I returned to the room the leader's body was in after counting the dead. The other rooms had all been re-purposed by the raiders for various things, but this room seemed to have been left alone. The walls were much cleaner than any of the others, the different posters promoting mechanical innovations were untouched, the mechanical operating table seemed to be in near perfect condition and the only thing added to the room was a single bloody mattress. Given all of the saws and needles on the table, I checked the terminal behind the desk first. Thankfully the raiders had been kind enough to unlock the terminal for me because I had no clue how to hack anything at that point.

I tapped a key and the display lit up with a few lines of pink text. There were only five selections, Overmare Instructions, Vault-tec support, Personal Logs, Resource Conditions and Implant Options. I wasn't sure if most, or any, of those things were important; so I selected the instructions because it was first. The screen changed to a new format and I read the instructions. I cannot remember the exact text, but the vault was to conduct an experiment to see if war could be used for an almost purely beneficial outcome. It said that every ten years they were to open the passageway behind this room to the lower levels of the vault. Twenty of their best fighters would be sent down. Once there, they could open the second tunnel in the lowest part of the vault. Then they were locked in until one of the two factions had killed or incapacitated 50% of the other. The other group would be sent by Stable 106 from the other hill. The losing side would have to give 25% of their resources to the other stable for five years. The idea was that by minimizing deaths and establishing a regular trend to the wars, the two groups would learn to handle warfare in a responsible and almost civil manner. All of it sounded like total bullshit to me, but those asshats at Stable-Tec were probably willing to try anything in the name of survival. Besides that, there were only the options to open the passage to the lower tunnels and to contact the other Stable. I tried the option for contacting, but received an error which forced me back to the main menu.

I assumed the other Stable had probably been cleared out and moved on. The Stable-Tec option gave the same error, but the personal logs loaded to an extent. Most of them came up with the name File Corrupted, but there were five that were readable. The first was from the first overmare and gave an overview of the stable's resources; iron deposits, a water talisman, an apple orchard, five small boxes of magical gems and the technology for advanced engineering. I assumed those most all be in the upper levels of the vault being as I hadn't seen any of them. The second file was from the fourth overmare and was only dated thirty years after the other. It mentioned a breakthrough in medical science that they hoped would let them win their next war. The devices would allow for their ponies to utilize advanced stealth technologies. Their goal was to simply to become invisible and kill the entire enemy group at once. The third entry proved that their plans were useless. Only a few months after the breakthrough, the stable lost more than the scheduled war; they lost their lives. The other Stable unleashed a toxic cloud on them and, according to the log; the gas expanded and ate through all but the strongest materials. The gas spread through the vault rapidly and they had no time to install the proper enchantments to guard against the cloud. The recorder mentioned that it was probably a result of their Stable having won every single war to that point. I guessed Stable-Tec's plan didn't allot for bad blood between the communities. The text ended abruptly right as they were going to mention how to guard against it. I didn't realize at the time how useful information like that would come to be.

The next two logs were from the raiders and much more interesting to me. The first was made by the lovely unicorn that spearheaded the attack on my home and the second by the dead unicorn only a few yards away. I remember both perfectly.

"Entry One,

Wow. Just wow. This place is the fucking best. We've got water talisman that still works, more space than we could need, food and these new thingies. Well, I call them thingies, but old Ribcracker calls them cybernetics, but it doesn't matter because these things make you invisible!1!! Like, completely. They don't really last that long, but think of the possibilities. We could actually start raiding whole towns now. Before we wouldn't have a chance, but now they wouldn't even see us coming. We're going to start with that dump to the north, there isn't much there, but it should be a good practice run before hitting up any large towns. I can feel it though, things are about to get a whole lot better for us."

That solved quite a few mysteries for me. I stopped going through the files and pulled out one of the collars I had picked up. So this is what got everyone killed. I struggled with the urge to toss them all on the floor, trample and then burn them. One side of me wanted to destroy what had caused the death of almost everypony I had ever known, but the other side kept telling me that these things were valuable and that breaking them was a waste. After a few minutes of standing there with the implant in my mouth, I put it back in my saddlebags. I had taken enough revenge for that day and these had to be valuable to somebody. This also explained just how we had managed to be so easily blindsided. I took a breath and read the last log.

