Emergency Protocol I-3902
Pod #101 Status:
External Power Supply: Disconnected
Internal Power Reserves: 3%
Spell Matrix: Operational
Spell Talismans: 57% efficiency
Flux Reserves: 12%
External Integrity: 97%
Stasis Integrity: 100%
Outside Environment: Stable
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Initiate Automated Purge of Subject: Fast Times- Male-Unicorn
Subject Status: Nominal
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Beginning Automated Release Procedure...
Duration of Stasis: 83.7 years
Thank you for using Stable-Tec!

Please Stand By.
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The first real thought that went through my mind was, "Owwwww..."

After that, things started coming back slowly. I thought "Ow" because I was in a great deal of pain. I felt a great deal of pain because I seemed to have fallen and was lying on the floor. I had fallen out of the large bulk behind me that was acting as the only light source, while also blaring a rather annoying alarm. The bright, noisy thing I had fallen out of was a stasis pod, pod #101.

Why was I on the floor? I should have woken up like normal, like I did every ten years on the dot. Why was nopony helping me? Why did I feel so awful? Waking up from stasis was a little jarring to the system, I was usually a little stiff and logy, but it passed quick enough and I was used to it. This however was orders of magnitude worse...

My muscles were on fire, my head was pounding and I was having trouble focusing on anything. When I looked at pod #101, the emergency lights were blinding even though I knew they weren't this bright, I installed the damn things after all. The alarm amplified my headache with each pulse, I tried covering my ears and turning away from the hateful machine and looked out to a room full of darkness, nice soothing darkness.

After trying not to move or think as long as possible, I decided to do something about that blasted alarm. I reached out with my magic to my pip-buck, I had all the backdoor controls and should still be connected to the pod. The room brightened by a tiny bit as my horn glowed blue before fizzling out, great I was either right at the edge of, or into magical burnout. Groaning, I fumbled at the pip-buck with my hoof, trying to key in the right sequence of commands. It took far too long, but finally the klaxon stopped blaring and I was left in silence. With a sigh of sweet relief I closed my eyes for just a moment...

I awoke with a start and winced, guess I fell asleep there for a minute. Moving hurt, but I wasn't in nearly the horrible shape I had been last I remembered, I was also hungry and thirsty. Hmmm... perhaps I nodded off for more than a minute there. I was still in a dark room alone, lying in front of that hateful pod #101 which spread a pool of light over me feebly. Light that had grown slightly dimmer than what it should be.

Well, first things first, stand up. I grunted and pushed my way up to a sitting position on the floor slowly, yes... sit up..., that's what I meant. Catching my breath and marshaling my energy for the upcoming attempt at standing I took a look at my pip-buck, still synced to pod #101 and started reading the data it was putting out.

My brain was in slightly better shape than my body at least but I still couldn't comprehend the data I was looking at. How had pod #101's condition gone down from near perfect to what it was reporting now in so little time? Something had to be wrong... Initiating an automated purge? That was risky, why'd that happen? Did the damn thing just wait for me to get in it to fall to pieces?

I shook my head carefully, whining at the stiffness in my neck as muscles spasmed at the mild activity. I finally remembered the pip-buck had a light so I reached over to toggle it on then froze when it complied. I was in storeroom 3 still! Did Sprockets just forget about moving me back out where I belonged on the Icebox floor? That jerk! Leaving me to wake up in an empty, powered down storeroom in the dark, all alone, how could he!

Wait why would he? Sprockets wouldn't do that, he took his job seriously, so what happened? Maybe he died suddenly and didn't have a chance to tell anyone #101 needed to be moved? Though if that was the case wouldn't mom or dad or Sunset come and get me when they woke up?

I paused in thought while glancing around slowly in the dim light of the pod and my pip-buck, something was different in here... I raised my pip-buck hoof as high as I could manage and looked around slowly, from what I could see it looked like cleaning had suffered a serious lapse. I know this was just a storeroom but the amount of dust and grime was a little extreme. Things had been knocked to the floor, a patch of rust went up the seam of one of the walls I could make out, even #101 was grimy and dingy now that I got a better look at it.

Alright, whether my body felt like it or not time to move, with a grunt of effort I got to my hooves and swayed slightly hoping my balance would come back. After a brief bout of dizziness I felt like I'd be ok and took a lurching step forward. I needed all four hooves to make any kind of progress here so I shuffled forward a step or two then raised the pip-buck light to look around again, not much improvement though.

I had made it to the edge of the recessed repair bay pod #101 sat in, the double rows of spare pods stood in the center of the larger room stretching to my left towards the door. To the right the wall I could see stretched off to the corner, meeting the far wall I could barely make out.

The workbench to the right had a different assortment of parts than when Sprockets and I left, though they also looked dusty and worn. The poster above the workbench was more worrying. The Ministry of Arcane Sciences' Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle was displayed wearing a fetching lab coat, surrounded by magical and technological tools and materials. A menacing Steel Ranger stood behind her like an armored bodyguard and the legend on the old propaganda poster read: "Brains AND Brawn- Together we'll win the fight!"

I had admired the Ministry Mare while Sprocket introduced me to beer and it had been lovingly preserved down here, but now... Now the poster I had just seen was faded, ripped and a little moldy here and there. Something was seriously wrong in here, but my battered brain still couldn't make much sense of it. I would cry out for help but no one would hear me in here and I only had so much energy.

