isn’t a threat.”

“A what? Also, how do you know? I thought robots were about killing ponies.” Teacup gave me a quizzical look. 

I turned to him, happy to have somepony actually interested in something besides blowing things up or bottle caps. “It's not a threat because it didn’t instantly attack us, as for what it is, it’s a Mr Hoofy. They are all-purpose civilian bots meant for a variety of jobs, from cleaning, organizing, managing, even medical. It has lesser armor and weapons than its military counterpart, though it-” 

I was interrupted by the computer screen as something attempted to form on the screen, but it was like a moving puzzle that couldn’t quite find its pieces to make itself whole, so remained a grainy, distorted mess. Somepony was also attempting to talk through the speaker, but it was akin to trying to understand a foal. As I looked closer, I saw that a panel had been pulled out, with several wires laying loose. My pipbuck arrow had that particular area highlighted, and ’Find the File’, complete with a list of other steps that I had been ignoring as it auto-updated, was replaced with ’Fix Computer’. I began pulling out my tools.

“What are you doing?” Gil asked as he kept his eye on the robot. 

“Our payday is in this computer, so I am going to fix it.” I said, not bothering to mention that my PipBuck was the one that made the suggestion.

“Have you considered that might be a bad idea?” Crackerjack asked as he purposely threw gunk around the room, forcing the robot to continue cleaning beyond the initial mess we made.

My thought processes came to a screeching halt as I turned around and looked at the explosive trigger happy maniac with a flabbergasted expression. Even Gil and Pincer had looks of genuine astonishment. 

“What? Why would it be a bad idea?” Teacup asked over our astonishment.

“Well, didn’t that recorder thingy you listened to say something about this thing running the stable?” Crackerjack pointed his grenade launcher at my PipBuck to emphasize, causing me to have a momentary freak out, “So if you turn it on, things will probably go about as well as an apple without a pin.”

My flank stung at the reminder, “I really hate to say this, but he does have a point. We should be ready for anything.” I then looked over to the gryphon, “Gil, give Teacup his pistol.”

Now everypony gave me a surprised look, even the mentioned unicorn, “Amber, are you crazy?!” 

“You know how dangerous these places can be Gil. If something bad does happen, any gun on our side is to our benefit.” I held up a hoof before he could argue, “Besides, right now I doubt Teacup would do something as stupid as threaten one of us. And if he does… deal with him however you like.”

He grumbled but held out the dinky pipe pistol we had recovered from the unicorn. Teacup hesitantly took it in his magic and joined the others, though Gil was still keeping him in sight. The gryphon wasn’t willing to take any chances, and I couldn’t blame him. At the moment though I couldn’t think of a way to help the situation, so I turned my focus to the task of repairing the computer.”

“So, new unicorn friend,” Pincer began, “Tell us more of your home, this ‘River Point Junction.’”

Teacup let out a nervous gulp, “What do you want to know exactly?” 

-remove this panel to get to the damage...

Pincer let out a chuckle, “Fear not, we have no desire to harm your town. On the contrary, I am always interested to learn more about towns that are able to survive in this wretched wasteland.”

-replace these wires here...

“Wow. You are a rare lot aren't you?” I noted that Teacups tones softened at Pincers words, “Our town is centered around an old brewery at the edge of the riverfronts east portion of the island.”

“Wait. Your town makes beer?”  Gil asked.

-bypass the damage to connect the monitor-

“Mead, actually. Made us popular in both good and bad measures, but we’ve held our own. But with no water, we can’t make our product and keep our village afloat.”

“Nopony offered to help?”

-why is there multiple bullet casings in here? Oh well, I’ll just reroute these-

“Arbu is our closest neighbor, and they aren't doing too well themselves with water as I hear. Though they never seem to go hungry for some reason..." He shrugged, "Anywho, only other town is Friendship City, but they can’t spare enough water for our people and product, so we’ve been in a dirty pickle.”

“Why would you want to be in a dirty pickle?” Pincer asked.

“And done!” 

I smiled at my hoof work as the computer screen beamed to life. The cleaning bot froze in place, ending Crackerjacks glee of tormenting the poor thing. The screen fritzed for a few more moments before a pink pony with a dark pink poofy mane  suddenly popped up. She was laying in a green field of grass, with a brilliant blue sky floating above her, the sun a happy little light bulb that had a few lazy clouds around it. It was an utterly beautiful sight, something I could only dream of except for one tiny detail. The pink pony was holding her head like dealing with a hangover. 

“Ugh. I think I partied too hard, my head feels like it was used for pegasi dodge ball…” Her bright blue eyes opened and spotted us, and at once she jumped up with what had to be the biggest, and eeriest, smile I had ever seen, “Oh boy, new friends! I love finding new friends!”

“As do I!” Pincer said with a big smile as he walked up, “And I recognize you as well! The ever famous pony of parties, Pinkie Pie!”

“Yessirrighty! You win a prize, so let me just… hmmm. Well that’s odd, I seem to be disconnected from the stables systems, my internal sensors tell me things are a mess in here-” I glared at Crackerjack who just gave a proud smile, “And my internal clock isn’t working at all! I mean, I have apparently been asleep for over ninety years! What kind of nap did I-” She stopped talking and stood motionless for a moment. 

The screen suddenly fritzed. The blue skies were replaced with dark stormy clouds that spewed lightning, the sun was now a menacing red moon that cast everything in a dull glow, revealing that the grass was seemingly burnt away, replaced by an all to familiar wasteland. Most disturbing of all though, was Pinkie Pie’s sudden transformation. Her mane and tail were suddenly straight flowing, her bright pink color had become a shade closer to dried blood, and her smile reminded me far too much of raiders before they killed somepony. 

It lasted for only a moment before Pinkie Pie was back to to her normal self, “Holly wowzers, I’ve been asleep for a superduper long time, and I don’t even remember why! I can’t be the Best Foal Sitter Ever if I am sle- Hey!” Pinkie called out while laughing, “Stop, that's ticklish! What are you even doing anyway?” 

I had moved over to the computer and had begun to access the systems, plugging my Pipbucks attachment cable into the system to give me better access. I was unprepared for her reaction, and my brain searched for ideas as I tried to find an answer, “Umm, well, you’ve been hurt and I’ve been doing my best to treat you.” 

“Oh, I was hurt? Are you a doctor?”

“Well, more like a medic, but yes…” 

I was only half paying attention as I looked at a smaller screen that gave me options within the terminal. Most of the options were corrupted, being little more than random code, blank options, squiggly lines and other nonsense. I began working on getting into the command codes of the system, hoping that I could somehow-

“HOLD IT!” Pinkies voice boomed so loudly that I flinched before meekly looking up to find her staring at me with a very disapproving glare, “I’m a computer, I wouldn’t need a doctor.”

The urge to facehoof was overwhelming.

“Ah you see Party Pony, our dear associate here is a Fixer Pony.” Pincer said proudly, only to let out a sigh when Pinkie gave him an odd look, “She fixes everything, from hurt ponies to broken machines. She is truly a rare soul in this Equestrian Wasteland, and you couldn’t be in better ho-”

“Wasteland?!” Pinkie let out a gasp, “That’s really mean to call Equestria a wasteland! It's a beautiful place with rolling green fields, blue skies, it… it…” She was quiet for a moment as she looked up, “There is something really wrong,” The image screen suddenly went static and the speakers went utterly quiet. Even the cleaning bot had powered down and lay idle.

“What happened?” Gil asked.

I looked at the screen as code flashed across it, “It looks like the computer is beginning to go through a restore process… I think?”

He gave me a flat stare, “You think?” 

“Its being weird!” I gestured at the terminal, “It’s supposed to have numbers across it, only ones and zeroes. But it’s got… well, everything! Alphabet, additional numbers, even doodles!” At that point simple drawings of Pinkie Pies were dancing along the access screen.

“So?” 

“It’s not supposed to do that!” I cried out. 

A ding that sounded suspiciously like an oven timer came over the speakers, and I turned to find the screen now had a big ‘OK’ on it with confetti falling around it before resetting to normal. 

Crackerjack was laughing as he pointed a hoof at me, “You have a funny face.”

I felt both confused and defeated, but didn’t have time to respond as Pinkie appeared on the screen with an overly ridiculous trash bag flung over her shoulder, “Wow, there was soooooo much junk in here, you wouldn’t believe it!” She then threw it off screen, and a sound of an explosion could be heard as her mane danced from the unseen backlash. She then wiped her brow, “There we go… wait a minute.” She looked at each of us carefully, “You’re not all ponies, and some of you look a little old to be in here.”

“Party Pony, you have been asleep for a very long time, and a lot has changed. Your original programming is no longer valid, and the stable dwellers have long left.” Pincer gestured at me, “Even she is from a different stable. We humbly ask for your assistance in being able to help other ponies and bring smiles back to their faces.”

“You mean… I failed the stable and all the little foals here at being the best foal sitter ever?” Pinkie barely managed to whisper out.

My heartstrings tugged at the pain in her voice. The clear sky began to turn a dark grey as rain clouds began to form. Her eyes began to water as the first droplets of rain began to fall.

Pinkie Pie…” I began as I reached a hoof out.

A bolt of lightning shot across the screen, and the Dark Pinkie reappeared, complete with that smile that could make even a raider cringe. “Oh, oh I get it now. You came here to steal equipment and secrets!”

“What?! What makes you-” 

She turned her gaze to me, and I couldn’t help but take a step back, “I read your PipBucks quest while going through the reboot. You thought I wouldn’t notice that you're after that file?” She began to laugh, but there was no warmth or kindness in it, “You came here for Stable 66 plunder, but instead this will be your Stable 66 blunder!”

I stared at her for a long moment, the fear I had felt was replaced by… I wasn’t even sure. So I finally facehoofed in response, “Are you proud of that rhyme?” 

“Yep!” She responded with an innocent smile as she pointed a hoof at us, “Now DIE!”

The maintenance door where the cleaning bot opened to reveal several robots beginning to activate, including the cleaning bot on the floor. The cleaning bots eyes locked on to Crackerjack with seeming murderous intent, with the earth pony letting out a cackle as fired his grenade launcher into the hidden room, forcing Gil to attack the cleaning bot in question in melee. Teacup and Pincer both began frantically firing their pistols at the maintenance doors edge, but their bullets were doing very little against the metal carapace of the robots.

Narrowing my eyes and steeling myself against the Dark Pinkie, I ran back over to the computer terminal and plugged my PipBuck into the system. My hooves began a dance 

“Oh? Abandoning your friends to play video games?” She asked with an evil chuckle, “What great friendship.”

“I’m not a good fighter, and I’m not a natural leader by any means, Dark Pinkie.” I began to smile, “But I am good with computers!” My hooves continued the dance as I battled my way through the code and ran headlong into the AIs firewalls..

“Hey. Hey! HEY! What are you doing?!” Pinkies voice echoed in my ears, but I refused to look away from my work.

Lines of code attempted to block me out, or even rewrite themselves. However, my PipBucks plug-in had its own security measures and countermeasures that allowed me to battle the AI on even ground, “You’re a smart party pony, you figure it out!”

“Trying to shut me down? Hah! Why not just use that little code you picked up earlier?” She asked snidely as I heard a cry of pain in the background from Gil and Pincer. Crackerjack was laughing as another one of his grenade went off.

“I’m not stupid. You already have a block for the shutdown command, otherwise this stable wouldn’t be in such a sorry state from your apparent screw-up and no doubt deaths of your tenants.”

“MY SCREW UP?!” Pinkies voice boomed, “Some idiot pony dared to try and take me offline when I was busy protecting the foals, and you dare say its MY FAULT?!” 

The screen fritzed and I couldn’t help but smile as the resistance within the code momentarily weakened, “I do! Where are all the little ponies you swore to defend? How could the best foal-sitter ever let the kids run out the front door?! ”

“I did everything I could!” Pinkie’s voice screamed in pain, “I was their teacher, their nanny, their best foal sitter ever! I did everything for them, and they turned on ME!” 

