Volunteers

"Attention!"

Everypony in the vertibuck looked up at the sergeant I didn't know her name but she was one of those ponies whose mere presence demanded respect.

"You have all volunteered for this special ground mission. And from my understanding none of you have ever been to the ground before." There where nods and agreements in the vertibuck. “So listen closely because it is also of my understanding that you have yet to receive any information regarding this mission other than it being to the ground.”

It was true. None of us had gotten any information about the mission we volunteered for due to it being classified. I was actually surprised that they had managed to get a whole team of volunteers together. I mean everypony knew that the surface was nothing but disease and radiation who would want to go there? Especially on a mission you knew nothing about. But then again not everypony was of that meaning. I could basically feel the excitement radiating from Cloud Swirl next to me. She was totally convinced that the surface wasn't such a bad place as our government wanted us to think. I used to tell her that it was just stupid conspiracy theories. But then we got invited to volunteer for this ground mission and she took it as proof that there existed civilization on the ground and that the radiation had died down. I was however not convinced and so we volunteered just to find out who was right. I guessed the other volunteers had similar reasons.

"Before I go into details about your mission there is one thing you need to know about the surface, the radiation may be there but there do exist some factions."

Cloud Swirl tensed.

"You are going to encounter two of them in this mission. The first you need to know about is the Steel Rangers. They are also known as the brotherhoof of steel and from the intel we have gathered they are a remnant from the MWT's steel rangers.” Well duh. “They have access to the MWT style power armor and very heavy weaponry. They are also well trained in using these. You should by any means necessary avoid engaging them in enclosed spaces since their armor is a lot thicker than yours. Hopefully you will not have to do this if the mission goes according to plan. The other faction you need to know about is the reapers. They are the leading gang under the clouds and they basically control all the other gangs in the Hoofington area. There are not that many actual reapers but they use the other gangs as armies. These lesser gangs consist of ill equipped and half starved wrecks that can almost be called ponies with basically no training at all. They rely on mass and shouldn't be a problem if encountered in even numbers. The actual reapers however should not be underestimated since they are well equipped and very experienced. Luckily there are very few of them. Are there any questions on this so far?"

There were no questions. Cloud Swirl turned to me with a face that just screamed I told you so. Uh I groaned. I was never going to hear the end this now. But the rubbing it into my face would have to wait because the sergeant still had more to say.

"Good, then I will proceed to explaining your mission. Your job is to extract a certain unicorn scientist." The sergeant stepped to the side and let a small projection take her place. It showed a dark grey and quite handsome unicorn stallion who was clad in a lab coat. He had a black mane and tail with two bright yellow dots right behind his ears. "What we need him for is highly classified and even I don't know. But I can say that we are not the only ones who want him. He is currently being held working for the steel rangers in one of their fortresses. Now as I said earlier, the brotherhoof of steel are not to be taken lightly and normally it would take at least a raptor to break one of their strongholds. This is where the reapers come in. You see the reapers are at war with the brotherhoof and our intel has informed us of an assault they have planned and the target happens to be the particular fortress that our objective is waiting in. Now the steel rangers' have intel of their own and they know about this attack so we can on them being prepared to it. Now it doesn't really matter to us who of them wins the upcoming battle. What matters is that under the fight the rangers will be fully occupied and we shouldn't have a problem getting in, acquire our target and get out"

I listened with interest to the rest of the briefing. The rangers seemed to be really good at fortifying building but this stronghold had a very open flaw. It seemed to be several buildings they had connected in a square with only one narrow entrance. That is except if you could fly and fortunately for us we could. I was both excited and very nervous. This was what we all had been trained for but it was still the first time we had been sent on a mission where battle was supposed to take place and we were expected to kill ponies. I talked this over with Cloud Swirl. Both of us agreed that it was for the greater good. And after all they where surface dwellers and it was obvious that they had not become any better since the Great War. The world was destroyed and yet they still fought wars with each other. No these where the ponies that where responsible for the destruction of the surface. They weren't worthy of being called ponies. Cloud Swirl may have found it easy to believe certain conspiracy theories but we were both loyal to the enclave. After all what they did was for the best for ponykind that there was no denying and these where rough times for ponykind so rough measures where sometimes required. At least she said that she agreed with me but from her tone I had a feeling that she was just saying that because she felt that this was probably the worst time to start an argument about it. However I couldn't deny that I was quite nervous and had second thoughts too. Even if everypony should be okay if all went as planned it was still a very dangerous mission. It is only natural to have second thoughts in situations like this. A thought hit me that not everypony would survive the mission. I however quickly pushed it out of my mind thoughts like that served no other purpose than making you feel uncomfortable.

****

"Get ready everypony we have arrived at our destination!" The sergeant informed us. I looked up. Had I fallen asleep? I yawned. Why did I always get so sleepy when I got nervous? It made no sense.

