It wasn’t much longer before things took a turn for the worst. When food was further rationed to the point where everypony had to go whole days without eating, the arguments turned into quiet assassinations. One day at a time, ponies were found dead in their rooms. First Aid, the only pony with adequate medical training and experience, found himself doing more autopsies than surgeries, opening the dead to read their tales. In addition, he was constantly getting cases of malnutrition, vitamin or mineral deficiencies, and minor illnesses that, had the ponies a full and proper diet, would not be as big a problem as they were fast becoming. There were even several cases of water and food poisoning. Fortunately, the Stable was packed with antibiotics and medicines, which solved most all illnesses and infections.

However, even with all the murders, the Overseer refused to change the rationing. “I will not reward my Stable’s inhabitants for these murderous acts. And I must consider the younger generation of my Stable. Our children will outlive us, regardless of what we do to each other. We must think about them above all else. This is their food more than it is ours.”

This did nothing to stave off the attacks and murders, but it meant that the younger generations, including Runestone, Gaia, and First Aid, would be left alone. In fact, shortly after, anypony under the age of thirty were given a slightly higher portion of rations, one a day. Pregnant ponies were given double that, as they were eating for two, but it meant that many of the older ponies were trying to get each other pregnant in order to steal more food.

Meanwhile, Runestone, who seemed to be left alone more so than usual, was once more in his library. Once in a while, Security would come by, taking away books from his shelves. “For the security of the Stable,” they said. But he knew better. He had recorded every book in his Pip-buck, and every single book they removed did anything but compromise the safety and comfort of the Stable. First, they took away every single book on gardening. Then they took any books on Equestria-tech and the Stables. It continued on, with one stallion popping in once a week to grab a new book to remove. But he had read and memorized them. Each one removed made him more and more curious.

His two friends decided to use this place as their new home, where they would sleep, play, and build their scrap weapons. In the short time the Stable had gone downhill, the trio had assembled a decent makeshift arsenal. Runestone finished his Laser Pistol, complete with an iron sight to keep what few shots he had on the weapon accurate, and also took every spare battery he could find, making them into power cells.

First Aid had taken a few crutches, surgical tubing, and pipes to make a crossbow. After a while, Runestone helped the Pegasus make a short-range scope for it. There was no shortage of scrap metal, which meant he could grind many metal rods into sharp bolts that could be used as ammo. He also saved some of his extra empty syringes for making toxic darts, which he made sure to always keep ready. He regularly practiced with it in the library, using a few manikins the Overseer provided from the storage rooms. And the best part was he could reuse the bolts on his weapon, as long as they were intact from the impact.

Gaia, however, had made the most of her time, more so than the other two. She quietly revealed that her cutie mark was covered up with a fake one; in reality, it was an inferno in the shape of a mushroom. Her specialty was explosives, and she made sure to use it. One by one, mines and makeshift grenades came to their cache, further empowering them. After a while, Runestone had to put his hoof down and demanded she stop making more. “We don’t need to make so much that we can blow up the whole Stable, Gaia.” Gaia nodded, only bringing in the extra parts she couldn’t incinerate such as cherry bombs, explosive powder and flammable liquids. She had also made a scrap sledgehammer for up close encounters, which she kept in the furnace with her.

The trio were armed for any incursion, but Runestone and Gaia started getting on the receiving end for several bullying efforts. After their incidents against the Thundermanes, nopony bothered trying to kill them. Instead, they resorted to bullying them, trying to get them to kill themselves or to try and leave the Stable on their own accord.

Runestone was stern about their response to this. “Don’t kill them. We’re better than that. We have an arsenal in the library for emergencies only. This pathetic attempt to put us down is not an emergency.” The two endured everything they had thrown at them. Most of it was just sneering and suggestive gestures, though occasionally it went physical and included shoving and sexual slaps. Gaia, having just recovered from a rape attempt, was tempted to buck each one of them straight into a wall and pummel them senseless. It took all her self-restraint to stop herself.

Fortunately, however, new friends were always being made. With all the chaos, Ace Steel, the Overseer’s son and Captain of Stable 147’s Alpha Hoofball team, quickly found himself fascinated with the trio, and by extension, so did the rest of the team. With the constantly decreasing ration allotment as well as their normal duties to the Stable, most of the Hoofball players had no extra energy to play Hoofball. So, they instead resorted to hanging out with each other in the library, playing one of Runestone’s many computer games, reading the thousands of books available, or just trying whatever they could to enjoy themselves.

But one morning, something radical happened. So radical that it shook the very core of every Stable inhabitant’s heart. One older pony, one of the Thundermanes, attempted to escape the Stable, shouting that the only way left to increase food supply was to leave the Stable and get it. He walked into the entrance, only to never be heard from again. No claxons, no heavy screeching of the door opening, not even a cheer of freedom from the room. The Overseer and Security immediately locked the room down, prevented anypony from accessing the Stable’s door. The Overseer released a statement, saying that it is impossible to leave due to the hostile and toxic environment outside the Stable. This, however, would only prove to be the beginning of the chaos to come.

