Fallout Equestria: Acts of Kindness

Chapter 2

I woke from my slumber feeling well rested, which was odd because I never feel well rested. My dreams often turned to nightmares most every nights. Failed experiments getting loose and killing everypony, failed research resulting in my expulsion from the M.A.S., and failing to become a better pony than I am. My nights were often full of failure. Damn Luna back to the moon. I know it is not the Princess’s fault I have these dreams, its due to my own stress and fears, but everyone needs a scapegoat, and after a bad dream, it was usually the Princess of the Night that gets it.

I get out of my bed and start my morning ritual of coffee, food, overlooking the day’s schedule, coffee, checking morning messages on my Pipbuck, and did I mention coffee? Sometimes I think its the only thing that gets me through the day. I finally gather my things and head from my quarters to begin the day again. Maybe feeling well rested will finally be the start of a good day, I think to my self as I get plowed over by somepony as I exit my room.

*Thwomp!*

“Oh your up! Sorry doctor, sorry, sorry, are you OK? You got to get to the lab, its an EMERGENCY!”

“Dapper explain!”

“It’s Doctor Calabrese! Lucky saw him in your lab messing with something!”

“Damn that stallion. Let’s hurry up before he finds yesterday’s formula results. I will NOT have him stealing MY work!”

As Dapper and I ran through the halls and security doors leading to the laboratory facilities, one thing went through my mind. It was not the fact that Doctor Calabrese, and I use that name lightly since I’m sure he stole that as well, was once again trying to steal another ponies work. It was not even the fact that I remember leaving my coffee back in my room. It was the fact that today was not going to be a good day after all. Maybe this was the nightmare. Maybe just maybe I will wake up from it and find myself lying in my bed and go back to having a normal day.

As we got through the last of the security checks (luckily they are not fully automated, since a few of the security personnel must have seen the fiery anger in my eyes and ‘expedited’ the typical routines), we headed towards Laboratory Block Epsilon where my lab was located. As I connected my Pipbuck to the entry terminal, it occurred to me. How in the hell did he get in? These rooms are designed to only open for the ponies who’s personal Pipbucks are registered. He should not have even been able to enter without alerting security!

I entered the outer room with my thoughts split between puzzling intrigue to how he even entered and bloody murder if I caught him with any of my research. I did not even know what to expect. Would I catch him rummaging through paperwork, or would he have already gotten away with who knows what? I did not notice anything in disarray, but he was very good at hiding his tracks. While everyone suspected most of his work was based upon forgery, he had never been caught. Then again he also must not have expected my faithful assistants being, forced, into coming in hours before the other crews even stirred from their beds. I always want to make sure everything is properly prepped upon my arrival.

“Finally you’re here Doctor Ness!” Lucky Shine said as he ran out of Research Room Epsilon One. “I don’t think he expected anyone to be here this early. I got him locked in E1, I overrode the emergency controls. How ever he got in, he is not getting out of this one!”

For all the failures, and all the assistants who have been assigned to me, Lucky was my favorite. He never questions my instructions, is the first to arrive and last to leave, has the best computer skills of anypony I know (which is great since I often seem technologically illiterate when it comes to them), and has quite the flank on him. He says he looks up to me more than anypony else, sometimes I wonder if there was more to that, but fraternization was not allowed, especially after previous incidents.

“Let’s go see what Broccoli Head is up to.”

Broccoli Head, the nickname everypony secretly calls Calabrese. It was not because of his green hued coat and mane, not even for the fact that he has a broccoli floret as a Cutie Mark. It was the fact that despite how much he says he hates broccoli and his past involving it, his mane always looks like a row of broccoli florets. It’s often uncanny how it looks. More often than not it makes me hungry. Depending on what he has done, I may be having broccoli for breakfast.

The inner Laboratory was split into three rooms. Epsilon One, or E1, was the results room where we keep all physical experiment samples to be documented and observed. E2 was the active experiment room where most of the day to day work was done, and E3 was the supply closet. In reality it was the computer processing room where all the data is processed, filtered, and results are sent to the main database. Since I had no clue how most of those machines worked, that was where we kept the brooms and mops. Lucky takes care of all that nonsense.

E1 had no windows save for a small circular window in the door. Typically the inner screen was closed, as to prevent any outside light from entering, but this morning it was open, with a very unhappy face pressed against it.

“Let me out this instance! This is not how you treat your superiors! I will get all of you removed from this facility!”

“Well, well. If it isn’t our dear friend Broccoli Head. May I ask you what you are doing in my research wing?”

“That’s Doctor Calabrese! And for your information, filly, as a high ranking member of the M.A.S. I have the authority to be where ever I want to be for what ever reason.”

“Ok grandpa, for starters, I happen to know that you are not registered for access in Epsilon. I don’t care how high ranking somepony is, if you are not registered in a part of this facility, you have no right to be there. Also, if you actually did have a reason for needing access to Epsilon, you of all ponies should know how to access my messaging service and requested permission, which I would have denied if you were wondering. Now tell me why I shouldn’t call security right now.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything! My reasons are my own, filly.”

I hated Calabrese. Honestly I don’t know of anypony who even liked him, but I think he actually hated me more. He’s getting in his upper years and still has not had any breakthrough's in any of his experiments. He wasn’t even that smart, he had his assistants do all of his work while he ‘supervised’. Everyone knew he was jealous of me. I made my first breakthrough in bio-science when I was still in school. I graduated years ahead of my peers, and was the youngest Unicorn to be assigned to a high profile M.A.S. facility. I have done more in my short time here then he had done in his entire life. His resentfulness always shown when he called me a filly, just as his realization of how pathetic he is when I retorted with grandpa.

