“Alright, I think–ah yes!” Reynolds leaned back and held his arms high above his head. His fingers clenched tightly around the freed Jenga piece. “What’cha gonna do now, Adam?” The older man brought his arms back down and rested them on his lap, a smug grin plastered on his face as he rested back in his chair.

Adam raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I don’t know.” He flashed Reynolds a devious smile, one that obliterated the old man’s smug face. “I think I’ll do this.” Adam reached across the table and smoothly plucked a block off the rickety tower without a fuss.

Reynolds gawked. “How the—nevermind.” He sighed and leaned forward to examine the skeletal structure of the tower while grumbling under his breath.

“You two having fun?” I asked from behind the counter on the other end of the room.

Adam nodded his head. “I am, that’s for sure, but I can’t say much for the good doc—”

“Quiet,” Reynolds snipped.

Adam looked over at me and shrugged.

I giggled and turned to face the fridge to make my lunch. It was our break period for the day, every time the clock struck twelve we’d stop what we’re doing and head to the breakroom. Well it’s really three rooms, a bathroom, living room, and a kitchen; the kitchen and living room though, were really only separated by an island counter.

I reached into the fridge and pulled out a jar of jam and placed it on the counter. Next, I went to the cabinet for a loaf of bread and peanut butter. Simple PB&J, typical but damn is it delicious.

“Hey, Chlo!” Adam called me out by my nickname. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him giving me a sly smile. He gestured with his head over to Reynolds who was just reaching for a piece. Suddenly Adam’s left leg flinched and he kicked the table, causing the tower to collapse right as the doctor grasped a hold of his piece.

“God dammit!” Reynold’s pounded his fists on the table, Adam busted a gut and leaned back in his chair.

“I win!” Adam flung both arms in the air and rocked back in his chair.

I brought a hand over my mouth and tried not to laugh at the furious look Reynolds was giving the engineer. He jammed a boney finger at the man. “You cheated!”

“Like hell I did!”

“You kicked the table, I felt it!”

No longer could I hold in my laughter and I shook my head. “No I didn’t. Chlo, did I kick the table?” Adam looked at me for support.

“I-I–psh!” My own giggles overran my voice and I was unable to respond.

“So you did kick it!”

Adam rolled his eyes. “You were pulling out the bottom right piece anyways! You were destined to lose.”

“No I wasn’t,” Reynolds defended himself. “I did the calculations; there were enough support beams to keep it up!”

Adam frowned. “You’re arguing with someone who builds things for a living, and I can assure you that there was no way in hell that thing was staying up,” he explained. “I’m an engineer. Therefore I’m a master at Jenga.” He could no longer keep a straight face.

“For Christ’s sake just kiss already!” Eva said with a roll of her eyes as she stepped into the living room, the door sliding close behind her.

I ran a hand over my eyes as I recovered and looked over at her. “Hey, Eva.” I greeted her and returned to making my sandwich.

“Hey, Chlo.” She walked past me and went straight to the fridge. She opened it and reached in for a can of cola. “How was your test today with Dr. Reynolds?”

I sighed and took my knife full of jam and smeared it across my bread. “Still nothing.”

“We’ll get there some day.” She closed the door and popped the tab on her cola.

Over in the living room I heard Reynold’s get up from his seat. “Well, this is enough for me,” he yawned. “I’m going to go check on the embryos.”

“Alright, man, nice playing with ya.” Adam also rose from his seat. “I’m going to go run a few maintenance checks on the generator, see ya’ll later.” Adam turned and winked at me before waving goodbye. I blushed and waved back.

“Oh my,” Eva said right after Adam left the room.

“What?” I slapped a blob of peanut butter onto my second slice.

Eva smiled and sipped her drink, she went along the side of the counter to the other end. “Was that a sign of love I just witnessed?” She asked jokingly as she turned to face me.

The question caught me off guard and my knife dropped to the floor with a clatter. “Wh-what?!”

“Was it?” She leaned onto the counter with her drink and smiled at me from behind her can.

“N-no! Of course not.” I puffed my cheeks and went back to my sandwich.

“Then why are your cheeks burning?”

“Why do you think?”