With a sigh I shuffled forward again, past the double row of pods and left toward the door. I stumbled and nearly fell but recovered and waited for another wave of dizziness to pass. I could see the door out now, or the shape of it anyway. The console to the left of the door was dimly lit, there was a squarish shape next to it that was probably the door and then there was a heap of...clothes? junk? Something was to the left of the door leaning against the wall beneath the console.

About halfway across the room to the door, I started getting details from my light and stopped with a shiver, my eyes starting to widen as I started putting together what I was looking at beside the door. "No..." I whispered, drawing another couple steps closer but yes.. yes it was. A pony, a dead pony sat leaning against the wall, a skeleton wrapped in rotting rags that were once clothes.

I felt panic brush me lightly with its wings, preparing to take off and fly baby. The rush of adrenaline forced my brain into something approaching first gear, I swung my pip-buck to my face so hard I nearly bashed my muzzle with it but I didn't care. I frantically fumbled at the controls with my hoof, how did Grizz do this! Come on... back to the pod status screen, faster you hunk of junk! There! Duration of Stasis, I never paid attention to that line since it always read "10.0 years" but that's not what it said. Not at all...

"E-eighty... eighty t-three point seven?" I croaked and felt panic really get ready to soar. This can't be, it just cant! 83.7 years!!! "This can't be right!!!" I screeched in my raspy voice, I was just about to really get going when I heard something. "H-hello?" I quavered looking around desperately, there it was again, a clicking, scratching sound from... the corpse?

Oh no, hell no! Dead pony was bad enough, undead pony was worse! I shook as my eyes widened and my pupils shrank looking at the skeletal remains shifting in front of me. Suddenly a giant insect squirmed its way out of the rotting clothes holding the bones together and skittered towards me quickly.

Not as bad as an undead pony, but my mind still refused to engage productively as it approached, clicking and snapping. A foot long roach with a slight glowing, greenish tint, skittering right for me... what the hell was going on! It hissed as it closed distance and snapped at my foreleg, leaving a nasty scratch that oozed blood.

My brain may not be able to cope with what was going on but the pain had prompted my body to take over. I tried to scramble away from the attacking monster, stamping at it, pushing myself back across the floor, anything to make this stop as it snapped and darted for me. Finally I brought my pip-buck down on its' carapace with a satisfying crunch and slumped down looking at it.

Panting and shaking all over, covered in a sickly sweat and dribbling a little blood from my forelegs, I kept staring at the attacker, a roach had pushed me to exhaustion... Granted a giant roach somehow, but a big bug nonetheless. I looked back to the skeletal pony at the door and shuddered, eighty years... I didn't want to believe it, but that body had been here a long time and things had changed drastically.

Tears trembled in my eyes as I started moving forward again, giving the giant roach a wide berth and trudging on towards the door. I didn't want to confirm my fears about that poor dead pony, but I had to and had a pretty good idea what inspection would tell me. Sure enough, once I got in range for my pip-buck light to brighten the room around the door my fears were confirmed.

Not a skeleton held together by rags, but a skeleton held together with a rotting light blue and yellow stable barding, a dusty pip-buck clamped around its' bony foreleg. I whimpered and the tears started spilling down my cheeks, blurring my view of the scene but not enough.

The pony was slumped against the wall, a black stain pooled around them and stained their barding too, blood... old blood. A connector cable was snaking down from the console above the skull of the pony and down to their pip-buck. A dusty brown bottle sat near the skeleton's other hoof, please no...

I carefully shuffled forward, fighting revulsion as I bit the edge of the pip buck and gingerly tried to extract it from the corpse, being as respectful to the remains as I could. It came free without disturbing the bleached leg bone too much, it fell to the ground in basically the same position it had been at least. I blew off the dusty device in my hooves and wiped tears from my eyes to get a good look at the screen. An audio file was loaded and blinking, waiting for input to start playback, I sniffled and pushed the select button with dread.

"Ugh... Hey there F-Fast.." Sprockets' voice croaked out of the pip-buck before being interrupted by some wet, rattling sounding coughs and retches, I looked back at all the black blood stains and shivered. "I hope ya...get t-this. Did... all I c-could," more coughs and groans came from the tiny speaker and the tears started flowing more freely, Sprockets was dying when he made this message for me... "A-as ya can see... couldn't 'zactly r-reach #101 from h-here... lock- locked out the door though... Oh sweet Celestia that hurts!" he said, bridging the years in his pain. I could hear shuffling so he must have tried to move. "C-cut.. cut.. the power in here... only way you'd get..o-out... dunno when though.. S-sorry bout... that. Takin' the other pods... don't know about #101 though... n-never logged it.. should... should.. be safe kid.. Help them... p-please... and h-have... have a drink on me... gonna.. n-need.... it..." The recording clicked off and the pip-buck dumped out of the file and directly to the patched console controls.

I set the pip-buck down and looked over to Sprockets, sobbing, something bad had happened, something very bad. Sprockets had managed to do all he could for me as his final act and it had cost him a lot of pain from the sound of it. I only saw the old stallion once a year and yesterday was the most we had ever talked... not yesterday... eighty years ago. How much force of will had it taken to hang on, hack the door control to lock it out and cut the power here, then record a message for me while dying and in pain.

The old technician was right too, unable to reach my pod the only thing he could do was cut the power and force it to fall back on the internal power supply. At least it would eventually run out much sooner than the Stable's massive arcano-tech generator system below us. Eighty years was bad, but it could have been two hundred or more. The backup power was rated for a maximum of a century of isolated operation, 83.7 years was pretty good.. we had done our work together well...