"Now remember your objective, stay calm and this will be a piece of cake. Fly steady!"

The vertibuck stopped and the door opened. Ponies started getting out. Me and Cloud Swirl where the furthest away from the door and would be the last to throw ourselves out except for the sergeant. I tensed. Cloud Swirl threw herself out. I took a deep breath and followed.

The dive that followed I will never forget. The vertibuck was hovering about a hundred meters in the air and was covered by a cloud. We were going to dive practically all the way to the ground to avoid detection and keep our element of surprise for as long as possible. Now we had practiced deployment dives like this before but this was the first time I got to do one when we actually dived to the ground. This was actually the first time I ever saw ground with my own eyes. I surveyed the landscape as my momentum rose. The ranger base looked like a fortress and I was aimed for the courtyard. Battle seemed to be taking place at the narrow choke point which was the only way inside the square of buildings except by air. As I got closer I started seeing details of some heavily armored steel ponies fighting of a horde of pony-like creatures. The sergeant had said that the attackers where ill-equipped and relied on numbers but this was ridiculous. For ones I wished that I didn't have as good eyes as I did. The attackers looked horrifying and my mind immediately sided with the rangers who valiantly defended their home against the horde. It took about twenty gang ponies to take down one ranger but the rangers where outmatched almost fifty to one. I changed my attention to the courtyard as the ground got closer. Most of the squad had already landed and they had secured an area right outside a door into one of the buildings. Some of the rangers had turned away from their battle and started firing on them but the first of us who landed had put up deployable covers so unless the rangers moved away from their positions we would be safe.

I adjusted my course a bit so that I would land behind covers. I deployed my wings about ten meters above the ground and slowed down. It was however not early enough to stop my descent completely and I smashed into the ground with quite a bit more speed than was comfortable for my legs. It took a while to get my orientation right but the suit was built specifically to make drops like this so at least I didn't break anything. My eyes quickly located Cloud Swirl over by the door to the building. Since she was a medic she had a yellow power armor that stood out quite well against all the black ones the rest of us were wearing. I was glad to have her as a medic. You see the army is very respected among pegasi and having served in the enclave's military is considered almost mandatory if you want to get anywhere in pegasi society. Therefore a lot of ponies who have no plans to really stay in the army join only so that they can put it on their resumes for later. So when I signed up Cloud Swirl did too, probably because I was her best friend but also because it would help her medical carrier later. So I was glad because I got to have a medic whose special talent was medicine (which was more than most since ponies with medical talent didn't sign up enough to have every medic be one) and was my best friend. I walked up to her she had a light blue coat with a yellow mane the same color as her armor.

"How are we doing?" I asked her with a grin. I was feeling skittish with the adrenaline from the dive pumping through my body but she didn't look comfortable at all.

"Well everything seems to be going according to plan but I don't know any more than you do." she answered with a forced smile. I understood her feelings. She had never been a soldier. I always got into lots of trouble when we grew up but she had never been a fighter. I bet she regretted joining the army now.

I was about to say something to comfort her but then the sergeant landed. She struck the ground with what looked like twice my speed but she didn't look fazed at all. She had a quick look over of the squad and then immediately trotted up to me. I stood to attention and beside me Cloud Swirl did the same. "True Sight what did you make of the situation at the gate on your way down" She knew I had good eyes normally I was a sharpshooter and trained to operate in smaller scouting squads however this mission had been very different from normal ones.

"The steel rangers are fighting valiantly ma'am but they are grossly outnumbered and the battle is practically already lost." I recited from what had gone thru my mind during the dive.

"Damn, I hate being right sometimes.” She said with a thoughtful hoof to her chin. “We are going to have to be fast if this is going to work. It is imperative that we get out of here before the reapers get in otherwise we are going to get completely overrun. Do you remember your objective?"

"Yes ma'am!" I and Swirl responded.

"Let’s get to it then." The sergeant said as she led the way through the door. I took my position on her left and Swirl on the right as we made our way inside the building.

Our squad consisted of twelve ponies separated into four wings. The sergeant, Cloud Swirl and I were in the commanding wing and the plan was for us to extract the target from the building while the other three wings held the door so that we could get out. We didn't expect to meet any resistance in the actual building since all the rangers would be busy fighting off the reapers except for of course one or two guards who might be guarding our target. Our target was not a steel ranger but a scientist who was being held captive by them. Hopefully he would come freely when we freed him but we were authorized to use force should that not be the case. He was a surface dweller after all and from the little I had seen of them so far their method for thanking ponies might be just to not try and kill them.

When we entered the door we were greeted with a stair that led up to a long hallway. The sergeant proceeded to march forward in what was almost a gallop. "Come on you two we are on a busy schedule!" she called at us.

