STASIS 2

"Beep. Beep. Beep." sounded my alarm clock from my bedside table. With an audible grunt, and a smack of my lips I tapped the snooze button before rolling out of bed. I went to my closet and threw on the first Surveillance outfit I could find. That's when I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and mane.

I staggered in front of the mirror my bathroom provided to find the disheveled female version of my father staring back at me. With the same gait, height, and appearance, I looked exactly like him. I yawned and fixed my magic on my manebrush to give my hair a good untangling. I sighed as my brush slid easily through my locks of black and dark blue.

I then pressed a warm washcloth across my silver coat and dark blue eyes before I wiped my face dry and headed out the door for morning briefing.

Morning briefing consists of assholes who assign and reassign Surveillance jobs to the ponies of the STASIS. Not only is it boring and quite repetitive but you have to sit in the Atrium and listen to "bearded" Sunshine who talked propaganda about our jobs and other shit. Even though you sit there for at least an hour the moral is 'stay in your designated spot until somepony tries to kill you'.

For your information...that never happened.

"Shit." I grumbled, as I looked at the STASIS clock. I was going to be late to briefing, and being late meant severe consequences.

With that in mind I set out through the smooth hallways. I took turns and rights I knew by heart until I reached the Atrium.

The Atrium was a large cafeteria with a stage and many seats that were currently occupied. About three fourths of the Atrium was reserved for Surveillance and in use while the other fourth was in use by hungry ponies working on other shifts. I could feel my tummy growling at the promise of food but I figured it could wait.

I scanned the room for a quick second before my eyes met the empty seat I was looking for. I reclined back in the chair before giving the stallion next to me a playful punch in the arm. His name was Pepper Flake, and he had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. I never thought of him as anything else either.

"Ow." he said with a smile before giving me a hoof bump. I gave him one back only to receive a quick punch as well.

He was a rust colored Pegasus buck with an floppy orange mane I always liked to make fun of. With mahogany hued eyes and a pepper shaker for a cutiemark he could have easily been a chef of some sort but...was stuck in a crummy Surveillance job with me. He poked a hoof into my side, arousing a chuckle from me.

We spent the rest of briefing fooling around and giggling at our own (terrible) jokes about "bearded" Sunshine.

"I think she's a guy." Pepper Flake snorted , obviously trying to hide his amusement.

"Wanna milk her to find out?" I smirked, jabbing him in the side before falling into a fit of stifled laughter.

Little did we know our playful antics were being watched by the eyes of a few certain ponies.

* * * *

"Hey horseshoe butt! What was so funny?" a familiar voice called after me as I began to trot to my designated station. By 'horseshoe butt' he was referring to my cutiemark (a plain horseshoe). In embarrassment I covered my flank with my tail in a vain attempt to hide it.

"She's so cute when she blushes!" the voice taunted again as a barrage of male laughter joined in. I felt heat in my cheeks as I turned to face my bully. Just as I had figured, it was Briar Flex.

Briar Flex was a worker on the bridges connecting our STASIS to the others. His special talent happened to be with steel wire and other objects used for structural support. This in turn gave him the cutiemark of a steel cable that looked more like a grey snake. Now Briar wasn't a unicorn like most would expect since unicorns are good with details. He was a Pegasus that worked well with welding and attaching supports higher than most others could reach.

He had a white coat with an short cropped indigo mane and tail. His eyes were unmistakably green with sparks of mischievousness about them. While he was cute I had no intention of liking him since he harassed me on more than one occasion.

"Where do ya think you're going?" he asked, swooping in beside me. He eyed me for a quick second before giving my flank a hard slap with one of his wings. That's the kind of harassment I was talking about.

I yelped, jumping a good few feet in in the air as Briar and his posse snickered at me. I covered my stinging flank with a tail as the raucous laughter grew even louder. I could feel my cheeks burning from utter humiliation.

"That's what you get when you disrespect morning briefing with your stupid giggling!" a voice shouted from the pack of stallions. I should have figured that somepony would have seen us goofing off. Even though briefing may have been boring...there were still ponies who took the thing very seriously.

"And that's just a warning." Briar sneered leaning closer to my muzzle. His breath smelt like musk, alcohol, and sweat. "I hope you do it again, too."

I found myself shivering at his comment, since I was pretty sure that it had been a sexual threat. I instantly felt uncomfortable keeping my back turned to a pack of rowdy stallions.

I whirled around to see that most of the stallions had dispersed but he still remained, and he was closing in fast. Briar gave me a proud little smirk that made a whimper grow in my throat.

"Ya know I'm tired of warnings, so I think it's time to deal out the consequences." he grinned, pushing me into an abandoned storage STASIS. I scrambled across the cold linoleum tile trying my best to put any kind of distance between us.

I looked up to see Briar's piercing green eyes filled with a firm malice towards me. He stepped even closer, forcing me to step back until my rump hit the concrete wall of the storage room. I looked for any way to get out of the small space but was pushed up against the wall with brunt force. I didn't want to but I tried to use my magic against him, only to find I didn't know any combat spells.

