Since the Steel Rangers had forcefully entered Stable 200 it had only taken them a mere two weeks to bring over reinforcements to bolster their numbers as well as equipment, weaponry and any spare parts they’d need to repair their Power Armour in a pinch and all this was stored away in the old Holding Cells that had once been used to lock away the very first Stable inhabitants when their behavior got out of hoof of course over the generations the need for the room dwindled to the point of being just a reminder of what sort of ponies this place homed but it had been a pretty vast space.

Two Steel Rangers were stationed outside the doorway ensuring only authorized personnel could enter, this meant only fellow soldiers or their Commanding Officer Senior Paladin Grey Shell, any Stable ponies who showed an inclination of trying to enter or even looked for a second to long were issued warnings or a fairly firm shove given how the Power Armour amplified the wearers strength to beyond an earth ponies usual capability. Understandably neither the Steel Rangers nor the Stable dwellers were keen on eithers presence and there had been initially protest at the armored pony’s presence till Overmare Butter Blitz smoothed things over best she could.

The old Holding Cell had been left to rot in a grim way, the walls were damp ridden and the power to the lighting was questionable at best, the floor itself was a mix of stains nopony dared think about how it got there or what it was after all it didn’t take a genius to know the rougher history of this Stable, not even the Jail Cell doors could close over from how rusted they were but of course once the Steel Rangers had made it apparent this was to be there area they had amended this or otherwise insisted some of these faults be sorted.

The lighting had been fixed at the request of the Senior Paladin and so to had the cell doors, now greased up and for the most part usable if not a little stubborn but nothing a little brute force couldn’t sort, the lock mechanism thankfully worked after all this time which was hooked up to the terminals the reinforcement of Steel Rangers had brought with them which meant the Overmare had no control over them whatsoever seeing as they opted to set up their own private interface with the cage doors. The stockpile of ammo and weapons were kept in one cell the other housed the spare parts for the Power Amour and lastly a third cell was Senior Paladin Grey Shells office.

The remaining seven cells had bunk beds in with hoof lockers as well as a curtained off private sleeping quarters for the Senior Paladin, in all the area housed 57 comfortably, the hallway that separated the cells in a five by five set up equally housed the desks which had terminals on and a communication system set against the back wall and for added security there was three turrets placed around the room as a deterrent, one on the ceiling just before the entrance and respectively one in each the Armory and Power Armour area.

It was unfortunate to Tran Sketch that she had to pass this area for her daily duties in the Pip-Buck Maintenance room, she had learnt to just not look at the guards posted outside and tried to ignore the very presence of the room period though her thoughts occasionally dwindled as to what was going on in there like anypony denied such things would wonder, Sketch was grateful for all the advancements that the Power Armour had they could not penetrate somepony’s thoughts at least.

She had just about passed the door when it hissed open with a reluctant noise like a pained squeal, a Steel Ranger exited the room causing Sketch involuntarily to look at the source of the noise which then panned to the visor of the armour wearing pony before Sketch remembered that even looking at them would be considered wrong but when the Steel Ranger walked forward there seemed to be a delay in the front left leg that seemed unnatural whilst the other three moved in sync, Sketch couldn’t help but say something.

“Umm if you don’t mind my saying something seems off with your armour movement”
The steel Ranger looked at Tran Sketch as they approached her, the helmet tilted was the only give away really given the visor blocked the pony’s eyes from sight, stopping by Sketch.

“You’re the Pip-Buck repair mare here aren’t you civilian?”
The voice had an artificial sound to it due to the armour having to translate the dialect outwardly rather than merely a muffled sound, it sounded feminine even with the magically artificial enhancement.

Sketch furrowed her brows a little not really approving of the way the Steel Rangers referred to the Stable residents as civilians as though they were something unpleasant they had stepped in but she kept her cool.
“Well yes, I’m still learning as I go along but I am mostly good at what I do”

“Well then, I shall give you the honour of being the first civilian technician pony to lay hoof on this armour with permission, the leg seems to be seizing up on me and our Power Armour technician has his hooves full so it looks like you’ll have to do it in his steed”
It was hard to tell if it was truly an order or a request, the voice distortion made it hard to define the true tone of voice for Sketch but with that said it would be an experience to, it wasn’t everyday a pony got there hooves on such a thing and Pip-Bucks were becoming too much of the same thing for her.

