Yesterday:

As the Lab-00 staff exited the facility, they soon found a large swarm of Cazadores that’s overrunning the city of New Hampshore. They shouted in panic and had quickly retreated back inside the elevator shaft, despite being well-armed and prepared. They were large in numbers and some had barely breached to the elevator doors as they made a narrow escape. The situation had quickly escalated and proved to be too dangerous for the search party to begin.

“Starshooter, we have a problem! The cazadores are all over the place, we can’t go outside!” One of its staff members explained. Starshooter was shocked at the news regarding the search party being immediately cancelled.

He let out a sigh, “I cannot believe this… what has happened to you, Zero? And where are your teammates?”

Olive Oil looked at Starshooter with worry as the search and rescue team looked at Starshooter, “Sir, do you have any suggestions for this? We can’t head out when there’s a swarm that’s preventing us from searching for other missing teammates. It’ll impede our search and we can’t risk further casualties.”

There was a pregnant pause for the leader, deep in thought. He didn't expect New Hampshore to be this out of control, especially when he hasn't gotten word from Zero for the past few days.

“Gather everypony in Lab-00. We’re declaring a state of emergency and plan our evacuation.”

Starshooter finished telling his staff members, although one of his members objected to his idea, “Evacuate where?! If we head out now, we’ll end up getting ourselves stung to death!”

He gave out a stern glare at the pony scientist, “I know. I’ll explain everything once we gathered all of our staff members in the conference room for our very important announcement. Now, get to it.”

“Yes, sir!” The unnamed scientist colt galloped off to gather the rest of the team to the conference room.

“I hope Zero’s alright… I know he’ll find a way back from New Hampshore.” Olive Oil looked on with deep concern. Starshooter looked at her before facing forward at the open elevator shaft that was used to bring the team to New Hampshore that was now ravaged by a legion of Cazador.

“Let’s hope the goddesses are taking care of him. But the last thing we need is to go outside, and there won’t be much time left. Come on, Olive Oil. We must head to the conference room post-haste.”

As the commotion slowed to a halt, everypony had arrived inside the conference room where Starshooter and Olive Oil were at the podium. There were hushed whispers from other stallions and mares, be it from scientist staff members (albeit on smaller numbers now due to the others gone missing) or cooks, as Starshooter cleared his throat.

“I thank you all for joining me in this very important message regarding to the uncertain situation in Lab-00. Our mission was originally going to be retrieving artifacts or any other valuable items that are located within New Hampshore and return to the facility for our research. However, due to current situations that have resulted in several of our team members gone missing, the risk had reached beyond dangerous levels from a Cazador swarm that is threatening to breach within our facility. As a result, we've lost a hoof-ful of our search and rescue team from the attack whilst searching for our missing teammates.”

There was panic arising from the ponies after hearing the shocking news, but Starshooter tapped his hoof loudly onto the floor to asses the situation.

“Calm down, everypony. That is a direct order from your head scientist. Panic can and will result in serious accidents, and disorder will not be tolerated in Lab-00. I will not repeat myself again. Now then, I will begin the instructions and Olive Oil and other elder scientists will direct you during the speech. We must evacuate from Lab-00 and relocate ourselves into an undisclosed location until further notice. There is a secret passageway just south of the maintenance room that only I can unlock it in case of an emergency.

You will all gather up any research and inventions as many as you can; the chefs must gather up all of the food and drinks remaining and prepare for our immediate evac. Once again, panic and disorder is not tolerated and actions will be taken seriously.

Furthermore, food rations are crucial for us to travel to a safer location where we don’t encounter future problems that could impede our research, and for our well-being so take great consideration for food consumption. We may still have a lot with us, but even so, we don’t know where we will be going so don’t assume anything.

Now, before we conclude our meeting, Olive Oil, Blue Print and High Tide will direct you to specific locations for you to only gather important items prior to our evacuation from Lab-00. No ifs, ands or buts. Do I make myself 100% crystal clear? Because this will be the only time I've told everypony about the situation.”

All the staffs nodded to him and said “Yes sir!” in unity, with no objections or questions asked.

Starshooter gave a firm nod, “Good. Gather up all your things as instructed by the three and listen to their instructions carefully. Afterwards, meet me at the maintenance room with fifteen minutes and no more than that. We do not want any delays. Dismissed!”

They had all left the conference room without the risk of raising panic as they were lead by three different ponies, each whom are headed into their rooms to gather up their things. The cooks were storing up food to have themselves ready to leave the facility for good, as faint banging noises are heard from outside; Cazadores were still attempting to breach into Lab-00.

Today:

Journal Entry #1:

“Today, I had a blast in Lab-00! Science had never felt so much fun than to watch paint dry, I even had my own personal Terminal for me to familiarize with it! Sure beats living alone, especially when I met a teenage foal and teenage filly who went by the names Solar Eclipse and Carbon Monoxide, Solar’s quite the mature and well-thought pony, but Carbon? He’s… a bit of an oddball at times, but still quite the jokester! Didn't liked the way he called me Blueberry, though… Either way, they’re both really nice, and I hope they’ll help me become a better scientist like everypony in Lab-00!”

