The door to maintenance screeched loudly as it struggled to break free from its rusted frame, knocking free dusty chunks that clattered on the floor. My horn was burning with the magical lightning I was keeping on the control box. Cold sweat pooled on my bow, though not as cold as the half inch of water that rushed past from the slowly rising door. A loud crack echoed through the mechanism as the door jerked and fell an inch downwards. The soft whine of freely spinning motors tickled at the edge of my hearing.

“D-damnit,” I cursed under my breath, looking at the two foot opening it was stuck on.

Aquarius looked at me and frowned, “Hopefully it will still be open by the time we get back. If not, there are other ways out. Come on.”

Ways out possibly just as rusted as this one. She turned and trotted through the doorway with her cheaty ghost powers. I crouched down when I approached, my chest and chin dampening with the ice-cold water. I took slow and easy steps as I inched my way under the door. A rough metal brushed against my flanks and the door gave a loud metallic groan.

Hooves reached out toward one of mine, turning into a wispy smoke as Aquarius attempted to pull me through. I wasted no time in lurching forward myself and leapt right through the ghost mare. The door gave one final groan before falling silent again.

“Are you alright?” She asked, reforming in front of me.

I nodded, standing up as I tried to shake as much of the water off as I could. I took a deep shaky breath, filling my lungs with the moist and moldy air. My voice broke more as my lungs rattled my chest trying to keep warm. “C-cold. Now, w-wet and cold… Let’s not use that door again. Let’s go, maybe the h-heater sy-system still works….”

She nodded before turning to lead me off down the darkened corridor, “Yes… let’s hope.”

“Th-thanks, by the way…” I said trotting behind her, my eyes looking over the rusted walls before catching her inquisitive look. “For trying to pull me through. You m-may not have done much, but the thought w-was nice.”

She gave me a weak smile, her cheeks flushing out slightly before looking away. “You’re welcome… As much as I’d love to have a companion to spend my eternal undeath in…”

I chuckled, smiling a bit more. “Hey… t-tell me m-more about this place. You know, before things went to shit.”

She tilted her head up as we passed under a running fire sprinkler. “What can I say? It was maintenance…”

I smiled at her, quickening my pace for a moment to catch up to her side. “Try. A-and not just maintenance. I want to know how things could have been. Sh-should have been. B-besides,” I puffed a cloud of smoke air from my lungs, “It’s a g-good distraction.”

She smiled slightly, “It was… democratic. Our old leaders, the princesses and the Ministries, were matriarchal. That system led to the world blowing up, so the founders of Stable-Tec wanted us to take a different approach and see if it was better. We could all put in our votes over everything or even put in petitions for new votes to be cast, and even vote to change entire areas in the stable. Some ponies got really into it, you should have seen some of the debates that went on! Sometimes I thought it would get violent. Usually that wasn’t the case, but as long as just over half the stable voted for something, it got done, and couldn’t be overturned for a year. The close call votes were the worst… Obviously…” She looked to the side, right into the eye socket of a pony skeleton resting against one of the hallway windows, “It didn’t quite work out…”

“What happened? How did that… d-democratic thing turn into that?” I asked motioning to the skeleton with a soft sigh before looking back to her.

“That’s the thing. We don’t know, ponies just went… crazy.” She sighed, looking up.

I nodded slightly, “A-and something here caused it?”

She gave a kind of sad smile as she leaded me deeper into maintenance, “I’d both like and hate to think so…”

I think I knew what she meant. My hooves sloshed through the quarter inch of water that collected and rushed past to the stairwell we were approaching.

Aquarius turned towards it, “There’s an furnace not too far from the generator, hopefully it will still work. We need to get some heat into you, fast… I don’t think you want to find out what frostbite is like.”

I looked down the stairwell, watching the water cascade down the steps. I’d have to be careful walking down, lest I want to ram my head into a metal wall. Glowing eyes caught my attention from the corner of my eye. A different kind of chill ran down my back as I nearly jumped out of my skin, splashing down and slipping slightly into the water.. My heart ached and pounded in my chest, bringing my pipbuck light forward as I searched for the face that belonged to that smile. All I could see was the ice building up against the eternal grey.

Fuck… was it getting colder? We just came from there! And I clearly remember not slipping on ice! I was really starting to loathe this place.

The ice answered my question as it gave a soft creaking sound, slowly reaching out towards my hooves. I got up and stepped away from the ice, peering back down the hall. No smile, the cold must be getting to me...

I really did need to get to some heat. My ears were beginning to itch badly, and I had lost the feeling in my hooves.

Aquarius looked up at me from halfway down the steps, “Shadow, you OK?”

I smiled at her, my lips cracking with a slight twinge of pain. “Y-yea, I’m fine. Let’s get t-to th-at heat.”

Yea, of course you’re fine, my little pony snarled at me.

Hey, not like telling her the truth would change anything, so shush!

She gave me a worried frown, leading me along as I slowly descended the steps. Several times I felt the water wear against my hoofing, threatening to drag me down into the-

“Fuck…” Aquarius muttered, looking down at a giant puddle of water that collected at the bottom of the stairwell. Our destination? If it’s anything like the design of our module, several feet below the water. Ice had begun to form around the edges of the pool, reaching up to icicles that hung down from the bottom of the stairs above.

She paced in place, nibbling on her lower lip as she looked down into the icy water. Then she nodded, looking to me. “Hey Shadow? Stay here for a bit. I want to check something.” Without another word she dived down into the water.

I stood there for what seemed like ages, staring down into the rippling pool as the freezing water rushed against my hooves. They were getting numb… I had to get moving! Could a healing potion even fix frostbite? What was frostbite anyway?

I started dancing in place, keeping half my hooves out of the water as much as I could. “Hurry Aquarius… what’s taking you so long?” I muttered, checking the time on my pipbuck.

Oh fuck, it had only been a few minutes...

A blue blurry form appeared in the water. My ears perked, ready for the news that Aquarius would bring, but something wasn’t right. When was Aquarius so hazy? No, this couldn’t be her… unless something happened to her down there. As a dark smile and two brightly glowing eyes formed into the hazy figure, I prayed to Luna I was right. I backed up the stairs, my horn charging in case I need to shoot-

My thoughts were cut off as the creaking of growing ice grew around me. The water that was flowing between my hooves began to harden and clump against my fur, but that was the least of my worries. The stairs were so slick that moving became almost impossible! I tried to stop moving to take a moment to catch my breath but the growing cold made that impossible. I had lost focus on my spell... actually, I had lost focus on everything.

