*Beep, Beep, Beep*
“Ugh,” I groaned as my Pip-Buck’s new message alert went off.
*Click*
TO: Rivet Turner
FROM: DeadBolt Turner
SUBJECT: Talisman Pipe Clogged
Hey, get your ass down to water control. Something’s blocking one of the Talisman’s main output pipes. Clear it out and send me the report. And hurry the fuck up, I've already had four ponies come to me complaining and the Overmare’s getting annoyed.
I slowly pulled myself out of bed and closed the new message, dimming the glaring screen. I didn’t like mornings. Especially mornings when I’m awoken with a new message on my Pip-Buck.
A Pip-Buck is a leg mounted computer with a large variety of functions that range from item and tool management to playing radio broadcasts. There are even some functions for combat purposes but I didn’t have any use of those; they were for ponies in security. I mostly used it for sending messages, like the majority of Stable 12, and running diagnostics on maintenance equipment. As I slipped on my utility barding, I stumbled, hitting my horn on my nightstand.
*Crack*
“Fuck!” ...I really didn’t like mornings.
It was still early; most ponies were still asleep, other than some security ponies that work the late shift. Hopefully problem was just some blockage or at least something I could fix before breakfast. Talisman control was on maintenance level B, so it was a couple floors below the main level.
Unfortunately when I arrived at the Talisman room I was greeted with about a half inch of water. One of the pipes was busted and was spraying out a shower of water. This was going to take a bit longer than removing some blockage. Even walking over to the shutoff valve was enough to be completely drenched.
I levitated the new pipe into place and secured it to the couplings. While I waited for the adhesive to dry I filled out the maintenance report and sent it to DeadBolt. The pipe didn't take as long to fix as I thought it would, so I could still make it to breakfast. I turned the valve back on and made my way up to the cafeteria. As I climbed the stairs back up the main floor, a voice called to me.
“Hey, Rivet! Wait up.” It was Lugnut, another maintenance pony. He was one of the few maintenance ponies that I had ever talked to. At the moment he was carrying a bag of tools in his mouth so his speech was pretty garbled. “Haff you sheen your brother? He asked me to fetpch him shome tools and now he’sh not in his office.”
“Oh, uh, hey Lugnut. No, sorry, haven't seen him this morning.” Thank the goddesses, I thought to myself. I didn’t want to deal with him yet. “Maybe he’s working on something for the Overmare, go try her office.”
Lugnut just shifted around for a second. “You know whbat, maybe I’ll jusht wait in hish opfice. I’ll see ya around, Rifvet,” he said before walking off.
I understood why he didn’t want to go see the Overmare. Lately she’s been irritated with something. Then again, almost everypony in Stable 12 was aggravated about something.
Breakfast was almost over by the time I finally got to the cafeteria, I wasted no time getting my tray and finding a seat next to my favorite ruby-colored mare.
Instead of a pleasant greeting I was met with an irritated, “Rivet! Where have you been all morning?”
“Sorry Rose, DeadBolt had me fixing a pipe downstairs.” Rose was probably the only pony in the stable I would call a friend. I don’t know why but I found talking to her easier than most others.
“That brother of your’s always has you fixing something! Can’t he give you a break? It’s not like there aren’t enough of you ponies down there to take some of the slack.”
She wasn’t wrong about that. Here in Stable 12 you got your job assignment the day after you got your cutie mark. You would think that somepony would take your talents into consideration when giving your job. It would probably mean happier and better workers. Instead, you get whatever job needed filling. If there was nothing that needed filling you either got thrown to security or maintenance, which meant that there were a lot of maintenance ponies, most of which didn’t know the first thing about fixing anything.
“It’s fine Rose. There is a lot to fix in this stable. DeadBolt can’t handle it all.” To be honest, actually liked my job, and whenever DeadBolt didn’t have me running round all of the Stable, I was usually down in the Maintenance levels repairing anything I could find that needed fixing. Not having my brother as my boss would be a nice change, but still I couldn’t complain.
“I just think it’s unfair that you do more work than anypony else down there. Listen, I have to get to work and later I'm going to have a talk with DeadBolt.” Rose had a tendency to try solve other ponies’ problems, regardless of whether she was asked to or not.
“Please don’t. All you’ll do is make him think I’m a wimp and he’ll only add to my work load.” Not to mention probably kick my flank.
“If you refuse to talk to your brother, then I will.” She gave me an expression that told me I didn’t really have a choice in the matter.
“Ugh...Fine, I'll talk to DeadBolt about getting some more time off.” I conceded, like a foal being told to clean his room.
“Good.” As she turned to leave my Pip-Buck started beeping again.
A message from DeadBolt. Rose turned and gave me a questioning stare.
“I’ll talk to him.” I said flatly. She just smiled and walked away
TO: Rivet Turner
FROM: DeadBolt Turner
SUBJECT: Quick Job
Hey, I want you to go down to Maintenance C and run a diagnostic check on all hatches down there. One of the recyclers keeps jamming up and we need to know why before we shut it off so we can fix it quick. Get your ass down there and report to my office when your done.
“I guess I'd better eat on the way down there.” I said to myself. Then looking at the tray of various apple food products I decided to just take a plain apple. Stable 12 grew almost all its food in an orchard, and in that orchard we grew one thing: Apples.
Just about all of our food was various apple products: Apple pie, apple fritters, apple crisps, baked apples, apple sauce, apple juice, apple cider, and, of course, raw apples. Needless to say you got a little sick of them after a while. I probably would have just left without grabbing anything, but Rose worked in the orchard and I felt bad for her hard work go to waste.
Maintenance C was the lowest of the Stable’s maintenance levels, which meant it was the very bottom of the Stable. There wasn’t much down here other than the access hatches for the computers that ran some of the larger machines in the Stable. The only reason anypony ever came down here was to either check the computers or have to find some privacy. Thankfully there was nopony going at it down here today. I wasn’t always so lucky.
I unlocked the first hatch and found 5 softly glowing green monitors. I groaned. This was going to take forever. PipBucks have a cord that allows one to plug into almost any terminal. I plugged into the first one and starting running the diagnostic scan. A few minutes later the scan finished.
