New Old World [Closed][TG][HARDCORE]

It was the end of days.

When Equestria and her peoples fell to the cleansing flames of the atom, those that survived the devastation did so in great underground bunker complexes, known as Vaults. Little survived the impact outside these Vaults, and less the shockwaves, lingering poison of radiation, and weaponized toxins that made the very air burn. Life persisted, though it was ugly and mean - insects swollen to immense sizes by the magic of the Megaspells, or the genetic-twisting radiation of the Balefires. The flesh and bones of those that did not recieve the mercy of vaporization, zombie-like things left to roam the Wastes in a madness-ridden haze of pain. Pitiful mutants, ponies and others twisted into grotesques by foul magic and poison. The souls who, in retrospect, were damned for their survival - lone communities, grizzled things, whom degenerated so not by the bombs but by their own inner Discord, driven to murdering and plundering. The unnatural presence of living memories, doomed to repeat themselves. The children of the atom. These are but a hoof-full of the menagerie of ugly and horrid beings that the sins of ponykind summoned by their hate. Equestria suffered many an atrocity; grasslands scoured to ash and dry, cracked dirt by the atom; entire forests splintered and turned to stone by the magic of the Megaspells, or the heat of the Balefires; lakes and rivers evaporated in an instant; entire cities, and their people, glassed...the petrified forms of the unfortunates locked in an eternal, silent scream.

A long winter fell upon Equestria the day the bombs fell, longer than anything the Windigoes or spirits of the mountains had ever brought about. The sky, girded in dark clouds and smog, rained ash and ice upon the cracked land. The underskin of the world; dirt and stone and metal, from which forth smashed the crags of the mountains and hills, was lain into a deep blanket of snow for centuries, freezing Equestria over.

Then the sun broke forth. The dark clouds parted, and ugly life surged forth once again. Equestria was released from the torturous burn of frost. The ashen snows began to melt, albeit slowly, and something new began to shape. A twisted parody of what it once was - but it was nonetheless. Equestria.

Vaults had opened during the Long Winter - little of them survived. Corpses, and their jumpsuits, perhaps. The honest...or so it was hoped...guess of their once-saviors had killed them. Twice. But there were those that opened long after the sun opened the clouds above - these spread forth and prospered, in a way.

It is in these times that your Vault opened.

- o -

!!!ALERT!!!

BICENTENNIAL TIMELOCK FAILSAFE DEACTIVATED

VAULT OPENING IN 5...

VAULT OPENING IN 4...

VAULT OPENING IN 3...

VAULT OPENING IN 2...

VAULT OPENING IN 1...

VAULT OPENING...

PROCEED TO ATRIUM.

BEGIN EVACUATION PROCEDURES.

EQUESTRIA SALUTES YOU.

AND MAY WE LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER DAY.

- - - - -

Overmare Honeycrisp couldn't help but stare at the screen of her terminal once the messages ceasedd. She rubbed one cheek in thought, eyes wide and staring at the message she had never thought she would have seen in her lifetime. She hit a few keys on the board in front of her, but the message had overriden the computer. Hopefully temporarily. But that was the least of her worries. She glanced behind her at the security viewing screens in the large box behind her huge, semi-circular desk, eyes going to the top left.

Camera 1. Vault Entrance Monitor.

It had opened, lights were still flashing and though she could hear nothing, she knew klaxons were sounding. She caught a glimpse of a cold, uneven stone floor leading up to the doors.

Honeycrisp felt cold sweat on her brow. She kicked her chair back and trotted quickly to the door, hit the access panel, and was confronted with a member of Stable Security as the door split horizontally and slid upwards.

"Overmare, the d-"

"I know the door opened, for fuck's sake!" she said, snapping at him more out of her nerves than a genuine acid tongue. It was then she noticed the stallion was in full gear and sweating, likely from rushing to her office from wherever he had been, likely a post in the Atrium.

"What do we do?"

"What do you think? We...you, starting the procedures."

"Procedures...?"

"The manual, damn you, follow the manual! There are a number of copies back at Security, and in my office, now get moving!" Honeycrisp shouted, her voice rising and octave at the end of her sentence.

"Ma'am!" the stallion nodded, saluted, and galloped off again. Honeycrisp waited there for a moment, deep in thought. The door, had, opened. It had opened.

It was near impossible to comprehend. Ponies were born and ponies died in the Vault, ever since her great-great-great-great-great-great aunt Applejack allowed it built under her land. It was insane, the thought.

It was 6:00 A.M.

It was too damn early, thought Honeycrisp.



- - - - -

[Stable Security is moving a number of Vault occupants to the atrium - all player characters are among them. Some may have actual roles in this moving, so PM me and Sketch about that. Otherwise you may play it out almost however you wish.]

Key was having a good dream. Curled up in a adorable fashion that was a near polar opposite to his harsh personality, under several more blankets (stolen of couse) then were regulation, he dreamed of ruling this shithole stable, having enough power to rule with an iron hoof, so that nopony dared challenge him amd he could live how he wanted to without having to steal to much...scratch that last bit. He loved stealing too much.

But of course that perfect world was of course only a fantasy, and like all fantasies it was roughly shattered by the callous hoof of reality, which at this time took the form of a security pony's hoof shaking him awake, probably more roughly then was necessary-Key was no friend of the security staff. Groaning and swatting at the hoof that invaded the sanctuary of his dreams he mumbled: "Fuck off...you got no proof I did anything...now let me sleep..."

The security pony wasn't satisfied with that. Really shaking Key now he angrily informed the unicorn that he wasn't there to arrest him and was only there to move him to the atrium.

