The walk back to medical had been a long one. It may have been the terrified buck that ran through screaming about how the dead had returned to eat us all, or simply the miracle of a pony walking back from processing after being deceased for nearly a day, but everypony and their mothers had to come out to see. Nurse Heart walked next to me, keeping a hoof on my left elbow as we pushed through the growing crowd. Once we got to the farm it was almost impossible to move forward. My aching body refused to move right and every time I would stop moving, even for a second, my muscles would try to lock in place making me have to jerk my legs just to move again. Everypony was watching and waiting to see what I would do; I just wanted everything to go back to normal...

Oh, and I wanted my pipbuck back… I could care less about the barding, but that pipbuck was special!

As the ponies arrived I was met with a wide variety of responses. Some ponies were happy to see me and greeted me with warm smiles and good wishes. Some ponies were indifferent, and simply came to see if the word was true. Gossip was usually bland news about what broke or who likes who, after all. A pony coming back to life? Never happened in Stable 79; nothing ever did.

Other ponies were terrified and some even carried makeshift weapons in case I was going to attack. I tried to give them my best 'I'm not going to eat you' smile, but for some reason that only seemed to make those ponies more nervous. For once in my life, or perhaps my unlife, I was actually glad to see security, maybe because a quick hit to a pony's side was the only thing preventing me from being run through with a pitchfork.

"Why are his eyes like that, mommy? Is he gonna try to eat us? This is so cool!" An excited little blue colt asked.

"Be nice, Shock. ....And I certainly hope he's not..." Came the reluctant reply of his mother, standing nervously next to him.

“No, I’m not going to eat you!” I said loudly, drawing surprise from several of the ponies. Thankfully, it seemed to calm most of the more anxious looking ones.

“OK, ponies, clear a path! I need to get him to medical!” Heart cried out, just as annoyed as I was. “He’s not a zombie, he just was in a near-death state that we missed!”

I gave an annoyed little sigh as ponies returned to their gossip, but at least we were able to move again. Turning to Heart, I reluctantly asked, "What's wrong with my eyes?"

She gave me a sad smile, "There was a lot of radiation damage to your head, and mixed with the fact your heart hadn't been beating hard enough for our equipment to detect... I don't think we'll be able to restore your eyesight... We'll give you a few days to get your final affairs in order. I'm sorry, I wish there was something we could do."

I blinked at her, arching an eyebrow. "But.... I can see just fine. Doesn't seem different really..." I looked up, blinking a few times. Ok, so maybe they felt a little bit rougher than they did before.....

Her eyes widened and she let go of my elbow as she took a step back. "You can? But with that much retina damage, you shouldn't see anything at all!"

I looked back at her and smiled, "Ok, so necromancy isn't without it's repercussions, but I promise not to eat anypony’s flesh. Well, not much more than a nibble or two, anyway." A chuckle and a grin, sell it Shadow! You won’t be able to make zombie jokes for much longer.

The nurses eyes widened a bit, then shook her head furiously and pointed a hoof at me, "No, there will not be any eating of ponies! You are not undead, just in some near death state that we missed! Ponies don't just come back to life!"

I could feel my grin growing as the crowd of ponies mumbled around us. I leaned in closer to her, speaking barely above a whisper. "Oh really? Have you checked for a pulse?"

The squeak she let out and the look on her face was worth it completely. The uneasy ponies in the crowd relaxed a bit when I burst into laughter. Which was a good thing; I didn't want the return of pitchfork pony. Undead or not, I was still good old Shadow. Though I had to wonder; did I have a pulse? I raised a hoof to check when a distinctive sweet voice called out over the crowd.

"Shadow!" Lily's voice rung like music to my ears as she shoved her way through ponies to get to me.

I smiled and bounded my way towards her. Now was my chance! "Lily! I have something I've wanted to say for a really long time! I l-"

My voice was cut off by a pair of soft lips pressing against mine. Lily's hooves wrapped around me with the sudden kiss, pulling me close. I melted into it, kissing her back sens-

Her eyes popped open, then she gagged and pushed me away. "Uhg! Your mouth tastes like rotted carrots!"

I blushed, lowering my head a bit. She was right, my mouth was still rancid. Where's that water? "Sorry.... Whole dead thing and all. I might need to brush my teeth a few times..."

"Or gargle bleach," she countered, giving me a sheepish grin after wiping her mouth.

“OK, that’s enough!” yelled a grey earth pony mare in security barding before I had a chance to respond. “Everypony, back to work! Nothin’ left to see here!”

The crowd of ponies began to disperse with a grumble, the more stubborn of ponies receiving a quick shove from security to get them moving.

Heart stepped up between Lily and myself, giving her an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, Miss Flower, you were released from Medical this morning, yes? I’m afraid I’m going to have to take him for examination.”

“I’ll see you tonight,” I quickly said, “I love you!”

“Yea, yea, touching,” that grey security mare said as she trotted up and pressed her head against Lily’s flanks, starting to shove her away, “You. Farming. Now.”

Heart returned to guiding me back to Medical, and Lily gave me a final wave before giving into the mare’s prodding. “OK!” she called out enthusiastically, “My room at one, don’t be late! I love you too!”

I watched as Lily disappeared behind the door to the office and we passed into the hall leading towards Medical. I looked to my right, catching a smile on Heart’s lips as she looked back at me, “You know, that was the saddest thing about you dying. We all knew you wanted to get with her, and now it feels like you fought death himself to be able to tell her those very words…” She giggled, "It's so romantic!"

