He said that you were not good enough.

Fat, lazy, dirt dweller, earth pony. No wonder he doesn't want to be seen with you.

"Shut up."

Yeah, you tried. But honestly, what is the point of trying when it doesn't actually get you anywhere?

"....please, shut up."

It's best to not even bother. I don't need to be reminding you of that.

"Shut up! Shutupshutupshutupshutupshut...UP!"

At the last thought I found myself lifting my upper body to slam my front hooves against the ground at every futile command that I was verbally trying to give to my subconscious. I knew it wouldn't work, I wasn't even actually arguing with myself. Sometimes though, I couldn't help my thoughts taking a dark turn and I knew that if I allowed myself further contemplation into that direction that nothing 'good' could come from that road.

Instead, I could drown out the inner noise with stamping hooves and the sound of my own voice. Let the shock of the ground hitting my hooves make my thoughts switch to the mild pain caused by letting my body's full weight slam my hooves down each time, cracking the earth under me and ricocheting the feeling through my legs and shoulder muscles.

Stopping allowed me to take a deeper breath, quieting my rant as I simply let my head hang down with closed eyes. Quiet, that's what I wanted. Didn't want to think about it, or anything else really.

"I don't need anypony." I quietly muttered to myself.

Not quite a lie, technically you don't 'need' anypony, But, that isn't what you technically 'want' either.

If I thought the following days leading up to this moment weren't too much to handle by now, the realization I was currently rising with a group of ponies bent on some sort of magical quest to reach a land that either could or could not be real was a little enlightening in the 'what the buck have I got myself into' factor.

Old foal's tales told of a city made of crystal with actual crystal ponies running around. A place that evolved around love and acceptance with their own Alicorn goddess to foresee them through the years before the war. At least that is as a much as I could remember. I'm sure there were many other stories that came from such a place, but that was the basic gist of what the tales surrounded the idea of such a place. As far actual proof of its existence, I hadn't known any until now.

I guess I should have had a million questions to ask, anypony would have had. But with the presence of the book I had been given to browse through there really wasn't a lot I could bring myself to ask other than why, and that was a question that we didn't really have time for at the present.

We were leaving in the morning soon as it was daylight enough for us all to get settled into traveling mode, which meant shortly after being shown the book Light let everyone know that we should all be getting some sleep to prepare for the next day to get out of this town and onto the road. Most of the ponies went upstairs to whatever sleeping spots they had chosen for themselves, leaving me almost alone with Karma and Stan staying downstairs to sleep.

No watches had been placed, I figured that with already having stayed here a night that the rest of the group decided that sleep as far more important if we were going to make any headway the next day. I had been given another raggedy blanket to sleep on the floor with, and I was currently laying down with my head on my front hooves trying to will myself to sleep. Stan and Karma were resting nearby in a similar fashion that I had seen them that first night. Stan was asleep laying down with his hat pressed down over his muzzle and snoring softly, Karma was laid down near his side with her eyes closed and was breathing slowly in sleep as well.

Peeking an eye open to look over at the two of them I had a funny feeling that Stan was actually the only pony asleep in the room. Karma looked asleep, but I also remembered that she normally snored as well. The only pony currently doing so was Stan, so I found myself quietly waiting to see if she'd move.

Sure enough, after an un-given amount of time had gone by she shifted. Closing my eye quickly I heard her lift her head and I could only guess at this point she was attempting to see if either of us were asleep. I gave a soft snuffling noise and ruffled my feathers under my blanket in an attempt to make myself look like I was actually asleep, and briefly thought about a fake snore. Did I actually snore too? Had no real way of knowing since no pony had actually told me if I did or not.

Eventually, after my act I heard her move her blanket to the side along with lifting herself to her hooves. She was still wearing that odd outfit of hers and it was easy enough to hear the pieces of extra cloth ruffle as she shifted herself to the front door of the inn and out to the street. After a few minutes I slowly lifted my own head and opened my eyes to look around the room, I was correct in seeing it now minus one pony, leaving me and Stan to be the only ones occupying the place.

Using a wing I lifted and pushed my blanket off so I could stand, and fought back the urge to give a full body shake. Instead, I tip-hoofed my way to the door and peeked around its frame into the night to see if I could see where she had moved off to.

I didn't have far to look, as the green glow of her pipbuck even under the rags she wore was easily seen in jagged frames of light from her right hoof. She was sitting on the edge of the inn's porch and simply appeared to be looking out at the dark. As I watched, she lifted her left hoof and pushed away some of the cloth so that the full glow could envelop the street in front of her and partially onto the buildings on the other side, making it easier for both of us to see.

