Chapter 3
Of Stables and Nightmares

It had been a while since we’d lost our pursuers. We now sat huddled in a small, 3 room house in what would have been the poorest sector of the city. As night fell, we started to settle down for sleep. The blue unicorn filly, yellow pegasus mare and the blue earth pony mare shared the tiny bedroom, leaving the rest of us to share the living, dining, kitchen area, which was only about three times as big as the bedroom. The only other room was a tiny bathroom, and surprisingly, the plumbing still worked rather well, though the bathtub was full of thick greenish sludge which didn’t smell nice.

The red and green colt was the first to fall asleep, huddled in the corner, quietly sobbing over the loss of his twin. The green and grey stallion settled down near the colt, keeping an eye on Twitch who was now stretched out next to me as I sat in the far corner in the kitchen area. There was also another Earth pony stallion who hadn’t been on the train, he was thin, with a dark blue coat and a lighter blue mane. He was also wary of Twitch. Harmony and Val were the only ponies in the group who weren’t scared of him.

Harmony was now sitting next to Twitch, petting him, which he seemed to really enjoy. I felt nervous around the filly, she had to be about four or five years younger than me, and yet she had killed ponies.

“So what’s his name?” Harmony asked suddenly, jolting me out of my thoughts.

“What? Oh, I call him Twitch, because, well, his ear seems to twitch a lot,” I explained, and as if right on cue, Twitch’s ear twitched.

“Aww, that’s a cute name,” she replied with a smile, now rubbing Twitch behind his twitchy ear, causing him to kick his back leg like a dog might. This then caused Harmony to laugh happily. “He really likes that.”

“Yeah, it seems he does,” I said with a small smile. This was the first chance I had gotten to get a proper look at Harmony. Her Stable barding was simple and drab, the material was getting tattered and dirty, probably it hadn’t been washed in a while. It was obviously only meant to be practical, not fashionable. Misty Veil would be horrified by the shade of brown material used and the yellow edgings, I’m not much for fashion, but even I knew the brown was downright ugly. Harmony’s PipBuck looked a little different to mine too, more simple looking, and she had a large knife strapped above it, and there was a little yellow patch on her barding, stating that she came from Stable 41.

With her cloak off, I could now see her cutie mark, which was a pink heart in a rainbow blob thingy. “What does your cutie mark mean?” I asked, curious.

“Huh? Oh, my cutie mark is about my ability to help ponies feel happy and good about themselves, sort of like Pinkie Pie did 200 years ago. I can also find the joy and happiness in everything I do. My talent is also the reason I was kicked out of my Stable.” She smiled and stopped rubbing Twitch’s belly.

“Really?” I asked, surprised, and she nodded. “Well, what was your Stable like then?”

“Stable 51 was built under a mountain town that was settled just before the war started, Saddlebrook. The Stable is Earth Pony only, and is the most boring place ever. They don’t celebrate birthdays, no holidays, weddings are small and boring, though there is a cake. Pretty much everypony there is grey, brown, yellow or orange in colour, so it was a big shock when I was born pink and purple, the Overmare, Strict Monotony, and the Elders really didn’t like me, I threatened their precious monotony. Then the auto name chooser named me Harmony…”

“Wait, what’s an auto name chooser?” I asked.

“It’s this big complex machine that takes a picture of the newborn foal, and then takes a blood sample and measurements and stuff, then analyses all the data and somehow comes up with a name for the foal. Most of the time there’s two similar names that the parents can pick from, but about a quarter of the time it only gives one option, like for me it only said Harmony. 98% of the time the name the machine chooses is what the foals talent will end up being, though 2% of the time the name and talent don’t match, like there was this stallion called Celery Snap, but his talent was cutting manes, then there was Blueberry Belle, who’s talent was repairing the Stables robots.” Harmony smiled at the memory.

“That just sounds weird to me, a machine to name a foal. It should be the parents who name their foal, otherwise it’s not special.” She nodded in agreement with me.

