"My god! that was one of the most stupid things that I've done in my life!" My mother was quick to say as she got out of the water and washed out her coat as well as she could. My father just shook his head in agreement. The looks from the two of them was that of pure shock.
"Well then, I'm glad you made it. I've been waiting" I greeted them with a gentle smile. Completely contrary to their faces.
"So. What do you think awaits us down the cave?" I was quite curious as to see what they thought of this new adventure we have now embarked on.
"I really don't like the idea of traveling down caves in half darkness with no idea how we even got to this point." My mother was certainly correct by I wasn't worried about what came next. My father just shook his head once again, He was never the brave one, he never did anything without one of us with him. My mother was clearly more open to most ideas of mine.
"I will say. I expected more from you mom. You are usually quite adept for this kinda stuff." I turned around to see them as we walked, I was walking backwards, "I think this was an awesome idea. Finally some adventure! I'm just glad we haven't seen any evil crap down here." My opinion did bring a smile to my father's face when he realized there wasn't anything bad down here.
We walked down the cave, it extended for quite a while as far as well could tell, and the silence was only stopped by the random skittering of a mole rat. They seemed friendly so we left them to themselves.
After about half an hour we had reached some sort of clearing. My father had almost passed out as a chunk of the wall falling in the water next to us made a huge splash that got him even more wet then he was after the jump back at the waterfall, we were all wet after that and we were almost freezing by the time we were meet with the large room at the end of the cave.
"Anypony else think that a random unsupported room at the end of a cave with no idea what lurks on the inside is a good idea to pass through? Because I really don't think this is a good idea..." My words broke the silence between us three.
"There is no way we are getting any food if we don't go in. I mean, if we don't go in we would die, and if there is food by things that want to kill us then we would be dead either way, so I'd say its worth it." My father had pointed out and had made a lot of sense.
"I certainly hope there isn't anything in here." I muttered under my breath, trying to be as quiet as possible.
The walls of this large room were nothing like the walls of the cave. They were more industrial. They looked to be made or iron or something of the sort, most definitely ponymade. As we neared the end of the cave, luckily nothing fell or broke lose from the roof, there was a very interesting looking door. The door looked like a big gear and there were some control panels next to it, most likely to open the door.
The door had a large 76 on it in bold letters, they looked to be in a lot better shape then the door themselves.
"I'm pretty sure I've seen something like this in a book once. If I'm certain, its what the prewar ponies called a Stable." I turned to my parents who were standing behind me. "The book said that these were huge vaults made for ponies to live in when nuclear fallout happened. They were said to have a max of 500 ponies and had all the things needed for ponies to live. Food, water, medicine, and so forth. If there was any chance of us finding food down here we would look in here." My parents both agreed and we walked up to the door control panel.
"The thing about this Stable that does bother me is that the door is on the outside, I'm pretty sure that they are supposed to be closed and not ever re-opened until after the fallout, but this one seems to be made for opening from outside, And most likely the inside as well. Maybe it was made for storing stuff. What do you think?" I asked my parents as I sat and typed on the panel trying to open the door.
"I would say your right. That does seem quite odd. Maybe we shouldn't go in? Maybe its a sign?" My mother had suddenly became a bit worried.
"Pffft. don't worry about it! I doubt that its a sign telling as all Stables are the same." I moved one of my hooves next to my face as a gesture of understanding and reasoning.
"Dad? Any input?" I asked turning to my father for a few seconds before I went back to trying to open the door. My mom came up to see if she could be of assistance.
Silence has reign throughout the room for almost two minutes. I decided to take a break and see why dad hadn't answered. I turned to him to see that he had fallen unconscious on the floor. a small dart in his neck.
"What the fuck happened to him!" I jumped to pick him up and I dragged him closer to the door.
"Who in the whole wide world of Equestria would shoot him? And if so, who!?" I screamed and my mother came to help me with him.
