Prologue: Stable Law Dictates...
Prologue: Stable Law Dictates...
Trees. Or at least, these were what we called trees; in truth, they looked very little like the magnificent trees in the books I'd read as a young colt. No, those were huge, with dark brown trunks that reached for... For that big blue thing on the outside, and they had leaves of brilliant emerald green that took in the warmth of the bright lights on the outside and apples that were practically glowing red, green or sometimes even yellow. No, these were sickly, pale trees that looked as though they might collapse if one were to buck them hard enough, and that was my job, bucking apples from these half-wilting excuses for trees. Perhaps the single most boring job in the entire stable. Well, maybe the most boring job aside from maintenance (who would even need to maintain items that were virtually indestructible?), but... it was what I was assigned. I glumly looked up at the next tree, a well-placed buck would knock off all the apples, and then it would be up to a picker to pick up and sort the strange looking fake-fruit. "Fall on me and I swear..." I whispered to the tree, challenging it, because I was just that into my job. I spun around and ducked my head, ramming my hooves heavily against the pale brown bark. Every apple fell to the ground, filling me with a small sense of pride. A friend of mine, perhaps the only true friend I'd made in school, tried bucking apples once when he had spare time, but he misjudged his angle or made some other small fault and ended up popping his knee and getting a hefty helping of grass and dirt. I chuckled, remembering how he swore I’d tripped him up at the last second. Come to think of it I hadn't seen him in roughly a week and that was particularly strange, considering we often crossed paths in the atrium at least once a day on the way to work. I walked on to the next tree and examined it, measuring where to place my kick. Yes, working Orchard A was quite the boring task as only one pony ever worked it at a time and my shift was every day except a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
"Hey Onyx!" called a mare's voice from behind me, I stopped and turned to face her.
"Flatline?" I asked as the silver unicorn came into view. She was one of the doctors of the stable, the youngest I knew. Her mother died giving birth to her, she was sick at the time and her death was inevitable, Flatline was lucky to be born. She came trotting towards me at a leisurely pace, as if she didn't have anywhere she needed to be. "Isn't it your shift in the clinic?"
She gave a confirming nod before opening her mouth to speak, "yeah, that's actually why I'm here. I thought you might know where Razor is, he was supposed come for his knee problem yesterday, but he didn't show up so I figured he might come today but..."
"He still hasn't showed up," I interrupted.
"Yeah, so have you seen him?" She stressed, tilting her head.
I looked back to the tree and bucked it hard, causing apples to rain from its branches, one of them hitting my rump and making me jump a little. I snapped my head to Flatline and caught her giggling for just a second. She stopped, staring at me with gleaming blue eyes, waiting for an answer. "No, I haven't seen him in at least a week, but I'll call by his room when I finish my shift." I explained, trying to recall whether or not Razormane had mentioned taking time off or something to that effect.
Flatline frowned, "he's usually quite a good patient... Oh well, thanks anyway Onyx, check in at the clinic if you happen to find him." she said, and at that she turned to leave.
"Goodbye, Flatline." I called after her as her silver flank disappeared through the door to the corridor. I checked my PipBuck; fifteen minutes left of my shift. I returned to work, occasionally stomping some clearly rotten apples to entertain myself. The pale yellow-green grass was somehow kept at a constant length, giving the illusion that somepony had to be maintaining it. In reality it simply never grew, but it never died either, something had told me that it wasn’t entirely natural grass. I ducked my head to buck more apples off of a tree when I noticed something slightly off about the tool shed on the opposite side of the orchard; the door was slightly ajar and the lights were out, which was a very strange occurrence in the more public areas of the stable since the lights for public areas were always on. I started walking for the shed when my PipBuck began to beep rapidly; an alarm I had yet to change. The open door taunted me, beckoning me to the room it guarded so steadfastly, whispering my name through the grass and dragging me in by way of low hanging branches. I raised one hoof, about to set it down and start walking toward the door when I became aware of my hunger. Tomorrow, I thought to myself, the door would still be there and then I could delve inside and expose its secrets... Whatever secrets a tool shed could possibly hold.
