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

[Taking over for Pendant, for the time present.]

[Pardons...but I am going to spare a few embellishments for the moment. Pendant's asked me to get the thread past this stage, "so the real fun can begin".]

"...that's all," said the Overmare as she looked over the eight volunteers, "the lift can only hold ten at a time."

She indicated that the technician near the Vault door's control panel should proceed, and watched momentarily as the stallion entered a passcode into a miniature terminal, and threw the switch. With a heavy clank, and the distant rumbling of gears, the door was set into motion. Those of the Vault gathered in the atrium watched agape at what occurred next.

An arm with a screw-like end descended from the ceiling, to connect the door with a loud whirring and a click. The massive, gear-shaped slab of iron, stamped with a large "2" in the center, ground against the metal around it as the arm pulled back, and it screeched in protest as it came away from the walls, set itself into notches in the floor. It rolled aside heavily, and exposed what lay beyond; an unlit, damp, rough stone passage hewn out of the rock. It was blanketed in heavy shadows, so that none could see past a certain point.

The Overmare spoke; "Do not let the darkness intimidate you! It is a short passage, and we have lights. At the end of the tunnel you will find a lift, which will take you to the surface. We shall follow."

She motioned for a member of security to come forward, dropping a bin full of reflective, round-shaped goggles and masks reminiscent of what surgeons would wear. Also in this container were a number of heavy, block-shaped flashlights that could be clipped to one's suit.

"Now these, are for once you all reach the surface. After spending so much time down here with 'artificial light', your eyes will need time to adjust to the sun. As for the mask, it is merely to keep any nasties away. Can't afford to catch a strain of the cold on such a glorious day, neh? So take these, and proceed into the tunnel!"

(Also accompanying the group of 8 are 1 member of security, and 1 technician)

Despite Key's practiced apathy, even he was impressed as the massive slab of metal slid open, revealing-for the first time since it closed- the tunnel to the outside world. Then of course the Overmare had to ruin the impression by telling them not to worry about the dark, that they had lights-like we were all foals afraid of the dark.

Despite the rather lame start to her instructions, Key kept listening as she had the security officer drop the box full of stuff im front of them and explained what it was inside the box. Once she was finished blabbering on, Key wasted no time in- quite possibly the first time ever-obeying her instructions, putting on the goggles amd mask, clipping the flashlight on and stepping into the tunnel; not looking back once.

Nodding, Dr.Beans trotted towards the lift after watching the it opening with ear-jarring grinding and an ominously lengthy amount of time where-in it was still opening.

The Overmare was saying something, she didn't care though, that darkness looked like it could swallow a pony whole with ease. During this time, Dr.Beans looked over all the ponies who were going along.

There was that ganger mare, Cascade, she'd had to treat her once or twice after that gang's little antics. Honestly, it would be good if she ditched the ganger persona when they got to the surface. Beans herself wasn't a good role model either, but gangers weren't much better.

Then a white-ish pony, she didn't recall his name, she'd never really seen him around either. So she had no opinion of this pony.

Thirdly, Aurora Dawn... By Celestia did this mare have a fucking ego. That was all she needed to know about that one.

Fourth, Long Shot. Security pony and that was it, she'd seen the mare occasionally when she'd had less agreeable times with blunt objects or angry ponies, but she was competent enough to protect others when required.

Fifth, Bright Skies. A somewhat depressed older pony, he'd hit harder times than she had, that was for sure. But she didn't know too much about him either, other than he worked in maintenance.

And two other ponies, siblings, if she could remember rightly. Clover Field and Lucky Clover. They'd been in a few times if only because of a few accidents.

All in all, this team could easily be as doomed as it was filled.

Being given a light and a breathing mask, Dr.Beans fitted the mask on with ease and clipped the light in place. "I guess we best get a move on then." She said before moving onto the elevator and waiting.

Long Shot smiled at the other security pony that brought in the box full of equipment. "So what have you brought for us, Insy?" Sudden Insight was one of the security ponies Shot knew from causal talks and occasional meetups, but beside that, both of them knew very little of each other.