I saw the opening I needed, “Perhaps, or you weren't the best foal sitter ever when they saw you take away their real mommies and daddies, their big brothers and sisters! Just when they became adults, you sent them to their deaths in the wasteland! What kind of ‘Best Foal Sitter Ever’ does something so cruel?”

“I...I…” Pinkies voice began to waver.

Part of me felt bad for what I was saying, but it was weakening her and at last I saw the opening I needed, “You tried, but there is something very important that you forgot to do when trying to protect them.”

“Oh?” Pinkie’s voice grated, “Like what?”

“You didn’t lock the back door!” I proclaimed as I hit a command key and got the shutdown command through the firewall.

“What? What does that have to do with our conversation?” Pinkie asked in a confused voice. 

I looked at the screen with a smile on my face as a black looking portal suddenly opened and a light purple unicorn with a dark indigo, pink and purple mane walked out and gave Dark Pinkie a disapproving look that I had only ever seen moms give to their children, and somehow it was more terrifying than the raider smile Dark Pinkie had. I also noted that the sound of combat had gone silent, but I couldn’t pull myself away from the scene.

“Twi, I-” She began, only to get cut off by the unicorn.

“I am the Twilight Emergency Alternative Reprogrammer, and I have just finished an analysis of this stable and I will pass my verdict.” The unicorn said evenly, through the disappointment 

“But Twilight, it’s not my-”

“For refusing to listen to a verified Stable Official, for failing to keep up the standard living conditions of the stable, allowing all of your charges to run away, and for trying to lock me out of the stable schedule, I hereby remove your title of ‘Best Foal-Sitter Ever.’”

Pinkie had a new horrified look on her face, then looked at me with a level of anger that could only amount to utter hatred, “You only got super lucky. This. Isn’t. Over.”

She then shoved past Twilight and ran through the portal, which promptly closed. The background suddenly changed to an amazingly beautiful, if somewhat disorganized, library as the unicorn looked at me, “I am an administrative program based off Twilight Sparkle. As you have verified codes, you now have full access to all stable systems, robots, and databases. What are your orders?”