I chuckled, "Yeah. I had too much to say." I then stopped, looking at her with an arched eyebrow, "Hey, I thought you didn't believe I was dead."

She blushed, looking back at me, "I don't, but the thought is nice… And did you really want to get attacked with a pitchfork again?” OK, good point. “Come on, we need to check your vitals."

"You mean if I even have any?"

"Of course you do!" she groaned as she shoved me through the door and toward one of the beds. "And I'm going to prove it to you!"

I laughed a bit, hopping onto the first bed and laying down. "We'll see." Medical ponies are fun to mess with!

She gave me a hard glare before rolling over one of the hemogram machines from the corner. The wheels squeaked softly as she brought the device's arch over my body before dancing her hooves on top of the keyboard attached to its side. It beeped an alert at her as it whined that I was already determined dead, but after a few hoof taps later the magical ruby built into the arch emitted a soft glow that washed over me. I closed my eyes, relaxing as I let the machine do its work.

Then Heart gave a yelp when a sudden spark shot out of the machine and the ruby darkened with a whir as the machine powered down. I groaned and heard a frustrated scream, and I opened my eyes to check the damage.

No, Heart! Contrary to popular belief, hitting things with your hoof does not fix anything!

"That was the last one!" She turned to me, ignoring my hard glare. "You can fix it, right?"

I looked at the machine, eyeing it over. It was a real piece of beauty; able to read your blood pressure, heart rate, glucose measurements, and pretty much whatever else there was to do inside your blood. The actual magic and technology was a bit above me admittedly; all I would be able to do is to identify and replace broken parts.

Red knew how it worked, and how to fix the pieces... I sure hope she'll be OK. The stable still needs her expertise…

I sighed, shaking my head. "I might be able to cannibalize the others to make one that works, but I'd need to bring Red back or have access to her notes if I have any chance in getting them all to work."

“Well, do what you can.” She ordered, starting to walk off towards one of the side doors and giving off, “I’m going to go attempt to get you authorization to access Mrs Wire's pipbuck...” She then froze, turning to me. "You can't bring Red back, Shadow. She's already been processed."

I shrugged, "I mean bring her soul back."

She shook her head, muttering something as she left. I waved her a farewell and pulled over the other two hemograms next to the one I would hopefully be fixing. My eyes fell on the saddle bags one of the orderlies had brought back and I checked it, finding my pipbuck, my tools, and a bunch of spare electronics that I was sure were mine as well.

Everything back to normal… Good. I liked normal.

I snapped the pipbuck back onto my wrist, letting the small device boot up as I started to pull out my tools out and lay them neatly to my side. Once everything was set in place, I charged my horn and cast a simple spell upon myself. Glowing lines of pulsing light rung out through my vision, following the electric current in wires hidden behind walls and in lights. The hemograms were dark, which made my job all the easier. The side panels came off easily and I set quickly to work. As I sent micro-electric pulses into the wires, glowing lines flicked to life. Some would run flawlessly through the internal components, others fizzled and died at damaged sections.

Good, I had enough here to make one of them work. I raised my tools, taking apart the delicate electronics, setting them beside me and-

A voice next to my ear made me jump right off the bed, landing somewhat ungracefully on my rump. "You're wasting time."

OK. So I can see ghosts now… or I’m just crazy. Still… relatively normal…ish.

I looked up into the red eyes that glared back at me from behind Doctor Soul's skull mask. "Can you not do that?"

His eyes narrowed, and he hopped off the bed, keeping his eyes locked on mine. "This is your story, and it has just begun. Let me tell you something; nopony wants to listen to the story of a buck brought back to life just to live in a box and fix things. As a character in your story, and you a character in mine, I'll be damned to let you waste away on a doomed life."

"I'm fixing medical equipment," I replied bluntly, "I don't have a story to tell. I'm a technician. I fix things."

This drew a laugh from the purple buck, "Oh, my dear colt!" He hopped back onto the bed, spreading his hooves as wide as his grin, "The whole world is a stage! Everypony, every character you meet has a story! True, some stories might be more interesting than others, but a story none the less! If your story was to resume being a mere technician... You never would have met me! Your story is destined for something greater! Besides..."

“Mr Bolt? Are you feeling alright?” Heart asked as she peeked her head out, “Who are you talking to?”

I looked over quickly, then back up at the Doctor who was giving me a smirk. “Uhhhh…. Yea!” I said, giving her my ‘I’m not crazy’ smile, “I’m good! I just talk to myself sometimes! Nothing to worry about! I should be able to get one of these working.” That seemed to sate her.

“OK… let me know when it's done!” She said with a bright smile before disappearing back through the door.

I returned my attention to the Doctor while I started to work on the machines once again, switching out and testing the components.

He sat down, his smile shifting into a coy smirk as he continued. "Now, you're a smart pony, aren't you Shadow? How many more times can you try to fix your little box before it kills you all?"

“We can fix it. We always have, and we always will. With hard work and dedication, 79 will endure.”

He chuckled darkly again, “Is that true, Shadow? It's already killed you once... Is this really the stage you want to bring foals into?"

I opened my mouth to reply, then froze. Was it? The words I just spoke… They weren’t mine, just a slogan created long ago by security and the Overmare. Did I really want to put my trust into the Overmare?

No… No I did not.