One issue detected, one issue resolved. The scan we used would diagnose any problems with the machines and any with the computer it was plugged into. Any malfunctions on the computer’s side would be fixed automatically by the program, but if a recycler was jamming, my Pip-Buck wasn’t going to fix it. If only it would have been that easy. I unplugged from the first terminal and started my scan on the second.
I turned on the Stable’s music broadcast to help pass the time. The Overmare only played old songs from before the war, and only a few of them were any good. I turned it off as soon as the second song started when I was met with some horrible repetitive screeching. We had more than a few ponies who were very good at singing and writing songs, I just wish the Overmare would let them put a few into the regular circulation.
I finally found the terminal that corresponded with the malfunctioning recycler after looking through about a dozen hatches. The scan revealed it needed a new belt. I was going to kill DeadBolt, I had just spent over an hour scanning terminals because a recycler needed a new belt. There were a few minor fixes that my Pip-Buck took care of but other than that I had just been wasting my time down here.
I looked over to see that there was only one hatch left. Well, I've already been down here this long, a little longer wouldn’t hurt, and it might prevent further issues. I didn’t want to come down here again anytime soon. I threw open the hatch to find it only had two more terminals inside and a plug that didn’t seem attached to anything. I tried the isolated plug, but my PipBuck didn’t even register as being plugged in, so I moved on to the two remaining terminals. No issues detected for either of them.
Just as I was closing the last hatch I got two messages in quick succession.
TO: Rivet Turner
FROM: DeadBolt Turner
SUBJECT: My Office Now!
TO: Rivet Turner
FROM: Rose Gardens
SUBJECT: Sorry!
I didn’t need to read either of them to know what had happened. Dammit Rose...
“Do you have something you want to say to me? Or are you too scared to do it yourself so you send your girlfriend to ask for time off?” DeadBolt was furious.
“DeadBolt listen I...”
“Shut up!” he interrupted, “You realize that I have almost a hundred ponies to manage everyday? Most of which don’t have the skills to do the job they’re assigned? Not like the Overmare cares, and hey if the Overmare doesn’t care, why should you?” I was quickly realizing this wasn’t just about Rose asking for some time off for me.
The brown unicorn sat down at his desk and took a hoof through his mane in frustration. “Your one of the few ponies I have that can actually do his job and you're asking for a break? The answer’s no. And tell that bitch of your’s to stay out of my business.”
Now, I was angry. “Hey, you leave Rose out of this! She only came here because I haven't had a day that I didn’t spend all of my time down here in who knows how long.”
“I don’t care. If you have a problem you come talk to me, don’t send your bitch.” I think he was intentionally trying to piss me off, and it was working.
I grabbed his barding with my magic and yanked him closer over the desk. “If you call Rose a bitch one more time, I'm going to beat you to death with your own wrench.”
He shoved me, breaking off my magic. “Fine, I'll be nicer to your-” *Beep,Beep,Beep*
He was interrupted by a message on his Pip-Buck. “Oh for Luna’s sake, I don’t have time to deal with this.” He said to himself while reading the message. “Rivet, the Overmare’s locked herself out of her terminal... again. Take the override key and unlock it. You can have the rest of the day off after that. Just get the hell out of my office.”
He sent me the override key and I left as fast as possible. The Overmare was notoriously bad with computers. She was the only pony in the Stable that managed to lock herself out on an almost weekly basis. It was surprising she even knew how to send a message on her PipBuck.
The Overmare’s office was much nicer than DeadBolt’s. It was bigger, cleaner and had a large U-shaped desk. Piles of various reports were stacked neatly on the desk. The Overmare might not have been good with computers but she was very organized.
“There you are Rivet. Hurry up and get this infernal machine working.” The Overmare didn’t have a lot of patience when something wasn’t working properly for her.
“Uh, yes, Right away ma’am.” I scrambled over to the Overmare’s desk to plug my Pip-Buck into the locked terminal. I activated the override key and the terminal began authenticating it. The process took about a minute, but wasn’t technically difficult.
The Overmare sat on one of the chairs at the other side office. She locked herself out so often that she knew complaining wasn’t going to make it take any less time, but she did seem a bit rushed. The way she tapped her hoof made her look like she was late for something.
DeadBolt had explained to her how her override key worked but she never remembered. Instead she just gave it to DeadBolt so he could take care of any lockouts himself.
The screen finally broke away from the lockout screen and recent messages flooded the screen. Most of them were just maintenance reports and complaints. But one caught my eye.
TO: Stable 12 Overmare’s Office Terminal
FROM: Stable-Tech LP Branch
SUBJECT: Re: Stable Recovery
What?
I moved the selection down to the message to open it before the Overmare snapped, “Are you almost done yet?” which made me jump a little.
“Oh, umm, yeah, yeah I'm done.” I stammered. I stared down at the terminal for a second before unplugging and stepping away from the terminal. “It’s all ready to go.”
“Ugh, about time.” She quickly started going through things on the terminal. When I didn’t leave immediately she slowly looked over to me. “ You can go now.”
“Oh, right, sorry.” I said sheepishly and I rushed out of the office.
The Overmare had a message from Stable-Tec?. How is that possible? We were always told that Stable 12 was all there was left. Did anypony else know? Maybe DeadBolt did, he was Head of Maintenance; if the Overmare had told anyone it would be him or the Head of Security.
I swung open the door to DeadBolt’s office to find a very annoyed DeadBolt and an older red unicorn mare. It was Scarlett, the Head of Security.
“Well, would you look at this. The Turner brothers in the same room, thats a rare sight.” She laughed
DeadBolt gave me a deathly stare. “What the hell are you doing here Rivet. I thought I told you to take the day off after you fixed the Overmare’s terminal.”
“Um, yeah, its just.” I looked over at the Head of Security. “I'm sorry, Scarlett, but could I talk to my brother in private?”
She looked at me quizzically. “Wow, you actually want to talk to your brother? When did you two start getting along?” She looked over at Deadbolt. “We’ll talk later.” She trotted out and I closed the door behind her.
