Fallout Shelter Fourteen

Fallout Shelter Fourteen
Chapter 8 - Latchkey

I woke up, well, more accurately I bolted up. Holy shit, I mean I had nightmares before. But that was something else. What the hell just happened? What’s going on? I felt like screaming, but my voice wouldn’t work. I only could think about what I had seen, and what she told me. My logical part of my brain set off to work, trying to contemplate what the hell just happened. It took a real imagination to have that jump at you, but never had I had a dream of talking to myself.

What they had told me was itching at me.

The answer is right in front of you.

The answer to what? I took a deep breath, I looked at my PipBuck. It was 5:30-ish. As good of a time to get up as any. I sat up a bit, turning on my PipBuck light. But still, there was no way she (?) was referring to that subject at all.

The answer is right in front of you.

“Okay” I said aloud, my voice finally working again “Right in front of me.”

I think it was better that I didn’t scream, I didn’t want to have anypony bugging me right now. I wanted to be alone.

I looked across my bed to the opposite wall. There was a poster advertising stables from Stable-Tec. I kicked the remaining covers I had off of me. I must have been thrashing around quite a bit. Using my already lit PipBuck light I got out of my bed and trotted over to the post. Just a mountain with a Vault Door opened and ponies walking into it.

At the very bottom of the post there was the catchphrase for it.

Think about your future, reserve a spot today!
This message brought to you by Overwatch and the Administrators of the OFE and the OTA.

There was that damn ‘brought to you by’ message again. I started thinking about it a lot. Then the pieces started falling into place.

The B.U.C.K.E.T’s message: “This message brought to you by Overwatch and the Administrators of the OFE.”

The explanations to both offices I had found. “OFE - The Office of Future Endeavours, one of eight wartime offices. OTA - The Office of Technological Advancement, one of eight wartime offices.”

What I had told Engi about the door. “The locking mechanism works from the inside, and needs a 9 symbol code to prime the explosive bolts.”

The constant references to Overwatch and it’s Administrators that ran the 8 wartime offices. “May Overwatch guide our actions and its Administrators smile upon us.”

“In the event you need to leave the Stable, you will require a password to access the door terminal. The Terminal has three passwords required to unlock it. In numerical order. 1) - Administrators, 2) - Overwatch, 3) - Offices”

And finally, the emblems I had seen at the bottom of each file I had pulled out when I searched for the OFE and the OTA. “Now I wondered what the OTA stood for, doing another search, at the end of the document there was an emblem representing the OFE.”

“Yet again at the end of the document there was another office emblem, different from the OFE’s. I assumed it was the OTA’s emblem.”

It was everywhere, the constant references to Overwatch, and its Eight Wartime offices, and the Administrators. All of it, right in front of me, this entire time. Could it really be that simple? There was no way in hell it could be that simple.

I took off; it took skill leaving silently by quickly from my room and out of our living quarters to the Maintenance office. I didn’t think my family heard me, I could run pretty silently. When I got to the Maintenance office I started shoving papers aside. I found the blueprints to the Stable door, unrolled it. After examining the ring around outside of the door. I found the OFE’s emblem and the OTA’s emblem on the ring.

It was that simple. The answer had been right in front of me the entire time. The 9 symboles I needed: The eight wartime offices, and Overwatch. Engi was right about it.

“See, we have the symbols to the door. There just on here somewhere.”

To the library!! Okay, maybe Engi was right, I was getting a bit too attached to the library...

***

I booted up the library terminal. I limited the search to just cabinet entries only.

Search>Wartime Office (CAB)

9 item(s) found:
OFE-0109 (CAB)OIR-0171 (CAB)OMD-0280 (CAB)OND-0286 (CAB)ONS-0299 (CAB)OOM-0340 (CAB)ORS-0372 (CAB)OTA-0400 (CAB)OVR-0570 (CAB)

That was it, the OFE and the OTA were on that list. Cabinet indexes worked alphabetically outright then by author’s name. I transferred the list to my PipBuck. Finally this thing was starting to come in handy.

I went up to the second floor of the library, found the cabinet. I had used this one previously to find the OFE and the OTA, now it was just finding the rest of them. I searched through the 0100 series, pulling 0109 out and putting the folder on the top of the cabinet. I looked back to my PipBuck, 0171 was next, so this was the OIR’s folder, it was thinner then I expected. I removed that folder from the drawer as well, placing it on top of the cabinet with 0109. The 0200 series was next, That included the OMD, OND, and the ONS. 0280, 0286, and 0299 respectively.

