Fallout Equestria: Undermountain #16

Chapter 1: Grand Entrance

Chapter 1: Grand Entrance
“This oughta be quick. I’ll be at the library in no time. Beautiful, indeed.”

Blessedly, the room behind the giant door is empty.

Instantly, everypony relaxes without lowering their weapons. Ace trots almost casually into the next room, Haywire not far behind him despite being extremely on-guard.

“It’s clear,” calls back Ace.

With those words, the rest of us immediately relax. Trigger bits come out of mouths, revolvers float back to their holsters, and rifles are slung onto backs.

I, on the other hand, keep my trigger-bit out and in my mouth. Just in case there’s any invisible critters.

The four of us who didn’t enter at first trot in. The room behind the door looks like some kind of operating room solely for the door, with absurd amounts of tech coating the ceiling. The ramp we’re entering by runs along one side, with consoles and terminals next to it. And along either side wall is a series of lockers that Haywire’s already picking his way into. Lying on its side next to the terminal is a dead body that is literally just bones and some other bits, and the far wall has a hallway inset into it. I can’t see it from here just yet, but if the way Ace is quickly disappearing into it is any clue, it’s a staircase leading down.

Hey, wait a minute. Dead body in a Stable?

Pip-Buck-ertunity!

Then the grinding starts up suddenly, making me jump and spin around. But it’s just the door, sliding sideways to close.

“Hey, what the hell!?”

“Don’t worry,” I head him off before he can get upset, “some Stables are programmed to have the door shut automatically, once everypony it detects is through.”

Blade scoffs slightly as a giant cylinder-thing swings down from the ceiling to latch itself into the gear-door. “Why would it do that?”

“These places were designed to be as isolated as possible,” Haywire explains for me, since I’m busy glancing over the room and checking for invisible monsters. “So it makes sense that they’d wanna keep the door closed as much as possible. Right, Rivet?”

I nod, finishing off my own inspection. Satisfied, I turn back to them and retract the mouthpiece for my battlesaddle.

Blade just watches as the door slides into place, the hiss of the airtight seal engaging being drowned out by the THUNK of powerful steel bolts locking it there. Finally, he says, “Then why don’t they all do that?”

I trot back to the group. “It’d require an entry room like the one we just came from, and most don’t have room for that.” Of course, there’s the fact that I didn’t see any sensors of any kind, but…they didn’t need to know that.

They seem to accept that response, while I use the lull in conversation to make a beeline for the dead body clad in utterly-shredded stable barding.

I don’t even try to cover up the little, “Yes!” when I spot the sleek black device clamped around the sleketon’s fetlock. It normally wouldn’t fit over the hoof for me to slip it off, but that’s why I can just pull the hoof off. Aaaaaand…success! A delicious little masterwork of science and engineering to call my very own! I can’t wait to pull it apart and study its innards! Eeeeeee Yesyesyesyesyes—

In the midst of my little victory dance, I catch sight of Longview giving me the strangest look he can possibly muster. Within seconds, I’ve stopped, staring at him and blushing like my face has caught fire. Part of my brain wonders how well it shows through, between my silver coat and black mane. I quickly make that part of my brain shut up.

We stare at each other for a few seconds, in which time, I also notice Manner stifling a giggle off to one side.

“I…um…I like Pip-Bucks,” I finally mutter.

“I noticed,” comes the flat reply.

There’s a few more seconds of just us staring at each other, before he finally just shakes his tan head in disbelief (short brown mane flopping in a very distracting way as he does) and turns back to nose through his cutie-mark-covering saddlebags.

I take another glance over at Manner, but she’s turned away to chat with her husband about something undoubtedly unimportant. Now devoid of attention, I turn my gaze back to my new Pip-Buck (my Pip-Buck. That certainly has a nice ring to it). Turning it over in my hooves, I take stock of all the parts I can see. Key-slot. Volume slider. Screen and screen cover. Three buttons, two dials. Geiger counter. Peri—

Hang on…

This is clearly a Pip-Buck 3000 Model Mk. II, as the casing quite obviously proves. But where’s the peripheral slot? They’re standard on Pip-Bucks, since it’s impossible to have it deliver a Code-breaker without an Arcanotech port. But where it should be on this model, it just…isn’t there. Maybe it’s a specially-customized version? But…what pony would customize out certain features on something as famously versatile as a Pip-Buck?

Observe and move on, Silver. That’s the rule.

So, curiosity aside, I work with the parts I can see to start figuring out the ones I can’t. Illusion Talisman dead center of the screen. Detect Magic Talisman underneath the Geiger Counter, closest to the leg. Dedicated processor next to it, on all three internal layers, to handle EFS Hostility Detection. Sensory Registers under the buttons and dials, all hooked into the main processor which sits in the middle layer across as much as possible. Hard Memory Disc near what's the bottom when worn. Low-level Telekinesis Talisman directly adjacent to the Organization processor. Radio receiver near the top, next to the dials. Wearer-seeking Talisman directly against where the hoof goes, and the Targeting Talisman for SATS right next to that. Spark Reactor…here, with the battery there. And up there, map receiver and specialized processor, along with a Locator Talisman to handle the tag-finding function. Dedicated Medical Processor goes over here. And last but not least, the Illumination Talisman over here.

By the end of the half-minute I spend staring at it, I’ve constructed a fully-functional blueprint in my head, all of it as accurate as I can get it. I’ve learned to trust myself that I’m right about this kind of thing, so I’m just going to assume that I’m right and all the components are there and working properly. And now that I’ve got that blueprint settled, I can finally be confused about the giant (relatively) patch of empty space left by the lack of an Arcanotech Port. And for that matter…what’s…

OH! So it does have a port, but it’s dedicated to terminal-connection only and needs a special cable. Since I have my doubts a regular connection cable would fit in that dinky little square slot on its bottom-when-worn.

Maybe the cable’s in the dead owner’s saddlebags?

Holding my (EEEEE) new Pip-Buck in my mouth so my hooves can do their work, I glance around for the saddlebags this dead pony left behind. And there they are, underneath the terminal. A quick walk over, some fancy hoofwork, and…

YES! Ohhh, how lucky can I possibly get!? A full freaking set of Pip-Buck Maintenance tools? YesyesyesyesyesYES!