I looked at the terminal for a long moment before a smile not so different from Pinkie’s creeped over my face, “Oh I have some ideas…”


~~~~~~~~~Hoofnote~~~~~~~~~
10% remaining til next level 

Dark Pinkie Nemesis: You have gained a nemesis that won’t soon forget you. Plenty of these in the Wasteland.

Odd Ally: You found an ally in the form of the Twilight Sparkle sub-program. This is progress to a better tomorrow!... right? 
> Chapter 3: Bearer of Bad News
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Quit squirming.” I said while trying to hold an eyedrop over Gil.

The gryphon closed his eyes and tried rubbing them for the third time, “But it stings! Bloody robot sprayed me with-with whatever that was!” He inadvertently swung a wing at me which I narrowly ducked, “and whatever you have stings even more!” 

I let out an exasperated sigh, “Yes, you got hit with a very diluted cleaning material that could have done far worse. But it can still cause damage if it’s not treated.” I put a hoof on his shoulder, “This remedy I have will clean out the impurities so you don’t risk permanent damage, and it will only sting for a short while longer.”

He clenched his beak and opened his bloodshot eyes again. I didn’t give him time to prepare, or escape again, as I let out a few drops. He recoiled and began screaming obscenities at me while trying to bop me with his wing again. I had already moved out of range however and left him to his sputtering as I moved to the next patient.

“-ah, so that’s what I should have been doing for proper horn maintenance… Amber, hello!” Pincer waved as I walked up to him. 

“So, how’s our new friend?” I asked as I looked at Teacup.

“Oh he is doing well.” He motioned to the unicorns left leg that now had a bandage on it,  “The laser injury was minor, so I applied the cooling agent and the bandage just like you showed me.”

“Well done,” I began with a smile, “I’ll make a medical assistant out of you yet.”

Pincer beamed, “The first step to a better tomorrow is helping ponies in need! And I am learning so much from our new friend about being a proper unicorn!”

“What does he mean by that anyway?” Teacup asked me, “Shouldn’t he know this already?”

My mind quickly raced for an answer, “He… his mother was an earth pony and the father was… well not in the picture, and he never had another unicorn to… learn from.”

Teacup nodded, “Ah. That makes sense.” I let out a silent sigh that he believed me as he turned to Pincer, “So you wanted to ask some other questions?”

Pincer nodded, “Oh yes! I wanted to swap notes over magical burnout and-”

Tuning them out, I instead turned my attention to the computer, “Progress update?” 

Where there had been fields of green now held a beautiful wooden floor with various cutie marks engraved into each tile. Large pillars depicting the two princesses dancing through the sky stood at either side, while the roof they supported had a painting that looked like the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, each with their magical necklace as they faced down some unknown threat that I couldn’t see. The book shelves looked to be several ponies high that would require ladders or wings to reach them, each with golden finishes that ended in the shape of Twilight's Cutie Mark. 

It would have been perfect if not for several piles of disorganized books that were scattered all around the library where the Twilight Sparkle AI was vainly attempting to organize. I had to fight a sudden jealous surge that she was in such a beautiful place, even if it was virtual.

“System re-calibration is still in progress.” She began in an incredibly monotone voice, “Besides compiling the file that you requested, I am attempting to sort out what’s left with the Stables Diagnostic System, but it hasn’t been easy. I was designed to take over the AI personality and functions if things went wrong, not attempt to act as a replacement.” 

‘Which explains why you sound more robotic than the Pinkie personality.’ I thought to myself before something else clicked, “So wait… when, um, Pinkie jumped through that… portal thing, she transferred herself out?”

She nodded, “Correct. This has left this system unable to meet its full ability-” Crackerjack suddenly came skidding next to the computer and bumped into it, causing the screen to flicker out, along with most of the lights of the computer itself. 

“Crackerjack!” I screamed, “What the hell?! You just damaged the-” 

“Amber! I need your help!” He interrupted, “We don’t have time to mess with the computer, this is an emergency!” 

“Back-up personality program found. Updating.” The computers voice spoke over the comm. The screen then flicked back on and the unicorn reappeared looking annoyed, “Which means she left a massive mess for me to clean up!” She yelled, having far more emotion than before, “How dare Pinkie have the nerve to let things fall apart and just run off leaving me to clean!” She waved around at the damaged library, “She didn’t even have these programs organized to begin with! How could she possibly function-”

“Amber!” Crackerjack whined again in the most pathetic voice I’d ever heard from him. 

Deciding that his accident had improved the computers disposition, I decided against ignoring him. Or shooting him. That, and I saw the single most impressive and pathetic puppy-eyed stare I had ever seen as he held his grenade launcher at me. What was interesting about the scene was the detached robotic saw blade arm sticking through its barrel which I could only guess came from one of the robots. 

I looked back at the terminal, where the unicorn image was puffing her cheeks at being interrupted, “Sorry about this. It looks like you have a lot on your hooves as is, why don’t you get yourself organized and then we can talk further?”

“Fine.” She grumbled, “I suppose I do need to try and organize this horrible mess.” Twilight then walked over to a set of disorganized books and began organizing them at an incredible speed.

That left me free to deal with Crackerjack, “I think I need to show you how to do basic weapon repairs.” I said nonchalantly. 

“Basic?!” His voice squeaked, “The barrel is broken! I can’t very well blow things up without a barrel! I mean I can throw the grenades, but that's not as much fun, and these aren’t proper throwing grenades! They are shooting grenades!” He looked down at the weapon for a long moment before looking back at me with tears forming in his eyes, “Can it be saved?” He asked like a foal who broke their favorite toy.

I resisted the urge to laugh at how silly he looked as I nodded, “Oh yeah, I already have the parts I need to fix this. However, the trick is that I- we need a place to fix it…” 

I peeked inside the ‘secret’ maintenance bay that the robots had come from. Inside, the remains of two Protectrons lay on the floor in a pathetic heap with two others damaged and in a shutdown mode. There were at least three more pods that were not yet activated, but at the moment they were not my concern. Instead, my eyes landed on a maintenance table that had old but well kept tools on it, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Jackpot.” I said to myself before waving over the explosive expert, “Cracker, time to learn how to fix things.”

The odd look Crackerjack and the others gave me as they actually looked into the maintenance room was utterly priceless, and I wished I had a functional camera at the moment,“Ummm, Amber? I don’t fix things.”

“Well, good time to learn. Celestia forbid there is ever a time where I’m not around to help fix your kaboom makers.”

Puffing his cheeks, he entered the room and sat next to the maintenance table. Despite his reluctance, he grasped what I was showing him quickly as he picked it up better than any of the others when I had tried to teach them the same thing. Soon enough we had the barrel as good as salvaged, after which he gave me a big hug in thanks. As his greasy hooves wrapped around me and his pungent scent hit me full on, I was determined that he was getting a bath when we got back to proper civilization. 

A beep came from the computer, and I escaped Crackers grasp as I went back into the main room. The AI looked dejected as she looked at a pile of books that were so badly damaged that they could never be read again.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her.

The glare she gave spoke volumes and I couldn’t help but shrink back, “How do you think? I’ve finished compiling what I can, but this place is a disaster.” She shook her head as she placed a few books on a shelf, only for it to fall apart in front of her, “Pinkie caused a surge of power from the generator to transmit herself out of here. This act, which should have been impossible, is now causing a cascading failure of systems throughout the stable.”

“That sounds bad.” Pincer said suddenly, causing me to jump at his arrival. How could one who loves to talk be so bloody quiet at the same time?! He ignored my reaction as he continued, “But what does that mean?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but the AI beat me to it, flailing her hooves as she did so, “At best, I can keep all of the systems going for another fifteen minutes. I’m doing everything I can to prevent this but-” A piece of roofing fell and nearly hit the unicorn, causing her to jump and yelp. Looking through the ‘windows’, the sunlight that had been shining through was slowly disappearing along with the ‘city’ beyond. She looked at it for a long moment before letting out a defeated groan while looking utterly depressed, “I can’t fix this…”

“What about us?” I asked, only to glance at my traveling companions before looking back at the AI “Or, at least me. If you guide me to the generator, perhaps I can fix it?”

She shook her head, and the lights dimmed as the screen was replaced with a detailed map of the stable. “You are here,” She began, highlighting a room that had the label ‘5th Floor, Robot Maintenance’. She then highlighted the floor below us and covered every room with a blue highlight, “This is the primary generator room, which also housed food and water processing. The entire area suffered a breach and is now underwater.” 

I raised my eyebrow, “Then how do you have power here, and how did the broken water talisman end up in the main pipe just outside?”

“The room its located in is sealed.” She responded as she pulled up a few scrolls and looked over them, “So it’s unaffected by the water, but it also makes it inaccessible. The backup system that would allow drainage in case of such an emergency isn’t working either.” She grumbled something about Pinkie as she switched to another document, “As far as the water talisman, my sensors have been unable to… wait.” She then looked up at me, “You said it was on this level? In a pipe? And it's broken?”

I nodded as I gestured outside, “Stuck on a big pipe that has a major hole in it, and slowly filling the room with the most horrific water ever, of all time.”

The unicorn stared at me for a long moment before throwing the documents to the side, “ARG! I can’t work under these conditions! This is just too much!” She then face planted into a table and let out another groan.  

“The Pink one did leave quite the mess.” Pincer began as he looked directly at Twilight, “But the fault is not yours. With you, there is little doubt that you would have been able to keep this place running properly, even with only a fourth of the resources this stable once had. I have faith in you.”

His words sounded so sincere that even I couldn’t help but feel what he said was true. The AI looked over to Pincer and a small smile appeared on her face, and the screen seemed just a little brighter. “Thank you.” She was quiet for a moment as she composed herself, and her backdrop seemed to brighten a little bit, “I have partitioned some of the corrupted files and redistributed the power network. I should be able to keep the stable for another twenty two minutes.”

“I’m glad you are feeling better!” He beamed, “No pony should be sad when surrounded by friends! Speaking of friends, do you happen to know the location of the pink and yellow pegasi that you were friends with in the past?”

I couldn’t help but facehoof as the unicorn had a surprised look on her face, “You mean Fluttershy? I can’t say I know her location.”

Pincers own smile slowly disappeared as he looked at the ground, and poked it with a hoof, “Oh… I see.”

The unicorn looked at me for understanding, but I just shook my head. She shrugged, and then looked over at one of the book shelves, “Ah-ha! I think I found what you were looking for.” 

She activated her magic and pulled a book out from the top of a still standing shelf. The book was at least three times larger than any other book I had seen before, with heavy chains wrapped all around it. The book was beautiful, with a golden sheen that seemed to shine even with the chains around it. When the AI blew some dust off of it, her eyes went wide as her mouth hung open, “Sweet Celestia…”

I raised an eyebrow, “What is it?”

“This file…” She turned the book to me, “This has a Celestia tier lock on it.”

“Celes...by the moon's shadow, that’s the highest level military lock one could possibly have, reserved for the most sensitive of files and information!” I shook my head as I tried to grasp what I was being told, “Why in the nine levels of Tartarus was something like that inside a stable meant for foals?!”

She shrugged, “I have no idea. Perhaps somepony felt that this would be the last place to look for something like this? What I do know for a fact that is that you won’t be able to download this into your PipBuck, it’s far too complicated and encrypted for that. There is a special holotape that you will need from the Overmares office.”  

A symbol began to appear on the screen. I recognized it as Twilight's cutie mark, a double magical star, but it was different than usual. Rather than being a solid purple star on top of a smaller white star, it was instead an outline of the two symbols, with another cutie mark over them, also outlined, that I recognized right away. 

“Princess Celestia’s cutie mark…” I whispered.  

She nodded, “Indeed. However, you might have some problems, if the other group is any indication.”

I cocked my head for a moment, and the AI gestured to the smaller screens, each activating camera views of the stable, and my heart sank. The raider Steelhead stood inside the Overmares office, with his rocket launcher fully deployed, and his ‘prize’ mare collared and cowering nearby. Two of the other raiders stood at the entrance with assault weapons at the ready, with a sniper watching on the opposite side of the top floor. A security office stood parallel to the Overmares office and had two other raiders in it, with one looking like he was trying to access the computer terminals with little success. The townsfolk were otherwise scattered throughout the stable in small groups, looking for things of value.

“Looks like they know about our little tussle with their first group.” Gil said as he walked up to me, rubbing one of his eyes as he did so.

“Seems that way. If we try to get out the way we came...” I shuddered at the thought of the wholesale slaughter that would occur before turning to him, “You feeling better?”

Gil shrugged, “Well enough.” He continued to look at the screen for a few moments longer and shook his head, “We’re in a tight spot, make no mistake. We definitely can’t go back the way we came. While I doubt those other ponies could hit us, that sniper could be problematic. Hey Teacup!” 

The unicorns head perked up as he looked at the gryphon, seemingly relieved that he had an excuse to ignore Pincer, “Uh, yes?” 

“What do you know about that sniper?” He asked.

“Spotter? Kinda an oddball of the group really,” He began as he walked forward to look at the screen, “Follows Steelhead dutifully enough, but he’s a lot nicer and more reasonable than-”

Gil grumbled impatiently, “I meant how good of a shot is he?”

“Oh.” He thought for a moment, “Well, only seen ‘em fight once, but he killed a radscorpion in only two shots from a distance twice that of the floors. Or was it three times?” He then shrugged to himself.

Though he kept an even expression, I could tell he was irritated, but most wouldn’t notice it. Instead he turned back to the computer screen, “Either way he is a definite threat besides Steelhead,” He put a claw under his beak and thought for a few moments before looking at me, “We need some way of getting to that top level without getting sniped at, or we have no chance of surviving this.” He turned to me, “Think you can pull up schematics of this place?” 

I nodded and worked with the AI, who really needed a proper name at somepoint, to pull up a full map of the stable, “You have a plan, Gil?”

He nodded quietly as he looked over various screens, “I’ve got one forming.” He focused on one of the screens and nodded, “That will do nicely.”

I tried to follow his gaze, but he didn’t give me much time to look before speaking again. “Now, do you think you can get some of the robots up and running in the next few minutes?”

She pulled up the status of the robots, and I looked over the damaged ones, “Well, if I rush repairs we should be able to get a few, why?”

