PONIES IN ARMS-3. MARECENARIES

DATE- CLASSIFIED
TIME- IRRELEVANT

I wanted more information as to any and all he knew and knew he was holding some back. Smoky was in the bar as well with us and I knew that either this pony was trying to get away from answering anymore of my questions, or the initial thoughts he had of me were now fading. Going with the latter thought I motioned for Harmony to join us hoping that having a new reason to stay and chat would loosen up his muzzle a bit more. Harmony quickly set to work turning on her usual charm trying to get Digger to open up a bit more and it worked perfectly.

"You never said you had a cute friend with you, hi there I am Digger and I work for Stable Tech" it was way too easy for us to make Digger give up all he knew, all it took was a few drinks Harmony throwing on an extraordinary amount of charm and he was all ours in fact if we wanted to know where Celestia was, if he knew he would more than likely have drawn us a map to exactly where she was. Our charm was now going to be used in any situation we would ever find ourselves in from now on and we were going to show the mares, and filly's in our group just how to get what they wanted as well.

As it turned out Manehatten was being used as the first of its kind self run lab for Stable Tech, meaning there was no over pony in the biggest one and that he had made a mistake earlier in saying that they were having a problem with the over pony but instead meant they were having a problem with the mainframe of the shelter itself and that it had taken it upon itself to start to make calculated killings of what it assumed were non vital ponies and that something had happened with the life support systems of the place and it was in all reality becoming a tomb for those inside. If they couldn’t over ride the system they were going to have to make a major choice in blowing it up from the inside killing all who remained alive inside, I could tell that he had a bad feeling in his gut that it would have to come down to that due to the fact that the shelters were all equipped with radiation detectors that were meant to keep the doors to the places shut until none was detected but that in the cases of having to inspect or do checks to them they all had an over ride to bypass this setting and that only the over pony could authorize such an action, however in this case the over pony was in fact the system itself and all attempts in the past had failed to bypass the detectors. If this time failed they were going to have no choice other than to blow it up basically killing hundreds of ponies due to a dumb computer taking on the role of a basic god. I was going to ask him why they felt they needed such an experiment when he came out and told us both the reasoning behind it.

"When stable Tech first started we had no real idea as to what kind of company we were going to be, were we going to be a supplier of a basic shelter or were we going to be making places that ponies were going to eventually live for extended periods of time. The answer pretty much fell from a clear bright day in Manehatten with the very first ever nuke being dropped in Equestria. For us it became a gift of salvation due to the fact that we knew that the war was ending soon and we would lose our government contract if bomb shelters were no longer going to be necessary where as now we had a new mission, knowing that with a nuclear attack came the need for fallout shelters we quickly set to work figuring out every possible thing that would be needed for such an endeavor, from how long ponies would have to stay in the shelters, how many ponies they would house, what the layout of them would be, and last but not least who would be qualified to run them.

"You see we had originally thought that a single pony could run the shelters all by themselves along with a bit of supporting help, but we weren’t sure as to how to properly train them or see if they were fit to take on such responsibilities so our first ever shelter in Manehatten became our first real test. Oh sure at first everything went well what with the making ponies feel at home and all but soon after the initial first few days things started to go wrong, there were laws in place yes but they weren't being followed and soon the place was in utter chaos. Ponies were getting out of hoof and the over pony assigned to take control was quickly overthrown leaving the place in well, chaos. That was our first real problem from there we learned to do background checks on any and all ponies coming in to the shelters from then on, a strict screening process was put into place soon after and if any pony had a criminal background they were not permitted access to the shelters. That helped a lot but we wanted to see what we could do to eliminate the need for an over pony seeing as ponies get old and cannot perform their duties and eventually die, so we developed a program that would replace the need for an over pony all together. We put the system in place in Manehatten getting rid of the over pony and it actually worked perfect for about a year, but like all things in life something went wrong and now the system has malfunctioned. If we cannot gain control of the place we will be forced like I have said, to blow the shelter up to prevent a complete system failure we hope that we are able to do so but another bad thing is that these shelters are equipped with a complete military all their own to prevent a reoccurrence of what first happened in the first shelter. The military aren't related to any government agency and act on their own with orders from the over pony, which in this case happens to be an out of control computer.