I thought back to the generator. Our core was slightly damaged, and it creates micro surges that the regulators caught. But the regulators would fry after so much, creating a disturbance in the shield that would allow the generator to start to overload and meltdown. The regulators could be bypassed and realigned to stabilize the shield, but we didn’t really have a way to fix a bypassed regulator. With the minimum amount of regulators required to keep the shield strong enough…

Two…

Two more meltdowns, and we wouldn’t be able to fix it. The Overmare would have us stay down and keep the generator running as long as we could. We’d die a horrible death from the radiation, and the generator would ultimately explode or leak enough radiation to kill everypony. We might be able to shutdown the generator, but then ponies would suffocate as the air filtration systems would shut down as well…

Doctor was right, the only viable option would be to leave.

Which meant I would have to find the exit, and somehow convince the others the outside is safe… Well, safer than here.

“There’s also your friend's soul to worry about… Our little deal? I made sure she survived through the night and she’s still very weak...” Doctor Soul continued, and then he smiled, “She’ll recover just fine, but I still expect you to keep up your end of the bargain… I want to be free.”

OK, now he was starting to pull at my nerves. "Right. Yes, I'll get you out of wherever. But that better not be a threat of some kind."

He gasped, placing a hoof on his chest, "A threat? You wound me, my colt. It is a mere reminder of a deal made between gentlestallions. I would never think of harming your friend’s soul." A smile regrew on his face, drawing further on my uneasiness, "Unless of course you planned on harming myself, but then who would be threatening who?"

“No, I just… let me fix this, alright? Inside the stable or not, medical equipment is important. I’ll… I’ll leave right after.”

His grin returned, “Marvelous! That’s exactly what I wanted to hear! Oh look! I even found you a guide.”

My gaze followed his outstretched hoof to a familiar blue mare hiding with her head hung low behind one of the beds. Oh, hello Aquarius…

Her mane was frizzled and her eyes were red and swollen as if she had run out of tears to cry with. I had a hard time imagining her as the monster she was before. She squeaked slightly when she saw me, shrinking back as she kept her swollen eyes averted, “I…. I’m sorry…”

“Now, now, my dear…” Doctor began to Aquarius, “We’ve discussed this.” He turned to me, “Now that you’ve saved her soul, she’ll be the perfect guide!”

“...She tried to eat me.”

“She’s very sorry.”

"She messed with my mind."

"She isn't going to do that anymore."

“She made me sleep with a fake copy of my mentor.”

“Oh? Did you enjoy it? Was she good?”

“I-Yes-Bu-Eh-Na-She was my… Th-That’s not the point!”

My cheeks were probably going to catch on fire at this point. Doctor Soul burst into laughter and he hopped over to my side and wrapped a hoof around my shoulders. He quickly calmed down, eyeing me with that insane grin. “The monster who did all of those things is dead, my colt! Can’t you just understand that? The mare that’s there now is just as much of a victim as you were!”

I could disagree with his view on victims, but…

My gaze fell back on Aquarius... he was right. When I looked into her eyes, I didn’t see the hate anymore, just pain and… regret.

“Give her a chance, Shadow,” he said, departing from my side. “Let her guide you to the surface were ponies belong. I’ll be waiting…”

I said nothing, just give him a slight nod as I looked back at the machine I was supposed to be fixing. Then the Doctor disappeared with a chilling breeze. I checked my pipbuck, remembering the files I had downloaded from the Overmare’s computer. After quickly skimming through them, I noted that they were mainly about work done within Stable 79. Might be something there that was interesting to read later, but I didn’t have time for that right now. The first one was thankfully an audio log. Finally, something I could listen to while I worked.

I pulled an earbloom out of my bags and stuck it in, selecting the first file in the list as I resumed my repairs. I partially regretted it as I was met with the voice of a very angry buck.

"Ok, ya stable-tec feather-brain! This is just fuckin’ insane! Your plan sucked! Your plan got them all killed! Now we’re locked up in here, while those… those things are tearing ponies apart left and right! But we’re safe now… locked every door up tight, cut ourselves off from the degenerates outright. Those fools can keep banging on the doors for however long they want, we ain’t lettin’ them in! I ain’t riskin’ it! This module’s at capacity as it is!

"We’re cut off from every single department there is! They’re dead, all of them just dead! An’ if they ain’t dead, they’re gonna be dead! Freakin’ killed the Overmare over the freakin’ intercom!

"But I’ll tell ya what we do got. We got the utility module! We got ‘nuff food to last us a year! A reactor three floors down, we got the soil processor, enough supplies in storage spaces to convert the park into a farm, spare medical equipment, the works! ‘Nuff parts and ponies to turn this shit’ole into a mini-stable of our own! Even better ‘cuz we’ll have enough food!

"But no, I ain’t runnin’ this place like y’all did before. They’re gonna work, and they’re gonna listen to us! They’re gonna live the way we want’n ‘em ta! No more of this democracy bullshit! Democracy gets ponies killed! I’m gonna wipe every bit of data about the outside an’ history off every single pipbuck an’ terminal in this shit’ole! Ponies in th’ future won’t miss what they don’t know they don’t got! We’re gonna have order in St-

"What? You! Don’t open that door!

"I don’t care if’n she got a twerp, don’t open that door!

"Hrrng… My heart goes out to the innocent ponies on the other side. It really do. Wish I can do more, but I don’t know who we c’n trust, an’ everythin’ here an’ now is to help who’s left to survive. But openin’ those doors an’ lettin’ just one pony in could let in the others. We’re lucky we don’t already got one in here with us. Maybe some other ponies wised up an’ did the same.