And that was all I wrote, all while chewing on a burnt squirrel that I really regret, even if it was to curb my morning hunger. Should've stayed vegan…

Bob had already left to search for new saddlebags while I was asleep. I didn’t hear Tootsie mention anything about having her send her robo-scorpion friend to search for new saddlebags for me. I looked at a partially-ruined Big Book of Arcane Sciences. Its still intact, but its really hard to look at the stains from a Healing Potion that spilled from a ride gone wrong.

It still won’t stop me from discovering new scientific ways, though! In the meantime, we’re sticking around inside the campsite until Bob returns. He was still fairly damaged, most notably from his visors, but I’m certain that he’ll manage.

It wasn't until Tootsie clambered up onto my back and rests her chin against my head. “I’m booored. May I read with you until Bob returns with your new saddlebags?”

I gave her a small nod as I began to open up the slightly stained Big Book of Arcane Sciences and resumed to read more about Terminals and chemistry with her. She had let out a quiet hum as she read with me.

Yesterday:

The Cobras took shelter inside a run down financial building, watching the mayhem unfold. Blood-curdling screams were heard from both the Raiders and some of the Cobras were stung and eaten alive by a swarm of Cazadores, with Poison, Bleak Venom and the others inside a run-down financial building, watching all the gory results unfold. Poison took a worried look to Venom, “Oh Venom, these poor ponies need our help!”

Venom replied with a snide tone to Poison, “Tch, like hell they are. Its their own goddamn fault for even going outside in the first place! I’ll piss on their corpses when these motherbuckin’ insects are done tearing these low-life bastards apart. If you wish to go out there, Poison, be my guest. But don’t come bitchin’ if ya can’t spare a limb or an organ to even save yourself!”

Poison frowned and whined from Venom’s harsh response, “Okay…”

The leader of the Cobras simply let out a snort and simply smokes a cigarette, not even giving a damn to Poison or his own fallen teammates at all.

“Look at ‘em. Bunch of pussies can’t even put up a fight!” Venom puffed out smoke while watching the gory event as he let out a heartless laugh before moving into the building deeper as to not get spotted, with Poison following him as he looked back at the bloodied ponies from the result of a Cazador attack.

Today:

Bob was scurrying deep within the grassy ground to avoid being detected. He found at least two heavily-armored ponies who were relaxing and having a brief conversation, “We should totally make a short trip to Vanhoover before we head on back to Itrotly, Ginger Snaps! That is, if we could find her...”

“Until we find her, our boss told us that we’re sent to find his daughter and return in one piece. Otherwise, he’ll have our heads if we would return with her still missing, or even returning her back gravely hurt. We can’t take chances, Lock-On. And no, we’re not going to Vanhoover. I’m sorry, but he gave us an order.”

Lock-On frowned at the armored mare, “Aww! But Vanhoover is--”

Ginger Snaps shot up an icy glare to the young colt, “That is an order, cadet! As your sergeant, you are given a clear order to extract the runaway Enclave and return to Itrotly in one piece! Understand?!”

He nervously gulped from her sudden, authoritative behavior, “Y-Yes, m-ma’am…”

As Bob looked on, he took a small glance at a saddlebag leaning against a ruined tree that belonged to Lock-On, currently unguarded. Bob skittered his way through the pathway and into the grassy terrain as to not be seen. Lock-On’s ears perked up before turning his head back, “D-Did you hear that, Ginger Snaps?”

“Yes… its you stuttering your tiny ass off, that’s what I’m hearing!”

Bob slowly reached his metal claw at the strap from the saddlebags before grabbing it and quickly pulling it inside the grass before being spotted. Lock-On simply whined to Ginger Snaps.

Of course, his response was her another icy glare, “Don’t you give me that look! Now, let’s move!”

The young cadet nodded and began to follow her. He suddenly gets a thought, “Oh! Wait! My saddlebags!”

He turns to look at his saddlebags that he left it behind the tree, but it was gone.

“What?! Where’d my saddlebags go?! Ginger, my saddlebags went missing!”

She let out an annoyed snort, “That’s what you get for leaving things unguarded, Lock-On. When we return, you’ll be given three weeks of toilet duty!”

The two soldier ponies moved on, with Lock-On frowning over the loss of his saddlebags that were stolen by Bob.

Hurriedly, Bob quickly made his way back but the weight has impeded his speed due to the heaviness from the saddlebag he acquired for Zero to carry around with. He hopes that his efforts were enough to make him happy as he skittered back to the campsite.

Yesterday:

Once all of the important items were gathered up, many scientist ponies, along with cooks and maintenance workers, headed towards Starshooter who is waiting for their arrival. Starshooter was standing next to a terminal that functions the hidden door behind him.

“Has everypony finished gathering up their things? Good. Now, we don’t have much time left before Lab-00 will be overrun by a swarm of Cazadores. Before we move on, I would like to say that Lab-00 has done great for our researches, especially with having a wonderful number of members who fought hard and died, especially from our recent mission that had gone wrong and claimed lives of some of our members.

That includes one of our notable members. Zero had not been able to return safely with fellow teammates Solar Eclipse and Carbon Monoxide due to the uncertain situation prior to the Cazador swarm.