I bit my lower lip, thinking. She had obviously come out to be alone, that was clear enough to see. At the same time though, when was I going to get another chance to talk to her that didn't involve the rest of the group being present in some way shape or form? Making my decision, I softly bumped a hoof against the frame of the door in a knocking fashion to catch her attention.

Instantly she twisted her head around and glared at the noise, the green glow giving her features a sadistic look that made me startle slightly, but on realizing who it was she very quickly calmed and simply looked at me peeking out from the door frame. The two of us watched one another for a minute before I cleared my throat quietly and stepped out onto the porch and made my way to sit down next to her, and thankfully enough she didn't seem too disturbed by my presence, other than looking away and back out towards the street.

"Um..." I tried to say something, I really did.

Instead, at my mumble she looked back over to me with a slight tilt of her head and a small smirk while regarding me with a raised brow. I could almost hear the mocking 'Really? That all you got?' inside my head at her expression.

"Pfft. Let's see you try better." I retorted to her silent accusation.

She lowered her head and closed her eyes, trying to muffle a giggle while her shoulders slightly shook from the attempt. I found myself grinning slightly from her sudden playful antic while she took a deep breath to quiet the snickering and gave me a returning smile before looking down at her right hoof and twisting the appendage around slightly to make the glow from the machine attached dance between the two of us.

"Yeah, yeah. I was just teasing. So go ahead, ask your questions. I ain't 'gonna promise you answers though."

Fair enough.

"Well, you are obviously not like the rest of..."

"...these dirt dwellers?" She finished for me.

"Hey, I wasn't going to say that." I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Eh, close enough. I get'cha." She nodded her head at me, not seeming too bothered. "I am not like them, because I am a stable pony. If the pipbuck wasn't a clear sign of that. No, I wont tell you which stable."

"Don't need specifics I guess, but yeah. I was coming to that conclusion, but I'll be honest that I don't know a lot about stable ponies."

"Not a lot to tell I figure." She mentioned, looking back out at the street and giving a slight shrug to her shoulder. "Stables are pretty much similar to one another. Bunch of ponies stuck in the ground in a big metal box so they don't have to put up with any of..." She stuck out a hoof and waved it in front of her, "This."

"Not sure I see the appeal." I replied, flatly.

"You wouldn't, being a Pegasus. Though I heard stories of a stable being built for strictly pegasi."

I gave myself that all-over body shake I had been wanting before. Stuck in a box for the rest of my life? I'll pass.

"It really isn't as bad as it sounds. When it is the only thing you have known for your entire life, you really don't know anything better. Its just different, I guess."

"I guess." I copied her answer. Though I was far more interested in something else. "But if that is the case, why is a stable pony out here? Aren't you supposed to be, you know, actually in your stable?"

And that is when she got quiet. She looked back down to her hooves at my question without replying. I tilted myself forwards slightly and angled my head around to try to look at her hidden expression in the dark, and the glow from her pipbuck curved shadows up over her eyes once more at the lowered angle, giving her expression a far darker tone then I think it should have.

Right as I was about to try and change the subject without getting my answer, she hadn't promised me anything after all like she had stated, instead she raised her head back up with a more determined look, staring straight ahead into the dark.

"When I got my cutie mark, I had to leave. It was a special case, and I should explain the function of my stable or it won't make any sense." She turned her head to look at me again, with the same serious features. "If you did not know, stables were created to save ponies first and foremost. Their second function though, was to provide the future with exceptional ponies. The past did not want to be repeated, and so each stable was created differently."

"Yeah, I got that." We'd been told about stables above the clouds, though only the basic facts.

"If you haven't been briefed on the stable that Red Eye came from, I should go ahead and tell you my stable was similar in function to his."

"Um...we were told about Red Eye, a bit." In truth, we had been told plenty about Red Eye. Though if from anything I had learned about surface dwellers, I was getting the idea that the stories we had been told had mostly been in place to make us continue to dislike the surface as it was. Ponies using other ponies as slaves? No thank you.

"Red Eye came from a stable that was under a strict earth pony leadership. Mine, was similar in that case, except that was not the experiment originally in place for my stable."

"So both of your stables were strictly for earth ponies only?" So that is why she kept referring to other ponies as horn-heads and feather-heads...

"Yes, and no..." She stumbled here in her speech. Her eyes crossed slightly in a struggled attempt at an explanation. "Red Eye's stable was strictly earth pony, yes. Mine, when it was filled, had both earth ponies and unicorns. When I was shown the earlier records it even stated we were given a pegasi or two."

"I'm...I'm not following." I stuttered.