Gil smiled. “Excellent, we just need access to the Stables speaker system, because here is what is going to happen…”

--------------------

There are a lot of things that were undoubtedly going through the raiders minds as they waited for us. How easy were we going to be to kill, what kind of loot did we have on us, and what they would do to any survivors they found. Their imagination no doubt ran rampant with the many horrors they would inflict upon us once we walked into the kill zone that was the main area. Based on what had been seen, the only way to the upper levels was through the remaining stairwell opposite the maintenance elevator, meaning that our group would have to pass through a well covered kill zone in order to reach them.

That thought process would be interrupted however by a new voice over the stables broadcast system. “Greetings. This is the Twilight Emergency AI Reprogramer, current curator of this stable. Your presence is undesirable and I demand you leave at once.” There was a moment of silence before the AI intoned, “If you want to talk, use the green button on the Overmare terminal.”

Feedback went through the speaker, causing me to wince before the raider boss’s voice came through, “Listen up, I don’t know who you are and I don’t care. We are here for the water purifier, whatever good loot there is here, and to deal with that other group who killed one of my boys.”

“Materialistic aren’t you?” She began with an indigent tone, “You are invaders in my Stable, why should I help you?”

The raider boss chuckled, “Your help isn’t required, machine, we will find what we want given time. But I’m a reasonable sort, so here's the deal. You tell me what I want to know, and we’ll leave peaceful like.” 

“Stand-by.” The AIs voice then came through my PipBuck, “Should I?” 

I looked to Gil who nodded, “Give em a long list, though don’t mention the Overmares Office if possible”

“Understood.” Her voice then went over the speakers again, “Water Talisman; damaged beyond repair. Armory; empty. Medical; basic tools. Cafeteria; empty. Maintenance Bay; basic tools. Robot Bay; empty. Security Office: em-”

“Alright, shush it.” Steelhead interrupted, “So you’re saying that anything useful in this stable is already gone, right?”

“Yes, the previous inhabitants apparently did a thorough job of evacuating. Now, since your presence is unwanted, please leave as you said you would.”

“Mmm, no. I don’t believe that you are being truthful.”

“What?!” Twilights voice yelled over the speakers, “You said you would leave if I gave a full report!”

“I did, and I lied.” I could hear the snickering of the other raiders in the background, “This is a Stable, and there are always plenty of things to find. Not like I’m going to trust some robot voice that there is nothing here. Sides, some idiot might pay for a good AI.”

“Alright then,” Twilight then took a deep breath, though I wasn’t sure why, “As the Administrative Emergency Safeguard Override Program entrusted to this Stable, I hereby order your immediate removal. Failure to comply will result in deadly force being brought against you.”

The raider laughed again, “Oh, you and what army are going to do that?”

“You idiot!” An unfamiliar mares voice hissed, “Never ask that!”

As the sound of a hoof striking flesh echoed through the speaker, a hidden elevator door opened within the security office.

“This stable has secret elevators?!” A raider yelled.

“That it does.” I said smugly while standing behind two Mr Handy robots and three Protectrons, with Gil and Crackerjack on either side of me, “Now do the smart thing and surrender.” 

One of of them clearly decided suicide was the best option as he brought his shabby weapon and fired at me. Or at least he tried, only to see the bullets simply ping off the armored robots that moved in front of me. Everything that raider was, everything he had, was engulfed in a bright light that seemed to be from the heavens themselves as five separate laser beams struck simultaneously. The moment passed quickly, and all that was left was a small pile of glowing ash.

“Boss!” The terminal raider wailed as he ran for the door, “We have company!”

A laser struck his hind leg and he dropped his weapon, but he managed to get out of the Security Office before the robots could finish him off. The two Mr Handy robots rushed ahead with Gil following close behind. A sniper rifle shot sunk into one that I had done some quick repairs to and landed on the ground with a loud thud. The second one cleared the railing and began firing its laser, only to get a ‘voosh’ response as a missile flew from the Overmares office and struck it dead center. 

A deafening boom went through the Stable, and Gil was unfortunately close to the robot when it was hit, with the shock wave throwing him off balance and sending him flying out of control and out of my sight.

“Gildann!” I cried out as I rushed out the door ahead of the lumbering Protectrons.

Bullets pinged around me, but either through dumb luck or the robots behind me that were firing distracting lasers, the raiders aim was thrown off. The terminal raider that had gotten out was laying on the ground nearby, whining in pain at the nasty burns to his leg. While I didn’t like seeing a pony in pain, I ran past him to where I had seen the gryphon fall. 

In retrospect, If I hadn’t been so worried about him I might have laughed at his predicament. He had slammed into the sniper, Spotter if I remembered correctly. The two of them were stumbling over each other like two drunk buddies trying to walk out of the bar and failing miserably at the task as they tripped over one another and pathetically tried pushing the other off. 

Spotter managed to get untangled first and stumbled over to his weapon, “Sorry, I can’t die here!” He said as he lifted the sniper rifle with his magic and pointed it right at me.

Rather then stop, I continued to charge right at him as I unslung my shovel spear. Gils wing pushed against the rifle just as he fired, causing the bullet to pass through my mane instead of my head. His eyes went wide just in time for the flat end of my shovel to slam against his head, knocking the already dazed unicorn unconscious.

“Gil, thanks for the save.” I said as I went up to him and forced a healing potion down his mouth, “Are you alright?” 

He held a claw on his head as he looked at me, “Ow… yeah I’ll live. Where is Cracker?”

“I want that rocket launcher!” Cracker yelled as if on cue.

I turned in time to see my fellow earth pony who had taken cover by the Stable entrance stairway, parallel to the location of where Gil and I were, fire his grenade launcher. Honestly I thought he fired at random as it went up to the ceiling. Instead of detonating like it should have, it somehow pinged at a perfect ninety degree angle, bounced right between the two raiders who had been firing at the Protectrons, and flew right into the Overmares office where it detonated.

“Ow! Mother-bucking hell!” Steelheads voice echoed through the Stable speakers, “You’re all dead!” 

“Wait!” The mares voice screamed, “Don’t fire again you idiot, the missile-”

Her words were lost as a deafening sound filled the speakers and both her green tick and Steelheads red tick disappeared from my EFS. Another missile flew out of the Overmares Office at the same time and caught one of the Protectrons dead center. It exploded and rained debris in the area, which elicited another wail of pain from the terminal pony. One of the raider guards turned to look into the office, and earned a laser bolt directly into the back of his skull from the last standing Protectron.

As his body fell to the ground, I realized I had to act fast, “Throw down your weapon and surrender now if you want to live!” I yelled to him.

“Burn in Tartarus you tart!” The raider yelled as he brought his weapon to bear against me. 

A clawed hand shoved me hard, sending me to the ground as bullets flew right past where I had just been standing. Gil took to the air and fired his own assault weapon at the raider in kind, though his bullets failed to hit the intended target. Instead, the raider backed up to enter the Overmares Office, only to slip on something and fall over his dead ally. He let out a gurgling scream of pain, though I couldn’t see why. Gil hovered for a moment before unleashing another burst from his weapon, and the screams fell silent.

I glanced at the gryphon with a disapproving look before turning to my PipBuck and reactivating the radio, “Area clear. Have the robots stand down and send the message.”

At that moment the terminal raider was crying pathetically as the Protectron turned to blast him, only for its energy matrix to shut down at the last moment.

Static went on the Stables speakers for a moment, “Ahem! Attention all remaining scavenger ponies!” The voice of Pincer surprisingly came over the speakers, though it made sense since he and a disarmed Teacup had stayed behind, “I must inform you that at this time, Steelhead and his little band have been neutralized. We have gained full access to the security system, and our side has taken no casualties.” He allowed that last sentence to sink in before continuing, “If you wish to fight, that is your choice but it would be a foolish one. Stand down, and you will live to see your home again, as we have no desire to kill any of you.”

“He’s right.” Teacup chimed in, “Only poor Noodle Dish was actually killed when the shooting started, and Cider blew himself up by accident. That mare of theirs actually saved my hide, and they promise to let us keep anything we find.”

Gil flew down next to me while Pincer and Teacup continued with their speech, “What should we do with those two?” He asked, gesturing to the two remaining raiders.

“Keep them alive and bound for now. We’ll see what the town folk think of them and decide from there.”

“Gonna patch up that one?” He asked as he gestured to the terminal raider.

I shook my head, “Not now. We’ve got maybe eleven minutes before we lose the computer system.” 

He nodded and I started walking towards the Overmares office when he spoke up, “You’ll see why I killed that last raider.”

I didn’t turn to look at him, instead glancing down at the raider as I passed, and I realized Gil’s remark. He had somehow slipped and pierced his throat against the spiked armor of his dead ally. There would have been no way to keep him alive with such a wound. Closing my eyes and steeling myself for the worst, I entered the office.

“Ah hell.” Cracker said as he was suddenly standing next to me, “The rocket launcher suffered a premature detonation.” 

It took all my self control not to smash his head with my shovel spear for surprising me, “Will you not do that!” I hissed, but he was right.

The missile launcher had been modified to quickly rearm its missiles, but somehow the thing prematurely activated a second missile instead of loading it. Steelhead could no longer live up to his name as his head was little more than bits and pieces. Unfortunately, the mare had also been right next to the weapon when it had gone off as well. She had been thrown at a bad angle and her neck had snapped against the Overmares Desk.

Cracker whined over the destroyed rocket launcher, and I let out a groan, “Oh just loot the damn thing and I’ll fix it later.” For a moment I could swear there were stars in his eyes as he set to work. I just shook my head as I activated my radio, “Alright, I’m in the Overmares office. Where is the file?” Only silence greeted me, and I couldn’t help but look directly at the minicomputer, “Twilight?”

“Sorry…” The unicorns voice sounded exhausted, “Systems are… getting harder to maintain.” She took several breaths, and though I knew she was a computer program, I was feeling bad for her, “Special file is… bottom drawer… hidden area… unlocking.”

I heard a click from where I had pulled all of the holotapes before, “Well done. Start shutting down all non-essential systems, that should help a bit.”

“Understood.” She said.

Terminals that hadn’t been destroyed already shut down around me as I set to work. The desk itself was still intact despite the explosions that had occured within the office.  I opened it and reached my hoof inside, and sure enough there was a hidden compartment that was now unlocked. The problem however, was that it was in an awkward spot that I couldn’t actually reach.

“Ugh, stupid unicorns and their hard to reach hiding spots…” I muttered to myself.

I pulled out my tools and began unscrewing the cabinet. It took about two minutes for me to get through it to a point where I could get to the hidden slot and finally get the file container out. Wiping sweat from my brow, I put my tools away and looked at it.

For a moment I was utterly entranced. Compared to the dull grey and worn holotapes I was so used to dealing with, this one held a golden sheen, and on the center was the mark of the sun goddess herself, with the cutie mark of her faithful student as an outline. A sign of their trust and respect for one another, and a reminder of better, peaceful times that once blessed this world.

The sound of the damaged terminal shutting down, along with all of the lights going out and switching purely to the emergency lights got my attention. I looked at them for a moment and cocked my head as to why they would have shut down when my Pipbuck radio came to life.

“Amber, you might want to hurry down here.” Pincers voice spoke with concern, “The Book Pony is not looking so good.” 

I placed the file into by bags and sprinted out of the office and to the elevator. A glance showed that Gil was securing the two prisoners, and at least two of the town ponies had made their way up to the top levels, looking unsure of what to expect. I wanted to talk to them, to let them know that things were alright for the moment, but there just wasn’t time. 

“Get everypony out of here Gil! This place won’t last much longer!” I yelled at him as I ran past and skidded into the elevator.

As I hit the button to go down, he entered the office and tried running to the elevator, “Amber, wait what do you-!” 

“No time!” I said as the door closed in front of him.

I looked at the display on the elevator as it slowly made its way to the lower level, and all I could do was put my hooves together, “Celestia, Goddess of radiance and light; Luna, Goddess of the night and dreams; I beseech you, let me reach the bottom floor before it’s too late.” 

The elevator came to a halt, and I opened my eyes to find that I was on the floor I wanted and I let out a cheer, “Thank you goddesses above!” I said aloud, and watched as the doors started to open, but stop only a fourth of the way. I stared for just a moment before shrugging, “Meh, I can work with this.” I went over to the door and started pushing on it, but the thing wouldn’t budge, “Teacup! Pincer! Help get this door open!” I yelled.

“We’re on our way!” Pincer said as I heard sloshing on the other side of the door. A few moments later a green and blue aura surrounded the door I was pushing on, and it slowly opened to a point where I could squeeze through, “There you go Repa-”

I jumped past the two before he could finish, unintentionally splashing them with the disgusting murky water as I made a mad dash into the terminal room, “No time to waste!” 

Practically flying up the stairs, I came to a sliding stop in front of the terminal and quickly installed the disk, “Twilight, begin download now.” I said as I finally looked at the screen itself.

To say that the Twilight AI wasn’t doing well would’ve been a monumental understatement. One of the pillars had given way and smashed a large hole into the library wall. The vibrant city in the distance was impossible to see now, utterly consumed by darkness. In fact, it seemed the entire library was being devoured by shadows. The pristine book shelves had given away, spilling their contents onto the ground and losing their luster. The books themselves were darkened as well, like the passage of time had suddenly accelerated to leave them little more than withered husks of their former glory.

The unicorn herself stood in the middle of the library even as it fell apart, clutching the ‘golden book’ like a mother protecting a child. As I spoke to her, she lifted her head and stared right at me, “Beginning download. Fifteen minutes until download is complete… which might be a problem.”

“Because problems never end…” I groaned as I knew I’d regret my next words, “Why?”

She bit her lower lip, “There is only nine minutes of power left in the stable.”

I just stared at the terminal screen as static came over my PipBuck, followed by somepony trying to speak to me, though I missed their words. I flicked the broadcast ability back on as I spoke, “Sorry, repeat?”

“I’m gathering everyone out of here like you asked.” An all too familiar voice spoke with annoyance, “Now what is going on down there?”

“Oh, you remembered to replace the batteries on your radio, Gil.” I said with surprise.

“Of course I did. I’m not having another goo incident like in the last stable. Now, what’s happening?”

I looked at the screen with a very tired Twilight as the gears in my mind were turning, “Well, not to be the bearer of bad news-” I began, earning a scoff from Gil, “But we have a slight problem. BUT!” I quickly spoke before the gryphon could ask, “I also have an idea…”