“Yeah, I was the only one to question the system. So after I got my name, the Overmare and the Elders kept a close eye on me as I grew, fearing that I would become what they called a Frivolous Pony, a pony with no serious purpose or value. You see, the Stable was about practicality, nothing frivolous was allowed. In school we learnt only what we needed to know, reading, writing, basic math, unless your name had to do with science or building, then you were in a different class, the many, many rules of Stable 41 and a bit of history which was used to try and scare us into thinking that frivolousness was the only reason there was ever a war. When we reached 10 years old we were given our PipBucks and sent to work in something to do with what our names were so that we could get our cutie marks in that thing. I got to do a bit of everything because they had no idea where to put me. I got to work outside the Stable in the Hidden Valley, a high valley nestled between 3 mountains with really steep sides. The only way in is through the Stables back door, and its where all the fields are and trees for wood and the flock of sheep for wool.”

“Wow, so no pony ever found the valley?” I asked, finding the huge differences between her Stable and mine strange.

“Nope, and even if they did, the valley is protected by the Elite Guard at all times. The Elite Guard are the only ponies who go beyond the Hidden Valley, they train in Saddlebrook, which was still untouched since the Stable door closed. Once a month they send out scouts to find out the state of the Wastelands, and they would always come back with tales of ruin, death and destruction, and of the uncivilized Wastelanders who killed for joy, though I think they had only scouted as far as Bridleton, a well-known and very dangerous Raider nest, which Val and I plan to clear out at some point.” She paused to drink some water.

“What’s a Raider? I saw a sign that said ‘Raider Scum’ above some… some dead ponies,” I asked, shuddering at the memory.

“Raiders are, well, Raiders are ponies who aren’t right in the head. They take immense joy in capturing, torturing, raping, killing and even eating other ponies. They’re thoroughly insane and love it. Their real horrible, and hopefully, you won’t meet one. But I’ve done my part to help rid the Wastelands of them. Val and I have taken out two or three small nests, making the route to the Crystal Empire safer for everyone.” She smiled at her accomplishment while I shuddered again.

“So anyway, I spent 3 years moving between jobs, not finding my talent, until one day I was being a teacher’s aide for a class of 8 year old ponies. There was this little light brown filly with a dark grey mane and a rose streak, her name was Band-Aid, and she was really upset because the class bullies were picking on her, saying she’d spend her life making Band-Aids and never have any friends because they wouldn’t want to be friends with a pony who makes Band-Aids. The bullies were a colt named Bucket and a filly named Duster, not the best names to have when you’re bullying somepony over their name. So after class I took Band-Aid aside to cheer her up. I told her that just because her name was Band-Aid, it didn’t mean her talent would be making Band-Aids. I told her that her name could mean that she would be good at applying Band-Aids and could therefore become a great nurse. This made her really happy, and excited for what her future could hold, so she ran off to her few friends to tell them what I had said.” Harmony smiled and drank some more water.

“The feeling I got from cheering up that filly felt so good, like my whole being was filled with a joy and a warmth I’d never felt before, and I knew I wanted to continue feeling this feeling, and that’s when I got my cutie mark. I didn’t even notice at first, I had headed home in an emotional high, but one of the Elders spotted my cutie mark and the next thing I knew I was locked up in a holding cell while my parents and the Overmare were contacted. My parents got there first, and were horrified by my cutie mark, my mum even fainted. They should have been happy for me, but they weren’t.” She sighed, a tear in her eye. I didn’t know how else to comfort her so I put a hoof around her small shoulders, causing her to look up at me and smile.

“Once the Overmare got there and saw my cutie mark, she talked for over an hour with the Elders, then came over to me and my parents and said that I was clearly a Frivolous Pony, of no use to the Stable and possibly a danger to everypony there, so I was to be put to death, as was stated in the Stable 51 Rule Book. I was shocked, how could I be put to death over my cutie mark? My parents begged and pleaded with the Overmare, I’m their only daughter, and they didn’t want me to die. Eventually the Overmare and the Elders decided to banish me from the Stable instead, since they didn’t really want to kill a pony, it had been 50 years since the last Frivolous Pony born had been killed. So my parents packed me a bag and said goodbye, then one of the Elite Guard led me out and sent me on my way down the mountain. I was about ready to give up and let myself die when Val found me two days later, but he wouldn’t let me die, he took care of me and taught me what he knew.” She resumed rubbing Twitch’s belly.

