ace gave he a smile back after she hugged him "your welcome, and yes we should" he said leading her to the elevator
When they got to the canteen, they discovered that the automated kitchen was up and running again, and the robotic lunch pony was able to offer them a number of meals. Max choose a vegetable stew, and sat at one of the booths, waiting for Ace.
ace got the same thing and sat next to her on the same booth "going to need to make thats so it only cooks when were in here, or well quickly waste food" he told her
Max smiled and nodded. "That would probably be a good idea." She ate some of her food, then put the spoon down and looked at Ace. "I... I need to tell you something. About my Stable, about why I'm out here alone." She sighed and looked at the table. This was not going to be easy, but she needed to tell him. He needed to know what kind of a mare she really was.
"Me and four others... we were all that were left. But... they knew they didn't deserve to live; not after what we did. They shot themselves, but I couldn't do it." She looked up from the table with tears in her eyes. "We... we killed them. We killed our Stable, because we were too afraid to do anything..."
((omg wow i had been thinking on doing a character about that vault story i have no complainants about it im really just impressed someone else thought of doing it)) ace putt a hoof around her and pulled her towards him to give her some comfort "hay, hay,....tell me what happened"
(Vault 11, right? I wondered if you'd recognise it Thought it was a pretty good backstory.) Max looked at the table again, before continuing her story. "Do you know how Stables work? They're led by an Overseer; kind of like the mayor of the Stable. Well in our Stable, we voted in our Overseer, but we didn't vote in the best candidate to lead, we voted in the pony we could most do without; after a certain time in office, the Stable would demand the Overseer sacrifice themselves. If they didn't, the whole Stable would be flooded with poison gas, and we would all die." She paused for a moment to catch her breath and wipe her eyes. "Every time an Overseer walked to their death, we elected another. Pony after pony after pony..." She stared at the table, a haunted look in her eyes. "So many ponies...." She looked at Ace. "Eventually, the Stable started demanding sacrifices more and more frequently... and we complied. At first it had been easy; sending in criminals, the terminally ill, noble volunteers... but soon it was family, friends... We knew we were safe, we five; we were doctors and engineers, the only ones who could keep ponies alive, and so we sentenced them to death to save ourselves, until we were the only ones left." She closed her eyes and hung her head. "It was only then that we finally decided enough was enough; we confronted the Stable's mainframe, told it we wouldn't choose who would be next to die; told it we would give it no more sacrifices, and waited for it to kill us all." "But it didn't kill us. It told us that this had been a test. Called us noble for not giving in and sacrificing one for the good the many. It called us noble after we had sent so many ponies to their deaths, then it unlocked the Stable door, and told us it was safe to leave." Max looked at Ace, tears flooding down her face again. "That's when we decided; we were not noble, we were monsters, and we deserved to die, like all those we had killed. So we got a pistol from the armoury... my pistol... and... the others... but I was too much of a selfish coward, even to do that. So I took the gun, and what supplies I could carry, and I ran. Out into the wasteland..."
ace held her tighter after she was done then put his other hoof around her for a full hug as he petted her mane "im sorry you had to go thru that" he said holding her " but just think....if you had killed yourself who would be helping ponies like the mare upstairs" he then pulled back and rubbed away some of the tears away but kept his hoof on her cheek "and who would i have met instead of you....probably those bandits, and hey are defenetly not as pretty as you" he said with a smile as he looked into her eyes (i dont care what she had done in that vault....what matters is what shes done seance i met her) he thought to himself
Max nodded, sombrely. "I know. I can't undo what I did, but I can try and make up for it. To save more ponies than I killed; that's what I have to do, in order to earn any kind of redemption." She sighed and looked up at his eyes. "That's why I can't be with you. I want to; you're a great stallion, and I like you, but it wouldn't be right. It would make me happy, and I don't deserve to be happy... do I?" She looked at him with questioning eyes, filled with sorrow and regret.
"you disurve to be as happy as you want to be" he said smiling to her, he face a bit closer now, as if secretly asking for a kiss
She smiled weakly. "Well then perhaps I don't want to be happy..." She supposed it was her conscience, making her miserable for what she'd done, until she put it right.
"well then you need to be happy" he said to her not really moving "cause if your going to be the wasteland doctor your going to be dealing with a lot of death and sadness and you need something to anchor yourself to"
Max hadn't thought of that; she needed to help ponies, but Ace was right, she wouldn't be able to do that if she got so depressed by her past mistakes that she decided to feed herself a bullet... "Maybe..." She said, still thinking about it, "Maybe you're right..."
ace smiled and leaned a tiny bit closer "maybe....?" he asked questionaly ----- he new he was right cause in one of his dreams he had seen a team member kiss the butt of his gun where he had scratched his wifes name "ill be home soon" the pony had said after kissing wail the room was lit on fire later in that dream he had figured out that that had been what saved him from a mental breakdown when another team was shot infront of theyre own thus keeping him on his head to lead a counter strike ----- (we all need an anchor......please let yours be me) he thought
Max looked at him, his face so close to hers. He was very handsome... "You still want to be with me, even after all I've told you?" She asked, uncertainly.
"of coarse...." he then leaned in closer to where his lips were centimeters from hers "no matter what" he then pressed his lips into hers
ace's heart felt light as a feather till a small buzz noise happened "Please now public displays of affection wail working" one of the robots said ace backed off groaning "ugh...that is defenetly getting taken out of the mainframe" he said giving the robot a scowl, but then his face sofened as he turned to max should we check on our patent or go do some tweeking on the robots?" he asked knowing they should finish some things and leave the relationship building till later tonight
Max still had her eyes closed from the kiss, so she opened them, looking around in a daze. "Huh? Oh, um... yes, of course." She blushed a bit and coughed, trying to remember what else they had to do today. "You... said something about the kitchen? Making sure it doesn't run all the time and waste our food?" She said, thinking back. "How about we start with that?"