Grumbling and swearing Key rolled out of bed, flopping to the floor with a thud. Slowly rising back up to his hooves he gestures for the officer to leave for a second. "Think you can leave for a second? Need to do a few things. I'll be out in a second."

Not waiting for an answer, Key pushed the guard out of the door and locked.it behind him. Now Key set about a few of his worst case scenario preparations: wiping his terminal's memory clean, stowing his stolen goods in a air duct, ect. Then he slipped in his barding and the Basilisk's jacket that went over it, along with the little necklace he always wore, on amd grabbed his pack, stolen knife in its hidden pocket qnd stepped out the door. Sneering at the guard he spoke in a voice dripping venom

"Lead on, security pony."

“Hey... Hey, squirt, get up.”

A noise battered at the border of Cascade’s consciousness. It was a voice. A familiar voice. One she wasn’t expecting to hear, but welcomed all the same.

“Hmm...” Under her bed sheet, Cascade rolled over and made the kind of noise you only hear from somepony buried under not quite enough sleep. “Lick, I din’t abmuh.” She smiled groggily. “Hmm.”

”Hey! Get up!”

She groaned, not entirely sure she wanted to wake up. She rolled over, pulling her pillow over her head, but whatever that noise was just got louder.

“HEY!”

She woke with a start, the pillow sent tumbling across the room. With another start, she noticed Salt Lick standing over her. “Horse apples, Salt! You scared the crap outta me.” She raised an eyebrow at him, and then looked askance at the open door. “Why did you break into my room?”

“No time to explain, kid. You’d better get up,” Salt said, looking distractedly into the corridor. ”The hounds are rounding up ponies and taking them up to the atrium. Heard that the door outta here has opened up. Not sure why they’re moving folks to the atrium, though. Me and some of the guys are gonna check it out. You in?”

That did it. Springing to her hooves, she shook the bedding from herself with a flick of her wings. “Go with you and the guys?! Sure thing!”

Darting to the floor, she scooped up her jacket and shrugged it on, gave a quick glance in the mirror to check that her mane wasn’t too much of a mess, and followed Salt out the door.

Outside her room, lounging against the wall, stood Jimmy Bar and Cider Keg, two of Salt’s right hand stallions and Cascade’s oldest friends in the Basilisks. Jimmy was fixing up his greased mane with a levitated comb; he nodded at her with little more than a grunt. Keg emoted a little more, as usual, grinning as his huge forelegs scooped her up in a hug. “Cas! It’s bucking adventure time, filly!”

“Hi, guys,” she said cheerily. “Thanks for coming to get me. How’d you find out about the security rounding up ponies?” she asked, looking about quickly, just in case.

“Hounds are crawling all over the corridors,” said Jimmy in a half-awake drone. “Kinda hard to miss, if you know what I mean.”

Keg nodded in sage agreement. “Yup. I was working early, so I caught wind of the whole dealy ‘fore the rest of the gang. Came straight to Salt so’s we could get everypony moving.”

“The hounds’ve already rounded up a few of the colts,” Salt said, shaking his head perhaps a little melodramatically. He came to his senses before long, however, and tugged at his jacket in a token attempt to balance things out or something. “Grass, Key, Fac, Bag and Olive have all been rounded up; they’re probably at the atrium by now.”

“How do you figure?” Cascade managed, the deluge of information a little much for her morning brain to handle.

Salt shrugged. “I ‘unno. Guesswork. You know, like a detective.”

Keg nodded in unquestioning agreement. ”Pretty smart, boss.”

Cascade gave them a sideways glance. “Or we could just go and find out for sure.”

Salt Lick almost visibly balked, but managed to barely retain his composure, mostly by avoiding eye contact for a few seconds. ”Well, uh... yeah. That’s why I went and gathered you three together, is what I was gonna say. Don’t interrupt, squirt.”

“Sure, okay.” Cascade looked up and down the corridor they were standing in – a row of spotless steel doors stood demurely in line, undisturbed by security activity. Clearly, they hadn’t come this far yet. Thank the stars for ordered procedure! “Let’s just go, okay?”

"Mmh... damit." As it turned out, the idea to bent time to her will by hypnotizing clocks on the wall was not very effective, the numbers continued to turn with agonizingly slow frequency. Long Shot sighed in the direction of the timepiece and placed her hindlegs on the table, slumping on the chair, and started to rock on it, several times almost falling back.
Tick...
Tick...
Tick...
The room got filled by the sound of alarm siren, the sudden loud sound spooking Long Shot and making her fall back with the chair. As she sat on her haunches and rubbed her aching back, officer Blackberry bursted into the room. She was a unicorn,with light blue hide and dark green mane and tail, both of them cut short. Long never understood the need for that, it didn't fitted Black's look very well, but... well, right now, she had a hunted animal's look in her face, and was looking at Shot.

"Shot! Get up, and fucking hell just broken loose! The stable doors are opening! I've been told to find the manuals for leaving the Stable and-"
"What?" Shot jumped in her speech "The doors are what?"
"Opening! We... seriously, no time to think. Help me grab them, and better start remembering the emergency procedures. Come on!"

Black helped Shot up and both mares headed to the storage. The place was filled with all kinds cabinets, armoured chests and trunks, even few dusty wooden crates. One of the crates, hidden under a pile of junk, did held a pile of old dusty books, the paper made yellow by the ebb of time. After blowing away the dust, the front page revealed to have 'Leaving the Stable procedures' written on it.

"This is it!" said Black "Alright Shot, grab as many as you can and follow me back!"