“It’s now been three months since then, and I’ve grown to love the Wastelands despite the violence and the death and corruption, and I wouldn’t want to go back to my Stable for anything.” She yawned, and then grinned at me. “So what was your Stable like? Why’d you leave?”

“Well… Stable 35 was… was the Crystal Empires only Stable, so everypony in it is descendants from the original Crystal Ponies. It is a massive Stable, like an underground city with massive underground fields for food and flowers and orchards and everything a pony could need. As a foal I started school when I was 6 and we were taught all different subjects, math, reading, writing, science, music, art, history, anything you could think of we were taught. We graduated when we were 12 and were given our PipBucks, then those with their cutie marks were assigned jobs, while those without were allowed to do as they please until they got their cutie mark… I never got mine…” I looked down at my blank flank sadly.

“Don’t worry Midnight, you’ll get your cutie mark one day. If you couldn’t get it in your Stable, it just means that your destiny is something you can only achieve outside of the Stable!” She grinned.

I nodded, feeling a little better. I hadn’t thought of that, that maybe my cutie mark would only come from doing something outside the Stable, but it made so much sense now, since nothing in the Stable had gotten me my cutie mark. “Thanks Harmony, I hadn’t thought of it like that!”

“Glad I could help you feel better about it,” She said with a grin. “So what made you leave your Stable? It sounds a lot better than mine was.”

“Hmm, yeah, but it wasn’t all great, you see, it seemed like we were cursed. The ponies only seemed to live for 35 years, we were told it was some incurable disease made by the Zebras at the end of the war that we somehow got infected with. Around age 15 we were encouraged to get married and start having children, but I wasn’t able to even get a coltfriend, nopony wanted to be with the Stables oldest blank flank, and it certainly didn’t help that the most popular mares in my age group hated me, and bullied me all the time. It only got harder when my dad died about a month and a half ago. Then only yesterday, it was my mums turn to die, and the worst part was, her 35th birthday was on the same day as my 17th birthday.” I shuddered as a sob escaped. It felt like I must have left Stable 35 a couple days ago because so much had happened, but really, it had only been last night.

Harmony gave me a hug and I willed myself to calm down. “There was a massive party for our birthdays, and I had found that I was having a good time, until the clock neared midnight. I left, afraid of what was going to happen to my mum. One of the bullies found me, she was drunk and start following me, saying stuff about how I should die with my mum. I couldn’t take it anymore and I struck out, probably breaking her muzzle, but then her fiance found us and chased me, intent on hurting, or killing me. I had managed to escape into the Overmares apartment, the Overmare being my grandma, only to find it empty.”

“Wait, if everypony in the Stable dies at 35, how do you have a grandma?” Harmony asked, perplexed.

“Well… It’s because she’s hundreds of years old…”

“Oh! Is her memory and mind and stuff in a computer or a robot that then looks after everything in the Stable?” Harmony asked. “Cause I’ve seen that before in another Stable, though the robot had gone insane and killed everypony.”

“What? No. My grandma, and Stable 35’s Overmare, is Princess Cadance,” I explained.

“Really!? That’s awesome! A princess is still alive then!” Harmony exclaimed.

“Well, not really awesome, she has an evil side named Nocturne who has been killing off ponies once they reach 35 for the past 200 years. I was the first pony to discover it, and I wish I hadn’t, cause I walked into this secret room to find Nocturne torturing my mum, then killing her. I was given a choice, die, or leave the Stable, and if I had tried anything, my sister would have died, so I left, and was then nearly eaten by a dragon and managed to escape and spent the night in a freezing garden shed. I awoke to find Twitch next to me, and then we headed to the city and then everything else happened and now we are here.” I sighed, then yawned, tired.

