It was a large room that I sat it, with clean wooden fools, and smooth stone walls, but no ceiling. That or the ceiling looked like the sky, magic can do that sometimes. Also, hanging from the walls wew balcony's looking into the room. Each one filled with burly figures, some looked like ponies, others didn't. Catching my eye the most was in the middle of the room, an earth pony mare sitting on a large decorated bronze jar. Both the mare and the jar were beautiful.

The mare was the color of gold, her coat seemed to shine in the light, her mane was like a smooth curtain, and her long tail wrapped around the base of the jar. She had no Cutie Mark that I could see.

Her head slowly turned to look at me, giving me a warm smile. "Have you come to see me again my love? It's been so long, I fear that something may have happened to delay you." The mares voice was beautiful, like that of some of the actors from the movies I had seen. "If you were worried, I've been taking care of our wedding gift until you returned. Not once has it opened, not at all, not a peek." She bobbed her head as she spoke the last words, her main gently swish back and forth.

Stepping foreword, I could not help but feel a bit confused. "I'm sorry, but you've confused me with some pony else." the mare tilted her head. "can you tell me his name, I might be able to look for him for you."

"You jest my love. You are here, so you must be my love."

Closer, the mare realy did look like she was made of gold, other then the white part of her eyes, everything was the color of gold. "Who are you?" my voice spoke in a hush tone, but carried as though I shouted.

"My love, I am your bride Aurum. The god of the sky has gifted me to you, along with this pithos as a wedding gift. But I was told it must never be opened." and so she was sitting on top of it, like she was desperately trying to keep it shut.

"I'm sorry but I don't understand, who this god of the sky, I know of Luna and Celestia. Can you explain this to me?" This was getting weird, and maybe an explanation would make it I less weird to me.

The golden mare tilted her head. "I'm sorry my love, I thought you were informed. You brother has vested the god of the sky in a fair contest. Won fire for your people so that the night can be concurred. In extension of his victory, the god of the sky has sent me to be your bride, and this beautiful pithos as our wedding gift."

This did not tell me anything, other then the mare must not be right in the head. "So you were told to never open it?" She looked away as she nodded. I was terrible at telling if some pony was lieing, or just keeping a secret from me, but Aurum was as subtle as searchlights on the opening day of a new movie theater. "did you open it?"

Aurum shook her head back and forth. Her golden mane swished as her heads moment. Like searchlights.

"what was in it?" I pressed. It was not like I realy Wanted to know, but I felt like I might be here forever if I didn't get an answer. "It's okay if you told me"

She turned her back to me. "You wont be mad if I told you?"

sighing, I didn't even know Aurum, I was not her husband, so I doubt I could be mad at her for open a jar. "no, I will not be mad."

Stepping off the jar, Aurum turned to me. "I'm sorry my love, I had to know what was in it. To give me such a gift, and tell my to never know what was inside. It felt like a crule joke that the god would never play, so jut took a little peek."

The lid of the jar rumbled, and open a little bit. Aurum scrambled to close it, her hooves slamming on top with a clang. But it was too late, an ink black smoke streamed out like a boiling steam from a kettle, roaring like a ferocious beast. The poor mare Aurum was engulfed in the smoke, her cry's for help were drowned out. I tried to run to her aid, but found my hooves stuck to the floor, forcing me to simply watch the terrible seen take place.

The black smoke slowly lifted into the sky, dissipating from the small area of the room it had covered. Everything it had touched had turned black, the floor, the jar, and even Aurum was now black. She turned her head to me, coughing up black smoke, her eyes were now the only thing still golden. "sorry my love, I couldn't help myself." Aurum reached out her hoof to me, but it broke off, falling to the ground as a pile of black sand. The rest of Aurum followed, along with the jar, forming a large pile of black sand with two golden orbs resting on top. A small white jewel floated above the black sand, bathing everything in a warm light. The light it bathed me in made me feel like everything would be alright in the end, but it floating out of the room, leaving everything feeling cold.