“Some—“

I interrupt whoever it is by squeaking loudly and practically leaping onto the ceiling. If I found my skin lying on the ground where I was, I wouldn’t be surprised.

From my new position atop the desk, next to the door-control terminal, I finally see that the source of the just-surprising-and-nothing-else voice is just Manner. She still even has her hoof up, like she was about to put it over my shoulders, stunned look painted all over her face.

I collect myself enough to mutter, “D-Don’t sneak up on m-me like that…”

She drops her hoof and smiles, shaking her head slightly. “Sorry, hon. But the way you’ve been acting lately, sometimes I forget you’re not a fearless warrior.”

I just stick my tongue out at her, which does nothing more than make her laugh. I chuckle too. I have to admit, that was kinda funny…

“Anyway, I was just about to say that you seemed pretty happy.”

“I am. I just found a Pip-Buck to call my very own, and a full set of maintenance tools.” I hop back off the desk to retrieve them from where I may or may not have tossed them in panic.

“Wow! Happy Hearths Warming then, I guess.”

“Heh. Thanks.” I use the little silence we’re in to find the keys for the lock, pop open the hinge, relocate some of my foreleg armor, and lock it around my left foreleg. A few seconds of adjusting and I finally get it to where it’s supposed to sit, and then the auto-straps kick in and lock it firmly into place. I move my foreleg around, spinning my hoof in circles and going through walking motions to get a feel for it. It’s surprisingly heavy…heavier than I thought. Might take some getting used to. Finally, I offer a little pose to Manner. “How do I look?”

“Really stylish, hon.”

I chuckle, blushing only slightly. Then I notice something else weird about this Pip-Buck. “Hang on, shouldn’t the EFS have—“

“Door at teh other end’s shut tight,” calls out Ace from where he’s coming up the stairwell, interrupting me in a way that makes me not want to start talking ever again.

“I’ll head down and start—“

“No lock to pick, Haywire. I think this is a job for Little Rivets over there.” He gestures to me, and I immediately cringe as I feel everypony turn their gaze to look at me.

“Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do. Haywire, how many entrances does this room have?”

“Two. The door down there, and there’s a vent over here that’s busted open. Dunno if anypony could crawl through, but something could crawl in.” He flicks his forest green mess of a mane out of his face. “Nothing lethal, though.”

“Alright, I want you and Longview to set up some kind of barrier on that vent. Ace, Manner,” for a second, I think he’s nodding to me on that second name, until I realize he’s referring to the pink,-red,-and-white unicorn I may or may not be hiding behind, “you guys set up our stuff. This is our base camp until we find a better one. Rivet? You and me check out that door.”

I nod, slipping out from behind Manner and following the absolutely enormous stallion that is Platinum Blade. I carefully swerve around Longview on my way there, and before long, I’m standing at the top of the staircase down into the rest of the Stable.

……that’s a lot darker than I thought it’d be.

Following after Blade, feeling the darkness enveloping us…Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m terrified. Completely and utterly. I never liked being in dark places, and this is just…

The weight of the Pip-Buck on my leg reminds me of its existence. And the Illumination Talisman in its inner workings.

Duh…

Stopping for a second, I raise my hoof, focus on a mental image of daylight, and stomp it back down. The thunk of hoof-on-metal surprises Blade enough for him to act a bit like me. But the sudden bright light lets him know wordlessly what I was doing.

I can’t keep the smile off my face.

“I love Pip-Bucks,” I mutter to myself.

“Where’d you even get that?” he asks.

I squeak and blush furiously, only now realizing that I actually did say that out-loud. Staring at him, he silently gestures for me to go ahead of him.

Squirming by, and trying my hardest not to brush up against him in the tight space, I answer with, “I…um…just some…ah…dead body out there.”

“Wait...so you’re scared of everything except dead bodies?”

“N-Not everything!” I complain, flipping out my trigger-bit once I’m past him. I have to admit, the light from my Pip-Buck helps a lot, though it’s only now that I notice its operating color is a bright yellow.

That won’t get annoying at all.

“Oh? Then name something else you’re not scared of,” he chuckles as we resume our descent.

It’s a few long seconds before I reply, “Machinery…”

“Of course. Really, I should’ve known.”

We continue the walk in silence (which is fine by me), though it’s not a long one. And at the end of it all, we’re at a little flat section, facing a thick steel door on a piston-extended track designed to let it pull back, then slide sideways. And just ahead of it, right about where I’m standing, is another one of those tiny, square Arcanotech ports that seem unique to this Stable.

Wire goes…here, then there, and…two seconds later, my Pip-Buck’s showing a little dialog.

[OPEN ‘Stable 16 Entry Door’?
Y N]

“Can you open it?” asks Blade, his sudden voice making me nearly jump out of my skin again.

“Y-Yeah. It doesn’t even ask for a password. It just says, ‘Open door, yes or no’.”

The minute I start saying yes, the dialog changes to [OPENING…], followed immediately by [CANCELED] when I start saying no. The little exchange of words is enough to get me really confused, as the text blinks back to the first dialog it gave me.

“Alright. Don’t open it just yet. I wanna make sure our base camp is ready first.”

I nod, trying to figure out how this thing works. Seriously, I don’t have a keyboard anywhere on my Pip-Buck, so now am I supposed to type ‘n’!?

[CONFIRMED. EJECTING…]

With only a little quiver for warning, the plug is firmly punted out of the wall port.

Oh, cool! So the Pip-Buck not only takes thought-commands for the advanced features, but also as a mental keyboard? Talk about nifty! This way I can just memorize firewall-cracking codes and just think them into the terminals. So much easier!

I’m still lost in thinking about how that would work when we make it back up the stairs. Haywire, Manner, and Ace have all shucked their saddlebags, which are lying in the middle of the room (Longview, for unexplainable reasons, has left his on). Manner’s already got her bedroll set up, and she and Haywire are curled up on it cataloguing medical supplies. Longview has his Hot Plate set up, and he’s cooking some of our food while Ace “taste-tests” it.

“Ah’m tellin’ yeh, ‘s still too salty.”

“I didn’t put any salt in it.”