I wept and gently touched Sprockets' skull, recalling his aged purple face and stern orange eyes. "T-thanks old buck... You... you were a good pony, I wish I knew you b-better.." I jerked with a pang of panic at that last word, Better.. my brother, my family! I had to find them! I turned away from Sprockets' remains and back to his pip-buck desperately, awkwardly hoofing my way through the controls until I found the power control and reconnected to the Stable power system.

The lights buzzed harshly as they warmed up and started flickering back to life. None of that sounded good to my repair-pony ears, half the fluorescent tubes were burned out and those that remained gave a grimier, yellowish light when they finally came back to life. With light I could see just how poorly the room had fared, dirt and rust prevailed where before all was polished steel.

Turning back to the controls, I tripped the door lockout and tried to open it but got nothing, not good. I was desperate to get out of here and find my friends and family. I rounded on the open panel Sprockets' pip-buck was wired into and gave it a quick appraisal. The connectors leading to the door mechanism were corroded, stopping the signal from reaching. No problem, a quick fix with my tools... my tools that were still in storage back in pod #101. All the way across the room again...

I shouldered the door angrily before sliding down it and sitting next to Sprockets in exhaustion, curling into a ball and sobbing into my hooves. I was so tired and hurt, my stomach grumbled and my throat burned, my heart was pounding in my temples, the injuries that bug gave me stung and bled, my magic was gone, or so weak it didn't matter and I was alone. No pony had been in stasis as long as I had. The effects were annoying for a ten year trip, eighty years was so much worse. Dad would know why and what to do for my battered body, Mom or Sunset would soothe my aching heart and soul, Grizz would calm my racing mind with a joke, but there was no one.

I wept until I was out of tears, refusing to look up at the now lit room. Eventually though, blocking it out wasn't enough. I looked up over my hooves and spotted the brown bottle between Sprockets and myself, his bony foreleg pointed towards it like he was passing it over with a smile. With a sniffle I gave my magic another try and was rewarded with a very weak blue telekinesis field that slowly wobbled the bottle up to me.

My magic wasn't even strong enough to twist the cap, so I had to bite it and twist with my hooves, but it opened with a sad hiss finally. It had gone flat, I hoped beer didn't go bad in a way that could poison you and briefly paused. But my throat and mind cried out for it and Sprockets would know how long that beer may sit there, he wouldn't have left it if it was dangerous. I trusted the old stallion and took a drink, then tipped the bottle towards his remains.

"Here's to you Sprockets... T-thank you."

The beer was bad, while at the same time being ambrosial, at this point anything wet would taste like heaven for my poor throat. I sat against the door that stood between me and my family and slowly drank it down, it had retained its' alcoholic properties at least and slowly helped numb my aching body slightly. With grim determination, I sat the empty bottle down where I had got it and pushed myself back to my hooves with a grunt of effort, ready for the long trek back to #101.

Weaving slightly, but more steady on my hooves, I trudged forward. Past the dusty, empty spare pods, past the dead monster bug, rounding the corner and passing the cluttered workbench and Ministry Mare poster as pod #101 loomed before me. Its' lights had brightened back to full now that power was restored and I could see the faded kiss print on the hatch. Looking at it my cheek tingled as I remembered my prize and I felt a surge of determination. I had to find her, to find Sunset and the others I needed out of this room, so I was getting out, now.

The storage bay on the pod opened with a hiss and I grunted with effort, pulling out my saddlebags and trying to wiggle into them with my hooves. There was no way my magic could handle the tool laden packs. Progress was agonizingly slow but I managed. My pip-buck chimed with updated inventory and I quickly scrolled through the waiting lists, searching for anything to eat while my stomach rumbled. 1 Fancy Buck snack cake jumped out at me from the list and I selected it. I weakly floated it from my pack and peeled the wrapper, munching the carroty cake with gusto, sitting against the cursed pod.

After the short break I felt a little better, my eyes burned from all the crying and I kept sniffling up snot, but my stomach had quieted down and my headache started to ease off, low blood sugar I guessed. The third trek across the room was the best so far as I started being able to move like a functional pony again. I reached the door and pulled out my screwdriver and wire brush, disconnected the corroded leads, cleaned them and reattached them to the door control mechanism.

I reached out with my slowly improving magic and tripped the control again, this time rewarded with a low whine as the door slowly slid open to reveal darkness beyond. I looked back to my savior, I'd have to come back and do something for his remains. He had saved me the only way he could before he died, I owed him that.

"Goodbye Sprockets, I'll come back I promise." I whispered down to the noble repair ponys' remains before I stepped out of the storage room and into the Icebox.

My hoofsteps echoed in the cavernous dark room, I could only see as far as my pip-buck light, which didn't reveal much. I kept moving forward from memory, the motion sensors should pick me up shortly and bring up the lights. I stopped when I heard the rough click and hum of the system responding, capacitors needed replacing up there but they still worked, Stables were made to last.

Instead of the instant response and click of lights properly coming on, I looked up to see the working bulbs slowly start glimmering to life in the darkness. Bars of dim light far above me, gaining strength and slowly piercing the blackness. I looked back down to the Icebox floor and strained to see anything as the weak lights began to push back the dark, but my heart sunk lower and lower as they illuminated nothing... Just me, standing in the vast warehouse sized room alone, all around me I saw the empty slots and power connections for 1000 stasis pods that were simply gone.