~~~~~~~~~Hoofnote~~~~~~~~~
Level up! 

New Perk: Foal at Heart - You are really good with kids. You can get them to open up to you more easily than others, but you’re not really sure how that will help in the stable…
> Chapter 4:Terrible Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I don’t like this plan at all.” Gil grumbled over the radio.

“Do you have a better one?” I asked. 

He muttered something indistinguishable which gave me my answer. With that said, I looked down at my hoof work and felt rather pleased with myself. I had salvaged the power cells out of all the damaged and destroyed robots that I could, and with plenty of scrap material I had managed to create a makeshift battery. That had been the easy part. 

“I have to agree... with the gryphon... Gildann was it?” The Twilight AIs voice spoke with shallow breaths, “This is too risky… for a verified... Stable Tech Employee to attempt-”

I sighed, “Look, I get it. It’s a super risky plan, but I’m the best candidate to take the risk.” 

The next part had been jury rigging the elevator to be able to accept the questionable power supply separate of the Stables systems. I’m certain somepony somewhere would scoff at the exposed wires and missing panels that were connected to a ramshackle battery, but meh.

Gils voice came over the radio again, “Everypony is out, including Pincer and that other pony, Tea-something-or-other.” 

“Rerouting power… for the elevator… means you are down here… longer.” The AI spoke.

“I’m going to have my hooves busy enough as is making all of this work.” I said as I took a relatively clean cloth and wrapped it around my face, “I really can’t afford to foalsit those two during all this, and they wouldn’t be much help anyways.”

“That… is sound logic.” She replied.

“Alright, now comes the ‘fun’ part.” I then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as I walked back to the AI room, “Shut down all systems and reroute everything to your terminal.”

The T.E.A.R. gave me a concerned look, which I returned with a narrow stare of my own. She let out a sigh, “Very well. Shutting down all systems.”

I watched on the terminal as lights began to go off throughout the Stable. While I knew it was impossible, I could swear I could almost hear each section going offline. Worse still was that it sounded eerily like a heartbeat slowing down. With some hesitation, the AI shut down the last item of power within the Stable, one that almost everypony overlooks, yet is as vital as a water purifier talisman.

“Life support systems shut down.” She spoke softly, “Estimated time before air quality drops is five minutes. Estimated download of the file is ten minutes.”

I nodded silently, aiming to keep as much air as possible to myself. Turning on my Pipbuck light, I walked into the robot maintenance bay and looked at the remains of the robots that had been left behind. Their sorry state was like a small mockery of the Stable itself. Chunks of armor plating and wiring were missing when I had done my ad hoc repairs to the other robots, made all the worse when I salvaged their power cores for the elevator. Still, perhaps there were still a few bits that I could possibly-

My train of thought stopped as I noticed a dull glow on the edge of my vision. Looking up, I noticed that there were still lights on one of the maintenance pods. Curiosity got the better of me as I walked over to it and saw there was still a robot inside. 

‘That’s right, these things have their own batteries.’ I thought to myself as I pulled up the terminal.

‘ERROR: MAINTENANCE POD JAMMED. ERROR: PERSONALITY FILE MISSING. ERROR: GENERAL PROGRAMMING MISSING. ERROR: OVERMARE CODES REQUIRED FOR ACTIVATION.’ 

I couldn’t help but faceplant on the screen, “What kind of idiot sends a broken pod-” I let out an involuntary cough as I tried to speak. 

The air began to have a nasty taste to it. It wouldn’t be long before the breathable air was replaced with whatever nastiness that had gathered for the last 200 years. I couldn’t help but be impressed that, short of forcing the system to shut down, the water and air purification systems were still able to run and support the Stables. But with all of that shut down, it wouldn’t be possible for near anything to survive the place. 

Which also included silly earth ponies that were thinking of really silly plans that could further put them in danger by staying in the place longer than needed. Somepony should really talk to those silly ponies about common sense. Of course such silly ponies would actually have to listen to said advice. Until then, I had a plan that needed completing. 

“File transfer...complete.” T.E.A.R. strained through the terminal a few minutes later.

“Just in time.” I coughed hard as I went back into the terminal room and ejected the disk, “Well done.”

Her library was all but gone, and while I hadn’t really noticed before her coat color had become a dull grey. The AI looked at me with a tired smile “I’m happy...to have...served...” Her eyes started to close.

“Well you’re not done yet.” I said in between coughs as I plugged my Pipbuck back into the terminal.

“Wait…” T.E.A.R. forced her eyes open and looked at me worriedly, “What are-”

Before she could finish, the AI disappeared from the computer screens as her program began to download to my Pipbuck. While I was mentally set on my path, my burning throat and lungs were yelling at me to abandon my mad scheme and get out of the Stable. The itching in my eyes were also making a compelling argument.

“Ow!” I said involuntarily as I stuck myself with a syringe labeled ‘med-ex’ to counter my bodies complaints. 

Its effects were almost immediate as the pain my body was feeling began to dull to a point of tolerance. Still, at best it would only make things more comfortable for me, and not deal with the fact that I was breathing… well, whatever was left in the Stable. 