"Yes ma'am!" we answered and began following. We passed a lot of rooms that seemed as if they had once been small apartments but now they where remade to laboratories. Maybe the steel rangers used this stronghold as a research base. They must at least have more scientists than our target because one pony couldn't possibly need this big of a laboratory. We made a left turn into another hallway and then right into one of the apartments then the sergeant stopped. We stopped behind her and I began to ask her why we had stopped in front of a door that I think once had led into the bedroom of the apartment. What was there now I could only imagine since the whole apartment was full of chemical equipment and even an operating table.

"Sshh!" she cut me off in a half whispered tone before I had even started. "Check your EFS!"

I did. There were two red bars and a white one behind the door. I mentally "Aha'd".

"Okay, so this is how we are going to do." sarge said over the radio link in our helmets all outside voice was muted. "I am going to kick the door open and Trucie is going to flash them. Then I close the door in case they are unicorns and when I open it again we go in. I take the left one and you take the right one. Shoot to kill but be careful not to hit the objective! Are there any questions?"

"No ma'am." we responded.

"Good, then let’s do this!" she paused as I got a grenade ready."On the count of three! One, two, three!" she kicked the door open and I threw the grenade inside. She closed it, we heard a bang from the other side and she kicked it open again. She stormed in and I followed suit. The two hostiles where positioned right by the side of the door and aiming energy rifles right at it. If they had seen us they would have blasted us right as we stepped inside but as it was they where blinded by the flash bang. I slipped into SATS and targeted the pony on the right. She was a pink unicorn with a teal mane. She was wearing some kind of robe which made her look sort of like a priest of some kind. I targeted her head with five shots from my armor mounted energy weapons. The enclave is very limited when it comes to some certain kinds of resources and ammunition is one of them. Therefore many sharpshooters such as myself find ourselves using modified energy rifles for sniping. The upside of this is of course that they work a lot better in close quarters. The first shot hit her right in the face and disintegrated her. I slipped out of SATS and looked around the room and what do you know. It was still a bedroom. The other hostile lay in a pile of goo on the floor having been made short work of by the sergeant's plasma rifle. Cloud Swirl entered the room. She looked like she was going to throw up. I couldn't blame her.

"P... Please don't hurt me." all three of us turned to the source of the voice.

"I am quite a good doctor I can help you. I can make you healing potions just please don't hurt me." the pleading came from a stallion who was huddled up in the corner of the room levitating a clipboard in front of him as if he was trying to shield himself with it. He was gray with a black mane and yellow dots behind the ears and he was wearing a rugged lab coat. He looked absolutely mortified. How nice, we had found our target.

"Shush! We're not going to hurt you." I heard a gentle voice from beside me. It was Cloud Swirl although the effect was effect was ruined by the crackling of the speakers in her helmet. She noticed this and removed it. The sergeant however did not like this.

"Private may I remind you that the helmet is to be kept on at all times during a mission unless your life is danger or you are ordered otherwise." she said in harsh tone.

"Oh come on! Look at him he is horrified and these suits doesn't exactly help our image of kind rescuers. Besides what is he going to do?" I smiled. Cloud Swirl had always been one who looked out for the weak. I had been pretty much the opposite when I was small. It wasn't till I met her that I stopped bullying other kids. She always brought out the best in me.

"Okay I'll let it slip this time but in the future you should at least ask permission from your commanding officer before you do anything similar! Is that understood?" Hah, I bet the sarge was just a big softie beneath that hard facade.

"Yes ma'am." Swirl bowed her head slightly. She could actually have asked for permission first. She turned back to the scientist. I noticed that he had a pipbuck around his left foreleg. He looked a bit calmer but still quite horrified and he was still holding the clipboard as a shield. Swirl approached him and gently lowered the clipboard with a hoof. "We are not here to hurt we are here to free you. We are from the enclave. Do you know who we are?" she said in a gentle tone. It was quite funny since the stallion was quite a bit older than her and yet she acted like a protective mother to a small colt. It seemed to be working thou as the fear disappeared from his eyes but it was replaced with sorrow.

"I don't deserve to be saved." he said and lowered his head and sniffed.

"Of course you do. Why wouldn't you do that?" Swirl countered with a slight frown.

"But you don't know the things I have done." he said.

"Then tell me what you have done! I am sure it can be forgiven. You are among friends and that is what friends’ do." she comforted. Sarge coughed slightly and pointed towards her hoof to indicate that we didn't have much time but Swirl just waved her off. This was important to her.

"Okay I'll tell you." he cleared his throat. Was he crying? "The wasteland is harsh and sometimes it is hard to do the right thing. I have always tried to live by certain virtues and I have tried to stay out of trouble." he continued. I don’t know much about wasteland culture but that sounded a bit cliché even for a child book author. Although he seemed to feel more secure about himself as he got to talk. "Okay so I know that you are in a hurry so I'll give you the short version.” Hmm maybe he could read my mind. “I have killed good ponies, sometimes innocent ponies."