“Love.” Her smile didn’t disappear.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “It ain’t ever happening.”

Eva gave me a fake look of disappointment. “Aw, how come?” she asked, then an even bigger smile came into view. “Is it because you have the hots for Reynolds?”

I glared at her. “It’s because I don’t swing that way,” I deadpanned.

Eva’s eyes immediately widened and her mouth took on an O shape. She pointed at herself. “So you have the hots for me?”

My cheeks flushed to an even darker shade of red and I held my open palms up. “Whoa, n-no it ain’t like that!”

Eva gave me a sultry look and leaned forward. “Y’know, I’m alright with that.”

“Dammit.” I turned away from her and my sandwich due to me losing my appetite. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Eva laughed. “I’m just kidding, Chlo, here.” I looked over my shoulder to see her handing me my sandwich. “You need to eat.”

I took it and smiled sheepishly. “Thanks.” I could no longer look her in the eyes at that moment.

The two of us went over to the table and sat down, I started to nibble on my lunch. “So did you have a girlfriend? Or a wife?”

I blushed out of embarrassment and shook my head. “No. Not during the epidemic I didn’t, though before I did have one.” I sighed sadly. “Things didn’t turn out so well.”

“What happened?”

“It turned out she was bisexual and she cheated on me with a man.” I took a large bite out of my sandwich.

Eva frowned. “Ouch. That had to hurt.”

“Yeah,” I grunted, “What made it worse was when she thought we could form some sort of ‘pack’ or something between the three of us.”

“Oh a group relationship...” Eva leaned forward and whispered, “Believe it or not during my university days I was in one of those.”

I looked at her with disbelief. “Really? What was it like?”

The girl across from me shook her head. “Not fun.”

“That’s exactly what thought it’d be like.” I pointed at her can. “Mind if I have a sip? I haven’t drunk anything since I woke up–”

“Sure,” I heard a female voice say.

“Thank you,” Another replied.

A draft made it’s way over my body and I shivered. ‘What the hell?’ My conscious began to wake up. ‘Where am I?’

I was lying down, I knew that for sure, though whatever I was on was rough and scratchy. I pressed my elbow into the floor and tried to push myself up, however, the second my back raised off the ground I felt every single muscle in my body begin to ache. “Gah!” I yelped when my back popped and a jolt of electricity ran through me, my elbow gave way and I flopped back onto the floor.

“Whoa now!” I heard one of the voices say.

‘Who’s that?’ I wondered. ‘Eva?’

The sound of something rising up caught my attention and I tilted my ear over towards from where the sound was coming. Then I heard something rhythmic, almost like a quiet clicking noise. It was heading towards me. I felt something wrap around the back of my head, but it wasn’t a hand, nor anything else I could recognize. Whatever it was, it gently pulled my head up just a little bit so that my lips came into contact with the rim of a... cup?

“Be careful now,” the voice whispered, “I want you to sip this.” The mysterious stranger speaking to me tilted the cup towards me just enough so that a small amount of water trickled onto my lips. Instinctively I wrapped my lips around the edge and started to gulp the water greedily. The liquid satisfying my urge for something to drink. The stranger pulled the cup back. “Careful,” she said, “sip.” She brought the cup back and I did as I was told.

Once I was finished, she pulled the cup away again. I sat there in silence, savoring the taste. Finally I sighed. “Who are you?” I muttered.

There was brief moment that passed as the stranger gently lowered my head onto the ground. “My name is Quartz, I’m a miner.”

I smirked at the name. ‘That’s pretty cute’, I thought.

“We found you down in that temple thing,” the girl, Quartz, continued, “and you were crying about something—”

Right then and there it all came rushing back, and everything that had happened earlier struck me like an oncoming tsunami. The breach, the others being dead, all of those recent memories returned. My lower lip began to quiver and I clenched my closed eyes even tighter, though that didn’t stop the stray tears from sneaking by.

“Oh no, please don’t cry!” The girl panicked.

“Quartz, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I felt the person beside me stand up. “I was just trying to start a conversation with it!”

I toned out the two bickering girls, rolled onto my side and curled up. I couldn’t get the image out my head, Eva’s rotted body lying in the broken cocoon gazing up at the ceiling. It was terrible and only seemed to bring more tears. I didn’t even want to think about how the others turned out, were they the same way? I couldn’t recall, did I even check?