Manner glances up to me once she sees I’ve returned. “Can you get the door?”

I trot over nearby, settling onto the composite floor next to their bedroll. “Easy. Just plug in and think yes.”

“I’m glad.” After a brief smile shot my way, she returns to her work and I start fiddling with my Pip-Buck.

It’s Pretty much the same as I’ve heard and read from various technical manuals. Three general menus, with five sub-menus each. Items…yup, my entire inventory listed out for me to sort through. Data…Local map is certainly useful down here, with the World map a little less so. Aww, no radio stations down here. Quests? Supposedly, I’ve completed a dozen or so already, until I realize that’s the previous owner’s record. Huh…most of these are almost menial. A Birthday Bash…Power to the Ponies…Bowels of the Mountain…Find a Pe—wait…

Bowels of the Mountain?

Scrolling down to it, I also notice that it’s the only active quest.

[Bowels of the Mountain (active)
Objectives:
x- Collect survival supplies.

x- Food (10/10)

x- Water (10/10)

x- Weapon

x- Ammo (50/50)

x- Healing potion (3/3)
x- Reach the Stable Door.
o- Find a way to open the Stable Door.
]

Huh. Click.

[Power to the Ponies
Objectives:
x- Speak to Voyageur.
x- Collect:

x- Weapons (10/10)

x- Ammo (60/60)

x- Healing Potions (BONUS) (7/10)
o- Reach the Laboratory Level
]

…just what the hell was this pony doing? Why would you need guns to go to a lab? Why the hell were they going there in the first place? Should I be scared for my life right now? Oh, wait. I already am. Naturally. Dammit.

Question I can answer now, though…who the hell was this pony?

Switching over to the Stats menu, I’m immediately confronted by a cartoonish outline of a pony in some sprightly little posture. Perfectly healthy. And…

[Name: SUNNY CHARM
Sex: MARE
Type: UNICORN
Age: 14]

FOURTEEN YEARS OLD!?!?!

Wha…but…HOW!? According to her questlog, she’s…she’s done so much! Okay, some of that stuff was pretty menial, but some was pretty intense! And she did all that while being six years younger than me!?

“Something wrong, hon?” You know something’s wrong when the sudden appearance of Manner’s voice does nothing more than make me jump a bit.

I shake my head, then gesture toward Sunny Charm’s skeleton. “No, just…that pony over there…according to this, she was fourteen.”

Both Manner and Haywire go really quiet all of a sudden, turning to look at the skeleton nopony besides me has really touched yet. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Longview go kinda still, too.

I ignore them, tabbing over to the ‘General’ submenu, which is completely out of place. Then I realize they took the ‘General’ tab, merged it into the ‘S.P.E.C.I.A.L.’ tab, and renamed the whole thing to General. To make room for something called ‘Templates’. My brain also notices that the general stats haven’t changed, either. Unless I’ve managed to take a dozen chems, and considering the fact that cigarettes apparently don’t count, I know that’s not true.

I wonder…

[Strength: 4
Perception: 5
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 7
Intelligence: 8
Agility: 6
Luck: 5]

How do these things measure a pony’s luck, anyways?

I steal a glance over to the skeleton, taking in the bones of a pony named Sunny Charm, who was apparently particularly smart, savvy, and nimble, on top of being stupidly, ridiculously young.

“What was her name?”

“Huh?”

Haywire repeats his question. “That mare. Her name. What was it?”

“Uhh…Sunny Charm.”

“Any audio recordings?” Manner asks, interrupting Haywire who was trying to ask the same question.

“I…think so…” Click. Cli-cli-cli-click. “Yeah, a few.”

“Mind playing one?”

“I…guess not.” With a couple motions of the wheel, I navigate to the first recording and mentally press play (and isn’t that a weird thing to say…?).

There’s a loud click, followed by a pony singing some kind of theme song.

“Da-da-daa-da-daaaaa! Welcome, future pony, to the Adventures of a Pip-Buck Repair Filly!”

Pip-Buck Repair Filly, huh? Well, that’d explain the tools. The voice is so young, though…she doesn’t sound more than eight. Ten at the most.

“That’s right! Today was my first official day of work! But there was nuthin’ official to do, so I decided to go exploring, instead! After all, now that I’ve got the map function, I noticed all kindsa places I’ve never been before!

“So I went to check out this one little place near the generator, only to find that it was already taken! These two grown-up-ponies were down there already, wrestlin’ and playin’ and havin’ lotsa fun. I don’t think they noticed me, and I didn’t bother ‘em. I figured I’d just find a different spot.”

There’s a brief pause in the audio, during which I take immediate and unfortunate note of Blazing Ace howling with laughter. He apparently doesn’t notice the glares of four other ponies asking that he have some respect for the dead.

“And I found one, too! ‘S where I am now. Up at the top, next to the Overmare’s office, there’s this little hidden door with a covered-up port next to it. But now that I know where it is, all I gotta do is plug in, think yes, and it opens right up!

“And you should see the room behind it! It’s incredible! There’s this big giant gear thing, a buncha tech stuff, and some really neat lockers full ah knick-knacks. Think I might take some of these things down to the market and sell ‘em. Make some good money!”

A glance up at Haywire shows him looking at the lockers, in a way that makes me realize that she took everything and sold it.

“Anyways, be sure to tune in next week for, da-da-daa-da-daaaaah! Adventures of a Pip-Buck Repair Filly!” Then she starts giggling, before finally the click of her signing off silences her.

The room is silent for a few minutes, and I can practically feel their gazes moving from me to the skeleton in one corner. Sunny Charm’s skeleton.

“Well, that was…informative…” mutters Longview.

“No kidding,” comes Blade’s affirmation.

“Hoo dang…’wrestlin’’,” Ace devolves into another bout of chuckles.

“We should bury her.”

“Manner…sweetie…we can’t. The floor’s not exactly malleable.” Haywire turns back to the skeleton. “As much as I want to…”

I ignore them as they start to discuss what they just heard, slipping off into a nearby corner to fiddle with my…Sunny Charm’s…Pip-Buck. Flipping back to the Stats Menu, I tab over to this thing called ‘Templates’.