“What do you want Rivet? I already gave you your precious time off, can’t I just work in piece?” DeadBolt said, annoyed.
“It’s just...I found something on the Overmare’s terminal after I unlocked it. I was wondering if you knew anything about it.”
He waved his hoof in a circle, in a ‘Get on with it’ gesture “And what did you find exactly?”
“There was a message from Stable-Tec, it was recently sent too.”
DeadBolt Didn’t share my apprehension. “Okay?” he said as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“How is that possible?”
He just rolled his eyes. “Have you never thought that there might be other Stables that have lasted as long as 12? ”
I had never thought of that.
“It’s probably just from a Stable that used to house Stable-Tec employees when it was built. Besides, you know as well as I do, nothing can survive on the surface.”
“You’re, right. I was probably just freaking out over nothing.” I sighed, knowing that talking about it with DeadBolt was clearly not helping. He was right, it couldn’t have come from the surface, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was weird.
“Yeah, you were. Now if you're done wasting my time.” He motioned towards the door.
I decided to head back to my room. I didn’t have a whole lot to do for the rest of the day. Rose would be working in the orchard until dinner, and I'm pretty sure that if DeadBolt caught me down in the maintenance levels again today he’d kick my flank.
“Well now what?” I said flopping down on my bed. I laid there for a while trying to think of something to pass the time. My mind kept wandering back to the message on the Overmare’s terminal. What DeadBolt said made sense, but what if it really was from the surface?
“Come on Rivet, don’t be ridiculous.” I said staring up at ceiling. “ If it was, I'm sure the Overmare would have told somepony by now...” I was lying to myself. Truth was that the Overmare probably wouldn’t tell anypony if she could avoid it.
For dinner that night we have, of course, more damn apples.
“Hey, Rivet are you okay?” Rose asked, noticing that I hadn’t touched my plate.
“Huh? Oh, yeah... I'm fine.” I tried reassuring her and smiled half-heartedly.
“Really? You seem a bit... distracted.” She looked at me with a worried look on her face. “It’s not because I talked to DeadBolt behind your back is it?” She looked away sheepishly as if I was going to scold her.
“What? No, its not that. Really, I’m fine. Actually he did end up giving me the rest of the day off anyway.”
She gave a sigh of relief. “I told you. You just needed to talk to him,” she smiled at me.
He only let me have the day off out of aggravation, rather than actually wanting to, but I’ll let her have this one. Besides I had more important things on my mind. After dinner, I was going to find out what was on that message.
Over the rest of dinner I formed a plan. Right after dinner it wouldn’t be late enough to break curfew and the Overmare won’t be in her office for the rest of the night. It would be the perfect time. No one will suspect a maintenance pony going into the Overmare’s office. The Overmare had enough technical problems to make a visit from maintenance a regular occurrence. I would get in, download the message and get out.
“I think I’m gonna turn in early tonight” I said, levitating my tray and getting up to leave.
Rose shot me another worried look. “Are you sure? You haven't eaten anything.”
“Yeah, not really hungry. I'll see you in the morning.” I put my tray away and headed out to the Overmare’s office.
“Turner!” I jumped as a voice yelled from behind me. I turned to see Scarlett trotting up to me. “Have you seen DeadBolt anywhere?”
“Uh, sorry... Haven't seen him since this morning.” What was with ponies thinking I knew where my brother was all the time? Everyone knew we didn’t get along so why do they keep asking?
“That’s strange, he usually eats dinner in his office, but he’s not there. Oh well, thanks anyway, Rivet.” She cantered off and disappeared around a corner.
I heaved a sigh of relief. For a second there, I thought somepony had already found out my plan, even though I had only devised it a matter of minutes ago.
After Scarlett, nopony noticed me making my way to the Overmare’s office. The door to her office was locked of course. Normally a locked door isn’t a problem for a pony in maintenance, since you’re given access codes for nearly every door or panel in the Stable. Higher ranking offices and personal areas would normally be an exception, but I still had the Overmare’s override key which would work on the door just as it had her terminal.
I plugged my Pip-Buck into the door’s input port and waited for it do its work.
*Click*
The door unlocked and slid open. I looked up to find DeadBolt glaring at me from behind the Overmare’s terminal.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” He hissed in a low tone.
“I could ask you the same thing.” I said in an equally low tone. Looking behind me to make sure no had seen. I moved in quickly and slid the door closed.
“You're here for the message too.” He wasn’t asking, he knew. “I should have known you’d show up.” He unplugged his Pip-Buck from the terminal. “I already downloaded a copy; I'll send it to you. Meet me in my office in an hour.”
He hurried out, leaving me stunned in the Overmare’s office. I left the office, locking it behind me before anypony noticed me.
*Beep, Beep, Beep*
TO: Rivet Turner
FROM: DeadBolt Turner
SUBJECT: FWD: RE: Stable Recovery
Here are all the messages that were on the terminal.
---Forwarded Message---
TO: Stable 12 Overmare’s office
FROM: Stable-Tech LP Branch
SUBJECT: RE:Stable Recovery
That’s great news. We will be sending a team to help you with the moving process soon. It will take some time to get everything in order, but you should begin preparations. We will send you further notice when the team is on its way.
There is one more matter I would like to discuss, however. Your Stable is in possession of certain Data Chip is that correct?
---Forwarded Message---
TO: Stable-Tech LP Branch
FROM: Stable 12 Overmare’s office
SUBJECT: RE:Stable Recovery
Yes, that was part of the Stable’s initial equipment. It is safe, don’t worry about that. We can retrieve it once your men have gotten everypony out of the Stable. How long will the moving process take?
As I’ve mentioned before, most of the ponies think that the surface is still uninhabitable, so I’m a little concerned about this transition. I’m not sure how many will be willing to leave with almost no notice.
---Forwarded Message---
TO: Stable 12 Overmare’s office
FROM: Stable-Tech LP Branch
SUBJECT: RE:Stable Recovery
Good to hear. That chip is very important. Don’t worry about the transition, I'm sure everypony will be ready to get out to the surface as soon possible. My team should be arriving sometime in the next few days.