The blackened ground became a hole, taking all the black sand with it into depths unknown. The hole slowly grew wider, taking parts not blacked with it, threatening to take me, my own hooves still stuck. With as much strength I could muster, I pulled at my front hooves to free them. With a cracking sound, the wood splintered under one hoof, some of the floor still stuck to my hoof like it was glued to it. With the one hoof free, it became easier to pull at the second hoof. The second front hoof becoming free with another cracking sound of wood. The black hole was getting close, so I pushed even harder to get my back hooves free. With three hooves pushing down as I pulled one up, it cam put with more of a pop. The last hoof came out even faster, but in my struggle to get free I stumbled foreword.

I looked down into the hole, it was nothing but a black abyss with no bottom in sight. A chill rushed down mt spine, as I felt any hope drain from me.

With hast, I ran to the door, of which there was none in this room. The room didn't even have a window, and the balcony's were to high for me to reach even reach. "HAY! GET ME OUT OF HERE! I KNOW YOUR THERE, SO PLEASE JUST THROW ME A ROPE."

"Your worse then the hopeless. At least they know that their place is in the pit." a familiar voice of a mare came from above. From that balcony a coil of rope fell from above, and I bit onto it, holding all with all the strength I could muster.

Feeling myself be pulled up, when I could I hooked my hooves to the balcony, and pulled myself up. "thanks." my voice strained as I pulled myself up. But there she was, Thorn, giving a spine chilling smile right at me.

Thorn had let go of the rope that I still needed to help pull myself onto the balcony, leavening me dangling above the hole by two hooves. "It;s so sad that Ponies like you need to be shown that there is no hope. That you must just let go and let the inevitabul take you." she kicked one of my hooves free, sending me into a swinging motion. "Before you go, can you answer me one question. Do you know another name for madness?"

Being told that you will die did not fuel any need to answer the equestrian with any seriousness, so I went with what felt right. "Who is Thorn Roseland?"

She smirked. "ohhhh... so close. What you were thinking of was glorious. But the answer to the question, the name is Equestria."

With a kick, I fell into the black abyss. In the darkness I felt nothing but a chilling cold that passed right through me. It's what I imagined what being dead must felt like. With no reward for a nopony that did nothing for anypony. Just cold darkness to embrace me.

*Beeeeep, Beeeep, Beeeep*

The floor was just not the most conformable place to wake up. It was cold and hard, but at least my flank was still in bed, under the warm covers.

*Beeeeep, Beeeep, Beeeep*

"Just a moment!" Getting on my hooves, and stretching. It was not hard to tell that someone was buzzing the door, well beeping it. Stables are weird. "I'm coming!"

Trotting to the door I pressed the button to open it. With a soft hiss, the door revealed a exhausted looking June and Healing Herbs. behind them was Zaan and Under Brush, probably here to escort me out.

Most jobs that I had were like this. Not wanting a seen, so the local security were to quickly and quietly get the fired employee out. At least I thees two would be nice about, and probably sneak me a treat on the way.

In Healing Herbs magic was a clip board, and a metal like cylinder. The cylinder itself looked like the same as the thing Musket Ball used to install the tactical program for S.T.A.T. My guess it was the key to getting the pipbuck off my leg. "Mister Slowtrot, good to see that your awake, and still healthy" Healing Herbs voice was strained. "On behalf of Stable-Tec, I do apologize for the stress this pipbuck has put you thru, and I'm happy to say that we can now safely free you from it."

I looked to June, she gave me a nod. "thanks, but it was not that bad..." then I remembered that the thing nearly killed me. "well what I mean is that Stable-Tec has been nothing but hospitable." I moved to the side to let them in.

Healing Herbs walked into the room, choosing to stand in the middle of the floor. June joined her, as the other two stayed outside.

When Healing Herbs opened to say something, June cut her off by lofting a hoof in front of her. "Right, we can dance around the issue all day, but then two of us will fall asleep standing. So after we get that abomination off your leg, Healing Herbs want's you to sign a form. It's so that you will not sue Stable-Tec, or talk about what you haves seen or heard. In return you will be compensation for your time here."