"My stable's experiment..." She paused to give a small sigh. "The experiment's function was based around acceptance of the other pony races as a whole through all three races. What would happen if you stuck a mostly earth pony society together with a select few unicorns and pegasi, and then threw in the idea that all forms of magic was something taboo..."

I blinked at that, I was starting to get a better idea of what she was trying to say.

"My stable's residents, including myself for a time, was raised under the belief that magic was the entire cause behind the apocalypse. We do not believe that the princesses were or are goddesses, and are frowned upon. Unicorns and pegasi were also frowned upon for similar reasons. Unicorn's because of their magic, and pegasi because of their ability to fly."

I had to look away from her for the moment as I let her words sink in. The whole idea just seemed...very, very wrong. Finally, I looked back at her.

"Why would they put a bunch of different races of pony in the same stable, and then put in that belief? It doesn't make sense. What was it supposed to achieve?" I tried my best to not sound accusing, but I really couldn't help it, I was feeling very unnerved.

"My guess is, we were supposed to look past our differences in the magical case and function as a proper society with all three races combined so that we could work for a future without fear of the past repeating itself by blowing each other up. Or in a more simple explanation, acceptance of each other." She replied, in a sad tone.

"And?"

"We failed, horribly."

For awhile, we were quiet. Karma had turned back to looking back down at her hooves in thought while I was left alone with mine. I was still trying to wrap my idea around what her stable's experiment was meant to achieve. I could understand the acceptance of different races part, though I was fairly sure that ponies before had been living together just fine before the fact, but to believe that anything at all magical was horrid? How was that even supposed to work?

"So, your stable failed..." I tried to bring the conversation back, quietly.

"Yes. We failed. Instead of learning to accept one another as we were....are, instead the unicorns and pegasi were seen as threats to our stable's existence as a whole if we were going to survive in the future without throwing magic at one another whenever we didn't all agree on something."

"So, what happened?"

"The records I was given access to before I left showed that along with our Overmare we had a council that was solely earth ponies. It was decreed that all magic was henceforth forbidden in our stable. In doing so, this included the few unicorns and pegasi. The unicorns we were given were forced not to use their magic, and pegasi were forced not to fly under this law. It seemed fine at first, but then came the complications..."

I decided to stay quiet at this point, asking questions would only interrupt them actually being answered.

"The complications first started with the pegasi. I am sure you could understand this better, think about never flying again. Having the ability to, but being told you couldn't. The few my stable actually had, cracked under the pressure, and then they force-ably had their wings clipped."

Dear Celestia...

"It was then a similar case with unicorns, except that while pegasi could simply live without being able to fly as far as a healthy body went, unicorns are different entirely. Not being able to use their magic at all, deteriorated their minds and body. Each case was slightly different in the levels of deterioration but...each led to the expiration of both the unicorn and even a few other ponies that just happened to be around during a 'break down' as the files put it."

During her lengthy explanation, Karma had eventually switched back to looking out at the street. I could tell though, that her vision kept attempting to move down towards her hooves, while catching herself doing so and she'd quickly look back up. Some sort of attempt to keep herself talking, all the while it mostly seemed to pain her for doing so.

I wasn't sure what to say honestly, but while watching her I eventually raised my right wing and laid it on her back in a normal pegasi comfort gesture, except she instantly startled at the touch, even if it was through her patchwork cloak. I winced at her reaction and quickly tried to remove my wing but...

"No! No. Its okay." She quickly replied at my own reaction to hers. She looked at me for a moment, and then at my wing that I had paused in removing from her back. She seemed to be studying the feathers closely while lowering her tone. "I...I really don't know why I am telling you all this. Its been a long time since I told any pony."

"Maybe you just answered your own question?" I gave her a tiny playful smile.

"Heh. Maybe." For a moment, I thought I could feel her leaning back against my feathers. "I'm sorry, the story is far more lengthy than I would like."

"Its okay, I'm listening." Giving her a nod to continue. She cleared her throat, and moved her head so she could look back out at the dark street once more.

"The files I was shown stated that eventually unicorns were unable to physically help from using their magic after a certain time, differing from each individual. If it didn't drive them completely mad first, it eventually caused a magical buildup that would surge out violently. This surge, seemed either fatal in its act, or would leave the unicorn in a state that the ponies of my stable found it to be more ponmane* to simply end their existence rather than keep them in pain."

I gave her another nod, just to make sure she knew I was at least trying to stay on track.