Sketch nodded in agreeance.
“Very well, if you follow me to the maintenance room I’ll see what I can do”
She did however look at the armour again.
“Just don’t expect me to repair it outright as this is the first time I’ll have done it, you can probably imagine there is a difference between fixing up a Pip-Buck and what you’re wearing”

“If you can’t fix it then our Technician can when he finds time, it’s not like you’ll break it so easy anyway so I’m not worried”
The Steel Ranger shrugged.
The metal covered hoof tapped on the concrete floor.
“So then lead the way repair pony”

The walk to the Maintenance Department only took a minute or so longer even with the suit causing that weird delay limp but Stable ponies and Steel Rangers all looked curiously at the pair given it was uncommon to see two opposing ponies by another, even Purple Steel was taken aback at the presence of the Steel Ranger following Tran Sketch but he didn’t say anything even if his old gaze was filled with some confusion.

There was a hiss of sorts as the armour seemed to unlock itself from the mare, the first thing to come off was the helmet now in the mares hoof before setting it down on the work station, her body color was charcoal black with a short cropped mane style which was grey, a scar across her left eye and much to Sketch’s shock, a stump of a horn that had been cut off, the soldier mare noticed Sketch’s eyes fixated on the mutilated horn.
“I wouldn’t get so caught up on the fact my horn is missing, can’t wear these helmets with it and the Steel Rangers wont adapt the armour by drilling a hole in it as it compromises the defense and may otherwise ruin the helmets function so had to cut it off”

Sketch could only imagine how painful it was, she had banged her horn as a filly many times and it hurt so to cut it off, the thought made her cringe, subconsciously putting a hoof to her own horn as though checking it to hadn’t been lopped off.
“Sorry, just looks like it was painful is all, I curse something rotten when I just whack my horn so to cut it off… just doesn’t bare thinking about to me really”

The rest of the armour unsealed allowing the mare to step out of it, her tail to had been cut to a shorter style, more practical and military like and her cutie mark was of a ink bottle and quill atop a piece of scroll.
“Oh believe me it hurt like hell, you know as well as I do a horn is connected physically and magically so you have to deal with the sheer physical pain and the forced separation from your magic to boot, it’s not pleasant but to be a Steel Ranger you have to give up your horn”

Collecting the tools usually used for Pip-Bucks maintenance Sketch hoped that they’d work the armour if she could find the panel for access, a look around more closely at it revealed the access panel which she began to unscrew.
“So… do you miss your magic, I mean I’m not amazing adept at it but I couldn’t imagine just not having it either, doing things by hoof alone would just be to unnatural for me, by the way do you have a name to call you by?”

The mare mulled over what Sketch had said.
“The names Ink Blot, used to be a Scribe for the Steel Rangers till I found I was pretty adept at soldiering, about that time I still needed my magic to record my findings and such as writing by hoof is a hassle. As for your other question yes I did miss my magic for a little while, it was weird not being able to do the little things, even something like drinking and eating I needed to retrain my brain to do”

The panel now open Sketch connected her Pip-Buck to the Power Armour accessing the interface to run a system check.
“These days I don’t really think about it, I’m still a unicorn just a magicless one but the Armour compensates for my magical failings so it balances out so I suppose in that respect I’m more akin to an earth pony in some ways. So what’s the deal with your cutie mark, it’s not like I’d expect an artist to be doing something like this”

Sketch was keeping an eye on the Pip-Buck screen as she spoke.
“Well this Stable is all about the practical assets you can provide, art is low down the agenda here so it’s more of a hobby for me than my actual strong point, I sneak the odd bit of drawing or painting in here or there but honestly it’s hard when art supplies aren’t that abundant. For the most part I have to improvise my paints and most of my brushes are using my tail hairs cut down to size, it’s not rough just a lot of DIY methods”
Sketch faced Ink Blot briefly.
“My names Tran Sketch by the way, figured it only fair seeing as you told me yours”

“Well improvisation is a sign of ingenuity as it’s the sort of thing that keeps you alive above ground if you can think outside the box, just be glad you only have to apply it to more civil things here like your paint brushes”
As Ink Blot was talking Sketch noticed there were a few encrypted files, a few hoof taps and she was copying them over as the schematics ran, finally the source of the problem revealed was the Spell Core Matrix was a little out of alignment with the systems, a simple fix by just rebooting the system the Power Armour worked off and thankfully the files had transferred over to unknown to the Charcoal mare so Tran Sketch could reboot the system.