A loud crack in the ice underneath my hooves pulled me to some sort of cognition. Ice had started growing up my legs, threatening to trap me in the stairwell for all eternity. Oh fuck! When did this start happening?! My little pony was panicking as I started jerking against the ice. A soft crack and my hooves broke free!

Now, I need to get back up-nope… going down.

Everything else went numb as my body was dunked down into the water. Luckily, I managed to get a good breath before I was dunked down, as it gave me an opportunity to check the door. Fuck, it was wide open! But where was Aquarius and where was that blue face-thing? Doesn’t matter, I can ask that question when I was back on the surface. More important question though; how does one swim?

I attempted to not panic as I thrashed my hooves in the water, desperately fighting to get to the surface again. My hooves connected with the steps, and I was able to push myself upwards; right into the thick layer of ice that had now grown over the surface.

I pounded against the ice fruitlessly, the force of my hooves only pushing me farther down into the cold. Every part of my body that I could still feel burned, and my lungs were quickly joining them. A blurry form with glowing eyes appeared over the ice ceiling that sealed my doom.

I wanted to scream. This was all your fault, wasn’t it?! You wraith thing! I already died once, I can’t die again! This isn’t fair! When I am dead I will fucking kill you! Of course, I didn’t actually scream, I only continued pounding at the ice as a wicked smile appeared below those two evil eyes.

“Soon…” A buck’s voice broke through the ice, unimpeded by the water, “Soon, I will have another to add to my collection…”

My next batch of rage was cut off as a light illuminated at my side with a loud click. Then another click and lights illuminated from the other side of the ice. And another click, and another. One by one, the lights turned on upwards the stairwell. Who turned on the power? I didn’t have the chance to think as the water that formed my current world started flushing away.

I lost my breath when my chest met with the railing as I was sucked downward through an opening door and down a short hallway. My side met metal, and I quickly grabbed on. Thank Celestia! The water was clearing, and I had enough time in air to cough out the ice in my lungs and fill them with sweet, sweet air! Of course, the metal archway was slick enough that I was sent tumbling back down. Soon though, my hoof met the floor and the water leveled out to a few inches. I continued to slide, not that I cared now that I could breathe, down a few more steps and into a brightly lit room with terminals and switches galore. It almost looked like…

“Shadow! What the hell?” Aquarius’s voice rang out from beside me. “You were supposed to wait for me to come back!”

My eyes fell upon the blue mare standing in front of one of the terminals. She had stuck her hoof inside it and the screen seemed to respond in a glitchy static… Did she turn on the power? Didn’t matter, I could still barely breathe.

She gave me a glare as she trotted towards me, “You really don’t want to be swimming in water if it’s that cold! Can you even feel your legs?! What the hell, were you trying to follow me?!”

I coughed out a bit more water before coming up with the only answer I could muster out between sharp breaths. “Waiting… pony figure… water froze… slipped… trapped under… ice… swoosh!”

Her eyes widened a bit and she took a step back, “Wait… No, it can’t be…” She quickly shook her head, before nudging her nose into my side. "Doesn't matter. Move. You need to get yourself warm again, now."

How the hell? She’s a ghost! She can’t nudge!

...Really Shadow? Out of all the shit that’s happening, this is the least of your concerns.

“Come on,” She added softly, “Heater’s this way. Should be kicking on any minute now…”

It took me a few moments before I could roll over onto my belly and feebly stand on my hooves. My joints resisted my movements at the beginning, but once I started moving it wasn’t long before I got to the room Aquarius was leading me to. The problem, however, is not all of the water was draining away as quickly as I had hoped.

The entire section was possibly filled at one point, only now were the pumps draining the water away, and the doors open enough for it to escape. But this still left an inch of freezing cold water on the ground I had to slosh through... And no. No I couldn't feel my legs.

The room wasn’t big, mostly took up by a few shelves filled with various maintenance supplies and a large box. It was lit by your standard stable lighting, of course normally the rusted room wouldn’t glisten with dripping water. But there was one thing important about this room, on the far side wall was a large box connected to the ventilation system. And it was warm! I had never been so happy in my life! Either of them! The four heating talismans hummed as warmth filled the air, and I happily moved closer to-

Hang on, why was this talisman… green?

I pulled the rouge talisman off the system and studied it. It was… strange. On the surface, it seemed to be a normal heating talisman, but a soft sickly green gas emitted from its core. Studying it closer, I could see green symbols carved inside the heating one. Those….. weren’t supposed to be there.

It was a bad, bad idea to bring that green smoking talisman closer to my face. As I inhaled some of the green gas, my head instantly began to pound. I growled, instantly backing away from it, covering my face with my arm.

“Shadow?” Aquarius asked, coming to my side, “What is that?”

“I… d-don’t know… and I don’t th-think I want-t to find out…” I threw the talisman away, picking up a fire extinguisher and proceeded to violently smash it to bits with a rage I did not know I had. I knew something down here had made everypony go crazy. I didn’t want to find out what did. I didn’t want my friends going crazy just trying to bring them out of the stable. And right now, I wanted to just curl up against the heater and sleep.

Aquarius joined me at my side, looking down at the talisman I had destroyed before turning to me. “Well….. Ok then. Moving on…. Can you describe this figure you saw?”

I shrugged, flopping over onto my side as the heater’s warmth soothed my skin. “I never s-saw it clearly. First time I saw it in the water, though that might have been a reflection. Then I was tr-trapped under ice, and it was s-smiling down on me… Just had blue glowing eyes…” I yawned, rolling over to get nice and toasty on all sides. “No wait!” I remembered, “I had seen it before… kind of ha-hazy and spooky, like what you’d ex-expect a ghost to look like from the st-stories I’ve heard… No offense.”

It was about this time that I realized I hurt. A lot. I was regaining my feeling in my legs, and I didn’t want to. But my little pony was smiling with one important fact: I was still alive. I didn’t need a necromancer to bring me back to life! He made my quest sound so easy… open a door. I guess I didn’t really question the locations in-between enough. Or at all. Perhaps it would have been easier to just have died and stay that way?

No… I have ponies who need me! I had to stay alive… for the good of the stable.