Shot ran to the armoury and picked a pair of saddlebags, then returned to the crate and started to stuff the books into them. When they got full, Shot followed Black from the Security. She caught up with her and turned her head to look at Black, seeing she still had the nervous look. "So where we are heading Black?"

"Atrium, everyone has been led there to... I suppose Overmare has a speech or something, maybe wants to address the Stable. We'll see when we get there."

Bright Skies was already up, his position on the night shift had been a recent transfer to keep his dour attitude from bringing everypony else down. He was doing routine maintenance when he felt the rumble far above him, hundreds of tons of steel clanking against steel. At first he shrugged and went back to checking the bolts he was checking, then came the sudden escalation in movement nearby. "Skies! D'ya here?! The door's open!"

Bright Skies looked at the grease brown earth pony with a skeptical look, "Really? Was that what that sound was above?"

"Yeah, security's on the horn, they're roundin' up like half the stable to the Atrium! Me and Full House were gonna watch the mayhem on the CC patch, you in?"

Bright Skies grinned, watch the entire stable march to their doom out the front door? "Sure why not! I'll get the popcorn!" The light blue unicorn Grinned as he made his way up a floor to the maintenance area's break room. There he planned a little magic and heat to make some fresh popcorn to eat while watching the ponies in the Atrium. As he was halfway into the preperation process he heard a set of hooves, "Come on guys I need more than that to make popcorn."

"Sorry, we're not here for Popcorn. Bright Skies?" The Security pony asked.

The unicorn turned around slowly, "Yeah? That's me, what do you need?"

"Your presence is required in the Atrium, please follow us."

Bright looked at the Security pony, some mare named 'Fluff Chaser', she was big and burly and did not look like her name. After a few moments Bright Skies sighed and said, "Right, fine I get it. Lead on!"

"Thank you for your cooperation." She turned about and led the now trio of ponies toward the central elevator shaft, "So do you know why the door opened?"

"Huh, why would I know?"

"Well it's you or the Overmare," the security office shrugged.

"Why me though?" Bright Skies said protesting the implied assertion that he had anything to do with maintenance on that level of the stable.

"Well you know, maintenance ponies know that kinda stuff, right?" She said looking back at Skies for a moment.

"Well I suppose some might, the head of Maintenance, what's her name... Oh right Ratchet, she might know, but me, I fix pipes and regular doors, not big giant wheel shaped ones!" That got a bit of chuckle from the pair as they guided Bright Skies the last few steps until the elevator. There they stood awkwardly waiting for its arrival.

This tea is putrid.

Aurora pushed aside the paper cup of lukewarm leaf water that apparently passed for tea in this office, making a mental note to file a complaint with catering, and returned to her paperwork. As a senior pony resources manager she had the luxury of a private office; she liked to savour the quiet of the morning before her boorish co-workers came in. This morning, however, her quiet bliss was shattered when the door to her office slammed open.

Aurora glared at the rude pony poking his dishevelled mane through the doorway. It seemed, disappointingly, that the boors were making an early start this morning.

“Aurora, you’ll never guess –”

Aurora rose a hoof to cut him off. “You do know how to knock, correct?” she asked, the tone of her voice as still as the stale Stable air.

“What? Yes, but Aurora, upstairs, in the at–”

She slammed a hoof down on the desk, cutting him off again. “Well, if you know how to knock, then you should. I will not abide some simple-minded furore fostering insubordination in this department. It's unbecoming.”

The dishevelled pony stumbled over his words as his unfocused little mind strained to grasp the situation. “But the door is open. The door, Aurora.”

“The door?” Aurora parroted, the tone of her voice almost casting its own shadow. “What are you babbling about? Is this your way of asking for time off? Because you certainly haven’t earnt it.”

“No,” the pony continued, tediously undeterred, “the door outside, to the surface! Security has started rounding ponies up and sending them to the atrium. I was sent by your... by the Overmare to get you. They need pony resources to help organise things.”

Aurora regarded the pony for a few moments, faintly amused as he almost seemed to writhe in the heat of her gaze, before rising from behind her desk. “Well, I guess we’d better get things sorted here, then. Get Portfolio and Shortbread in here, would you? Oh, and I’m signing you up for etiquette classes. Next time you feel the urge to intrude on the privacy of your betters, knock first.”




“Lift the back higher!” Aurora directed, trotting alongside Shortbread and Portfolio, who were currently carrying her desk up towards the atrium. “As a senior manager, it’s only to be expected that I will have a considerable amount of paperwork to deal with, and I shouldn’t be expected to exert my magic holding manuscripts aloft to write on. And if my quill was to puncture an important document... well, that’s a scenario I shouldn’t have to distress myself with.”

Protfolio groaned, perhaps in response to Aurora, perhaps to the desk. Either way, Aurora ignored her.

“I’m honestly a little surprised. Normally, mother would have mentioned to me if she was planning something like this. I wonder why she’s being so secretive. Not that it matters too much, I suppose,” she said, looking at the incessant stream of ponies moving past them as they headed, doubtlessly, for the atrium. She looked back to the two junior staff snivelling pathetically beneath the weight of her desk. Couldn’t they go any faster?

“In fact, I might go and have a quick word with her. You two, take my desk up to the atrium and start setting things up. I will be there as soon as I need to.”

Turning back against the bulk of ponies, she took a side corridor towards the Overmare’s office. On the way she was stopped by a pair of tense stable security ponies; it took her some precious moments to convince them that she was just visiting her mother, as was any daughter’s right, and that they should busy themselves with dealing with actually meaningful issues.

