Before there was a scientist… was an orphan of New Hampshore. He didn’t remembered his parents. In fact, he didn’t even remembered his own name. What he did remembered, was the city slowly dying on its own. The young colt had wandered around, not uttering a single word of what was going on. He glanced at himself… his mane were yellow with red streaks across his mane, his eyes were magenta and his coat was dark blue.

“...who am I…?” The young colt muttered softly to himself as he tried to find his own identity. The only thing he remembered was waking up with twin lanterns next to him, along with a cardboard box that makes up for a bed, with a shadowy pony figure leaving him to be.

It was unclear on how he was raised, or how he was left on his own to defend himself. Afterwards, the unnamed colt. Feeling the uncertainty of the abandonment, he looked on as he aimlessly ventured through the deprived city of New Hampshore.

Who is Zero?

He didn’t had a cutie mark. At least, not yet. But his talent surely wouldn’t be counting numbers, would it?

No. No it wouldn’t.

He hid from other ponies, intent on killing one another whenever he saw them. It was all new to him, and the dangers were all too real. He would even have to drink water as his only source of meal, all while there’s still left. He strays from food, fearing cross contamination that could’ve already killed the young earth pony.

Of course, he wasn’t a slave. He avoided ponies he could find, knowing that even their niceness can be a grave mistake. He was quite the distant fellow.

It wasn’t long before an unfamiliar pony had spotted him as the mare with both the lab coat and Stable-replica outfit spoke with a never-before-seen ‘PipBuck’, “Sir, there’s a young colt wandering around New Hampshore. Unsupervised, too. What should I do with him?”

There was static emerging from the ‘PipBuck’ before a voice spoke out, “A young colt? In New Hampshore? Where is he located in?”

“Just next to an apartment complex entrance. He’s mostly harmless, but also defenseless.”

“Then we’ll meet you there. In the meantime, go and get the colt. Guard him until we arrive, Olive Oil.” The voice of the stallion spoke to her.

Olive gave a nod, “Yes sir.” She went over to him and in return, he saw her and scooted himself a bit back cautiously.

“Erm.. wh-who are you..?” The young colt spoke out, with uncertainty running inside his mind. He was afraid that she could be a Raider, or it would be his long-lost mother.

He softly asked her, “Mom..?”

Olive Oil stopped for a moment when he asked her before letting out a soft giggle and replied to him, “No, little one. My name is Olive Oil. What’s your name?”

He didn’t felt comfortable when she spoke in a sweet tone, but he soon relaxed himself for a good moment. Unfortunately, his reply was, “I… I can’t remember my name… I don’t even know what my name was...”

Poor little colt. Unable to remember his actual name from his birth mother. Afterwards, he went quiet and flinched a bit, afraid that he’ll be hearing her harsh comments. Instead, he heard her worried reply, “Oh you poor little colt who doesn’t know his own name… do you remember where your parents are?”

She gave him a hug. A warm, motherly hug that he never had. He cried a little and his cute voice spoke out, “I don’t know where my parents are… I don’t know who they are at all…”

It seemed that he had never physically seen his parents before. Much less name their own son before they had mysteriously left and never returned to him and feared that they were likely to be dead. The young scientist mare felt pity for him, who doesn’t remember his parents or his own name. He was simply born without a name.

All she could do was to comfort him, “Ssshh… its okay. Me and my team will take you someplace safe, and away from danger. How does Lab-00 sound?”

He looked up to the colt, tears still fresh from his eyes, “‘L-Lab-00’..?”

She gave him a reassuring nod, “Mmhm! Oh! And speaking of, my scientist teammates are here.”

A duo of scientist teams, both well-armed with the state-of-the-art, military grade weapons around them, arrived with both the unnamed colt and Olive Oil.

“So, who is this young colt?” The stallion spoke to her.

“I’m… I’m not sure. He doesn’t know his own name, Starshooter…”

Starshooter was slightly surprised by this, “A young colt without a name? Where are his parents, Olive Oil?”