This passageway will lead us to an undisclosed location, but I must warn you all that this is a one-time secret passage that once it opens and closes after five minutes later, it will never be opened again forever so everypony, line up and get ready to head inside as soon as I open up the secret passage from the terminal.

Don’t panic, and don’t push. Do trot quickly inside, but do not create panic. We need to evacuate in an orderly fashion or we’ll be falling victim to the deadly swarm once they have breached inside. Now, any questions before we leave?”

Nopony has any questions or objections again to Starshooter. They were anxiously waiting to get the hell out of Lab-00.

“Good. Now then…” He faces the terminal and proceeded to open up the door, and the five-minute countdown is displayed on the screen before it begins to commence the timer.

“Let’s go.”

One by one, the hundred scientists and other ponies enters the secret passageway that’s been opened by him. Olive Oil looked on to Starshooter, “Do you think we’ll be able to find Zero, Starshooter? I’m really worried for him…”

Starshooter gave her an affirmed nod, “We will, but we need to get out of here and find a safer location, Olive Oil. Lab-00 will soon become a nest for the deadly Cazadores. Now, go. I’ll follow you once our staff members are inside.”

As the timer now reached to two minutes, there were now a few of them remaining as they trotted into the secret passage. Faint banging noises can be heard within the distance, signifying Cazadores close to breaching into the facility.

Now with only a minute remaining and the rest of the ponies (save for Starshooter), he looked on at the soon-to-be abandoned laboratory, “Lab-00, its been a long and hectic journey since I've hired pony staff team to construct you and hoping to bring Equestria a brighter future it has never seen… farewell, old friend.”

With the door slowly sealing from a ten-second timer, followed by warning noises, Starshooter became the last pony to finally enter the passageway where everypony was waiting, the door finally sealing shut permanently behind him. Inside, there were well-lit lights from the ceiling amid the emptiness from the long and fairly narrow corridor from both sides. Someponies were complaining a little from the cramped space inside but were quickly hushed from Starshooter’s presence.

One of the scientist ponies asked, “Where should we go, Starshooter? Should we go this way, or that way?”

There was a pregnant pause from Starshooter as he was thinking on which way would he lead them to. Both are considerably long and uncertain whether they’re safe or dangerous.

After some thinking, Starshooter looked at the team as he motioned his head to the right side, “Follow my direction, everypony. Wherever we’re going, only this path will lead us to somewhere safer.”

Despite the ponies’ uncertainties, they followed along Starshooter through the narrow passageway, wondering what the path their head scientist has chosen leads them to. In Lab-00, it was breached by an angry swarm of Cazadores, wreaking havoc inside the facility and would soon turn it into a personal hive to grow a large number of their own kind. Lab-00 was no more.

Today:

Journal Entry #2:

“Worst. Day. Ever! I can’t believe these ponies had put me in this closet as if it was some harmless prank! They told me that they were gonna pick me up for five minutes… but then it was an hour later and realized that they put me in there without having to get out! What I didn't know is that they somehow managed to jam the lock so that I can’t get out of my room! Fucking hell these idiots can be! As smart as they are, they’re also senile as well! I felt like I was in a compressor with these walls just waiting to crush on me like a bubble eager to get popped!

At least Solar Eclipse came to my rescue yet another hour later. I was thankful but I was also cowering because of being in such a small space meant that they did more harm than good to me. They just took me for a fool! I’m a scientist, goddamnit! Is that so wrong?!

Solar at least reassured me and that they were given a temporary suspension for their hurtful prank against me and I thanked her for that. Even so, it just felt so goddamn dreadful that looking at small spaces means that its just so difficult to look at, much less go through them… goddesses, it felt like a bucking nightmare…”

Reliving the past was surely the worst thing that could happen in a normal life of Lab-00. And even then, I’m still not over the fear of small spaces. They just felt so damn unnerving that it almost felt like being stuffed in a small box with no breathing room to go for. You’d scream for help, but nopony would hear you. And the body restricted of any movement at all is the worst part ever. I pressed on the map of my PipBuck after having finished my second (and last) journal from the screen.

We were still waiting for Bob to arrive and Tootsie was just throwing small rocks in the air with a hoof. She looked rather bored, and I really can’t blame her. He was damaged from a recent attack, but it wasn't too severe and I managed to make some repairs until we could find a better repairpony to fully fix him.

Tootsie kept throwing rocks as her ears picked up the sounds of nearby, mechanical skittering noises. She turned her head towards the sound.

“Huh?”

To her surprise, it was Bob who was carrying a pair of fairly large saddlebags that has been dragged along with the strap around his mechanical tail. She clopped her fore-hooves happily at the sight of her robotic friend, “Yay! You found the saddlebags Zero wanted! You’re the best, Bob!”

Bob responded with a happy whirr as he turned around and skittered into the tent to see me. I gave him a smile for a job well done for finding a spare saddlebag for me to carry things with me. It was a fairly long wait, but it was also worthwhile. I nodded him in thanks as he moves the strap off of his tail and I just took it with my hoof to wrap it around my back. Its larger than the one I previously had, with more space to store items with, too!