As she entered the office, she could see her mother fretting over her terminal, as she was prone to do. She did appear a little more unhinged than usual, though, to the point that her arrival went unnoticed. She tapped a hoof on the door frame, and her mother nearly leapt out of her skin.

“I always knew you were prone to overreaction, mother, but you’ve really gone off the deep end this time.”

“Aurora!” her mother responded with a strained smile, taking the barest moment from her frenzied duties. “This isn’t the best time, dear. Shouldn’t you be at the atrium?”

The question washed over Aurora. “Tell me what’s going on,” she said, her voice like a laser. “I deserve that much, don’t I? What’s this nonsense I’ve heard about the Stable door opening?”

It had been a long day, having been working a late evening shift that would carry on through to the early morning, where she was only up and on call in case anypony had some sort of accident during the night. Nothing ever happened, no emergencies that she was ever needed for, even the rounds to check up on patients still in the infirmary were uneventful.

What didn't help Dr. Senzu Beans was most of the time she was on a low from the after-effects of Mint-als, dulling her brain and most of her natural capabilities were slower due to it... It was safe to say she was the least favourite doctor in the stable, there was nopony Dr. Beans could even consider classing as a friend without them rejecting the concept altogether.

Perhaps it was high time to try ditching Mint-als?

It wasn't, it never was, no matter how many times she tried, it dragged her back in, the sharp awareness and the intelligence flooding back to her always made her go back to them, no matter what.

Maybe this time could be di-

"Dr. Beans." Interrupted.... The voice of a cream-coated mare, the nurse on duty with her as well, dragged her attention from her clouded thoughts, looking to the mare and spotting the security pony next to her, Senzu raised a questioning brow.

"Everypony is being moved to the atrium. Apparently the Stable door is open." THe mare continued... Who was this mare anyway? Even if Senzu was working with her, she had no idea who she was, was she really that bad at remembering ponies? Or did she never actually find out who this mare was? Oh, such trivial shit, it's not like it mattered now.

The Stable door was open. Were they going up to the atrium to die?
That sounded like an option to consider, especially for Senzu Beans, it wasn't as if she had any real value to the rest of the stable, there were plenty of other doctors.

But of course, everypony would have to go up there anyway. "...Of course. I shall head up in a mo-"
"No, Dr. Beans, everypony is going up now, not in a moment, not in a few hours, not tomorrow..." The security pony flanked Senzu and scowled at her. "Now" Giving a hard push, the pony made Senzu stumble almost uncontrollably, scrambling out the door to the stairway and returning with an attempt at a glare, but getting a tired, worn stare that meant little.

"Who knows, the outside might fix your problem, for all we know. So get a move on, we can't stall just for you." The pony said as Senzu, the security pony and nurse... Ugh, whatever her name was, it constantly evaded Senzu's dulled mind.

------

Arriving in the Atrium, Senzu gained the expected frowns and stares of ponies who heavily disapproved of her as she arrived, but Senzu's focus was on the security ponies and the door that was supposed to lead towards the stable door.

Weren't the security ponies meant to be doing something such as ensuring the area outside the stable was safe? Or had they already done that? Whichever it was, Senzu wanted this to stop happening so she could go and sleep, yeah.... That's what she needed right now, a whole lot of sleep, an almost 10 hour shift in the infirmary could get very boring very quickly.

Why could they all not just forget about her and leave her to sleep and go outside in her own damned time? Nopony liked her anyway...

[Going to attempt posts as if I'm talking to you. Also forgive me for shaky past/present tenses. And the bad post. This hasn't been my day.]

When you arrived at the atrium, you found a surprisingly small number of ponies gathered, maybe a dozen. The room itself could have fit at least a dozen more, like sardines. Those that stood there murmured as two members of security discussed quietly, seeming to be waiting for something. One nodded, grinning, and the other laughed softly at some joke you couldn't hear. With that, one of them hit the access panel on the wall beside the atrium door.

For a moment, there was utter darkness in the room beyond. The member of the security who had opened the atrium hatch stuck his head through the doorway, levitating a bulky, block-like flashlight through the frame and shone it around. The beam peeled back only a thin layer of the blackness that shrouded the room inside, though it could be said that it was much different from the rest of the Vault. The air inside was damp, and there was an acute draft. The walls had dulled to a dingy gray, or perhaps they had been made that way. A short flight of stairs descended into a walkway between two platform, each overflowing with archaic terminals and machines that most would have no idea what to do with. Hoofs rapped against a thin, rattling metal floor as the security stallion nudged into the room, followed by two more, who also bore the bulky flashlights. For a few minutes, there was a low murmuring as a small crowd gathered behind the opened atrium hatch, some peering in.

“Fluff, I found something,” one of the members of security called from inside the chamber, and at that moment the room was lit. Fluorescent tubes mounted in aged metal brackets sparked to life as a switch was thrown, a resounding *CLANG* and a low thrumming joining the constant of the generators in the distance.

The room that held the Vault Door, the portal to the world beyond, was surprisingly...old-looking. It was dimly-lit by comparison to the stark halls of the Vault, and covered in a thin film of grime from years of neglect. No one had entered this room for centuries, since the Vault and its residents were shut away.

[Reactions plz]

Bright Skies was drawn in, lighting off a light spell from his horn as he peered into the darkened space. The smell, the look it all screamed 'Nopony has been here in ages!' "Well, this is a bit of an oversight." He looked up where the lights should have been, aiming his own light, just as the security pony found the switch. The wizened maintenance pony frowned at the sound, to him the thrum of the generators had a faint undercurrent; it was the sound of long neglected equipment. Leaving machines untended and still could do as much and in ways more damage than running them. That seemed however to be beside the point.