I screamed in frustration, my eyes darting over what I could make out. Desperate to see at least one familiar white pod or somepony alive in here. "Hello! Somepony!? Anypony?!! Is anyone there!!!" I shouted and listened to my voice echoing back to me as I charged up the empty aisles where the Shift 3 pods should be. Panic tinged my voice as I passed the empty slots where pod #44 should be "SUNSET!?", where #53 should sit "GRIZZ!?", I skidded to a halt at the end of the aisle where #40 and #41 should be "MOM!?! DAD!!? BETTER!!!" I collapsed to the floor shaking from the exertion and fear, sobbing and looking at the last two empty slots where my family was just a couple hours ago to me as my cries echoed back to me in the gloom.

I laid there for awhile, shivering and crying. Staring at the empty slots and disconnected power lines, trying to will them back where they belonged. As I slowly got myself under control I realized why Shift Change was handled the way it was. It wasn't just to mark the passage of time. All the ceremony and happy goodbyes were there for this, in case something bad happened.

I played back my recent (to me) memories. Mom's hoof against the glass, repeating 'I love you' out at us while Better snuggled with her in the pod. Dad ruffling my mane and saying he was proud of me. Grizz waving me off as his parents fussed over him with emotional goodbyes. Sunset... kissing my cheek and waving through the glass with a broad smile. We said goodbye on Shift Change day just in case it really was goodbye...

Slowly despair started being replaced with something else, a small ember flared within me, anger... Somepony did this, Somepony took the pods, Somepony killed Sprockets, Somepony stole my Stable, my friends, my family, my life... and somepony was going to pay...

The pods were gone, but they weren't still here and dead with skeletal occupants like Sprockets. His pip-buck recording mentioned "them taking the pods". They may not be here, but even disconnected the internal power should last as long as mine. They should be alive, even if they had been stolen, they had to be! and I was going to find them, somehow...

With new resolve, I dragged myself up and started walking towards the stairs to the catwalk and the exit above. I scowled at the rust on the railings and metal stairs, thinking of the maintenance work needed down here. When I reached the catwalks I noticed the exit had been barricaded. Metal boxes were stacked haphazardly in front of it and more skeletal ponies were strewn about, along with a number of pink piles of ash and dried green puddles, magical energy weapons...

The corpses wore security barding as well as Stable barding. More black stains surrounded each skeleton, from their positions they had fought to the last. The wounds I noticed were caused by something much more significant than the 10mm pistols and batons they had to fight back with though. Still, they had tried to protect us and gave everything to do so.

I fought back the tears and started levitating the pistols still locked in their mouths or on the ground nearby and pulled out what little ammo I could find, they had used as much as they could before the end. My pip-buck chimed with the additional inventory, inspecting their condition and assigning a value to each, I wondered how it knew what they were worth. Scrolling through the new acquisitions, I selected the pistol in the best shape and floated it out. I had 23 rounds of ammo to work with, whoever came and took my Stable had come heavy, the gun made me feel a little better.

I trotted forward and surveyed the scene, they fought their way in from above, presumably from the main entrance. But they didn't take the pods back out this way, the barricade was still in place. I walked back to the railing and looked down at the desolate, empty floor below, it had been a long time but there had to be clues.

Looking from above I could see some scratches, trails of ponies moving large things around. We had hover lifters to move pods around with so they weren't dragged across the floor, but moving 1000 of the things out of here had to leave some sign. Taking it all in I managed to discern the pattern of what was left, there was a faint trail and I trotted back down the stairs to follow it.

My hoofsteps echoed as I walked the barely perceptible trail, the pistol held in my magic to my side just in case. This place was creepy without the hum and odd beeps of the pods. Eventually the trail stopped at the farthest point from the entrance in the west corner. I stared blankly at the wall, this can't be right.. they brought them all here and just disappeared?

In frustration I wheeled around and bucked the wall, a resounding bong echoing out into the void of the room, wait 'bong'? I spun back to face the offending wall and scrutinized it carefully, that didn't sound right, on closer inspection it didn't look right either.

If a pony hadn't spent their life maintaining walls and passageways in this stable, they'd never know the difference, but this wasn't standard Stable-Tec wall paneling. I probed and prodded it with my magic and my hooves, feeling the slightly off surface of it until I finally found a catch. I had to stand on my hind legs and stretch for all I was worth to put a hoof on the mechanism at the top of the panel, but I managed. I enveloped it in a field of blue magic and triggered the switch.

With a squeal the whole panel started to slide away, knocking me from my precarious position and down to the floor. I looked up in wonder as the secret passage opened revealing a short hallway beyond. This shouldn't be here, I've seen the blueprints of this place, crawled every inch of this Stable myself, or so I thought anyway, and this was not part of the Stable I knew. I cautiously walked in and confirmed my thoughts, the materials used here were different, not Stable-Tec standard issue. I walked to the end of the short hallway, picking up more signs the pods had passed this way with a grimace and ended up in a medium sized dead end chamber.

The only object in the room was a round platform, surrounded by a series of pillars with coils around them. Wires snaked everywhere through the chamber, all leading to the platform and a control console rose from the floor in front of it. I lowered my pistol and looked around, no one seemed to be in this mystery chamber either so it seemed safe... wait!