Aquarius was quiet since I had told her what I had seen. It had really started to bother me. She just sat there, looking through the open door. “Aquarius. Wh-what did I see? You know something, don’t you?”

She paused, then shook her head, “I’m… not sure. But it sounds like a windego…”

I sat up, arching an eyebrow. “What th-th-the hay is a windego?”

The look she gave me was one of utter bewilderment. “Haven’t you ever heard the Hearth’s Warming stories?”

I smiled and shook my head, my lips twinging in pain along the cracks that started to bleed again as I leaned against the heater. “Don’t know what a hearth is, but I sure would like to have that-t w-warmed.”

“Ugh!” She cried as her hoof met her face, “Are you serious? They taught you nothing about anything down here!”

“I know a lot of st-st-stuff!” I protested, “I can rebuild this entire heating unit if I wanted to!” Rebuilding the heating unit sounded like a good idea to me right now, actually.

Aquarius snorted, “But what do you know about life? About living?”

“I…!” The question threw me. Before I would have just answered something along the lines that I live to keep the stable alive, but after seeing the entertainment module… I wondered how much I really was missing out on.

How much we were all missing out on…

She sighed, then laid a hoof on my shoulder. Of course, now I didn’t feel it anymore. “Don’t worry Shadow. When we get everypony out of here, I’ll teach you how to be a real pony!”

I nodded, “Thanks Aquarius… You might have tried to eat me once, but… now you’re a good friend.”

She blinked, her head drawing back in surprise, “I’m… I’m your friend?”

I met her bewildered gaze with a warm smile, “Of course! Now that you’re sane, you’ve been great help! I should have died years ago!” Ok, maybe that’s a slight stretch, but it seems to have cheered her up a bit.

She sat in front of me, trembling with her hooves placed against her lips and her cheeks flushed a soft red. “I… I hadn’t had a friend in… 200 y-years…”

“Well, you have one now…” I said softly.

She leapt at me, wrapping her hooves around me with enough force to make my coat crawl. “Thank you! I’m sorry for everything! I’ll-I’ll be a good friend, promise!”

Trying to hug her back was an awkward gesture, but one that she defiantly seemed to have needed. One question came to mind however. “Hey Aquarius? How are you able to touch me sometimes? And how did you turn on the power?”

She pulled back, trying to calm herself. Her gaze fell on a box of detergent on one of the shelves and she briskly trotted to it. “I’m… not sure really. It takes a bit of focus, but I can if I try hard enough…” She reached out with a hoof, poking the box a few times. It passed through without a care the first few times, but the last connected. The box lurched backwards, breaking apart and oozing its contents all over everything. Ok, I know it’s been in water for 200 years, but ew!

“As for the power,” she continued, “While many places had been sabotaged, the maintenance ponies simply turned this section off. And that’s why the emergency services were still running. Must have been a fire at some point.” She shrugged, “There was just a switch I had to flip. Then I had to get a few of the terminals rebooted, and everything just came online.”

That was surprising to say the least; 200 years underwater and it still works? Can we just move here? Nah, it’ll probably break soon too.

I sighed, shaking my head in disbelief. “You know, as long as I’ve been running around fixing shit that have been falling apart, I have to say: Stable-Tec can really build things to last.”

She giggled, leaning back and giving me a wide smile, “Yea, until somepony throws a wrench at it.” Her gaze drifted into mine for a moment, before she spoke again softly, “Thank you, Shadow… You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I opened my maw to respond, but froze as cold smoke rolled off my breath. The soft crackle of ice snapped my attention to the doorway as a buck entered the room. I could only see the outline of his form and business suit and hat. His mane and tail seemed to float off his body in tendrils that broke apart into smoke that was cold as ice. His eyes opened, meeting my gaze with the glowing blue that coupled that wicked smile.

“Oh, how touching this is!” He said with a dark voice that sent chills down my spine. “Two little ponies, friends at last! But I must take credit for a part of this, you did take a tour through my exhibit after all…”

I quickly stood, backing away from the growing ice that was quickly surrounding us. Aquarius took a slight step forward, peering into the windego’s eyes. “You’re… Cold Stone, aren’t you?”

His smile brightened, stepping forward at a brisk pace. “Oh my, my! Somepony remembers me! Well, miss, I’m sorry I don’t have your name, but a pleasure to meet you nonetheless! I’d love to make friends with both of you...”

She took a step towards him, relaxing slightly as she smiled at him. “My name is Aquarius, and this is my friend Shadow. Look, you’re hurting him by making it so cold.”

I backed into the heater, but with the windego right here in front of me, it did little good at holding back the cold. “Hi, yes. I’d like to not die again.”

He chuckled softly, his grin growing “What is the point of being alive when you can be art?”

What? Seriously, what?

Aquarius gaped at him, “That’s just…”

“Splendid? Marvelous? Look at us! We don’t need bodies to survive, and neither does he! And after he cleared out that one spot, something has to go there, does it not? I’ll finally have a new exhibit! Oh, a body with the flesh still attached! That would be simply joyous for us to see! I’ll call it ‘Life in the Flesh!’”

“That’s horrible! You can’t just kill ponies for art!” Aquarius protested, her eyes furrowing at him with a disgusted rage.

The temperature in the room decreased sevenfold as Cold barked back at her, his main and tail flaring in a frost storm that covered the room in ice in an instant. “Life is meaningless! No matter how much you fight to strive, to survive, you all end up the same! Dead! But art… art is eternal! Ponies knew me for my ice cream, a few even for my ice sculptures, and now I found a new calling… Give his body to me, and I will make it last forever! And when his friends come looking for him, they’ll see him and want to join him!”

I growled. As much as this actually made a bit of sense, this fuck just turned my heater into a block of ice! “Fuck off… I very much like being alive!”

Cold Stone pushed past Aquarius and walked straight to me, “Now, now, my boy... If you won’t give me your body, I will have to take it by force. I am quite sorry, but I tried to be reasonable.”

His maw opened and he exhaled a breath colder than anything I had felt before. My legs started to freeze, with ice traveling rapidly across my body. Luckily, I was prepared. My horn charged in an instant and I-

“Nopony!” Aquarius screamed as her hoof met with Cold’s face knocking him to the side, “Messes!” Another hoof connected with his chin with a deafening crack that sent him flying into the air. “WITH! MY! FRIEND!” Aquarius leapt into the air, her wings flared wide as she dived down onto the windego buck. He may have been a dead ghost thing going, but that really looked like it hurt and by his ear piercing scream, it really did. I wouldn’t even have expected him to have bones to crack…

The two crashed into a shelf, knocking a few things off, and the last thing I heard was his screams of agony as they went flying through the wall. And now I was just stuck here with my legs frozen in place listening to the fading sounds of distant fighting.