He stepped in and took a look around, eyes falling on the door opening last, "Maintenance should have been through here more often, that generator sounds like it needs a full rebuild." He killed his own light and stepped into the room, looking now instead at the Security ponies, "So what now? We supposed to fix this or something? Cause I think I'm the only one here from maintenance and I don't know what my records say, but I kinda suck at the whole telling ponies how and what to do thing."

Stepping lightly he stole some more glances at the ponies he was with, most were not the cream of the stable, in fact it was safe in his mind to say none of them were. Skies walked over closer to the giant gear shaped opening, his curiosity at what might be beyond overwhelming any sense of self preservation he might have had telling him to stay the hell back. He pawed at one part of the opening, the metal still bright and shining, thanks in part to the seal it had been part of. He'd seen such effects before of course, but he'd never expected to see that the main Door had it too. Honestly he'd half expected that the door was frozen shut from corrosion; why else would this room have received so little attention from maintenance?

Four pony heads peeked around the sides of the atrium doors, watching as the security guards they’d been tailing for the past several minutes led a small group of ponies to a door on the far side of the atrium.

“Look at them,” whispered Jimmy Bar, his brow creased in quiet outrage, “herding ponies like animals. Makes me sick, it does.” He turned to Keg, who nodded in silent agreement.

They watched silently as one of the security ponies did something that made the door open, and then started snooping around inside. This was, no doubt, the Stable’s antechamber. The way out.

Cascade had distrusted Stable Security for years – it was pretty much the Basilisks’ creed – but she wasn’t stupid; she knew a lot of the hounds’ singling her and her friends out was their own fault, drawing attention to themselves and all that. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was something else.

“They’re not... sending ponies outside, are they?” She frantically looked at the others, seeking reassurance in their faces. “Nopony knows what’s out there! They could die!”

Salt Lick screwed up his face and snorted. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinkin’. We gotta stop ‘em, squirt.”

“Are you kidding?” Jimmy snapped, almost making Cascade jump. “How are we gonna stop that many hounds toting live firearms with nothin’ but two BB guns between us?”

Keg nodded in worried agreement. “He’s right, boss. We’ll just get shot full o’ holes.”

“Aren’t you two forgetting something?” Salt whispered back with a lopsided grin. Jimmy and Keg exchanged confused glances, but Cascade, regrettably, knew what was coming, and only grew more certain once he flared his jacket dramatically. “We have justice on our side!”

Celestia’s rays, she hated when he got like this. She knew better than to try talking him out of it, though. “Wait, Salt. They don’t know we’re here, yet.”

Thankfully, Salt shut up and put on his serious face. “You’re right, squirt. You do your thing,” he said, and Cascade smiled involuntarily. “Scout ahead; signal us if it’s safe to sneak on over.”

With a few strong flaps of her wings, Cascade took just enough air to glide over the floor, pumping her wings every few seconds to stay aloft. Before too long, she gently touched down a few metres behind the gathered ponies, who generally seemed to absorbed by whatever was going on with this hatch to bother noticing her. The hounds that remained outside seemed similarly distracted. She looked over her shoulder at her three gang buddies, who were still huddled behind the door frame, and waved at them with a wing. Salt lick gave her some kind of quick salute, and the three of them began creeping over the floor with the speed of dry paint.

While the others took their time making sure their huge, clumsy hooves didn’t clank all over the atrium floor, Cascade approached the ponies that had gathered around the hatch. With a few slight flicks of her wings to lighten her step, she merged with the group, keeping her head low as she watched and listened.

After a little while, the hounds apparently found the lights, and some old unicorn followed them in, talking to them about something she couldn’t make out over the low murmur of the ponies around her. She reared back a little, opening her wings for that little bit of extra balance, but she still couldn’t see anything without risking being spotted.

“Hey, squirt.” Cascade looked around at the sound of whispering to see that the other three had caught up with her. “See anything yet?”

Cascade shook her head. “I think they’re still looking around. I can’t get any closer, though – too many ponies.”

The guard by the door swept his gaze across the group, his eyes stopping on Salt Lick. He threw the Basilisk a knowing glare, but didn’t react any further.

“All right, change of plan,” said a suddenly pale-faced Salt. “We act like we’re supposed to be here.”

Cascade looked askance at him, and then snuck a quick peek at the guard, who was still just standing there, carrying on like nothing had happened. “I think we are supposed to be here.”

A couple of nearby ponies looked around at the sound of their whispering, grimacing at the sight of their jackets and shuffling slightly away before returning their attention to the hatch.

“She’s right, Salt,” said an exasperated Jimmy. “All this friggin’ sneaking around.”

“Right.” Salt looked around, soaking in the surrounds as he carefully formulated a new plan. “Everypony act natural.”

And they did.

Watching with disinterest, the mare was just waiting for something to happen, something that could make this a bit more interesting and exciting. Though with everything happening, there was a small surprise... The Stable's own little gang, the "Basilisks", were also gathering, and seemed to have been attempting to sneak into the crowd before a few shared words made them just do the same as everypony else. She gave them a brief look that said "What are you idiots doing?" whether they caught it or not wasn't the point, she felt she had to at least do it out of principle.

Why was this taking so long? Surely they could find the light switch so everypony could se- Oh, they found it now. Dr. Beans looked on like all others and raised a brow. It was a grimy room with an aged door, that was it... She was expecting something grander, more gaudy maybe, at least more impressive. Not to say a giant metal door wasn't interesting as it was, but it could have been a bigger surprise.