Her data transfer completed after only a few minutes (which made me wonder why exactly the ‘special’ file took so bloody long). I made my way back to the pod and began working on getting past the last major obstacle in my stupid plan: getting the pod doors to actually open. There was something physically wrong with the bloody thing, and I couldn’t correct the error with normal methods. I looked down at my laser pistol holster as another idea came to me...   
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wasn’t sure what time it was, and honestly I didn’t care to check: I was far too comfortable to care. I felt rather safe and warm in my comfortable bed, and my motivation to get out of it was 0%. Besides, father or Gildann could get me out of bed if the caravan actually needed me. Just as I started drift back to sleep, my ears picked up a sound that I was rather unfamiliar with. It was the the sound of an opening door; specifically, an old squeaky wooden door.

“Alright, let’s see how our patient is doing today.” An unfamiliar mares voice spoke.

“Nuuuu, let me sleeeeeep.” I whined, “I don’t wanna get outta be-EEK!” I yelped as cold metallic arms wrapped around me.

“Designated Stable Official!” A strangely familiar yet robotic voice squeed as a purplish blob came into view, “It's so good to see that you are alright!” 

“What's going on?!” I asked as I flailed my hooves helplessly.

“Please refrain from scaring my patients.” The unfamiliar mare spoke again, “She doesn’t have her bearings yet.”

The metallic arms released me and the purple blob moved away, “Ah, my apologies.” It said as it bowed (I think).

My brain tried to comprehend what was going on, since the caravan never had a robot and I didn’t-the flood gates of memory opened as the last few days flowed back to me. I rubbed my head as I began processing everything, though things were a bit fuzzy. I tried looking around at my surroundings, but like everything else it was little more that a blur of color with a dim light on above me, “Where are my glasses?” A chill passed through me and I hid deeper in the blanket, “For that matter, where is everything else?” 

“I’ve been doing my best to clean and inventory your items. In fact, here are your glasses.” The robot(?) said as I saw a blur of movement as I guessed it was holding them in front of me.

After a few unsuccessful attempts of reaching out, the robot helped me. I put my glasses on and an interesting world came into focus. The metallic arms that had glomped me before belonged to a Mr Handy robot, though this was a custom design. Whatever questions I had fell to the wayside as I marveled at the design. 

“Ooooh, you’re a unique one aren’t you? I mean beyond the purple paint job rather than the boring grey. Manipulators with extensions for fine motor control that would make even the most dedicated housekeeper jealous, a unique ring control ring that allows multiple arms to work in unison in a single direction, enhanced engine for extended flight, and a radio antenna! You are a beautiful piece of art!” (continuity problem...when did she have time to put TEAR in the robot, and why wouldn’t she remember the design...no mention of it being purple before)

The robot seemed to be flustered as two of its claw manipulators seemed to be fidgeting, “Oh! Umm, thank you very much. Though you were the one that put me in this body after all, which I am rather grateful for.” 

I stared for a moment as the sound of her voice finally sunk in as well as my targeter bringing up her name, “T.E.A.R.?’

She nodded, “Indeed! You downloaded me into this Diagnostic and Repair Prototype unit. After some discussion with some of the people in town, I have decided to combine the various acronyms to spell Teardrop.” she said proudly before bringing her ‘hands’ together and looking at me nervously, “Does that meet with your approval?”

I nodded, “Seems fine to me.” As I said that, I watched her name tag change accordingly. I couldn’t help but smile as I patted her on her domed head, “I’m glad you made it.” 

Teardrop fidgeted her manipulators together again, “I’m glad that you survived your ordeal as well.” 

I cocked my head, “Ordeal?”

“Yep, the one I’ve been treating you for a little while now.” I turned my gaze to the other in the room. A dark colored mare that approached wore a red jumpsuit that wouldn’t be out of place for a mechanic, made complete by a deep red bandanna tied over her head. We looked at each other for a moment before she let out a sigh, “Can you remove the blanket? I promise you’ve got nothing I haven't seen before.” 

I hesitated before finally removing it, “So who might you be?” I asked.

She turned on a flashlight and looked at my head, “I’m Red, currently the only doctor of Riverpoint Junction.” 

My ears perked up, “Riverpoint? Oh, that’s the town Teacup said he was from.”

“Teacup?” She asked.

“Teen unicorn with a stupid long name-”

“Oh.” Red thought for a moment, “That is a better nickname isn’t it?” She then flicked off the flashlight and chuckled at the same time, “He was talking about you a lot, guess you made a good impression. More importantly, it seems you recovered from that concussion nicely, just need to check your breathing.”

I looked at Teardrop with confusion, “You turned your laser pistol into a makeshift grenade to get me out of the maintenance pod, but it detonated earlier than you anticipated.” I listened silently as Red had me take in deep breaths, and Teardrop continued, “You took a bad hit to the head, which combined with the toxicity level that was quickly rising, you passed out as we reached the elevator. Luck would have it that the protectrons were still in the Stable, so I took them over again and used them to carry you out.”

The mare took a step back from, “Alright, looks like you have a clean bill of health.”

“Well that’s good.” I said, “Now, where is my stuff?”

“Ah, I’ll fetch them for you.” Teardrop said as she floated out of the room. 

Red let out a chuckle, “She’s quite loyal. Been sticking around while you’ve been recovering like a mother hen.”

I shrugged, “I just made sure she wasn’t abandoned was all. Leave no pony behind right?” I said with a smile.

Red chuckled, “You Stable types are an odd bunch.”

“Not half as odd as the group I travel with.” I looked around, “Speaking of, where are the delinquents?” 

“If you mean your other companions, they left two days ago.” Teardrop said cheerfully as she floated into the room and set my bag down.

“Ah.” I said as I started gathering my items,  “At least they aren’t causing trou-wait, WHAT?!”

As it turned out I had been out for the last three days, partly due to a mix of carbon monoxide and chlorine poisoning, the rest being that I was a heavy sleeper. Given that the town had limited resources, Pincer had traded five of the seven days worth of our water in order to keep me at the hospital (apparently they were not grateful that Steelhead was killed). While Gildann had been hesitant to leave, Teardrop had assured them that I would be protected between the two protectrons and herself. So they decided to take the file that we’d risked our lives for and headed to Friendship City to meet our contact. Without me.

“Celestia help me.” I groaned as I put on my Stable suit, “I better get going.”

“I’d recommend taking it easy for a few hours before you get on the road.” Red began, “You did just recover after all.”

Before I could say anything, the light in my room went out, and we all looked up at it, “Is that normal?” I asked considering none of us had hit the light switch.

Red let out a disgruntled sound as she left the room. I looked at Teardrop who just shrugged. Grabbing my saddlebag, I followed the pony out of the now dark hospital building. Exiting the building, I finally got a good view of my surroundings and realized that River Point Junction was well named. The hospital complex sat right next to the main waterway that separated Manhattan with the rest of Equestria. Besides the main hospital building, there were at least five other buildings that I could see that made up the complex, not counting the two-story one I came out of. A wall built out of scrap seemed to surround the ‘town’ to protect it, and I could see a small harbor that had only a single rusted boat in it. I guessed that if there had been additional boats, they had most likely been scrapped for the wall. 

In the center of ‘town’ I could see several ponies gathering, all of them yelling out a litany of complaints. One of the things I noticed was a rather bad smell that came from not bathing for several days, either themselves or their clothing. While hygiene couldn’t be as well kept in the wasteland in comparison to a stable, it was still something that most town ponies did to some degree. It made me realize just how bad their water situation was, and-

“Whats going on?” One of the ponies yelled, interrupting my thought process, “Generator shouldn't have been turned off for another hour!”

“I’m trying to prepare a meal here!” A mare with three bouncing kids yelled, “It’s only half-way done!”

Red leaned in closer to me, “Besides the water drying up, our generator has been giving out too.”

An old and tired looking pony came out of a smaller building and waved a hoof for silence, “Please everyone, listen to me carefully. The generator has shut down, and we are doing everything we can to fix it. Just be patient and we should have it up shortly.”

“How?” Another asked, “Vanilla Cream was our tech, and she got killed in that Stable!”

My eyes went wide as the memory of the dead mare flashed through my mind. At that moment I also noticed a few angry glares come my way. The elder was silent for a moment before speaking again, “We all feel her loss, believe me. But her children are quite talented and doing their best, so please-” A litany of complaints drowned his attempts to be heard further. After about thirteen seconds of him failing to regain control, I had enough of it.

“QUIET!” I commanded. 

As everypony stared at me with confusion, annoyance, and expectation, I suddenly felt very out of place. Taking a deep breath and calming my nerves, I thought about how Pincer would handle such a situation and decided to give it my best shot, “Look, I’m sorry that Vanilla Cream was killed by Steelhead, but that can be discussed later.” I gestured at the elder pony,  “You’ve got techs working on the generator, so further yelling isn’t going to help the situation be dealt with any faster. If nothing else I can help too, so I suggest going back to your homes and handling what you can until the issue is solved.” 

The entire crowd was silent, and the dirty glares I had been getting were gone as well. I couldn’t help but feel rather pleased with myself at how well I had handled the situation.

“What in the name of Celestia is that accent?” One of them asked.

My composure shattered along with my pride, “Oh come on, really?! That’s what you-”

“If I may?” Teardrop cut me off as she floated ahead of me. I puffed my cheeks in annoyance as I nodded, “Thank you. Now I understand that you all have been going through some terrible ordeals, and this latest issue is not helping those matters any. Part of my programming does include maintenance of power generators, and this chassis is well suited We are not seeking monetary gain for our services, but merely a thank you for allowing the Designated Stable-ahem, Repair Pony Amber-”

‘Really?’ I mentally asked, ‘She’s calling me that too?’

“-To recover in your town.” She then brought up her claws and held them in a stance not to different from a filly asking for candy, “Please allow us to show our gratitude for such kindness.”

At her words, the crowds mood seemed to soften as they whispered in a more controlled tone, ‘Isn’t that what I said? Basically? Ish?’ I thought to myself.

“It couldn’t hurt, and I can make sure they don’t get into any trouble.” Red said as she walked next to Teardrop, “If nothing else, they have tools and parts that could help. I’ll keep an eye on ‘em to make sure they stay out of trouble.”

He looked between the robot and myself before he let out an exasperated sigh. “Very well. We have nothing left to lose, but be careful all the same Red.” He then turned to the crowd, “Head back to your homes. If luck is with us, things will be back to normal soon.”

Murmuring started going through the crowd again, but they started to disperse and head back to their homes as a message appeared on my Pipbuck.

‘Down on their luck:’ 
Main objective - Find alternate water source for River Point Junction.
Secondary Objective - Fix Power Generator

I puffed my cheeks in annoyance, first at the fact that Teardrop handled the crowd better than I, secondly that there was now a delay to get back to my traveling companions. Most important however was that my Pipbuck seemed to know what I was doing, and was even giving titles to the ‘quests’ it liked to pick up for me. 

I was seriously convinced that somehow, somewhere, someway an AI controlled the satellite network that I assumed controlled the Pipbuck information and abilities.

“Are you displeased?” Teardrop asked as she looked at me with concern, knocking me out of my train of thought, “Should I have asked you first before offering your services? You did say-”

I held up my hoof, “Nah, I’m not mad at that. I’m just surprised-no, impressed on how well you handled that crowd.”

“Well, if you do remember I was designed to handle the Stable in case the B.F.S. program failed to handle itself properly.” Teardrop said proudly without any condescending attitude, “In fact, I have a wide variety of functions that I would be happy to go over-”

“Are you two coming or are you going to stand in the middle of the road?” Red asked.

“Coming!” We said in unison as we moved to catch up.

We entered into the main hospital, and I was utterly shocked. I was used to depressing scenes inside most buildings; floors littered with debris, plaster wearing away, windows darkened or broken, and a seemingly never ending miasma of dust. 