Well, fuck. "Thanks Aquarius!" I called after her, my spell dissipating before it even began.

At least the heating talismans were still functional. They were making my butt nice and toasty. Could you thaw out my legs already? Please? I’m already not able to feel them… again…

My ears strained as I tried to continue to listen to the fight, but it was getting harder as they were getting farther away. Since when did Aquarius kick ass? Oh well, I guess all that was left to do was sit here and wait… Wouldn’t be long before I would be able to move my back legs, the ice was already starting to feel brittle. Actually…

I looked around the shelves. Mostly maintenance junk I hopefully will never need once I get out of this hell hole, but my eyes fell upon a screwdriver. Perfect!

My horn emitted a soft glow, lifting the screwdriver towards me. I had to be careful, but I couldn’t just freeze like this… Aquarius seemed quite worried about this frostbite thing, so I suppose I should be too. I pointed the tip of the screwdriver to my legs and started to work, slowly chipping away the ice.

It was forever it seemed before I was able to remove enough of the ice that I was able to move around. It took even longer before I was willing to leave the heater behind, but not before removing one of the talismans and tying it to my horn. My joints refused to move right, feeling as if they were made out of something along the lines of old crusty jelly.

Oi, now was not the time to be thinking about food. I had left behind my sandwich back in medical and the third I had eaten of it was quickly running out. I should head back to get it… but if I went back looking as I did now, they’d never follow me outside again. I needed to find a healing potion or two, and I could catch back up with Aquarius later.

Celestia must have been smiling down on me from above.

Now that the lights were humming gently, I turned off my pipbuck and trotted briskly down the hall. The wet floor seemed to shimmer against the light. Walls were covered in rust and this strange green fuzz that was squishy to the touch.

I traced my steps back to the stairwell, but it was still frozen and I’d have to find another way up. Or use my little talisman to melt it… but I didn’t want to tax it any more than I’d have to. Looking for this new path was the right thing though; as I was traversing down the halls a little red sign sticking out over a doorway caught my eye. Clinic.

I had to hit the door with my shoulder before it snapped open, but my eyes widened as I looked around into all the glass cabinets. This place was the treasure trove of everything I’d ever need! Healing potions, Med-X, and bandages, oh my! There were even a few boxes of sealed Fancy Buck Cakes! All it took was a few whacks on the glass with a fire extinguisher I pried free from its metal box on the wall to shatter the little treasures free. I didn’t even question how they weren’t filled with water. The snack cakes were a bit odd… a very sweet odd… Did everypony eat this stuff back then?

By the time I was finished breaking everything open, I had a dozen packs of bandages, 7 healing potions, 19 med-x, and 8 more buck cakes I squirreled away into my bags. As I was turning to leave, a green glow caught my eye; a terminal that was sitting on a desk in the far corner of the room had begun booting on. Oh, wasn’t this lovely! The little pony bounced around in my head, telling me this was a perfect way to figure out what happened here.

I couldn’t agree more.

I took out one of the healing potions, downing the foul tasting liquid as I shifted my rump onto the squishy seat in front of the terminal. It wasn’t even locked! I had some time on my hooves as the ice melted, so I cracked open the terminal and dug right into the first log.

Diseases! I need diseases! Tiny little spores that can make your flesh writhe in agony and your brain melt into a puddle of vegetable soup! Things of magic and fire and mold! I need them… I need them all!

That’ll show them! That’ll show them! I should be the lead doctor, not stuck down in a little tiny office of miserable head-ponies!They expect me to serve their little head-colds! I say no more, I should be healing everypony! Healing diseases!

I need diseases! Capture a pony and inject them with everything! Grow the diseases and stick them in a ventilation shaft! They will die… yes. Death is inevitable! But for the greater good! Sick ponies means more doctors! More doctors means less sick ponies! It’s the perfect plan!

Doctor Golden Lockheart
Maintenance MD

Well. That was… an interesting read. I don’t believe we share the same views. Ok, let’s skip down a bit…. That was… insanity. I had to admit, it’s surprising to see that an insane pony would spend the time to even write a short log. Or sign their name. Ah! This one looks normal…

I just don’t understand it. I have been receiving more and more reports of headaches and ponies have been coming in and demanding that I administer pain killers to them! Not just asking, but full on demanding! Today a buck even tried to smash his way into my medical cabinet, luckily a few ponies from security were nearby because of other fights that had been starting in the area. I actually thought for a moment he was going to cut me with that scalpel….

Everything points to this beings some kind of pathogen, but tox screens have all come out clear. No bacteria or viruses, magical radiation, or alkalines. I even went so far as to check cholesterol and blood sugar! As far as I can tell, these ponies are in perfect health.

As I was discussing the problem with other ponies in medical, they suggested that ponies have become addicted to the Med-x. They were accusing me! Said I shouldn’t be giving out the stuff so much! I would never break my oath upon such ludicrous amenities like a ‘quick high’! I’ll show them. I’ll find out what’s causing this and put a stop to this!

It must be something they’re working with. Something in the stable that only they currently have access too. Something our tests aren’t designed to pick up.

Uhg… trying to deal with this is starting to give me a headache…

Dr Golden Lockheart
Maintenance MD

So, this wasn’t just an all of a sudden thing. The signs of something being wrong had been there for a while, and the rest of the stable... just ignored it. I had to wonder if things would have been different if one of the other doctors had listened. Or if anypony did, for that matter.

And why hadn’t anyone noticed the corrupted heating talisman? Did nopony just pay any attention to it? The green fog was kind of a dead gi-....

Or was it something they couldn’t see?

I thought back to Aquarius. She was so happy I could see her… Were glyphs written in the same way she exists? Could a ghost or wraith have attacked the stable? I’ll have to ask her… but I had a feeling she’d know just as much as I did. I clicked the terminal off with a hoof, leaning back in the seat and taking a deep breath. I felt better… a lot better. And now it was time to get moving.