Maybe the outside world would be more of a surprise? Perhaps it would be different from the happy world that had been described in books? Or the moment that door opened everypony would be bathed in death, which would indeed be a surprise, maybe a welcome one for the tired, self-loathing Dr. Beans, but not a pleasant surprise.

Ushering herself through the crowd, the doctor would try and get nearer to the front, honestly intrigued by the aspect of something possibly being out there.

Shot was galloping behind Black through the corridors of the Stable, both of them heading towards the Atrium. Right before it the tunnels forked, one heading towards the Overmare's office and other control systems, the other directly into the Atrium. Blackberry motioned Long to stop. She slowly sneaked to the fork and looked both way for anyone whom could pose any danger. Then she turned around and looked at shot with serious expression in her face.

"Alright, Shot. Here we split up, you go into the Atrium and give out the manuals, I'll head up higher and do the same, then rejoin you back at the Atrium. Let's go." and with that she galloped away, taking the left turn.

Long Shot nodded before Black disappeared, and took the right turn, heading towards the airtight door with green sign 'Atrium' above them. She tapped the control panel next to them, and, with a hydraulic hiss, the door split into halves and let her enter the largest room in the stable.

A group of ponies was already milling about the room, looking nervous from the situation. Several Basilisks, one of the doctors who's name Long couldn't remember, and a one maintenancepony. Oh well, the manuals had to be distributed, so Long started to trot to the two other guards in the Atrium... was that Fluff?

Shot didn't, however managed to finish, as the hatch opened, and everypony suddenly flowed inside there, curiosity getting the better of them. The room was dark, sans the flashligts, until someone found the light switch and the vault door showed up in all it's rusty glory.

Long Shot completely forgot what was her task here, and just stared with her mouth open at the device. "Wooah..."

Aurora’s mother, the Overmare, turned to address her demanding daughter for a moment. “The door's opened, dear.”

“So it is true. Who’d have thought.” Aurora raised an eyebrow. “What else?”

“Nothing more. It’s time to go,” her mother said, still engrossed by her terminal screen. The ethereal glow gave her face a strange, ghostly look.

“We’re leaving,” Aurora repeated, a little stunned with incredulity. “Why are we leaving?”

“I don't know,” replied her mother, her voice cracking somewhat.

“Well, did you open the door?”

Her mother tapped at her terminal a few times. “No. No, I did not.”

“So it was automated? Hmm.” What interesting implications. She filed that particular tidbit away for later reference. “What's the assembling of ponies in the atrium got to do with it, then?”

Finally, her mother looked up from her terminal screen, exasperation shining through the glow on her face. “We're leaving, Aurora! Don't you get it? We're leaving! The door is open! When it opens, we're supposed to leave!”

Aurora frowned, unmoved by the tirade. “Oh, do calm down, mother. We should see this as an opportunity.” Her mother gave her a look before going back to her terminal screen. Well, clearly that wasn’t going anywhere. If the old mare wanted to drive herself up the wall, that was her business. There were more pertinent matters at hoof for Aurora to concern herself with. “Is there a procedure for this, amongst all of those Overmare instructions?” She indicated the paperwork strewn over the desk. “Just leaving seems a bit vague.”

Her mother levitated a manual up. “The procedure,” she explained with business-like curtness.

“Excellent. So this was obviously planned by Stabletech."

“Yes.”

“Well, let's take a look, then.”

Aurora reached out with her magic to take the manual, but her mother held it away. “Aurora, please. Join the others in the atrium. I shall be along shortly.”

“Okay, mother, I'll go to the atrium, like a good little pony,” Aurora said with a smirk, her voice laden with aimless barbs. “I suppose someone should be present to lead the foals.”

“That's good, sweetie. You're a good example to them,” her mother said absently, stowing the manual in a saddlebag and looking through her desk. She didn't seem to notice the pejorative tone of Aurora's words.

Aurora rolled her eyes. “I know, mother. Somepony has to be.” She turned to leave. “Don't forget to take a break, lest you end up in medical again.”

There was no response. Her mother had once again become absorbed by her work.

With an irritated sigh, Aurora turned and left her mother to her own nervous devices. Somepony needed to lead the rabble in the atrium, and for now it appeared that the responsibility had fallen to her. She raised her head a little more and added a little more royal prance to her step as she began to make her way back towards the atrium, where she expected she’d find her staff waiting with her desk and papers.

A mare dressed in a security uniform suddenly raced around the corner ahead, narrowly avoiding bumping into Aurora’s side as she raced past. She offered back a momentary apologetic glance, but didn’t slow down.

Aurora glared after her as she disappeared around another corner. She straightened her mane and continued towards the atrium, her path unheeded this time, except for the unexpected discovery of a large, squat desk that had been haphazardly abandoned in the corridor. She gave it a deathly stare; no doubt Portfolio and Shortbread had succumbed to laziness and irresponsibility once more. Such a simple, straightforward task, yet they were apparently incapable of carrying it out! To her enlightened chagrin, though, there was no time to chase them up now, so she mentally filed away their disciplinary action for a later time. She stepped around her desk, giving it a sorry look, and continued on.

Finally, she arrived at the atrium, one of the largest recreational spaces in the entire Stable. To her bewilderment, it was so empty that she thought she saw some tumbleweed rolling by. She’d expected the place to be standing room only at best, with perhaps some Stable denizens relegated to the hallway outside. It took her a moment to spot the cluster of ponies over on the far side, gathered around an open hatch.

She strode over and began to push her way towards the front, taking stock of what ponies had been congregated here: a few security ponies, some maintenance ponies, a pack of degenerate hooligans, a doctor or two. What an eclectic group to have been summoned to the atrium. Aside from the medical staff, it almost seemed the product of random selection, because who in Celestia’s name would task such meaningless detritus with forging into the unknown?