Cloud Swirl was stunned. She had obviously not expected that. To be fair I hadn't either, he definitely didn't strike you as the murderous type. Sarge however did not look surprised at all. I guessed this was common in the wasteland it seemed as if ponies here really where horrible.

"But why?" Swirl asked.

"To protect other ponies. I have only ever done it if it meant I could save others and if they would have died anyway. But it is still wrong and it’s eating me up from the inside." he looked at her with extreme sorrow and deep pain in his eyes.

Cloud Swirl contemplated this for a while. This was not a situation you got into a lot back home. Then she looked him in the eyes and walked up to him and hugged him. He hugged her back and put his head in her mane and cried. "Its okay." she said "We forgive you." they stood like that for a while and then he broke the hug and took a step back.

"I'm sorry I am just so stressed out." he apologized and dried a tear with his hoof. "I am Life Code by the way and I am guessing you didn't come here just because you thought I was a nice guy or because of my good looks." he said with a slight smile. "So what can I help you with?"

Now the sergeant stepped forward.

"You are to accompany us back to the enclave and you are to bring with you anything you need in order to continue working on a specific research project. I have been told by my superiors that you would know which project is in question. In return your safety will be guaranteed by the enclave. And also you have to hurry up since the rangers are going to be overrun any second now." she recited and added the last part in quite a stressed tone. We had been here for far too long.

"Yes I believe I know what project you are talking about and of course I will help you. I'm afraid however that you are going to have to help me collect some test samples from this building." he nodded thoughtfully and levitated forward a few more clipboards. "Since we are in a hurry I'll draw you a map so that we can split up and get everything quickly." he levitated a couple of pencils and started drawing on the clipboards. Now I am not a unicorn but from what I have heard it is very hard to multitask with your magic. I can therefore assume that this stallion was quite talented as he drew three maps at the same time.

"Good but I would prefer to stay with you." the sergeant said in a blunt tone. "I am sure you understand."

"But of course" he responded in a suave manner as he finished with the clipboards and hovered them over to us. Either this guy was an emotional rollercoaster or Cloud Swirl could do magic with her hugs. He didn't seem anything like the emotional wreck he was when we had found him. I looked down at the improvised map. It was not very informative but it gave a basic idea of in which room the samples would be. Then I heard a loud bang and a gasp and then everything went black.

Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Enclave Sharpshooter – You are a trained sharpshooter of the enclave. You have +10% accuracy with energy weapons and sniper rifles.

Traits
Trigger Discipline -- Wait for it... Wait for it... Boom!! Headshot. Your guns and energy weapons fire 20% more accurately but 20% slower and have a 20% higher AP cost in S.A.T.S.
Eagle Eyes – You have the eyes of an eagle or some other predatory bird which allows you to zoom in one extra time with all ranged weapons. This also allows you to zoom in even with weapons that don’t have scopes. Although those eyes have made you neglect your other senses making you suffer -1 to perception.

Authors Note:
Okay so this is my first fan fic so please go easy on me. Or wait don't do that. I think that this story can get a lot better with some outside opinion so please say precisely what you think. Don't be afraid to comment on trivial things either since english is not my mane (I did that one on purpose) languish there is bound to be some grammatical and spelling errors. And please tell me what you think of the story and how I can improve and what you expect from it and all that whatnot. I will definitely be reading the comments and I am open to suggestions and criticism.

So with that out of the way I hope you have enjoyed this first chapter. It may not be the best your have ever read but I am sure that a lot of you have had a lot worse. I will try to have the next chapter out as soon as possible but I am quite busy so don't expect to much. Hopefully it will be in about a week. I would also like to thank Kkat and Somber since this fic is heavily based on theirs and because they are awesome. Also Mimezinga and all the other FO:E fic writers but I don't think I'll mention their work to much in this fic since that would really narrow down my already very small pool of potential readers.

Also If you actually have read this which I assume that you have since you are reading this. Life Code the scientist is one of the snakes in this story. I have put some clues in that might let you figure out what kind of snake. Whoever figures it out first wins. There will be more clues in the following chapters but if you figure it out with just this one I will be mighty impressed. Good luck and thanks for reading.

Biologists

I was hugging a killer. Sure it wasn't a coldblooded killer like those in the thriller novels that Trucie is so fond about. But it was still a killer. My mind reeled at the idea. I heard sobs. He was crying. I looked to the sergeant who didn’t look very surprised at all, at least not from the fact that this pony was a killer. She looked mostly annoyed at the interruption in our time plan. Maybe the surface actually is as bad as the military says. This scientist certainly didn't seem like a bad pony but maybe killing was standard down here. I wonder if this was what surface ponies would call a sensitive stallion since he broke down crying for just confessing that he had killed a pony. My gaze searched its way down to his lab coat covered flank. It was a nice flank. Hey don't blame me I happen to like sensitive stallions and besides I was just wondering what he's cutie mark was. He had said he was a doctor so perhaps something medicine related.