"I cant see anything worth mentioning in the way of damage, but he is most likely going to be asleep for awhile." My mother pointed out that he didn't have any scratches or bruises at all.
"I really think we should look into find what sick fuck shoot him though. I don't like the idea of ponies with weapons lurking around me whilst I work." I had a fire in my eyes, ready to kill the first thing in sight that wasn't my mother.
"Hun, I really don't think this is a smart idea. I think we should stay right here and try to open the door and get him inside. We can close the door from that evil pony or ponies as we get in." My mother was trying to change my mind. It isn't an easy thing to do with me. But right now we really needed to be safe instead of loosing another of us three, in this case, loosing me.
"Alright. I agree lets get the fuck out of here. I'm starting to get scared already." My mother was pleased I agreed with here quite quickly.
I found the wires under the door panel and I linked the door opening to the lever because I couldn't find the password. I took no time thinking about what may lurk in the stable and threw the switch with all my might, which broke the lever, and the door started to creek open slowly as it slid back and rolled to the side. The sounds of sirens were heard and on both the inside and outside of the door lights flashed red. The flashing of the lights lit up the cave we were in. There was nothing and no-one in the cave.
Confusion struck as to why there was nopony there and the question of who shot the dart was brought up in our heads but we had no time to question as we picked up dad and carted him into the stable.
The Stable was a lot brighter because, miraculously, the lights still worked. "That lord the lights work! I would to have my pip-boy be the only light to attract more attention to us." My mother and I dropped father gently on the floor as soon as the door closed behind us.
"I agree, good thing we have some light. It should make it easier to find stuff like food and medicine."my mother talked as she walked up the steps in the door room.
"This place seems almost abandoned. I wonder where everypony in it went." My mother gave an odd glance in my direction.
"No mother! They did not die! I don't want to think of how or why that could of even happened! Just no!" We shared an awkward silence before I finally spoke up.
"We really need to get going. I have no idea what time it is but I haven't slept in longer than I'm pretty sure is good for you and i need to rest somewhere." I sit down on the floor next to father and look to my mother to, once again, make my choices for me.
"I do agree that some sleep would be nice. But we need to find some food First." My mother lifted me from my sitting state and helped me to the door.
"Well. It can only get worse from here I suppose." I gesture to the door behind us then the door in front of us leading into the Stable. "I guess we'll look for some food and medicine, Should we leave him here?" I gesture towards my dad.
"We should leave him here. If he awakes we'll walk him over to the infirmary. If he isn't awake by the time we find the infirmary we'll have to carry him." My mother walks up to the door to the rest of the Stable and opens the latch.
"Here we go." I muttered under my breath. all the things going through my head were a cloud of utter confusion and to many questions to answer at one time.
The walls of the Stable were rusty and looked to be crumbling just a bit. The doors seemed to be spaced exactly the same distance from each other on each side. The rooms inside all looked to be the same as well. Same furniture, paintings, signs, and beds, All the way down to the floor color, if not a little different from age. We came upon a small intersection room with three doors. Reactor level, Housing, and Atrium.
"Where to? I don't think the Reactor Level will be next to the medicine. The housing may have the cafeteria near. The Atrium is the door on the middle so it, If my mind is correct, should be the center of the Stable, or at least the way to the center, And that would be where we would find medicine." I pointed to each of the doors as I talked about them.
"You have a good point. But the better question is, Which to look for first, food or medicine?"
"I think we should look for the medicine first. If we don't have that we would die before we die of starvation. If we are correct that other ponies are around and aren't that nice." I started off towards the housing part of the Stable. My mother stayed put in the middle of the intersection.
"I really think we should split up. We could find the food and the medicine around the same time so we don't have to go two ways."
"Fuck no! We are not splitting up! Who knows what could be lurking in here!? Your coming with me." I once again pointed to the housing district door.
"No. Your coming with me daughter. I am not going to have you tell me what to do. I am your mother and your going to listen to me." My mother shot a death stare in my direction.