"...f’n we ever need to leave this place, th’ password is ‘redemption.’ Seemed fittin’

"This is Blueburn, Chief of Security an’ actin’ Overma- …stallion of Stable 79, signin’ the fuck off."

My screwdriver spun as I put the last screw back into its place. I had already packed the rest of my supplies back into my bags and strapped them on. The machine had whirred to life with a soft hum that was beautiful music to my ears. Hopping off the bed, I looked toward the door where Nurse Heart was still trying to get approval, and probably receiving a storm from the Overmare... or simply waiting for her to respond. Honestly, I wouldn’t see that ever getting approved. Ever since I hacked her computer, the Overmare has hated me with a passion that would make fruit rot while still on the vines.

After listening to that recording, I had started to gain an understanding for why the layout of all the rooms were exactly the same. These were originally living quarters, and the central area was a… park? Whatever that was. The door Nurse Heart was behind would have been the bedroom, and it had been changed into an office. The kitchen had been turned into a lab where they would cook up chemicals that they would give out to ponies to help keep us from getting tired and worn out.

Speaking of which, I hadn’t had my shot in… well, two days? I should be completely exhausted by now, but I was as awake and alert as if I had just received it. Huh, strange…

The bathroom had been turned into a… well, it’s still a bathroom. The living room had its 6 beds all close to one another, and the room next to medical belonged to Heart and Beat, and they kept an extra medical bed in their living room in case the doctors needed to perform a surgery.

I wonder what a full medical clinic would actually look like… Guess maybe I’ll get to see.

I walked over to where Aquarius had migrated to the waiting couch next to the front door. She was so timid I was afraid of running her off. “Are you ready?” I asked her softly.

She nodded, giving me a nervous glance as she stepped down onto the floor. I moved next to her, raising a hoof to gently pat her shoulder. She flinched and my efforts were put to waste as my hoof passed right through her, distorting her form as if she was just made of a solid mist. I wasn't sure if it was the attempt at the gesture, or the fact that I couldn’t touch her, but she gave me a slight smile and eased a bit. Actually, she eased a lot.

“We need to stop by the Overmare’s office and get the passcode to the door. I’ll show you where it is.” She stood up a bit taller, walking through the door.

It opened as I followed her through. “I did that already… Got the passcode.” I wiggled my pipbuck in the air at her.

She looked at me with a stunned expression, “Oh? How? But you haven’t even-” She suddenly stopped and smiled, giggling softly to herself, “Different office. Different door.” She turned down the hallway, leading me to the door at the end.

A door that was never supposed to be opened… the biggest rule of Stable 79...and I was about to open one of them.

I took one look at the security panel next to the door, then back down the hallway. Surprisingly, nopony was there to stop me. Part of me wished there was. The other part of me just wanted to scream 'Geronimo!' and dive right in.

"Don't worry," Aquarius said at my side, trying to give me a reassuring smile. "Any monsters there were are gone now... You took care of the last one. Doctor took care of the rest... Just..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, looking away from me again. "Don't be scared of what you see..."

I gave a nod, suddenly not liking this idea. Just what would I see? Mounds of corpses? Right, I'm not afraid! I'm not!

I opened the security panel and was met with the ten digit keypad. The pass code was redemption... All I had to do was type it in. With a deep breath I focused and the keys began clicking.

7333678466

There was a mechanical click from inside the wall and with a loud groan the door slowly slid open. A cold breeze rolled passed my hooves that made my coat stand on end as I stared into the darkness of the hallway beyond. Aquarius started ahead of me, her head low as she looked around. I stepped in after her and took in a breath of the cold and stale air. It was a fight to stop myself from gagging at the smell of mold.

The door slid closed behind me with a defining thud that left me standing in pure darkness. The only light emitted from my pipbuck's secondary spell matrix. I couldn't even see my pipbuck as I brought it up in front of my face, that is, until I turned on its blinding screen.

We meet again, accursed light! This time you're going to help me!

I fumbled with the controls before being blinded again as I turned on the one feature of my pipbuck I never thought I'd use: overbright mode. I quickly turned the infernal device away from my face and oh wow was this thing effective!

The light that came of the screen was bright enough that it lit a nice area in front me and even enough that I could see shapes down the hall. I turned my leg, looking around at all the doors and windows. Dirt and grime gunked up and covered everything and fogged up the windows. More living spaces, I suspected. How many ponies was this stable supposed to hold? I shined my light into one of the windows and there was a large form in the center of the living room. Curiosity got the best of me, and I stepped up to the window, wiping away part of the grime with my hoof.

Inside was a pony, or more specifically the skeletal remains of a pony, hanging in the air by bedsheets tied around their neck. One of the sleeves of their barding was missing a hoof, and I brought my gaze downwards towards an arm that had fallen off of the corpse and onto the floor. My light caught the reflection of the screen of the pipbuck still loosely wrapped around it. As much as I didn’t want to go anywhere near the hanging corpse, that pipbuck might have some useful data on it.

The door was even more resistant to opening than the one to the hallway. Of course it was, this door had no power. My horn crackled with electricity, striking the panel next to the door. It groaned as it came to life, opening partially before the door ran out of power again. I squeezed carefully through, ignoring the stench of rot that now tickled my nose with a power drill.

I took slow and steady steps towards the hanging body. I had no idea why I was so nervous. What was it going to do, eat me? Wouldn’t have been the first time, my little pony reminded me.

OK, you know what? Fuck you, brain!