[Current Template: ------
Preset Templates:

Inspiration

Party Time

Power Nap

Vacation

Workaholic
Custom Templates:

VRXIFA
]

What.

The actual.

Fuck?

Are these menu-style options for the Pip-Buck? Some kind of voice control? Does it have something to do with the lack of a peripheral slot? And what was with that last one? Some kind of acronym? Hidden message? Secret code?

I’m scrolling down to the last option when the screen disappears. It’s replaced with a simple dialog.

[Discrepancies confirmed. Are you SUNNY CHARM?
Y N]

My immediate mental answer is no.

[You have answered: NO
Please confirm your answer.]

I said no. Was that not clear or something?

[Answer confirmed. Welcome, New User!
Please type your name in the space provided.]

Below that is a little blinking cursor.

Okay, why not? I focus on each letter in my mind, watching it appear on the screen.

[Answer confirmed. Welcome, New User!
Please type your name in the space provided.
SILVER RIVET]

Because I was silver and had a big head atop a skinny little body when I was born. Made me look kinda like a rivet. Yeah...not the best of names.

Spelled about right, though.

[Welcome to the Pip-Buck 3000 Mk. II, SILVER RIVET!
Have you used a Pip-Buck before?
Y N]

Uhhh...I read the operating manual. Several dozen times.

Nothing happens.

Huh. Guess this thing’s not a conversationalist. Let’s just go with yes.

[Confirmed. Skipping Tutorial.
Running Diagnostic…]

That text appears for about a second, before blinking out and replaced with tiny, fast-scrolling text.

[Spark Reactor: Operational. 7% consumed. Days until fully consumed: 99999994861
Spark Battery: Operational.
General Processor: Operational.
Damage Identification Processor: Operational.
Pony-processor Interface: Operational.
Stable-tec Arcane Targeting System Processor: Operational.
Magic Detection Talisman: Operational
Eyes-Forward Sparkle Processor: CRITICAL ERROR
Eyes-Forward Sparkle Hostility Detection Processor: CRITICAL ERROR
Inventory Tracking and Sorting Talisman: Operational.
Injury Identification and Medical Aid Processor: Operational.
Map Readout and Tag Finder Talisman: Operational.
Illumination Talisman: Operational.
Radio Receiver: Operational.
Arcanotech Port: Operational.
Peripheral Connection Port: CRITICAL ERROR
Task Identification and Recording Processor: Operational.
Display Illusion Talisman: Operational.
User Interface: Operational.
Loading hard drive……loaded.
Analyzing current wearer…...analysis complete.
Activating E.F.S. display……CRITICAL ERROR
Diagnostic complete. Restarting…….]

And just like that, all the crazy text is gone. Replaced by the main Status screen.

Which, as it takes me a few seconds to notice, now has my information on it.

[Name: SILVER RIVET
Sex: MARE
Type: EARTH PONY
Age: 20]

I sit there, staring at those words for a little while, running them over and over in my head and trying to process how I should feel about them. Then I click over to the General tab.

All those little achievements it tracks for some reason? The ones that used to belong to Sunny Charm?

They’re all blank.

“Silver?”

I don’t jump. Don’t panic. Just look up to see the pink-coated and candy-cane-maned unicorn standing in front of me.

“You okay, hon?” she asks.

I click back to the Status tab and hold the Pip-Buck out for her to see. “I feel like I just killed a pony…” I whisper.

She reads over it for a second, confused. Then it clicks in her head.

She looks at me with a look on her face I can’t even hope to decipher.

“The audio recordings are still there, right?”

I pull back my leg. Click. Cli-cli-cli-click. “Yeah.”

Manner smiles down at me and ruffles my mane, prompting a little squeak and blush from me. “Then she’s not really gone, is she?”

“Guess not…”

She nuzzles my cheek, which elicits a tiny sigh of happiness to slip through my lips. Then she stands back up. “Now come on. We’re gonna start our first foray into the Stable. And that means—“

“That you need me to open the door,” I finish quietly, already standing up. Shifting slightly in my battlesaddle/bag combo, I smile at her slightly. “What were you all doing in the meantime?”

“Getting some food. Only a few of us were actually hungry. Ace, Blade, and Haywire.”

“Haywire? But he didn’t pull the cart…”

“No, but you know him. If he’s not working, he’s eating.”

“……then how is he still so skinny?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” As the darkness gets thick enough to block our vision, I once again think about daylight and tap my hoof on the ground, the combination activating the Illumination Talisman. “I could do to learn that secret myself, to be honest.”

“And I could learn the inverse of it.”

She laughs, ruffling my mane again. “You’ll bulk up sooner or later, don’t you worry.”

“Oh, there you two are! I thought you were eaten by radroaches.” Blade’s voice, from basically right ahead of me, is more than enough to make me jump and squeak in terror.

“The rate they were going, they might as well have been,” mutters Longview, just within audible levels.

“Sorry, we just got distracted. She found something particularly unpleasant on that Pip-Buck and needed a pep talk.”

“Well, pep talk’s over! It’s cramped up here!” Ace’s voice, from the very front. Oh Goddesses, I’ll have to stand right up against—

“Go on and do your thing, Rivet. We’re right behind you.”

Thanks, Platinum Blade, for all the love and support. Now if you could just get Ace to move behind you…no? Oh, that’s fine then.

Pulling myself together enough to squirm between Blade and Longview, past Haywire, and (shudder) right up against Ace, I try my hardest to focus on attaching the wires.

Oh come on! He’s leaning on me on purpose!

Disguising the motion in the plugging of my wire into the wall-port, I shove him back away from me.

[OPEN ‘Stable 16 Entry Door’?
Y N]

I flip out my trigger-bit, bite down on it in preparation, and mentally hit ‘y’.

[OPENING……]

With a hiss that’s not nearly as loud as the one from the Stable door, the door slides back a few inches. Then, slowly, it slips sideways, to reveal…

An empty hallway.

Oh, thank the Goddesses for that one. I was worried for a second there I’d have to—

“EEEEEK!” Kra-POW!

“Dammit, who fired!?”

“Rivet did!”

