Cordial Bond was so happy as she clutched the ticket to her chest.

Not only had she won a spot in one of the new stables, something that could be all too essential if the war went any worse, but she'd get to visit it early and meet all her fellow residents.

It was supposed to be a guided tour of the facilities, so she was surprised when she showed up and there just weren't that many ponies there. She'd heard a stable could hold thousands of ponies, but only about 20 were waiting outside.

All of them were dressed in lab coats bearing the Stable-Tech logo. Probably not fellow residents then.

They greeted her friendly enough and handed her a blue jumpsuit.

"Try it on dear," an older mare said with a friendly smile.

Cordial did so, and felt to her surprise that the garment was very comfortable. It clung fairly tight to her frame but felt breathable and cozy. She noticed some of the scientists were also wearing the jumpsuit under their lab coats.

"It's really comfy," she admitted.

"That's good to hear," another scientist smiled at her, a young stallion this time. "Because you'll be wearing it all the time down there."

"That's nice," Cordial said, frowning. Something felt odd. "You mean if there really is an attack on Equestria?"

The stallion opened his mouth to reply, but the first mare beat him to it.

"Yes, that's what he meant. Don't worry, all the other residents gets one just like it."

Cordial let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "So there will be other ponies down there?"

"But of course," the science mare replied, giving Cordial another warm smile. "Would you like to meet them?"

Cordial looked around, there were only the 20 or so scientists around.

"Uhm, where are they?"

"Why down in the vaults of course."

That was a big relief for Cordial, she had been a bit unnerved ny the lack of ponies around. But if they were all down below already, that explained it.

She wondered why they were already inside though, she'd been on time hadn't she?

She looked down at her watch to confirm that yes, it was still 5 minutes u til she was supposed to arrive. The other ponies must have gotten here really early then.

She was wrenched from her thoughts as the watch on her wrist was enveloped in a blue light and slid off her hoof. She looked up to see a third scientist, a unicorn this time levitating her watch. She opened her mouth to protest but he spoke first.

"Oh, you can't be using that old thing. Here, try this instead."

He held out something that could only be called a watch if you stretched the definition to its very limit.

"Thanks, but I'll keep my own."

She made a grab for her old watch, but he levitated it out of reach.

"I mean it," she narrowed her eyes at him. "It's a gift from my best friend, he'd be very upset if I lost it."

"But this is much better," the stallion argued, holding the cumbersome device up to her leg.

"I don't want better," she snapped, wrenching her hoof away. "I want something that connects me to my friends."

The stallion let out a huff and seemed to square up for an argument when the first mare put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Bluelight," she said, with more authority in her voice than she'd had when talking to Cordial. "There's no reason the mare can't wear both."

She took the watch from the grumpy unicorn and attached it to Cordial's left hoof. She then held out a hoof, indicating that Cordial should do the same.

"It doesn't matter which leg you wear the pipbuck on."

Pipbuck? So that's what the weird screen thingie was called.

"Why do I have to wear it at all?" Cordial asked, it looked heavy and uncomfortable.

The mare was quick to reply, holding up the pipbuck for Cordial to inspect.

"All the vault residents wear them. It's part of the system. Apart from being a watch it functions as a calendar, a map and allows us to monitor your vitals, just in case."

"So it's like a personal terminal?"

"Pretty much."

Cordial eyed the thing with renewed interest, it was clunky for a hoof accessory, but it was still amazing they could make computers this small these days.

She held out her hoof and the mare attached the pipbuck to it. The screen lit up with a green light.

"There, I'm sure you'll learn all the functions soon enough. It has a manual function too, or if you're really not that technical," the mare smirked, "you'll find a paper manual on your nightstand."

"Thanks," Cordial eyed the numbers that danced across her screen. The mare was right, she'd need that manual. Something still weighed on her mind though.

"Why does it monitor my vitals?" she eventually asked. "Seems a bit creepy."

"Oh just for safety reasons dear, just for safety reasons," the mare assured her.

Cordial still hadn't learned her name, which was unusual for a pony as friendly as her.

"Safety?" she asked, and held out her hoof "and what's your name mrs?"

"Professor," the mare corrected. "Professor Mendax. I oversee this stable as well as a few others on behalf of Stable-Tech."

"That's nice, but what did you mean by safety?"

"Oh nothing to worry about," the professor repeated. "Just in case a pony gets ill or hurt themselves down there. We just want to assure the safety of all our residents. Should you for example trip and hurt your leg, another resident will be able to find and help you on their map."

That seemed to make sense, Cordial could understand the prudence of it all. Still, she was getting some really uncomfortable vibes from the gathered scientists, well except for Mendax.

"Uhm, can I meet the other ponies now?" she asked, eager to see some more friendly faces.

"Of course," Professor Mendax turned to her colleagues and said; "Open it up."

One of the lab coats pressed a button and Cordial nearly jumped at the noise of something heavy moving behind her.