The pipbuck glowed as I wrapped it with my magic and pulled it free from its skeletal resting place. Thankfully it only took a little bit of work to get it to boot up, and I managed to download several files off of it before turning to leave, stuffing the pipbuck into my bags.

As I raised my gaze towards the door, my light illuminated a blue face mere inches away from mine and I jumped back, screaming like a little filly. I hit the corpse behind me and the bones broke off the makeshift noose and came crashing down. Aquarius giggled, raising a hoof to her lips to block a smile. “Sorry… I noticed you weren’t following me so I came back to check up on you.”

I quite undiligently got myself out from under the bone pile and flailed my hooves helplessly at the ghost mare, “Don’t… do that! Is there some kind of bell I can attach to you?!”

She giggled harder, and I shined my light at her so I could give her another hard, and ultimately futile glare. With a frustrated sigh, I turned back to the bones, “S-sorry… about that.”

Aquarius took one look at the bones and then back at me, “They’re just bones… the mare has been gone for a long time.”

I looked at her and gave her a slight nod. “Right, should have known that. Lets just… go.”

With that we left again, heading out of the room and back down the hallway. My electric spell seemed just as effective opening the rest of the doors as it had been the first one and we made our way deeper into the stable. I shined my light at her a few times, there was something just… off about her.

“Everything all right?” She asked, giving me a sideways glance.

“Yea… you just look like a living flesh and blood pony, but something is just different. Trying to figure it out.”

“Well, I am dead. Never had a pony that could see me before. Well, other than Doctor, but that was a long time ago…”

I looked at her, “So, he has been here this entire time?”

She shook her head, stopping in front of a door as she waited for me to open it. “No… He was here for a like a day about a hundred fifty years ago. I was in maintenance watching a mare and her buck…” She suddenly blushed red hot. “Uhm… nevermind. But he came through the wall, told me how pretty I was and then just left... It was so strange. I tried to follow him, but he told me I should stay to help my friends when they died and then just vanished. I… didn’t really have any friends. How could I? I had been dead for almost fifty years at that point and I really… I really didn’t have any friends when I was alive either…”

The door gave a loud crack as rust broke off its opening frame. “Why didn’t you have any friends?"

Her feathers rustled a bit, and she looked down as she stepped through the door, “I… Let’s just go.”

Poor mare… not to have any friends? Now that I had been talking to her, she seemed nice enough. Or was this an effect of her isolation? Or her recovering from being a monster…

I took a look around as I stepped into the… what was this place? I shined my pip-light over the railing of the balcony that laid before us. Dark shadows barely made out the shapes of large doorways in the distance with various signs written in bold letters above them. I could make out several other different other shapes, and a few trees popped up here and there. Looking over to Aquarius, I opened my mouth to ask, but I noticed her smiling softly.

“Recreational,” she explained after noticing my confusion, “A place where ponies could relax and hang out with each other between when they would be called to work.” She pointed out several of the archways, “Over there was Big Shot’s movie theater, always claimed to have the best movies. He might have, but they were all ones we’ve seen a hundred times. Cold Stone’s ice cream parlor always had a delicious and cold treat for you to snack on. We got the ball game court down there, next to it was the gym, and next to that….” Her wings opened a bit, and she grew a longing smile. “Was the pool. I absolutely loved to swim… always felt like I could fly…”

“You… can’t fly? I thought that’s what those…. limbs were for.” I wasn’t even going to try to ask about any of the buildings… that all went right above my head.

She lifted a wing to her face, looking at it with a frown, “Oh… yea. They’re supposed to… but I was born with a condition called clipwing. My feathers don’t grow in right, and I couldn’t support my own weight. There was a treatment for it, but my family couldn’t afford it. So they sent me down here instead…” She quickly shook her head and turned, walking along the balcony to a set of stairs. “Come on, lets get going…”

I nodded, following her. I took out the pipbuck from that room, checking to make sure that it finished loading. A smile grew on my face and I quickly started digging into the logs. The last few logs were audio files. What made her want to kill herself? It was a dark thought… but one that brought an aching curiosity to my heart. All my life we were told monsters had taken over the rest of the stable, it could have very well been true, but now I could get the truth. My excitement waned as I was met with the voice of a desperate mare…

"Oh shit! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! The fuck you do this, Lyre? The fuck anypony do this! We were supposed to have a nice quiet dinner out, and you fucking bit me! You fucking bit a fucking chunk of my fucking arm fucking off! Fuck!

"No, you can’t come in, I locked that door for a reason! I’m recording this right now, I don’t care that you’re my brother! I’m sending this to security! You need help, Lyre! You’ve been acting strange for a week, and now this!

"Fuck you, Lyre! Why don’t you tell those ponies over there how hungry you-

"Lyre…? Lyre! No, you get your fucking hooves off of her!

"Oh shit Lyre, the fuck sense does this make?! No, nononononono… no… I can’t watch this anymore! I-if anypony hears this, we need help! In C-hall!

"AH! The lights, what happened to the lights?! No! This… this isn’t happening… this can’t be happening! I’m… this is a nightmare! Yes! Lyre isn’t out there… eating a mare… Oh fuck, now there’s two of them… No! No there isn’t! I’ll wake up, and this will all be a dream I can forget about later! Wake up! Come on Harp, wake the Celestia-damn up!"

The rest of the recording deteriorated into the mares sobbing and I quickly shut it off. I… couldn’t exactly blame her. Maybe it was the cold, but I was shaking after just listening to it. What the fuck happened that made ponies start to eat each other? I’ve heard of ponies starving to death, but to eat another pony to stop it? No way! And why wasn’t there any blood out in that hall? Did they lick the floor clean?