---Forwarded Message---
TO: Stable 12 Overmare’s office
FROM: Stable-Tech LP Branch
SUBJECT: RE:Stable Recovery
My men will arrive tomorrow morning. You should inform the rest of Stable 12 of the transition plans. It would be advisable that they stay in their domiciles while we begin the moving process. We will fetch each group as we become ready for them. We look forward to meeting you, Miss Overmare, as well as the rest of the inhabitants of Stable 12.
“I guess you were right.” DeadBolt sounded as surprised as he was annoyed. It wasn’t often that I was right about something. “The last message was sent just a few hours ago.”
“DeadBolt, do you understand what this means? It means-”
“It means we can leave the stable.” He cut me off. “What's this about a data chip though? I don't have anything about it on my records.”
I waved him off. “Who cares? We’re leaving the Stable! Let the Overmare take care of it. I got to go tell Rose about this!”
I turned to go and rushed towards the door. An amber glow encompassed the door as DeadBolt held it closed with his magic. “No.”
I turned around, confused. “What do you mean no?”
“You go blabbing your mouth about this before the Overmare announces it herself and everypony will know you broke into her office and looked at her privates messages. That’s still a crime and if you get caught, I’m sure you’d drag me into it somehow. You’ll tell nopony. Everypony else will find out in the morning.”
“I suppose you’re right.” I huffed, forcing the door open with my own magic and leaving for my room.
He was right. It may not really matter anymore, but there would still be the chance that we would get punished for breaking into the Overmare’s office. It would be better not to tell anypony.
Needless to say, I didn’t get a lot of sleep that night. I was up all night thinking about what the surface must be like. If it’s not a radiated wasteland then what could it be? We had old pictures of the surface down in the school but they were so old you could hardly tell what was on them anymore.
*Beep, beep, beep*
I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I was once again awoken by the familiar sound of my Pip-Buck beeping at me.
TO: Rivet Turner
FROM: DeadBolt Turner
SUBJECT: Atrium lights
Apparently some foals were playing around last night and broke one of the lights in the atrium. There are spares in the supply closet on that floor. Take care of it, and when you're done come to my office.
Seriously? We both knew we would be leaving today but he still had to make me work? Maybe he was just trying to make it look like a regular day or maybe he just really liked making me work.
“Ugh...” I groaned and began getting ready. Even today, I was not a morning pony.
On my way to the atrium the speakers in the halls burst with static then cleared to the Overmare’s voice.
“Attention Stable 12, I have very important news. I have been in contact with Stable-Tech over the last few weeks. The surface is safe again. They have sent a team to help us prepare to move out of the stable and into our new homes on the surface. They should be here within the hour. If you're not currently on duty, stay in your rooms until the Stable-Tech team can assist you. That is all”
The Overmare certainly didn't mince words. The ponies in the hall were stunned silent. I had expected to hear a roar of joy when that announcement got made, but I guess the news was more of a shock than anything. The two security mares that were doing the morning patrols stopped and started whispering to each other. A few foals that had gotten up early to play rushed by me and back to their parents. As for me, I still had a light to fix. Not that it would take more than a few minutes.
As I was screwing the cover for the light back on, I heard Rose calling me from down the hall.
“Rivet, there you are! Can you believe it? We’re actually leaving the Stable!” She was nearly bouncing with excitement. When she noticed what I was doing, her excitement turned to annoyance. “Wait. Does DeadBolt seriously have you working right now?
“Yeah, he does.” I murmured dismissively. “And I don’t really believe it. It all seems crazy.” I was as excited as she was but it was still shocking. Until yesterday I had expected to live my entire life down here and now we were leaving.
“I'm gonna go to my room and get ready. Am I going to see you before we leave?”
“DeadBolt said he wanted to talk to me after I fixed the light, but I'll stop by your room after that.”
She gave me a warm smile. “Good, I'll see you in a bit then.” She trotted off to start packing.
I finished putting on the light cover then headed down to the Maintenance Head’s office. DeadBolt was still working when I walked in.
“About time.” He grumbled as I entered. “You should delete those messages off your Pip-Buck” His tone was flat. He was the only pony I had seen today that wasn’t excited yet.
“Is that seriously all you called me down here for? And why are you still so damn glum? Cheer up, we’re leaving!”
“I'll be excited when we get to the surface. Until then, its business as usual.” DeadBolt hadn’t bothered to so much as look away from his terminal to talk to me. “Now delete those messages. I would rather not have anypony find out about that business, even after we get to the surface.”
I rolled my eyes and proceeded to delete the messages. “There are you happy? They’re gone. Can I go now?”
Before he could answer we heard a loud metallic screech ring pierced through the Stable. It took me a moment to realize what it could have been. The door just opened, the Stable was actually open.
“I’ll see you on the surface, DeadBolt. I’m going to see Rose before we all get out of here.”
My brother sat back in his chair and glanced at the ceiling. “Fine with me, go see your mare. I’ll see you later, little brother.” DeadBolt sounded strange, almost nice. I think he was just as excited as everyone else but didn’t want to show it.
I had gotten to the stair leading to the atrium when I heard a strange noise. Several loud cracks that echoed through the halls. It took me a second to realize what the sound was. You didn’t hear it a lot in Stable 12, usually only when the new recruits were being trained for security detail.
“Gunshots?” Why the hell were there gunshots? I turned on a feature of my PipBuck that I didn’t use very often, The Eyes Forward Sparkle. It was typically only used by security, and gave a visual display of lifeforms nearby.
Instantly I saw a flood of white and red bars. Red bars indicated bodies with neural activity that suggested hostility towards the user. My mind was racing, and I noticed the white bars were slowly disappearing, one by one. What the hell was going on?
I galloped upstairs and the gunshots growing louder. The sound of screaming ponies accompanied the shots. I almost reached the atrium when I heard a voice that couldn’t have been anyone in the Stable.
“Heheheh, these Stable bitches die good.” The voice sounded like he had eaten sandpaper.
“Yeah, but the suit didn’t say there would be security to shoot back at us.” Came another voice. This one was arguably female but with the same sandpaper quality of the first one.
“Just makes it more fun.” Said the first voice again.