“Out of the way!” she called out over the milling ponies. “Let me to the front, please.” As she finally broke through the front of the crowd, she made a beeline for the security pony who bore the least dull-witted expression, and thus seemed to be somewhat in charge.

In full view of those assembled, Aurora sniffed and addressed him. “Officer. I am Aurora Dawn, senior manager of the pony resources department. The Overmare has personally placed me in charge of this operation. Now, if you would, bring me up to speed of the current situation so I can better direct us through it.”

Once a good portion of the Stable had gathered in the atrium and the hallway beyond, a number around thirty to forty ponies, the Overmare held up her PipBuck and opened the channel for the Vault's intercom systems. Her voice would be heard by anyone and everyone in the Vault, present in the atrium or not.

"I...", she began, "am no public speaker. You all know that. As such I will keep this short, sweet, and to the point. All of you - each and every one - were schooled that some day, our families would leave the Vault and set out to rebuild the nation we left behind, together with others like us, from other Vaults. That day has come. The two-hundred years is up, and the door has unlocked. With a flip of the switch, we will be free to leave."

She paused. No one spoke. Somepony coughed in the back of the audience.

"I will say this right now. While we are also free to stay, the Vault's food systems and water will not last forever. Neither can we reproduce much more with our numbers - there are only so many of us. You all know what that means, I trust, from your health schooling.
And beyond this it is our duty to leave! The Great War is long over, and we are charged with rebuilding Equestria, whom was so cruelly pulled down. Freedom. Equality. Long life. Peace. Everything that we have learned here has prepared us for this!"

Throughout her speech, a murmur of agreement had been growing. The Overmare's simple speech was beginning to rouse the crowd - everyone knew and admired her, and what she was saying was empowering, and bold. At the last word, several among the audience exclaimed happily, cheering for the exodus from the Vault.

With that, the Overmare smiled, and disconnected from the intercom system. With her regular voice she called out loudly;

"WHO WOULD BE FIRST?"

Dr. Beans absently stood there and listened to the Overmare drivel on and on about leaving the vault. This didn't even need any thought as she continued on with her rather... boring and obvious speech, of course they'd have to leave soon enough. In the poor doctor's opinion, the best option was get out now and get away from these insufferable ponies and their judgemental attitudes towards her problems.

She knew half of the ponies never would accept her treating them if they had the choice, so why continue to stay here and suffer their company?

With surprising force for the addict doctor, she managed to barge her way to the front and slammed her hoof down. Her voice didn't match the energy that brought her to the front, oddly enough. "I'll go." She mumbled out, refraining from saying what she felt about the rest of the Stable... For now.

“Schooled?” murmured Salt Lick. “More like brainwashed, am I right?”

“Sshh,” Jimmy hissed without turning around.

“What? Don’t you shush me, you–”

“Sshh!” Several surrounding ponies shot him annoyed glances.

Cascade listened in slightly horrified silence, overwhelmed by the beats of the Overmare’s speech. Sooner or later, the Stable would run out of food and water, becoming little more than a tomb in waiting. The only recourse was to leave through that almost mythical door and forge a new home out of whatever half-dead Tartarus lay beyond.

Everypony was cheering. Why were they cheering? Their sanctum from the fallout of the great war was withering and dying, and the only escape was the dead world they’d sought escape from in the first place. The Stable was dying, the Overmare was proposing what amounted to mass suicide, and everypony just cheered.

Somepony near the front of the crowd – Cascade couldn’t see who it was – volunteered to leave the Stable first. What would it take to make somepony do that? Whoever that pony was, the Stable was her home; it offered her food, shelter, safety, purpose…

Maybe she wanted to escape. Maybe she wasn't satisfied with what the Stable provided. Maybe she was so unhappy with how things were that walking out into a dead world was a more comforting prospect. The more Cascade thought about it, the less insane it sounded. This stupid Stable and its stupid, suffocating social structure. The stupid security ponies and their stupid rules. The stupid CAT test. All the stupid jobs she didn't know how to do. The stupid teachers who taught her that if she believed in herself, her special talent would make itself known, and she’d find her place in the world. The stupid fillies and colts with their stupid cutie marks, laughing and calling her names for having an empty future devoid of purpose. Her stupid parents, too busy with their stupid, Stable-issued careers to provide her with any guidance or comfort through her stupid mess of a life. Every single stupid pony that had ever judged and hated her just for desperately striving to be true to herself. The stupid Basilisks, who'd only managed to convince her to resent the world even more than she already did. The stupid, useless little blank flank of a filly who couldn't even do something as simple as finding out who she really was.

She opened her wings, ignoring the surprised voices of her friends, and with a few flaps, she was hovering over the wall-to-wall ponies below. The atrium looked a lot smaller from up here.

“I’ll go, too.”

Key half listened to the Overmare's speech, quite honestly bored with it all. I mean, Ooh they opened some chamber that contained an old rusty door. Who the fuck cares!? It's just some stupid door. Not like they were gonna open it or anything.

Then the Overmare said exactly that-to Key's great surprise. Now he was interested. Fully listening now, he absorbed the details of what the Overmare was droning on about a plan growing in his head. A plan that would give him a fresh start, or more realistically a way to get away with everything he had done here amd start again in a whole new place, with whole new things to collect and steal.

When the Overmare said that the Stable was slowly dying, that sealed the deal. He wasn't gonna wait here as he the Stable died around him, he was gonna get out, he was gonna face his likely demise on his own terms.