After removing those folders from the cabinet, I realized I was at the end of that particular drawer. The 0300 series was in the drawer below, I closed the 0000 - 0299 drawer and opened the 0300 - 0599 series drawer. The next folders I was looking for were 0340, 0372, 0400, and 0570.

Wait, wait. Hold on, that was nine folders. Hmm, one of them must be the Overwatch folder. I looked at the numbers, it was probably 0570, that would explain why there was a big jump from the next closest folder I needed.

I retrieved 0340, 0372, and 0400 with ease. I moved down the line of folders in the drawer.

0567, 0568, 0569, 0571.

What.

WHAT?

WHERE WAS 0570? I searched again, checking to see if it had fallen flat in the drawer or not. It wasn’t there. I slammed the cabinet shut, and that made a big *CLANNNGGGG* I brought a hoof up to my head.

My facehoof lead to tears. I was so close. Running down both sides of my face. My logical part of my brain sped off like a speeding bullet. I went over to the balcony railing.

You got 8 of the 9, that’s pretty damn good. That just means you have to guess the final emblem, 52 times at most.

Not helpful. It would take long enough to guess them in order as is. I wiped my face into my left shoulder. Where could the folder have gone? I wiped the other side of my face with my right hoof. I sniffed. Banging my head into the railing that overlooked the lower floor of the library.

*Skitsssss*

My ears perked up. What was that?

Then, I saw it, there was a light stretching down the main aisle of the lower floor. The library door had opened. I didn’t even need to guess who that was. I killed my PipBuck light immediately.

You left the computers on!!!

Shit!!! The door closed with another *skitsssss* and the light down the main aisle was replaced with the glow of a PipBuck light. I trotted back to the room as fast as I could without making any noise. I didn’t even have time to log out, I cut power altogether by unclamping any alligator clips or jumper cables I had used to connect power to the terminals, I moved the generators below the tables in hopes she wouldn’t see them. She must have been here before, at least once. When I had finished I saw the faint glow appear on the far wall! Oh Celestia help me! Actually, no... Luna help me! You’re the princess of the night, some help would be nice!

She must have taken 0570. What could she have possibly wanted with it? Oh, and you left the folders on top of the cabinet!

Shit!!! I didn’t have anywhere else to go but back up to the second floor, I could blend pretty well because of my black coat, but my mane, my metallic silver mane probably couldn’t have done a better job at giving me away if I had attacked lights to my head and flanks.

Back up the stairs to the second floor, quickly and quietly. I opened the cabinet, I didn’t have time to put them all back in their proper spots. I realized I didn’t need to return the folders that were below 0299 back to their drawer, just anything over 0300. With that in mind, I did have time to return the three folders over 0300 back to their spots. I had unusually good eyesight, but the pitchblack wasn’t helping me see any better. I looked towards the staircase, that glow was getting brighter by the moment. I took the other folders with me, in my mouth.

I closed the cabinet and put some distance between myself and the staircase, skirting around to the far side of the platform, just below the window to her office. I looked at my PipBuck, the glow in the dark meters on the side indicated effective light level and it was just barely above zero, I flicked the backlight to it’s lowest possible setting. Along the bottom of the screen was my compass, which had a built in Forward Facing Motion Tracking Identify Friend or Foe System FFMTIFFS. But Engi just called it the Motion Tracking System or MTS, that happened to double as an IFF. Unlike STATS which had been a recent discovery for me, I was well aware of what the MTS could do. MTS was the main reason Hide and Seek was still fun. Once you found your hiding spot, you’d start watching the Motion Tracking System.

MTS had been the saviour of my hiding spots before the vent, on several occasions. You’d go and hide and MTS would do the rest. All you had to do was keep an eye on it, and turn the brightness down. I had noticed that it was better if you could see who you were trying to avoid, and I had long since figured out, slow movement isn’t picked up by MTS, being close to the ground as possible also helped. Additionally, open rooms, like this section of the library seemed to limit it the least, because I had been able to track her since she opened the door to the library.

I was facing south, while I tracked a green tick and did my best to keep it in front of me, it got close to the side, I couldn’t move. She was too close.