Putting my book of limitless wonders back inside my new saddlebags and my sniper rifle tucked between me and my saddlebag, I left the tent and looked at the two and motioned my head to them to indicate that its time to go.

And with that, we left the campsite and ventured into the forests of Mayne. There was a dirt path with the left leading back to town. No way I’m taking those chances, so we’re going to the right instead. Wherever this path will take us, I’m hoping the townsponies of Mayne will take us lightly or we’ll be in yet another gun fight that we don’t want at all.

“Where do we go, Zero?! Where do we go?!” I heard Tootsie’s excitement from her question. I merely shrugged as I have no idea where we’re going. Even the map from my PipBuck doesn't have any idea; just the path and dense forests. That’s all there is to it.

I took a look around the dense forest while we were still following the pathway. Its sure as hell long, that’s for sure! But, we’re almost out of the forest, and I could see Tootsie’s bored expression and hitching a ride onto Bob’s back, “Are we there yet?!”

I shook my head to her in response which led to her groaning. I know that feeling all too well. The footpath was getting a little steep and we were trotting/skittering down a little quicker now! We were on a hill?!

We nearly stumbled down before finally skidding to a stop right in front of the board sign. It read:

Camp Mayne Six? Surely this can’t be the same campsite we had stayed there for a short period of time, did we? There’s a fairly large number of abandoned lodges, including the cafeteria up front and a watch tower on the left side with a broken, unused searchlight. There were even megaphones attached to wooden poles next to each of the six cabins.

As Tootsie took a good look at the logos from each cabin, she was amazed at the sight of it whilst Bob searched the area of the second abandoned campsite. I figured that we should head to the cafeteria for some lunch, if there’s any left of course. When I opened the entrance doors, I was greeted by a barrage of bullets just tearing through and narrowly missing me! I quickly ducked from the side to avoid getting shot at as the left side of the door couldn't take enough abuse and became the first casualty.

At least I’m still alive, though Bob went to check before he too narrowly escaped from a hail of bullets as he quickly skittered to a different direction I’m in. Had he gotten too close and he would've been a fine target practice. Looking back, I saw Bob cowering, his metal claws over his head. I didn't know robots were afraid…

Tootsie Roll finished looking at the lodges are was about to make her way to us, not knowing that she’s going to be caught in a line of fire by a sentry! I need to find the terminal and fast, or she’ll become swiss cheese! With no other choice, I darted inside the mess hall and was met with pony skeletons as my obstacle.

I ducked and rolled from the sentry turret that was mounted behind the food counter as I scampered under dining tables to provide cover. I felt hot bullets just grazing through my tail, and it felt like somepony lighting it with a matchstick! Goddess damnit! But I can’t check right now, and even with the PipBuck picking up an obvious hostile, I kept rolling under tables with the sentry turret trying to pick up its perfect shot.

In the distance, Tootsie Roll was obviously oblivious to what’s going on before Bob quickly skittered in front of her to intervene; the turret was too busy trying to gun me down, thankfully.

“What’cha doing, Bob? And is Zero playing hop-scotch with that turret thingy! Cool! I wanna play!”

As if, Tootsie! You’d be counting how many bullets you had in you before dying! I need to get to the terminal before Tootsie enters the guarded mess hall and the turret focusing on her instead of me! And if I still had my goddamned voice, I would've told her to stay put and don’t move!

Almost there… just needed to keep moving without getting caught by its line of sights…

I was almost caught as it turned to see me and shooting the ground and rolling into the kitchen. Made it! Now then… where’s the terminal?

Aha! Its right next to the take-out window showing the mess hall in front! Now, to boot it up and see if there’s a chance for me to disable them. Unfortunately, the terminal’s not being nice to me at spitting out the correct password and after a fourth (and very close) try from ever getting access to its controls, I’m locked out! Damnit!

I hesitated from having to dodge the turret (and firing at it is a waste of time due to its thick metal that makes gunshots difficult to penetrate), so… I re-booted the terminal for a second try! Alright, Zero. You can do this… but you better hurry, or Tootsie will be playing hop-scotch with death and Bob pinning the blame on me!

Come on, think! Give me the correct word to unlock this terminal or I’ll be locked out for good and Tootsie would be a shooting gallery… I thought hard. Harder than having recently failed my first and last lockpicking attempt with my mouth and hoof. Come on… come on…!

Yes! Finally! It was ‘MaudPie’! (Who’s Maud Pie anyway?)

Now that I have access to the sentry turret, I immediately inputted the disable command and thus the turret no longer works. I slumped back out of sheer exhaustion from having evaded a shoot-to-kill turret and disabling it for good. Once the two went inside the mess hall, Bob skittered to the kitchen to find my exhausted body laying back on the floor.

I rolled myself back up onto my hooves and gave them a smile, relieved that they’re all right or they could've become shooting targets. I turned my attention to the fridge and opened up from wrapping my hoof around the handle. Nothing but a bunch of a canned beans and Sugar Bombs. What kind of low-class cafeteria is this? Did the settlers ate all of the good food?

I guess canned beans will be more than enough for us, though Tootsie eagerly grabbed the boxes of Sugar Bombs inside, “Oooohhh! Sugar Bombs! I looove me some Sugar Bombs!”