Healing Herbs cleared her throat. "that is true, if a bit blunt. Mister Slowtrot, Stable-Tec has an image to uphold, and if it becomes knows that there is a pipbuck that can and will kill it's user, it would be a P.R. disaster. That's why it has been decided that you will be given a ticket to a stable as part of your compensation. Not this one, headquarters has chosen Stable 100. but only if you agree to our terms."

I already had a long time to think about what would happen if I didn't do things their way. Stable-Tec is the biggest company in Equestria, and making sure that I didn't talk about what they did want me to talk about would be easy. Sending me to another Stable was probably the easiest, and cheapest ways to do it. I could say no. It was a choice I could make. But even I knew it was the same as ether choosing to go to the corner, or bight a bullet. It was a chose, but ether way they would get what they wanted.

"Fair enough, I'll accept the terms." the best thing for me to do was to just agree with the terms. They were already offering stable ticket, so there was only going down from here if I chose to be greedy.

Healing Herbs floated over the clipboard, placing it on the ground in front of me. "there are a few lines you need to sign. But before we do that, that pipbuck needs to come off."

June stepped over to me, lifting my left foreleg up and closer to Healing Herbs. "now your probably going to feel a sharp pain right before the pibuck let's go of you. Think of it like ripping off a bandage, and you will be just fine."

The cylinder stuck into a port on the upper part of the pipbuck, much like Musket Balls program had. My vision blurred a bit as all the icons of the E.F.S. all lit up, before slowly fading away. Like June said, a sharp pain shot up my arm, except it felt like fire in my veins. I'd have thrashed around if it were that I had also become paralyzed, preventing me from even groaning in pain.

After a long few second, the pain subsided, I most fell to the ground when I could move again. On the ground next to me, was the pipbuck 2600, still looking like a peace of armor. "That was far more then a sharp pain!"

"Sorry about that, all we knew was that it would hurt, not how bad."

Healing Herbs placed the clipboard in front of me. "Just sign at the bottom of the page, and then were done."

Looking at the paper, it was far more slim then I thought it was going to be. "I though it be, well thicker then this.?"

Healing Herbs sighed. "No, this is just concerning your stay for the next few days. By signing this, you agree that you will stay under Stable-Tec's supervision. Once all the legal paperwork is finished, you will be free to go home."

"so, am I staying in the stable?"

June lifted up her hoof, interrupt Healing Herbs again. "You will be spending time at Stable-Tec's resort that's on the island. It's a bit isolated, so as long as you stay on the property, you wont have any ponies following you around. Also, the drinks will be free for the first day."

Taking the pen in my mouth, I singed my name. It was just me agreeing to stay at the resort until they had all their paperwork sorted out. It was a fare trade, and the free drinks were a nice added insensitive.

Taking the clipboard and the pipbuck in her magic, Healing Herbs simply walked out of the room with them, and out of sight.

June shook her head. "Don't mind her, shes normally much nicer. Now let's get going, there's a few ponies who will want to say goodby before you go."

I shrugged, the 2600 was no longer my problem. Gathering what few things I owned here, I fallowed June out. Zaan, and Underbrush were our escorts.

"Surprise!" With a pop, confetti covered my head. Prancer Dancer, and Hydrangea had been waiting for me behind the door to the atrium, with party poppers at the ready. Prancer has a big grin on her face, the mare was in her element right now. "You may be going away, but that doesn't mean you cant have a party before you go." party ponies, party ponies never change.

The atrium was decorated with long green and purple ribbons that hanged form the balcony over head, and In the center was a cake and a box . Standing around were a few ponies, all of them I recognized: Candy Pop, Doctor Lifebeat, Easy Fix, Stress Test, Cloud Bank, Emerald Fields, and Pear Tart were all here. Some of the foals from yesterday were hear, and also some of the tech's as well, but they were mostly off doing their own thing.

"Well I'm more use to just getting a card with everyone's signature on it." I tried to keep a stoic face to all of this, but a smile won out. I was more use to other ponies not caring all that much about another pony leaving, me being among them.