I peered around the corner to where the two ponies were standing. One was a dark brown stallion with a knife cutie mark and a matching knife strapped to his side. The other was a yellow mare. She had what looked like a metal pineapple for a cutie mark. They were decorated in large pieces of rubber and bones. They were greasy and covered in dirt; it looked like neither of them had bathed in years. Who the hell were these ponies?
“Hey! There’s another one!” The mare yelled and they ran off down the opposite hall.
“I got to find Rose” I said to myself shakily.
I started down the hall, but stopped almost immediately at the sight of a pony I knew. Or used to know. Now she laid in front of me, her body torn to pieces and her blood splattered over the walls. It was a green unicorn mare who worked in security. I remembered her name was Jade. I never knew her last name.
My stomach convulsed at the sight. “Sweet Celestia...” I said as I wiped the vomit from my mouth. I noticed the blood wasn’t just splattered, it was smeared over the walls, as if it was done intentionally. I didn’t know Jade very well but she didn’t deserve that. Nopony deserved that. I tried to put the dismembered pony out of my mind. I had to find Rose, I had to make sure she was okay.
The hall Rose lived in was covered in blood. There was a body of a filly in the middle of the hall. There was a gaping hole in the back of her head. I slowly made my way down the hall, watching for the ponies responsible, and also trying to avoid stepping in too much blood. There wasn’t any of the attacking ponies as far as i could see.
My EFS caught two more lights as I approached Roses room. One was white, the other red. Both coming from Rose’s room.
“Help! Somepony!” I heard Rose screaming from behind her door.
“Shut up, slut! Nopony’s coming.”
Before I realized what I was planning to do, I looked around for a possible weapon. There was a yellow medical kit on the wall, it was the closest thing that would be hard enough to hurt anypony.
Swinging the door open, I heard the Stallion grunting and saw him wrestling around. Rose was pinned under him screaming. He had a revolver gripped in his mouth, pointed at her head. I slammed the metal case into his head as hard as I could. It connected with a sickening wack! He dropped the gun and fell off Rose.
My head started spinning and my vision was both crystal clear and totally dark. I felt myself doing things but I wasn’t thinking at all.
*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG CLICK CLICK CLICK*
I was shaking when I regained my awareness. I had unloaded the weapon into the pony’s head. Brains and fragments of bone shot out of the pony’s skull and blood covered the back wall of Rose’s room.
Rose had curled up in the opposite corner of the room. She was sobbing uncontrollably. I dropped the gun, which landed with a thud, and ran to hold her. She buried her head in my chest crying. I looked down. Her barding was ripped off her hind legs and there was blood between them.
“It’s okay, it’s okay...” I took my hoof through her mane and tried to think of something to say to calm her down, “I’m here now...” I looked over at the pony I just murdered. After what that bastard had done to Rose, I felt no remorse for killing him.
*Beep Beep Beep* My Pip-Buck’s message alarm
TO: Rivet Turner
FROM: DeadBolt Turner
SUBJECT: Where are you?
Rivet, are you okay? Me, Scarlett and a few others are barricaded down in maintenance B, near the emergency stairs. Get down to maintenance, if you can.
I messaged him back right away.
TO: Deadbolt Turner
FROM: Rivet Turner
SUBJECT: RE: Where are you?
I'm fine. I'm with Rose right now. None of them near us at the moment. If I can get Rose to move I’ll try to get down to you guys as soon as I can. I have one of their guns and it looks like he had more ammo on him.
TO: Rivet Turner
FROM: DeadBolt Turner
SUBJECT: Re: Where are you?
Sweet Celestia. Be careful Rivet.
I closed the message. Rose’s crying was slowing but she didn’t seem like she was in any shape to move.
“Rose, listen to me. We need to get down to maintenance, DeadBolt and some others are down there.”
She slowly looked up at me, tears were still streaming down her face.
“Do you think you can move?”
She shakily nodded, not saying a word. I slowly moved her off of me and walked over to the dead pony. I picked the gun back up and searched him for some more ammo. He had enough to fill the revolver plus three extra shots, nine total. I had never shot a gun before today, not sure if I could hit anything if I didn’t have it pressed against the target. I helped Rose to her hooves and we started to make our way down the hall to the atrium.
Rose didn’t make a sound as we passed by the dead filly in the hall. I could only imagine what else was inside each of these rooms.
Two red lights popped up on the E.F.S. They were around the corner; we had to go through them to get to the stairwell. I peered around the corner, neither of the ponies were looking this way. I turned the corner and activated SATS, Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell. I had only used SATS once before when killing some Rad Roaches that made their way into lower levels.
Time slowed to a crawl. SATS was a targeting spell. It slowed time relative to the user, giving you time to aim your shots very precisely. Each shot that you aim uses a portion of the SATS’s charge, which recharges after some time.
Two shots into the farther one, one for the closer pony. All aimed for their heads. Three shots was all I had charge for.
*BANG*
The first shot missed. SATS helped you aim, but accuracy was still up to the user.
*BANG*
The second one hit home, sending the disgusting pony’s brains out the other side of his head.
*BANG*
The last shot skimmed harmlessly off the other ponies cobbled-together armor.
Time began returning to normal speed. The pony didn’t miss a beat after seeing his comrade shot in front of him. He reeled around and readied a strange gun. It was larger than any that I had seen before. He fired it, sending a blast of pellets at me.
“Agh” I spun back around the corner, a few pellets had made it into my foreleg. My utility barding had absorbed much of the force of the shot, so it wasn’t a terrible wound, but damn did it hurt.
“Come on out! Maybe if you surrender, I'll only kill ya.” He laughed as he approached, firing off a second shot into the wall.
I levitated the revolver around the corner and fired blindly.
*BANG Clang* “Fuck!” the pony was surprised by the ricochet, but unharmed.
SATS had recharged enough for one more shot. While he was still distracted I turned and popped into SATS. One shot, make it count, Rivet.
*BANG*
I opened a hole in his head. SATS was a terrifying spell. It allowed for someone as inexperienced with guns as me to land shots that could maim or kill.