I face-hoofed and started running through my pip-buck settings, activating the Eyes Forward Sparkle system and HUD. I never had any use for these features before and had shut them off like basically everyone in the Stable but security. The E.F.S. system identified other beings in the vicinity and displayed them as either green or red dashes on the compass that had sprung up at the bottom of my vision, green was good, red was bad. I really should have remembered and activated this before wandering around the scene of a massacre, but I was distracted.

E.F.S. showed nothing, but good to know and have it running. With a shaky sigh I turned back to the strange machine. The control console in front of it had a panel off and closer inspection showed several components had been removed at some point, making it inoperable. Ok, so some heavily armed group came into the Stable from above ground presumably. Fought their way down through Shift 4 ponies. Moved all the stasis pods down this secret tunnel to this weird machine, then disappeared apparently, but not before disabling it.

Working through it, there was only one answer. I had read things about teleportation pads, mostly theory about them being possible and rumors the Ministries actually used the top secret technology in some of their installations, but I never thought I'd see one. I wish I had more time with it, figure out how it works, but that was unimportant. What mattered was this is where they went, this is how they made off with 1000 stasis pods with 900 ponies and my first real lead so far.

I tried to jack my pip-buck to the console but got no response, one of the parts removed must govern power. Unable to poke around the code of the interface, I stuck my muzzle in the open panel and inspected everything carefully. Nothing too out of the ordinary for what I expected this was, spell matrices wired in interesting ways to highly advanced targeting talismans and a number of bits and bobs I didn't recognize. Nothing useful.

I stamped a hoof in frustration, knocking over the removed panel with a bang that startled me and I scowled down at it. It lay face down now, my pip buck light illuminated it and I noticed engravings on its' surface. I quickly floated it up and wiped it with my hoof trying to make it out. A strange emblem decorated the top, a circle with the image of a pony spread eagle, each limb pointing to a corner of the panel with the head pointed towards the top. Below this sigil were two lines of engraved text.

Alright, a clue at least and some confirmation of running theories. That emblem wasn't the familiar gear shaped logo of Stable-Tec, somehow this hidden portion of the Stable was built by this C.I.A.T. whoever they were. If I could make this thing work somehow maybe I could follow them, eighty years late of course. Alright then, having something to go out and work towards anyway, I plugged the pip-buck back in to the machine and started running through some of my repair programs. It may not have power, but I could run some basic diagnostics and mapping programs, including a few bits I had tinkered with myself. The pip-buck's powerful little processor went to work and ten minutes later gave a ding and displayed basic schematics of the device, minus the missing components. It was well beyond me but it was something.

I was reluctant to leave the teleporter. It was like being stopped from following my loved ones by a locked door, but this one would take a lot more than a bobby pin and a screwdriver to coax open. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do here, I walked back down the strange hallway and into the Stable proper, trotting back to the exit and past the fallen defenders of Stable 111.

I'd do something for them too somehow, honor their sacrifice, but right now I had work to do. With one last look back at the empty slots that should contain my family and friends, I walked past the barricade and headed up to the maintenance level and Atrium beyond.

The maintenance level was in poor shape. Yellow warning lights flashed on the narrow walls, pipes dribbled or outright spewed water contributing to rust and more decay, panels sparked and shorted out. Even in a hurry I couldn't help turning shut off valves and switching over to redundant systems as I walked, seeing it like this bothered me deeply. I was following a trail of more Stable dweller corpses, goo puddles and ash piles. It had been a running fight down to the Icebox but I had yet to see the remains of whoever the invaders were, unless they were the ash and goo piles but the Stable didn't have magical energy weapons.

I made my way up to the main level of the Stable and entered the Atrium, looking around in horror. Pony skeletons in Stable barding were scattered everywhere, pony ash drifted through the stale air and green goop dripped from the catwalks above. A trail of death lead toward the living quarters wing, I wanted to go to my family's quarters, remembering my time together with my family before we went under. I was late and that precious time was cut shorter than normal. I could go back to our quarters but they weren't ours anymore, they belonged to the late Shift 4 family that occupied them during the slaughter and I didn't want to see what had happened.

I looked up to the circular window above me of the Overstallion's office, a long black streak stained the window, leading down to a skeletal hoof. Overstallion Rocky Shores had died in in his office it seemed. I didn't want to see that either but I knew I'd need to go up there, the Overseer's office held the most control and information in the Stable so it may hold some clue. At the thought a mission objective marker flashed in my E.F.S. and text scrolled before my vision from my pip-buck;

Mission: Welcome Home-
Primary Objective-
Escape the Stable
Secondary Objectives-
Search for clues
Investigate Overseer's office.

That was odd... I used the pip-buck every day, kept notes and to do lists on it. I knew how to use S.A.T.S. and E.F.S., how to use the health and inventory management, holotape player, interface link and so on. I had read up on and fiddled with the radio and map functions but they were useless down here in 111. No radio got through the Stable walls if there was any up there on the surface to pick up, though you could get the Stable broadcast if you wanted. I knew my way around the Stable like the back of my hoof so I didn't need the map, I could actually get to places the map didn't recognize when I was a colt and had played with the function.

In all these years though, a mission like this had never appeared. Shame really, would have saved me making lists and trying to remember things I had to do. The odd little device was an enigma, it had placed a marker on my E.F.S. pointing right at the circular window above, and a second in the direction of the great gear shaped door that led out of the Stable, seemingly on its own.