Yet, this place defied all expectations, and I was ok with that. “This is...amazing!”

Teardrop stopped to look at me, “What do you mean?” 

I lifted a hoof to point out the room, “Trash-free floors, re-fitted windows, and that air!” I took a deep breath, “It’s clean and even refreshing to smell! I haven't seen a place like this since I left my Stable!”

“And it’s not going to stay that way if we don’t find a new water supply or keep the generator going.” An exasperated Red said, “Seriously, are you always this distracted?” 

“I’m not used to this, don’t judge me!” I said, then stopped as Red started going upstairs, Wait, why are we going up to the generator room? Isn’t it in the basement?”

The mare shook her head, “It’s on the fifth floor, though not sure why its up there. Annoying to get to it though when the elevators are out.”

“To protect it from flooding.” Teardrop piped up, “Buildings so close to the water would want something as important as a generator on a higher level to prevent water damage.” 

I grumbled under my breath at whomever thought riverfront property was a good idea as we finally got to the fifth floor. 

A young vanilla colored unicorn colt was crying near an old but well kept toolbox, clutching a small picture close to his chest. A slightly older dark grey unicorn filly appeared from behind the generator with a foul look on her face.

“Oh will you stop crying and help me?!” She yelled, causing the colt to flinch and scoot away from her. She let out an exasperated grunt as she threw a tool on the ground, “Come on! You can cry later, for now we-”

“I-I-I-can’t help it.” He said between his sobs, sniffing as he did so, “Mom is-”

“I KNOW!” She yelled, “She friggen got herself killed just like that ass-chaser dad of ours! Now unless you want to live on the streets, get off your ass and-”

“Be calm and stay focused.” I said.

Both sets of eyes turned to me, the colt trying to sink into the corner. The filly on the other hoof mustered a glare that would give a Hellhound pause, “The hell are you?” She asked before pointing at Red, “And the hell are you doing bringing them here?”

“My name is Amber.” I spoke softly as I offered a friendly smile, “May I have your names?”

“None of your fucking business outsider.” The filly responded, “Seriously, the hell is that accent? You know what, never mind.” She gestured to the generator, “I’ve got a metric ton of shit problems I have to wade through, so why don’t you just sh-”

“Hmm, strange.” I interrupted, “I thought there was a filly in here, but all I hear is a foul wind.”

The filly stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me with her mouth hanging open, trying to find a comeback while the colt tried to suppress a snicker through his tears. I walked up to him and lowered myself to the ground so we were at eye level, “Hey there, what’s your name?” I asked softly.

He looked at me with puffed red eyes as he spoke, “Custard. My mom… mom didn’t come back.” 

“No shit she didn’t. Crying about it isn’t going to fucking help.” The foul-mouth said.

I shook my head, “It is ok to cry when sad things happen. Some ponies may say that crying shows weakness-” 

“It is-” The filly tried to cut in, but I kept going.

“But in truth, it shows character. It shows that you're alive, and that you have a heart.” I placed a hoof on his shoulder, “But right now, this town needs a hero.” I offered a gentle smile, “That means holding your tears back until your done being that hero.” I then reached into by bag and pulled out the teddy bear I had found in the school. I took a deep breath as I prepared myself for a little white lie, “But no hero should be without a sidekick. Winnie was mine for a long time, always there for me when I needed him most, especially when my own mom passed away.” His sobs slowed down as he looked at the old teddy bear, “He’s a tough one and has been lucky for me. But now he’s ready to help a new hero.” I then held it out to him, “Ready to step up to that challenge?”

Custard took the bear and looked at it for a long moment before nodding, “Yeah… yeah I’m gonna be a hero!” He said as he set it to the side and went to get some tools.

“Huh.” The filly began, “Got him to stop bawling, but that was really cheesy sh-”

I put a hoof on her mouth as I mustered a more serious look at her, “Now you have to be the dependable sister that he can count on. That also means commanding the respect of your elders, even if you are smarter than them.” 

“Oh?” She asked annoyingly, “Why the hell should I do that?”

Given the lack of denial, I was glad that my guess that the two were related was accurate, “Because right now, everypony will see you as just a little raider pony.” I let the words sink in, and I saw her expression sour, telling me I was on the right track, “You really don’t want to be some idiot raider do you?” 

“Fuck no, but what's your point?” She asked. 

I mustered the best troublemaker smile I could, “But you use intelligent words against ‘em instead of swearing like a sailor, you’ll get far more respect while looking good at the same time.”

The filly stared at me with a stunned look before a smile crept on her face, “Funny thing is, I know you’re playing me. But I suppose you got a point you bi-” She stopped herself and coughed, “Right, so why are you here?”

“Figured we could take a look at the generator as payment for taking care of me.” I gestured to Teardrop, “Her and me will follow your lead, if you share your name of course..”

She closed her eyes and started pondering, only opening them when the younger colt held some tools near his sister,with a new fire of motivation in his eyes. She nodded, “Fu-,ugh, I mean frag it. Coco is my name, but if you get in the way I’m throwing you out.”

“Agreed.” Smiling I turned to Teardrop, “Let’s get to work.” As I said that, I noticed that she and Red were giving me surprised looks, "What?"

"How did you do that?" Teardrop asked, "You couldn't talk to that crowd, but you got them to help so easily?"

I shrugged, "Always been good with kids I guess. But come on, this generator isn't fixing itself."

The five of us got to work on the large generator, and I found myself surprised at how well the two kids were handling themselves with the tools and their knowledge of the generator. Teardrops design also made things easier, as her already thin manipulators had very flexible extensions that allowed for fine manipulation. Even Red knew her way around, which made me glad there was another pony besides myself that was multi-talented. Between the five of us, the tools and equipment available, the work went quickly even with the small talk we were making. The fact that maintenance had been kept on the generator prior to this point also helped.  After about ten minutes we had the generator up and running, but we had discovered a complication.

“You’ve got to be fu-I mean-you know what, screw it-fucking kidding me!” Coco yelled as as she stamped a hoof.

Custard shrunk back from his sister and bumped into Winnie the teddy bear. He looked at it, and a surge of confidence went through him as he walked up to his sister, “Well, we at least got it working right?”

“You are f-” Coco looked at her not-so-cowering-brother, and took a deep breath to calm down. “It’s working for now, but it’s alternator is worn out and it won’t last much longer.”

“She is correct.” Teardrop said as she floated nearby, “It’s what converts the FC energy into electricity that can power the area, though this generator was never meant to be a long-term solution to power. But the modifications made to it, along with constant maintenance has kept it going for far longer than the warranty-”

“We aren’t stupid, we know what it does!” Coco snipped, “The problem is we can’t fix the damn thing with what we have on hoof!” 

“The boats in the docks have already been stripped of anything useful that could have been an alternative.” Red said.

I clicked my tongue in frustration as I was just about to ask on that front. “The protectrons systems are too different to properly convert for the generator, at least not without time River Point doesn’t have… aha!” I tapped my hoof lightly on the ground, “I’m going to be heading to Friendship City anyway, I can check for the parts there. Alternatively, there is a pony  that likes anything history related, including old maps and stuff. I can use that to find a place that should have-” I stopped as I thought about it for a moment. “Oh…”

“What is it?” Custard asked.

Pulling up my inventory menu on my Pipbuck, I switched to the menu that kept track of all holotapes that I was holding. After going through about twenty three files, I found a spot where five holovids that I had picked up from the Drive-In were still intact. I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia…” I then looked up at the others who were giving me odd looks, “Ah sorry, kind of forgot about a side-job I was doing with the others before everything happened.” I shrugged, “Still I better gather my things and head out quickly.”

“Shall I prepare the Protectrons for travel as well?” Teardrop asked.

I thought for a moment before shaking my head, “No. Leave them in the town, the ponies here could use any support they can get. It shouldn’t be hard to reroute their command functions to a terminal that can be controlled. Coco and Custard’s skills should be enough to keep them operating.” I looked at Red, “That’s if you want them of course.”

Red stared at me for a moment in surprise before nodding, “I mean yeah, we’ll take them if you really don’t want them, but how much-”

“Consider them a gift.” I said, “They will do you more good than me. Which then leaves one other question…” I then turned to Teardrop, “What do you want to do?”

“What?” She asked with a confused tone.

“What do you want to do?” I repeated, “You can travel with me, help the town here, or go off on your own if you like.” I offered her a smile, “That’s what free will is about after all.”

“I… I’m not sure.” She said, “I’m designed to help run a stable. I’m not really sure what to do beyond that.”

I pondered for a moment before tapping my hoof on the ground, “Why don’t you stay here for the time being then? I think your skill set would do the town some good.”

“Have I displeased you?” She asked. 

I shook my head, “Not at all. But you handled yourself well with the ponies here, and you're more designed to help with tech than getting shot at. Which tends to happen to me. A lot. Frequently.”

Teardrop chuckled, “Well that is true on most fronts.” She then lowered her audio volume, “But I am surprised your words reached those kids.”

I glanced back at the two. Coco was reorganizing the tools to her liking while Custard was holding his ‘new’ teddy bear, fighting to hold back tears as he hugged it. “Well, I guess I’ve been good with kids, though I’m not sure why.” I said quietly before looking back at her, “But thanks again for saving my hide in the Stable, I really-”

Whatever words I was about to speak were lost as a message appeared in my Pipbuck, one that I had never seen before. The others tried to speak to me, but they might as well been yelling through the doors of a sealed stable as I reread the message over and over again.

Watchers Mission: Hope of Tomorrow - ‘Deliver Military Grade File’ 