I slowly reached up with an aching arm and wiped the few stray tears away. “Glenn,” I said, “when did Dr. Reynolds wake up?” I received no reply. “Glenn?”

Then it clicked, I wasn’t in the vault. My eyes shot open and I found myself in a dimly lit environment, and a few feet away from me was a tipped over log with a small hole in it. On the ground in front of me were piles of dead leaves and twigs, even a small path with fresh footprints in it was marked in front of me. Despite my body’s protest I propped myself up with an arm and took another glance around. I was in a forest.

“What the hell,” I forced out, “where the hell am I?” My eyes darted around, there were trees everywhere. Another breeze blew past me and I shivered again. Gazing down, I gasped out loud at the sight of my bare breasts and torn jeans. “What happened to my clothes?!”

“Oh look, it’s up!” a voice chirped behind me.

I pushed myself over into a sitting position and looked over in the direction of the voice. “What the?!” I freaked out at the sight of two small horses looking at me, I quickly used my legs to push myself away from them. My back made contact with the log I noticed earlier, glancing back at it I bit my lower lip. The height of the log was far beyond anything I could climb over.

“Don’t be afraid!” I looked back and saw a cream colored horse approaching me. “It’s me, Quartz, I gave you water not too long ago, remember?”

I pointed a finger at it. “You’re a talking horse!” I freaked.

“What?” The horse stopped and looked at me confused. “No, I’m a pony.” It tried to clarify as it took a step towards me.

I shook my head. “Horses aren’t supposed to talk!”

The animal’s head recoiled back, its face now taking on more of a concerned look. “Of course I can talk!” it said and fired a quick glance over its shoulder toward its companion. “All ponies can talk.” It took a step back.

I checked both sides just in case I needed to make a quick escape. “No, they can’t.” I reached back and grabbed the side of the log. “This has to be a dream,” I mumbled as I started to pull myself up. “O-or I’m going insane—” I stopped at the sudden sensation of something wrapping around me.

“Please calm down,” it said in a quiet tone. “We aren’t going to hurt you.” My arm was forced back to my side and I fell back on the ground.

“Why can’t I move?!” My heart began to race as I struggled against the invisible grip.

“For Celestia’s sake, Quartz!” The second horse, which was blue, got up and trotted towards the cream one. “It’s not going to calm down if you grab ahold of it like that!”

“I’m not holding it as a way to calm it, I’m afraid it’s going to hurt us.”

I gritted my teeth and glared at it. “I’ll ram my foot so up your ass you’ll be flossing with my shoelaces if you don’t stop whatever you're doing!” I yelled and squirmed beneath my invisible bounds, my legs sprawled outwards as I tried to find a way to push myself up. “Let me go, dammit!”

The blue one looked at the cream horse named Quartz, its eyes narrowed. “Quartz, let go of it.”

The cream pony looked at its friend, an uneasy frown plastered on its face. It sighed and closed its eyes in defeat. “Alright, fine.”

The gripping feeling around my body vanished, I raised both my hands to my face, astonished by what happened. However, that brief moment of awe was quickly washed away by a wave of anger. I clambered onto my feet and stared at the two horses.

“What are you?” I snarled and took a step towards them, both horses backed up.

Both creatures shared a confused look with one another, the blue one then looked back at me and nodded its head. “My name is Crystal,” It said, taking a small step towards me, “I’m a pony, a pegasus really.” Just to clarify, it extended out a pair of wings. “And this is Quartz.” It lightly kicked the cream pony in the side. “She’s a unicorn. We’re the ones who dragged you out of that temple.”

My frowned deepened, ‘They dragged me out of there against my will?’

“Why?” I took another step. This time, however, the two ponies remained still.

“You looked like you needed help,” Quartz looked up at me and explained. “You seemed exhausted and dehydrated.” I gazed down at the unicorn and was surprised at how short they were; they only stood to be slightly higher than my waist.

“And what made you think I wanted your help?”

The blue one, Crystal, took a step towards me. “You were screaming like a filly that’s why–”

“BECAUSE ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD!”