Hydrangea jumped off Prancer and onto her fathers back. Prancer Dancer walked up to me, blowing some of the confetti out of my face. "Well, here at Stable-Tec everyone is family, and family gets a party. So go have some punch, we set up a bowl near the lounge. It was funny how Candy Pop was adamant that it had to be grape, but I spiked it with some sparkle cola to give it an extra kick." Looking over to the lounge, there was a big glass bowl with purple liquid inside. My mouth watered a bit at the sight.

Something to drink sounded like an idea, but I felt it would be best to say hi to everyone fist. Trotting over to the group, Candy Pop levitated a cup over to me, she was hovering two cups in her magic. "Morning Slowtrot, heard the foals had you running yourself raged." I took the grape punch, drinking it a bit greedily. It was realy good stuff.

"Ya, they thought it would be fun to play princesses of Slowtrot mountain. And seriously now, Hydrangea has got way too much energy." There were a few other games the foals dragged me into, but that one had wiped me out in the end. Simply it was just a game involving climbing on my back and staying on. But I didn't want them to clime all over me, so I raan away, and they chased me all over the atrium. Hydrangea had won in the end, but only because every pony else had run out of energy, including me.

"That sounds about right." Candy Pop Laughed. "That filly's got the making of an adventure. She's already managed to sneak herself into Labs B twice now."

"If she wasn't so cute, I would have had her punished." June cut in. "But I just gave her a bowl of candy, and handed her over to her parents." looking over to Zaan, he physically shivered.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Hydrangea's parents, she seemed like a hoof full for Zaan and Underbrush. But then add a ton of sugar on top of that, it could not have been pretty.

June waked on over to were the box was, waving me over to follow her. "It's too bad that we can't stick around all day. So let's get to the present opening, then we can have cake."

"I'm guessing I'm one of the ponies that can't stick around"

June frowned a little. "That's right, something about all distractions needing to be sent away. Truthfully, I think she is just overworking herself, and your an easy target for her. So don't take any of it personally."

"No worry, I was never meant to be here in the first place." Picking up the box in my hooves, I gave it a little shake. It was a little heavy, an whatever was inside shifted around just a little. Looking back to the others, they all had given me room, some taking an extra step back. "what? It's not like you all would put a bomb in this?" some of them looked away. Now I was hesitant to open the box, my thoughts now suddenly full any kind of horror that could be inside. Even the thought of a bust of a pony head being inside as a joke ran through my head.

Wincing, I slowly opened the box. It exploded. Well the top had blown open and confetti burst out like a monster pouncing onto its pray. I was stunned by the shear amount of confetti that shot out. Also I felt stupid to think anything but confetti would have come out, I had already had the poppers shot at me just a few minutes ago. When it all ha settled, I and everypony else were covers in the stuff. Prancer Dancer was first to brake the silence, laughing her flank off.

Shaking off the confetti from my main, I looked inside the box. There was the pipbuck 3200, or S.R.P. MK 2 as Emerald Fields had called it. Lifting it up, I looked over at the others.

"I figured somepony outside this stable sould have one" June was trying to get some of the confetti out of her ear as she talked. "You did have that abomination on your lag, so why not have something better. Trust me, this one will never try to kill you."

I took a closer look at the pipbuck, the thing had a metallic light purple shine to it, and the buttons were ether a pale light blue, or a pale light green. On the left side of the pipbuck's face was fore icons. The top one just had 'Pip-Buck' etched onto it, on the second line it had 'Search & Rescue M2' on it, the third line had the Stable-Tec logo with 'R&D' next to it, and on the last two line was an image of my cutie mark.

I was taken aback by it. "You didn't have to go out of your way." I didn't know exactly what I was feeling, but there was more then two emotions going on.

Cloud Bank flew over to me, giving a wink as he landed. "No biggy. If were going to give you a pipbuck, It's not going to be some random massed produced pipbuck that we have thousands of. It's going to be the best kind of pipbuck we can make, and we made it a one of a kind."