I filled the revolver with the rest of the ammo I had. Four shots left with it. I picked up the gun the other pony had. My Pip-Buck registered it as a shotgun. Just looking at it I could tell it was not a well maintained weapon. Lucky for me, if it was in better condition the shot I took might have been pretty bad. It hurt but it didn’t need immediate attention. I didn’t even think to bring the medical kit with me.
Rose was staring at my bleeding leg.
“It’ll be okay Rose.”
We finally made it to the stairwell down to maintenance when I heard another voice. This one was different from the others. It didn’t have the insanity or the sandpaper-like qualities the other had. Three red lights showed up on the EFS
“What is taking so long? We should have been in and out by now. Avarice is going to be very displeased.”
“Avarice is going to just fine.” replied a second voice. This one sounded like it was coming from inside a bucket.
I checked the corner. I saw all three of them. Two of them looked like robots. They were covered head-to-hoof in armor and toted some rather large weapons attached on their sides. The third was... what the hell? He was a pegasus. I had never seen a pegasus before, there were none in Stable 12. He had a teal-blue coat and his combed back hair was white and feathery. He was wearing a dark blue suit. I couldn’t see any of their cutie marks.
“Have you located the Overmare yet? We need her override key to get to the chip.” The pegasus asked his flunkies.
“I think the raiders are having their fun with her right now.” said one of the robot ponies.
My stomach turned imagining what could be happening to her.
“Well bring me her Pip-Buck. I don't care if it’s still attached to her. We need that code.” The pony was completely cold and unenthused. “Avarice said the data chip was on the bottom floor, hidden in a maintenance hatch. Are those ponies still giving us trouble down there?”
My mind began racing. Were these ponies only after some chip? Something hidden in a maintenance hatch?
“They’ve barricaded a small section of the lower levels off. We can't blow through it, could bring the whole place down on us, but they shouldn’t be a problem.” responded the second robot pony
That would be DeadBolt and the others. I hoped I could get to them before these ponies did.
The pegasus straightened up at that. “Fine, if they’re not a problem, ignore them. Get me that damn chip. Now go hurry things up with the Overmare, I’m going to check back with the guards at the entrance.”
At least these ponies weren’t in our way yet, we could still get to maintenance another way. It was a good thing, since there was no way that either of my guns could punch through that armor. The shotgun couldn’t effectively shoot through a thick cloth. I backed up to where Rose was waiting for me and we headed around to the other stairwell to maintenance.
The lobby at the front of Maintenance B was littered with corpses of both attackers and stable ponies. Most of the Stable probably fled down this way. Rose and I crept around looking for signs of life. There was nothing in the front half of the floor. We snuck down the hall to the second half of the floor. At the end of the hall was another lobby, this one was occupied. There were a few lights on my EFS but they weren’t moving around. I could hear them laughing about something.
“Haha, we should have tried mercenary work a long time ago! We get to kill dumbass Stable ponies and get paid for it.” Inside I could see three ponies. One of them had a needle in his leg and looked like he was enjoying the painkillers that they had found. Another one was eating what looked like a Radroach. The last one was carving up a freshly murdered earth pony.
I could probably take the two lucid ponies. The third one I didn’t need to worry about just yet. I checked my revolver again. Four shots. The shotgun had five shells loaded in, but I was still questioning its capabilities. My leg was still hurting but it was far from fatal. I breathed deep and readied the revolver.
I activated SATS.
*BANG, BANG*
The first pony took two shots in the back and dropped.
The other pony was quick to react and pulled out a pistol and started unloading in my direction. I reacted by firing off my remaining revolver rounds and ducking back out of the room.
*BANG BANG click click click*
“Heheheh, I know what that sound means.” He chimed. The other pony had heard the clicking from my revolver as I tried to fire off more rounds than it had left
The unsuspecting pony spun through the doorway to see the shotgun, point blank to his head.
*BANG*
The shower of bullets blew his head off, leaving a blood spurting stump in its place. I was not prepared for this, and received a shower of blood. The body dropped, spasming on the floor for a few seconds before stopping. The shotgun was clearly more effective at close range.
Inside the last pony was still laying there nearly motionless, eyes glossed over. I put the gun up to head, but stood a few feet back. I hesitated to pull the trigger. He may have been one of the monsters attacking us but he was defenceless. I doubt he even knew I was still there. He wasn’t going to be hurting anyone anytime soon, maybe I could just tie him up. I looked back to see Rose standing in the doorway.
*BANG*
I had ditched the revolver. It may have been a nice weapon but without ammo it was useless. I took the pistol from the headless pony and what little extra ammo he had, fourteen rounds total. Rooting through bodies wasn’t fun. Especially headless ones. My stomach was turning the entire time but I managed to keep myself from vomiting again.
Past the lobby was a hallway to the back of Maintenance B. I peered down the hall and four white lines appeared on the EFS. Further down the hall we came to a barricade of metal desks and storage crates. Behind them I could see a levitating pistol and a dark red mare.
Scarlett gave a sigh of relief “Rivet, Rose, thank Celestia you two are alright! Quick get in here.” A familiar amber glow surrounded part of the barricade and made an opening, closing it behind us after we were through.
DeadBolt glanced at Rose before approaching me. “How is she?”
“She hasn’t said anything since I found her,” I muttered, “She’s stopped crying but I'm not entirely sure that’s a good thing.” I was worried about Rose. She had been following me silently watching me fight and kill other ponies just minutes after one had his way with her.
DeadBolt looked down and saw the blood on my leg. “You’ve been shot.” He said. He turned and opened a medical kit they had. He pulled out some of the magical bandages it was stocked with. “Here, wrap it with this.”
I bandaged the leg. It had started hurting more sense we got down to maintenance. The healing bandages would at least close the wound. It still hurt to walk on it but it would at least not get any worse now.
There were two earth ponies barricaded here with us. I recognized one as Lily, she worked in maintenance, I think she was a Pip-Buck technician. The other was a security pony named Nightwatch.
“We need to get out of here.” Nightwatch said to DeadBolt. It was clear he was anxious to leave.
“Right,” DeadBolt responded, “No time to waste.”
“Not yet.” I said.
DeadBolt shot me a confused look. “Why the hell not?”