Ace walks out into the hallway, eyes looking from me to the patch of ground where my buckshot left little smoking indents. “Really, Rivets? If you’re that scared of your own shadow—“

“I saw a radroach, okay! It was starting to turn and run when I shot at it and I must’ve missed and—“ I’m interrupted my Haywire’s hoof on my shoulder, which is damn near enough to get me to shoot again.

I don’t, though. Thank the Goddesses.

He just gently gestures for me to move out, and I begrudgingly step out of the hallway and into the next one. This one’s particularly dimly lit, but with the help of my Pip-Buck light, I manage to spot the corner where the radroach ran to.

Nothing. Just a vent.

I can hear Blade’s voice behind me, enough to make me jump.

“Just…hang near the back, okay? We’ve got it from here.”

They move on down the part of the hallway that’s not a dead end, while I shift my gaze back and forth between them and where I saw the radroach go. And I did see it. I know I did!

…didn’t I?

Manner stops next to me, and I just stare at her pleadingly.

“I know I saw it.”

She doesn’t answer. She simply gestures the way the others are going and says, “Come on, Silver. I don’t want you to get left behind.”

After a few seconds, I realize she doesn’t believe me either. Which for some reason hurts a lot more than I thought it would.

Sullenly plodding after her, I take in the hallway around us. Only a couple of the lights are working, with the rest either dead or dying. We pass a room on my left with a nametag that’s scratched into unreadability, followed by one on my right with a nametag that I have to spend a couple seconds reading to make it out in the low light.

{Fog Bank
VIP}

Stables having VIPs? Is that a thing?

Guess so.

Satisfied, I trot slightly to catch up to the others, who are now standing at the end of the hallway. There’s two doors, one on the left with an unreadable label, and one straight ahead with no label at all. Haywire’s busy picking the lock of the left door, and his bobby pin snaps just as I walk up.

“Dammit!”

“Jus’ try it again.”

“Yeah. Haywire, take Rivet and Longview to check out this office once you get the lock. Ace? Manner? Let’s look over the Atrium, see if we can’t find the Medical Station.”

Everypony affirms their agreement with the plan, either with a “Got it,” or just a nod. Blade presses something next to the door to the Atrium, and it slides open sideways with the swish of an electrically-driven pulley system. I can hear it knocking on its rails here and there, but I think I’m the only one.

Ace goes through first, taking a sharp left, while Blade steps through behind him to set up a sniper post on what must be some kind of landing. Manner starts after them, but turns back to me and asks, “You gonna be okay, hon?”

I nod, not needing to answer verbally.

Satisfied, she nods back, gives Haywire a quick peck on the cheek (surprisingly, it doesn’t make him break his bobby pin), and trots out after Ace.

Turning the bobby pin gently around the lock with his teeth and holding the screwdriver between his hooves, he manages to slowly turn the lock farther…farther…

Click! “Aha! Goff ish!” He puts away his tools and, with a gentle swish, opens the door to stand bowing next to it. “Filles and gentlecolts, may I present to you…the office of Stable 16’s overmare!”

OH! So that’s what that says. It’s so scratched out I can barely read it, but now that I know what it’s supposed to say, I can pick out the O, the M, maybe even the last E. From there, it’s easy to extrapolate based on the space letters take up versus how much space there—

“Hey Rivet! Got a terminal here with your name on it!”

Nameplate forgotten, I trot into the room after the two of them. The walls of the room look like hardwood paneling at first glance, but the chipped spots reveal it to just be paint. I spot the terminal immediately (Oooh, a Stable-tec Model 297 with the Expanded Hard Drive option! Fancy), sitting on a desktop across the room from me. To the left of the desk sits a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf being browsed by Haywire, easily reachable from the chair behind the desk. To my left is a door that leads to what looks like a separate bedroom (one that Longview is exploring), while the wall to my right sports a window with a magnificent view into the Atrium.

I’ve seen bigger rooms, sure. This one’s barely two stories tall and fifty feet in diameter at the most. There’s a catwalk-thing circling around the top floor, leading to five wide walkways shooting off of the Atrium. The floor below us is solid, save for the stairwell cut into it leading further down still. All of that was easy to tell, even in the dim, flickering light. But the reason it seems so impressive to me is that this is underground, with millions upon millions of tons of rock above us. With that in mind, this otherwise unimpressive room becomes something of a marvel of engineering.

Of course, then there’s the giant gear painted on the ceiling to look like an upward-facing Stable door. A mighty yellow 16 sits in the center, as if reminding everypony here just where we are. Like that’s something that can be forgotten…

Satisfied, I turn and trot over to the terminal. Finally! I can try out using my Pip-Buck to hack something! Just plug, point, and think! This should be…

…um…

Staring at the debug screen of the terminal, it becomes immediately apparent that I have no idea how to beat this one. It’s so far beyond my skills that I can’t even tell how far beyond my skills it is! Fundementally, it’s similar to the Neighton Antivirus standard, but…just…

“You okay?” I jump so hard I’m nearly launched out of the seat, spinning to see…

…Haywire. Immediately, I settle back down. Then I gesture to the terminal and say, “Can’t get it. Don’t know how. Sorry…”

“You tried. That’s what counts. If you can’t get it, move on.”

I spend a couple seconds absorbing the Haywire-ism before Longview trots back into the room, looking happier than I’ve ever seen him. Hanging from his grinning mouth (why, Longview, don’t you use Telekinesis? You’re a unicorn!) is one of the prettiest guns I’ve seen in a long, long time.

He spits it onto the desk, and I almost immediately snatch it up to look it over.

He grins at us. “Found it in her sock drawer.”

“Pretty,” Haywire mutters absently.

“Yeah? Well, you can say you found it then. Make a good present for Manner, you know...”

I tune them out, focusing on the magnificently-designed mechanisms. The frame’s been custom-finished to be varying shades of lavender with gentle swirls and curves to give it an almost elegant look. The front of the trigger bit’s adorned with three diamonds etched in underneath the finish. Spinning the chambers provides next-to-zero resistance or friction. Everything in it operates with smooth, almost jewel-like motions. Tied to the bottom is a note.

{Dinky,
It helped me not be scared. I hope it can help you too.