***
As I’d promised to Flatline, I went over to Razormane’s room, taking a slow walk as time marched on. There were few ponies out at this time, the only workers being those that worked longer hours like myself and the odd few that enjoyed working. I stepped into the atrium and looked at the few ponies that sat at tables or played some of the few games that were arranged in the room. A speaker poured the music of one of the most talented ponies in the stable, C-Major, down onto us, soothing us after a long day at work but that soon gave way to the encouraging speech of our Overmare who praised and thanked us for our hard work. It wasn’t long before I reached Razormane’s room; he didn’t live far from the atrium. I knocked on his door, the metal made it sound as though I’d just bucked it hard enough to break a pony’s bones when I barely tapped it. The eyes of our first Overmare drilled into the back of my head, sternly and eternally watching the door from the opposite side of the hallway, I turned around and occupied myself with reading the text that lay itself at the hoof of the poster. “Together we rebuild Equestria; simply existing is proof of our progress,” proclaimed the greying, bold text. There was more in smaller font, but either I was too tired to read it or it had been weathered to the point of illegibility because I didn’t bother with it, instead turning back and pressing my ear to the door to listen for hoof steps. Nothing.
The walk to my room was awfully quiet, it had, in truth, been that way for the past week or so, but somehow I only really noticed it now. Razormane was never much for talking but when he did he was always friendly and pleasant to listen to, not quite as divine as the singers on the stable broadcasts, but still having a warm, almost fatherly voice.
“Hello, I’m home!” I called as I stepped into my room.
“Get out!” Dancing Strobes yelled back.
“I’ll get out when you get your cutie mark!” I returned with a laugh. The little filly’s head sprung up from the back of the couch, a pained look on her face. “Don’t give me that, I know it’s a fake look. Trust me, if that was your special talent, you would have gotten your cutie mark already.”
“But I’m your sister, you’re supposed to help me find my cutie mark!” her face twisted into a smirk.
“Neither is manipulating ponies.” I added. Strobes leapt over the couch and started walking towards me, heterochromatic eyes of lavender and blue fixed on my side. “Sorry kiddo, no apples today, ponies higher up are starting to take notice. Afraid you’ll have to eat one of the less fresh fruits.” I said, showing her my empty saddlebags. I picked up an old apple from the fruit bowl and started eating it, not much caring for its only slightly sweet taste.
“That’s okay, I think I need to lay off on the food anyway,” she returned. “How was work?”
“’How was work,’ she asks.” I chuckled, planting my rump on my favourite couch, “Well, it was work so it wasn’t how I would’ve wanted to spend my day...”
Dancing Strobes curled up in a mess of blankets and pillows she called a “nest.” She looked at me quizzically, “Well that doesn’t sound too good.”
“It never does, does it? But you’ll see when you get to my age.” I replied, allowing myself to sink into the only semi-hard piece of furniture and resting my eyes.
“No, I meant it doesn’t sound too good, even compared to your normal working days. The past few days all sound pretty bad actually. Is something wrong? You... You don’t want me to go live with mom and dad again, do you?” She said with a genuinely worried tone. I half opened one eye and looked at her near-frowning face.
“You know you can’t go back even if I did want you to leave. They have the twins, and Stable law dictates that only two foals can be allowed in a single family.”
“So... You do want me to stay?” She buried herself in a thick duvet, only letting her eyes beam through the darkness it provided; two beautifully bright eyes that blinked on and off as she blinked them. They seemed so starkly out of place in this room, in the entire stable, two brilliant splashes of colour amidst all the grey of the stable walls, just like all the ponies in the stable who roamed about during the day and did their jobs to keep the stable running. It was a strange thought, really, that all of these colours kept the grey working, not that... “Your silence isn’t exactly reassuring...” Strobes said, snapping me out of my distraction.