The smile turned into a somewhat disappointed one when Insight opened the box. Shot hoped for at least few guns. This was... not it. Still, she pulled on the goggles, the warning they were given about strong light made more than enough sense to her. Then she clipped the flash light on her helmet and looked at the others, checking if they put on the safety goggles correctly. Despite being rather lenient in her security duties, she didn't wanted anyone going blind on her watch.

Lucky's ears drew back as it dawned on her. 'They're talking about going to the surface.' Clover might have immediately shied away from the quest, backed out of her commitment, if it weren't for her brother's willingness to follow through with this mission. Lucky Clover was not an adventurous pony.

Her hooves were shaking as she tried to maintain her composure, and keep herself together. She grabbed onto the mask with numb hooves, strapping it to her face as she stared into the abysmal darkness through the Stable door. She donned the goggles as well.

"So, uhh... anypony know what the surface is like? Is it dangerous? Do we have to do this right now?"

Aurora was ready to stride forth into the dark, lead the group, inspire them, place them in awe. That was what she was here for. They needed her to lead them. Even now, as she listened to their petty mumblings…

"I guess we best get a move on then."

"So, uhh... anypony know what the surface is like? Is it dangerous? Do we have to do this right now?"

Such a lack of confidence. They truly needed her and her brand of leadership. She’d need the green security pony who was coming along (What was her name? Aurora mentally reviewed the Stable personnel files. Long Shot, that’s who it was) to support her. Long Shot would likely have her way of doing things, so getting the green mare on side would be important.

Still, that could be dealt with later. For now, her ponies needed her. She balked slightly at the goggles with the mask, and at the chunky flashlights. They wouldn’t do much to accentuate her looks. For now, though, she had more important things to do.

“Come on, everypony, follow me, and follow closely. We’ll do this together!” She strode into the dark, head held aloft, only letting her eyes waver from their intended destination to briefly look back at her mother, her glance betraying a goodbye.

Cascade landed with a soft clunk onto the metal floor and did her best to ignore the overbearing grandiloquence of the Stable door. She wasn’t about to let the Stable’s silly pomp get the better of her wits in their last minutes together, no ma’am.

The Overmare was still talking, so Cascade listened. Not like there was anything else to do. Oh, bright lights and sniffles; so much for the notorious deadliness of the outside. Wait.. was that some kind of... truncated neigh? Was the Overmare going batty or something? Was that why she was sending ponies outside? Maybe they were in some serious horse apples, after all.

As her eyes wandered to one side, she caught... that doctor looking at her. She returned the glance with a surly expression of her own. Did she think Cascade was gonna cause problems? Was that it? Sure, she might be a little rough around the edges, but at least she didn’t have a drug problem!

“What the hay are you looking at?”

She walked over to the bin of stuff and pulled out a set of goggles and a flashlight with her teeth. Bobbing for safety equipment. The image of a Stable Health and Safety–themed party popped into her mind, with ponies... She couldn’t think of any other jokes. She’d never been to a party before.

She pulled the goggles over her head – ugh, man, these were uncomfortable. She moved them up so they sat over her eyes; at least that way she could pretend she was... some kind of cool pegasus action hero or something. Not that she knew of any cool pegasus action heroes.

"So, uhh... anypony know what the surface is like?” she heard somepony say. “Is it dangerous? Do we have to do this right now?"

Cascade didn’t recognise her – or any of this lot, for that matter, except for the doctor, whose name escaped her, and the two hounds; she didn’t know their names, but she’d seen them plenty of times. Still, what a dumb question. Hadn’t she listened to anything the Overmare had said?

“Of course nopony knows what it's like,” she grumbled as she tried to figure out how the stupid flashlight clip was supposed to work. “Nopony’s been out there in ages.”

When the prissy pony with the purple mane spoke, Cascade just rolled her eyes, kept quiet, and followed. Great, somepony who already thought they were in charge and probably had no idea what they were even leading these ponies into. This was going to be a long first day in the new old world.