Other indicators could track movement behaviour, whether any ‘ticks’ were unaware of my presence, suspicious, or actively looking for me or not. Engi said the proper term was ‘Effective User Stealth Indicator’ or EUSI, which told me I was currently hidden. EUSI also worked in conjunction with MTS to identify whether or not the target was hostile. Hostile ticks would turn red. And MTS and EUSI were the only supported system of a bichromial colour scheme of anything on my PipBuck. MTS was always on and located at the bottom, just below the screen, on a compass that was alway running. EUSI was displayed just above the top of the screen on a tiny little part that would show my stealth status. Hidden + Safe [Hidden], Hidden + Unsafe [Caution], and Unhidden + Unsafe [Danger!].

My eyes kept darting between EUSI and MTS. My heart dropped when EUSI changed from that nice green ‘hidden’ to an orange ‘caution’. She had found something out of place. I heard the clatter of hooves on metal, then I looked up and saw that she was on the edge of the railing and had turned her PipBuck light up to full power, she had started on the far end of the library with it.

I immediately turned my PipBuck’s backlight off again. She was scanning the library, I didn’t have anywhere to go. If I moved she’d hear me. But that light was getting closer and my mane would reflect all that light back at her. Thinking quickly, I flicked my mane over my head and looked away from the light, trying to keep as much as my mane hidden as well, I tucked my tail in as well. I continued to look away but I kept an eye open the light was getting closer.

Don’t forget about your Cutie-Mark!

I covered that with a hoof. I wasn’t sure if it was reflective or not, but I honestly didn’t want to find out, I laid down over top of the folders and got as close to the floor as I could. Keeping just one of my eyes open, the light was right on top of me, I closed my eye. Then I realized I hadn’t been breathing either. She kept the light over top of me for a moment. I didn’t hear any movement. I remained as still as I possibly could.

I reopened my right eye so I could look. She had simply lowered her hoof, in an instant she popped it back up again. I closed my eye. She was trying psyche me out. She was anything if not clever. I wasn’t sure what she found out of place, or if she just passively knew I was there. But so long as I didn’t move or make too much noise, or the lights turned on, I wouldn’t show up on her own MTS.

With no where to go, I just waited. If the situation had been different, I probably could have gone to sleep. It was at this point I realized I hadn’t been breathing at all, holding my breath. That was probably agasin’t some rule of stealth or something. I let it out through my mouth and then back in through my nose. The light finally went away, I remained still for as long as I felt it necessary. I heard the cabinet drawer open, then close. Opening a single eye, I saw the light at the stairs, descending. After a minute I heard the door open and close again.

I got up, I was still laying on the folders. I picked them up in my mouth and back over to the cabinet, after I turned my PipBuck light back on. Opening the bottom drawer I tracked down my folders again, she had put them back in the right order, I removed them.

My suspicions had also been correct, she had taken 0570, for whatever reason. I opened the folder. There were multiple files missing, but not the ones I cared about. The definition card, it had Overwatch’s emblem on it. I took the explanation cards out of all nine folders and put the files back in the correct order. If she came back she’d only find a single item missing, if she kept track of what was even in the folders to begin with.

When I went to leave the library, through the vent (by this point I was getting just a little bit big for it) I found a guard posted at the bottom of the staircase.

That clever piece of good for nothing, waste of Equine life, slimey, two-bit, toolbag!

Okay, that was one of my more creative insults. Though the term toolbag was something I had picked up from Engi.

“Dakota, it’s the combination of ‘you’re a tool’, plus ‘you’re a douchebag’. So, a toolbag.”

Yeah, after five years of knowing each other. Engi had finally got passed all that “You’re too young to be hearing this.” The reality was I was the only pony he’d ever vent too.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to do here. I mean, I was already in the vent, I had just looked around the corner. I doubted my ability to be stealthy going backwards in a vent I could barely fit into anymore.

So I waited.

And to be honest, I was getting a bit tired of having to always wait for the right time. I wanted out now. I had all nine explanation cards, although in reality, I only needed the 7 I didn’t know. I figured if I was going to go to all the trouble of getting them I might as well keep them. Holding them in my mouth, while I was in the vent, waiting for this damn guard to screw off.

That’s when I dawned upon me that I was holding 200 year old paper (at least) in my mouth.

I spat the papers out. Rubbing my tongue along my front teeth I peaked around the corner again, that guard was still there. I couldn’t tell who it was. Now I had to play the waiting game.

So I waited.

And I waited.

And waited.