We broke the hug and I took a step back and scanned he's body again. How old could he be? The sergeant began talking. I looked towards Trucie with her typical black enclave armor. Hopefully she didn't notice my flank gazing. It was important that I didn’t give her anything she could use when could use for when I bring up our discussion about my so called "conspiracy theories" later. I am not planning on letting her slip away that easily this time. She probably didn't notice it however. Trucie wouldn't know social interaction between genders if it hit her in the head. Maybe she had been the popular one when we were kids but it was hardly because the stallions looked at her. No I had many good things to say about my friend but her looks were not one of them. She was simply too brown. She had a light brown coat and a dark brown mane. She looked like the eagle on her cutie mark complete with white streaks trough the mane and tail, almost like a griffin. Most ponies where afraid of her when we were kids and I had to admit that she could look very intimidating. Probably the reason to why she was so "popular", fear is a strong emotion.

I snapped out of my musings when the sergeant and the stallion, I think he said he's name was Life Code, stopped talking and he began drawing something on several clip boards. Was it a map? Yeah I am sure I heard them say something about a map. Now let's see here. He levitated a clipboard to me and sure it was most definitively a map and quite well drawn for something that was done so quickly.

Then I heard two loud bangs and something stung my neck. I gasped and looked up to see sarge and Trucie fall to the floor. There was smoke coming from the pipe of a revolver levitated by Life Code. He had shot them. They were dead. I tried to scream but I couldn't get any air into my lungs. I started panicking. He threw away the gun as if it had filled its purpose and he had absolutely no further need for it and took a step towards me.

"Shush, just relax and it will be easier." he said in a calm voice. All uncertainty he had shown before was like blown away. He had a totally neutral face and spoke as if it was just a regular conversation. I tried to calm myself and aimed my beam rifles at him. I was still not getting enough air.

"W... what was that that you injected me with?" I managed to get out.

"Oh it was just a little homemade cocktail. I must say I am surprised that you are still standing, you should be pretty much dead by now." he answered with a slightly amused smile. My mind started panicking again. Dead, I don't want to die.

"A... a... antidote?" I squeezed out and waved my rifle in what was hopefully a threatening way. He didn't seem threatened at all.

"Ah, sure just follow me and I will get it for you." he offered almost cheerfully and made his way to the bedroom door. I spun around and followed him with my eyes. My vision was beginning to blur. "Oh wait, maybe I put it over here." he said and made a turn and walked past me again. I spun after him. "Or was it over here." he continued in his cold but still cheerful manner and made another turn. I tried to follow but my head had started to spin and suddenly the floor rushed towards my face. Everything went black. "There you go sweetie. Just relax!" was the last words I heard.

****

"Come on now sweetie, it's time to wake up" somepony with the voice of a stallion woke me.

"Ugh just a little bit longer" I turned away from it. Maybe if I just stayed in bed for a while and thought my day through I could sleep a bit more and still not be late for whatever it was I was going to do today. Right now I was feeling particularly warm and comfortable.

"Sorry sweetie but I am afraid that you have slept long enough." the voice said. Who was that? He seems sort of familiar. "I have stuff to do so I can't stay here and look after you any longer." he said.

"What do you mean ‘look after’ it's not like I can't be alone in my own house." I retorted. I was still not quite awake. I heard him snicker.

"Open your eyes sweetie!" he answered. Stupid stallion couldn't he see that was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do. This bed was pure bliss I had never felt this good in my life. I burrowed my head in the sheets with a groan. Wait, why did I have sheets? I didn't have sheets I slept on a cloud. I opened my eyes. I was not home at all. Then everything came back to me along with memories of that voice's owner.

A bolt of adrenaline shot through my body and I quickly flipped out of the bed on to the floor of the opposite side of where I had heard the stallion. I was in a small room completely made of metal. I scrambled to my hooves. The only furniture was the small bed I had slept in and a table with some chemical equipment. I stood in the small space between the bed and the wall. On the other side of the bed stood Life Code and behind him there was a large metal door.

"Where am I? What have you done to me?" I almost screamed at him. I felt a bit groggy but the adrenaline held me steady.

"Well that’s one way of saying good morning." he said with that weird grin. It was cheery but looked extremely forced. "I got some clothes for you on the table and you may want to fix your mane. Also I took the liberty of giving you a pipbuck when you were out. Just come out when you're ready and you'll get some breakfast too." he continued in the cheery tone. “Don´t worry! I´m not poisonous.” He added when he saw my terrified face and then walked out through the door.

I just stood there, stunned. The adrenaline started to subside and I managed to collect my thoughts. A realization hit me. That stallion had just killed my best friend. My best and only real friend in my entire life was gone and the last conversation we had was an argument. I lay down on the bed and started to cry.