"Entry 2,

They're dead. My boys are dead. Something went wrong on the raid and they got kill by some pegasus. Apparently whoever it was killed half of the entire group like it was nothing. I rallied the others into getting rid of the old leader. We bound her up and I sent a few of the boys to go sell her off. I put her guns in the desk. I'll find a use for them eventually. They just caught somepony on the road and said I would want to see him. I don't think there's anything that could make me happy at this point, but if they think it'll help, I'll give it a shot."

This entry gave me a few insights. The first was that the mare who left me on death's front porch was still out there somewhere and not that far ahead of me. I thanked Celestia that the opportunity to get revenge was still alive and well. I guessed that in the next town I would need to ask where any slaves might be sold, but I also doubted the reliability of that plan. The second insight was the location of loot. I turned around to look at the pre-war desk.

All of the drawers were missing except one with pad lock over it. I had no bobby pins and no keys, so I did the logical thing. I bucked that old fucking desk. The particle board splintered and fell apart without protest; leaving a pile of items on the ground, including the pistols, the hunting rifle from before and my weird implant. The first things that caught my eye were the twin 10mms I had recently been acquainted with. Both were fairly standard, but had been modded with extra large magazines and a full auto receiver. Automatic weapons had never been my favorite, but with such nearly perfect condition and two shiny mags I couldn't refuse them. Next was a small pouch of about 100 caps that I gleefully added to my collection.

I didn't take the rifle though. I knew that I had no purpose for it and the money it would fetch would be next to none. I chose to leave it with the dead father on the floor. It wasn't much, but at least I did something for them. I hooked the implant back into my harness and went back to the terminal, leaving the father and son together.

There weren't anymore logs to go through so I back out to check the resource conditions. A small map of the vault came up with various points highlighted with different points of interest. The water talisman still had 50% purity and I mentally noted its location near the vault exit. The electricity wasn't in any danger of failing anytime soon, but the food stores were down to just preserved pre-war food. I didn't really like the idea of having to eat all of that sugar, but it was food so I noted that location. Nothing else had any interest to me, so again I backed out. The last option changed quite a bit for me. Implant Options was by far the most valuable section. The screen gave me three selections when I went in; Install Implant, Add New Implant to Terminal and Select Available Implants. The first one scared me, so I went to the selection first.

"Well fuck me." I muttered when the screen changed.

There was only the option to install the invisibility mod, but it was followed by (Earth/Unicorn pony only). That pissed me off more than it should've. I mean, I didn't plan on adding any cybernetics to my body, but t just hurt to be told that I wasn't even an option. I took my aggression out on the desk again. I had torn down half of the desk before I remembered something that I should've though of before, a gift left to me by a dead mare. I went back to the terminal and went to add an implant. A small metal tray slid out of the wall and I looked down to the little metal ring. I had a lot of reserves about this. As things stood, I still could've just made it to another town and continued my life in relative peace, but if I did this I felt like I would be bound to my path. I thought about everything that had happened and about how much things had changed in two days. I was leaning towards just leaving without it, but then I remembered something. I remembered that the note said "once you step onto this road, you won't be able to go back". I had already taken a step down that road, and I knew that, even if I went and tried to live near normality, I would find myself still wanting the answers that I was looking for now. I set the implant in the slot and pushed it back into the wall.

The screen started running through a bunch of gibberish that was useless to me before finally coming up with some proper text.

(Note: The text here was like this at first, but I changed it for readability. So this color is what it would really be. Sorry.)

New Implant Type Detected: Scanning for data on device
...
...
Implant Type: Non-Invasive Optical
Available Species: Pegasus
Product Description: Mk Z-13 Stealth Overhaul.
Available features: Modified S.A.T.S programming, environmental awareness display, lock picking array.
Features Currently Disabled by programmer: Stealth Buck modulator, hacking integration, Enclave response beacon, acoustic sensors, persuasion modifiers.
Install now? [Y/N?]