"Throughout what history I was given, All of the pegasi died out without actually putting any of their genes into our pool, and that is why I guess we never saw another pegasus actually born into the stable. There were a select few unicorns though, that did have children before they expired, despite the laws put in place that made my stable slowly fear them entirely. And so, we ended up eventually having unicorns still born to earth ponies, even if both parents were not unicorns themselves. With racism slowly building up over time with the fear of anything magical, this turned out to be a problem for my stable, and they took measures they believed to be...acceptable."

"They didn't kill the foals did they?!" I couldn't help my outburst, the idea was just horrid to even think about!

"No! No, they didn't kill anypony. That would be wrong, and the ponies in my stable weren't in-morale." She gave a hard shake of her head. "No. At least...they didn't mean to."

"Are you sure that is any better...?" I quietly asked this time.

"I...I guess not. But, I know they were only trying to do what they felt was right for any pony involved, and for our community as a whole. There were only a very select few unicorns born to the stable after the first group died out. My stable believed they could fix the problem though, give the new pony a better life, and a better life for everypony in the stable. They came up with a procedure, to...fix, the new foal."

"Fix?" I wasn't liking where this was going.

"Yes, fix...our scientists believed that if they removed the main magical aspect of a unicorn foal early, than they could be raised just like any other earth pony, and nopony else would be the wiser..." Karma was slowly letting her voice die out again.

I decided to stay quiet again, giving her the silent moment to finish her thoughts. Sure enough, she continued shortly after by taking a deep breath to try and keep her voice steady.

"It seemed to work for awhile, and it wasn't like they had to do it often. Their first attempts did leave some casualties, but I think the last pony that was born before...eh, um...the last unicorn that was born was well over sixty something years, before..." She coughed, giving a small shake of her head, trying again. "The last unicorn born, was born sixty years or more and that particular unicorn lived a perfectly normal stable life as a earth pony, once his horn had been removed at foalhood. They didn't even know they were any different from anypony else, and there were no complications that were recorded after."

"What are you trying to say, Karma?" I quietly implied that she was leaving out a major detail.

"I..." She paused, and didn't seem able to continue.

"Hey." Carefully, I ruffled my feathers of the wing that was still held over her back. "Don't worry. Everything is alright."

With that said, she suddenly turned to look directly at me as if she were surprised by something. Her eyes wider than before as she looked over the features of my face. I figured she was just trying to see if I was being honest or not, so I gave her a smile to show I was being sincere. Eventually, she calmed once more, even if it did cause her to sigh.

"Remember when you asked me how I got my cutie mark?"

I simply nodded.

"Well...I was being honest, I did accidentally kill somepony when I received my mark. The bastard deserved it though." She narrowed her eyes in thought as she was apparently letting the memory replay itself inside her head, I on the other hoof simply tilted my own, giving her a curious look.

"What does that have to do with what you were telling me?"

"I'm saying...that the last unicorn born to the stable wasn't technically the very last."

Shifting suddenly, she turned her body towards me. I couldn't help but lean back slightly as she did so, since I wasn't quite expecting it. We had been sitting here for so long it had seemed, and we hadn't moved an inch, so when she did I was not prepared for her movement.

Raising both her hooves, she used her left to slide up under the bangs that normally covered her face to reveal her brow. Her right hoof, she maneuvered so that her pipbuck's light shined more strongly over her face, and she leaned forwards towards me.

I watched her odd movements before very slowly leaning towards her in return to try to see whatever it was that she was trying to show me. Looking over her brow that was normally hidden, I couldn't really tell what it was that she was making me look for. At least, not at first.

It was hard to notice in the green glow, but eventually I saw it. Karma's coat color was a tanned beige, that I already knew. But, in the very middle of her forehead was the tiniest difference in color to the rest of the beige she was covered with. The short fur seemed to lighten just slightly, barely noticeable, dead center in the middle. It was almost as if the color of her coat had been just barely bleached into a lighter hue than the rest of her normal color. The difference in color, was a near-perfect circle.

I might have swallowed, gulped, I'm not sure. It didn't keep her from continuing though.

"I had a magical surge when I received my cutie mark, killing the only other pony that was in the room with me at the time. Shortly after, my Overmare told me everything I just told you. I was the only unicorn foal that had been born in the stable in over sixty years. My procedure was kept secret from both me, and my parents, and the rest of the stable, except for her and our council."

That....that explained a lot.

I went back into my own memories of the day before, Karma had had a nova rifle pointed directly at her. I had already known there was absolutely no way that the shot could have missed. Even a foal could have made that shot without blinking an eye. Instead she had somehow deflected it with that gold glow, which now I understood wasn't just some random piece of luck that fate had decided it wasn't her time to die, she had saved herself. She had saved herself with her own magic.