I don't know how long I laid there but after a while I got up. This is not the time to mourn. That I can do later when I’m safe now I would need to get out of here. The whole situation dawned on me. Not only was my best friend dead but I ran a great risk of dying too. I was stranded on the ground and had most likely been reported dead. I couldn't just fly back up to the clouds. If I did I would get shot. I had to find some way of contacting the enclave from the ground. But first I needed to get past that stallion.

Okay, one thing is for sure and that is that I'm definitely not going to go out through that door. I scanned the room but saw nothing new. I walked up to the table. A rugged lab coat with holes designed for pegasi wings lay on it. There were also a whole bunch of empty syringes. I quickly searched my body when I saw them and sure enough there were multiple small marks from them all over it. I looked over the rest of the chemical equipment to see if I could figure out what had been in them but I found nothing. Then I remembered the pipbuck and raised my left hoof to look at it.

Pipbuck 3000 the display said. I had heard of pipbucks but the enclave didn't really use them so I had never seen one. It seemed however as if it worked exactly like the system in my power armor except for using buttons to navigate instead of just thinking. I pressed some of the buttons and managed to get to the medical display. I examined the stats on my body. It looked as if I was fine. In fact it looked like I was more than fine. According to the pipbuck I was in better shape than I had ever been. The only thing that had not changed was my luck. How did the pipbuck measure luck anyways? I continued clicking. Not only had I grown both stronger and faster but if I read the pipbuck correctly I had become immune or extremely resistant to all kinds of hazards including disease, poison and other stuff I had never heard about. What the hell had he done to me?

I got the urge to go out and force him to answer me but changed my mind. I was not going to play by his rules. I slipped into the lab coat and managed to find a scalpel which I stuck in one of the pockets then I looked around the room again to see if maybe there was any alternate ways out. There was an air vent in the ceiling blocked by a metal grid. I took out the scalpel and unscrewed the grid with it. I took a deep breath and slipped into the vent. Hah he can forget about having breakfast with me. I still felt warm and comfortable for some reason. I began crawling through the vent.

Now I am not the biggest of ponies but I can tell you that ventilation shafts are not designed for ponies to crawl through and all the secret agent comics heavily exaggerate the amount of space in them. Slowly I managed to snail my way through the shaft. There was no light which was probably a good thing since it kept my mind from thinking of how close the walls were. Another thing that comics exaggerate is the weight air vents are designed for. I had only gotten about ten meters when the whole thing began creaking. Huh that can't be good.

Crash!

The air vent collapsed and I found myself tumbling out and onto the floor. I stumbled onto my hooves and looked around. I was in another small metal room although this one had two doors one of which I knew led back to the room I had come from. There were tables with chemical equipment but no bed. In the middle sat Life Code and stirred around in a pot standing on an electrical cooking plate. He got up with an amused smile.

"You do know that all you had to do to open the door was walk up to it right?" I flushed. Of course I knew that I just wanted to test him. Or wait that sentence doesn't really make sense in this situation.

"I was just testing the air vent. We don't have air vents above the clouds and I wanted to try and crawl through one like they do in the comics." I managed to save like a boss. Wait! Why was I explaining myself? He killed my friend and drugged me I shouldn’t be embarrassed. I should be furious or at least sad.

"Well if it helps you sleep at night then sure. You have good timing though. I just finished breakfast. Or maybe you could say that I have good timing since I predicted that you would take your time and didn't start making it until just recently. But I don't want to brag about it." he said with his stupid smile. Why was he so good looking? It messed with my focus. Why was he even so friendly? For fuck sake he killed my best friend and now he offers me breakfast like nothing is wrong. My previous idea of pressing him for answers returned.

"What is wrong with you? How can you act so cold and what have you done to my body?" I screamed at him.

"Wow having some real mood swings are we? You shouldn't work yourself up so much! Just stay calm and everything usually works out. That is both a good advice and an answer to your first question." Ok so he was he was a cold blooded killer and a psychiatrist. How nice. I began laughing this situation was just so surreal.

"So you killed my friends, kidnapped me and now you're saying I shouldn't make a big deal out of it. Well yes that totally answers the first question, you are lunatic." I laughed at him.

"Yeez, talk about a low blow to bring that up when we agreed to put it behind us." he answered with a 'totally not cool' look on he's face. Wait now I was confused.

"What do you mean? I never agreed to that. I just woke up." I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh don't you remember? I said I was sorry and you forgave me and we hugged and cried and all that. It was a very emotional moment." he said with a smirk. When did this happen? How long had I been out? Wait he can't be referring to that moment.

"Hey! That’s not fair. You hadn't even done anything yet. You can't apologize before you do the thing you apologize for." I retorted.

"Well why not? You forgave me for a scenario exactly like this. Or do you just change your morals around whenever it is convenient for you." he said now with that smirk turned into a grin.

"But...." I began but he cut me off.

"But what? It shouldn't count because you didn't know that it was your friends that were killed in the scenario I described?" now he was snickering.