I was already gotten use to having something attached to my left leg, so I put it right on. "so are there anything different about this?" My vision quickly filled with the E.F.S. It lingering a few seconds before all but the compass faded away.

June waved Cloud Bank away. He was almost looming over the cake, and Emerald Fields was about to cut it. "Other then the V.I. and the levitation spell, this pipbuck has an enhanced medical scanning spell program. By using the S.T.A.T. you can detect the general heath of ponies around you. Mostly at a distance it can tell you if another pony have a crippled leg or need a healing potion. But if you can get close and make physical contact, it can tell you a ponies overall heath in more detail. Why don't you try it out." June tapped her chest.

I placed my left hoof on her chest. "Iron Hoof, do the medical scan thing." the pipbuck chimed, and numbers appeared in my vision, starting from %0 and quickly finishing at %100. Taking the hoof off her chest, I looked at the pipbuck's screen that was now filled with text. "it stats here that you have minor lung damage, and you sould avoid inhaling harmful chemicals."

June frond at me for a second, then laughed a little. "The ponies in Labs C will probably have an easier solution for that in a few years."

A peace of cake on a plate floated in between June and I. "Now I know how excellent that pipbuck is, and that it's a real work of art, but right now we have cake." Emerald Fields had a upbeat tone to her voice as she pushed the plate into my mouth.

I took the cake to one of the small tables that were set around the atrium, as most of use did not have magic to hold the plate as we ate. The foals had rushed over to Emerald to get their peace of cake, leaving the adults to wait for the foal crowd to dissipate before getting some cake themselves.

"So Prancer reminded me that I would to get you something if you did that soda thing for me." Candy Pop had walked over, a metal canteen now hovering in her magic. It had the Stable-Tec logo on it, with the three bards wrapping around the side. The relief was yellow in color, and the rest was blue, making the canteen undeniably Stable-Tec. Candy Pop levitated the canteen into my bag. "The ponies in manufacturing realy like their over design. The canteens that were sent out are all meant to attach to the leg like the pipbuck, so this design never left R&D. But when I saw it, I thought you might like it."

"Thanks... This is, well a bit much don't you think."

Candy Pop gave a simple wave of her hoof at me. "Every pony here is always so worried about Equestria destroying itself. It's to the point that they will make any excuse to have a party. It's probably why they all took to the foals so quickly. I think they're just looking for reminders to why they do this kind of work."

"So I'm an excuse to have another party?"

She roiled her eye. "Yep. That and your just another normal pony. Your not going to war, or demand for more blood. We can all tell that you would rather be at home working on with your hooves. The kind of pony we realy hope lives through this mess."

I didn't have anything to say about that, so I smiled and took a bite out of the cake. The Cake was wonderful, with creamy chocolate frosting, vanilla sponge, and strawberry filling in the middle. Each bight I took I savored.

Prancer had put on some music, Sapphire Shores voice sang with a fun upbeat tune. The foals joined Prancer Dancer on the dance floor, but most of them just watched her as she pulled some of the most ridiculous dance moves I had ever seen.

Doctor Lifebeat also had a S.R.P. MK 2 on his leg, and after showing it to me, he told me a bit about his youth as a traveling doctor. He was actually from Equestria, but moved to the zebra lands with his wife, only moving back to Equestria a few years before the war started. Head ended up with Stable-Tec as part of a deal that got his family into Stable three. I commented on how dangerous the zebra lands sounded from his description, but he laughed and pointed out that Equestria has it's own monsters that roamed the lands. As a gift, Lifebeat transfused his instructions on how to make extra strength healing potions to my pipbuck.

Easy Fix, Stress Test seemed a bit sad to see me go. Telling me that there would have been no problem keeping me around, and that they could easily train me to be a maintenance pony. As it turned out from what they told me, the makings of an excellent maintenance pony involved two things: a good teacher, and years of practice. I was given six bottles of A Lab Soda by them, as well as instructions on how to make them for myself.