Field's eyes would have widened slightly as it dawned on him what he had volunteered for, as he felt botht he emotions of panic and excitement well up within him. he had volunteered to be one of the first ponies to set hoof back on the surface! Possibly the first pony to set foot on the surface in hundreds of years!

Field could see it now...thousands of years from now, ponies would remember his name as the incredible genius who used his astounding intellect to lead the stable ponies in the right direction, and revive the nation of Equestria as a world of Intellectualism! He would be a living legend! They might even build a statue! Multiple statues!

Clover Field was so lost in his daydream, that he only just barely registered his sister's question, as he responded.

"I don't know Lucky, but I do know what is out there...my destiny!"

He stated with gusto, as he donned the light and mask, and pocketed his glasses, snapping the goggles on in their place.

Bright Skies examined his mask and found it to be wanting compared to nearly all of the gear down in maintenance. However that gear was for dealing with the arcane generator and other nasty things that the maintenance levels held. The surface shouldn't be nearly that bad, right? Bright Skies suddenly wasn't so sure, he looked back toward the inside of the Stable then toward the Elevator. "Right well. Lets be off then!"

He stepped into the elevator, using his magic to apply both the meager mask and the goggles. The latter of which seemed entirely superfluous, but who cared about that, goggles were always in style. He grinned inside the mask, a nervous one at that, less was on his mind than some of the others. His anxieties sat in the atrium, manifesting in physical form as a mare in the crowd, a former wife and lover. He lost his smile, replaced just with a frown.

"Well we're all in now, right?" He looked around for any stragglers, "Lets get this started! I wanna see the damn surface already!"

The lift, at the end of the dim tunnel, was nothing like they had ever used in the stable. It was a large, open, metal platform, colored queasy shades of brown and green due to a millenia's worth of corrosion. At each corner it slotted into a long, vertical metal beam, which ran up the shaft and disappeared into the darkness above them. It appeared that the platform was somehow drawn up, or otherwise propelled vertically, at each corner. On one side, a simple control panel stood.

As everyone walked onto the platform, it occured to some that many more ponies could fit in the space. It was, after all, the size of a standard Vault quarters.

Before anypony could voice this, however, the technician set the elevator in motion with the screech of rusted metal and grinding gears. There were a few sparks at first, and a jolt, before it began to ascend at a rather ponderous rate.

They were on their way.

Key continued into the lift and promptly found a spot in the back corner to stand in, figuring that on the off chance that they were devoured by horrible irradiated beast qs soon as they stepped out, he was not gonna be first. Let that stuck up administrative mare go first, at least if ahe got eaten then there would be no big loss.

Yawning inside his mask as he waited for the rather slow lift, he seemed entirely underwhelmed by the fact that he was leaving the vault and everything he once knew, behind.

Clover's eyes shrank to dots as the lift began to ascend. "Oh dear Princess Celestia," she muttered, as fear welled up inside of her. Her hooves began to shake, and her breathing grew more and more rapid. She wrapped a hoof around her brother Clover Field, and stared up into the darkness.

Lucky focused on taking deep breaths, which helped calm her only slightly. "S-so," she stuttered, glancing at the ponies surrounding her. Maybe a round of introductions would ward off the impending sense of doom that she felt. "Uh, My name's Lucky Clover, nice to meet all. I'm, uh... one of the entertainers, I sing. That's about all I'm good at."

Dr.Beans gave the Basilisk ganger a confused look before shrugging slowly. "Would you be offended if I said your ass?" The mare asked in her usual tone before they were all on their way up on this lift, she didn't give her a chance to respond because despite her slow brain, she still caught onto things quickly enough.

Going up almost unendingly, it felt, Dr.Beans looked over to the filly giving an introduction. "Dr. Senzu Beans. I've treated plenty of ponies in the stable, but that's it. Nothing extra."