“Hm? Oh, y-yes, I do want you to stay!” I stuttered. “You’re my little sister and I love you. Besides, without you, who would spice up my day, or cheer me up when I felt blue?” I reassured, then muttering to myself, “or be a royal pain in my behind during public holidays.”
Strobes smiled, pearly white teeth practically glowed from the shadow of the blanket. “You know I’d always visit, even if you didn’t want me to.” She finally emerged from the duvet and let it fall half way down her back. “But you still haven’t answered my question. Is something wrong at work?”
I opened my mouth, about to answer when I paused to actually think about an answer that should have come immediately. Dancing Strobes looked at me incredulously. “Actually, there may be something wrong, but not with work. You remember Razormane, right?” I asked the unicorn filly. She gave a vigorous nod and blushed a little, remembering her crush on him when she was only slightly younger. “Well, I haven’t seen him in about a week and he didn’t go to get his meds at the clinic so I’m just a little worried about him.” I explained.
“Oh... But there’s nothing that’s definitely wrong, is there? I mean, he could just be sick or something.” She returned. I shook my head. “Well I’m glad to hear that then. It’s been pretty cheery at school, as always, and for once I didn’t get teased for being a blank flank!” Strobes perked up considerably in her last sentence, even more so when mentioning the bit about not getting teased.
I smiled tiredly and closed my eyes, “That’s great! Sounds like you had a good day then. Let’s hope there are more like this,” I chuckled, “the whole thing wouldn’t have had anything to do with the talk I gave your teacher, would it?” I teased, opening my eyes just to catch the horrified expression on her face. She sat for a few seconds more, stunned and staring.
“No way! You didn’t! You wouldn’t have! Did you?” She complained, her voice cracking more than just a little. “How could you!?”
I laughed loudly now, despite my tiredness. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that.”
She released a sigh and curled up tightly in her “nest” I got up and shuffled to my room. “Good night Onyx.” Strobes called after me.
“Good night, Luna bring you sweet dreams.” I returned. I hoofed the light switch in my room and jumped into my bed, not even bothering with the covers as I drifted off to sleep.
***
Tick... tick... tick... tick...
My eyes snapped open, scanning the darkness. There was nothing to be seen, my room was pitch black and I couldn’t see a half metre past my nose. I got up, stepping onto the floor and rather than what would normally be there I felt something warm and soft. I jumped back with a gasp, kicking the object and causing it to slide a small way across the floor. “What?” I said, more to myself than to anypony else. My room was abnormally warm and I could smell something strange, something I didn’t recognise, but still something that wasn’t entirely alien to me. I carefully placed a hoof where I’d felt the object, and this time I found a pool of warm water. I continued forward to reach the light switch.
“Onyx...” Whispered somepony from somewhere in my room. I jumped, quite startled by the sudden ‘appearance’ of this new pony.
“You scared me half to death!” I whispered back into the shadows. I moved more hurriedly to the light switch and began feeling the wall for the switch.
“Onyx, help...” The voice whispered again, raspy and weak.
“Are you alright?” I asked, more frantically searching for the switch.
At last! I found the light switch and flipped it, only to freeze when I could see. The water I’d stepped in... It was red... I turned around slowly, sending a prayer to Luna.
“You let me DIE!” Yelled Razormane. He stood where I kicked the object, bleeding from multiple gashes that threatened to tear the poor stallion apart, not the least of which was slightly longer than halfway through his neck. I screamed for help as his mortally wounded form rushed up to me, moving quicker than anything I’d seen before. Razormane’s movements were deft and agile, as though even his bones were bending with muscle, he was determined to make me pay for whatever wrong he believed I’d committed.