Runestone lay in the library’s many sleeping mats, waking up after everyone had left. Now that staying up late to play was a common occurrence, waking up early was out of the question for him, not that it mattered in the end. He yawned loudly, shaking himself up before walking to his room, looking at himself in the mirror. He levitated his brush and used it to adjust his mane, combing it through. Everypony else had trotted off to their jobs, but since Runestone’s job was moot at this point, he could do whatever he wanted. He smiled and went back to one of the computers, determined to program a new game for everypony, until the door to the library exploded.

Runestone only had time to see the brilliant flash of orange and yellow before he was blown back into the bookshelves by the shockwave, causing the shelves to collapse on top of him. He groaned in pain while the invaders flung the bookshelves off his body. The Unicorn looked up to see several ponies, each one looking at him with a sour expression.

“Runestone, you’re coming with us.” One mare grabbed him by his mane and yanked him away.

“OWOWOW! Hey, lay off!” His horn glowed as he pushed the ponies away from him, trying to get them to stop. “Going where?”

“To the Stable door.” The biggest of the ponies, an Earth Pony he recognized as Grape Seed, the server in the Cafeteria, reached out for him again, only to watch as Runestone teleported away from his grasp.

Runestone re-appeared in back in his bedroom and moved his bed over to reveal a small hatch. The trio had converted the furniture into their secret storage area, where the three kept their makeshift weapons. He pulled out his laser pistol, arming the device as the door was banged on.

“You know getting out of here is the only way, you little brat!” Grape Seed was not willing to let this end. “You’re the only pony with any technical know-how to get the door open. Now stop making this hard for everypony and open the damn door!”

Runestone shouted back at the Earth Pony, “And I would, except for a few things. One, I’m not leaving without everypony else, especially my friends. Two, I’m not exactly inclined to help ponies who ask for my help by blowing open my front door. Where did you get explosives, anyway? And why do you want to leave? Didn’t you ponies always tell me it was safer here than it was outside, no matter what happened? Didn’t the Overseer say that the outside was hazardous and killed that Thundermane?” He raised his hooves, pointing the laser pistol at the door.

“Does that really matter, now? As for the second question, that was before somepony started talking to us on our Pip-Colts, telling us that the only way to replenish our food supply was to leave and come back with as much food as possible.” Soon, one of the unicorns who attacked him forced the door open and Runestone’s laser pistol was staring down onto the three equine attackers.

The three just laughed. “You expect to kill us with your toy there? Get over here, boy. I’m not afraid to get violent with you.” Grape Seed held his kitchen knife in his hoof, trotting towards Runestone.

“Neither am I.” Runestone contracted his hoof around the trigger.

It was all a blur to him. The energy weapon left no recoil as a solid red beam of light ejected from the emitter straight into Grape Seed. The Earth Pony winced as he backed off. The laser had torn into his Stable Uniform and burned into his left front leg. “HEY! OH THAT STINGS! Oh, I’m gonna enjoy this, you little brat! I don’t care how much that thing says we need you!” He stepped closer, glaring at the unicorn.

Runestone stood undeterred, pulling the trigger again, watching the laser burn into his right front leg. Then again, into his chest. Another shot went wide, missing his attacker and hitting the wall. He took another aim down the weapon’s sights, firing his laser pistol at Grape Seed as rapidly as he could until the one lucky shot hit the open wound on his forehead from a previous shot, burning into his brain and killing him instantly. The Earth Pony fell forward, lifeless.

The surviving ponies looked at each other, then to the Unicorn who triumphed over them before running out of the library, screaming bloody murder.

Runestone sat backwards, his laser pistol falling from his hooves. He had killed once more. He was lost in the adrenaline, the rush of battle. He didn’t think, he didn’t flinch; he just reacted. And the worst part was, he killed someone who had so many answers he needed. Where did he get explosives? Who was he talking about that contacted him? Were they really planning to leave then come back with any food they found? What the heck was going on?

Runestone just took another look at the dead body. His attacker’s knife and saddlebags just sat next to him, ripe for looting. The Unicorn carefully opened the bags, pulling out the contents. Inside was a cache of things he had a hard time believing.

Security grade weapons and explosives. Pistols, revolvers, submachine guns, extra ammo, fragmentation grenades, the pony had it all. “You really did want to leave, and you stole all this from the Stable’s Armory to do so. But why would you go through such violent means? And more importantly, how did you get the access codes?” Runestone sighed, perusing through the inventory for a few more seconds before leaving the library. He needed a place to lay low and he needed to find Gaia’s father quickly.