"But..." I began. He waited. That was totally a low blow. I had actually forgiven him for just what had happened and it’s not like I can take it back, can I?

"Haha" he couldn't keep himself from laughing any longer. "Just come and tell me if you come up with a hole in that argument without changing your morals or claiming that your friends are worth more than other ponies." he said with a smile. "But now I guess you want some breakfast." he continued as he sat down again and continued stirring in the pot with his magic. I followed his example without thinking. I was occupied with finding a flaw in his argument. I was not going to give up without a fight. He took two bowls and filled them with was in the cooking pot. It was noodles. Then he passed one of the bowls to me along with a juice box. I took a slurp and then a bite of the noodles. Wow these were some really good noodles. I took another bite and then another and the next thing I knew the bowl was empty. I pushed the bowl aside and then lay down slurping on the rest of the juice box. I felt good, really good. Then it hit me.

"Hey wait?" I shot up. "How did you do that? How did you get me so sidetracked?" He burst out laughing again.

"Haha, ooh you should have seen the look on your face when you realized you had just eaten all of the breakfast. Haha, totally priceless." he managed to control himself again but still had a large grin plastered on his face. I was not amused.

"It's not funny. What do you want with me, why did you kill my friends and what have you done to me that make me feel so damn comfortable? I should be devastated but instead I feel amazing." I tried to sound as hurt and sad as I could to see if I could earn some sympathy. If he was going to play dirty then I was too.

"Haha, the puppy dog look won't work on me sweetie. You may be hurt and angry but you're hardly the first and most certainly not the last" he said with a disturbingly happy smile when you considered the subject. "But let me answer those questions with another question. Have you checked your pipbuck?"

"Yes I have. You have done something to me. You have put me on steroids or something." I replied angrily.

"Bah, it's nothing as simple as steroids." he sounded a bit annoyed. "But have you checked your rad-meter?" No actually I hadn't. I looked at it. Huh it was turned off. I flipped it on. It immediately started clicking like crazy. Apparently I was absorbing 20 rads a second. What the fuck. I looked up to him but he just showed his own pipbuck and smiled. It showed the same thing.

"We should be dead" I thought aloud. Even with hazard suits this much radiation would be dangerous. A chilling thought hit me. "Are... are we dead?... Have we died and become ghosts?" I asked. He fell to the floor laughing. Ok so apparently not.

"Hahahaha, what? I mean seriously. Oh that was the best one I've heard in a long time." ugh there is no need to rub it in. He managed to collect himself somewhat. "Ok, so that you don't go around and worry about it. We are not dead. I have just modified your life code somewhat." he said, still snickering.

"My what?" wasn't that his name?

"I changed your DNA. I upgraded you with my very own cocktail of potions, magic and viruses. I call it 'Snake's Pony 2.0 Cocktail'" he said with a proud smile.

"You did what?! You turned me into a mutated freak?!"

"Oh don't be so narrow-minded. A medical pony as you should know that there is no such thing as freaks. Besides you still look exactly as you did before. All I did was basically to give you the abilities of a ghoul but without the annoying side effects of being a ghoul." Ok that explains perfectly.

"What is a ghoul?" I asked.

"Oh they are ponies who have been exposed to too much radiation but instead of dying they have mutated or what you want to call it. They are basically zombies. They don't die but their bodies are slowly rotting away. Radiation heals them and makes them stronger. That is why you are feeling so high right now and also why you can’t stay focused. You are surrounded by radiation." he answered casually.

"How is that any better than being a mutant freak? You have turned me into a zombie pony!" I shouted at him.

"No you are not a zombie pony, didn't you listen. I took all the advantages of being a ghoul and put them into you but I skipped all the downsides. And that is just the simplified explanation. The actual process is a lot more complicated. You should be thankful, it took me ten years of studying ghouls and other wasteland creatures to figure out how to do it and I promise you that it is a very useful perk to have in the wasteland." he explained. I was going to argue but the warm feeling took hold of me. Well at least it is better than being dead, if only because of this feeling.

"Okay, so that's not so bad I guess." I lied down and let out a deep sigh. I could really get used to radiation bathing. It was the feeling of pure bliss. He lay down too and we laid there for a while. Then I remembered. "Hey! Stop doing that! You still haven't answered my other questions." I said quite annoyed. I wanted to hate him but for some reason he was just so likable. He snickered a bit and raised his head from the floor again.

"I was wondering when it would hit you. But as for why I killed your friends and what I want with you I think I have already explained that." oh, actually he had. He had saved me but for some reason he also had to kill my friends to do so. At least that was what he had apologized for.

"But why did you have to kill them? Why did you not just come with us?" I asked.

"Because you were far too late and we would have gotten killed if we tried to get out your way." he explained with a slight smile. "I hardly think that I would have been able talk you into being modified by me so that we could flee through these tunnels and you were the only one without helmet so you were the only one I could drug." that did make sense. Gah! Why did he have to make so much sense? It would be so much easier if I could just hate him. I looked to the floor.