The talisman tapping between my eyes began to annoy me as I trotted down the lower halls of Maintenance, but there was no way I was going to remove it. The nice little bubble of not-cold felt far too nice. It did, however, make me wish I had brought my bags.

It wasn’t long before I managed to find the other stairs up. The layout was very similar to our little home, just this stairwell would have led to nothing but locked doors. Once we were safely settled on the surface and I saved Red, I’d have to come back down here. I may have hated this place with a passion, now that I was actually out and exploring my curiosity burned like a bonfire that was so much brighter.

Finding the door towards Administration was easy. Lights illuminated my path. Trying to walk over the ice that Cold Stone left behind... was not. The ice was rugged with bits jutting out at odd angles, arching up the walls and leaving some rather interesting fractal patterns in the glass to rooms that had been torn apart. Every hoof wanted to slide in a different direction! At least the ice had begun to melt under me, and I was able to slowly push forth.

There was one good thing about the ice. That door I was worried about finding its way shut was now frozen open. Of course, the bastard also froze the door to Administration closed.

Oh well. Have heating talisman? Will heat!

I closed my eyes, focusing a weak stream of magical energy into the talisman. The area around me began to heat up faster than a hot summer day. Now I just had to wait…. which was like watching paint dry. And the worst part, I was alone with only the arcane hum of the lights and the cracking of the ice to keep me company. I didn’t much like being alone. I knew this place already had a freezy ice-demon thing that used to be a pony, and Aquarius herself had once tried to eat me before. Who knows what danger lied beyond this door?

Part of me wanted to go back to Utility. Back to friends, back to my work, back to Lily, and just stay there forever. But we couldn’t do that anymore… It was past our time to leave. In my lifetime alone, our stockpile of working parts has dwindled by 16%. That might not be a lot, but within the coming years, mathematically that number would increase exponentially.

There was a resounding crack as the door broke free, opening and dropping chunks of ice as hit the top of the frame. With a deep breath, I was off.

Administration had a totally different feel to it than Entertainment and Maintenance. For one, it wasn’t freezing anymore, the module’s heating system was humming along nicely. For two… where were all the bodies? The place seemed abandoned. That was fine enough, I suppose. Didn’t really want to see any more posed skeletons right now. There were however, nice little signs that pointed to every section of Administration! So. Where would I keep the code to the stable door if I were a security pony over a hundred years ago? Security Records? Let’s try that.

Ok, the security on this door was one of the most advanced I had ever seen! Not that that stopped me. It just took me backing completely out of the system about 7 times to prevent the access panel from locking down and attempt to fry my pipbuck. It was completely frustrating… surely a door so advanced wouldn’t have a password so simple! But I’ve tried everything else, so why not?

‘password’

The door beeped merrily and slid open as my face met the wall with much angst. Seriously ponies! How hard is it to change a default password? Too much work to bother with, apparently! Well, at least the door was open now, so I unhooked my pipbuck and trotted inside, ready to hack the first terminal I saw. There was however a problem with this plan. There wasn’t a terminal! I had walked into a room with nothing but shelves and hundreds of these little white orbs. Several on the first two sets of shelves were labeled with stickers, the rest blank.

My eyes fell on a orb that was marked with a star. Reaching out with my magic, I pulled the orb closer so I could read the label. ‘Case 005-i36.’ Wow, that was really descri-

~~~~~ooo0o0o000o0o0ooo~~~~~

I felt weird. My entire body didn’t move right. In fact, why was I moving? I wasn’t telling myself to move! I pulled myself this way and that, but nothing I tried to do would do anything! I passed another buck while trotting down the hall. When did I get into the hall? Where did he come from? He didn’t appear dead! And was he looking at my ass?

My eyes slowly shifted over to him, and I felt myself scoff. My muzzle opened on it’s own, as a very much a mare’s voice came out. “Don’t ya have a wife to get to, Iron Side?”

He chuckled, looking back towards me, “Yea, but it don’t mean Ah can’t look, now do it?”

“Insufferable prick…” I grumbled, shifting my eyes back to a door on the left I was quickly approaching.

Questions kept popping up in my mind that set me further into a wild panic. In retrospect, it’s sad how long it took me to figure out I hadn’t actually been turned into a mare with a body I couldn’t control and I was merely watching something.

I was… she was opening a door labeled ‘Interogation Room C’ by the time I had calmed down enough to actually pay attention. “Case 9, interogation 36. Active homicide investigation.” I grumbled to myself, before looking up to a yellow unicorn buck sitting on the other side of a metal table in the small room, closing the door behind me with a rear hoof. “Thank you for waiting, Mr Sun. I know how hard this must be for you.”

She kept her eyes on him as she sat down on the other side of the table, only briefly looking at herself in a large mirror that almost covered the entire wall of her side of the table. She was an earth pony of medium build with black on blue mane and coat. A security pony, I gathered. She reached to her side, pulling a folder out of her saddle bags and setting it on the table before looking back up to the stallion, flicking it open with a hoof.

“It’s…. no issue.” The stallion said, a twinge of despair in his voice. “I have nothing to do right now anyway.”

I, or the mare, briefly read over the file in the folder, but I suspected it was theatrics as her eyes only scanned it long enough that I could verify that, yes, it was indeed a file. She put her hooves together on top of it, leaning into the table as she addressed him with a cold gaze again. “I assume you know why you’re here?”

He gave a nod, and a short answer. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And you own the establishment where her body was found?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you found the body yourself?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you were the last to see the victim alive?”

He took a deep breath, then nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And did you know the victim?”

He gave a shrug and looked down, “I knew her just about as much as anypony else did. She didn’t like talking much. Kept to herself… I think the bullies really got to her when she was younger. That’s when I first noticed her, when my father helped chase them away.”

“Bullies… do you have any names?”

“No, ma'am. That was over seven years ago. But they were pretty bad… she was bruised up, and I believe I heard something about a broken rib…”

I nodded again, starting to close the file. “I see. Well, Mr Sun, thank you for your time. Our investigation is almost over. We’ll be returning your pool to the public within a few days.”

Pool…. isn’t that where-?

“Take your time,” he said softly, “I don’t really care about that pool.”

This seemed to draw surprise from my host, tilting her head as she reopened the folder, scanning it as she flipped through pictures and quickly passing a photo of my departed friend. Though it seemed dated by several years. “Oh? It says here that you petitioned for that spot…. seven times before it was finally approved?”

He gave a smile, but it felt more sad than anything. “Once per year. Took me long enough to get the right ponies to vote. Ma’am… I have never gone swimming in my life. Not even after I had opened it. That pool… it was never for me. It was for her. She didn’t have any family that made it into the stable with her, and she withdrew enough that she never let herself make any friends. After my father saved her, I helped her get to medical… they had beaten her pretty bad. She told me how much she hated this place and what she missed. I wanted to show her that there were still ponies in this stable who cared… I guess I failed.”

“....Did you like her?”

He gave a nonchalant shrug. “I thought she was cute. I would have been willing to date her if she asked, if only to get to know her better. But as it stood… No. I didn’t know her well enough to truly like her. Just enough to want to help.”

My host took in a deep breath and sighed, looking down at the photo of Aquarius. She shook her head, quickly closing the folder, “Thank you for your time, Mr Sun. You’ve been very helpful. You may go.”

Without a chance for the stallion to speak, my host stood and quickly left the room, not even bothering to pick up her folder. She passed several ponies in the hall, before ducking into a bathroom and locking the door behind her. She put her hooves up on the porcelain sink, staring at the fixture for what seemed the longest time. I could feel her eyes strain as she held back tears.

“For the record I…”

She brought her gaze slowly up to the mirror and looked into her reflection. No…. she was looking at me.

“For the record I wanted this to be a homicide. I wanted there to be a killer to put behind bars… Don’t get me wrong. I’d rather nopony have died at all. But our world... it’s gone. Luna is gone. Celestia is gone. And we and the ponies of the other stables are all that is left. If conditions down here are that bad… that ponies beat each other up and others just start killing themselves... how are ponies going to survive? It’s been eleven years. My memories of my old friends… they are fading fast. And I’ll never get them back. Despite everything we do…. we miss the sun. We miss our old homes. And we need more ponies like Mr Sun to reach out a hoof and try to make other ponies’ lives better. But most ponies… It seems we have just stopped caring. Our home may be gone, but dammit, we are still Equestrian! Please, if you see a pony sad or hurt, reach out your hoof. Help them. I’m… I’m just scared. I’m scared that there won’t be much left if we don’t...”

With that, she sat back, the first of her tears beginning to fall as the world began to shift back into my own.