"I don't care how you look at me mother. I am old enough to make it through a stupid Stable by myself. I don't need you nagging at me the whole god dammed time. Now your coming with me whether you like it or not." I continue to walk towards the door, The door opens as i look back to see my mother, in a blind fit walking towards the Reactor room because it was on the exact opposite side of the Housing district door.
"Mom that's the wrong do-" The door shut behind here right as she heard me. She turned to walk back though the door with a slight blush on her face. She slammed into the door face-first expecting the door to re-open. It didn't.
I ran to the door, I could only see her through the bit of glass on the door, it was at eye level so I could see her face. She slammed here front hooves up against the door. I could hear here saying "Get me out of here!" but it was muffled coming though the door.
"I'm going to find a way to get you out of here! Stay tight and don't hurt yourself! I screamed though the door and I saw her give me a slight nod and mouth the words 'Go'.
I trotted at a fast pace though the atrium door. making sure that it opened from both side. It did. "Okay. At least the door opens from both sides. That's good." I Walked into the Atrium to see a huge tree and some grass littering the floor. mostly in clumps and very little of it actually re-grew after it was torn up. "I wonder what tore the grass up. and why is the tree so ruined? I should stop questioning myself."
I trot slowly around the Atrium and past the destroyed tree and grass to see one door in the middle of the room, opposite the door I came in through and two others on the left and on the right. The sign above the door in the middle is labeled "Overmare's Office". The other two were labeled "Storage" and "Infirmary".
"Yes! Both the food and the medicine is in this very room! That makes life so much easier." I Trotted to the storage room and looked inside to see that there was multiple boxes with food items labeled on them. I walked back over to the other side of the room to look into the infirmary. It was filled with tons of healing potions and other medicine.
I walked back into the middle of the room and leaned against the tree, looking towards the "Overmare's Office" door.
"I wonder whats in there. Looks to be the control room for the Stable. If it is then I need to open it to get mother out." I walk to the door and it opens, it leads up a stairway and into another room. The room had a small bed, Filly sized. A terminal, and a window that looks out onto the Atrium.
"This looks like a wonderful place to live, if everyone wasn't gone." I stepped up to the terminal and the desk it sat on. "What might this terminal be for?" I sat in front of the terminal tapping it with my hooves.
"I've always heard of terminals but I've never seen or used one before." I tap on the keys at the terminal was filled with 24 lines of code, 10 letters each. The top of the screen read 'Insert Password'. "Well fuck. Passwords. That doesn't help."
I attempted to get into the terminal but after four times the terminal locked. I had no idea how to solve it and didn't care much about it. The only thing keeping me going was trying to help mother.
I dropped back down to my hooves and sat in silence for several minutes. The clock was ticking ever so slowly for those few minutes. "I. I. I can't save her." I broke down right in front of the terminal, my tears running onto the terminal and onto the floor.
"Why can't life just be easy! Why can't I go back to the normal boring days in the cave?" My hooves didn't care to support my body and I fell to the ground, crying more than I ever had in my life.
I sniffed really hard as I stood back up. "Why can't things go back to being the way they were?" The words meant almost nothing to me. I'd most likely forget the words in a few minutes.
A click and the sound of the terminal powering up made me lose my train of thought. "Hmm? It's up and running again. I wonder why." I sat back down to the terminal and looked at the screen
Password Accepted:
Welcome Back Overmare BloodBorn!
Enjoy your stay at Stable 76! And remember! Ponies first!
"What is this? What? What was the password? How did I even guess? How was I right?" I sat in complete bafflement as the terminal scrolled through tons of letters and syllables. It finally ended on a screen with a few options on it.
Journal Entry 1.
Journal Entry 2.
Journal Entry 3.
Stable Goals.
EMERGENCY!
Shut Down Stable Power
Leave Terminal.
I had no idea what any of these may of meant. But I did certainly know that an emergency was obviously not avoided. I tapped on the 'EMERGENCY' option and read though the text
Hello everypony of Stable 76! This is a very important message! There has been sightings of leaking water pipes and several flooded floors in maintenance. I need everypony who is able bodied to get down there and stop the flooding! And remember! Ponies First!