"So...so, you're not an earth pony."

"I am so an earth pony!" She raised her voice suddenly, narrowing her eyes at me. Quickly after she realized she had been maybe a little too loud and brought her right hoof back up to her muzzle and covered her mouth, darting a quick look through the broken window of the inn behind us to make sure nopony had heard her. After, she looked back at me and whisper-hissed. "Am so, an earth pony."

"But everything you just said..." I whispered back, lowering my ears against my skull in confusion, and worry that I had upset her.

"I know what I told you. But I was a unicorn for, what? Maybe the first hour of my life? The rest, Ive never been able to use magic, levitate things, or any of that mumbo-jumbo like any normal unicorn. This crap just, happens on its own." Her tone had kept the angry side to it for the first part, though as she continued it was slowly creeping back to the troubled softness. "It doesn't matter what I was born as, this is me now. Just a dumb old earth pony."

"Who said anything about dumb? I'm the dumb one here."

"Why is that?" She tilted her head at me now, the curious expression returning.

"Uh, hello." I fluffed both wings out dramatically, and raised a hoof to her in a mock-bump. "My name is Cloud, I'm a enclave pegasus."

"Smart ass." She gave me her second grin of the night, causing me to grin back while I lowered my left wing and returned the right one to wrap around her backside.

We sat like that for awhile after, the both of us seeming to take the quiet time to mentally go over what had been said. I wasn't quite sure about her, but I knew it was going to take awhile for me to fully accept everything I'd been told. Sure, she was still the mare that had saved my life a few days ago, but at the same time this was an entirely new situation to think that anypony had to have gone through.

Oh what the hell, I'm kidding myself...this entire bucking trip was new to me.

She hadn't even really finished her story, either now that I had taken the last few minutes to think about it. There was still questions I had. Like, how did she know Rocket? Did they kick her from the stable for killing somepony? Did she leave of her own accord? Could I actually agree with her that she was an earth pony after that information? She hadn't promised me all of the answers, I tried telling myself. But if I am anything, I'm a very curious pony. I have never liked not knowing the full truth.

"It's starting to get light out." She suddenly mentioned while I was lost in thought. Blinking, I looked up and sure enough, I was starting to be able to actually see the clouds turning a deep purple, instead of the black nothingness above us.

"Yeah, I guess so..." I quietly mentioned. I wasn't really sleepy...

"Come on, you're going to feel like shit tomorrow if you don't try to sleep a little. We got quite a trot tomorrow." Lifting herself to her hooves, I pulled my wing back to my side. She gave herself a body-shake that ruffled her cloak around her body before she stepped around behind me so that she could head back to the door.

"Um...Hey!" I called after her, right as she was about to head inside.

"Hm?" She paused, looking at me from over her left shoulder.

"Can I ask one more question?" Might as well dare ask, she had given me plenty to think over for the night, but I did at least have one more simple question that I had been wondering for quite awhile.

For a moment she watched me, her eyes just barely narrowing in thought before she lowered her head down in a single nod. She turned herself slowly back around to face me.

I also took the moment to stand up, settle my wings, and step closer to her. I lifted my right hoof in a similar manner I had before, wanting to bump hooves. This time though, it wasn't in a manner to mock her.

"My name is Cloud Nine, what's yours?"

She blinked at that, not understanding at first. Quickly after though she raised her muzzle in a laugh, closing her eyes in the mirth I provided her before giving a tiny shake of her head to clear the giggles. Eventually, she raised her own pipbucked hoof and placed it against mine, giving me a small smile.

"When I left my stable, I changed my name shortly after. My father gave me my real name though, my name is Bright Eyes."

Suddenly, the hoof that had bumped mine switched to bump against my chest. It was enough to knock me back a step, startling me into a half-flap that sent me to land on my rump.

"But lets keep it to Karma, 'kay?" I was given a smirk, and she was already heading inside and out of my sight.

Sitting there, I could only blink a few times before eventually getting onto my hooves and using my wings to dust myself off as best as possible. I found myself looking to my sides just to check to see if anyone had seen me, only to end up snickering. Of course nopony had seen me.

"Yeah, sure." I said to myself, and moved to follow the stable mare inside.

Author's Note

*Ponmane - Pony-term used in replace of the word Humane. Using the word humane would hardly make sense, right?

And another chapter is finished. Maybe you were hoping for some action in this one, but I think I gave enough of that in the last two chapters. I think after so many it was about time I gave more character detail to the story itself. Maybe you didn't get it all in one go, but 5k+ worth of back story? You can wait a little longer for more!

Tomorrow is another day.