Key listened to the other couple of ponies give introductions. Dr. Beans he knew of a little bit, but the jumpy one, Lucky Clover, he had never met. Well he might have, but honestly, unless he had a special reason not to, he forgot names and faces pretty soon after he saw them-saves more space for important things.

Once Dr. Beans finished, he figured he may as well speak up, since he didn't imagine that many, if any of them knew who he was. Normally that would be good, but he had to work with them. Speaking up from his corner without looking up.

"I'm Keyring. But I'm called "Skeleton" Key or just Key."

After a pause taken to think this line through he added.

"Oh and I'm a theif."

Normally he would've never said anything that blatant, but he had a cushion now. There was no going back from the moment the lift started to rise. They needed him as much as he needed them. They were all in this together, and they weren't likely to throw away a pony with his skill set. And even then what could they do, arrest him?

Bright Skies touched his hoof to his chin as he stood in the lift, a lift clearly meant to hold dozens of ponies and not just the ten that the Overmare had suggested. He wasn't surprised by that, better to only lose ten ponies if the surface turned out to be particularly hideous, than to lose thirty or forty. It made perfect sense, at least to Skies it did and as it turned out it seemed that even if she lost the group on the lift, the Overmare wouldn't be losing the cream of the Stable anyway.

As the introductions began one name stuck with him and kept the hoof at his chin, 'Skeleton'... The eureka moment was so sudden and sharp it would have caused the lightbulb to explode. "Oh! I know you! You're my favorite read on the Security Blotters!" He pointed his hoof at Key and grinned, "I'm Bright Skies, big fan of your work, gives me something to do, work on better locks, watch to see if you break through them. Bright point in my week is reading the blotter to see if you broke into a room I upgraded the lock on. One of these days I'm gonna beat you."

Skies looked up then back at Key with a sheepish grin, hidden behind a surgical mask which the technician knew wouldn't be enough if there really was all that much nasty stuff up top. "Sorry, never figured I'd be in the same elevator as you, going up to the surface to face near certain doom." He put his hoof down and shrugged, "Anyway, I'm Bright Skies, Technician. You name it I probably have to know how to fix it or jury rig it." He looked around the Elevator at the components, "'Cept this wasn't in any of the manuals. Just as well that I don't have to fix it!" He laughed, genuinely amused by the thought. Riding to sure doom was strangely uplifting for his spirits, perhaps it was the rising purpose of it all; being the first ponies to set hoof on the surface in Goddesses knows how many years.

Bright wasn't thinking too hard about it, he was focused now more on remembering faces and names.

(Took a small liberty there, hope it's OK D: If not I can rework it.)

“Would you be offended if I said your ass?”

“No! I mean... shut up.” Cascade gritted her teeth, despite the flush in her cheeks. She... wasn’t expecting that response. And she didn’t appreciate being messed with. “What the hay is your problem, Greeny?”

As the lift ascended, Cascade kept her back to the wall and an eye on that blue-maned unicorn in the corner. He looked familiar, though she couldn't put a hoof on it. And he kinda gave her the creeps, too.

After a few brief introductions from some of the others, Blue Mane went next. “I'm Keyring. But I'm called ‘Skeleton’ Key or just Key.”

Oh, that guy.

“Oh and I'm a theif.”

She didn't really like that guy.

“Oh! I know you!” chirped some old-timer who must've stumbled into the lift by mistake. “You're my favorite read on the Security Blotters!”

Cascade could get something impressive into the security blotters if she wanted to. She just didn't want to.

“I'm Bright Skies,” the old-timer continued, “big fan of your work–”

“Oh, big deal.”

... Did she just say that out loud?

Key had to grin as Bright Skies talked, who didn't like having his ego stroked. Normally hearing that the security was keeping a weekly tab on him would have been rather concerining, but at this point, it didn't really matter any more. And after thinking about it for a second he put another thing together that only made his grin bigger. The way that Skies had phrased it made it sound like the security knew it was him but could never pin it on him.

"Nice to meet you Skies. Wasn't quite expecting to find someone who appreciated what I do. I welcome you to try and make a lock I can't crack."