Oh goddess, here we go…

We stopped by at the center of Camp Mayne Six in front of a campfire as I began to heat up a can of beans inside for safe eating while Tootsie Roll began to pour Sugar Bombs into her mouth, chewing loudly and gulping it down. With no proper manners to go for, too.

I feel the need to face-hoof, just imagining how am I supposed to curb her already-hyperactive behavior if she’ll be even more hyperactive if she ate too many Sugar Bombs? Once the can of beans were cooked, I pulled it off of the campfire and placed it on the ground, pointing my hoof to Bob on the unopened lid to imply that he needs to open it for me.

Bob grabbed the can with a metal claw and squeezes it as the lid popped open, even bending the can a little in the process. I smiled at his efforts and began to chow down a can of beans. It wasn't too bad, just not the best, but enough for my stomach to settle down for a good while. And no, I really don’t want to hear Tootsie singing a campfire song right now.

Once we were done eating, we went to the cabin with a logo of Rarity at the center of the door (I assume it’s a cutie mark) and made our way inside for us to rest up for a couple of hours. Seeing Tootsie, she wasn't too affected with the consumption of Sugar Bombs, but anything that won’t get her hungry for the time being is a good thing. Hate to see her hungry.

Inside, they were ransacked, with the mattresses a total mess, with one of them having a knife stuck into one of the mattresses. Not sure if the settlers were having altercations or decided to create a mess out of boredom.

At least there’s one that’s intact on the floor for us to rest on. Despite the name Cabin Rarity, the overall inside was a mess and disorganized. Oh well, I’m not Rarity so I’m not really liable to re-organize things if they’re gonna be a mess again. Tootsie flopped herself on the mattress with a yawn, “So many Sugar Bombs…”

Guess that did her in. I better rest up as well if we want to continue, as we rest onto the only mattress and rest up for a few hours.

Let’s hope all things go well…

And I couldn't be anymore wrong. Two hours later, I heard commotion outside of the cabin as I got up to my hooves, looking at Tootsie who was covering her ears in an effort to drown out the noise.

“Ugh… five more minutes!”

Not sure if those five minutes would suffice as I took a look from a screen window and there are ponies with security outfits and bulletproof vests with them. Wait, security? This can’t be right, they seriously don’t look like security to me even if they were! Unless…

“Alright, Powder Gangers! Let’s see how Camp Mayne Six has been doing!”

The unnamed leader spoke to others. Powder Gangers? Wait, Camp Mayne Six serves as their base?! Oh fuck! I quickly ducked down from the window before one of the Powder Ganger ponies saw me. I could hear hoofsteps approaching towards Cabin Rarity as I clenched my eye to assume the worst!

My heart jackhammered into my chest, to no end as the Powder Ganger pony was about to open the door before stopping momentarily when another called out.

“Hey, Lightspeed! Come and check out the cafeteria! Our turret’s been disabled!”

As Lightspeed was about to enter, she (at least that’s the voice of a mare) groaned in an annoyed manner and diverted her attention to the older stallion, “Are you bullshitting me?! How can the turret be disabled?!”

She turned around and trotted towards the cafeteria. My body just went limp against the wall, my heart still going uneasy from having to see her about to make her way inside. Who knows what’ll happen if she and the others saw us?!

At least we’re alright, but goddess damnit that was too close! Now the bigger problem is that the Powder Gangers would search around and catches us for disabling the turret, and the results will be gory! I need to get them out of here and fast!

Of course, I can’t carry both Tootsie Roll and Bob at the same time. I’m carrying my saddlebags and my sniper with me! I trotted over to the mattress and prodded to Bob as to wake him up.

I wrote down four words from my PipBuck as Bob looked at me before showing him the screen of my PipBuck, reading as ‘We need to go’. His response was his metal claw pointed at the sleeping Tootsie. At least I didn't have to carry both of them, and I slid myself under her for the filly to rest onto my back. We left the cabin from the door and made our way out of Camp Mayne Six that’s under Powder Ganger control while they were inside the cafeteria and made our way out of Camp Mayne Six that’s under Powder Ganger control. I couldn't tell how many were there, but I’m betting the turret I disabled had friends and I can’t risk trying to gun all of them down. Ammo is also quite scarce in the campsite anyway.

Inside the cafeteria, there was commotion as we left without risking a gunfight.

“Damnit, I can’t get it to work! Somepony’s tampered the terminal!”

Other Powder Ganger ponies looked at each other with confused expressions, “Wasn’t us, Taser! We were with you the whole time!”

Taser simply glared at an unnamed Powder Ganger member before glancing back at the locked-out terminal, “Well whoever did this, we need to hold our own. The Fiends are coming this way, and we need to get our asses up and be ready to gun ‘em down! And our pony mechanic’s dead as well… either way, we’re ready to kick their sorry flanks!”

We arrived inside a thick and dense forest now, away from a territory-held campsite. I’m just relieved that it didn't ended in a gunfight, or it could've been a traumatizing experience for the young Tootsie.

The forest is equivalent to the Everfree Forest, but without dangerous plants and animals alike hunting for us. And the skies are getting awfully dark. I’d go back to the campsite with the two, but then what? We’ll be met with harsh resistance that these Powder Gangers would consider us the enemies, even if I tried to reason with them… that is if I could talk normally! Screw that!