Both ponies stumbled back, their pupils shrunken out of fear. My eyes widened and I felt as if all the air had been sucked out my lungs. ‘Why did I just scream like that?’ I thought, ‘Where did this anger come from?’ I took a few steps back from them and turned away. Out of everything that has happened today just yelling out the truth hurt me the most.

“Wh-what do you mean?” I heard a quiet voice ask, I couldn’t tell which one it was. I didn’t even know why I was talking to these things, were they even real? I couldn’t tell, and to be honest, I didn’t care. This is probably just some weird emotional dream anyways.

“What does it sound like?” I practically mumbled the words. “They’re dead; every last one of them is dead!” A few tears escaped the corners of my eyes. “I don’t even know when they died or why I didn’t die with them.” I wiped a hand across my damp cheeks. To my left, I noticed something floating beside my head. I glanced over at it and saw that it was a piece of my bra. The left cup to be specific. I looked at it confused, then reached out and took it.

I turned my head towards the ponies and saw both of them smiling sheepishly. “We’re sorry about your clothes,” Quartz said, “there were a few problems we ran into back when we were trying to get you out of the temple.”

“That stuff you were wearing really likes to snag onto things.”

The two of them bowed their heads and apologized. I snorted and turned away from the ponies. I covered my mouth to avoid laughing out loud. I don’t know why I found it funny, but something about the looks they gave me and the fact they kept the left cup of my bra just struck a chord with me.

“Oh way to go, Quartz,” Crystal sighed, “You made it cry again.”

“Wha-what?! You’re the one who told me to hoof that thing over to it!”

“Th-thank you,” I choked out between giggles as I dabbed my cheeks with the ruined undergarment.

“Huh?!” Both ponies seemed surprised when they noticed me looking back at them smiling.

I held the piece of fabric in the air and shook it. “Thank you,” I said more clearly.

Both ponies bowed again. “You’re welcome.”

Quartz straightened herself out and looked at me sadly. “And I’m sorry to hear about your loss, I didn’t know.”

“Me too,” Crystal added.

I felt a slight twinge in my chest and I sighed. “Thank you, but I have no need for your pity.”

“No, really.” Quartz trotted up to me. “I can’t even begin to think about how I would feel if I lost Crystal!” I jolted back when the pony came up and nuzzled my thigh. “You poor thing!”

“What’re you doing?!” I pulled my hands up and stepped back.

The pony looked at me and tilted its head. “I’m consoling you.”

I held my palms out to it and shook my head. “Please don’t, I’m fine.”

“Really?” Crystal trotted up beside Quartz. “After what I saw, you don’t sound okay.”

I frowned and broke eye contact with the blue pony. “Well... no, I don’t feel okay. I feel horrible, really. But...” I stepped past the ponies and began walking towards the fire pit they made.

‘How the hell did they make one anyways?’

“I just need some time alone... to collect my thoughts.”

‘Maybe when I fall asleep,’ I thought to myself, ‘I’ll wake up in the real world where there aren’t any talking horses.’

“I guess I can understand that,” Quartz said as a brief silence fell over us and I sat down beside the pit of ashes. “If you’d like,” she started up again. “I could make us all something to eat.”

As if it was on cue, my stomach growled. I winced and held a hand over my gut, sighing. “I’m okay with that,” I mumbled as I lay onto my side and closed my eyes.

I woke to the sound of a plate falling beside my head. “What the?!” I snapped up into a sitting position, looking around, I saw that night had fallen upon us. Aside from the towering moon in the sky and the fireplace in front of me, it was nearly pitch black. I turned my head to the right just in time to see a pony an inch away from my face. “Shit!” I cursed and flinched back from the blue pony. Crystal fell back on her haunches, laughing.

I took deep breath and frowned at the pegasus. ‘I guess I wasn’t dreaming after all,’ I thought, looking back at the pegasus who was still recovering from a fit of giggles. I rolled my eyes and turned my gaze down to the plate beside me. On it was was a small pile of thin slimy objects covered in this dark brown spots that reminded me of freckles.