Mission Failed. 

~~~~~~~~~Hoofnote~~~~~~~~~
95% remaining til next level

Did you seriously expect to gain another level? You FAILED your primary mission!
> Chapter 5: Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“WHAT IN THE BLOODY TARTARUS DID YOU DO?!” I screamed as I slammed a motel door open.

When I found myself staring at an empty room, I felt my my anger replaced with a slight concern. I looked down at my EFF, and while it showed my ‘tracking’ arrow was in the room, there were no targets inside. I unsheathed my shovel and slowly walked in, keeping my eyes open for any sign of an ambush. 

Three of the four beds had been used recently, and there were some scattered bits of trash around the room as well, but nothing else of note. Finally I found what my ‘arrow icon’ was locked onto: a familiar grenade launcher. The thing was broken again, and there was a note on it.

‘Amber, please read note on the table.’ Pincers writing was clear to read.

I grumbled as I walked over to a small nightstand with another note on it that looked like someone had used it for- ugh. I tried to ignore it as I noticed another note with a badly drawn arrow pointing at the unused bed. Going over to it (and fighting hard to control my annoyance) I started reading Gildanns clawed writing.

‘Amber, we turned in the file and accepted a job to guard a caravan since we don’t know when you will be back. We should be back in about a week, the rooms are covered for the next six months, and we get one free meal a day.’

I set the note down and calmly walked over to the bed where an unruffled pillow sat idly. I slammed my head into the poofy thing and let out a very muffled scream of absolute frustration. 

“Miss Amber?” Teardrop asked quietly.

I lifted my head off the pillow and was met with a robot giving me a concerned look that wouldn’t look out of place from a puppy (which was impressive with her thin mechanical arms and eye stocks). As I looked over her custom framework and unique paint job, I felt my rage starting to subside. Slightly. I noted she had the note in her claw so I didn’t have to explain the situation. 

“I’m… well, not alright. But I’ll manage for the time being.” I patted her on the head, “It’s easier with you here in any case…” My words trailed off as I hadn’t exactly planned to not find them. 

In fact I hadn’t planned on that eventuality at all. When I had gotten the ‘Failed Mission’ message, I had quickly taken off to Friendship City. My original hope was to track the file directly, but I hadn’t ‘tagged’ the file when I first acquired it. The Pipbuck hadn’t updated the quest either to try and recover it, like it knew it was hopeless. With no other option I had switched to tracking Crackerjacks grenade launcher so I could at least find them and figure out what the hell happened.

Poor Teardrop followed me and got her first real taste of wasteland hospitality when five idiot raiders tried to ambush us. After killing three of them and driving off the other two, Teardrop was horrified to find I was taking anything they had of value before burning the bodies. I explained that it never sat right with me to leave a body to rot, so burning was the best solution. I then realized that I had to give her an explanation of how the Wasteland worked:little could be wasted, fight for survival, and bottle caps are the current accepted currency. 

Out of all that, she seemed really flabbergasted about the whole bottle cap thing. 

But back to the bigger problem at hoof, I refused to give up on the file. I asked around about my… friends to get an idea of what may have happened. However, the guards I asked only gave seemingly random and gruff responses about not bothering them, jokingly about if somepony stole a sweet roll, or talking about being adventurous like me before getting shot in the knee. Finally it clicked that there might be one pony that would have a better idea about the ponies I was looking for…

“Wait, that wasn’t you?” The elder motel owner asked.

I took a deep breath as I gathered my patience, “Why would I be asking if it was me?”

“Well, you have about the same build and accent of the pony who had the room.” He responded.

My mental train came to a fiery wreck that engulfed all other thoughts at this revelation. “Wait, somepony who sounded like me?!” 

He nodded, “Yep. Even had glasses like you too. Though she was wearing some sort of thick cloak that you wern’t.” He then rubbed a hoof under his chin, “Funny thing though. I saw her go up to the room with the others you described, but I never saw her come back down when they did.” He gestured at me, “It’s why I was confused when you barged in all angry like an hour after they left.”

I glanced at the EFS, and it showed that there were no other detectable targets in the area. “So, as far as you were aware, my group is the only one currently renting rooms, and nopony saw anyone else besides them leave?”

He nodded, “Yep. Two other groups have rooms as well, but they usually don’t come back till’ later at night. No windows or back doors upstairs either, so unless one can teleport, no one gets out without me or the night pony noticing.” He smirked, “Good way to make sure ponies don’t try to skip on the bills.”

I didn’t bother pointing out that everypony had to pay in advance for the rooms anyway. I left and tried talking to a few guards and others that were wandering about, but most barely said a word, if not ignoring me outright. Meaning that my search for the file was effectively at a dead end.

But more important, how my Pipbuck knew that I couldn’t find the means to track the file, (or for that matter, knew I couldn’t accomplish certain tasks) before I did was both astounding and damn annoying.

“What will we do now?” Teardrop asked.

I pondered for a moment, “Well, the others won’t be back anytime soon, and I don’t exactly want to risk dangerous jobs with just the two of us.” I pulled up my Pipbuck menu and went to my quest log. “Wait.” I started at it for a moment, “Huh, well that’s one thing we can do…” 

“Welcome to Equestria Historium, home of some of the last historical artifacts of the old world!” A red unicorn mare greeting me and Teardrop as we walked in, “How may I-oh! Hello Amber, how are you doing today?”

I waved at the red unicorn, “Honestly, it’s been a rough day.” I grumbled as I thumped my head against the counter. “I’m also surprised you remember me.”

She chuckled, “Oh I make a point to remember everyone who comes into my shop, especially those who are working for me. And I see you have a new friend with you.” 

I rolled my head to look at Teardrop as she curtsied, “Greetings, I am Teardrop. It is a pleasure to meet you miss…?”

“Ink Rose the Twelfth if we are pushing hairs,” She said, and I mentally thanked Teardrop for asking as I couldn’t remember. “But you can just call me Ink Rose.” She then looked at me, “Now my counter isn’t much for sleeping, so what can I do for you?”

“You said that this was Equestrian Historium?” Teardrop asked, “Do you teach history?”

“I’m glad you asked!” She then gave an old Equestrian Military Salute (I think), “My family have been historians and librarians for generations. I’ve been keeping up the tradition and always looking for any history that can be recovered before its lost forever.” She then gestured to the various items in the room, “This little paradise of mine holds irreplaceable pieces of our history, as it’s important to remember the past in order to build a better future!”

“Wait! Is this the signed documentation making Lunas Reign over Equestria confirmed?!” Teardrop squeed as she stared at the document. 

“Yep.” Ink said proudly, “My family have been historians and librarians for generations. I’ve been keeping up the tradition and always looking for any history that can be recovered before its lost forever.” She then put a hoof under her cheek, “Strange, your voice sounds familiar…”

“Oh!” Teardrop floated over, “That could be because I am based off Twilight Sparkle herself!” 

“Really?!” Inks attention was fully on the robot, ignoring the fact that my head was still on the counter, “There are many questions I would love to ask-”

“My personality is based on Twilight, but I don’t have her memories. I could give you a reasonable idea of her opinions and the like though.” Teardrop said.

Part of me wished I had a camera to capture the ‘before’ and ‘after’ expressions of Ink as she went from utterly elated to completely disappointed. That dark part of me got thumped and shoved back into whatever dark corner of my soul it spawned from, though I swore I heard it cackling as a very dejected ‘Oh’ came from the unicorn. 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Teardrop said, “I seem to have upset you.”

Ink Rose shook her head, “No, it’s not you… just thought I might have a gateway to the past was all.” She smiled, “Don’t fret about it, you’re fine as you are.”

Despite her words I could feel she was still disappointed. I felt bad for her and decided it was time to do something about it, “I do have a consolation prize.” I said as I set down the items from the Drive-In, “Found three fully intact movies for you, and five bags of magically preserved unpopped popcorn as a free bonus.”

“Excellent!” She clapped her hooves together, her mood improving, “More than expected and you even kept them in their protective casing to prevent damage. Even better!” She put a bag of bottle caps on the counter where my head had just been. “750 altogether for a job well done, though I was surprised when your friends came back without you.”

“Yeah we got a bit sidetracked…” I said as I glanced into my bag.

Sitting in one of the side pouches were the pile of holotapes that had been recovered from Stable 66. A thought crossed my mind that Ink might be interested in listening to the past of a stable. I opened my mouth to make an offer, only to stop and look at Teardrop who was back to ogling over other historical items that were in the shop.

“Teardrop. I want to talk to you about something.” I finally said, walking away from the counter.

She turned to look at me, “Yes?”

I stared into her optics as I searched for the words I was looking for. “Teardrop.” I finally began, “I didn’t think about this before, but I found a number of holotapes in the Overmares Office.” I opened by bag to reveal them, “I haven't listened to them yet.”

She hovered a little closer and looked at them before looking at me, “Why are you telling me this?”

‘Ok, don’t screw this up.’ I mentally told myself, “Because… even if you were only awake for a short time, Stable 66 was a home for you. I wanted to give you the choice to listen to those who lived there. However…” I took a deep breath, “You may not like what you hear.” 

An awkward silence came between us as we looked at one another. She then extended a claw and slowly picked up a holotape and stared at it intently. “I… I was supposed to be the backup personality for the Stable. But I never really got that chance…”

Her words were lost as she continued looking at the holotape. While I felt odd just standing there, I also felt that I couldn’t just walk away, or even really stretch for that matter. It would really ruin the mood, and I didn’t want to distract her unnecessarily as she made such a difficult decision. 

“You planning on selling them?” Ink Rose asked in my ear after about two minutes, causing me to jump “If not, I do have other customers to get to.” 

“Oh, sorry!” Teardrop and I said in unison as we moved away from the counter and towards the shop exit.

The unicorn waved at us, “Thank you for visitings Equestrian Historium, have a nice day!”

I waved back before turning my attention to Teardrop, “Would you rather wait?” I asked.

She was quiet for a few moments longer before turning to me, “Will you listen to them with me?”

I was caught off-guard by the question to be honest, and was going to ask her to confirm that she wanted my presence. But when I looked into her optics (all three of them), I couldn’t help but nod, “Of course.”

We went back to the room the others had acquired and began going through the surprisingly high number of holotapes I had. 'Seriously, how did I fit all of them in my bag with everything else?!. I wondered to myself.

Most of them were progress reports of the stable; logistical reports, maintenance tickets, and supply manifests. A few of the holotapes were of Overmares initiations and stepping down, but nothing that talked about how things in the stable actually operated, or what they even did. What was more strange, at least to me, was that somehow my Pipbuck had ‘organized’ all of the holotapes It wasn’t alphabetical order, it wasn’t based on dates, it all seemed based on what would be more ‘relevant’ to what we wanted to listen to. 

“So, if your hunch is correct, these holotapes most likely detail the last days of the stable?” Teardrop asked as she looked through them.

I looked at the last batch and nodded, “Sure of it. Only the Sisters know how this thing is able to do that-” I gave a suspicious glance at my Pipbuck, “But it hasn’t steered me wrong before.” I then looked back at Teardrop and put a hoof on one of her ‘arms’. “You sure about this?”

She nodded silently. Taking a deep breath I inserted the first of final holotapes.

“Overmare Acorn now officially reporting in. It should be a happy day right? Being assigned from chief engineer to the new ‘Best Foalsitter Ever’ assistant. I get to chose who should have children, I get to have the best pick of the events in the stable, and everypony will look up to me when the system is busy for guidance and the like. So why does my heart feel so heavy?” 

She was silent for a moment before thumping her hoof on what I assumed was her desk, “Oh right, my big sister White Oak and best friend Maple Sugar got sent out of the Stable to supposedly go to ‘Big Town’ where all of the ‘adult ponies’ have to go. I mean, they each had kids of their own already, and they were able to stay a few more years than normal but… I can’t shake a nagging feeling. Like I’m never going to see them again.” She let out a deep sigh before continuing, “I’m going to have to move carefully so that computer program won’t notice what I’m up to. But I will figure out where this ‘Big Town’ is and make sure that they are alright.” She tapped her hoof on the table again, “Good thing I ‘disconnected’ the Overmare’s Office from the AI core . The thing still thinks there was an accident and hasn't been able to find the problem.

When it ended, Teardrop gave me a curious look, “Big Town?” 

I shrugged, “Never heard of a town with that name.” I ejected the first one and inserted another. 

“Well, I figured going through official channels wouldn’t work. Naturally nopony has any idea of the place beyond what the computer has said: ‘It’s a place where the adult ponies live and can be happy.’ But I’m not buying it at all.”

The beeping of a computer came over the holotape, "Even with the combat training and weapons, the ‘travelers’ still have to give up their Pipbucks to the younger generation. That is a major disadvantage for them, especially since Pipbucks would be more useful out there rather that in the Stable. Even more troubling is that I haven't found a single instance of the outside trying to communicate with us, or us trying to reach out to them. Hell, not even any signs of children being born out there and being brought back for safety.” 

She let out a groan as I made out the distinct sound of her drinking something before setting a bottle too close to the recorder. “Requests to send search teams have been met with ‘Oh, but it’s far too dangerous for little foals to go outside! 'Besides, it’s better to be here with your super best friend and foal sitter right?’ Ugh, Annoying AI. But I think I have a plan that should give some answers. Hopefully the Sisters are looking out for me.”

I tried to resist the urge to snicker, “She does a good Pinky impression.”

“Amber.” Teardrop said disapprovingly, not unlike a parent scolding a child.

I gave her a sheepish grin before playing the next holotape.

The sound of tapping came through the recording for a few seconds before Acorn started speaking, “It has been a year now since I took over, and I find it funny. I always believed the Overmare’s position was mostly used for pairing others up regardless of ponies feelings on the matter, since we do need to reproduce to keep our numbers up. I always felt that it was rigged, or there were hidden agendas when certain ponies were paired up and I hated it. Especially when sis’ didn’t get chosen with the partner she wanted, even though everypony thought it was a good match. I swore that if I became Overmare that I wouldn’t do such things to the others and yet… it’s the only thing I can do. See, my replacement in the engineering department is Maples kid sister, Cotton Ball. The poor filly has been sweet on one of the security guards, Apple Seed for years. The idiot lug only has eyes for resident pretty mare Sparkle Water.”

Acorn let out a shudder before continuing, “No accounting for taste or personality. Thing is, Sparkle likes Apple Seed, which leaves me with a problem. I promised that Cotton could have Apple as her chosen partner in return for a favor. See, I’ve convinced the AI that we have more robots than we need, so one of the older models are going to be sent with the next wave of ‘Travelers’. During its reprogramming to handle acting without the AI, Cotton Ball secretly installed a transmitter that will allow me to see and hear what exactly it's like on the outside. For additional security I constructed a receiver that should be able to receive the transmissions on a coded frequency that the AI won’t detect. Hopefully. Well, at least Cotton Ball can be happy with Apple Seed. Again, hopefully.”

I looked at the last three holotapes with uncertainty, “I don’t like where this is going...  are you ready?”

She stared at it for a moment before nodding and I slipped it into my Pipbuck. I waited expectedly for a few seconds when I noted that there was no sound emanating from the little computer. I looked at the screen and saw that it was playing, so I put my ear closer to see if there was something wrong with the volume.

“CELESTIA DAMMIT!” Acorn screamed, causing me to flinch as my ears began ringing. 

“Ow.” I whined, though Teardrop ignored me as she listened intently.

“I knew it! I fucking knew it! That Luna cursed AI has been lying to us since day one!” She took several deep breaths before speaking at a more reasonable level.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on the group for the last week now. Things were rough out there, but none showed signs of radiation poisoning, so that was a small bonus. However, after reaching the coordinates of Big Town…” She was quiet for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. “Our group was attacked by other survivors, ones not from the Stable. They killed half of them and damaged the robot, but I could still see and hear. I saw…” 

She sounded on the verge of crying as she spoke again, “I saw White Oak. She… she… damn it all, she was the best of us. Always looked out for the little ones and was a fair and thoughtful Overmare, better than I’ve been. But now… she was helping the attackers. She was laughing as the others were tortured, raped…” She took in another deep breath, “I can’t allow any others to suffer a similar fate. But that damn AI is big on rules, and doesn’t ever budge from them regardless of what the situation is.”

The familiar sound of tapping on the desk started up as she continued, “I can’t risk the failsafe. For all I know, the reprogrammed ‘personality’ would be no better than the current one. I’m going to have to shut down the AI core if we are going to keep this Stable alive, but I will have to move extremely carefully. The damn thing has control of the various robots and cameras, but I have to find a way. I must find a way, for everypony still in the stable. As for those that already... well, one thing at a time. One thing…” Her voice trailed off before the recording stopped.

“They didn’t trust me.” Teardrop said. She had tried to keep her voice even, but I could hear the sadness in her voice. “I would… I would have done things differently…”

I set a hoof gently on her chassis, “They didn’t know you, and Acorn clearly had a distrust of AI’s even before the revelation. If you noticed, she never once even called Pinkie by her name, only referring to her as ‘that computer program’ or AI at best. They never gave you the chance you deserved.”

Somehow I could tell that Teardrop cheered up a little when I said that. I didn’t bother to bring up the fact that she may have well been as much a slave to her programming as the Pinkie AI. I guessed that the only reason that Teardrop was different was because of the fact that the Pinkie AI had taken most of the protocols and command functions with her, leaving Teardrop as a partial backup that was slowly growing to be her own individual to fill in the gaps. 

Yeah, I figured she really didn’t need to hear my opinion on the matter. Instead I picked up the second to last holotape and put it in my Pipbuck. I took a deep breath as I prepared myself for bad news.

“Overmare Acorn speak- no, that title really doesn’t apply anymore does it?” She was silent for a moment before speaking again, “Guess this will be the last progress report I give in this Stable, and there is a lot to cover.” The familiar sound of her drinking from a bottle echoed over the recording, “The damnable computer program caught on to what our plan was before we could get all the bots out from under her control. As expected, when I presented the data acquired from the outside, she tried to dismiss it and wanted to have business as usual. A battle broke out which cost us over sixty percent of the robots along with at least 20% of the entire stable. The losses would be acceptable… but just to spite us the damn computer broke the water talisman as a last ditch effort to retain control before somepony put a few bullets into the thing."

The sound of a computer terminal being typed on came through the holotape, “We’ve got about three months of good water left before the stable will be uninhabitable. There are a few places that might have a usable water talisman for a replacement, but sending out even a small team would be suicide, especially with the… raiders outside. Worse, the computer apparently helped manage the rest of the stable systems, and we can’t run properly them without it. With no other option, I’ve ordered preparations to abandon the stable enmasse. While the others prepare, I will personally lead an elite force against the raiders so they aren’t a threat, and hope to the Sun and Moon that something goes right for us.”

As the holotape ended, I didn’t even give Teardrop time to process the message as I switched to the last holotape. Now I wanted to know the last chapter.

The all too familiar sound of her hoof tapping the desk began to echo through the holotape, “Well, we did it. We won.” 

Despite her words, her tone was not one of victory, “We got lucky and came across a settlement that had been suffering from them for some time. With their help, the raiders were no match for us. My sister was captured alive, and she begged and pleaded for me to spare her, making excuses for the actions she committed. When I asked her what happened to Maple, she broke down screaming that she was sorry over and over again, that she didn’t want to kill him. The moment I heard that… well, I suppose we all have to grow up in this wasteland.”

The tapping stopped as there was an inaudible voice that spoke for a few seconds. “Well, that’s a good bit of news at least. We rescued some prisoners from the same settlement centered around an old hospital complex, and  we came to an agreement. We are going to help fortify the place, give them some of our technology for maps of the area, as well as taking in our youngest, weakest, and most injured from our Stable.” 

Acorn stopped for a moment as if thinking on the decision, “I hate splitting up the residents, but there is just no way they can support over seven hundred residents, plus their own. The fact that they are willing to take in over two hundred is a kindness. Or I would like to say that, but the truth is that they have taken losses from raiders and other things that live out here, and they need the help and pony power.”

I could hear sounds of a terminal being accessed, “As far as the rest of us, we are heading north to find somewhere to call home. The west is in bad ways, and the south was already a wasteland before the war. The north sounds problematic, but we can go beyond the border towards the Crystal Empire. Old documents suggest that there is some kind of transport we can take to avoid the worst of the weather, and that there might be livable locations beyond. I’m just hoping the sisters grant us better luck than those that came before… “ She stopped tapping on the desk and let out a chuckle, “Surprising to say, but I’m going to miss this desk. Only one and a half years of being Overmare, and I broke the stable. Well, here’s hoping for the best. This is Acorn, signing off.”

“Amber!” Teardrop suddenly yelled. 

Her other words were lost to me. Her sudden outburst caused me to jump, lose my balance, and smack onto the floor in an unceremonious mess. While I wasn’t certain, I thought I heard an old pony yelling about ‘not breaking the rooms’. I didn’t have time to verify as I recovered and saw Teardrop staring at me intently.

"Did you hear what I said?!" She asked with urgency.

“Ow. I’m fine by the way.” I rubbed my head as I got up, “What’s wrong?”

She put her claws together and bowed slightly, “I apologize for my abruptness, but how old are the holotapes?!”

I could hear a desperation in her voice as her eyes looked at me pleadingly, “Alright give me a moment.” I said as I flicked through my Pipbucks screens back to the holotape and looked into its details. “Lets see… with this timestamp, I’d say this all happened about fifty some-odd years ago.”

Teardrop was quiet as she processed the information, and honestly I couldn’t blame her. I allowed her the time she needed before looking back at me, “Have you ever heard of an exodus of Stable Dwellers before?”

“Can’t say that I have, but I haven't asked before either.” I thought for a moment, “Could be why ponies are only slightly surprised when they see my own stable suit though-oh! Maybe Ink Rose heard something-”

She shot out of the room in a purple blur before I could finish. I let out a little sigh as I gathered up all of the holotapes and put them into my saddlebag before slowly trotting after her. By the time I reached the Historium, the purple robot flew out and nearly smacked into me.

“Amber! She has records of them traveling through here! She wants some caps in order for me to fully access the information, so I would like to request-”

“Slow down Tear.” I said sternly. I felt that my tone might have been harsher than I meant it to sound when she recoiled away from me, “One step at a time. First off, what are you hoping to accomplish?”

“I have to find them!” She exclaimed, “They are my responsibility, it’s what I was born to do! While I’m thankful that you rescued me from being lost, it was my duty to serve the ponies from Stable 66, so I must find them!”

I closed my eyes as my mind began rapid-firing possibilities and things I could say to her. For the briefest of moments I could almost swear there was another voice mixed in with those thoughts, distant and otherworldly that, while slow on its end to come up with ideas, seemed to be processing almost instantly for me. Within moments, I came to a conclusion of what I wanted to say.

“You want to help them because it is your duty, right? Well, there is a very real chance that you won’t find them willing to accept the help of an AI if Acorn spread her own disdain towards your kind to the others, especially with what happened with the Pinkamena AI.”

I stopped and wondered where that nickname came from, and Teardrop seemed confused as well for a moment before shrugging it off. Somehow I also felt my Pipbuck just updated the things name....

“That… is a valid point.” She gestured to herself, “But I feel I still have to try.”

I realized quickly she wasn’t going to budge from this, even if I tried pointing out how dangerous the wasteland was to travel in, or how much she disliked that part. Then a new idea came to me, “There is a way for you to help them without looking for the main group.”

She cocked her eye stocks in confusion, “How so?”

“River Point Junction.” I said with certainty, “Acorn said a hospital location took a large number of them in right? That place showed clear signs of well thought out fortification, and it did look a lot cleaner than most settlements, right?” 

She stared at me for a moment before the realization came through to her, “You’re right.” She glanced at my saddlebag, “They did leave a number of their youngest at the settlement didn’t they?”

“That’s right. We don’t know where the others went exactly.” I pointed in the general direction of River Pointe, “But we have their descendants suffering right now. Are you just going to leave them behind while they suffer?”

“No.” She said quietly before she hovered a few inches higher and spoke more loudly, “No, I will not abandon them now!”

“Damn straight!” I replied, “We are going to do our best to help them, and they will be happy to have it!”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” I raised a hoof to the robot with a confident smile and she hit it with the flat end of her claw.

“We can do this together!” She said with enthusiasm, before looking at me curiously, “So, where do we begin?”

I placed a hoof under my chin, “I’ve got a few ideas…”

“Ink Rose really knows her stuff, doesn’t she?” Teardrop said as she placed a few items in my saddle bag.

I nodded as I went through one last inventory check on my Pipbuck  , “She’s very enthusiastic about her work. Though I am surprised,” I turned to the purple robot, “Surprised that you allowed me to sell the holotapes of Stable 66.”

“Well, I’ve heard them already.” She said quietly before turning to me, “Besides, the trade gave us the information that we needed to get started with the search.”

I nodded as I pulled up my Pipbuck and looked over the updated map section, “Indeed. The Razzi’s Rangers Mercenary group she hired did a really thorough job mapping out the various regions in the area. Makes up for the cost, especially since this intel is only a week old.”

I scrolled in and looked at a few marked locations, “So there is a water plant located here that should still have a working water talisman, but old cloudmagic has prevented any pony from being able to access it. We’ll have to wait until Gildann returns with the others.” I flicked through a few other mapped locations, “But there are several buildings in Manehattan that should have parts for the generator, along with replacement fusion cores.”

“But there was nothing wrong with the fusion core.” Teardrop said.

“True-ish.” I nodded, “The fusion core was doing fine, but with it trying to work with a malfunctioning generator, having a spare or two wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

She thought for a moment before nodding her eye stalks, “Very true. So do you have an idea of where we should go?”

“Yep.” I pointed at the destination, “And this seems to be a good place to investigate.”

Teardrop hovered closer to take a look. The destination I chose was the Ministry of Morale.



Hoofnote

New Quest: Solve River Point Junctions Water Problem

*Bonus Objective - Find new parts for River Points Junction

New Quest - Find out why your allies gave away Watchers Disk

*Optional - Shoot the idiots.