Key was honestly quite suprised by the lack of hostility and overal positivity of the respons---

"Oh, big deal."

There it was. Turning his gaze to the pony who spoke he tried to remember her name. He knew it had something to do with water. Torrent? Downpour? Cascade? That was it. Cascade. He knew her a little, she was from the Basilisks.

"You got something to say?"

Field would subconciously lift a hoof to pat his little sister on the back when she reached out to him, however, his mind was focused on listening to all of the introductions going on, few of which he had to say impressed him...though he especially wasn't too sure about some of the more 'brutish' sounding ponies in this group. At least there would be someone to do the heavy lifting.

Either way, it appeared it was now his turn to speak. With a slightly dramatic throat-clearing, he introduced himself.

"I suppose it is my turn now. I am Clover Field. As for information about me, I do not believe it would be hubris for me to call myself something of a savant, possibly even a personification of genius, if I do say so myself. However, I doubt many of you would recognize this, due to an unfortunate decision to keep my mind locked away in engineering, rather then where it could actual be useful..."

The last part was muttered fairly bitterly, but Field's voice quickly went back to it's incredibly arrogant and smug tone.

"However, I suppose the engineers were all quite lucky to have me, even if I never was able to catch anyone's eye enough to actually raise higher on that ladder then a simple wrenchjockey in the depths of the stable... And now that we're leaving the Stable, my intellect is free to be used for what it was destined to be!"

Aurora strode onto the elevator proudly, having complete faith in the designers of long past that they would be brought to the surface. Even through the jolts and sparks, she didn’t let her faith be shaken.

She was conflicted between standing in the centre, so attention would naturally be drawn to her, or stand near the exit, so that she could better control and direct these ponies. After a moment of deliberation, she settled on standing near the elevator entrance.

She smiled at Lucky Clover as the mare introduced herself and what she did in the Stable. Aurora quickly filed it away. Not the most useful profession, she’d have thought, but the surface was an unknown. Before she could say anything suitably reassuring or inspiring, though, her attention was snatched by the doctor pony. What was that she’d just said about asses? What an odd doctor pony. Perhaps her history with mind-altering drugs had coarsened her decorum. She briefly raised an eyebrow at the yellow pegasus’ response to the doctor. Did those two know one another? Something to investigate later, she supposed.

A cream-coloured pony lurking towards the back of the elevator caught her attention. Something seemed... off about him. Then, he revealed who he was. Aurora narrowed her eyes. So, he was a criminal. Great. Just who had organised this group anyway? Now, she’d have to make sure he didn’t sabotage the group when they got out of here. Especially with that smug look on his face.

Her ire increased at the nigh fawning of the technician pony, Bright Skies, over the criminal’s record. “There’s nothing good about breaking into places, Mister Skies. Those places are locked to stop ponies from hurting themselves, or getting access to things they simply shouldn’t have access to.” Her eyes flicked momentarily to Doctor Beans. “Like chems.”

She sighed softly, turning her head to a grey stallion who introduced himself as Clover Field. There was apparently some sort of familial relation between him and Lucky Clover. For a moment, she wished she had her files with her, so she could quickly read up on what they did. Not that it mattered, as Clover decided to rather egocentrically explain himself anyway.

“My, my, somepony thinks highly of themselves. Your enthusiasm for your profession is admirable, but your intellect’s destiny is beholden to me. I am Aurora Dawn, senior pony resources manager, and I am in charge of this expedition.” She gave him a condescending smile. “Perhaps you should place more effort on demonstrating that talent than on telling everypony about it, hmm?”

Before she could say anything else, Key was already looking at her like she'd just tipped a bucket of paint over his head. Well, she might as well keep going. “Shut your keyhole,” she said dismissively, turning away to look at something that didn't piss her off so much. “Nopony likes a blowhard.”

Milder than she'd been expecting. She guessed her heart just wasn't in it today.