~~~~~ooo0o0o000o0o0ooo~~~~~

The dream faded away into a swirling blackness. My eyes opened as I began to take sense of my bearings. I was… right. The floor of the records room was cold against my side, the white orb resting just against my temple. What the hell was that? A dream? A memory?

My head felt a bit foggy as I sat back up. A chill went down my spine as I saw the smoke roll off my breath…. oh, fuck!

“Hello again, Shadow…” came the windego’s dark chuckle behind me. “I do hope you had a nice nap?”

I turned, my eyes widening as I saw him and the ice already beginning to form over the walls - and over the doorway. “...Cold Stone.” Suddenly my shock turned to anger, “Where’s Aquarius!?”

He laughed, taking a step towards me, “Oh, your marefriend will be just fine! I just had her chill out for a bit while I took care of current matters~ Now, would you be a dear and remove that talisman? Then we can get to business…”

I snorted, “I don’t think so.” I was quite fond of being alive. “I have somepony I need to go save, and I can’t quite do it while I’m dead.”

He smiled, then laughed. “Relax, my friend! Death is not the end, I’m the proof of that! Or are you... afraid?” He blew cold air on me, creating tiny ice crystals on my muzzle. "Come on.... don't be so harsh? You just need to... chill out~"

I responded by pouring magic into the heating talisman. Melted that quickly….

“I’ll tell you what it’s like to die in ice. The first signs is the sharp pain you feel… but that soon gets replaced by a cold numbness in your hooves. You’ll get tired, confused. Faces of the ones you love will soon fade away with your memories in the final moments that will feel like a lifetime… and just leave behind the hate. Hate for the ones who locked you in a freezer, hate for the living, hate for me. And then you’ll take that hate, turn it into strength… and break free from the body that holds you back… and we can be friends! I’m trying to do you a favor, honestly. I mean look at you, you’re barely fed at all! You’d never feel hungry again!” He turned, blowing a layer of ice onto the doorway, before giving me a sideways evil glare. “You don’t want to starve to death, now do you? That I heard is quite painful~”

No! Fuck you! Wait, I should say this. “No, fuck you!” I growled, quickly standing with my back arched in attack mode, “I already died once, I ain’t going through that again anytime soon! I have a friend who’s soul is in danger, and I made a promise to get her healed. And now, you’ve frozen another one of my friends, but most of all … You’re IN MY WAY!” I screamed as my horn flared, bringing up my only combat spell as I shot a bolt of white electricity at his skull.

He took in a deep breath, blowing ice over my bolt, but it didn’t matter. My electricity shattered through his ice like glass before striking true to its target. I’m almost ashamed to say that the look on his face just before he got hit and his scream of agony was…. well, kind of satisfying. Almost. I also began to wonder at that moment - my magic cured one monster, could it cure another?

The answer to that sadly, was no. With a guttural scream, he lunged. My lungs roared like they were on fire as the icey presence shot through me, my bones locking into place. “You son of a-!” I looked behind me, my neck creaking and popping as it turned. He was gone… probably didn’t want me to shock him again.

I made a beeline for the door, my horn flaring as I charged the heating talisman. I was going after him. I was going to find Aquarius. And If that bastard thought he had me trapped in here, he had another thing coming!

What felt like an eternity had passed, and my freedom was still blocked by the frozen door. I had melted the ice around the door, but it didn’t seem to be enough. That bastard had frozen the internals to the door, and my little talisman wasn’t strong enough to penetrate. I was trapped…. Now I sat in a corner, my horn burning with the strain of keeping that talisman powered just enough to stay alive.

I felt my eyelids start to get heavy. This was ridiculous. Since my death my life has been non-stop torment. Where is that crazy doctor when you need him? He had to send me down into the bowels of the stable, looking for some hypothetical exit where nopony can find me, and he won’t even show up to protect me!

My breathing slowed drastically and I could feel the last bit of magic from my horn fizzle out. For the past hour all I could think about was Lily. How she’d find me if she knew I was in trouble. It was a nice thought…

My eyes drifted over to the many memory orbs that lied on those shelves. Such interesting contraptions, but only one thought rang through my mind. The memories that they contained… were warm. I could slip inside of one, enjoy what time I had left while my body slowly froze and I could drift off into a peaceful sleep. I didn’t want it to end like this, not again. Because that meant letting Cold win… but every moment my body was in agony from the freezing cold the idea became more and more alluring.