So far, I’ve encountered some of the factions and none whom are friendly. Especially these shadow-figured ponies that opened fire at me and shot both my fore-leg and hind-leg while trying to escape the Ponelurk. I’m not even sure what the hell’s going on right now.

WIth Tootsie Roll on my back, we really need to find a safer place for us to unwind or we’ll be running into gunfire again. We navigated through a rocky terrain which lead to a small creek in front of us as Bob wisely skittered onto the rocks to go over it without the risk of shorting out from the water.

It was getting dark, and the Wastelands’ not giving me enough time to find a not-so hostile shelter! Get out of my damn life, Wastelands!

Where in the wide, wide world of Equestria is this? And the low visibility of my PipBuck’s screen isn't helping at all, thanks to the lack of a flashlight feature. Some vintage PipBuck this turned out to be!

Down below, I saw light. Or campfire for an instance. My PipBuck let out a number of beeps, but due to the low visibility, I honestly can’t tell if they’re hostiles or friendlies. There were ponies down there who were performing something… and another pony in the distance being carried over. Wait a minute…

They’re tribesponies! Or at least that’s how they looked like, judging by their pots and pans, and other kitchen appliances. I’m worried that with a sleeping Tootsie on my back, I’m unable to get a clear shot due to semi-low visibility and with her on my back. This isn’t good…

“Fresh meat!” One of the tribesponies yelled out, and they were all hurling spears at us! Fuck!

The spears narrowly missed us and Bob opened fire at the crazy bastards down below, giving him a slight advantage with elevation, but now where are we supposed to go?! If I run, I could accidentally have Tootsie fall off of my back and hurt herself!

Bob managed to take down several ponies below, but more are coming and a retreat is an order! I prodded my hoof to him as he stopped firing to look at me. I motioned my head towards a different direction, indicating that we need to get the hell out of here. As the tribesponies (or not really tribesponies) cheered and declare hunting season on us, we’re forced to backtrack elsewhere but the skies are getting darker now.

Give me some moral support for once, Celestia! We’re in deep shit here! My pony mind yelled out to the obviously not-listening goddess. If we return to Camp Mayne Six, then its a sure way to get ourselves killed if they catches us disabling the turret earlier today. Why is the forest so damn dense?! In fact, I would love to be in the Everfree Forest right about now!

We escaped from the crazed ponies and found a dirt road that leads us back to a different section of Mayne; a slightly urbanized town up ahead. I looked back to check and see if Tootsie hadn’t fallen off of my back, which she is and still asleep. Probably because she ate too many Sugar Bombs that resulted her to become tired.

As we entered the town, there were at least five to ten ponies just exploring normally. And there’s lighting to go for, too! My PipBuck notified me that I’m in Stable Town. Huh… I wonder who named this town after a Stable-Tec? I looked at the sign and it had the name Whooveswick crossed out and replaced it with the words ‘Stable Town’. Well that was interesting, alright.

On the plus side, they weren’t as depraved or giving me cold and deathly stares from my recent visit to Mayne which followed with random gunshots outside. I’m just fed up with having to deal with ponies with their intent to kill me or worse, the still-sleeping filly on my back.

The pony settlers looked at me and gave me friendly greetings. Well this is a first, seeing as how the last time I visited Mayne from New Hampshore weren’t really as friendly as they looked, not since being shot at neither. I returned the smile to them as I gazed the sights at the Stable 75 sign attached to a building. Anypony living there?

Curiously, I went inside and there was a mare wearing a Stable outfit with the same number behind the desk. We went to her and she greeted us, “Why hello there, fellow strangers! Welcome to Stable 75, the finest hotel there is in Stable Town, Mayne!”

Hold up, Stable 75 is a facility that’s used as a recreational hotel?

“My name’s Sweet Cheeks, Overmare of Stable 75 and hotel manager. Are you here for accommodations?”

Sweet Cheeks? Overmare and hotel manager? I was quite confused at her introduction but nevertheless I gave her a nod. Her response was, “Yay! That’ll be 100 caps for one night, 500 for three or 1000 for a whole week.”

I only had 100 bits left in me though with Tootsie Roll on my back, I can’t pull down my saddlebags. Looking at Bob, I pointed my hoof to it as to indicate that he needs to pull it down for me which he did so by loosening up the strap with his claw before pulling it back. Of course, that also dropped the sniper rifle on the floor as I let out a quiet squeak. I hope she didn’t caught me carrying the rifle I have!

Sweet Cheeks just let out a friendly giggle, “If you want, I can hold onto your belongings.”

She floated up my saddlebags and my sniper rifle and were brought to her. Whew! Saved by a lucky magic. Bob skittered up to the counter and took a glance at her.

“Oh! Is that a robo-scorpion?” She looked at Bob, seeing him who isn’t considered hostile but also slightly damaged.

I nodded to Sweet Cheeks. Her response was, “Aww, he looks badly damaged. Rest assured, I’ll have your friend taken to a mechanic pony to have him fixed, free of charge!”