When the guard finally took off up the stairs, I scrambled through the vent, only to have another guard come done. The Overseer was being persistent, I’d give her that. Fortunately, it was Oliver! If he caught me, I could probably lie my way out of it. This was my hiding spot after all. I kept the explanation cards under me. They were rubbing against my chest, it was getting irritating.

She was determined to catch me, and to spit out whatever punishment she damn well pleased. Come on Oliver, leave already! I checked the time. It was 9:07, rotating shifts once every 30 minutes. Some of the guards must have known what they were looking for. In the 5 years I had been using the library, all I ever had to do was avoid the single guard that would walk all the way down the stairs and check once every 30 minutes. It was only a matter of time before one of the newer security recruits got bored and ditched their post to go do something else more fun. Oliver was dedicated though.

When 9:30 rolled around, I was surprised to see Oliver replaced with Shade! I took a deep breath. Would I wait for an opening or would I confront Shade? I wasn’t sorry for what I did. Though I’d never be able to convince him of anything if I didn’t say I was sorry. This was not part of the plan.

What to do, what to do? I was letting my personal feelings get in the way of my insight. I’d admit, I found Shade to be charming, intriguing, I didn’t think he had a violent bone in his entire body. If I stepped out now, I might be able to use that to my advantage. But the less ponies that knew even a fraction of what I knew the better.

10:00 O’clock came, Shade stayed at the bottom of the staircase, which was odd. I was getting impatient, mostly because I was hungry and hadn’t ate anything since yesterday.

“Come on, Lake, where are you?” He said.

He talked to himself, aloud?! I shook my head, I found it odd and just a tiny bit cute.

“Shade, I’ll be down in a few minutes!” Somepony from up the stairs yelled down, “I just gotta go grab something first!” I wasn’t sure if LakeFront had heard him and replied or had just yelled down at the right time. Still it was good to know Shade was back on active duty.

There was my opening, if Shade left.

“Okay!” Shade yelled back up the stairs.

Come on Shade, leave. Go, go go. March up those stairs. I willed him to leave.

He tilted his head side to side, his neck cracked. I heard it. When he trotted up the staircase I acted as quickly as I could, pushing the explanation cards out from under myself, I put them (unwillingly) back in my mouth. Pushed the grate down, crawled out, closed it and took off up the stairs. When I got to the top, I heard talking. I looked around the corner. It was two security guards, at the end of the hallway, looking at the restricted sign that was still in place.

The Overseer was really starting to piss me off. Not only had I just barely managed to make it up here, all our stuff for the breakout was stored in the library, and I still had things in Engi’s office that I wanted to get out of there before we got searched again, whether we knew about it or not. I was hoping once nothing turned up that patrols would go back to normal. The Overseer was getting more suspicious by the day. I peaked around the corner again. They were still talking, every so often casting a glance towards the restricted sign. I didn’t have much time left, LakeFront would be here any moment.

I took a few deep breaths, then casually walked out from around the corner, past the sign and down the hallway back to the hub.

Did that actually just work?

I backtracked to the corner just to see, I peaked around again, both guards were still talking.

“Hey, Dakota. What’s up?”

Oh Celestia, that was Shade’s voice. I bolted around. I was face to face with him My ears drooped. Okay, maybe I was sorry. I did my best to avoid looking him in the eye. I spat out my papers (again) and turned to the restricted sign. Time to lie... again. (Was it bad this was getting just a bit too easy to do?)

“What’s with all the security in this area?” I asked, cards in my mouth.

Shade trotted around to look me in the face, “What, are you not even the least bit sorry?!”

I didn’t think it was possible for my ears to go that flat.

“You are sorry.” He said, “What in the name of the Overseer did you do that for?! Do you know what this is going to do to my record?”

“I wish I could tell you.” I stared at the floor. The more I told him, the more loose ends I’d have to deal with later. “There’s more at work here then you can know.”

I mean, I couldn’t even tell my own brother. I told Engi because I needed his help and because I knew he didn’t like the Overseer at all. But my brother? He was way too much like my dad. And my dad is the one who aided the current Overseer become the new one when her father died.

Shade was an earth pony. Would it really matter if I told him? About the suppression device I mean. I finally made eye contact.

“Ever wonder why I, or any of the other unicorns can’t use magic? Or why any of the pegasus ponies can’t fly?” I asked him. He was puzzled.

“What does that have to do with anything? You’re not answering my question.”

“That’s what you should be asking yourself.”