I tried raising the magic in my horn back up, to reach out to one of those little orbs. I didn’t have enough strength in me to keep up the talisman, and I was done already. Falling into one of those orbs meant loosing the pain that came with freezing to death. That sounded better to me....

A sharp hissing sound pulled me away of what could have been my eternal sleep. My eyes drifted back open, being instantly drawn to a small orange glow with smoke billowing out moving ever so slowly up the side of the door. Somepony had a blowtorch! I was getting saved! …..Again. Wow, I really need to get used to being rescued from this kind of stuff…

I got up, my bones creaking as I took steps towards that glowing light. Even from here, the heat radiating off that door was a Celestia send. “H-hello?” I tried calling out, my voice cracked. After a few moments with no response, I called out again, a bit louder this time. “Hello?” All I could hear back was that hissing sound of the blowtorch.

I sighed and basked in the glorious warmth, watching that blowtorch do its work. My mind kept wandering…. just who was on the other side of that door? It couldn’t be Aquarius or that Doctor…. neither of them would be tangible enough to operate a blowtorch. Maybe…. Maybe Aquarius found another pony who could talk to ghosts! Ha! Atta mare!

I watched as the blowtorch completed its arch, and something told me it was time to step back and hell, I was right. Just mere moments after clearing the doorway it burst open with a thundering crash, rocketed by a flying filing cabinet into the far wall and smashing several memory orbs.

“Shadow?” A voice called out from beyond the clearing smokescreen, as a familiar face peaked in.

I was stunned for the greater part of a minute as it took me a moment to process who just trotted into the door. “....Lilly? ….Lilly!” My heart instantly skipped a beat, smiling widely at her.

“Shadow!” her face lit up, rushing towards me as her hooves thrown around me in a tight hug. I could feel her tremb- …. no wait, that was me. “Sweet Celestia Shadow, you’re freezing!”

I couldn’t help but laugh, holding onto her tight. “Y-yea…. how…. how did you-”

My sentence was cut off as she backed up, her hoof suddenly meeting the side of my face with ferocity. “Don’t you DARE ever scare me like that again, Shadow! What were you thinking coming back out here! You know it’s dangerous!”

I blinked, looking at her, a hoof trailing up to touch the offended cheek. “Lilly, I…”

Her eyes narrowed, ‘No buts! We’re going to get you warmed up, and then it’s back to the clinic with you! You almost died, Shadow!”

I blinked, “No…. I did die. And I can’t go back, not yet…. Lilly, how did you find me?”

“I followed your pipbuck marker, but that’s not important now.” she said, heading back outside into the hall, finding every piece of paper she could find and stuffing them into a bin and setting them on fire with her torch. “Now get your ass over here and warm yourself up! And yes, you are, I’m not letting you explore out here anymore!”

I nodded, moving closer to the fire, warming my little hooves. Oh, this was fantastic! Asides from the angry mare bit…. I probably should have thought this plan a little more through before simply leaving. “Lilly….. thank you….” I said, shivering, “And.. I’m sorry. But I mean I can’t go back…. I have things I need to do. Where did you find a blowtorch anyway?”

She shifted. “I… stole it from the maintenance department before I left. I’ll bring it back as soon as we get there.” Her eyes narrowed at me, “But why, why would you need to risk your life, against everything we’ve been taught about how dangerous this place is? Just what is so important that you’d leave everypony behind to die! The stable needs you, Shadow. The stable needs everypony!”

I looked down at the fire, contemplating my next words. “We…. can’t continue living like this. We’re going to run out of stable that can be repaired. Maybe not, with this section open… maybe they can grab the parts they need to keep y’all alive back there. Or maybe we can get to the surface…. But I have something I promised I’d do, so I can save a friend…. and that requires me going outside.” I looked back up into her eyes, “Lily, I know this is going to sound completely crazy, so let me start off with this. How did you know you were going to need a blowtorch?”

She looked down at the tool, blinking a few times. “I…. I don’t know. I just did. Instinct, I guess.”

I shook my head at her, “No, Lilly…. something much more than that.”

And so I told her everything. About what happened when I died…. leaving out a few details there. About meeting Doctor Soul. About what happened to bring me back to life. About the deal I made with him. About exploring out here in the stable, the fall of stable 79, making friends with Aquarius, and my run in with Cold Stone. She just listened with wide eyes, stopping me every now and then to put more burnables into the fire. I don’t know how, but it seemed like she believed me. I don’t think anypony else would have.

She sat for a moment in silence, contemplating everything I had just said. Her cute eyes opened slowly, turning to look directly into mine. “Have…. you checked the Overmare’s office?”

I blinked, “Checked her office for what?”

“The passcode for the stable door.”

Was she serious? Our Overmare wasn’t competent enough to run our section of the stable. “Why would she ha-”

Lily lifted her hoof to my lips, silencing me with a soft giggle, smiling brightly at me. “Shadow….. I do love you, you know.” I had to blush at that, “But sometimes you’re a complete idiot.”

Her hoof lifted off my lips, slowly pointing up to a sign above a door on the wall behind me. Overmare’s Office. “....Oh.” I groaned as I set up. “Yea…. let’s go.” I said reaching for my bags and holding them above the fire, getting them nice and toasty before I turned towards the door.

“Should you really be moving around like that?” She sat up, looking at me with concern, “You almost froze to death!”

I nodded. “Not my first time since I came down here. Cold’s been after me ever since I left…….” Oh. Oh no…. Just no. My eyes slowly turned to Lily, widening them as I came to realize. “....That means he’d be after you too.”

She sighs, and nods. “Yes, Shadow, I know. I figured that out when you mentioned him wanting bodies for his…. collection.” She shivers, moving next to me to try to see inside the window of the room we were about to enter. “But I can’t see him. So I’m safest with you. Let’s do this so we can get out of here….” She sighed, and set her hoof back down, her pipbuck having illuminated nothing but the blinds on the other side.

I nodded slowly at that, “Sorry for dragging you into this, Lily….” I said, opening the door to the Overmare’s office and stepping inside. “I need to find a way to disable his powers…. Was able to on the first wraith. But he seems to be different, somehow.”