~A.S.}

I set it back onto the table and report back my findings. “Standard military issue Ironshod Firearms CR-557 .44-caliber revolver, customized with a Heavy Frame mod and an Ironshod Model 103 Revolver-based Speed-loader. Features high-quality, jewel-encrusted joints designed for speed and durability rather than overall strength or power. Custom-finished frame designed in the motif of somepony with the initials A-S. Dunno who, though…”

Longview just stares at me for a few seconds while Haywire takes the gun. Finally, right when I’m getting nervous enough to shuffle my hooves, he asks, “How the hell do you do that?”

Blushing a bit, I answer, “There’s…logic to the way things are built. If you can follow those lines of logic, you can…um…make a lot of inferences from very little information…”

“Doesn’t hurt that you have a photographic freaking memory,” Haywire adds, flipping open the chambers to take stock of the distinct lack of ammo. “Did you find any rounds with the gun?”

“Uh…no. Sorry.” Longview glances me over again. “She really has a photographic memory?”

“Hey Rivet, what’d I have for breakfast a month ago?”

“I…um…I don’t—“

“Hey guys! We might have a problem…ooh!” Manner canters into the doorframe, immediately brightening when she spots the revolver in Haywire’s hooves. “Where’d you get that?”

“I, ah…I found it in her sock drawer. Doesn’t have ammo, but I figured you might want it.” Longview and I share a little knowing chuckle at his almost-casual lie.

The gun wraps itself in Manner’s white glow and plucks itself from Haywire’s hooves as she draws it to herself to inspect it.

“Good quality,” she mutters as she rolls it around in her magic.

“Very,” I blurt out as the three of us trot over to her.

She shoots me a brief smile, before slipping it into her saddlebags. “Well, we’ll keep it around. It’ll be great if we find any rounds for it.” Moving quickly, she pecks him on the muzzle, then leans back slightly to say, “Thank you, sweetie. Now come on. We may have found a small complication.”

“Is it serious?” asks Longview as we follow her into the Atrium, taking a sharp right to follow the stairs down to the ground (?) floor.

“Not immediately, but it complicates things. You’ll see what I mean, but it’s easier to show you than explain.”

We slip into a small silence as we trot across the Atrium, broken only by my statement of, “Radigator Stew with extra potatoes. When you were full you slipped the rest into Manner’s bowl without her knowing.” It’s enough to draw a little chuckle from Haywire, a stunned look from Longview, and a curious glance from Manner.

“Did you really?” she asks backwards to her buck. He just blushes, which makes her chuckle and nuzzle him slightly.

We make our way to the stairway into the floor of the Atrium, where Manner points for us to descend it. The minute my hooves hit the metal grate, I can tell something is off. This entire Stable (along with everything by Stable-Tec, really) has been in nearly-perfect quality. Especially so, given the lack of maintenance for the past two-centuries-at-most. But this looks weathered and haphazard. In fact, it might’ve been so from the day it was built. Immediately, that alone sets off alarm bells in my brain as we descend through the dozen-hooves-thick Atrium floor.

Up past Longview’s cloak-covered saddlebags and Haywire’s lithe figure, I can spot the stairs ending at some kind of catwalk. Beyond the catwalk is a wall made entirely of rough-hewn rock lit by the occasional lamp. Once we leave the stairs, it’s a right-turn towards a T-shaped intersection between this catwalk and another one, which to the right leads to yet another T-intersection where Blade and Ace are watching us approach.

“So you found a cave. What’s the big deal?” asks Haywire.

Blade just gestures downward. So naturally, the three of us peek through the safety rails and—

I can immediately feel myself panic.

This cave goes down for miles.

Maybe it’s some volcanic vent that got buried over time. Maybe it was chewed out by some Tatzulworm. Or maybe it’s just nature skull-fucking any notion of sanity. But what matters is that it’s about the diameter of the Atrium, and there are almost a dozen floors of catwalks and stairwells that extend downwards like a crazed network of fingers, all of it barely scratching the surface of how deep this cavern goes. All those catwalks…all the caves they stretch into…just down and down and down…

Feeling myself tip forward towards the edge slightly, I all but throw myself backwards, straight into Manner’s waiting forelegs. Apparently, she expected me to do that, which is why she managed to not only catch me, but catch me in the perfect damn orientation to give me a comforting hug and soothing coos in my ear that let me actually try and control my breathing.

“Sweet, merciful Celestia…what the hell is this place!?”

“Dunno. But I’ve counted at least a dozen different floors. If they’re all the size of a regular Stable floor…” He doesn’t need to finish that sentence.

Complications indeed.

Longview’s looking at his Pip-Buck, browsing over the maps from what I can see. His expression gets more and more shocked as he keeps going. “It looks like there are five floors built from these caves. The rest look like they’re under construction from what I can see. And yes, all of them are the same size as the Stable.”

“So countin' teh actual Stable floors, that’s…”

“Eight. Eight floors total.”

They all turn back to stare down the ginormous cavern that stretches down into inky blackness, while I shift my gaze in precisely the opposite direction and try to keep myself distracted from the gaping maw of a chasm beneath us. The ceiling above us is the same old Stable-grey, painted with the same Stable Door motif I saw on the Atrium’s ceiling. That same old yellow 16 in the middle, reminding us all of the Stable that…can I even call it a Stable anymore? I think it’s graduated from bunker to underground metropolis.

And that’s when it hits me.

“They built this…”

“What’s that, hon?”

“Th—“ I cough a couple times, trying to get my voice working again. “This wasn’t built by Stable-tec. It’s too shoddy. Too haphazard. But it’s too recent to be built by anypony else before the war, which means…”

“…which means the residents built it,” finishes Blade, staring around with newfound respect.

I jut nod.

“But why'd they do that? They were safe and comfortable up there in that Stable, so why take the risk to punch through teh floor and…this?” Ace finishes eloquently as ever with a simple gesture downward on that last word.

The room is silent as we all try to answer him and turn up blank. And in the silence, both Longviews’ and my Pip-Bucks make a little tic.

His reaction is not just instant but almost frantic, almost like he’s been temporarily replaced with me. Mine is more curious, as I study the little device attached to my foreleg. After waiting for almost a minute, I can spot the needle of the Geiger Counter swing upwards ever-so-slightly with a little tic. And judging by the sound Longview’s Pip-Buck made, his detected the same thing as well.