Or maybe blood was there, and I just didn’t notice it from the rest of the grime.

I looked towards Aquarius, who was even more shaken than I was. “That… wasn’t a good year. I don’t know exactly what happened… but ponies left and right went insane. The entire maintenance department just shut off the power and started killing ponies! I turned into a wraith that day… the hunger was so… compelling. I had to eat them, or I-I’d die alone forever! 79 literally became hell.”

She stopped, hanging her head low and let her hair fall in front of her face. “I just… I wish I wasn’t stuck here like this… I wanted to fly up to the clouds with mom and dad, but they said I’d be safe down here! The ponies hated me because of my wings, because the pegasi abandoned the surface! But what the hell could we have done against those missiles? Thrown ourselves at them? They hated me because we didn’t save them, and I died alone and turned into a monster because of them!”

OK Shadow, your guide is getting upset again… time to step up. “You’re not a monster, Aquarius… not anymore. Look…” My mind raced as I started trying to put things together, “Something must have happened to turn all of you into wraiths… Doctor said that radiation causes it… So something must have happened.”

She nodded, looking back up at me, “I know… maintenance has its own reactor, and it started to overload a few days before. It was fun to watch them fix it… but how many times had your reactor overloaded? How many times had your ponies gone down and fixed it? Why weren’t you turned into a wraith?”

I opened my muzzle to speak then closed it again, looking down. She had some good questions, and now it was a mystery for us to find out. “Maybe we could go find out…”

Her eyes widened and she jumped in front of me, shouting, “No! We don’t need to find out! What if ‘finding out’ turns you into a wraith? Or me? I don’t want to eat ponies anymore, and I don’t want to see you start doing it either! Lets just get you and the others out of this Celestia-damned hole and be done with it! Just… stay out of maintenance, whatever you do!”

Well… fuck. When the mare is right, she’s right. I gave her a nod, “Well, lead the way then…”

She took a deep breath, relaxing a bit before she lead me down the stairs to the atrium below. We passed by a few of the places she mentioned, and I took the chance to look inside.

The door to Big Shot's was made of a black material that crumbled and broke off as I put my hoof to it. Behind it was a large room filled with rows of large comfy looking seats. Skeletons of ponies filled them, all staring at a blank white wall. Some of them had their arms hooked around another's back, seemingly holding each other in a loving embrace. Considering the teeth marks on the bones, I highly doubt they died that way. Nor would I have believed a pony would have wonderglued a cup to their hoof...

There was a place called The Spa filled with even more remains glued together in poses of relaxing and being treated. I would have inspected further, but there was a chemical smell that made my head hurt. I could see clearly into Cold Stone's, the ponies were posed together eating and laughing. Made me actually want to try this ice cream... Almost. It was already cold enough I had begun to shiver.

The pool was the next stop on my list. The water was green and had a consistency that made me not want to go anywhere near it. There was a board at the end of the pool and a pony was hung up with a tiny wire as they were frozen in time. The skeletons all posed up were creepy... But at the same time I was thankful for them. It's like some pony left me a gift so I could see what life used to be like so long ago.

A life without endless work to survive... That was just so appealing. How did the ponies out here manage it? Did things just work back then, or maybe there was just enough ponies to keep things running without too much worry... It was hard to imagine, but here was the proof right in front of me!

"The water used to be so beautiful..." Aquarius said softly, walking in after me and laying down at the edge of the square pool, lifting her wings high to her sides. "I would leap and dive right in, my wings would let me twist and turn and if I closed my eyes I could imagine myself soaring in the blue skies... A true pegasus!"

I sat down by her side, listening closely to her story. I wonder if she had been just as desperate to say anything as I had been to tell Lily I loved her when I died.

"Sometimes, I'd find myself up in the clouds with my brother flying with me, working at clearing the skies so Brighthoof could have another sunny day. But then I'd open my eyes, and I'd be back under the water and back with ponies who could care less about me. If... If just one of my friends had made it into the stable with me… I’d be ok! But I was alone…” She took a deep breath, then smiled. “So one day… I came here and flew, imagined my friends down below.” Her head tilted to the side and she shook slightly, tears beginning to flow from her eyes and evaporating into nothingness as they rolled off her cheeks. “So I flew down to them, took a breath and said hello…” She looked away, “And I’ve been stuck here ever since.”

“Why didn’t you just leave?” I asked softly.

“The world had been destroyed, Shadow! Sure, maybe ponies can survive up there now, but all there was back then was green fiery death! Sure, I could have left, but there wasn’t any ponies up there! I looked! All the dead were… gone. So I came back here and watched ponies… it was all I could do…”

“Aquarius, I…” I lifted a hoof and attempted to pull her into a hug, met only with failure as her form distorted and let me pass through her.

She shook harder, her voice cracked as she stood up. “I… I need a moment. Look around if you want, I’ll find you.”

Before I could say a word, she lept through the air and into the pool of murky green water, leaving behind a soft ripple that extended to the edges of the pool and bounced back.

I was speechless, all I could do was look down after her into that murky water. All of those emotions I had felt when that wraith tried to eat me… they all made sense. But how could all of those ponies just… ignore her like that? There had to be somepony who at least liked her a little.

I stood, leaving the mare be for now and returned to the atrium. Another little shop caught my eye, Pizza Joe’s Party Palace. I could use a party right about now.