I took a deep breath and tapped the Y. There was no going back, and I could feel the weight of the decision on my shoulders, but if mom thought whatever it was, was so important that it had to be kept hidden until the right time I was willing to trust her. Though I will admit, the whole Enclave response beacon freaked me out. I had always been told to never fly near the clouds or talk to any other pegasi save for my mother because of how dangerous the Enclave was and still is. At least it was disabled.

The medical table behind me began to sink into the floor as the other tools retracted into various slots in the ceiling. What was left was four clamps on the floor that lit up with green lights. Logic told me that allowing an almost hundreds of years old machine preform eye surgery on me for a device it had never even been in contact with before was a bad idea. However, I was not about to deny a gift like that. For the record, I'm very glad the me of that time was so determined that the idea of having his body modified with something unnatural for the rest of his life was nothing at all, as I am now I would've really had to think about it.

I stepped into the clamps and they tightened themselves around my legs until I couldn't walk away even if I wanted to. Another metal frame came up and locked my head to where I could only look straight ahead at the door out. A long mechanized arm with the implant on the end came out of the ceiling, positioning itself directly in front of me. The arm ended in a claw with a few small, pristine white drills. I tried to shift away from it, but my body had no way of moving. The drills started to spin up and inch toward my right eye. I closed my eyes thinking that somehow that would stop the machine. Then the pain came. I felt the fur around my eye getting moved and then the small stinging as the outer flesh was torn away. However, it didn't take long for the drills to reach the bone. When the bone was it, my eyes shot open and I screamed out in pain, struggling against my metal bonds. It felt like the insides of my brain were being pulled and twisted around like a chew toy and my eye was a burning fire. Then came the implant. I felt the drills stop and pull out of my skull before the implant took their place. Three small metal prongs latched into the wholes and bonded with the bone and nervous system. My visions become flooded with a wide array of alerts and notifications before I passed out from the sensory overload. The entire ordeal only lasted about fifteen seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

=-=/

I woke up three hours later on the cold steel floor. A positive was that it was the first time in a while I had been knocked out without waking up in a pool of my own blood. I still couldn't really see much out of my right eye because of all of the notifications that had appeared. I didn't try to stand up, but instead just sat there and dealt with the notifications. Somewhat mockingly, all of the text was in the same pale pink as my mane and the terminal, but at least nobody was going to see that.

(Again, think of it like this, but I put a different color so it would read easily.)

New user detected: Would you like to run first time user protocols? Y/N?

I focused on the Y and a new layer of text appeared.

Welcome to your new Enclave covert ops implant. Your device has come pre-loaded with features to assist you on any missions you may be sent on. These features include; a lock picking subroutine that can levitate any objects usable for lock picking though whether or not you succeed is still up to your skill, an environmental awareness indicator that will warn you of irradiated areas, enemy presences, friendlies and points of interest within your vision, lastly is a modified S.A.T.S. array that will activate upon the users will and give them an edge in combat and helpfully sort registered inventories. There are also some features that are not immediately available. You will need to access the proper permissions modules to make use of; the Stealth Buck modulator, Hacking Subroutine, Acoustic Sensors and Persuasion modifiers. We notice that an Enclave Broadcaster is not properly installed on your device and recommend you see your supervisor for a repair. Is your current theme satisfactory? Y/N? Ok, then please enjoy your enhanced self.

The box of text disappeared and left me with a minimal overlay in my vision. A compass was at the top and a small meter in the bottom left-hoof corner marked AP. Another three small boxes were in the corner with it, marked INV, STAT and RADIO from top to bottom. I didn't check the INV or RADIO options being as they were self explanatory, but I did check my status for the sake of seeing if I was in any danger of death given how many times I had been shot today. According to the module, I was currently in no danger of death, given I find a healing potion or a magical bandage within the next five hours. That did scare me, but I assumed that a medical storage area must be close by. The radiation amount was also clicking very rapidly between zero and one, so I assumed I would need to fix that at some point. I played around with a few various features afterwards, trying out the radio, sorting stuff in my saddlebags for convenience, that sort of crap.