I grimaced at the disturbing looking food. “What’s this?” I asked grabbing a piece of the mystery food. I held it up in the nighttime sky. A small bit of yellow slime oozed down the side of it and back down to the plate, I placed it back onto the plate and examined the substance on my fingers. It was very sticky, however that didn’t stop my curiosity. I brought it up to my face and sniffed, it didn’t have a smell.

My curiosity now reached a whole new level. I pulled my hand away from my face and glanced around, but the two ponies were nowhere to be seen. I looked back down at my hand and quickly stuck my two sticky fingers in my mouth. “Whoa!” I pulled my fingers out and eyed the plate below me. Whatever that slime was it tasted great! It was like sweet but also a tad sour, but it wasn’t enough to have me spit it out either. It was the perfect mix.

“You like it huh?” Quartz asked.

I spun around in my spot and saw the pony looking at me with a smile, my eyes widened and I quickly broke eye contact. I faced the fire. “Y-yeah, thank you.”

‘I’m never going to get used to these talking ponies.’

The pony chuckled, came up beside me, and sat down. Out of habit, I crossed my arms over my chest to cover up. Quartz looked over at me. “Not many ponies like my cooking. Then again...” Quartz’s eyes traced up and down my body as if it was examining me like some drawing in a book, which made me feel very uncomfortable. “You don’t look like a pony to me.”

I glanced at the pony with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah and you don’t look like no human to me.”

It was Quartz's turn to raise an eyebrow. “Human, eh?” The pony smiled. “Is that what you are?”

I focused on the crackling flame in front of me, I brought my knees in close and wrapped my arms around them and scooched closer to the warm flame. “Yeah,” I answered quickly.

Quartz smiled. “Say, human.” I noticed the plate of slimey sticks float past me before settling down on my left side, my eyes followed it the entire way.

‘I take back what I said about talking ponies,’ I thought, ‘I’ll never get use to the floating objects.’

“You got a name?” Quartz asked as it levitated one of the slimy sticks up before biting into it.

I took my eyes off the pony who was eating my food and focused back on the flames. “Chloe,” I muttered.

“Sorry what?” The pony tilted its ear towards me. “You’re going to have to speak up.”

“My name is Chloe Cooper.”

“Chloe Cooper, that’s a cute name.”

“A cute name for a cute face,” I muttered with a light smile. I glanced over and saw Quartz grinning. My smile faltered and I quickly looked back at the fire. “That’s what my friend, Adam, always said to me.” I cringed at the memory and quickly added, “I don’t want to talk about that,” before Quartz could press any further on that subject.

Without thinking, I reached over and grabbed one of the mystery sticks and popped it in my mouth. Immediately my tastes buds were overwhelmed with pleasant sweet and sour flavors. It reminded me of that red sauce from China King I’d always pour on my chicken, yet in a solid state. It’s so weird to describe, the only thing I can say about it was: it was good.

Quartz and I sat in silence as we watched the fire wisp back and forth in the gentle breeze. “Hey, Quartz!” The two of us looked over to see Crystal, who, to my astonishment, was flying right towards us with a wooden case in its hooves. “I found that pack of cider you wanted.”

Quartz got up and somehow levitated the pack out of the other ponies hooves. ‘How does she do that?’ I thought to myself as I watched with utter disbelief. Quartz turned away from Crystal and walked back over to me. The unicorn sat down and opened the pack without touching it while Crystal took a seat on the other side of the fire.

“Crystal,” Quartz said and levitated out three metal cans. “This here is Chloe Cooper,” the pony gestured a hoof towards me while placing one the cans down beside me. “She’s a human.”

“A what?” Crystal said taking the can that Quartz floated over out of the air.

“A human,” I mumbled as I reached over and picked up the weighted can. “What’s this?” I asked quietly.

“That there is some good ol’ cider,” Quartz gestured to the can with a hoof, “it was a special delivery from Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Be careful though,” Crystal said literally punching her can open with the tip of her hoof. “This is the special kind, so don’t drink too much.”

“What? Is it alcoholic?” I asked.

‘After what’s been happening, I wouldn’t mind getting shit faced.’ I thought.

“What?” Quartz looked at me confused. “No. It’s full of artificial salt.”

“It’ll knock you out!” Quartz laughed and took huge swig.