Cold…. just like every other room. Cold Stone must have really taken over the place. I had hoped once the heating was on for a while, the place would get warmer. I knew I took one of the heating talismans, but there would have been more than enough other ones elsewhere to compensate… It seemed that the only place he couldn’t freeze where the spots that were directly affected by the talismans. This brought up an interesting question… Why hadn’t he just taken over our section? Sure, we had our own heating talismans, but he should have been able to freeze us over now for his ‘art’.

Instead, he waited years for somepony to leave. That... didn’t make any sense… did something prevent him from entering?

I pushed that thought aside as I took a good look around the room. This was nothing like our Overmare’s office… this was an actual office. The aged lights hummed as they slowly flicked to life, revealing the large desk and blood splattered shelves filled with old books and trinkets that overlaid the corners of the back wall. Large sloppy words were written hastily in more blood between them.

‘Death is Freedom’

The skeleton of who I assumed to have been the Overmare sat in a large comfy looking leather chair. Her hooves were pressed together and her head was ever so slightly tilted as if she was listening to every word I would have to say. Large sections of her skull were cracked open, then carefully positioned back into place. In front of her, the desk was neatly organized with her terminal on one side and some small photo frames of smiling ponies on the other.

Just by the look of this office, whoever this pony was… can she please replace Greyburn?

As I moved closer to the desk, I noticed the pony shaped smear in blood underneath the writing. I really wish that whoever took the time to reorganize this room after the struggle would have taken the time to throw around a little Abraxo cleaner.

As I turned to the terminal, my horn glowing a brief moment as I hit the power button, I noticed Lily staring at the blood-riddled scene with an open mouth. “You… You weren’t kidding when you said this place went to hell…”

I nodded to her, not having anything to say to that. This room spoke for itself.

The computer hummed to life and I quickly managed to hack in. Oh wow, she had a lot of files on here. Lily moved up next to me, sitting down with her head resting gently against my neck. My hoof found its way to wrapping around her back, her touch bringing a smile to my face. Just by being there, Lily was able to make me feel just a little bit warmer.

As I searched through the terminal, I found a folder containing a series of recordings. Audio Logs, I assumed, timestamped and marked with abbreviations I couldn’t quite understand. Well, the data was good, so I hooked up my pipbuck, quickly downloading one of the logs labeled ‘OOEB’ and played it while I continued to sift through what seemed to be hundreds of files.

“This is Overmare Shortcake calling all ponies. This is a code red announcement. Get to a secure zone and lock your doors, we are under attack from an unknown group. Do not open your doors for anypony, not even security! All Security teams, initiate lockdown and guide ponies to secure zones immediately!

I repeat, this is a code red announce-’” The sound of a sliding door snapped my attention out of that reality, and into our own, but I quickly realized it came from the recording emanating from my leg.

“Hello, sweetcakes~” said a low voice, followed by two other dark chuckles. “This has been a long time coming.”

“Iron! Wh- you’re behind this?

"Oh, you could say that~ Really though, this is all because of you. We are fucking DONE with this 5 to 11 bullshit you got going for us. I can't tell you how many late nights it has been simply reconfiguring rooms to your whims. And now? It ends. No more pools, no more massage parlors, no more ice cream shots." The sound of metal scraping metal etched at my ears the the voice drew closer. "It ends NOW."

The recording cut short as Lilly's hoof touched my pipbuck, just as the overmare's scream and pleas for help echoed through the room. "I'd... rather not listen to that. If you don't mind...."

My eyes fell on the mare, a soft expression falling on my face as I looked into her sorrowful eyes. "Alright..." I gave her a nod, as my attention pulled back to the terminal. There were hundreds of these audio logs, but only a few text files. It made it easy to search through which ones were open. By the time the recording ended, I had already found the correct file. Ironically, the passcode for the door was to be 'WINTER.'

"Alright. I got it." I nodded to Lilly, shutting off the terminal. "Let's go."

We left the office quickly, following the signs towards the stable door. The walls got darker and darker, despite the illumination coming from both of our pipbucks. As we approached the final bend... it dawned on me just how cold it was.

My hoof slipped on ice as we took the final turn, before smashing into a block of ice, an icicle smashing into my head, splitting it with a sharp sting.A soft trickle of blood ran down into my eye, blocking part of my vision as I looked up at the icey figure.

Aquarius. A soft glimmer of her form emanated from within the icy prison, a shocked form frozen solid. She looked like she was fighting, her wings flared and her hind legs in the air.

"Shadow!" Lily came over, her hooves smooshing into my cheeks as she looked at the cut on my forehead. "That's... going to need stitches." She remarked, before I pulled out of her reach.

"Aquarius! Lilly, melt her!" I stated, giving her a soft look. "Once we take care of Cold, then we can worry about stitches."

Lily glared at me, before turning on the blowtorch and aiming it at the frozen-ghosts face. "And how are we going to do that? He's already DEAD! I don't know if you've studied metaphysics or not, but you can't shoot a ghost, Shadow! We should head back to the others."

"N-no..." Came Aquarius as her maw was melted free by the flame. "But you c-can burn him.... wi-"

"Shadow? Look." Lily interrupted, agitation echoing through her voice, her pip-light shining through the empty space, illuminating the wall beyond.

The first thing that was obvious to me was the speckles of light shimmering on the wall. The second was the round gear with the giant numbers '79' behind. "Damn Cold....." I muttered under the chilled breath that nipped my lips, approaching the wall.

Cold Stone had frozen us in, the stable door glimmering teasingly under a foot thick wall of ice. My breath sharpened, feeling my blood boil, despite the cold that seemed to just get worse with every passing hour. "We'll kill him. Destroy him! We are dying in this stable, and it's only a matter of time!"

"Sh...Shadow, calm down." Aquarius mumbled.

"I'd be right with you." Lilly stood, glaring as the ice melted at Aquarius's chest. "He's nothing but a sick murderer!"

"Calm down.... windegos are fueled by hate..."

"Why shouldn't I hate him?" My glare and ice-infused rage directed at the icicle pony. "What would you suggest we do?"

Aquarius took a breath, turning to face me with one of the kindest smiles I've known. I blinked, my raged mind taken aback by her calm reaction, as Lily litteraly melted her to freedom.

"Burn him with the fires of love."

Author's Note

I really, really wish shadow was out of his stable. But tune in next time!