Eventually, Nitebeat awoke, her vision blurry and a strange buzzing noise surrounding her.

“Are you sure she is what we need?” a voice said as Nitebeat slowly came to her senses. Observing the room, she saw a giant monitor terminal in front of her, lit up with some sort of call in progress and a metallic pony in the top right corner. She could only assume it was some sort of dialogue box communication system. The Steel Ranger she had faced in Riot City (or at the very least, a Steel Ranger she didn't know) was standing to her left, talking to someone outside of her view while watching her.

“Affirmative. If she was found at the Twilight Research Facility outside of the smoking crater where Canterlot was… I am positive she will have what we need,” another voice said in a robotic monotone, the words displaying on the screen before her.

“And if she isn’t?” the ranger retorted.

“If she isn’t, then you can use her for parts,” the robot pony said, a hint of malice in its voice. Its red lenses were completely devoid of emotion.

Nitebeat's heart pounded as she processed the conversation. She tugged at her restraints, finding her limbs bound to the metal bed. Her memories were a jumbled mess, again, but fragments of her last moments before capture flickered in her mind.

“What do you want from me?” she demanded, her voice hoarse. The Steel Ranger glanced at her briefly before turning back to the screen.

“Tell us about the Twilight Research Facility,” the robot pony instructed, its voice cold and demanding.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nitebeat replied, trying to keep her voice steady. She knew she had to buy herself some time.

The Steel Ranger stepped closer, his metal armor clanking with each step. “We know you were there, Nitebeat. We found your… gifts in the facility.”

Nitebeat's mind raced. She had to think of something fast. “If you know I was there, then you know I didn’t find anything useful,” she lied. “The place was a wreak, nothing was left except raiders and corpses!”

The robot pony's eyes glowed brighter, its digital interface flickering. “We have reason to believe otherwise. Our scans indicate there are still secrets buried within that facility, secrets we need. You will help us uncover them… understand?”

Nitebeat clenched her fists. “And if I refuse?”

“Then your existence will serve another purpose,” the robot pony said ominously.

Before she could respond, a loud bang echoed through the room. The screen flickered, and the robot pony’s image distorted. The Steel Ranger turned sharply, his visor scanning the room.

“What’s going on?” Nitebeat asked, trying to hide the hope rising in her chest.

An explosion rocked the facility, sending a shower of sparks from the terminal. The Steel Ranger rushed towards the door, leaving Nitebeat momentarily unattended. She struggled against her restraints, her mind racing with the possibility of escape.

Just as she managed to loosen one hoof, the door burst open, and a figure darted inside. Nitebeat squinted, trying to recognize the figure who was typing away furiously at the terminal.

“Hold on! I’m getting you out of here!” the newcomer shouted in a masculin voice.

Nitebeat felt a surge of relief. Whoever this was, they were her ticket to freedom. As the explosions grew louder and the facility shook and her restraints popped open, she jumped off the table, her weapons at the ready.

She scanned the room, looking for an escape route or anything that might give her an advantage. The newcomer, clad in a dark violet cloak and some sprt of gas nask, motioned for her to follow.

"Quickly, this way!" they urged, their voice barely audible over the chaos.

Nitebeat hesitated for a split second, assessing the situation. Could she trust this person? She thought, though she had no other choice. It was either thus or ending up as salvage fir the Steel Rangers. Making her decision, she followed the stranger through the door and into a dimley lit hallyway.

As they darted through the crumbling corridors, dodging falling debris and automated defenses, Nitebeat couldn't shake the feeling of deja vu. The dark, oppressive environment, the constant danger—it was all too familiar.

But before she had time to think, two rangers stepped out from around the corner, blasting at them with rockets. Nitebeats instincts instanly kicked in as she rolled to the side, just barely avoiding the two rockets. Poping out her mini guns, she mowed the rangers diwn with bullets as her new ally charged forward at lightning speed, blasting both in a matter of secomds. Their bodies crumping to the ground, dead, a bullet hole in the center of each of their heads.

“Damn, wouldn’t want to have you on thrir side,” Nitebeat said, laughing nervously. The stranger only nodded before resuming their escape.

“So who are you?” Nitebeat asked as they ran, continuing to mow diwn any steel rangers in their way.

The stranger only glanced back, saying one word: “outcast.” before resuming his assult on the rangers. Eventually theu found the way out, a green radiated light shining from beyond a metsl door. “Welcome to the alliance.” The strager said, before opening the door.

As they emerged into the open, the night sky above them, Nitebeat saw the remnants of the old world around her. The scars of the atomic fallout were everywhere, but so were signs of resilience and survival. Following her rescuer, whom shr had decided to call outcaster, as that was the only response she got from him when she asked who he was, she saw what appeared to be a big metal gear that lied in the center of a massive impact crater, the gear contaning only the words Vault 205. Nothing else seemed to remain except a terminal next to it.