A few moments passed before the Power Armour system restarted, the readout on the Pip-Buck showed no faults this time, Ink Blot trotted over.
“So is it good to go now? You seem to have stopped what you’re doing so either it’s operational or you’re stumped”

Sketch nodded disconnecting her Pip-Buck from the armour and sealing the panel.
“You should be good to go, surprisingly there similar to Pip-Bucks in how they operate minus the additional factor of weapon systems and a kick flank defense”

Ink Blot smiled a little before stepping back into the Power Armour hiding the mares frame in the bulky metal covering.
“You did good Tran Sketch, I’ll be sure to remember who to come to when our techie is up to his hooves in work of his own. Thanks for this”
Putting on the helmet again it sealed into place with a locking hiss sound as it pressurized for the air filters, doing a mock salute Ink Blot turned round and headed out the Maintenance Room, Sketch’s Mentor and stand in parent waiting till he was sure Ink Blot was gone before talking to Sketch.

“What in the name of Princess Celestia are you doing copying data? If she’d have spotted you doing that who knows what would’ve happened to you”
Sketch shook her mane out a little before answering.

“No need to worry I did it knowing I could get away with it otherwise I just wouldn’t risk it, surely your curious of the outside world to and I’d bet a pre-war bit on it that at least one of these files has information about the outside world”
Purple Steel glared at her with that look a parent gives there child when disappointed in them.

“We have books telling of Equestria before the bombs fell, most ponies are content with that but you however want to play risk and steal data not meant for us to see, do you know how stupid that is, especially if you had been found out how do you think I’d feel if they took you away”
Sketch hadn’t really thought about it like that, and was made to feel guilty by her mentor.

“I know, and I’m sorry… but they’re two centuries out of date, I doubt Equestria is anything like those books show now otherwise why would we be down here still, I just wanted to know what the outside is like now even if I never go out there for myself is being ignorant of the situation really so good”
Sketch hoofed at the floor like a filly caught doing wrong, Purple Steel couldn’t stay mad at her even if he wanted.

Purple Steel sighed and put a hoof on Sketch’s back comfortingly.
“Look I know it must be frustrating, I was young and rambunctious to once and wanted to know about beyond the Stable but sometimes ignorance is bliss. I’m not getting younger and I’ve had the fortune to raise you not only as a Maintenance Technician but also I feel as the daughter my wife and I wanted but couldn’t have… I was infertile and could never give my wife the foal she wanted to raise but she stuck by me… I’d like to think you were sent in place of the young one we couldn’t have and I know my wife would’ve loved you just as much”

His voice was serious and his gaze focused on the silver maned mare.
“All I’m saying is if something happened to you I’d feel guilty as all heck, your parents gave no damn about you when you decided to be a mare, called you all sorts of horrible things, tolerance is more than lacking these days and honestly I feel like I’ve had to be the parental figure you lacked and hope I have done that as well as this old fool can manage”

Sketch hugged Purple Steel, tears in her eyes.
“You have and still are good to me, I’ve no bad word to say against you and how accepting you were even when most of the Stable and my parents shunned me for what I became you still cared and showed compassion… if it means so much to you I’ll never take a risk like that again but only because it’s you”

Purple Steel nodded, breaking from the hug, a soft smile on his wizened old muzzle.
“I’d very much like that, you’re meant to take over from me one day and you can’t do that if those Steel Brutes lock you away… well you earned the right of a break from today seeing how you fixed that Armour up which not even I’ve done before, aaand I reckon your eager to see what you copied so I’ll let it slide this one time okay?”

Tran Sketch was jumping on the spot in excitement, much to Purple Steels delight to see the that despite how she had matured there was still a little of the young mare lurking about in Sketch’s emotions.
“Thank you, I guess I’ll be heading back to my quarters then”

“You do that young’un before I change my mind”
He said with a chuckle before shooing her away with his front hoof.

Author's Note

Well this is a long overdue Chapter, I'll see how it goes over with you readers but here's hoping that it's an enjoyable enough Chapter, within the next Chapter or two I do plan to get this story focused on the Wasteland aspect alas I'm a sucker for build up details.