She spun around to see the huge metal door with the number 12 on it swing open. She eyed the space behind the huge gear shaped hole but didn't see more than a well lit corridor.

"Huh, I kinda expected a welcome party," she eventually said when nopony emerged from the opened stable. Her ears wilted, she had really been looking forward to meeting new ponies and had expected them to wait at the door, that's what she would have done.

As if she could read Cordial's mind, Mendax frowned, "Huh, they must be busy with the tour."

There were a few murmured agreements from the other scientists.

"If you hurry up and get in there you can probably catch up to them."

Cordial started moving, but stopped.

"But how can I catch up to them if I don't know the place?"

"With your map dear." Mendax almost rolled her eyes but managed to keep a friendly smile on her muzzle as she tapped the hoof Cordial's new pipbuck rested on.

"Right," Cordial nearly smacked herself in the forehead for not realizing that.

She thanked the scientists and ran into the stable, eager to meet her new friends, and quite frankly eager to get away from the scientists.

It wasn't until the door slammed shut behind her that she realized something. Why would they need the tour if everyone had a map?

She looked back at the door behind her, it was massive, shiny and gave a very permanent expression. Cordial swallowed, feeling uneasy just to look at it, and moved away.

"Why would they lock the door if they were just here for a tour?"

There was no need for her to say that out loud but the silence was just so oppressive that she felt a desperate need to fill it.

"Seems so," she replied to herself.

That was depressing, she'd been in the stable for less than a minute and she was already talking to herself. She better hurry up and find the other residents or she'd go cuckoo.

The silence was filled with the echoing hoofteps as Cordial made it down the sloping hallway that presumably led to the heart of the stable, and the other ponies.

She trotted for what felt like hours, but was probably in reality only a minute or two before reaching another door. This one was less impressive than the massive cogwheel outside, but still substantial and made of solid steel.

What was she supposed to do, knock?

She reached out a hoof and touched the door, only to jump back in surprise as it slid open, vanishing into the ceiling to leave an open doorway into the room beyond.

And it was only a room. Cordial stared in surprise at what looked very much like her old bachelor pad, of the walls had been made of metal. There was a bed, several bookshelves, a desk with a terminal and a small kitchen.

Why was this at the very opening of the stable? Was this where some kind of gate guard was supposed to sleep? She felt the panic rising, why was the room empty? Where was everypony?

To her relief she found another door, this one lighter still, and flung it open.

Her hopes were dashed as instead of finding a welcome party she found herself in a small bathroom. There was nothing here but a toilet, a shower stall and a sink with a mirror above it. The walls were bare, white tiles around the shower stall and a plastic mat on the floor. That was it.

The only sign of life was a lone toothbrush in a glass on the sink, it was still in the plastic wrapper.

Cordial jumped as the sound of the middle door slamming back down managed to wrench her out of her horrified daydreaming.

However reality managed to be even worse, as she hurried over to bang on the now closed door it didn't open. She banged on it again, feeling really scared now. Had they locked her in?

She screamed, turned around and tried to buck the door open, succeeding only in hurting her hooves against the solid metal.

"Ow!" she swore. They really seemed to have locked her in.

She tried not to panic, taking several deep breaths before taking in the room in front of her.

The bed was a narrow single one. The dinner table featured only one chair.

That was as far as she looked, the whole cell seemed to be designed for a single pony and that just couldn't be true, it just couldn't!

This had to have been a mistake, some sort of misunderstanding. They couldn't have locked her down here by herself, could they? Even if it was a prank it was a terribly poor one.

Her panicked gaze fell on the terminal, maybe she could use that to contact the scientists? Let them know that there had been a mistake and that she wanted, no needed out!

Not bothering with sitting down she shoved the desk chair away and read the words on the green and black screen.

"Welcome, Cordial Bond, to Stable 12. The Solitary Confinement Project. You have been selected to take part in an experiment to find out how a pony would cope with being isolated for an extended period."

Feeling faint, Cordial scrolled down. How long would she have to spend cooped up here? A day, a week? She didn't know how she'd make it that long, what if it was more?

"Your Pipbuck will contain your daily schedule…" she kept scrolling, finding the tab for experiment details and froze.

"Experiment is scheduled to last indefinitely. Re-evaluation in 100 years."

500 yards above, through layers of steel and rock the scientists absolutely failed to hear her scream of horror.

Stable Experiment Log
Stable: 12
Experiment: Solitary Confinement
Experiment Moderator: Professor Mendax
Subject: Cordial Bond. Earth Pony. Female. Aged 34.
Experiment Status: Failed.
Expected Experiment Duration: Indefinite/100 years.
Experiment Lasted: 12 days.
Subject Status: Deceased.
Cause Of Death: Suicide.

Author's Note

The prompt was Ticket, which made me ask; "Who won the lottery!? This guy!" and since my mind was already on Fallout, enjoy a Fallout Equestria short.