He considers it for a second while I nose over to the Status screen. There, hidden in a corner, is a dialog showing incoming rads. And it’s currently displaying [0.02 rads/sec].

“Oh…that’s not good,” mutters Longview finally.

“What isn’t?”

“We’re getting rads down here, and since it probably isn’t from the war, I’ll bet all my caps that it’s radiation leaking through the rock from Maripony, which means it’ll only get worse. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue, but since they apparently drilled holes in their Stable…” he groans in annoyance slightly before continuing. “The floor beneath us’ll get it worst, since it’s not specially shielded. That’s followed by the upper floors, and finally the lowest floors.”

“How long until it’s an issue?”

“Guys…”

“Not quite sure, without knowing what this rock’s made of. But if it’s already at this level, maybe…”

“Guys, you should—“

“…week and a half before it’s serious, two weMMMPH!” He’s interrupted by Haywire shoving a hoof in his mouth. Longview shoots him a lethal glare before realizing he’s looking at something else. Something down below us…

Building up my courage with several deep breaths, I peek over with the rest of them.

Ignoring the deafening roar of terror that comes from literally staring a tragic falling-to-my-death accident in the face, I glance around to follow Haywire’s gaze. Maybe down there, right where that tunnel a few floors down has a shadow co—

Ducking down to hide better, I watch that tunnel as carefully as I can.

Spilling out of it is light from the lamps inside, except for the unicorn-head-shaped shadow that’s slowly approaching.

Blade and Ace start sneaking over to us, with the other four of us slowly edging towards the staircase back into the Atrium. Haywire and Manner are already drawing their pistols, and Longview had his trigger-bit in his mouth the minute he saw it. Steel hasn’t drawn his sniper rifle from its perch on his back just yet, maybe because he’s focused on sneaking in thick metal armor.

The pony finally steps out of the tunnel, and I swear I can feel my heart stop for a few beats.

It’s an alicorn. Imposing, powerful, and yet seemingly…malnourished, almost. It’s skinnier and smaller than the others I’ve seen (which doesn’t say much, really), and even slightly lighter-purple than their usual near-black color. Her mane and tail look less ethereal and more…well, hair-like. They still drift and float like she’s underwater, but they don’t have the same Goddess-esque nature.

She glances around nervously from her perch on the catwalks below us, while we slowly…ever-so-gently…make our way toward the Atrium. My heart is pounding in my throat somewhere, and my breaths are coming so hard and fast that my nose has completely dried out. I swallow nervously an—

Clatter! “EEAAAHHHH!”

He didn’t even touch me. I was just scared by the sudden noise. The noise that Platinum Blade made when he bumped his flank on one of the safety rails.

He has just enough time to let out a little, “fuck,” before everything devolves into chaos.

“SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” The screech knocks all of us to the ground, pressing on my skull from both outside and inside.

I stumble back to my hooves. I need to run. If I don’t, she could—

With a flash of light and a loud pop! of displaced air, the alicorn reappears right in front of us. Or, more specifically, right in front of me.

Acting more on reflex than anything, I squeal in terror and kick the lever of my battlesaddle. With a faint hiss of pneumatics and the clicking of joints, my trigger-bit pops up in front of my face, giving me just enough time to bite down on the safety as she finishes conjuring six eldritch knives that point to each of us.

I tongue the trigger as fast as equinely possible, feeling the recoil knock my off-balance flank onto the very edge of the catwalk. All else forgotten, including the whoosh of air as a blade goes by my head, I instantly panic and throw myself sideways, away from the edge but into Longview, who was struggling to line up a shot.

Blam! Manner’s revolver goes off, followed almost immediately by the Ka-BOOM! of Blade’s sniper. The combination of the two bullets shatters the bubble-shield it had wrapped around itself, letting Blade’s bullet tear straight through its shoulder.

With another deafening screech, the alicorn teleports away, leaving us with a clear path.

Echoing throughout the tunnels of Stable 16 start up three new screeches.

“Go! MOVE!”

Blade’s voice gets us all running. Except Longview shoving past me on his way to flee makes me stumble, which makes me nearly fall, which makes me panic and stumble again. All in all, I’m at the back of the pack.

Except for Haywire, who’s…

“Where are you—“ I’m about to keep shouting at him, telling him to keep up, when I realize that Manner can’t stand on her own. One of the eldritch knives managed to catch her right below the cutie-mark, punching straight through her armor and deep into her hindleg. And refusing to leave his mare behind, Haywire’s trying to get her onto his back.

“Just gimme the damn Buck!” he shouts through his gun. “We don’t have time to argue!”

The screeches are getting closer.

From her saddlebags, she floats out a skinny white tube with a pop-top and a bright orange label depicting a cowpony mid-buck. Working as fast as possible, she pops out one of the white tablets, moves his gun as he struggles to stumble forward toward me, and plants the tablet into this mouth.

He chews vigorously, his strides almost immediately getting longer and stronger. By the time he swallows and grabs his gun from Manner’s magic, he’s matching my pace up the stairs.

Just in time, too. I can practically feel one of the alicorns screeching not far behind us. Both Haywire and I, with our above-average hearing, stagger and nearly trip at the sound.

We reach the top of the stairs with no further trouble, though, and by now he’s starting to outpace me. Manner’s hollering for me to try and keep up as I gallop at the hardest and fastest I ever have in my life.

The others are at the hallway to the Overmare’s office. Haywire’s halfway up the staircase there. I’m still at the bottom.

My heart is pounding at me, my lungs begging and pleading with me to stop. But I keep going.

About halfway up, I trip on my Pip-Buck and fall face-first into the stairway, struggling to get back up.

They’re getting closer. I can hear them.

After a couple more tries, I manage to get my hooves under me and charge back up the staircase.

Spinning on my hooves, I get through the door just as Manner shuts it from Haywire’s back halfway down the hall.

Just as it closes, I can hear the hoofsteps of several alicorns entering the Atrium. Hopefully, they won’t realize which of the many directions we’ve gone until we’re long gone.

Haywire slips sideways through the door leading to the entryway.

Hooves pounding, heart throbbing, I keep running. I can feel myself slowing, but I keep running.

At least, until I’m blindsided by the Radroach.