Nitebeat's pulse quickened as she and Outcaster approached the heavy metal door of Vault 205. The remnants of the old world loomed ominously above them, their survival marked by the resilience etched into the vault's exterior. Outcaster’s steady hooves manipulated the terminal beside the door, and with a metallic hiss, the vault entrance began to creak open. The stale air of the vault spilled out carrying with it a sense of unease. As they stepped into the darkness, Nitebeat couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched…

As Nitebeat and Outcaster descended into the vault, the heavy metal door sealed shut behind them with a final, echoing clang. The interior of Vault 205 was a labyrinth of long, dimly lit corridors and stark, metallic walls. The flickering lights above cast eerie shadows that danced unsettlingly on the walls, creating an illusion of movement where none existed. The stale air carried a musty, metallic odor, mingled with a faint hint of something chemical, as if the vault had been sealed for decades.

The vault’s layout was a maze of sterile rooms and narrow hallways, all marked with faded, outdated signs. The few operational terminals and control panels were coated in a layer of dust, their screens blank and lifeless. Every now and then, a distant, mechanical groan echoed through the halls, the source of which was unclear. The silence between these noises was thick and oppressive, broken only by the sound of their own hoofsteps.

Despite the vault's apparent abandonment, Nitebeat couldn’t shake the feeling that the space was still somehow alive, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath. The uneasy atmosphere was amplified by the occasional, almost imperceptible scurrying sound from the shadows, suggesting that something, or someone, was lurking just out of sight. The combination of decay, disuse, and the vault's eerie silence made every corner of the space seem fraught with hidden dangers.
Walking further in, a raspy voice came from one of the rooms off to the side, the voice sounding almost dead in a way… and old.

“Ah. You came back. Bout time…” the voice said. Turn into a room on their left, nitebeat found herself in the only room that seemed to be spotless… some sort of medical room. And in it was a old, rotting corpse of a purple maned, orange furred, pegasus pony in a wheeel chair… or more accuratly… fused to the wheelchair from the waist down. “Oh. And i see you brought a friend. Whats your name?” The strange pony asked. Nitebeat stuttered, horrified at what she was seeing. A talking corpse!

Outcaster sighed. “Her name is nitebeat. Found her while i was investigating that steel ranger outpost nearby. “Nitebeat, meet Miss Scootaloo. Former head of stabletech.” she then left the room after finishing. probably to go stand guard or something, Nitebeat thought to herself.

“Yeah! Until those fuckers locked me in here and filled it with radiation and sealed the stable far far below canterlot, after i tried to stop them from sending out those dasterdly megaton bombs! I tolled them it wasn’t gonna be stable. Now look! Everything we knew is now gone! Fuckers… if the enclave hadnt bombed canterlot 50 years ago, outcaster here would have never found me and saved me. I was one rad away from becoming a feral ghoul!” scootaloo said, clearly pissed.

“But thats not important. What is important is why the steel rangers want you, Miss beat.” Scootaloo said, gesturing a bony hoof at nitebeat.

“Wish i knew, closest i got was something about a file they wanted at the twilight research facility outside of riot city.” Nitebeat responded.

Scootaloo’s eyes glinted with a mix of curiosity and disdain as she listened to Nitebeat’s explanation. “Twilight Research Facility, huh? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time,” she rasped, her voice carrying a hint of both nostalgia and frustration. “That place was supposed to be a hub of advanced technology and research, before it got buried under layers of rubble and radiation.”

She paused, her rotting gaze fixed on Nitebeat with an intensity that belied her condition. “The Steel Rangers are desperate for any edge they can get, and they believe that facility might hold secrets that could turn the tide in their favor. What’s worse, they’re not the only ones interested in it. There are others who would kill to get their hooves on what’s hidden there.”

Scootaloo’s gaze shifted to the terminal beside her, its screen crackling faintly. “If the Rangers are after something specific, it’s likely connected to the facility’s core archives. Those archives could hold data about pre-war technology, experimental projects… maybe even information about the vaults themselves.”

She leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “But whatever’s in there, it’s dangerous. And if they’ve got their eyes on you, it means you’re a key to unlocking something they think is crucial. We need to figure out what that is, and quickly. It could mean the difference between survival and extinction for all of us.”

Nitebeats face went slightly pale. “Uhhh… about that… someone may have taken those files, put them onto a disk and mayyyyybbbeee gave them to the steel rangers… i woke up there without any memories except for an audio file by some pony called homage. Then I met a pony called Starpetals, who saved me from that facility. Then she turned on me and shot me with an electric device. I'm assuming either she has it or the steel rangers do.” Nitebeat said, guiltily.

Scootaloo’s rotting eyes narrowed as she absorbed the information, her voice cracking with both frustration and curiosity. “So, it’s possible the Steel Rangers already have what they need,” she said, her voice rasping with anger. “If that’s the case, then they’ve been playing a long game, and whatever they’re planning is already set in motion. We need to find out what’s on that disk, and fast. It might hold the key to why they’re so interested in you, Nitebeat. But first, we need to figure out where that traitor, Starpetals, fits into all of this. She could be a threat or a potential ally if we play our cards right.” a smile forming on scootaloos lips as she thought up a devious plan to get the files back.

Author's Note

Chapter 4 finally done. Hope you enjoyed! Chapter 5 is next up!!