Pear Tart didn't have much to say, I think the cake spoke for him well enough. But he did give me ten packets of M.R.E.'s, and two bottles of hard pear cider.

The party went on for nearly an hour, only slowing down when red flashing lights suddenly turned on.

"Ether the overmare want's you to get going now Slowtrot, or some damn fool just opened the stable door without clearing it with security first." Under Brush rolled her eye. Turning to her husband, the unicorn mare lifted her energetic filly in her magic and levitated her over to Zaan. "Zaan dear, can can you take Hydrangea to her room. We can't have her sneaking out of the stable for an adventure."

Hydrangea looked shocked "but.. How... that's no fare!" the filly crossed her hooves as her father held her by the scruff of her neck, and dragged her off.

Under Brush turned back to me. "So ready for warm sand, and tasty drinks?"

June stepped in with a yawn. "I'd settle for a bed." She looked like she was ready to just find any spot on the floor and sleep. "But first I have to see you out."

I looked back to the others, most of them were enjoying themselves, the others gave me knowing smiles and nods. "Well now is as good as anytime." following Under Brush out of the atrium, giving the place one last look, hoping that stable 100 would be just as a warm place as this stable.

As it turned out, the stable had another floor above residential that the stable door was connected to. It was the storage and security floor. Most of it looked like a large warehouse, with boxes stacked up to nearly the ceiling. The security part was going to be closer to the stable door, acting as what Under brush pit it, a checkpoint.

"With all this stuff, we could build another stable, probably two." Under Brush had began a long explanation after I had asked what were in the boxes. As it turned out, the R&D stable was also being used as the storage facility for spar stable parts. June even chimed in, telling me that now and then some of the researcher would often talk the parts to conduct tests, or make improvements to the parts. It was actually a bit fascinating, though all this information was giving me an odd headache.

Whenever Under Brush would stop talking for a moment, the storage facility would fall into a cold silence, with only out hoof-steps echoing thought the overly large room. Interrupting the pattern of chatting and still quietness was the sound and sight of another security pony galloping in our direction.

The security stallion slid on the floor, stooping right in front of us "JUNE! thank goodness, we need you to get to the overmare at once!" He was looking around nervously, almost in a panic.

"What's going on!?" June now fully awake because of the security pony's sudden arrive. "You sould be able to contact Healing Herbs from your station?"

The security pony took a deep breath, but didn't calm down. "Weave been trying to contact her, but Lab's D isn't responding. We even tried to contact Headquarters, but we can't get through!"

"What's going on?" June repeated.

The security pony looked confused again as he opened his mouth. "it's... it's the navy. Their her to... well they said that she... it's a lie right?"

"What's going on?" June repeated again.

"WERE HERE TO ARREST HEALING HERBS FOR HIGH TREASON!" The voice of a mare echoed with cold authority.

A large group of armed ponies walked towards us from where we were headed. Leading them was a earth pony mare with a light blue/gray coat, and a pale blond main. She had a blue jacket that was covered in metals, and a cap with the image of Luna decorating it. To her sides were two unicorns, both stoic as they walked in lock step with the mare they followed. Among the group were ponies in power armor, both the big silver tank like ones, and also the newer black pegasus power armor. Four of the stable security ponies were with them, looking as confused as the security pony that had stopped before us.

My headache suddenly felt a lot worse, and I had the feeling of dread in the pit in my stomach.

June put a hoof to her face. "I know Healing Herbs can be a bitch sometimes, but this is a bit too much. So who are you? And you better have a warrant for this intrusion."

The leading mare simply smiled as one of the unicorns that flanked her, stepped foreword. "you are speaking to Admiral Thorn Roseland, and hero of the Equestria navy."

My mind almost did a back flip. The crazy mare from my dreams was here, but was the admiral in the Equestrian naive. I wanted to ask about, to know how this was possible, but Under Brush gently shoved me to the side.

June briefly glanced at the unicorn. "Don't give a shit. Now unless you have a warrant to even be down her, you can expect Stable-Tec to bring this up to Luna herself." The other guards quickly trotted to Junes side, forming a pony wall of six.