I wasted a solid thirty minutes before leaving through the stairway back up, leaving the trail of dead bodies down in that pit to rot.

=-=/

I found my way out after another hour of shambling through the Stable. Along the way I had found three healing potions, two more doses of Dash, the water talisman and some various snack cakes. I did use two of the potions to fix myself up and some water to take a quick bath. When all was said and done, I found the remains of the Stable door and walked out through a small tunnel to the outside world. Outside it was pitch black and I stood atop one of the hills in the valley. A small marker on me compass marked the door for future reference. I spread my wings and took to the skies for what seemed like the first time in years. Even in the dark, I knew how to make it to where I could find directions to anywhere I needed to go, Graymare.

=-=/

I touched down outside of the five building compound early in the morning. Graymare was never a large settlement, only having a general vendor, a gun salesman, a small stand that sold food and drink and two guest houses for raiders and travelers respectively. It was, however, hailed as one of the safest settlements at the time. The reason for this was their policies. Anyone from anywhere could come and trade, nopony was allowed to fight and anypony in their walls had to do give a cut of anything they sold to the town council fund. The fund was used to pay for protection from raiders and slavers as well as to bribe any do-gooders who might try to attack someone within the walls. This was the reason for the ton's stunted growth, but they chose security over having to pick a side. Considering the town was just five dilapidated buildings surrounded by concrete walls, nobody questioned the idea.

I paid a fifteen cap entry fee at the gate and walked inside to see the same place I had seen three years ago. There were still terrible wannabe thieves hanging around the collapsed bookstore that now sold guns. Traveling merchants and families stuck near the guest house, only the bravest of them leaving to go barter for supplies and absolutely everybody stopping at one point or another to stare at me. Being a pegasus with a metal ring stuck around your eye has that effect.

I paid little mind to it though, and walked up to the gun shop. The owner, Randis, and I were acquainted solely because were the only two left within a day's distance who could fly. This is not to say that I liked that smug griffin. I knew that he would always try to arrange the negotiation to suit himself from the get go and that he had no real sympathy and he knew that I knew it. However, one emotion I did not expect to see on his face was fearful disbelief.

"Glow? Glow, is that really you?" The wide eyed shopkeeper just stared at me and poked my chest from across the counter.

"Yes?" I nudged the talon away, still not understanding just what the big deal was.

"But how? We heard that everyone from your town was killed in the raider attack."

"How did you hear about it? I should be the only one who knows." Being as I was the only one left besides the raiders who had attacked, it made no sense for news to have gotten to Graymare this quickly.

"Have you not listened to the radio? Some asshole down south got an old pre-war beacon working and has been giving news non-stop for the last year. None of us believed him at first, but everything has been completely accurate. Until you, I guess," again, he started poking at my implant with that damn talon, "How did you survive?" I had no way of knowing there was a radio station playing. Nopony in my town had one because there simply wasn't anything on the air at the time.

"I pretended to give myself up and then attacked them. I only managed to kill a few, but I wasn't in the bar when it burned down."

"But your eye, and these guns..." he trailed off and I think for the first time he wasn't thinking about business, which also made it the perfect time to strike.

"It's a long story Randis. For now, I need to sell you a few things I picked up on the way here." I wasn't about to give an ounce of information about the Stable or what I had been through. In this town everything was for sale and I didn't want anyone catching wind of me. I unloaded the five shotguns, three .32s and the ammo for both on the counter. "How much?"

"Sixty caps." He said after quickly glancing at the weapons, but not really examining them.

"120 caps. We both know those shotguns are good enough to sell for twenty-five each to these raiders and the pistols are at least fifteen a pop. At this rate I'm giving away the ammo." I lied; none of those guns were worth more than ten caps, but in his current state of surprise he had a hard time arguing.