"Well what am I supposed to do now? I have to get in contact with one of the enclave's ground stations but I have no idea how to get to them. I am no soldier and if the wasteland is as bad as it seems then there's no way I would make it even If I did know the way." I was screwed. It didn't matter that he had saved me I would probably still die down here. "Besides what have you done to my armor?" how come I didn't think of that until now? A lab coat was barely any protection.

"I am afraid I had to leave it to get you down through the ventilation shafts. But don't worry. It would probably only have made you a target. Ponies down here have little to no sympathy for the enclave." easy for him to say I'm sure he had some super armor or something stored down here. "As for how you are going to get to an enclave station I would be happy to guide you." he smiled still with that forced smile. Couldn't he smile like normal ponies?

"So I should accompany you? The same pony who just recently killed my best friend?" I had to say I was more than a bit skeptical.

"Oh come on, it may have been me who pulled the trigger but it was hardly my fault and may I remind you that I saved your life. Besides I think you could learn something. I am sure that my medical skills are completely up to par with any enclave doctor." he huffed and put his nose in the air to empathize his statement. "I just need to go drop of some test samples and charts by one of my laboratories and then I'll show you to one of the enclave stations. It’ll just take maybe one or two weeks if we don’t drag our hooves."

"One of your laboratories?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well of course. I keep backups so that when nasty stuff like reaper attacks happen I have spares. But we are going to the main one because these are important samples. And also it's the closest." he sounded proud. How did he have time to both do research and build laboratories? I wonder what kind of research he is doing.

"Ok, sure I guess I don't really have a choice but to follow you." I admitted while I lowered my head in an attempt to look sad about it but the truth was that my curiosity was starting to get the better off me. Judging by what he had done to me I would guess that he was more than up to par with any enclave doctor or scientist for that matter when it came to arcanobiology. Part of me was feeling as giddy as when I had been accepted into the academy of medical science in Skydome. What can I say? I am a scientist at heart.

"Of course you have a choice. It’s just that this choice has significantly less risk of getting you killed than the others." he said with a smirk. "But if you have made up your mind then let’s not stay here any longer!" he stood up and levitated some gray boxes onto his back. Huh where had those come from? They looked sort of like those ministry of peace saddle bags for medical equipment but the shape was a bit off. I guess they had been camouflaged to all the grey rubbish that littered this place. He picked up a scalpel and a clip board from the table and trotted up to the door then he turned to me. "Are you coming?"

"Just like that? No plan or anything? No preparations?" I frowned.

"Well you may want to bring a clip board and a pencil if you want me to teach you something but otherwise I recommend you travel light. I have already prepared all my stuff so unless you have anything else you want to do here then I don’t see the point in lingering." he looked at me. I had nothing. "Didn't think so. Now come!" he said. "Oh and don’t lose that scalpel you have in your pocket! You should always have at least one!" then he walked out. I picked up a pencil and stuck it in my other pocket (the one I didn't have a scalpel in), took a clip board under my wing and looked around the room. Well I may not be the most well prepared pony to ever brace the wasteland but I'm sure I'm not the worst either. Then I followed him out.

Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Snake's Cocktail -- Your body has been enhanced by one of the most skilled arcanobiologists in the wasteland and given the same abilities as ghouls and several other strange wasteland dwellers. You heal from radiation and large exposure will make you stronger, smarter and quicker (although you don't stay irradiated for very long afterwards) and you are extremely resistant to taint, enervation, disease and poison. Also you no longer age or need food or drink to sustain yourself. You still have to sleep though.

Traits:
Good Natured -- You have never been very dedicated to combat but this has left you with more time over for other things. You have increased skills in speech, medicine, repair, science and barter but decreased skills in energy weapons, explosives, guns melee weapons and unarmed.
Psychologist - You have taken courses in psychology which helps you understand how ponies think and how you can help or influence them. However they have not improved you social skills or charisma. You may use you medicine skill instead of speech skill in situations where the speech skill is tested but you gain 50% less positive fame with ponies whenever fame is rewarded. You still gain the full amount of negative fame however.

A/N: Going to try and keep this shorter than last chapter. I am not really that satisfied with this chapter. It was a lot harder to write than the first. I have the next one much clearer in my head so hopefully that will be easier. I would also like to make longer chapters since I feel it gets a bit rushed in especially this one but I simply don't have the time to do that and still release these with reasonable consistency. Nopony has figured out what kind of snake Life Code is. As I said in previous chapter there is another clue in this one and there will be one in the next.

Also, so far I have gotten absolutely no comments which I am kinda sad about since it gets so much harder for me to improve Please leave criticism even if you think it's not far away into the story for you to have an opinion. At least leave a comment if you like the story so far or not.

Please