As the introductions kept going around, Cascade figured she should probably chip in; if she was gonna be trapped outside with these chumps for the indefinite future, she should probably at least make some attempt to get along with them. “I'm Cascade. Just another chump that got played by that batty old mare downstairs.”

She looked at Aurora Dawn – why did that name sound sort of familiar? – as she explicitly declared herself in charge and then proceeded to insult the arrogant science pony. Was this toff serious? “Excuse me, princess? Who put you in charge?”

Dr. Beans was more or less quiet after Cascade's reaction to her retort, not really in a mood to continue the discussion. This was about the time when Key joined the discussion, apparently there was now a nice and easy way to acquire what she needed without paying an insane amount of bits for it. That was always good, free stuff.

Cascade didn't seem too pleased about the praise given to Key by Bright Skies, probably because it made her look like less of a rebelious pony. So she was just calling him a blowhard for now.

And speaking of blowhards... Both Clover Field and Aurora decided it was their time to try and put themselves at the top of the chain, the latter causing Cascsde to once more react negatively. Despite having lived in the Stable with them, you could learn a lot about others after a short time with them.

Dr.Beans mumbled something similar to a "shut up" as she was looked at by Aurora though, mostly an insecure method of self defence from any negative attention garnered by the mare's look.

Above all, it looked like Cascade was going to be a problem, like the rest of them would in some way. She could chip in, try and halt the imminent argument here and now, but she didn't have to, she could let the both of them verbally claw at one another...

"Okay... Aurora, Cascade, could we not have this argument when we're outside? I may not be the only one who doesn't care about who is leading, but save it until we're on solid ground." The doctor said, placing a hoof on the floor between the pair.

Bright Skies blushed a bit as he admiration for Key's skills became an issue, "Sorry, it's just that, a stallion without a mare needs something to give his life purpose... I chose to try and keep him," he jabbed a hoof at Skeleton Key, "out of those places. You've misunderstood me, I don't so much blindly admire his abilities as I found them to be something to focus on." He shook his head and then took a few steps back toward the wall of the elevator.

He refused to angst further on his background, "Well if anything it's good to have met all of you." He turned his gaze on the administrator on the elevator, "Miss Aurora, since you're pony resources, perhaps you can tell us why they gave us such a flimsy breathing apparatus." He used his magic to snap the elastic on his breathing mask, "If there was real worry, shouldn't we be wearing like something from Reactor Maintenance, some equipment with decent filtering? This thing is for like keeping out the cold when it's running around the Stable."

He laughed awkwardly, putting a hoof behind his head for a moment before continuing, "Sorry, I don't mean to sound paranoid, I'm sure it's not even half as bad as everypony's worried about, I mean that's why the door opened, right?" He presented the question more to the group than Aurora, "Cause the surface radiation is down low enough to be unremarkable." His eyes spoke the next 'right?'. He hoped he hadn't jinxed the entire expedition to die a quick radiation fueled death.

The other technician aboard, a stallion Bright Skies knew as Screwy (his full name being Screw Loose), turned his head in Skies' direction at the comment on the masks.

"I don't think they had enough of them to outfit everypony in the Stable. Besides...you all should quit your worrying. The radiation should be gone by now, nothing should remain that can hurt us." he said, smiling, before turning back to the panel. As he said this, far above them, a faint light could be seen growing. Nothing more than a shade of darkness lighter, but still noticeable. The black became gray, which became a dingy yellow.

They were approaching the top, after nearly ten minutes of scattered conversation, interspersed with silence.

Dr.Beans stopped bothering with the attempt to keep the ganger and the bossy pony from clashing for now as the faint light of something was slowly growing towards them. What the hell was that?

She kept her gaze focused on the light slowly nearing them and waited with anticipation. "We're almost out..." She quietly said as she didn't really think over what had been said about the radiation. "I hope we're not the only peaceful ones out there."

The member of Vault Security, who was not Long Shot, made an idle comment about Cuppa's statement; "What makes you think there will be anyone out there? Our forefathers made these Vaults for a reason."