At least the shelter in Saltlick city is run by an over pony and if need be he can be taken out, where as in this case the military is being directed by the computer. As far as the possible favor to Stable Tech from you, as I have also said we plan on being in Manehatten for a month. If we haven’t heard anything from that shelter by then we will call upon you to take care of the situation. Stable Tech has been watching all of your actions from the taking of the Neighvada state prison to the execution of Blood Flank don’t think that we are simply sitting by and not paying attention to things going on around Equestria, we are and you ponies have grabbed our attention, enough so that I am willing to freely share some valuable information in to Shattered Hoof Ridge. Yes it may be our biggest project that we have done but that being said it is also our strongest and most armed project, it was originally meant to be a shelter to protect the entire city of Las Pegasus but was quickly turned into a facility used by the e.l.f in the war as a r.n.d lab along with a basic military post underground. Stable Tech has nothing to do with the place any more ever since the e.l.f proved who in fact they really were we have turned our backs on the place and really would rather see it destroyed than in the hooves of the n.l.r sad to say but true. There is a silver lining to everything in life and in this case there is a back way in, not too heavily guarded and hopefully unknown to the n.l.r it is in an old silver mine in the hills to the west of the entrance about 10 miles, Shattered Hoof ridge Takes up the entire Silver Mountain range it is huge and can house up to 50,000 occupants at one time it is self sustaining with a working farm schooling system hospital along with almost anything any pony could ever want or need. It is sad to know that in our haste to make money during the first war we let our greed get the best of us and allowed the place to fall in to the hooves of the now n.l.r and like I have said we would rather see the place destroyed than a base for them.

I’m also going to let you in on something else, I am sure you know about the mines under the Canterlot Castle. Well those are now gone and have been replaced with a shelter if Canterlot is wiped off the maps the royalty of Equestria will be safe and able to still run the land or at least what will remain of it seeing as the n.l.r are hell bent on taking over the land in the name of Princess Luna. Celestia only knows who the real winner of all of this will be but knowing that there are ponies like that Major Read along with Grey Hoof and you I think the n.c.e has a fighting chance in this and that through it all Equestria can learn from it and grow stronger and more unified rather than falling apart, as it stands right now for all the wrong Stable Tech has done in the past we have seen the error of our way's and are now in the process of fixing those errors if it takes a life time we will make things right I Pinkie Pie swear it."

I couldn't believe my ears at all I had just listened to and was in utter shock at it all. The very ponies who built Shattered Hoof Ridge now wanted it taken out rather than to see it as a base of operations for the n.l.r and I had a feeling that they would call on us to do it for them, that part didn't bug me though. What really got to me was the fact that even in the beginning of all of this they could have been saving several million ponies but instead had made arrangements with the enemy of Equestria and had justified it. I was happy to hear that they soon regretted that choice, but that regret had come too late for a lot of ponies and all it would have taken was a simple no on the arrangement with the e.l.f but all they saw were dollar signs. I wasn't sure if I wanted to kick the living shit out of him or sympathize with him so I just ordered another drink for all of us and kept him talking, I figured if he was willing to put his life on the line and leak such valuable information as to what Stable Tech really was up to and how they were trying to make up for past mistakes that he was a pawn in a big chess game as we all were.

"You along with all of Stable Tech seem to have kind and caring hearts, we all have done things in life we regret however it is how we deal with those that makes one who they truly are and you ponies all seem to know what you have done wrong and want to fix it all. That is admirable to say the least I wish you all the best of luck in saving those ponies in that shelter and I know you will be able to do so, also going back to your request about the shelter in Saltlick City sure we will help you out if needed, I’ll let Smoky know to keep you updated as to where we go so you can stay in contact ok. Again good luck to you all and any time you need any help we’ll see what we can do to help you out, now go save those ponies for us." I along with Harmony gave him a kiss and watched him get on the train and looked at each other with tears in our eyes. "Wow and I thought some of the stuff we have gone through was tough, gees I don't know if I could ever deal with the possibility of having to potentially kill hundreds of ponies just to in all reality save them from a slow and horrible death." Harmony said to me as we trotted back to the saloon for a much needed drink.

"I know what you mean Harmony but if any pony can do that and do it successfully it is him, I know he has a kind heart and is only doing the best he can to put the past right and if any pony deserves to have things go right for him it would be him and his team." When we both got back to the bar we both raised a toast to Digger and his team and wished them good luck on their task ahead and proceeded to get drunk and come up with ways we could deal with the n.l.r in the town.

Now drunken ideas are often lame and to be honest foolhardy to say the least, needless to say a lot of the ideas thrown around that night were both of those along with just plain stupid. They ranged from just trotting into the sheriff’s office and killing them all to somehow turning them to our side in what could only in my opinion be described as deviant ways which I quickly threw out the window knowing just what that would require. I even came up with the thought of ambushing them in a situation where they would have to play the law enforcement role, to my surprise that idea won the night and a lot of drinks.

We now had an idea but it was just that, an idea. Putting it into practice would require some planning on our part and in our state of mind that would be a non event right now, we were so far gone that the bar owner just let us pass out where we fell and locked up after closing, something that I noticed was becoming a continuous thing for us and a bad thing to be honest. Yes we all deserved to enjoy ourselves but at what cost? It seemed like anywhere we went and not just us but the major and his group as well, we would all end up sleeping at a bar or wherever we happened to fall for the night. I was going to talk to every pony about it soon anyway so I just pushed the thought out of my head and took another shot of apple whisky knowing that I would hate myself in the morning but not really caring.