"Eighty is the highest I'll give you. Take it or leave it." The only trick he knew was to give the other pony a hard choice. Luckily I knew he was never ballsy enough to deal with someone calling his bluff.

"Have it your way." I grabbed a double-barrel from the table and turned to one of the raider-types that had been watching, "Twenty caps and it's yours." I mumbled and saw instant surprise in her eyes and fear in Randis'.

"Fine, 125." He conceded and I grinned.

"That's funny, I remember saying 135." I set the gun back down.

"What do you mean?" That pissed him off.

"Well according to the current market these things are worth a little more now. 135 caps and they're yours, ammo included."

"Fine. Take your caps." He took pre-sorted stacks of ten caps and paid me. "I think I know why you survived that fire now."

"Oh, why?" I smiled with transparent glee; Randis had never been a good negotiator.

"Because you're the devil himself." He sneered and I walked away, the sounds of him selling the guns back to the raiders at thirty caps each behind me. I didn't let the insult get to me. After all, he had only pretended to care about me. Not once did he ask for details about their deaths or how I was feeling.

I spent another half hour and fifty caps buying a screwdriver, twenty bobby pins, food, water and some basic tools to modify circuitry, though I could've definitely used more tools. Regardless, I walked away from the main stalls and found a quiet corner by the traveler guest house. I wanted to go sleep properly for the first time in the last seventy-two hours, but I still had things to do before that could happen. Namely, figuring out just who that fuckhead on the radio was. I brought up the radio menu, and sure enough, there was a signal coming through. I tuned into it and a loud, overzealous and frankly annoying voice started to reverberate inside of my head. Given that nopony made notice of it, I assumed that only I could hear it.

"Top of the morning wastelanders, ghouls and asshole enclave soldiers with a good taste in music, it's Cordless and I'm coming at you live for a special report. Now I'm sure you all remember the news about the massacre at Colting. Well listen to this. It turns out, I made a mistake. I know it sound impossible, but yes, after five hundred seventy-two consecutive reports I finally made a mistake. And I know you're all probably thinking it was just some small mistake, like there were thirty raiders instead of two dozen, but no, this is big. Like, I don't know how 'I missed it' big. There was in fact a survivor. Some crazy stallion with a knack for surviving if you ask me. I just got a tip from one of my sources earlier who says that they heard rumors of some black pegasus leaving the town the morning after the attack with a few dead raiders behind him. Then another with the same pegasus being captured by raiders in between Colting and Graymare. Now my source didn't believe any of this until this morning when, wouldn't you know it, that little fucker flew right over her head toward Graymare. Now listeners, I know this sounds pretty far fetched, but how many midnight black pegasi with pink manes who aren't dashites are around Colting? I know it seems unlikely, but ask yourself this: would I, the all knowing Cordless, besmirch my own record if I wasn't sure? So if you see the little bat out of hell, remember that he's tougher than he looks and could use a friend. And kid, if you're listening, come find me if you need someone to talk with. That is it for this special live report, and now, back to the music."

The voice trailed off and was replaced by booming show tunes that I immediately turned down to be nearly silent. I was uplifted by the idea that at least somewhere out there was somepony willing to put aside some time to genuinely care about my predicament, but at the same time it terrified me to think about how something I had only done a little more than an hour ago was already being broadcast over the air. It made me angry enough thinking that the ponies in this town were trying to learn about what happened to me, let alone to have somepony miles away knowing everything about me within no more than an hour. Needless to say, I also shivered a little at what would happen if I ever did anything wrong. Regardless, I pushed the idea out of my head. There was nothing I could do about it except keep one eye looking over my shoulder for anypony following me.