Even though he wasn’t too damaged (with his visor covered with tape and some of the parts that are (loosely) fitted into his right metal claw, I was happy to see that the Overmare is willing to fix him up. In return, I gave her 100 caps for me and Tootsie Roll to rest up for the night. Bob let out a curious and robotic purr from being carried over by Sweet Cheeks and I gave him an assuring smile before we went downstairs inside an already-open vault.

Stable 75. Now used as a hotel facility for tourists and locals alike, rather than to just turtle yourself inside just for the sake of safety. The hall has its visitors, wearing both the Stable 75 outfits and casual outfits, all having pleasant conversations with each other and some even playing billiards. I’m betting these Stable outfits are for recreational purposes? Not really… she told me that she’s an Overmare, so its likely that they’re served as staff members. One of them has led me to a vacant room for us to rest on.

I was amazed at the pristine condition inside of this room, so chic as well! As I gently placed Tootsie Roll (such a heavy sleeper she is!) on the bed, the stallion had asked that if he would like to have my clothes to have them fixed. Hope this doesn’t charge me extra as I took off my Stable replica outfit and my lab coat to his hoof. Afterwards, he bid me good-night and left.

Up front, there was a small bathroom section with a bathtub on the right, with a working sink on the left and towels in perfect condition. I smiled widely at the sight and hopped onto the bathtub for me to clean myself up! But first, need to take off my PipBuck so it won’t short out. I pressed the button from the back as it detached from my hoof and it landed on the bathroom mat. Afterwards, I turned on the handle and streams of refreshing water rains down on me.

I laid back and let out a content sigh. Ahhh… this feels so relaxing. I could feel the filth the Wastelands had thrown me washing away to the core. My mane and tail became wet, as the mane blocked my view, but it didn’t mattered. What mattered was taking a nice bit of relaxation, even if its for one night only.

After several minutes of pure bliss, I turned off the shower head and got off of the bathtub. Not willing to make a mess by simply shaking myself try, I wrapped a hoof around a fresh towel and began to dry myself up. Taking a look at myself from the mirror, I noticed a red scar across my permanently damaged right eye. I simply let out a small chuckle. I’m a one-eyed scientist pony.

I placed the now-used towel onto the floor for the staff member to pick it up by tomorrow before retrieving my PipBuck back and attached it around my hoof again. Back to our bedroom, I clenched my teeth on the bed covers and gently tucked Tootsie Roll in.

Sweet dreams. I myself flopped myself on the other side of the bed and turned the radio on to listen to music.

“...and now for more of Sapphire Shore’s best!”

Not sure who said it, but the radio played a smooth trance music that’s surely enough to drift me to sleep and forget about everything that happened. Well, almost everything.

The next morning, I was suddenly awake by Tootsie as she jumped onto the bed with excitement.

“Wake up, wake up, wake uuuuppp! Get up, Zero! Getupgetupgetupgetupgeuuuupp!”

Geez, calm down filly! I’m barely even up, give me a chance! My body responded with a sloth-like movement and barely keeping myself balanced from being rudely awaken by the ecstatic filly before shaking my head. I’m hoping a free breakfast is in order as I struggle to open my left eye, eventually doing so. I went to the bathroom to clean up my face for me to be more alert, amid Tootsie Roll’s overly-excited behavior. Guess the Sugar Bombs wore off.

I’m surprised she isn’t at least concerned for Bob as I splash up water against my face before heading back to her.

We’ll get Bob later, Tootsie. We just need to grab some breakfast and then get Bob. I could hear Tootsie’s stomach letting out an obvious rumble, “Darn it, stomach! Stop being so grumpy!”

I let out a quiet chuckle and we went to the cafeteria, just downstairs in Stable 75. There were large amounts of seats and tables and a buffet bar with a fairly wide selection of foods to go for. We only have some time before we leave Stable 75 and get Bob. We went over to the buffet line and picked up some of the fruits on the plates for me and Tootsie, such as pears and berries. (It should also be noted that its highly frowned upon to take the food and keep it for yourself from Stable 75, even if its a take-out.)

As we began to eat normally, a Stable pony trotted over to us and said, “Your clothes are in your room, so be sure to ready to leave in ten minutes. We also fixed up the robot scorpion last night. We also like to thank you for staying at Stable 75 here in Stable Town.”

I smiled to the Stable Dweller and gave him a nod from hearing the good news before we resumed eating our breakfast, my throat becoming rather less painful than my first try (still quite uncomfortable though!). With Bob all right, I’ll dress myself up and get Bob before leaving the facility that doubled as a hotel. Tootsie was quite excited from the Stable staff member telling us that her friend is doing okay.

Once we were done, we left the cafeteria and went up the stairs to return to our room to get my outfit.

Inside, my lab coat and Stable replica outfit were restored in perfect condition! Huzzah! They’ve done a wonderful job at fixing my clothes, even my trusty lab coat as well! Putting on first my Stable replica outfit and then my L-00 lab coat, we both left the room and made our exit from our temporary stay at Stable 75.

“You look really nerdy, Zero!” Tootsie Roll teased at me. What can I say? Brains prevail against brawns!