I glanced at my can and bit my bottom lip. “Yeah, I think I’ll pass.”

Quartz shrugged and magicked the can out of my hand. “Suit yourself.”

A few minutes of silence passed, I tucked my legs in tighter and rested my chin on the top of my knees. “Okay... this is really bothering me,” I heard Crystal say.

I glanced up and saw the pony squinting at me while leaning its seat. “What?” I muttered.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but... what are you: Stallion or mare?”

I furrowed my brow. “What?”

“Your sex,” Quartz said while placing the drink aside, “She wants to know your sex.”

“Oh... uh...”

‘This is beyond weird now.’ I thought, ‘I really thought they already knew.’

“I’m female,” I whispered and hid behind my knees.

‘This day is, by far, the worst.’

“Female?” Crystal looked at Quartz, I blushed out of embarrassment.

“It’s the sciency way of saying she’s a mare,” Quartz clarified.

I hid my head between my knees and closed my eyes. ‘I really want to go home now.’

“So she’s like us!”

I tilted my head slightly so that I could kinda see Quartz out of the corner of my eye. “What does it mean?”

Quartz nearly choked on its drink. “She, Crystal. Chloe is not an it. We’re all mares here.”

“So you guys are girls too?”

“All one hundred percent,” Quartz said and took another swig of her drink. “You sure you don’t want any cider?” She asked while shaking the drink above the ground without holding it. The movement was nearly hypnotic.

I shook my head. “No, thank you.” I pulled my head back behind my knees. “I care too much about my sodium intake.”

The pony shrugged her shoulders. “Okay then.” She took another sip. “Say, Crystal, how about instead of going home tomorrow, we hit that temple one last time?”

“Wait, what?” I raised my head out from behind my knees.

“I’m cool with that.” The blue pegasus set her drink down.

“What temple?”

Both ponies looked at me as if I was stupid. “The place we found you in.”

I took a deep breath. ‘Oh that’s what they meant.’

I buzzed my lips. “Okay, let me explain something, first off: it’s not a temple, it’s an underground laboratory.” Before the ponies could say anything, I raised a finger to silence them. “Also what do you mean by: you’re gonna ‘hit it?’”

Quartz wiped her face with her hoof. “We’re spelunkers,” She said with a troubled look. “Why, is something wrong with that?”

“W-well, preferably—” Crystal burped, “—I l-like to t-think of us as treaaasure hunnnters.” With every growing second her speech was growing incredibly worse.

I frowned and tilted my head at her. “You’re planning on looting the place aren’t you?” I said, the tone of my voice taking a dark turn. I uncurled my knees and stretched them out towards the fire.

Quartz eyes widened she turned to face Crystal. “On second thought, Crys—” She started but was cut off by her intoxicated companion.

“Of course we are!” The pegasus whipped her empty can into the dirt and stood up. “And we’re gunna... we’re goin’ become rich... too!” Crystal blurted out.

“No, Crystal,” Quartz said as she looked at me. “Clearly something about this place is special to you.”

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and nodded my head. “It’s my home, and also my friends’ resting place.” I sighed and looked at the fire. “I’ll be returning there tomorrow to check on something,” I said as an idea came to mind. “If you’d like...” I drifted off.

‘I really hope this isn’t a bad idea.’

I turned back to Quartz and gave her a warm smile. “You could come with me and I could show you around.”

Quartz smiled back at me. “I think I’d like that,” she said right as Crystal fell over unconscious.

Author's Notes:

Okay lemme clarify something. (First off this is going under editing for now)

"Why does Chloe constantly refer to the ponies as 'its' before she learns their gender."

Simple answer, it's because she didn't know their gender despite their voices sounding like females. You don't want to accidentally be rude, just a bit of character thing.

Anyhow I really hope you're enjoying this because I sure do like writing this. It's a big breather from writing Lazarus because I only have one main character to deal with instead of like ten (that was my own mistake). Also I hope you guys are taking a liking to Chloe, I'm still hammering out her character a bit.

I will also clear up one thing, she isn't a doctor, she isn't a soldier. She's literally just your average Jane who happened to be immune. Anyhow catch ya'll later!