I shrugged and looked around again. There were three objectives total but it had only put markers up for two of them, the Overstallion's office and the exit, searching for clues was up to me it seemed. As I scanned the room my eyes came to rest on the diner entrance. There was a pile of corpses in the gloom I could see from here but my stomach gave a rumble thinking of Mrs. Ladle's food. I didn't want to see what had happened in there. but I needed food and drink, not just right now but for who knows how long, I hung my head and trotted forward to the door.

As I got close my E.F.S. lit up with 3 red dashes in front of me and I heard clicks and chittering, more bugs... fantastic. They hadn't seemed to have noticed me yet so I thought for a minute before proceeding, watching their little red hash marks move on my compass. I killed the first when I was in the worst shape of my life so I wasn't too worried, but they were disturbing and the scratches I got still hurt. Reminded of them. I thought I should go search the medical ward for healing potions or some bandages. At the thought more activity scrolled in my vision from my pip-buck.

Secondary Objective Added-
--Search for supplies

Three new markers popped up on my compass, I spun slowly on the spot to see where they pointed. One indicated the Medical Ward across the Atrium, one pointed right in front of me placed in the middle of the three red hash marks in the diner beyond, the third.. was in the same direction as the exit. What was that? Confused, I started flipping through menus and brought up the seldom used map, a diagram of the Stable appeared and the objective markers showed up in the proper rooms. I scrolled over and found the third new marker in the room marked Security near the exit.

Hmm, this thing wasn't smarter than I am was it? I hadn't thought to check the Security room too but it had somehow. I stared at my constant companion for the last 12... 200 years on my foreleg dubiously and gave it an affectionate pat. "Good idea" I told it, wondering if it heard somehow.

While I had it up I scrolled back to the inventory sorter, first things first, the red hash marks in front of me had to go. The pistol seemed like overkill from my experience with the first bug, but I didn't want to try to go stomp them with my bare hooves. Scrolling through my options, I selected my pipe wrench from my tools and levitated it out, hefting its' weight in front of me in my magic. Yes this would do nicely.

I cautiously stepped forward into the diner and looked around sickened. Skeletons slumped over their long rotten meals, black stains covered the tables and booths. The pile of corpses at the door seemed to have fled to the diner before being gunned down, some trying to hold the door for the surprised diners, some just trying to escape. More stains covered the counter between the dining area and the kitchen. I scanned the room for the bugs, their red dashes pointing towards the walk in freezer in the kitchen. I carefully wove my way through the bodies, trying not to disturb them and passed the counter into the kitchen.

I stopped and took in the scene before me, a skeleton with a chef's toque and a very long, somehow still gleaming and sharp knife clamped in its teeth was spread out in front of the door to the walk in. It looked like it had been in front of the door and shoved aside to open it. This had to be Hearty Forks, from his personality I expected him to have run or hid, not stay in his kitchen. Curious, I levitated the knife carefully from his grip to add to my inventory, a sharp knife may be handy after all and it was shiny.

Forks' cutie mark, a three tined fork over a chef's hat was scratched into the handle, etched into the blade was a large single word I sounded out to myself quietly, "Saturnite.." Below in smaller print was 'Limited Edition 88/100'. I shrugged and tossed it into my saddlebags, fancy knife for the fancy cook, made sense. My pip-buck assigned an astronomically high value to it for some reason.

Readying my nice, hefty pipe wrench, I pushed the partially closed freezer door open and stepped inside, ready to exterminate some pests. When I took in the scene inside however I froze. Three of the giant roaches crawled along the walls and floor of the room turning my direction at my entrance, they weren't the problem. The problem was what they were casually crawling over. The bones of what must be a half a dozen foals crowded the rear of the freezer, frozen in poses of terror trying to get away from what had killed them.

The roaches scuttled towards me but I still didn't move, the two scenes inside and outside of the freezer resolved in my mind and clicked together, Forks hadn't run because the foals had hidden in the freezer, he had fought and died like Sprockets, trying to protect others. Whoever killed him shoved him aside casually, walked in the freezer and murdered a crowd of terrified foals...

Rage like I have never felt surged through me, I knew so little of what had happened to me and my Stable, but I knew I wanted to kill whoever did this and I was disturbed to find a dark part of myself that didn't want to do so quickly. For now these roaches would do and I screamed as I pounded away with the pipe wrench, smashing them to paste while they bit and scratched and I felt nothing. I kept hefting the wrench and slamming it down into the remains of the bugs over and over until I finally broke down and slumped to the floor blubbering.

Collecting myself took awhile, but eventually I numbly started picking through what little supplies remained in the freezer and adding them to my saddlebags. Several bottles of water, one of which I downed immediately and a few more Fancy Buck snack cakes. I smiled remembering Forks tossing them around the kitchen, he had been a pompous ass like Mrs. Ladle said, but he was a good pony.

Finally I stood and faced the pile of skeletons again, looking down at all the Shift 4 foals who had died in terror. "I'm sorry... I-I'm so, so sorry.. I'll find who did this... somehow. I promise..." I croaked down at them feebly, I added them to the list of ponies I had to come back and lay to rest somehow, along with Forks. For some reason my pip-buck didn't keep track of this list for me while it removed the objective marker for the kitchen. That was alright, I wanted to remember this to do list myself, not have the device on my leg do it for me.

The Medical Ward turned out to be less horrible, there were a couple nurse skeletons and some poor soul who had been in for treatment had died on one of the medical beds in the side room. This place seemed strange seeing it in its' Shift 4 state, dad worked here so I spent plenty of time in this room sick or not over the years.