I’m completely knocked over onto my side as it leaps and slams into my gut. We roll over a few times, before finally it finds purchase and clamps down onto my stomach with its mandibles.

I may have screamed. More in terror than in pain, but still.

Swatting at it with fore- and hind-legs, I keep trying to maneuver the gimble on my battlesaddle to point my shotgun at it. But it is just too fucking nimble.

My Pip-Buck slamming into its face gets its attention, just long enough for it to lash out and sink its mandibles into my other leg.

FSHHAT! FSHHAT! FSHHAT! Two bolts of magical energy go right by us, while the third one slams into my side and sends a searing lance of pain through my chest.

Screaming in pain and terror, I rip my foreleg from the Radroaches’ grip and try once again to get my shotgun under it. It responds to my attempts by chomping down right into the side of my neck.

With a scream and a quick glance down, I notice something else: a retractable stinger extending itself from the critter’s underbelly.

“HAYWIRE!!!”

FSHHAT! FSHHAT! In come two more red streaks from Haywire, one of them actually managing to hit the thing. The shot scorches a hole in its shell and a fair bit of the flesh underneath, causing it to stumble and skitter wildly in pain.

Right above my shotgun.

Ka-POW! With a single flick of my tongue, I paint the ceiling in the traditional style of Radroach Guts.

I scrabble my hooves as Haywire runs over to help pull me up to them. Eventually, sick of the whole ‘let-Rivet-run-on-her-own’ song and dance, he decides to just heft me onto his back and carry me the rest of the way.

Once we’re inside, I’m groping through my saddlebag as best I can with a nibbled-on foreleg. Thankfully, my Pip-Buck recognizes what I’m searching for and places that blessed cord right on top.

The alicorns in the Atrium are screeching again. They must have heard my shotgun.

Fighting my own shaking limbs, I plant the cord into the appropriate ports after a couple seconds.

[CLOSE ‘Stable 16 Entry Door’?
Y N]

“YES! CLOSE IT!”

[CLOSING…]

With the hiss of pneumatic cylinders, the door slides sideways, presses outwards, and finally hisses with an airtight seal. Just as it does, I swear I can hear the Atrium door opening.

The silence in the moment that follows is deafening.

[DOOR CLOSED. EJECTING…]

The port on the wall spits out my cable.

I try to catch the other end as it falls, and I just manage to shorten its trajectory enough so that, instead of hitting the floor, it glances off the floor with a little ping!

My heart stops.

It starts up again a few seconds later, but that’s not the point.

And from the look on Haywire’s and Manner’s faces in the light of my Pip-Buck…they’re having similar problems.

Then I hear them. Just barely audible if I focus.

Hoofsteps.

Getting closer.

I bite my own foreleg to keep myself from crying. From the way Haywire stiffens, he hears them too.

They stop, right in front of our door.

‘Oh dear Goddesses, please protect us. Oh dear Goddesses, please protect us.’ I’d be praying it out loud, but I thankfully happen to have a mouthful of foreleg.

The silence drags on…

Nopony dares to move…

‘Oh dear Goddesses, please protect us. Oh de—‘

KRA-KOOOM!

I bite down on my foreleg, hard enough to draw blood. I can feel Haywire jump under me, and Manner lets out a little squeal before silencing herself.

Then the hoofsteps start up again. Fading away as they do.

I don’t hear the Atrium door close, but with the way Haywire relaxes and breathes out a sigh of relief, I know that he does.

Finally, he turns back to me and asks, “Can you walk?”

I start slipping off his back, panting like a madmare and spitting blood out of my mouth. He leans down to help, but it doesn’t matter. The minute I’m off his back, I just crumple.

Haywire starts trying to help me stand, turning to Manner and asking her the same question.

“Dunno. I’m f-feeling kinda…woozy…blood loss, m-maybe.”

“Here. I’ll get her.” Longview’s voice does kinda scare me a little with its sudden appearance, but my ears are too raw from all the screeches and thunderclaps that I barely even hear him, nor have I caught my breath enough to even care.

With some help and direction from Manner herself, he gets her up onto his back and carefully balanced with the help of his saddlebags and battlesaddle to make a better platform. I, on the other hand, get scooped up onto Haywire’s back yet again.

We’re halfway up the stairs when I hear Blade and Ace arguing.

“—have t’ stay! If we don’t find whatever’s down here, teh Enclave’ll exterminate us! And that’s ‘f Red Eye doesn’t git’s hooves on us first!”

“I’m not saying we’re forgetting about this place. We’d be coming right back here for that weapon. But we are coming back here with every Goddesses-damned City Slicker at our backs and packing the biggest guns the Wasteland has to offer! I’d rather not die trying to live!” He spots the four of us coming up into the entry room, and Ace turns to look as well. It’s only then that I notice he’s sporting a thick cut across his cheek. Apparently, Manner wasn’t the only one who got hit with those knives. Blade looks straight at me, then gestures to the terminal and orders, “Get the door, Rivet. We’re leaving.”

Ace spins back around to argue as Haywire carries me over to the Terminal-desk. “By teh time we get back, it’ll be too late! It took us, what, a day t’ git out here? That’s a day there, a day back, and maybe three days t’ search this place! That’s a week, Blade! How many cities d’you think they can wipe in a week with those damned Cloud-ships!? Not to mention, how much’f Old Appleoosa’ll be dust when we do git back!?”

“We have to try! We barely escaped that in there as it is! How many more gambles with those odds do you think we’ll survive!?”

I tune them out after that, slipping off Haywire’s back into a sitting position before the Terminal. A quick plug of my Pip-Buck, a few button presses, and I’ve thought my way through the firewall in under ten seconds flat. For some reason, though, it just doesn’t feel special anymore. I don’t feel excited at the prospect. Just pained and exhausted and terrified and fucking done with this Stable.

It hasn’t even been an hour and I’m sick of it.

[CONTACT OVERMARE’S OFFICE
CONTACT STABLE-TEC HEADQUARTERS
OPEN STABLE DOOR
LOG OUT]

I scroll my way down to ‘Open Stable Door’, do a little more hacking to find the passcode (‘ditzy’, for whatever reason), and hit Enter.

Beeeep!