Just as he reached me, his body evaporated and with it so did my room, leaving me confused for just a second before I began to fall through a seemingly endless blackness that stretched to Goddesses knew where. Evil sounding laughter began to rise around me, complementing the sudden drop in temperature, I heard ponies chanting hateful words of accusation as I continued my plummet. I scrambled and flailed my limbs uselessly on the way down, seeking purchase on some object that lay just out of sight, just out of reach, not particularly caring that my legs would be smashed and utterly useless at this velocity. Finally I saw an end to my falling, the stable door which stood open, but beyond it... Nothing, neither black nor white. There was a complete lack of anything beyond the door. Indescribable emptiness beyond something that seemed as though it couldn’t be any emptier. I kept trying, as insanely inappropriate as it was, to figure out what was beyond the door, but somehow even ‘nothing’ seemed too full a word to describe what I couldn’t actually see. At that moment I ceased my struggle and just stared as I fell, and fell, and continued to fall until I reached the stable door...
“No!” I screamed, thrashing in my bed. My heart rate was through the roof, my PipBuck dutifully notified me that it was dangerously high, among an assortment of other notifications, one of which being my alarm. Today was not going to be stellar.
***
I kept a brisk pace through the grey corridors, not even glancing at the faded posters that advertised all sorts of pre-war ministry nonsense. I only barely kept an eye out for anypony I might run into on my way through the atrium(which was thankfully still full of the less dedicated work ponies) and impatiently hoofed the switches to open doors that would eventually lead to the apple orchard. I reached the elevator and went up two floors to reach Orchard A. I noted that I had, quite ridiculously, been assigned the top most orchard in the stable, the hardest to reach from the living quarters. “Oh Celestia please don’t let me be too late...” I hoped. At last the elevator ground to a stop at Orchard A’s floor and slowly opened its doors to the slightly-less-complicated corridors of the main agricultural floor of Stable-83. I quickly snuck into the orchard, hoping my boss wasn’t waiting to flay my flanks as soon as I set hoof on the grass. I released a breath I didn’t realise I was holding when nopony jumped on me to beat my hide. I cast a glance at the shed, its door still slightly ajar. I never had entered the shed, all my time spent working the orchard and I never once thought to check the shed for a useful tool. The rest of the orchard was clean, the 'grass' devoid of any apples since the pickers had taken them all.
“Who opened you... and why?” I asked as I stepped closer to the shed. I did a quick check around the orchard to make sure nopony was around, just in case I wasn’t allowed in the shed... I mean, nopony said I couldn’t go in, right? I pushed open the wooden door, which I was certain wasn’t made of wood alone, but was made to appear that way simply to suit the orchard. I walked in, looking around. All kinds of tools lay about the shed: two-pony saws, a couple of old hammers, rusting toolboxes, a sledgehammer -Who would need a sledgehammer in an apple orchard?-, and a few tools I couldn’t name. The shed hardly seemed special aside from the door, I supposed a wind could have blown it open, it didn’t have a very complicated or secure latch; I would have accepted a breeze as the culprit if it were actually possible to get any kind of a wind underground. I noticed a metal crate that seemed out of place with the dust covered room. The first thing about it was that it lacked the impossibly thick layer of dust that the rest of the room had in common and the second thing was that it was sorely out of place considering its size. I walked around it, recoiling at the smell of the room, only now catching the scent of something foul like rot or some such unpleasantry. I put my hooves against the crate and heaved, easily moving it due to my size and strength. The crate scratched horribly against the pseudo-wood and against some kind of metal on the flooring, possibly a tool. I looked down at where the crate stood. There was a latch. A little pony in my head jumped for joy at my discovery and I smiled, feeling a strong sense of pride. My PipBuck helpfully notified me that I had just found the Stable-83 Orchard A Old Storage, the device not caring in the slightest that the name of said location was ridiculously long. I opened the trap door and descended the staircase that was revealed, feeling along the wall for a light switch as the light from the orchard grew scarce. When I reached the hoof of the stairway I resorted to using my PipBuck lamp as the only switch I had found seemed to be broken. Somepony had to notify the maintenance ponies.