“I overheard some of them talking upstairs. I think it was the pony in charge. They said they were looking for a data chip.” I explained.
“Some chip?” Nightwatch steamed. “If that’s what all this is about, let’s just give it to them and let this all be over!”
“If that’s really all they’re here for, and if they’re willing to kill this many ponies for it, it has to be important.” Scarlett interjected.
“Thats what I was thinking. If we’re getting out of here we need to grab that chip first.” I said.
“What sort of data could they possibly want?” DeadBolt asked. “What use could Stable records be for somepony on the surface?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that it’s hidden here in Maintenance, and I’m pretty sure I know where.” DeadBolt’s eyes shot at me. I could tell he wanted more explanation, especially how I knew more about this chip than he did, but there wasn’t time. “Even if I’m right, though, there are ponies guarding the way to the Stable door, and we’ll never be able to overpower them.”
“There is one other way out.” DeadBolt said, comfortable now that he knew things I didn’t. “The Overmare’s office has an emergency escape tunnel that leads right to the door. We both have her override key, so all we need to do is get to her office.”
“You all should head there now. I’ll go find the chip. If it’s not where I think it is, I won’t waste time catching up to you, so don’t wait up.” There was a good chance I was wrong, and also a good chance I wouldn’t make it to the Overmare’s office.
Nightwatch stepped closer to me. “No one should go alone, you’ll stand a better chance if you have backup. I'm coming with you.”
I felt a slight tugging on my barding and looked to see Rose. “Rose you go with DeadBolt. I’ll meet you guys up there.”
She slowly shook her head and pulled my barding harder
I gave her a nod. “Right, Rose is coming with me.” I said turning back to the others.
“What if the emergency tunnel doesn’t work?” Lily asked. “What do we do then?”
DeadBolt looked a little annoyed at that. “Then we all lay down and die.”
Lily was clearly not so keen on plan B. “Okay, what if we find more of those insane ponies on our way to the Overmare’s office?”
I levitated the shotgun over to her. “Here, take this. Make sure they’re close when you fire, but watch for the spray...” Her face twisted as she noticed the gore I was wearing. “It’s only got a few shots left so be sure you’ll hit before firing.”
She hesitated for a second before taking the weapon.
“Okay you three go down and get the chip. Scarlett, Lily and I will head up and get that tunnel open.” DeadBolt said before scouting past the barricade. Nopony had made their way down yet; we still had time to get moving before anymore got here. “Lets get moving.”
Nightwatch took the lead. The barricade wasn’t far from the stairs down to level C. As we approached the bottom of the stairs he stopped us.
He mouthed the word “four” and shook his head in their direction. My EFS hadn’t picked them up yet. He grabbed his gun with his mouth and got ready to ambush them. I readied my pistol.
“Didn’t that feathered prick say that thing was down here? All I see is a bunch of these damn computers.” One of the attacker ponies complained
“Its got to be around here somewhere. Just keep lookin’.” Another answered
Nightwatch turned to me and whispered. “3...2...1...go!”
He turned the corner and fired at the closest of them. Nightwatch put two rounds into the pony. one in his leg the other in his chest. He dropped.
I moved out and open fired on the next closest. Three shots, none of them made contact.
The element of surprise didn’t last long. By the time I had fired my first volley the three left standing had all drawn weapons and were starting to return fire. One of them was holding a shotgun, it was clearly in much better condition than the one I gave to Lily.
We moved to the top of the stairs to get a better position against them. Shotgun pony tried to rush us at the top but Nightwatch sent a few bullets through his chest before he could make it up.
I heard one yell, “Die, you Stable-dwelling fucks!” as she tossed something up the stairs.
A small metal apple landed between us at the top of the stairs. Nightwatch pushed us back and galloped forward to grab the apple. He started to throw it back down the stairs when
*BOOM*
Nightwatch exploded in a shower of red mist and fire. The blast knocked me over; a piece of shrapnel flew into my ear and out the other side. All I could hear was ringing in my head. Rose was on the ground holding her head.
I couldn’t hear the two ponies approaching up the stairs. The first one made it to top and looked my way with a smile. I scrambled to grab my pistol off the floor and flew into SATS.
*BANG,BANG,BANG,BANG.*
The first one dropped dead on the floor. The second one backed up against the wall of the stairs. I could just make what she yelled. “Take this you little fuck!”
Another metal apple thing flew out from around the corner. I grabbed it my my magic and tossed it back down the stairs before it landed.
“Oh fu” *BOOM*
My head fell back and I laid there for a few seconds trying to catch my breath.
I helped Rose to her hooves. There was blood running down her face. She didn’t say a word, she just stared at the black and red stain where Nightwatch used to be. He died saving us, the least I could do for him now was make sure we got out of here alive.
They had been searching through the hatches down here. Most of them had been broken open. I opened the last hatch and found the isolated plug I had seen yesterday.
“I hope this works.” I plugged my Pipbuck in and ran the override code. Something called, “Stable Recovery protocol” popped up on my pipbuck. I ran the program.
I heard a hissing sound then saw a panel on the inside of the hatch slide open. A small computer chip presented itself. This was what that pegasus upstairs wanted. Why the entire stable had been slaughtered. This tiny, little chip.
I took a closer look and found that it was compatible with my Pipbuck. I pluged it in and it registered as “Y34RK” but otherwise showed no other data.
I turned back to Rose. “Okay time to go.” She gave me a silent nod and we started heading back up to the Overmare’s office.
We were still one floor down when more red lights showed up. We ducked into what had been a family’s room. A blue earth pony stallion was in the corner of the room, he had multiple bullet holes in him. A white unicorn mare was splayed out in the middle of the floor. She had a hole in her head and her legs were covered in blood. A teal unicorn foal had large gashes cut into it. If I had anything in my stomach I would have vomited.
“Dammit, These raiders are useless.” I recognised the voice. It was that pegasus. “I give them a single simple task and they can't even do that right.”
I could hear the metal clang of his two armored guards as they trotted slowly behind him. As they passed I could see one of them was holding a bloody Pip-Buck. They had the Overmare’s Pip-Buck. That meant they also had her codes. Soon they would get down to maintenance C and find the chip gone. I want to be out of here before that happens.