The main room was essentially unchanged and a quick search of the yellow boxes stamped with the three pink butterflies of the Ministry of Peace turned up a couple purple healing potions I stuffed in my bags, along with a few vials of Med-X and half a dozen packs of magical bandages. I opened one of last and applied it to my minor wounds from the roaches. This haul seemed to satisfy my pip-buck and it removed another objective marker, but I thought I'd keep looking. Best not to rely too much on this thing.

The Shift 4 Chief Physician had made her office her own, crystals of various shapes and sizes adorned the desk, along with charred sticks of incense, strange zebra fetishes and masks hung on the walls, potions and exotic dried plants and other ingredients cluttered a small table along with a mortar and pestle. An ornate rug sat on the floor in front of the desk, occupied by the skeletal remains of a pony sitting in a strange position at death. She hadn't tried to run or fight, just sat there.

I knew the head Doctor was a she simply by virtue of seeing her and dad exchange duties during Shift Change through the years. She was odd from what I remembered, very mellow and ethereal. The nameplate that adorned her desk (standard issue is the only reason I can see this pony putting something so ordinary there) read Chief Physician - Dr. Tree Hugger and was pushed to the corner away from the eccentric decorations. I hadn't found anything in the desk or on the terminal also pushed to the edge of the desk and the crystals weren't that interesting. Poor quality for use in arcano-tech devices. My eyes caught on something interesting though.

Sitting on top of the terminal case was an odd little statue of a light yellow filly with a long, light pink mane, looking up shyly. A young version of the Ministry Mare on the posters adorning the walls of the medical wing, Fluttershy. I'm not sure why but somehow surrounded by all the death I had been walking through in the Stable, this small statue was the most alive thing I had run across. Strangely, it was untouched by the grime and dust that coated everything else. It sat in its' place of honor nearly shining with its own light, immune from the entropy that gripped the Stable.

It was sad it sat alone and forgotten in this tomb, so I picked it up in my magic, reading the inscription on the base. "Be Kind" I croaked, tearing up a little. I felt a sudden rush of empathy and hope for the best in ponies then. Whoever had done this was a monster, but they had to go through a lot of brave ponies who sacrificed for others and fought to the bitter end to protect the Stable and the ponynapped sleepers. My anger cooled just a bit, I was still determined to get revenge somehow but... enjoying it was wrong.

Mostly...

The Overstallion's office was the next stop and it was an interesting scene, puddles of green goo flooded the hallway leading up to the open door. File cabinets had been pushed as a makeshift barricade in front of the door that I had to crawl over to enter the office proper.

The circular desk directly in front of the entryway had been covered in ammo boxes, yellow and pink medical boxes and a double barrelled shotgun. Shell casings and the remains of two defense turrets from the ceiling littered the floor around the desk. Black blood stains coated the surface in drips and splashes across the desk, the floor and a fan shaped splash on the wall behind the desk. Below the fan of dried blood was a large pooling black stain, that led into a trail of streaked bloodstains, making its way across the office and to the circular window and the Overstallion.

Rocky Shores' corpse was wearing a sturdy chest plate marked with the Steel Rangers insignia, a sword with wings over a apple shape with three gears. I would think about taking the armor, but it had been demolished. Angry looking burns crossed it, bullets dimpled the surface or punched through entirely. He was slumped below the window, one hoof stretched up to the circle of glass above him, a black bloody hoof print streaking down leading to his remains. A large hole had been punched through his skull, exiting the back of his head behind the eye.

Alright, taking it all in Overstallion Shores dug in here and extracted a high price from whoever came. All the green goo at the doorway must be the remains of the attackers who came to dig him out. But there were no plasma based magic energy weapons in the Stable and Shores had been using a combination of 10mm pistols and my new shotgun. Why would his victims dissolve into goop?

Anyway, putting things together the Overstallion took a lot of damage but gave it as well. Then came the shot that made that fan of blood behind the desk and blew that whole in his skull I assumed. The damage didn't match everything else I had seen, so some heavy hitter had to deal with him maybe? Shores fell below the fan and was there awhile making the pool of blood, then somehow crawled across the floor to look out at his Stable as it fell.

I looked down at the old soldier and gave a salute, "Dismissed sir... you..you did all you could" I whispered to him.

I turned to his desk and started rifling through the ammo and medical boxes, I didn't expect much after the last stand he had put up, but managed to find a few 10mm rounds and shotgun shells, another pack of bandages and some Buck. Of more interest was the terminal still glowing beneath the desk, moved to avoid damage and make way for supplies it would seem. I crouched down and started keying the system with my magic.

Password protected... well that shouldn't pose a problem. A little keyboard surfing and I was through the security with ease, an audio file waited at the top level of the system, what the Overstallion had been running before his death. It was dated a little under a month after Shift Change, I tapped the key and let it play.

"Overstallion Rocky Shores reporting! BLAM! We're under attack, unknown enemy has bypassed the Stable door.. ZZZT! Unknown model robots firing magic energy weapons, ponies in strange armor with standard firearms, big bald cyber-buck leading the attack...BLAM! Don't know how they got through the Stable door, just hacked right through it like butter from what Sprockets tells me... ZZZT! Ungh.. Dammit! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! fzzzt! fzzt! Tech told me he was doing his best but they hacked circles around him.. sent him down to the Icebox, prepare a final line of defense.. ordering remaining security to make them pay for every inch in the fallback.. not.. not looking good here..have to keep up a front for the others but... Whoever finds this.. avenge my Stable, these were good ponies, they didn't deserve this Celestia damn it! BLAM! Get back! We.. YOU! BLAM! BLAM!.. BOOM! b-bas..bastard..."
.....
"Good grief, piss poor tin cans couldn't dig him out? Come on, down to the fridge, he's done."