I looked around at the room, barely able to see the walls with the weak light of my PipBuck. This room was, as far as I could tell, as grey, dull and plain as any other part of the stable, it was quite unspectacular and it struck me as strange that somepony would hide its entrance with a metal crate. As I walked through this new, unexplored -at least to me- part of the stable, I became increasingly aware of the same smell that had permeated the shed. Nopony had been down here in ages and this place was positively rank! The wooden shelves, this time they were real wood, the rot that had taken place was proof, around me were empty and collapsing. I began to doubt that my “quest” to the shed would bring about anything at all useful, but just as I was about to turn my back to the cold, rotting cellar I found a door. One that my PipBuck had simply marked as “???” I looked at it curiously, trying to figure it out. I looked to its side where a button should be, but there was no button. I stepped forward cautiously and tapped on it with a hoof, then jumped back when the door sprung to life, opening as any other would. An excited smile played across my face as I stood at the open doorway, I tried to peer inside but was met with only darkness. I happily trotted in and scanned the walls and ceiling with my PipBuck lamp. I stopped when I kicked something hard. I looked down to see the crumpled form of a pony and gasped when I realised I stepped in a dried pool of blood. No... I looked down at the pony’s left foreleg; utterly crushed, along with the PipBuck. I yelped when my rump bumped into a shelf, causing it to fall over and crumble one adjacent to it. I’d have turned away and run, screaming like a scared filly if I wasn’t so shocked that I examined the corpse further. I felt a tear run down my cheek as I realised that this pony’s coat was black, his drying mane and tail had purple and red streaks. I collapsed to my knees, I’d found Razormane...
I crawled up to him, my best friend since I started school lay slain in front of me. I nuzzled his face, “Razor? Razormane? Get up... If this is... No, get up... please,” I begged, putting my hooves around his neck. Disturbing his week old corpse further spread the smell of decay throughout the room, but I didn’t particularly care, I held him in my hooves and begged uselessly for him to come back to me, for him to wake up and yell, “Got ya!”
“No! You can’t be gone!” I sobbed into his dry mane, matted by his own blood. I shook him violently, begging and pleading more, and then I heard it, near inaudible, but just loud enough to be carried well through the empty storage, somepony gasped! I let go of Razormane, his body dropping to the icy floor, and turned around to catch a fleeing pony’s silver flank flash the light of my PipBuck lamp back at me. I got up and ran after the pony, calling after him or her to stop, but they wouldn’t listen. As she reached the top of the stairwell I saw her, Flatline... “Flatline? Get back here!” I yelled, charging up the stairs, almost twice as fast as the unicorn. I was three quarters of the way up when she bucked the metal crate down the stairs, forcing me to turn around and jump or risk being grievously injured by a crate. “It wasn’t what it looked like!” I yelled from the bottom of the stairs again. She didn’t even reply or stop. It dawned on me that she may have killed Razormane... But that thought was banished as I remembered the crushed PipBuck, she wouldn’t have nearly the amount of strength required, would she?
I continued the pursuit as fast as my legs would carry me, I needed only to reach the security wing on this level and tell them about what I saw. I came up into the orchard which was still empty and saw Flatline had already made it through the door. I charged after her, but as I left the orchard I felt a pain explode in the back of my head. I skidded two metres across cold metal before I came to a stop, after that I could only manage to look back and see Flatline, crying and looking distraught, and the two nervous security ponies, one of whom was a unicorn, standing with batons at the ready. The unicorn sure had a swing...
***
“Ugh...” I groaned, waking up in some form of a holding cell I didn’t even know existed in Stable-83. My captors had left me with a bowl of water and half eaten apple fritters. How nice of them to save at least half of my food. I stood, feeling a dull pain at the back of my head where the baton had made contact. How long had I been out? I made the mistake of actually drinking the water that was left for me and sputtered, trying to get the vile taste out of my mouth.