-Overmare BloodBorn.
"So there was a leak and slight flooding. that doesn't really explain why they are all gone. Where could they of gone?" I went back to the front screen of the terminal armed with the knowledge of most recent emergencies i should be able to find a way to help my mother out and possibly save some other ponies while I was at it.
I didn't find it was worth it to look upon the Journals. I never liked going though somepony else's stuff. The goals of the Stable meant nothing to me so I left it there and clicked onto the option to turn off the power. Hoping that that meant the doors would be able to be moved. I knew that the lights were going to go out and they did as I walked down the stairs and back into the Atrium.
Walking in the dark was a bit annoying but the emergency lights stayed on, despite me turning the Stable power off, I guess it was built just in case it wasn't meant for the power to be turned off. Or in the case of an actual emergency when the power went out.
I trotted myself back to the reactor room door by the red light of the emergency lights. My mother was still standing at the door. Despite it being almost an hour later. "I made it mom. Don't worry! I got the power off and us two should be able to lift this door so you can get out!" I waved to her from the other side of the glass as I explained my idea."
She just nodded back and we both leaned down to push up the door. We both used our hooves and our magic to lift the door.
We had lifted the door slight more than half way up and my mother was just getting her head through the door. Suddenly the emergency lights started to flash instead of being a consistent red. That wasn't the real worry because I saw water gushing down the corridors and up from the reactor level. Both I and my mother lost grip on the door and she hit the floor, The door hitting her right in the neck.
The impact from the door looked to have severed her head completely. I didn't have time to check as I bolted down the corridors towards the Atrium. All the water seemed to be rushing towards the Atrium and I was trying to get to safety. I had just placed my first hove onto the stairs up to the Overmare's Office when water came gushing down from the room with the terminal riding the waves of water. Before I had time to react the terminal hit me dead in the face. I was met with blackness and pain.
The sounds of water moving rapidly all around me woke me up. "Fuck! my head hurts like fuck!" I rose my hove up to my head and looked back down to see blood almost completely soaking the coat on my hove. I jumped to my hooves at the sight and then fell back down.
"Ow! I really need to take it slow. Where am I anyways." I looked to my left and right and saw water running down a river like channel. I was sitting on a rock in the middle that had some sort of lights in the middle and was slick with water from the river crashing into it. I followed the lights and the water to see huge extremely tall buildings, larger than I've ever seen before. The water stopped at a waterfall like drop into somewhere far below. The buildings had lights dotting the rooms inside of them and the lights sitting on poles on the, what i presumed, were walkways still worked, to my surprise.
"Sweet mother of Celestia. How does this even exist!" I had just started to soak up the sights of the buildings dotting the whole landscape. The tops of the tallest buildings had large metal poles sticking up into the roof of the cavern. On the very outskirts of the area where the buildings were there was huge stone/metal pillars that were fat on the bottom and top and got thinner in the middle, most likely keeping the roof from collapsing.
"Welcome to hell." The words fell from my mouth with no real expression. I didn't even know where it came from or when the word 'Hell' became a thing. I stood up on all four hooves and looked straight up. I noticed a huge hole leading really far up into what I guessed was the Stable. I couldn't see what it was, but some object was stopping the water from falling onto where I had awoken.
After I had soaked the whole place in, i thought a bit more on what had happened in the Stable. "I cant believe it. My mother just died. Right in front of me, and I couldn't do anything about it. Dad most likely shared the same fate. I couldn't save them." I starred into the ruins and was lost in thought. I wasn't going to cry. I hated crying. My parents always said it would be better for me if I cried when I was sad. I was never that soft. I always seemed to just stuff up my anger and sadness and didn't show it to anyone. I didn't want my parents to think I was weak.
I started my slow decent into the ruins. I had some questions to answer and some food to find.