“He told me that he didn’t had parents… more or less likely to be dead… should we take him to our facility?”

“Blue Print, what do you think?” Starshooter asked. She glanced at him, hiding a little into Olive. He seemed to be shy, not used to encountering other ponies before. Even holding back tears, too.

She looked back at Starshooter, “He’s an orphan, sir. I don’t think he has parents. Should we take him with us? I understand our headmaster had told us to retrieve any artifacts left over for our research purposes, but its best that we should also take him with us. Its not safe for him to be out there in New Hampshore all by himself.”

He gave her an affirmed nod while Olive comforted him, “Even if it's our priority, I feel as if he could be of use to us. And I’m certain that he’ll have a bright future. But he’ll need a name. A name that will fit him quite well.”

Olive looked back at the two before glancing back at him and gently whispered his ear, “These ponies are with me, and we’re here to take you to a new home.”

He let out a surprised gasp from her words. He was offered a home. A home that he never had in a wide, wide world of Equestria has ever known.

“A-A home..?!”

“And before you start with the waterworks, we also provide proper education and food. Not to mention shelter.” Starshooter paused briefly and glanced at his lab coat sleeve, with the insignia ‘L-00’ displayed in it. Starshooter asked him, “How does ‘Zero’ sound? Not as a means of a number, but like a rookie, future scientist you’ll be. Its a hard task at first, but rest assured you will get used to it afterwards.”

But the young colt couldn’t help himself. He was crying again and he eagerly nodded to him, not even saying a word but had let him know that he was willing to join up with them and away from the treacherous area.

Of course, he did asked, “I’m… Zero..?”

Starshooter gave him an affirmed nod, “Correct. You’re now known as Zero. Don’t think of us as your parents. Think of us as your guardians. Now, let’s head back to Lab-00 with our future scientist.”

He was at a loss of words. He clung onto Olive’s hoof, not willing to let go of her as he cried quietly. But his tears weren’t from sadness, but of happiness that he didn’t have to be on his own again and with trustworthy ponies who are willing to raise him as their own. The young colt, now known as Zero, had followed them into the facility of Lab-00. Once they arrived inside a barely-working elevator shaft, it slowly lowered to the bottom floor. As the sliding doors slowly open, the inside reveals to be a fairly large number of scientist teams, young and old, trotting around doing regular research studies and students being taught in each classroom sessions.

The cafeteria was well-run and maintained, all being served with adequate meals. The other side were a large number of rooms with cots to rest up, including bathroom halls. Olive Oil giggled at him and nudged him a bit, “Do you like it here?”

Zero was incredibly shy, but nodded up to her. He gave her a soft smile… a smile that he couldn’t have done before. It felt like home already.

“Good!” Olive smiled down to him.

Starshooter looked at Zero, “We’re heading to the conference room and see the Headmaster of Lab-00. I’ll let him know your intentions.”

All he did was nod. He didn’t want to utter a single word, much less interrupt him. Olive guided him inside the conference room, where a couple of ponies including the Headmaster were present. The Headmaster turned to them, “Oh? Starshooter, have you acquired the artifacts I’ve instructed?”

“Yes, sir. We even brought the colt with us. His name is Zero.”

The scientist ponies gasped and all eyes were on him. Zero lets out a nervous gulp and scooted himself back behind Olive Oil.

“Zero? Well, in this case, present yourself!”

His response was another nervous gulp, but Olive Oil gently guided him to the Headmaster of Lab-00. Zero glanced up to the elder stallion, “So… you must be Zero, huh? What were you doing out there in New Hampshore? Then again, that’s not important. What’s important is that you’re here.”

Starshooter responded, “He’s here to learn and grow, here in Lab-00. That’s the purpose we intend to give him, Headmaster.”

The Headmaster nodded to him, “I see. Then I’m certain that this Zero will have a bright future ahead of him.” He then turned his attention to the scientists.