.......

.......

.......

Shuffle..."ungh..." shuffle... "g-g-good..." shuffle... "po..ponies...." shuffle...

.......

I turned it off. I didn't want to listen to his rasping breath or slurred words anymore, for whatever time he had left at the window before the system went into standby again.

So, invaders that bypassed the door security protocols and Sprockets trying to counter them. With robots a Steel Ranger didn't recognize and pony support, with a cyber-pony leader, who weren't interested in anything but the pods in the Icebox, which they knew about coming in. Technically skilled and advanced attackers that killed every single pony awake at the time, and took every pod but mine that hadn't been logged as changed. This was not painting a pretty picture, but at least I had some more clues to follow. They came in from above ground and at least one left the same way, after disabling the hidden teleporter made by this C.I.A.T.

Just to be safe I jacked my pip-buck into the terminal and downloaded everything I could get to read or listen to later. A quick perusal of the files didn't turn up anything more relevant at first glance than that last recording. Another objective marker vanished from my E.F.S. leaving just the Security station and finally the exit.

I trudged up the last set of stairs leading to the exit hall deep in thought. I had leads and a goal, I gave decent odds on the pods being intact if they went through so much to get them, though I worried about the ponies inside considering how they slaughtered those who were awake, but pushed that thought away. They were alive, I'd find them, somehow... The world above was obviously survivable and at least some of those above held on to advanced technology, which required a certain level of civilization, so maybe I could find help.

I looked up and gave a shudder as I entered the chamber containing the gear shaped Stable door with the big 111 printed on the center. The place was a war zone, dead security ponies and puddles of goo scattered about. I would express the pain, anger and sadness I felt it stir vaguely, but after working my way up here I was just numb.

I stuck my head in the Security office with a dead expression and saw basically what I had figured, totally cleared out. Everything in here that was left I had picked up on my way, following the back trail of the running battle that started here. The only point of interest was a case mounted in the wall of the armory cage surrounded by a glowing pink field of energy, but I knew I couldn't get through that. The next to last objective marker blinked away leaving only one, the door.

Shuffling back to the door chamber, I looked up at the huge gear then back towards the Stable that had been my home so long. The tattered banner still hung above the entryway to the Stable halls, a faded sunny yellow field with light blue letters. "Welcome to Stable 111" it sadly proclaimed still. I remembered when we first entered the Stable and I read that, it was crowded and scary after running here just ahead of the bombs. Mom had flown up to it and pointed it out to distract me, fluttered below each word as I sounded it out then swooped in for a hug when I got through it, telling me I was her smart little foal. Turns out I did still have some tears left...

Wiping my eyes, I approached the control console and connected my pip-buck, text scrolled across the screen as the two devices communicated, relaying I was a Stable 111 resident and authorized for this. Satisfied with my credentials and outside conditions, the screen arrived at the prompt I had dreamed of for years.

Release Magnetic Locks? Y/N

"Yes..." I intoned, hitting the prompt as the barely perceptible hum in the chamber coming from the door died.

Finally, I looked down at the button on the console. THE button, the real shiny button Sunset imagined she was pressing anytime she had the opportunity to press a big shiny button. It was red, of course... and engraved with a single word. OPEN.

"This is for you Sunset, I wish you were here to do it but I'll do my best," I said softly as I jumped off my hooves in my best Sunset Mist impression and slammed both forehooves down on the button.

Flashing yellow lights lit up and started circling, throwing shadows around the room as an alarm blared and gears ground. A large actuator came down from the ceiling and locked into the door, spinning internal gears, before locking in place and pulling the massive door back into the chamber and rolling it to the side. A soft gust of fresher air sighed into the chamber and I looked at the elevator I last saw the day the world ended.

With a gulp, I crossed the threshold and walked out of Stable 111, looking all around with trepidation. I forced myself not to look back but to walk over to the external console, the panel had been pulled but it was still in working order. Whatever they did didn't damage it, just bypassed it. I sighed and hit the close button after going through the security procedure again from this side. I couldn't do anything for the ponies inside now but keep them safe, the Stable would have to serve as their tomb for now until I could lay them to rest, and I had to move forward.

The metal gates leading to the large circular elevator squalled when I pulled them open with my magic, I walked through them onto the lift and activated the elevator controls, looking up just in time to see the Stable door slam back into place and the alarms to die.

"Goodbye everypony... I'm going home," I said as the elevator slowly began to rise and I left, sole survivor of Stable 111.

New Perk Added!--------

Action Colt-
You know your targeting spell like the back of your hoof, making you about 20% cooler in combat. You gain +15 Action Points in S.A.T.S. and the spell charge now recharges faster for you, so hurry up!

Quest Perk Added!-----

Sole Survivor-
You escaped the Stable and are now on a mission from the goddesses, let no pony stand in your way. Grants unique dialogue options and +5% chance for speech checks.

Be Kind! ---------
The gentle soul of Fluttershy makes you more likable! Shy ponies have to stick together right? Grants +1 Charisma

Author's Notes:

Thanks as always to Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria, hope this is a positive addition to something I've greatly enjoyed and I hope others enjoy it in turn.