That was another pony who knew something they shouldn’t have. Doctor Cross knew the Overseer was lying. But lets be honest, who was anypony kidding? Of course the Overseer was lying about something, she was the Overseer afterall; I wasn’t entirely sure how much Engi had told Cross though. But now I was telling Shade that there was more at work here then he knew.

We could spring a leak, and I wasn’t that trusting of Shade. Not after I got him suspended. He didn’t have any reason to NOT turn me in for suspicious activity. I picked up my cards and started walking, LakeFront walked passed me (he finally showed up) Shade just stood there. I suspected I made some gears turn in his head. Whether that was a good or bad thing, I wasn’t sure yet.

I returned to the maintenance office. Engi was there, it was going on 10:30.

“I see you’ve been up here already. Given the mess you made.” He said.

“Heh, sorry.” I put the cards down on his desk.

“What are these?” He asked.

“Our way out.”

Engi skimmed over the cards.

“Lets see... Office of Future Endeavours, Office of International Relations? How is this supposed to help us?” When even Engi didn’t see where I was going with something. I assumed it was a huge jump of logic on my part.

“Look at the bottom of the cards.” I said.

Engi looked at the bottom of the Office of Future Endeavours’ card. I brought the blueprint of the Vault Door over. Engi noticed that I had already circled two of the symbols, and by the looks of it, he noticed the emblem was the same as one of the symbols I circled.

“Ahhh, I see it now. But it says here, ‘One of eight wartime offices.’ Where’s the ninth symbol?”

“There’s nine cards there.” I was curious, I picked up the last of the stack to just see what I had actually pulled out of the cabinet. Engi had the other card, ‘the Office of International Relations’ I could guess what that office did during the war. I picked up the remaining 7 cards. They were in Alphabetical order, as I had pulled them out that way. Engi handed me two other cards.

OFE - Office of Future Endeavours.
The Office of Future Endeavours, one of eight wartime offices. The OFE was in charge of securing the future of Equine species given the possibility of a global magical disaster (GMD). The OFE and OTA are the mastermind behind the stables/vaults. Stable-Tec is a front for both of the administrations, so that both could work together under a single banner.

There was it’s emblem. Unchanged, at the bottom.

OIR - Office of International Relations
The Office of International Relations, one of eight wartime offices. The OIR was the very first office to be created (not counting the Overwatch administration) The OIR’s primary objective was to try and prevent a GMD. And although the administration was seen as a money pit in the later years of the war, the OIR was responsible for preventing at least 2 GMD’s before 2075.

Our next emblem. Finally, some progress. It occurred to me that this office had prevented 2 Global Magical Disasters. That also told me, these cards were made some time between 2075 and 2077.

OMD - Office of Magical Development
The Office of Magical Development, one of eight wartime offices. The main purpose of this office was to advance the standing of magical spells during the war. This office also worked along side the OTA to create the mk. 1 CCWM, in 2072.

At the bottom, surely enough, was another emblem. Different from the OTA’s or the OFE’s. We didn’t have WMD’s until 5 years before the end of the war? Fascinating.

OND - Office of National Defense
The Office of National Defence, one of eight wartime offices. The OND’s primary objective was to manage fronts that were present on Equestrian soil during the war. This office could also give the order to launch WMD’s if it was deemed necessary. The OND would often work alongside the OOM.

Deemed necessary? Interesting. That could mean a few things. As always, there was it’s representative emblem.

ONS - Office of National Security
The Office of National Security, one of eight wartime offices. The ONS often called ‘Internal Security’ was designed to prevent any threats taking place from within the Equestrian domain. This office had gone under scrutiny for several highly controversial cases in it’s running time during the war.

Another emblem at the end of the document. This information was highly appetizing. In a weird sort of way (And I wasn’t saying that because I had carried this around in my mouth!)

OOM - Office of Offensive Measures
The Office of Offensive Measures, one of eight wartime offices. OOM often worked alongside the OND. Both working to defend Equestria and attack its enemies during the war. ‘The best defense is a good offense’ being the slogan. The OND would handle military matters within Equestria while the OOM would handle military matters outside of it’s borders.

Another emblem. Very interesting, it was like getting a sneak peak into the past. As sad as it was.

ORS - Office of Robotic Science
The Office of Robotic Science, one of eight wartime offices. The ORS is the newest and final addition to the wartime offices. Created by a sect of the OTA and the OMD, and splitting off with permission. The ORS did heavy research into the specific field of robotics. Pon. Co Industries was eventually bought out, and used as banner it ran under during the war. PCI was responsible for the current level of robotics and some of the current computer technology available to us today.