“Well well, look who finally decided to join us,” said the head of security as she walked up to the bars, “You’ve been out pretty much all day little pony. Your shift would be up in a few minutes if you hadn’t led us straight to where you slaughtered your friend.”
“I didn’t kill him...” I replied, shivering and shifting my gaze to the floor.
“Horseapples. You can’t lie to us, Flatline saw what you did you monster, she told us the whole story"
Us? “But... she never got the whole story...” I moaned, “I found him like that! I didn’t hurt him, I would never have hurt him!”
“Well, I figure it’s too late for you now anyway, the overmare gave me my orders, and as far as I can tell, you’re just a murderer that killed a good pony.” The head of security stated matter-of-factly. I stared at her without speaking, how could she say that? How could they possibly have decided that I was the murderer? I looked down at my hooves, hurt and wishing I’d never gone into that shed, the question of why I wouldn’t just leave it to somepony it concerned more playing in my head. Most of all I missed Razormane.
The sound of hooves on metal drew my attention to an open door on the far side of the room, the Overmare herself had arrived with an escort of three armed and armoured security ponies. She walked with grace and elegance that became of somepony that held her status, somehow making the trained officers seem extremely clumsy and brutish in their manner of step. “This is the one?” She asked almost regally, disguising a look I identified as disappointed. I looked her over carefully, temporarily losing why I was in the cell in the first place and, for just a moment, forgetting my sadness; her white flanks bore a golden wreath with the head of a unicorn looking down over it and her thick, long mane was coloured a bright crimson.
“Yes, ma’am, Flatline is just in the next room, with the other one.” The head of security replied.
“Good evening, Onyx Gallantry, I believe?” She said with an even tone. I stood up and moved to the bars that held me captive, making the escort scramble for their weapons. “Be calm, gentlecolts, he’s hardly angry or frustrated. Just confused, perhaps nervous?” she suggested.
“Try hurt, sad and maybe a little scared.” I returned. The Overmare released a sigh.
“I’ve been hoofing through Stable law, Mr Gallantry and there are few punishments for a pony that kills another pony. I can’t say I’d like to mete out the lightest of them because even the lightest punishment is terrible. I don’t believe you are a cold hearted killer, but I’m afraid that action must be taken as the stable is small and if something like this goes unanswered there will be repercussions among the populace.” She explained. Stable law was cruel and cold at best, and it didn’t allow a pony fair trial simply because any delay in action could result in riot, and riot in a stable could lead to its failure. One of the very few things I remembered from school.
“But I didn’t kill him. I was just in...” I started
“The wrong place at the wrong time? I don’t know how true that is, but essentially you were holding the bloody knife next to a stabbed body. I am truly sorry, but you know basic Stable law, and you know what that means.” The Overmare could no longer look me in the eye as she spoke, and her regal aura was starting to falter, it looked as though the decision had been dumped on her alone and she clearly didn’t like it. I couldn’t say much more, there was no valid point I could argue or suspect I could name. “Bring her in, Headstrong,” the Overmare called to the head of security. Headstrong answered by opening the door, allowing two more security ponies to enter with Dancing Strobes. My eyes grew wide as I saw her wearing hoof cuffs, her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were stained with dry tears.
“What have you done to her!?” I demanded, rushing against the bars, desperately trying to reach my sister.
Headstrong was the first to reply, “She’s considered a suspect, she adamantly defended you and resisted arrest, not to mention that she left a gash in one of my subordinates’ forelegs with her horn,” she said, interrupting the Overmare.
“Your punishment, Onyx Gallantry and Dancing Strobes, is banishment.” The Overmare stated regretfully, “for Celestia’s sake... I hate to be the one to have to do this, but it must be done. The best I can do for you is secure some supplies, and I can let you keep your PipBucks, but that is about the most of the kindness I can extend to you.” Her words hit me like a buck to my gut, I felt winded and confused, had she really just said we were banished? That my sister and I were banished?