“Scientists! We have a new member of Lab-00! We introduce you to Zero!”

He was already overwhelmed by a fair large number of ponies who had clopped their hooves, cheering for his welcome and that they’re happy to have him as the newest member. He did what he could to hold back tears to no avail, but did leave a wave before covering his eyes with a hoof with a sniffle to go for. Olive quickly ushered him from the stands and he had already left. He floated up a copy of a book and gave it to Starshooter, “Give him this. He’ll need a head start for tomorrow’s initiation test.”

The leader nodded and retrieved the copy with his magic, “I will. I’ll take to Zero’s new room for him to read and rest up.”

After a few hours from his very first meal, Olive looked at him, “How do you like it here so far, Zero?”

“I… I like it here…! Really, I do…” Zero replied. He wasn’t used to socializing ponies before, but it felt comfortable with other scientists around him, including Olive Oil.

“Good! Now, let’s go to your new room. Starshooter left a nice surprise for you to begin tomorrow.”

With that, he willingly followed her into his new room. He was surprised at the sight, including a terminal on a table and his small lab coat and a small Stable-Tec-like outfit hung onto the rack. Next to the terminal was a book and his eye caught on with it. “Ooohh... “

Zero turned to Olive Oil, rubbing his hoof to clear up the last remaining tears with him, “Th-Thank you, Olive! It was… it was great of you!”

Olive let out a heartwarming giggle, “We do hope that you’ll stay here in Lab-00. Now, rest up. You have a big day ahead of you.”

With a nod, she left him alone inside. He grabbed onto a book and laid himself down onto the mattress. He looked at the cover title before reading the book:

And within the next day, he wore his very first outfit before quickly galloping over to a classroom and eager to pass his initial test.

“I can’t wait! Olive, wait for me!”

Of course, Olive was already inside and she wasn’t alone. All the scientist ponies, including Starshooter, Blue Print and the Headmaster were already waiting for him. His excitement screeched to a sudden halt as his ears folded back in shock, “E-Erm…”

He was still not used to having this many ponies since his recent arrival. The Headmaster told him, “Zero. You were brought here today for an initial test to prove that you have what it takes to be a future scientist like the rest of us.”

“I-I-Initial test…?!” It seems this young new scientist wasn’t expecting this.

“Yes. And we’re expecting you to not fail at this. Build a new invention to impress us.”

He was given several tools for him to tinker and build with. He’s no unicorn, but even then, the Headmaster expected him to pass the initiation test without failing or risk being deported back to the dangers of New Hampshore again.

“Okay…”

Nopony said a word at all without impeding his concentration. It was his first time. It was hard, at first. He was struggling on getting the parts together with merely his hooves, but then later used his teeth to carefully wire the components and screw them together. It was turning out to be easy, even for an ordinary earth pony. After roughly two hours, he had finally finished his very first invention; it was modelled like a pistol powered with electricity.

“Ta-da! I call it the ‘Tesla Gun’! And um… I don’t wanna fire it because umm… yeah…” He did had a point; he had never used weapons before.

“I see. In that case its as close as it can get as being an an experiment, not as an actual weapon. And for that effort, you did a wonderful job. You’re now an eligible scientist for Lab-00… Zero.”

The headmaster told him and soon they cheered for him for his efforts, even chanting his name.

The young colt giggled softly and smiled to them, crying a little but with enormous joy as he sniffled a bit, “Th-Thank you, everypony! Thank you for letting me stay here! I did what I could… really! I did! Neighkola Tesla taught me a lot and I don’t want to disappoint you guys…”

And thus, Zero was born.

Author's Notes:

Not counting as a chapter, but rather, a focus depicting on Zero's history before the Prologue took place. Like an introduction you'd find in the original FoE, but directly to the protagonist himself of how he became a scientist and how the situation of New Hampshore would deteriorate and become much more dangerous as years went by (which then comes the Prologue).