I detached the energy sword from my harness and drew the blade out so I could take a look inside. I popped open the sheath first and stared at the collection of wires and circuit boards. I didn't really know much about technology at the time, but from what I had read in various magazines I could make out the batteries and how they connected. Or in this case, how there didn't connect. The batteries were laid out in five different groups of three energy cells in the center of the hilt. Only one of those fifteen cells was actually connected to the system. It was the same size as the other, but it wasn't the same yellowish container. Instead it looked like it was made of lead with a small set of green rings around it. Whatever the case, it looked brand new. All of the others had been damaged to the point where they were useless or the wires connecting them had broken off. At first I hadn't really planned to mess around too much with the system, given that it was probably delicate, but I didn't figure reconnecting some of the still usable energy cells could hurt. I carefully removed the broken cells and rearranged the two good cells next to the original. Once that was done I took some cheap wiring I had bought and reconnected them. I was still about twelve cells off from a complete set and that wire probably wasn't a very high grade, but it would do for now. I really wanted to take out the weird cell, but my better judgement told me that I might break the thing if I tried that. I refit the side that I had removed and put the sheath back on my harness.

I did manage to open up the blade's hilt, but that thing was a true mess. Everywhere inside was filled with wires and circuits and small sets of gems laid in specific patterns. I didn't dare mess around with something I knew nothing about, so I closed it up and sheathed it. I pulled out some snack cakes (500% of your daily value of sugar) and ate quietly while waiting to see if what I had done worked at all. From what I could see on the little bar that read the power, it still wasn't charging past the point of a red bar, but it wasn't flashing anymore. I swallowed my food with a gulp of dirty water before giving it a shot. The sword still drew just the same, and was the same length as it was before, however this time it took almost twenty seconds to actually dissipate. All in all, I'd say it was a fairly good upgrade.

Finally content with myself, I staggered into the guest house, paid the fifteen bit fee, and dropped dead into a corner. The sounds of old world tunes guided me into sleep. ...so come on down, take a look around cause the bombs are falling doooown.

=-=/

I didn't wake up again until sunset. I was still pretty intent on sleeping, but I also recognized a need to eat and get some information about where Maremoros was so I could leave immediately in the morning. So I picked myself up from the bare wooden floor, checked to make sure nothing had been stolen, and went back outside. The scene was more of the same, but most of the raiders had left to return to their own groups for the night while most of the travelers were bedding down in the guest house. I caught the attention of Randis just before he could go uptstairs to sleep in his store.

"What do you want?" Given the sharp tone of voice, I assumed he was still pretty pissed about me cheating him earlier.

"I just wanted to ask for directions."

"Ten caps, take it or leave it." He smirked, obviously enjoying the idea of getting back at me.

"Fine, take it." I grabbed the caps from my pouch and gave them to him. Nopony else around here could be trusted for reliable directions, and he knew that.

"Where to?"

"Maremoros, and any place around here where I could find a slaver settlement."

"Why'd you bother asking the same thing twice?" He raised a brow and I was confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Maremoros is the place where you'd find any slavers around here. Ever since two years ago that town has done nothing but auction off ponies, zebras, griffins, you name it," he chuckled and pointed off to the southwest, "Just follow your compass straight southwest. If you leave in the morning then you should be there by tomorrow night. Why would you want to go..."

I never heard the rest of what he said. I took off into the darkening sky the moment he gave a direction. I flew fast out of panic, following the little radar to the southwest. According the AP meter I was draining my stamina at an extreme rate, but I didn't care. Two year, two whole fucking years they've been there. For all I know, there not even anything left of what she was going to leave for me. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Logically, I knew that getting there quickly wasn't going to change the fact that I was two years late to get what I needed to get and that I had only learned about the things a few days ago. However, for the first time since I left my home, I was very scared. Not for life or for the items, but now I think I was scared because if those things weren't there; I would absolutely no clue what to do with my life. I flew fast until I lacked any remaining energy, and then allowed myself to just glide in the right direction. I repeated this until I was able to make it there. What I found there, was no paradise.

Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Science! (Rank 1)- You're no master of electricity and geodes yet, but you're on your way. You now have the ability to modify and create minor upgrades for energy based weaponry.

Author's Note

Round 3, the shortest round yet! Next one will be longer, just needed to pop something out given that college has been an asshole. Love yall.