Rose’s eyes were fixed on the corpse of the unicorn mare in the center of room.
“Rose, we need to go.” She wouldn't look away. She didn’t even acknowledge that she heard me. “Rose, come on.” I reached out to put my hoof on her shoulder.
She jumped and scrambled against the wall. The look in her eyes. She looked at me like I was going to kill her, like I was one of the monsters attacking the stable.
“Rose, it’s just me.” Her breathing was erratic. She was shaking. She had been doing so well, but the sight of another raped mare had shaken her.
“Please, we need to go. The others are waiting for us.” I knew I wasn’t being as gentle as I should have been, but we needed to be quick.
Slowly she started to come back to her senses. She was still shaking but she had managed to control her breathing a bit better. She still didn’t talk. Celestia, I wish she would just say something.
“You think you can move again?”
She gave me a slow nod. It wasn’t what I was hoping for but it'll have to do for now.
The way back upstairs was relatively empty. There were a few red lights but they weren’t in our way and we easily avoided them. We were almost at the Overmare’s office when my EFS finally registered three white lines. Thank Celestia, the others were alight.
“Guys, Rivet’s coming.” I heard Lily call. Quickly followed by Scarlet scolding her to be quiet. When we entered the office I could see DeadBolt working on something behind the desk. Scarlett and Lily were keeping watch and welcomed us as I closed the office door behind me.
“Where’s Nightwatch?” Scarlett said in a tone that told me she knew.
“We ran into some of the attackers when getting to the chip. He... didn’t make it, but if it wasn’t for him we’d be dead too.” I decided to leave out the details. Nightwatch worked for Scarlett. I don’t know how close they were, but I'm sure she didn’t want to hear about anypony exploding. “What's Deadbolt doing back there?”
“The damn circuit connecting the terminal to the hydraulics is fucked. I'm trying to find a way to connect my Pip-Buck to it instead.” He said from behind the desk
“Will that work?” Lily asked, worried.
“Hell if I know, but its our best chance right now.” He said bluntly.
Scarlett noticed it first. Her ears perked up at the sound. A metallic clanging coming from down the hall. A red light popped up on my EFS.
“What the hell is that?” Scarlett asked exasperatedly. She raised her pistol towards the closed door and motioned for Rose to hide behind the Overmare’s desk. Lily took the left side of the room, and I the right, while Rose crouched behind a filing cabinet turned sideways in front of the desk.
“DeadBolt you need to hurry!”
“I'm working as fast as I can, dammit.”
The metallic thudding was getting louder. Soon enough one of those robot ponies was going to come through that door, and a rusty shotgun and two small pistols isn't going to do a lot against that thing.
A few dreadful seconds of louder and louder clanging passed before the door finally slid open. Standing in the doorway was one of the robot ponies. He took a glance around the room, at me, Lily, and Scarlett standing there aiming our shambled weaponry at him.
*BANG*
The first shot came from Lily. She fired the shotgun at point blank range. Sparks and smoke exploded away from the pony’s head and cleared after a second. The shot had barely scratched the armor.
The metal pony made a small turn towards Lily and the two massive barrels mounted on his sides started to spin with a loud whirring sound. Nopony was prepared for what happened next. A second later the weapons began firing. It was like nothing I could have imagined. The flashes and noises simply didn’t stop. It was as if the pony was firing a thousand guns a second, but he stood there still as if merely surveying the room. Within seconds the massive guns had torn to shreds Lily’s barding and ripped her body apart leaving only a bloody, bullet ridden corpse. Blood and gore were plastered over the walls and floor behind her, but only when her lifeless remains crumpled to the floor did the pony finally relent.
“I got it!” DeadBolt yelled from behind the desk, as loud mechanical sounds echoed from the floor and the desk started to slide back to reveal the hidden passage. “Lets go!”
The robot pony turned to me. Both of its massive guns were pointed at me. I froze. The terrifying machines started to spin again. I was going to die.
I felt a shove a moment before the roar of the guns began again. I felt a searing pain as one of the rounds cleaved a gash through my leg, but I was relatively unharmed. Scarlett wasn’t so lucky. The massive guns repeated there monstrous work, tearing Scarlett apart. I would have stood there mesmerized by the horrible sight if DeadBolt hadn’t dragged me into the tunnel.
DeadBolt quickly closed the tunnel before the metal monster could enter. I was dragged to my hooves by Deadbolt. “Come on, we can mourn them later. We aren’t out yet.”
I looked over at Rose. I could tell she was trying not to think about what had just happened, how close I just came to being torn into pieces like Scarlett and Lily. That was the second time somepony else died trying to save me. I swallowed a pang of guilt and turned to continue.
We were in a hallway. It didn’t look any different than the rest of the stable, greyish green metal walls with buzzing lights over head. Except this hallway wasn’t blood soaked and didn’t have the bodies of the ponies I grew up with in it. The end was another sealed door. This one was opened easily with the panel next to it.
It opened up to the side of the main Stable entrance; we were mere feet from the doors to the outside. There was nopony here, no lights yet either. It was just like it always was, except after walking out to the center of the room, we could see that the large gear-shaped door was actually open. Outside I could see a light at the end of a dark tunnel. Without stepping outside I was seeing things I had never seen before. We all paused for a moment realizing that this was the exit. We were about to walk right out of the Stable.
We stepped out of the door into a cave. Old skeletons of ponies who had been locked out of the Stable when it was first sealed laid scattered through the cave. They were almost untouched except for the few shattered bones that had been broken by the ponies who had taken the stable over.
A near deafening metal screech snapped me out of my daze.
“What are you doing?”
DeadBolt stepped away from the controls for the door. “It won't be much, but closing this will give us a headstart, now lets go.”
We all turned to the exit of the cave. Stable 12 was lost and with it everything we knew. With only a pistol with seven shots, a data chip called Y34RK, my bestfriend, and my brother, I took my first steps out into the world.
Footnote: Level up. New perk : Gun Nut: You have become more efficient with small firearms. +5 to small guns and repair.