“Hmm, you should get some sleep, I need to go talk to Val,” Harmony said, standing.

“Yeah, okay…” I yawned again, when something hit me, “Val has the same name as Cadance’s son who died in the war!”

“What?” Harmony asked.

“Before the war Cadance and Shining Armour had a son, Valiant Knight, Val has the same first part of his name,” I explained.

“Wow, so he does. Well, goodnight Midnight, sleep well.” Harmony then left me to get to the roof where Val was keeping watch. I curled up with my blanket and Twitch lying against me, and eventually I fell asleep.

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I stood in pitch black darkness. The ground seemed to be covered in some sort of thick, warm and sticky sludge. “Hello?” I tried to call out, but no sound came out of my mouth. Nervously, I started forward, not knowing what else to do. Going was hard, the thick sludgy stuff on the ground seemed to be getting thicker, and I could now smell something sweet and metallic. I tried to open my wings, just so I could hover rather than struggling through the thick sludge but my wings seemed to be stuck to my sides. I could feel my heart starting to beat faster as panic flooded me.

I picked up the pace, galloping as best I could, and eventually saw a faint light ahead, which I headed towards. All of a sudden I was blinded by a bright light which appeared out of nowhere, and I blinked rapidly as my eyes began to adjust. Finally I could see what the sludge was, and instantly regretted looking at it. My legs and tail were stained dark red from where they’d touched the sludge, which I now saw was dark red, almost black. It was blood.

The sickly sweet metallic smell assaulted my nostrils as I found I could use my wings again, and I sprang into the air, flying up to the clouds I now saw above me. I couldn’t figure out what was happening, hadn’t Harmony been saying goodnight only a few minutes ago? How did I go from that house to here? And where was Twitch? Then I realised, this must be a dream, or rather, a nightmare, as no dream could contain so much blood, unless you were a surgeon pony who dreamt of performing lifesaving surgery.

I tried in vain to rub the blood off of my legs onto the clouds, and it kind of worked, but not well. I then noticed that my cloud had drifted, and I was now above the marketplace of the city, though now there was no pony, griffon, buffalo, donkey, zebra, or even changeling there, it was deserted and deathly quiet. The silence seemed almost like it was hurting my ears, until, I heard a sickeningly familiar voice screaming for help. Leaping from my cloud I soared over the city, searching for the source of the voice.

I didn’t find the source of the screaming until I was above the rubble pile which was the remains of the palace, and there, lying on the peak of the pile, was my cut and bloodied mother, and standing above her with a massive bloody knife was Nocturne. The light began to quickly dim then, and a bullet whizzed past my head as I saw that the headless body of Quick Deal was now shooting at me from a half collapsed house. Force higher to escape, I lost sight of mum and Nocturne as the darkness closed in. I suddenly felt a sharp pain in one of my wings, I’d been hit by a bullet. I started to fall, and closed my eyes, waiting for impact, but it didn’t come.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in my not quite dark bedroom back in Stable 35. Getting out of bed, I exited my bedroom and quickly went down the short hall to Misty Veil’s bedroom. Opening the door, I found a horrifying sight. Misty was tacked against her bedroom wall like some sort of gory poster. Her stomach was cut open and her innards were hanging out, slowly falling down onto the face of Threadbare, who was also dead, his limbs torn off and scattered around the room.

Feeling sick, I fled. I knew I’d always had an over active imagination, but this was just ridiculous! I’d never dreamt anything this sick, cruel and twisted, not even after I’d read that book about the methods of torture and interrogation used by both sides during the war, highly detailed pictures included. Coming into the lounge room, I found the mutilated, rotting corpse of my dad lying on the couch. I wanted to throw up, but for some reason I couldn’t, and then, my dad started getting up. He was a zombie, and he started walking towards me slowly. I promptly left the apartment, slamming the door shut behind me.