We went up from the open vault door and to the reception desk where Sweet Cheeks is waiting for us, “Oh, hello you two! Hope you had a wonderful time here at Stable 75! We’ve also repaired your robotic friend good as new!”

Bob jumped up on the counter and waved a claw at us, looking to be good as new indeed. Tootsie extended her fore-hooves to her fully-repaired friend, “Bob! You’re all right!”

He lets out an excited, robotic trill as he jumped to the filly for a hug. Sweet Cheeks let out a gentle giggle, “They sure are best friends. Would you like to ask some questions before we let you go, my fellow visitors?”

Letting the two have their time together, I turned my attention to the Overmare and inputted four words from the PipBuck as it read ‘What happened here in Mayne?’.

Sweet frowned a little from the question, her ears folding back. I felt quite regretful already from inadvertently asking a sensitive question I didn’t knew abou, although she did gave me a response regarding Mayne’s uncertain situation.

“Mayne was supposed to be a bustling town known for peace and tranquility, and to seek refuge for those who wish to work for a decent living. Their behavior became erratic, most likely from the use of Rage drugs and things… things went horribly wrong. They didn’t just attacked and killed each other, they even went as far as to kill Mayor Mayne. Innocent ponies had to escape to move elsewhere, several never made it.

And that’s where Stable Town was founded, by me. I used to run Stable 75, but now I use it for tourist reasons to keep this town alive and peaceful. The rest of Mayne, fell. That’s all there is to it, young colt.”

Damn… no wonder why I felt the need to cut my visit short. Everypony was killing each other, some didn’t want to be involved into this bloody mess yet ended up paying the price. While I’m not sure if this is the result of a megaspell or civil unrest in general like in New Hampshore regarding an incident between Suri Polomare and Sapphire Shores, Mayne was screwed either way.

Similar outcome, I suppose. Only my very first visit was these ponies were depraved and bent on killing each other during the pitch black darkness with little regard to others. There weren’t any factions (aside from the ‘tribesponies’ and Powder Gangers), as it were nothing more than a free-for-all.

In the end, I gave her a nod and waved her goodbye as we left the building from Stable 75. Sweet Cheeks responded with a wave, “Have a good day, and do be careful out there!”

Now, what to do in Stable Town?

As my pony mind was looking for a place of interest, Bob prodded my hind-leg with a claw. Hmm? What is it, Bob?

Bob pointed the direction where Tootsie’s looking at. I took a glance and there’s a large, mountain range a hoof-ful of miles from Stable Town. Not sure if there’s anything interesting… then again, I don’t have anymore caps so I can’t really buy stuff with no caps with me. We’ll come back later once we made our hefty journey to the mountainous range of Mayne.

“Come on, let’s go guys! Let’s go hiking!”

Tootsie’s enthusiasm made me feel rather unsure about this. Who knows what awaits us at the mountain we don’t know of? But, I suppose I can’t object to the filly now, can I? After I am a babysi-- err, I mean scientist, after all! I gave her a nod for her to lead us the way.

Her response was, “Yay!” and she immediately galloped off. Wait for us!

Clearly, Tootsie’s curiosity is gonna get the better of us! Who knows if anypony’s waiting for us in the mountains?! Better yet, how the hell are we gonna climb all the way to the top?! We can’t just climb up there -- and with the possibility of finding ponies who are bloodthirsty -- so I hope an inside will suffice! And I also meant brains, not brawn!

The filly skidded to a stop in front of a cave entrance with lit torches inside. This is the mountain, huh? At least it had a cave to go for. My PipBuck told me that this is the Mount Gallopmore Cave Entrance. I took a glance at Tootsie as she said, “Let’s go inside, let’s go inside! I bet there’s spooky scary skeletons to go for!”

At least it didn’t have to involve actual pony skeletons… of course, I’m just flat-out wrong. There are skeletons inside, even Sweet Cheeks warned us yet the filly completely disregard it! If she was my daughter, I would’ve grounded her for running into dangerous things with us in it. Sadly, she’s not and I have to look after her and her robo-scorpion friend Bob.

I let out a sigh and gave her a defeated nod. Hope it doesn’t involve mining tunnels inside or I’m gonna freak the buck out.

Before we went in however, a radio popped up from my PipBuck:

“And now, an important message from the citizens of New Hampshore.

*static noises, featuring garbled speech but not before it said Starshooter and Lab-00, followed by the word evacuation before the signal becomes lost*”

Starshooter? Evacuation? If this was New Hampshore already spiraled into hell, then all of the more reason to never return whatsoever. Then, it hit me. I began to suddenly remember the events of barely escaping a swarm of Cazadores before having to re-escape from a Ponelurk. As it turned out, it wasn’t just a weak signal that the broadcast barely managed to catch up before it was abruptly cut off, but New Hampshore was now becoming a one giant nesting place for these flying bastards! Even so, it can’t be saved and not even Lab-00. I’m on my own and that’s that.

Of course though, I’m not really on my own. Not when I have Tootsie Roll and Bob with me.

“Ooohhh… that sounded so static-y, Zero!”

Yeah. It was ‘static-y’, Tootsie. Now then, to the cave entrance we go! Hope this goes as planned for her. (Yeah right.)

Footnote: No Level Up.