Yet another emblem. This was so fascinating. Yet, so sad at the same time. I wondered if I would be around if the war had never happened.

OTA - Office of Technological Advancement
The Office of Technological Advancement, one of eight wartime offices. The OTA were responsible for the development of many technologies, including but not limited to the Single Trooper Mechanized Defense Suit, the Cleansweep Class Magical Warhead, and *Information Redacted*. . Often worked alongside several other offices at once, including the OFE.

How familiar. The blacked out text itched at me a bit. And this was an emblem I already had.

OVR - Overwatch
Overwatch was the organization created by the Equestrian Government to oversee the efforts put into finishing the war. It eventually expanded into eight additional offices, with Overwatch itself supervising everything that was being conducted by its offices. Overwatch was based out of the Hexagon.

There it was, the final emblem. As happy as I was, finally finding all the emblems. I couldn’t help but cry on the inside. It was just so sad. All these offices created with a purpose of ultimately ending the war, through brute force or through diplomacy. Specifically talking about the OIR, to say that had failed was an understatement

I tossed the cards to Engi. He started reading through them. I had each emblem burned into my brain. Pulling the door schematics I started circling the emblems madly. All nine were on the ring, as I suspected. But it still occurred to me that it was odd that the Overseer had been using the 0570 folder, for something.

“Engi’s not your first name is it?” I asked.

Did I really just blurt that out? I mean, I wanted to ask for awhile. But well... priorities

“Too smart for your own good. You know that?” Engi asked, “So what gave you that idea?”

“Cross stuttered your name a few too many times.” I replied, “Like he wanted to say something else.”

“Well, my full name is Copper Ingot. As a colt, ponies called me Ingi, when I got promoted to Stable Engineer, well, Engi stuck.”

Copper Ingot? That would explain why he was orange. Or why they named him Copper. I never would have guessed. We complimented each other on Nightmare Night, for the record.

“So what do I call you?” I asked, Ingot, Engi, or Copper? I think Cross was trying to say Ingi. They must have been friends when they were younger.

“Dakota, I believe you. And in fact, I believe some of my friends will believe me. But we can’t just waltz up to the Overseer’s office and demand the door opened. She doesn’t care, because as long as the head of security is in her pocket. We can’t do anything without permission.”

He was talking about Cross. Of course! Who do you trust more than your childhood friend?

And then there was me, ‘childhood friend’. What did that mean? These words beside each other make no sense!

“I only ever let my family call me Ingi.”

I could understand that, I only ever let my family call my Windy, specifically just my brother. I wasn’t sure what happened but Engi (Ingi?) stopped talking after that. Must have brought back some pretty painful memories to shut him up. I was going to ask what happened, but I didn’t. It was probably for the better. He kept reading through the cards; I shoved the blueprints to the door over to him. I had already circled all the symbols. He looked at the blueprint, then to me, then back to the blueprint.

“You realize, if we go through with this. Being optimistic, 30% chance of success? And that we’ll probably never be able to get back in. Right?”

“I’m aware. But I haven’t... WE haven’t spent the last 5 years nearly getting arrested to walk away now.” I stood by my own words.

“Any second thoughts?” Engi asked.

“Not a one.” I grinned, “We’re going to have to wait until the Overseer stops going overkill on the Library security though.”

“Whaddya mean?” Engi asked.

“I fished the Overwatch definition card out of a cabinet in the library. Folder 0570, when I originally went to find it, it wasn’t there. Not five minutes later the Overseer walks through the door and nearly catches me. She had the folder, for some reason.” I explained. “She didn’t find me, but I knew well enough she knew somepony else was in there. So she stationed a guard at the bottom of the stairs, permanently and they change at 30 minute intervals. Which is why I didn’t get here until 10:30.”

“So no library for awhile eh? Well, that puts a damper on things. All our supplies, for the most part is in the library.” Engi was thinking about something.

“Of course, it figures. The second we get everything we need, we can’t just spring into action. I don’t l know about you, but I’m getting a bit tired of playing the waiting game.” It was getting pretty frustrating. “Oh, and hide the cards and blueprints. Incase we get unexpected visitors.”

“Yeah.” Engi got up and took all the cards, the blueprints, and our two spare power generators. (Crafted by yours truly) I planted a hoof to my face, thinking.