“Actually, I think I will have Lucky call security” I nodded towards Lucky, “what I want to know is, how in the depths of Tartarus, did you even manage to get into this laboratory anyways?”

“Hmph. Like I said, nothing is out of my reach.”

I was just about to scream at him when I got an idea.

“Well then. As you know I am not that great with computers. My faithful assistants always help me with that.” I turned towards him with a smirk as I started activate a nearby console. “But there are a few things that I do know how to do. Activate the fire hazard system.“ I pushed another button and I could see a small yellow light flash from behind Calabrese. “Perform an emergency override of the security systems.” I pushed another button and twisted a small yellow nob, “and lastly, activate the Emergency Purge systems in each individual lab.” I said the last three words slowly as I pushed the final buttons and just looked at him with the largest smile I could make. That alone should scare the shit out of him.

“What are you doing!? Get me the hell out of here! I’m sorry I’ll explain! Call security, have them lock me up, just let me out of this room!”

I don’t think I have ever seen someone so panicked before. I could see the tears started to flow from his eyes as he banged on the door, screams reaching to a shriek. Then suddenly there was a click. It was very quiet on this side of the door, but from the look on his face, it must have sounded deafeningly loud. Then the emergency fire system went off inside E1.

Typically a fire system would have water, but due to the nature of many of these experiments, water may create more harm then good if the room was suddenly flooded. So a special type of inert foam was used. It was designed to be harmless to ponies, but negate anything harmful within the room. It was a wonder of arcane-chemical creation. It also made Calabrese look hilarious as the doors finally opened and he fell face first onto the floor, covered in an inch of white foam. Just then security entered the lab. They actually had access here.

“Doctor Ness…” One of the guards froze as he saw a pathetic foam covered pony lying on the floor. It was hard to tell but I think he was trying not to laugh. No-pony liked Calabrese.

“Thank goodness you are here. As you can see, we have had a slight, predicament in regards to one of the other scientists.”

“I can see that, but truthfully, we were already on the way here when we received your security alert. Omega-Zeta One has been initiated. We ask that you and your assistants please follow us to the Zeta chamber. Doctor Calabrese, we regret to inform you will have to wait until decontamination prior to getting cleaned.”

Omega-Zeta One? That can’t be. The only reason that would ever be initiated is if…

My mind drew a blank. I couldn't think of anything, there was nothing I could fathom to distract me from what this means so I started ease drop on one of the guards talking to Dapper.

“The Chief won’t give us the details, said we will all know soon enough. It had to have been those damn zebras.”

“You don’t think they actually used a Megaspell, do you?” Dapper said in her sweetest voice. She was always able to sweet talk the males into helping her in one way or another. Except for Lucky Shine. I think she tried to win her over, but never succeeded.

“I really don’t know. They never tell us anything past our immediate orders. They probably think we wouldn’t understand it. We are just hired grunts to them.”

“Honestly I have often envied you guys. Having free run of the place, getting to intermingle with the rest of the facility. In here it’s pretty much Doctor Ness, Lucky, and I that keep each other company. Not that I mind it at all, but sometimes I’d like to get to meet some more of the ponies here.”

I knew she meant more of the stallions. She was a good worker, and incredibly smart. She’d give me a run for the money given another few years of experience. I was hoping to get them to promote her to her own project at some point. Unfortunately, it also seems like she is always in heat. Maybe its a good thing that she is simply an assistant for now.

I hadn’t heard from Lucky during the walk. There was more security then usual, making sure that everypony was accounted for. I turned back to see Lucky awkwardly walking next to Calabrese with his Pipbuck connected to Lucky’s. One of the security detail was standing next to a very uncomfortable, and soapy, doctor, which explains why he was not actively fighting Lucky’s intrusion.

“I think I figured out how he managed to get into Epsilon. It seems Calabrese somehow managed to integrate an access chip from one of the security Pipbucks into his own. It give him access to everywhere that security does.”

“Well, well. Looks like after the briefing the Chief will have some company on the way down to the Stable” the security guard next to Calabrese said with a sly tone.

That would explain how Calabrese managed to ‘acquire’ so much data in such little time. Once we get to the Stable, the Security Chief will have some fun with Calabrese. Stable. Fuck. I almost forgot where we were going. Omega-Zeta One was the emergency code to retreat to the Zeta Chamber. That was where ponies were sent almost a mile below the earth to where Stable-Tech was commissioned to build a Stable. We all knew about it. It was designed for end of the world scenarios. We were told it would keep us, and our research safe until it was safe to go up to the surface, after rebuilding had begun. We would then bring out research back to the surface and use it help pony-kind return to how things were. It was supposed to be a high tech cryogenic facility. While many research facilities would simply dump their data into safe keeping, it had occurred to somepony that even with the technology to rebuild Equestria, it would be worthless if there was no-pony who knew how it worked.

We finally reached Zeta Chamber. It was a large round room, large enough to hold a hundred ponies. Inside the chamber there was faces I have seen, and many I did not recognize. There had to be at least seventy or more. This facility was not the largest, and only designed to fit around a hundred at any one time. The small size was to help keep it off the map so that Zebra forces did not locate it and try to destroy our research. It has been a long time since I was around this many ponies. Like Dapper had said, we are kept rather secluded from each other. Each laboratory housed nine facilities, each having three for a single assigned head researcher. Each of the sub-facilities were separated from each other, but all used the same type of experimental types. Epsilon was the bio-engineering facility. I knew of my colleagues, but was always too busy to get to know them.

We must have been the last group. Once the doors behind us closed, yellow lights started to flash around us and klaxon's sounded from the ceiling. There was a rumble and then the ground started to move downward into the earth. Into the Stable below. I really, really hope that I am still dreaming and that this is a nightmare that I will wake from at any moment.

I close my eyes.

Any moment.