Briar hungrily licked his lips as he gave out a low throaty chuckle. I whimpered as I squirmed under his iron grip. The smell of musk and booze filled my nose once again as he pressed even closer to me. No matter how hard I struggled I knew there was only one outcome to the position I was in. Thankfully his session with me was interrupted by a familiar pony.

"What the hell is going on here?!" a voice spoke from the doorway. Briar Flex looked up, momentarily forgetting I was there and allowed me to squirm out of his loosened grip.

I slipped past them and hid behind my saviour. Pepper Flake, examined my state before glaring at the buck who only seemed slightly annoyed. His expression darkened at the sight of the dark bruise forming on my flank.

"What did you do to her?" he growled through gritted teeth as he glowered at the stallion.

"Nothing the little cunt didn't deserve! Maybe I'll let ya have a turn when I'm finished with her." Briar sneered at us with his eyes still full of unbridled hatred towards me.

"Virtue. Stay out here." Pepper Flake commanded as he stepped into the doorway.

* * * *

"Thanks." I whispered as Pepper Flake continued to clean himself up in the mirror. He was remarkably unscathed, except for the minor graze on his cheek and the blood on his hooves (which thankfully wasn't his).

"You're welcome." he said bitterly, keeping his gaze away from mine. Using my magic I pressed a wet washcloth to his cheek. He closed his eyes and shrugged me off at first but let me clean the graze on his cheek. For a moment we just sat there together, neither one of us saying a single word. I was starting to drown in the realization of what could have easily happened to me.

"I'm sorry." I croaked as I pulled the cloth away from his face. I stared at the floor, unable to meet his gaze. I could feel his presence in front of me even though I couldn't see him. He had protected me when I had needed it most, and I was glad he was my friend.

"It's okay Virtue." he sighed quietly as he hung his head in defeat "You just need to be more careful. He was going to..."

"Rape me." I swallowed, finishing his sentence. He looked at me with sympathy before leaving the STASIS without another word. I followed behind him, the image of a bloodied and beaten Briar etched into my thoughts.

* * * *

"Tap. Tap. Tap." went the terminal Pepper Flake was typing away at. While I wanted to get his attention I could see his face was firm in concentration. So (being the wonderful pony I am) I decided against interrupting him.

Even with his fluid movements I knew he was keeping a wall up. That way he wouldn't have to recount the actions of earlier events. I didn't blame him though, what he did to Briar Flex would give me nightmares for the next month.

I crept closer, keeping my head low and my eyes trained on him. I continued to creep my way over to him, hoping wouldn't sense me.

With an exasperated sigh he reclined back into his chair and pressed the tip of his hoof to the bridge of his muzzle. His eyes fluttered open as he suddenly regarded me. I felt my cheeks burn as he looked at me with an emotion I couldn't name. I immediately averted my gaze in an attempt to shake the jitters from my spine.

"You know I could hear you, right?" he smiled contently at me. His eyes showed the same emotion as before (fondness is the correct word for it).

"It's because of your tail." he said quietly. A moment passed as he realized his statement could be taken as somewhat of a lewd one.

"I uh...I meant that your tail was dragging on the floor so...I could easily h-hear you." he grinned sheepishly as the beginnings of a blush began to form on his russet cheeks. I chuckled slightly at the awkwardness in the air.

"Um...what are you doing?" I queried, creeping closer to his terminal. I took a glance at the screen to see it was full of jumbled number code.

"This? Oh, I was trying to break the encryption on this," he said, pointing a hoof to the USB drive connected to a port in the terminal. "so we could see the files on it."

"I didn't know that you were a professional hacker." I smiled teasingly at him before my eyes continued to examine the screen.

"First off, I'm not very good at this. And second, you can't really call this hacking since I'm just trying to break an encryption." he said quietly. There was just a hint of frustration in his voice and I wasn't sure if it was from me or the encryption.

"Well, I guess you could say tha-" I spoke before cutting myself off. Pepper Flake automatically switched his attention toward me and our surroundings. He gave me a quick look over before his ears began to swivel around, looking for any disturbance in the area.

"Is something wrong?" he asked quietly, obviously trying to mask the alarm in his voice. I was taken aback how hew dropped everything to make sure I was safe, even when there was no threat at all. In hindsight, that should have been my first clue.

"No just...what's this?' I asked, pointing to a jewelry chain wrapped around the USB, making it an an efficient necklace (of some sort). Pepper Flake gave a barely audible sigh as the tensity in his body relaxed.

"I found it on the floor after that guy was...knocked out. I really don't think it was his though." he swallowed quietly. I could tell he was hiding some of his emotions but I tried my best to ignore it.

"Hmm." he grunted curiously. I could tell his concentration had returned once again. His hooves tapped the desk the terminal occupied as his eyes hungrily devoured every number on the screen.

"Got it."

* * * *

"W-what was that?" I stammered as I turned to him. Once again his eyes were firm in concentration. I forced myself to stare back at the blank screen.

"I don't know... images maybe? Better slow it down." he murmured, almost as if in a trance. His hooves typed happily on the keyboard once again. He abruptly stopped though, meeting my gaze one last time before my life would ultimately change (for the worse).

"Let's do this."