Once out of the apartment, I saw other ponies I knew dead and strewn around the halls, and the few ponies I found alive were undead vamponies or zombies like my dad, and would try to drink my blood or eat my brain. Maple Swirl and Rosebloom were particularly persistent vamponies, who chased me all the way to the underground fields, where I finally managed to lose them in the corn field. Finally, I made it to the atrium, where Nocturne sat on a throne of raunchy romance novels… Wow, all these dead ponies with all their guts everywhere, and that’s the best thing my mind could come up with for the throne of an Evil Queen. I actually felt really disappointed in myself despite how sick and horrified I was feeling.

“Ah, Midnight, I was wondering when you’d finally come back. As you can see, I’ve been having a lot of fun, the vamponies are especially fun to slaughter.” Nocturne smiled, satisfied with herself. “Now, I am the Ultimate Queen of Evil, are you ready to take your place at my side as the Princess of Evil?”

“No way in Tartarus am I joining you!” I said, or at least, I would have said that if my voice was working, which it still wasn’t.

Then suddenly I was falling again, down a hole this time, with Nocturne smiling down at me as I struggled to get my wings to unfold, but they were thoroughly stuck again. I landed on what seemed to be a dance floor, and I now wore the dress Misty Veil had made for me. I was back at mums and my joint birthday party, and everypony was where they had been on the night, except, there was a new addition to the party. Val stood before me, wearing a tux, and he was asking me to dance. Before I could refuse he had grabbed me and we were whirling around the dance floor in a fast paced waltz. I found that despite my feeling of dislike and distrust towards Val, this was really nice, but then again, when all my dreams thus far had been nightmares full of blood, guts and gore, it wasn’t that hard for it to be a dream I liked, there was no gore, no dead ponies, no Nocturne, what wasn’t to like?

We dance for what felt like half an hour, but was only one song, and I was feeling tired and thirsty when we finished the dance. I turned to go and find some punch, when suddenly Val gave me a kiss on the cheek. Shocked, I turned back to look at him, only to find that he, and the rest of the party was dissolving away, and now I was falling again. I landed hard in the bottom of a pit filled with blood stained pony bones. Struggling to stand, I headed down the pile till I reached solid ground, and I walked down a tunnel, everything getting steadily darker as I went.

The tunnel seemed endless, and I was constantly tripping and stumbling over bones and rocks in the pitch black darkness, it was more annoying and painful than scary. Eventually the tunnel ended in a massive cavern filled with softly glowing piles of gold and jewels. I suddenly noticed that the radiation meter on my PipBuck was quickly ticking up. All the gold and jewels were radioactive, and now I saw that they belonged to a dragon. The dragon looked like the one I had found outside the Stable door, only five times as big. It roared deafeningly at me, and without warning, I was suddenly engulfed in white hot flames. The searing pain ripped through me, and I tried to scream, but no sound came out. As the pain became unbearable, everything went black.

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The next thing I knew, Harmony was shaking me awake, and she and Val were looking down at me worriedly. I could see the colt and stallions in the room staring at me, and the filly and mares peering around the bedroom door at me. I slowly sat up, blinking.

“Are you okay?” Harmony asked, the worry clear in her voice.

“Umm… Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I replied.

“Because you were screaming and thrashing around in your sleep,” Val said, frowning a little.

“Oh… I, umm… I was just having a nightmare, nothing to worry about…” I said, giving and unconvincing smile, trying to not to remember the nightmares, or how handsome Val had looked in a tux…

“Well okay then…” He said, looking unsure. “The sun will be up in an hour or two, so we should move out while we still have darkness, the sooner we get away to the mountain pass the better.”

And so, we packed up our stuff and headed out after a small breakfast of pre-war tinned peaches, which somehow were still good to eat. I still felt tired as we snuck out of the city, but then, my sleep hadn’t been at all restful. After an hour and a half the sky began to lighten, though the thick cloud cover didn’t let much light through, so as we walked on, it felt as though we were in a perpetual twilight.

Author's Note

Thank you to my new editor, Downunda Thunda ^.^

http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Downunda%20Thunda