“No... You can’t include Strobes, that doesn’t even make any sense! She isn’t even in the working class yet, she’s at school all day, that’s like... That’s almost at the opposite end of the Stable, Orchard A is three levels higher than the school!” I protested, pleading for my sister’s freedom.
“Mr Gallantry, that is the law. I’m sorry. You’ll be sent away tomorrow, you may go to your room now, but be warned there will be guards just beyond your door. You cannot escape.” The Overmare hurriedly turned and left the room, her escort quickly following her.
I was made to wait a few minutes to ensure I didn’t chase down the Overmare as soon as my cell was opened. It was pointless, I couldn’t exact revenge on her, more because I couldn’t bring myself to hurting another pony, especially one so much weaker than me. The security ponies escorted me and Strobes back to our room, they didn’t speak at all, not to each other and not to us. It was a grim reminder of the silence in the corridors of late.
The whole way back I was seething with barely contained rage, every so often I wanted to buck the security ponies and just run home, where I would... Just be captured again and possibly suffer a worse fate. My mind was slow to process everything that happened, and all that I knew at that moment was anger, how could they have brought Strobes into this? Maybe I could understand them blaming me, but my sister? A blank flanked little filly, helping to cover up a murder. The logic, or rather the lack thereof, was stupefying to say the least. We would, at least, have one more night in the stable before being thrown out into the emptiness that was left of the outside world.
The door closed noisily behind us, a sign that it needed maintenance. Strobes moved to her nest and began dismantling it, returning everything to its rightful place, her head hung low, tail and ears drooped considerably. “It was looking like another good day at school today...” She half whispered.
“I’m sorry...” I said, mimicking the words of the Overmare.
“Don’t talk to me,” snapped Strobes, “I mean... Just, let’s get to sleep, I don’t want to talk about anything right now.” She added, calming, and then went into her room. I followed her and found a comfortable spot on the floor near her bed. She had already levitated the blankets over her head and was quickly falling asleep, exhausted after what had to have been the worst day of our lives.
***
“Onyx? Onyx, get up.” I shifted lazily where I lay, oddly more comfortable than when I was on my bed. “It’s time to go,” whispered a mare, poking me to wake me up. As I opened my eyes I realised that she was the same security mare that worked on the same level as Orchard A, the earth pony that was there when I was knocked out. What I could see of her coat was a clean beige and her long, thick mane was an emerald green with streaks of different green hues.
I looked at my PipBuck which again flashed multiple alerts, a good deal of data had been erased, including my alarms, radio and a few other things I’d had little need for like my Eyes Forward Sparkle and inventory sorting spell, the latter two now missing altogether. SATS had also been completely wiped, possibly to protect the security ponies that would escort me out of the stable.
The clock told me it was 04:45. “Is it time to...?” I started, but the mare silenced me by shoving her hoof in my mouth. I recoiled in shock, but stayed silent.
“Shh, not so loud,” she looked around nervously, confusing me considerably. “You have about fifteen minutes, but I wanted to help you because... Well you always looked so glum when you walked to work and I guess I feel bad about having to do this and... Well, I feel like you really need my help. Anypony’s help, really,”
“Help?” I whispered. I stood up and looked at the bed, Strobes lay fast asleep in blankets that had half twisted off of her and now only covered some of her.
“Yeah, my name is Emerald Guard, I came to give you a few things.” She said, pulling out a cable and some supplies from her security barding. “They snuck in here last night, and one of the technicians was ordered to impair the functionality of your PipBuck, I don’t know what I can give back, but I know they would have taken your EFS and SATS at the very least, so that’s the plan.” She opened my saddlebags and placed the supplies inside, then connected our two PipBucks.
“They also took my inventory sorter...” I mentioned, watching as she worked through all sorts of tech and software that made my head hurt.
“That’ll take too long, I can give you your EFS and maybe your SATS but beyond that you’ll have to find somepony -If there’s anypony left- on the outside that can help.” Emerald Guard said, almost lost in working with the device on my left foreleg. I watched her brow crease as she focused, tapping this part of the screen, pushing that button and then working through each process as it came up.
