From the Dust

I can honestly say I have never felt as terrified as i did when i began following Cipher through the halls of the Stable. The minute we stepped out i realized the main lights had been switched off, leaving much of the halls chocked in darkness. the only light came from the few lights that were still on and the red alarm lights that were accompanied by the automated audio loop of the OverMare instructing everypony to go into their quarters until it is declared safe. Cipher and the three others were already half way to the stairs by the time I trotted out into the hallway and I had to gallop as fast as I could to catch up. I almost fell over several times with my foreleg raised off the ground to keep the gun from dragging on the floor.

When I caught up to the group I tried to make myself as small as i could while keeping near them, fearing that at any moment we could be shot at. All I could think about is how getting shot would feel, having the led rip through my flesh and Cipher having to leave me behind, or if Cipher got shot and we had to leave him behind or even if he was killed. It's amazing how fast those thoughts can shoot through your mind when you're afraid. We were almost halfway to the door by now, at least that what i hope, it feels like we've been walking the dark, empty hallways for hours on end. What began to puzzle me is that there were no guards anywhere, like security had just vanished, maybe they were in another part of the Stable.

After a few more turns in the halls I began to hear shouting and even a few gunshots up a head, I poked my head up as high as I could over the group in front of me to see a bright light, the entrance to the atrium, which was where the noise was coming from. It seemed odd that most of the lights were still lit in the atrium but the rest of the Stable remained black. Cipher stopped at the open door to the atrium and the sight made the rest of them stop dead in their tracks as well i peaked over a gain to see a massive crowd of ponies in the mist of a complete riot. It seemed like all the ponies that lived in the Stable were in this one room, including all of security.

A few security ponies were standing on top of the tables scattered through the atrium, firing their pistols wildly into the crowd, the rest of security seemed to be mixed in with the crowd below. I could just see a few of the ponies wearing the Kevlar vest and helmet through the blur of Stable-tech jumpsuits, one of them fighting off the surrounding crowd with a baton clenched tightly in his jaw, his dented and broken helmet on the floor at his feet, another security pony was on the floor curled in a tight ball with his forelegs wrapped over his head, being savagely beaten by several other ponies.

The sight made my jaw drop as I stared in horror at the mass of ponies beating and killing one another. It terrified me that not two hours ago this place was quiet and orderly as it was every day my entire life and things so very quickly went to total shit, this has to be some sort of fucked up dream or something, this can't be real. Cipher just seemed to stare blankly at the riot, not really phased, like he was expecting this to happen.

After a moment he ripped his gaze from the atrium and looked at the buck wielding the shotgun. "You think we should interfere or move around them?" Cipher spoke so calmly, like the ponies fighting and killing pointlessly were just some inconvenience, I moved opened my mouth to say something but tried my best to bite my tongue. "We'd die in minutes if we went in there, let's move around the atrium, we should keep low so security doesn't see us through the windows."

After that Cipher agreed and they began moving, with me trailing close behind. As we trotted through the darkened halls the gunshots and screaming became nothing more than a muffled noise and it became it a bit easier for me to think. Cipher and the others began galloping so that they would move by the windows quickly as to not be noticed.

As i tried to keep up with them i realized that i had begun to move more naturally with the weapon occupying my right foreleg, and it was easy to keep up with them. After what seemed like forever in the dark halls we came to the large metal door that lead to the entrance to the vault, Cipher and the others came to a dead stop at the door. While I took another glance at my gun Cipher looked around frantically then checked his gun. "The door shouldn't be closed, we told them to keep it open until we arrive." Cipher seemed to be speaking more to himself than to us. One of the Bucks trotted over to Cipher and put his front left hoof on the door. "They probably closed it to keep security out, let's just open it and get out of here." Cipher looked at the door as if it would lunge at him if he came too close to it. "Something's wrong, i can feel it."

With that said the buck pulled down on the latch and slid the heavy metal door open, and the buck went in followed by the other buck, Cipher, and Me at the back. Within seconds of us entering the room a foul stench hit me and i almost fell over trying not to vomit. I brought my head back up and when i did i realized that right in front of me was a massive puddle of blood, and my front left hoof was just on the edge of touching the red liquid. I jerked the front half of my body back and let out a scream, then fell over.