This place though… it had a whole different vibe to it.

Ponies weren’t glued together or posed; this was from the Stable’s final day.

At first glance, I noticed the party decorations for something called a ‘cutecenara.’ Looked nice, and I eagerly looked towards the tables so I could see how the ponies had their celebrations. This wasn’t a celebration. Small bones lied on the table, a colorful party hat on top of an unicorn foal’s skull. The arms were outstretched and ropes had been used to hold the foal down. Its ribs had been broken open, pieces of bones scattered onto plates in front of more ponies that had been tied down. A few of the plates were clean, little bones found on the inside of their corpses.

These fucks had fed ponies a fucking foal! It was bad enough these ponies were cannibals, but to force other ponies to eat a foal?! I responded the same way any normal and sane pony would.

I went on a rampage.

My horn burned as the tables and chairs flung across the room, smashing through the window and denting holes into the walls. Every piece of sick and depraved decoration was torn away, and found new locations in trash bins that later got thrown out the window as well. I found skeletons of ponies that weren’t tied down, and tore the halogen light bulbs out of the ceiling and proceeded to smash those fuckers to bits. It didn’t matter that they were already dead, they needed to pay!

The only thing I didn’t destroy were the bones of the unicorn foal. Those I floated above me and out of harms reach. I left the place, now a giant mess, carefully carrying the bones. Aquarius stood in the doorway, watching me with wide eyes.

I held the bones of the kid out in front of me, shaking with every step. “They fucking fed a foal to ponies…. Forced them to eat him alive!” I think I was crying at this point. How could anypony, sane or not just… No!

Harp was right. This was a nightmare. Just a living one.

Aquarius looked down, “I… I know… but…” She looked back up at me, then over at the mess I had just made, “Come on… There’s one other thing for you to do before we go… Bring the kid.” She turned, walking off into the darkness.

Why the fuck was it so cold?

She led me past a pair of marble statues of tall mares. They had long flowing hair around even longer horns poking from behind crowns. Their wings were held out to the side, and... wait, wings? Wings and horns? I moved closer, my pip-light glistening a plaque at its base.

Princesses Celestia and Luna

May they watch and guide us from above into a bright future

Wait, these were the princesses? I had always imagined gods of ethereal energy that would damn us if we didn't keep the stable alive... These just looked like tall ponies.

Another reason not to trust the Overmare...

Aquarius called me from a nearby archway, waving me over before disappearing inside the large open room. I got up and followed her, taking one back look at the visage of the Princesses before looking up to the sign. ‘Happy Foal Fun Farm.’

OK, a farm for kids to take care of specifically? OK… so more skeletons of foals were probably inside. I hope this was nothing like the last place...

I trotted inside, looking past the little cubicles where foals and their parents had stuffed belongings before letting their kids run off to work. Past that was what looked like a farm, but this one had the strangest farming equipment I had ever seen! Tiny skeletons sat upon plastic benches that were strung up on metal chains over the dead dirt. One of the benches was pulled back by the skeleton of an adult earth pony, and the foal sitting on top of it looked ready to be launched into the air.

Another small unicorn was sitting on on a large disk in the farms center, her forehooves wrapped around one of the metal poles that looped back around to its center. Some kind of… giant spinning sprinkler system? No… looking closer I could see there wasn’t any holes for water to come out of. Shame, that does look like a fun way to water the crops.

A metal ramp was adorned with the skeleton of another small foal, sitting on top and overlooking the ground below. My mind tried to strangle out what purpose this served, but this far too strange of tools for it to work right.

No… this wasn’t farming equipment… it couldn’t be! Where were the real tools? Probably in a storage closet somewhere...

I gave Aquarius a look, "What kind of backwards thinking farm is this?"

“It’s a playground,” Aquarius explained with a bemused smile. “Colts and fillies could come here to play together while their parents were working. One of the first votes that went through completely unopposed…”

Ok, what? I had always been taught that playing in the field would hurt the crops. Or playing with anything else, really. Sure, once I got older and wiser I found ways to have a little bit of fun, but I’d never mess with something that could endanger lives!

She gave me a blank look, her head slowly tilting to the side, “You… really have no concept of fun, do you?”

I snorted, “Of course I do! Puzzles are fun, messing with ponies’ heads is fun, and hacking systems to make them do shit is fun.” I raised my hoof to the farm, “Letting foals play around in the middle of a farm and trample the crops? That’s crazy!”

She shook her head, giving out a sigh. “Shadow, It’s not a farm… it was just a place to let foals play.”

Oh. Well, that made a whole lot more sense, but… “Why call it a farm if it’s not a farm?”

She shrugged, “Just a name, I guess. But bring him here…” She hopped onto the metal disk and gave me a sad smile. “There wouldn’t be enough dirt for a proper burial… But leaving him here would be a lot better than that table…” She looked over the bones of the skeletons, “Maybe one of them was his friend?”

I baulked. Was I really going to add to the collection of this fucked up museum? I could better toss him into the processor and let him be cycled back through into life! Although, ponies might protest if the pony who recently came back from the dead came running through with chewed up bones of a young foal. More pitchforks, fuck that. Creepy museum piece it is... For now.

I set the bones down on the disk, curling them up so it looked like maybe he was sleeping. Stepping back, I took one more look at the little farm playground and tried to imagine little foals and fillies running around having fun. It was an odd thought, but one I would have liked to see. Aquarius gave me a smile, before trotting silently past me and out the door. I pushed the thought away for now, following the ghostly mare through the arch.

