Digging into the snow did two things for us, one. It got us out of the cold dark weather. Two, doing this now allows us to move into this stable later on if we need to.
Uncovering what we believe to be the stables door was going to be a feat.

"Oh, this is big," Steel Plate dug with a dastardly smile.

"Yeah, what do you think we will find once we open it," I dared to ask the question, stopping to wipe my hoof across my forehead.

"Gold, riches, silver," Steel Plate took another shove into the snow, hitting something hard.

"Sir, what about ponies, the residence that's supposedly down there" Gunther asked snickering at Steel Plate for acting so strange, much like a mad pony would with his experiments.

"Well, yeah. Those too." Steel Plate thought out loud picking up the hard case he just found.

I rolled my eyes, here we go again.

"I just hope this one isn't damaged," I dropped my shovel and ran for the lip of the pit we were digging as the sound of metal unwinding grew louder.

"What did you do," I yelled climbing out of the hole. The hatch lifted, pulled up by the arm attached to the outside portion of the lid.

"Okay, everypony get on," Steel Plate commanded, ready to activate the elevator revealed by the hatch, now out of the way.

I scanned the area, assuring myself that it was safe, I just wish Steel Plate would warn us when he's about to do stuff life that. It's quite alarming when a large steel anything comes crunching up out of the snow. Alright, we were wasting time, I jumped back into the hole joining Steel Plate and Gunther while the others stayed on the surface.

"And down we go," Steel Plate pressed a button on the terminal making the elevator make a low tone whine descending into the depths of the vault. The elevator was taking a long time to stop, how far down did this thing go, I uncapped my flask to take another swig of my drink. feeling woozy a few seconds later. "What do you think again Soft Ice?"

"What?" I could barely screw the cap back on.

"About what we're going to find down here." Gunther asked, moving in to hold me up on my hooves.

"Ponies or irradiated monsters, pick one," I sloshed swinging my flask around in my dizzied swirling hoof.

"Yeah, she's gone," Steel Plate chuckled, while Gunther just shook his head.

Awhile later, the elevator let out a mechanical whine as it slowed down to a stop.

Steel Plate got off first, taking the lead far ahead of us. like usual.

"Soft Ice, are you able to stand" Gunther asked, gently letting go of me.

"I think so, yes" I confirmed, wobbling a little, "eh heh, whoa, maybe" doubting my hooves as I walked back and forth, trying not to fall down.

"Wow, do you think they could have made the ceiling any taller," Steel Plate's voice echoed into the distance.

"Not if they wanted to keep this hidden sir," Gunther answered, sending his voice echoing down the corridor.

It was a rhetorical question Steel Plate said climbing the stairs up to the door.
"I can taste those riches now," Steel Plate taunted, touching the large steel door. Plugging in his power armour to hack open the door. I read the engraving on the door before it opened with a hiss, screech and a pull, the letter 'R' and the number '88' were engraved into its surface.

The first steps into the stable were ones of unease. Everything was dark, darker than the pitch black darkness outside, except for the few red lamps that were running.

There were two ways out of the room we were in. Right, leading into a corridor and left leading to a flight of stairs.

Flanking the right, I ended up in the cafeteria where cups and trays lay scattered throughout the room. Where is everypony? The stable shouldn't be empty like this. I walked back into the corridor and looked into the next room. The second room I walked into was a medical unit capable of holding up to twelve patients, each one, empty. In the back of the unit, was a soft glow emanating from the terminal sitting on one of the medical tables.

"Damn, locked. Looks like this is one for Steel Plate," I sighed, picking up the terminal to use it for the light coming out of it in this dark place.

The last room across the hall was the living quarters of the stable, one side was for mares, the other, colts. Searching both sides didn't take long since I was carrying the terminal around as a light source. Walking back to the main room, I was surprised by a mechanical whine and the power up of lights on the ceiling of the stable. I dropped the terminal, feeling like I just walked into wet sand that was slowly creeping up my hooves. We walked past the inhabitant of the stable the moment we came in. This room was the orchard for the stable, and some sick bastard killed every pony by impaling them onto the spires. Their blood dried onto the trees along with their guts and eyeballs which looked like garlands. This sick bastard, who would ever do anything like this?

If I ever find it, It is going to die.

"That wasn't to hard now was it" Steel plate asked Gunther as they climbed back up the stairs.

Gunther stopped at the top of the stairs, staring at the bodies in and on the trees.

"Sir."

"Holy shit!" Steel plate said shocked as I was the first few seconds of looking at it.

He gagged, losing his stomach shortly after.

"I should have known something was wrong," Gunther said, helping up Steel Plate when he was done.

The intercom let out a screech.

"Eh, hello to the three of you out there, leave my stable now or face the consequences!"

That bastard is still here?! oh, worst mistake. I loaded my mini gun, and headed through the cafeteria, where a red emergency door was engaged, Steel Plate used his power armour to hack through it.

Steel Plate and Gunther took a quick look in security on the right, before following me to the heart of the stable, the Overmare's office.

Gunther used his lock picks on the door, opening it successfully.

I didn't wait, I fired as the door cracked open, spraying bullets from one side of the room to the other, I let go of the trigger as Steel Plate and Gunther rushed behind the Overmare's Desk that our murderer was ducking behind, shooting him in the head.

We took a sigh of relief, over this, we finally have good news to bring back to the ponies of 'Sector C', we finally get the chance to be seen as the saviors for once, instead of hired murderers. We-.

"I don't understand," I heard Gunther say under his breath.

Steel Plate and I looked at him.

"Even after traveling with you for so long Steel Plate, how does a pony end up like this," Gunther asked, standing over the pony we just killed.

"It's called 'Stable madness', Gunther," Steel Plate said, walking out of the Overmare's office.

"No more questions, we need to get back to 'Sector C' with the news and get help in cleaning up this mess," Steel Plate added, shooting down Gunther's next question, His hoof was still up.

"Come on," I said dragging him out of the stable.

Neither of us said a word on our way back to Sector C, the howling storm was the only company that surrounded us, blowing snow in our manes, and I didn't mind the cold one bit, since I took another sip from my flask.

Author's Note

Intelligence, +1
Heavy Guns, +1
Perk, Commando
Traveling drunk.