When the day came, whenever that was; we’d have to get all our supplies from level 3 to level 1. Any of the generators would take up a single saddlebag side. Being generous, I might be able to carry 2 saddlebags, 3 maybe. But we had built over a dozen of the damn things. I had no idea how we could get them all up there without being noticed. The next problem would be getting to level 1. Yet again, using the blueprints of the Stable, we had a pretty good idea what to expect. The problem was accessing level 1, it could be done by a single elevator that most guards used to get around, or by stairwell, which there were two sets of. One in the east wing on all the levels and one of the west wing, yet again, all levels had access to it.

The stairwells were our best bet, but the library was in the south wing, and we’d have to cross through the south wing, and the east or west both to get to a staircase. Throw in the security cameras in the hallways, and I suspect the Overseer would figure out what was going on pretty quick. My stupor in the Overseer’s office left me with a single processed thought: there was a wall of TV’s that I suspect would have been receiving security footage from every camera on the second, third and fourth floors. Had the mane reactor been on at the time. I wasn’t sure why security had gone out. You would have thought that would be the last thing to go during a black-out.

It wasn’t even that security on the first floor would be a problem. Last time I checked, power to level one was shut off (the whole reason why we had made these portable generators.) Getting there would be the issue. Whether it was still patrolled by Stable 14 Security I didn’t know. But that former thought spiked my interest.

“Why did security go out when the manes went down?” I asked Engi, he had pulled back a loose wall plate

“It’s considered a subsystem. Ventilation, lighting, and water pumps, including de-radifiers, recycle systems, and auto-locks are primary and get priority on the secondaries. That suppression device may or may not be considered a subsystem. I couldn’t tell you on that. Earth pony here, nothing special.”

“What’s an auto-lock?”

“Some of the doors in the Stable automatically seal while powered. They can be opened when power goes out for safety reasons. Otherwise they have to be opened by keycard.”

That made sense.

“It is.” I replied, Engi’s ears spiked up.

“What? Oh! ‘It is’ as in it’s a priority, or ‘It is’ as in it’s a subsystem.?” Engi asked.

“It’s a subsystem.” I confirmed.

“Really?” He asked.

“I was able to... I accidentally ignited my horn in the library after busting into the Overseer’s office.”

“Could... you do anything with it?”

“Hell if I know. I don’t know any magic.” I stuck my tongue out.

“So you mean to tell me, in the 5 years you’ve been in that damn library, which I’ve never seen for the record. You never bothered to look up a book on basic magic.”

“There were more interesting things to read. And what was I going to do with it? It’s not gonna help me now that the manes are back up.”

“Point taken.”

Engi finished hiding the blueprints and cards. There was nothing he could do about the generators other than say it was a project of his if we did get searched again. That couldn’t fit behind a wall plate. I climbed up onto one of our spinny chairs. Leaned back, closed my eyes. I thought about how we were going to get all that stuff from level 3 to level 1 when the time came around.

Engi went back to work, trying to repair a broken security helmet one of the guards had turned in. One too many drops and *crack* the top of it split open.

I spun around in the chair a few times. If only we had enough chairs to organize a game of office chair hockey.

“Engi.” I said aloud.

“What’s up?” He asked.

“Once security stops watching the library like a guard dog would, the next time the mane reactor breaks, we gotta move the supplies upstairs. No security cameras until it’s repaired, and no lights for 20 minutes.” 20 minutes until the secondaries came online.

“That’s... that’s genus.” Engi stared at me with a slightly agape mouth. I was still spinning around in the chair, I had opened a single eye. “Why didn’t I think of that.”

“I’m sure you would have. And then again, it was your crazy idea to electrocute yourself so the Overseer couldn’t make you repair the mane reactor, giving me the time I needed to break into her office.”

“Ehhen, yeah. I’m still wondering why I thought that would be a good idea.”

“I’ve been wondering why you thought it would be a great idea. I mean, what if you had died?”

“High voltage, low amps.” Yeah, that was Engi.

“Look, I know the amps are what kill you, but do you really want the volts?”

“Another thing, I don’t deal with What-Ifs.”

“So what are we going to do IF we get caught?” I asked.

“The answer’s simple.” Engi turned to me, I stopped spinning on the chair, it was making me dizzy.

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” I was curious to find out what Engi’s solution would be if we ever got caught. And we had nearly been found out, Oh, I’ve lost track at this point.

“Don’t get caught.” Engi had this huge grin on his face.

My hoof made contact with my face, for the millionth time.