As my breath rolled out of my lips again a giggle tickled my ear, just barely in my range of hearing. A ghost foal? I stopped, looking back over my shoulder as I looked over the farm. The bones that I had just left had moved, now posed as if he was happily running next to the disk, a hoof on one of the metal bars.

...OK... Enough of this! Leaving now!

Needing a distraction, I pulled back out the pipbuck I had gained from Harp’s room and caught up with Aquarius. This time I dug into something older, maybe I'd find something a bit happier.

“A vote was cast today, and I couldn't be more excited! We are completely changing the way ponies will have to work, no more set hours! Instead, administration will track ponies and pool out jobs that come in to those qualified and if you're busy, you can pass that job down to the next pony in the list!

“I don't have to miss dinner with my brother anymore because of his stupid shift! I can hang out with my friends and watch movies without missing anypony! Oh, life just got so much better!”

Well Harp, perhaps you should have skipped dinner...

Past the courtyard of the recreational district was more hallways with more rooms. I had wished I hadn't asked my earlier question because now everywhere I looked I could see blood. Half of the remains of a pony sat on top of a foul smelling smear of something, a hoof outstretched as if he was desperately trying to crawl towards us. The smell of it almost made me lose my lunch...

My pip-light illuminated one of the windows; the word 'hungry' was smeared backwards on the inside. The hallway met with another, and we took a left. I swore out of the corner of my eye that I saw a blue wispy light off in the distance. I quickly turned my head, shining my light down the hall and saw nothing but the same grimy hallway.

I was really starting to hate this place. I will probably have nightmares for months! I'll be happy once we are out of here and on the surface. And I really hope the surface is warmer than this because, fuck!

"Here we are... Administration." Aquarius said, stopping at the door at the end. "The Overmare and security offices are in here. We can get the code and get out of here..."

I rubbed my arms together, shivering even more than before. "Good.... Then get a more direct path to our part... Need to get the others out too..." I focused my magic, which was getting harder to do. Not sure of it was the repeated use of the spell or just the cold. Probably the cold. An electric arc shot from my horn, hitting the panel squarely on the side.

Aquarius started through the door, then gave me a worried glance when I rubbed my arms together again, "You going to be all right?"

I nodded, unsure of the answer myself. "Yea. I'll be fine. Just cold..."

She trotted over to me, leaning into my face and squinted as she looked into both my eyes. "Feeling light headed? Can you still feel your face? Your hooves?"

I blinked, backing away slightly, "I.. Yes? I'm beginning to hurt, actually."

She frowned, "Let me know if you lose any feeling the moment it happens. We'll need to get you to someplace warm before frostbite sets in… It shouldn’t be this cold ever. Especially not in the middle of summer."

"Yea… Well, our heater works overtime. Maybe... I should head back..."

"And what? Work until the stable kills you again? I don't know about you, but I'd rather not just stand by and let more ponies slowly kill themselves when freedom is so close by. I don't want to see this anymore..."

I groaned. Right, of course. Now, or later, it would be just as cold. It would help if this section of the stable had some power to turn on the heaters. I followed Aquarius through the doorway and looked into the rooms around us. Everything in Administration was just as dark as… wait…

“Aquarius… If this part of the stable doesn’t have any power, how am I going to get the password? Is it written down somewhere?”

Aquarius stopped dead, her eyes narrowing slightly as a soft frustrated noise escaped her lips. She turned and looked at me before taking a deep breath. “This way,” She said, trotting down the way we just came.

I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly as I turned to follow her. “I’m going to take that as a no… Where we headed now?”

“Well Utility, your stable module, foolishly cut off their emergency generator from the rest of the stable. It’s the main reason you kept having issues with it overloading and melting down… Too big a generator for too small a system. That generator could easily have powered a quarter of the stable. The main one was sabotaged, and none of the other emergency generators came online. There’s only one generator that would be close enough for us to get the systems to turn on the terminals in Administration.”

“You seem to know a lot about the stable…” I began, giving her a half smile.

“I used to work in Maintenance.” She smiled, “And I’ve been a ghost wandering these halls for one hundred and fifty seven years. You kind of pick up on a few things.”

A sheen caught my eye on one of the windows, drawing my attention. Was that ice? I reached up my hoof to touch it, illuminating my face in my reflection.

“What the hell?” My reflection’s iris’s were washed out with a sickly grey, leaving a faint trail of their previous golden hue in a ring around them. Well, that explains what was wrong with my eyes.

Aquarius looked over at me, “Oh, you should have seen them when you first came back. I suspect Doctor did something to let you still see us.”

I squinted at the reflection, “Well, he could have done it without making my eyes so… ugly, couldn’t he?”

Aquarius shrugged, “Honestly, you look like a blind pony.”

A blind pony… well, I’m glad I can actually still see somehow. In 79, if you were crippled to where you couldn’t work, even if you had no pain, you were… What did they call it? Oh. ‘Put to sleep.’

I sighed, pushing the thought from my head and stepped away from the ice-glazed window. “Anyway, so where’s this generator?”

Her smile faded and she looked onward with deep resignation in her voice. “Maintenance.”

Footnote: Level up.

New Perk: Blindsight - Your visual senses have improved greatly, even in situations you would not normally be able to see. All penalties for visual impairment are halved.

Author's Note

Phew! Ok! Shadow was originally supposed to be out of the stable in this chapter... Yea, that ain' happenin' xD

Let's hope for the surface in chapter 4, yes? Yes. Probably.