Stone Vault

Twilight stood in Fluttershy’s entrance hall, an incredulous look on her face. The pony in question was hiding her face behind her hooves, her face bright red with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry... I panicked.” She sniffled slightly. In front of her, Angel Bunny was tapping his foot impatiently, an annoyed scowl on his face. Just by his body language, Twilight knew he had just spent the last few minutes admonishing Fluttershy’s behavior. Angel rolled his eyes and began chittering at her again. Fluttershy’s head shot up, “Predator? I know I promised to never be alone with one, but you think he's dangerous?”

This caught Twilight’s attention, “What did Angel say? Our mysterious guest is some kind of apex predator? Maybe your animals already know what it is!” Twilight clopped her hooves together excitedly. She had already spent the better part of her evening pouring over her collection of zoology books, but had failed to locate a creature similar to the one they found in the Everfree. Just then, Harry the Bear walked in from the living room, a nightcap on his head, and an unconscious Vault in his arms. Angel turned to face Twilight, and shook his head negatively. He chittered out a few more times, bounded up Harry’s shoulder, then pulled on Harry’s cheek, showing off the bear’s teeth.

“Oh! Angel says he doesn't know exactly what kind of creature Stone is, but his teeth are the same as Harry’s.” Fluttershy helpfully provided.

“Stone? Did you already name it?” Twilight peaked an eyebrow.

Fluttershy smiled, shaking her head, “Oh no, I didn't. He had a nametag on his clothes.”

Twilight cocked her head sideways, “A nametag? Like an I.D. collar? Does it have the owner’s address?” she asked.

Before Fluttershy could explain further, Harry let out a disgruntled growl. As fascinating as this conversation was, he didn't appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night, just to get his fur all bloody.

“Oh my, Harry! I'm sorry! Let’s get you a quick bath, and then get you back to bed.” Fluttershy hugged the grumpy bear. “Twilight?” she turned her head away from the snuggles, “Could you take Stone from Harry please?”

“O-oh, ok.” Twilight’s pink telekinetic aura appeared around Vault’s sleeping form, and gently lifted him out of Harry’s arms. Freed from his burden, Harry dropped back down on to all fours, and plodded into the bathroom.

As Fluttershy followed Harry, she called over to Twilight, “Take him to the hospital, please? I don't think he's actually an animal.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight almost dropped her passenger.

Fluttershy shrugged “He can talk, and not like how Angel Bunny or Harry talk to me, but like any other pony.” She scrunched up her muzzle in thought, “I’m almost positive that's why I got so startled when he woke up.” Twilight ruminated on this new tidbit of information. If it wasn't actually an animal, but a sapient being capable of higher thought, then that might explain Fluttershy’s extreme reaction to it. For as long as Twilight as known her, she's never been so jumpy around a critter, even a dangerous one.

“That makes sense, I guess.” Twilight lightly tapped a forehoof against her chin, “If you think that’s for the best, I'll check ‘Stone’ in on my way back home.”

Fluttershy smiled warmly, “Thank you, Twilight.” She waved goodbye to her friend as Twilight left with Vault in tow. Shutting the door behind her, Fluttershy surveyed the damage. There was still the soup mess from before, she needed to deal with that before it stained. Then there was the tattered clothes and blankets, both covered in blood. Last but not least, she had a very sleepy bear who needed a bath, and who had also left muddy footprints all over the entryway and living room. “I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight, am I?” she whimpered.

It was Walter’s senior year of highschool. He was looking forward to the last summer with his friends, before they all went off to college next fall. Vault himself didn't really have a subject in mind, he’d just go with the flow, like he always did. However, he did like the idea of an out of state university, and Lucille had made the experience sound amazing.

Lucille was Vault’s self appointed best friend, and she had recently toured a few universities with her parents. The way she told it, you’d think that she had just come back from a grand adventure. Like hunting for pirate gold, or some forgotten pharaoh's treasure. But that was just what Lucile was like, always full of energy, she never did anything half-heartedly.

“How about you, Vault? Vhat did your parents say about Uni?” Lucille beamed at him, having just finished another long tirade about her visit.

Vault smiled softly at her, “My mom really likes the idea, but my dad was grilling me all night about it,” he sighed. “I think he just wants me to stay where he can keep an eye on me.”

Lucille nodded sagely, “Ja, Ja… I can see zat, it’s nice to know your parents care zo much about you.”

“Yeah, sure… So you were talking about the library?” Vault strategically steered the conversation away from his family life.

Lucille’s eyes lit up, “It vas zo big! Und it had zuch a spectacular view of ze countryside!” She immediately went back into her stories.

Walter smiled warmly. He could listen to Lucille talk all day. She was just so full of energy and life, and had a way of explaining things so vividly, it was like you were right there with her.

It also helped that her accent was super cute.

Lucile had moved from Germany about halfway through eighth grade. Back then, she hardly spoke English at all, and what little she did was heavily accented. She got bullied a lot for the first couple of months.

One day, Walter caught a few of the other boys giving her a hard time. Normally, he would have stayed out of it, he just didn't like conflict. Then, one of the other boys pushed her down into the mud and she started to cry. That made him change his mind pretty quick. Walter had always been rather large for his age, so when he started shouting and running over to them, the bullies decided it wasn't worth the effort and ran. When he made it over, Walter helped the girl up to her feet, and asked if she was ok.

“Danke, Vault.” Lucile replied, still drying her tears.

Walter gave her an amused smile, “Vault?” he asked, nearly giggling.

She shot him a confused look, “Vaulter Stonmann? Mathematik klasse?”

That would explain it, she must have overheard some of the others call him Walt in class, he was never really fond of the nickname. Vault, however, sounded really cool!

“Yeah, thats me, Vault.” he replied with a large grin on his face. Lucille smiled back, and together they went to the school office. Lucille needed to call her parents for a change of clothes. She wasn’t going to tattle on those boys, however, she already had enough problems fitting in. Even though he didn't like it, Walter agreed to keep quiet.

And that was the day Walter and Lucille became friends, and the day he also got his nickname. Ever since, they had practically been attached at the hip, and did everything together.