“You should’ve been born a unicorn.” I commented. Emerald Guard pressed one more button and then looked up at me with dreamy blue eyes.
“Why is that?” She asked.
“Well, you sure seem to know your way around the tech. I don’t know, you just don’t strike me as the security pony type, more maintenance or something technical, and that’s a unicorn’s job.”
“I don’t think I’d enjoy it... But still, the Stable doesn’t give us much choice. Nothing wrong with being security, and there’s hardly ever any trouble.” She said, checking the PipBuck screen. “Oh dear... this is taking longer than I thought it would, when’s the last time you had your PipBuck in for a tune up?”
I thought back as far as I could, trying to dig up any memory, “a long, long time ago...” I said, not being able to recall. Emerald shot me a glance that was hard to decipher.
“You should take it in for regular maintenance, it runs so much better and it's more efficient.”
“Well it's a little late now... But I don’t think I’ll need it much on the outside.” I defended. Emerald went back to work on my PipBuck, this time sticking her tongue out as she meddled with the inner workings of the device. I didn’t have much time left. My PipBuck brought up a message that announced the complete restoration of both my radio and EFS. “Will there be time to fix my inventory sorter?” I asked
“Nope, there isn’t even time for me to restore your targeting spell, I’m sorry Onyx I did the best I could.” Emerald replied with a shake of her head. I tried to imagine what was waiting for me on the outside, but all my mind could conjure was that complete lack of anything. “I have to go now, Onyx.”
I looked at her sadly, she was one of the last few ponies that would show me kindness before I left the stable. “Thanks, Emerald. This means a lot to me, really it does.” She got up and poked her head outside Strobes' room, looking around to check that it was clear. “Goodbye...” I said as she trotted quietly out of the bedroom and then out of the room altogether. Then I heard muffled voices and laughter, it sounded like she’d made some excuse to come in and help me, making it seem like she would do me some harm and later joke about whatever she supposedly did.
When the security came into my room I pretended to be asleep again, only to have one of them violently kick my ribs to wake me up. I gasped, trying to regain the breath that had been knocked out of me, and stood up shakily.
“Damn you...” I choked, drawing no attention from the security pony.
I watched intently as he got nearer to Strobes, waiting for him to make one mistake, to hurt one strand from her mane... He gently shook her awake, whispering in her ear, “Wake up, sweetie, it's time to go.” He said gently, then shot me a baleful look. Dancing Strobes woke up slowly with a yawn. I smiled as I watched her, her mane was a mess and her eyes were half closed, she rubbed her nose with a hoof.
“Onyx? What... Oh, right.” She said coldly. I sighed as we were herded to the holding cell where we would wait to be processed and eventually banished.
***
We stood face to face with destiny and harsh fate, looking at the heavy metal door with the number 83 emblazoned in its centre. The room was colder than the rest of the stable, like a dying pony’s breath held. The Overmare stood with us, her security detail was just behind her with readied weapons, Flatline stood in a corner far from me, my father, the sternest earth pony I’d ever known, was at the door control and Emerald Guard and Dancing Strobes stood by my side. I’d expected the mood to be more tense, but it wasn’t even half of what I was prepared for, which made me wonder if this was the first time somepony had been banished from the stable. The yellow emergency light hadn’t come on yet, which meant that the door wasn’t even beginning the process of opening. I examined the huge hinge arm that had to lift a far larger stable door. It looked incapable of performing the task.
I felt Strobes huddle up to me. “Onyx, I’m scared, will we be ok?” she asked, her words dripping with worry. The Overmare gave my father a nod, which he painfully returned.
Why wasn’t he doing something? “Honestly, Strobes, I have no idea, but I’ll make sure we are. That’s a promise.” Finally, the emergency light came on and bathed us all in a spinning yellow glow, the hinge arm screeched slightly as it came to life, moving into position, then the door began to grind open...