Speaking up after a couple of others, he mumbled one last thing to convince himself, and said.

"I'll go too."

Aurora raised her head just a little bit higher and straighter. This was it. This was her opportunity to shine, to show everypony present that she had what it took to lead these ponies out of the Stable and out into the wasteland.

She pushed her way to the front of the group – after all, everypony should see that she was going to leave the Stable. She’d lead the group; that’d be something to write in the history books – the great Aurora Dawn, who spearheaded the resurrection of Equestria!

And then, maybe the dust-suckers here would realise how much worse off they are without her invaluable guidance.

“Of course! I am definitely going!”

The speech certainly caught Long's attention. There seemed to be an opportunity there. Even more when four voices sounded their interest in going, even though one or two of them belonged to ponies who had less than stellar reputation with the security. The little bastards wished to flee, perhaps?

Oh yes. Yes, there certainly was... an opportunity for Long shot.

Somepony had to protect them and make sure they got back, after all, and who else had that duty in the Stable but the Security? Long stepped forward, clad in the Security armoured barding and uniform and looked up at the group forming in front of the door. She lightly smiled.

"I'll go too. Somepony has to protect them outside, and bring them safe back. There's no telling what wildlife is living outside, might be dangerous. Security is here to protect ponies, so I'll take the responsibility of protecting them."

A brown-coated, green-maned mare fumbled through the door.

"Field! For some reason, the security ponies are corralling everypony into the atrium! They're also saying that the Stable door has opened! The one that leads to the other side of the world! The 'out' side!"

The mare tapped the door control frantically with her hoof, and it slid shut. "I unintentionally snuck past the guards, since I sneak everywhere, but I don't know what to do! What are we gonna do, Field?!"

Bright Skies blinked a few times, his brain pulling slowly out of the station, "Outside. As in outside, outside?" He said to no one in particular. He'd long ago given up on much of the stable, keeping it working was a nightmare task of monumental proportions but it was his task and the task of his friends in Maintenance, he couldn't just abandon it. Then again, the rational part of him spoke up, most of the parts they were repairing the stable's busted innards with were refurbished parts that had broken decades ago.

He stood at the threshold and tried to look past it, trying to remember the stories of the outside, but at the same time temper it with the knowledge he had from among other things working on the arcane machinery of the Stable and what it could do to the rare unfortunate. He looked past the door and then back, he was already there, a few feet would not make a difference, "Yeah sure, I'll go." Well that and there would be no loss to the stable's breeding population if stepping outside did cause him to melt into a puddle of colorful sludge.

Clover Field would let out a barely audible mumble at his sister, his nose stuck in his book. He was quite used to her charging in and prattling on about nothing, or something that was clearly being blown out of propotion, that it took him a few seconds before it actually sank in what she had just said. News strong enough that it actually did cause him to make the monumental decision to set his book down as he turned to actually look at his sister, eyes wide.

"...The Stable doors are open? Are...are you certain you heard that correctly, Lucky?"

The Unicorn would be silent for a moment, as his mind processed this. he had never thought the doors would open, at least not in his lifetime...but if Lucky was right...

"...I...I suppose we had better go to the atrium then..."

With his last sentence muttered out, Field would stand up, carefully slip his book back into place on the shelf (Making sure said shelf was still nice and tidy as well for another few seconds), before following Lucky out of the door. He didn't want to get too excited over such an event, since there had been quite a few times when his dear sister was simply 'misinformed'. But if Lucky was correct...oh, the possibilities!

Lucky Clover trotted alongside her brother toward the atrium. She had tried to remain silent, but she couldn't help not speaking. Her brother was one of the only real friends she had, and the only one she really confided in.

"I was signing in the atrium earlier today. Not for the fun of it, but because it was my job. Some of those mean ponies were there, too. They didn't stay, but I was so worried all day that I'd bump into them on the way back home!"

Lucky didn't seem too engaged in what she was saying, she was merely reciting her thoughts as they came to her, which she was often prone to do. She continued speaking to Clover, trailing on about which songs she sung, and who came into the Atrium over the course of the day, and what she thought about each one of the ponies who listened, even though Field had heard her opinions hundreds of times before.

As they walked, Clover would let out a continuous mumble of 'Mmhmm' and 'Uh huh' once his sister started talking, only just barely listening as his mind instead occupied itself with thoughts of the outside world. The stable had always been far too small to accomidate someone of Field's intelligence, and so many of the books inside the stable seemed to avoid the actual topic of life outside of these walls. This could be a whole new avenue of learning for him!

That was...assuming there was anything actually outside of that door...

-------------

Before long, the two would arrive in the atrium, at which time, several ponies appeared to be volunteering for something. While Fields couldn't be sure what exactly it was, due to having come in late, some of the ponies volunteering were very important, so it seemed like whatever this task they were signing up for must also be of extreme importance!

It was at this point that Field made a split-second decision. If so many important ponies were volunteering for whatever this was, why shouldn't he? His intellect would no doubt be a boon in the success of...whatever this was...and perhaps in doing so, his fellow stable dwellers would finally start acknoledging him as the genius he was, and give his an actually fitting placement in the stable, rather then the lowly engineer position he was currently stuck with!

"Very well then, I suppose I shall go too!"

He stated, trying to act non-chalant about his decision.

Lucky Clover's pupils shrank to dots; she had no idea what her brother or the other ponies in the Stable were volunteering for, and for somepony with Lucky's limited capacity for thought, the action seemed out of character and strange.

Either way, Lucky didn't want to spend her afternoon without a brother to chat with, so in an instant, her hoof shot up and she shouted.

"Me too! I wanna go!"