From our position, I could see her cutie mark, it was of a green circle of thorns with a red teardrop in the middle. Just looking at it made something snap in my head. Like a warm liquid broke free at the base of my skull and warped itself around my brain. I remembered everything.

Thorn face contorted to a grin at June's response. "Oh trust me, I have a warrant." She glanced over at one of her lutenists, who pulled a peace of paper from a saddle bad, levitating it to June. "Now not to have you continue your rude behavior, tell me who you are, and on what authority do you have here." Her voice was calm, composed, and overall cold. June didn't answers, choosing to look over the paperwork first.

I looked to Under Brush, her eyes fixated at the exchange between Thorn and June. "We need to get June out of here." I held my voice as a hushed tone, so that only Under Brush could here me.

She glanced over to me, looking a bit confused. "why?" her voice was also hushed.

June was still reading the paper, seeming reading it twice. I knew what Thorn was, and the guard had told us they couldn't contact Stable-Tec headquarters, which meant she could do anything she wanted, and then cover up the truth. But I also knew that "Just trust me. Thorn is.. is bad news."

Under Brush just raised an eyebrow. "It's the Equestrian navy, their all bad news." her wispier was filled with sarcasm.

"Miss Thorn Roseland was it. Did you just shove this at a judge to sign?" June throw the paper back at Thorn. "This is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read. I know Healing Herbs did work on the first magaspell, but you would think if she gave the zebras the megaspell, she would have ran to them, not to Stable-Tec."

One of the unicorns lifted the paper, and paced in back into the saddle bag. "As an Equestrian citizen, your opinion is respected. Now tell me who you are, and what authority you have."

June laughed with a spiteful tone, steeping up to Thorn. The tall mare seemingly towering over Thorn. "My name June Log Baird of the Highlanders, and I know that the likes of your kind never respected the opinions of my people. Here I'm the head of the pipbuck development department, which also happens to be authority enough to send your sorry flanks out of this stable. Now leave, or I will drag you out of here myself."

I wasn't even given time to worry what Thorn was going to do to June, a swift hoof to the face sent June to the ground. "So your telling me that not only you have no authority to hold me up, but your not even an equestrian citizen. And here you got me hoping to pin the label of traitor on you, I guess I will just settle with spy." one of the Unicorns pulled out a 10mm pistol and levitated it over to Thorn. "But I can't say I'm surprised. Stable-Tec is full of bleeding hearts, who are too stupid to know that there is no nutral ground. you are ether the one shooting, or the one being shot." She took the pistol in her mouth, and pointed it at June.

My heart pounded, and everything seemed to slow down. The security ponies had rushed to Junes aid, armed with only batons. The navy ponies had taken positions to the sides of Thorn, guns at the ready. June looked up at Thorn and Thorn looked down at June.

Time had stopped, and the options for the Tactical Actions poped up. Musket Ball must have gotten it into the pipbuck under Junes nose, as a gift for me. I went through every action that was available to me. Jumping in to stop Thorn form shooting June came up as a %0 success. Rushing Thorn came out %0. Taking Junes place came up as %0. Every action I could take to stop Thorn was never anything but %0. So I chose to go through every option again to see if I missed even a %1. My hopes fell when I saw the bullet fly from Thorns gun. There was no way I could move faster then a speeding bullet, but with S.T.A.T. I could see one move in slow motion. In my horror, I watched as the bullet slowly moved thru June's head like she was but paper to the small led peace.

In the slowness of S.T.A.T. I could not scream as I wanted to. In all my impotent rage I knew there was nothing I could do but watch as June slowly fell back to the ground. The storm of thoughts in my mind slowly focused onto one word, a word the encompassed how hopeless I felt, reflecting my feelings as June just hovered above the ground.

Goodby.

Footnote:

Quest Perk Lost: Advanced Pipbuck Modification.

New Quest Perk: S.R.P. MK 2 - It's just like the pipbuck 2600, but with an advanced medical scanning spell program, and without the hole killing you part.