Runestone sneaked across the Stable, trying to find the Security Office in the Stable before things got even more out of hoof then they already had. He almost ran headlong into First Aid, who was frantically trying to fly away from something. “WOAH! Oh, Runestone. Thank Celestia. Some of the Elders were trying to steal my keys to the Medical supply locker. They made some makeshift blades or something and were threatening me with them.”

“Yeah. Grape Seed tried to drag me out to the Door at gunpoint.” Runestone sighed, looking around the hallway for anypony close. Other than the two of them, the place was pretty empty.

“Door? What door?” First Aid paused for a second before catching on. “Wait, you mean ‘the’ Door?”

“Yes, the exit out of the Stable. I think some of the Elders are trying to leave and going through rather violent means.”

As if on cue, the speakers to the Stable’s intercom ringed to life.

“Attention all Stable-dwellers. It has come to my attention that many of the older ponies are attempting to leave the Stable. While under normal circumstances I would allow their exit, I will not do anything to support their acts of violence and terrorism, not to mention theft of Stable property. Security will be doing a sweep throughout the Stable. Any armed civilian who resists being detained will be fired upon. Repeat, you will only be harmed if you resist. All non-essential personnel should return to their rooms and wait for the all clear.”

Runestone shook his head. “They’ve stolen arms from the Armory. I don’t know how, but we need to get to Stonehead and warn him.”

“Well then I guess we need to wait here for Security to show up. It would be much safer.”

Suddenly, a hoof grabbed each of them, pulling them along the hallway. The two turned to see Gaia face, full of urgency and panic. “You have to see this! Now!” She pulled them along to the disposal area, almost dragging them.

“Gaia, slow down!”

“Why should I? I just found my proof to all of those bucking conspiracies!” There was a sense of urgency in her voice.

First Aid raised his voice angrily, not in the mood for Gaia’s ramblings when all hell was breaking loose, “Gaia, this is not the time!”

“Now is the perfect time, First Aid!” The Earth Pony pulled them into the room, sealing the door behind them. “There, in the trash pile!”

Runestone lowered his head, disappointed at Gaia’s description, as the entire room was a series of trash piles. “Um…Gaia?”

“Shut up, Rune. Right here!” She ran off to a corner, and reached her hoof in, quickly pulling out Lily’s severed head.

There was the longest pause as the other two tried to process what it is they were seeing. The poor filly’s head dripped red blood all over the ground beneath it. Her pupils had shrunk to small dots and rolled up towards her upper eyelids while her mane had become a wreck, dangling from her head in a curly mess. Her mouth and tongue hung from their origin point, drooping straight to the ground and adding to the grotesque sight.

Finally, Runestone threw up, bile splattering all over the floor in front of him. Killing ponies was one thing, but seeing a decapitated head was too much for his heart to take. All those books and comics, it was all nothing compared to the real deal. He coughed, “P-*cough* put that out of site, Gaia! *Cough Cough*” He kept coughing, trying to clear the taste and feel of stomach acid in his mouth and throat.

Gaia set it down, burying it back in the trash. “I…I think all the…well, all the pieces are here…I found her flank and…well….she got her Cutie Mark. It was a plant sprout. I…I think she got it in gardening. They killed her, Runestone. And they killed her after she got her Cutie Mark.”

The Unicorn sat down, sighing. “Maybe we do need to get out of here…but not with the Elders.” He looked around. “We should get back to the library. Too much has happened today.” As he turned around, a soft light flashed back and forth against the wall near the door. Runestone turned to Gaia.

“I set up a sensor module outside the door. Somepony’s coming. Quick, hide in the furnace!” The Earth Pony rushed to the furnace door, opening it up.

Any other day, Runestone and First Aid would have thought her insane, but now, with all that has happened, all the facts that had come to light, they leaped at the chance, diving into the furnace with Gaia entering after them, closing the door. Inside they waited for the intruder.

The room’s door opened to reveal Stonehead and the Overseer. “Gaia? You in? Good, she’s not it here. Celestia-dammit all! Lily?! My team executed Lily without my consent!? And to top it off, they disposed of her here!?” Stonehead was furious, digging through the trash to find Lily’s body, only to find pieces scattered everywhere. “Dammit all to Tartarus, I’m gonna be digging all day for her!”

“They did the same thing with Sweet Roll. Ponies will notice. Now, our benefactor has overstepped his bounds. In addition, it seems he is bribing the Elders and some of your security forces here to get rid of the younger generation.” The Overseer held his left hoof to his head, groaning.

“For what? Better test results?” Stonehead started collecting pieces of Lily. “We need to put this insurrection down. Quickly.”

“The most permanent solution to that is to sever EQUINOX’s connection with the Stable. Then we can end this experiment by claiming Hydroponics and Water Processing for ourselves, so that everypony will have the proper supply of food and water.”

“We’ll need to destroy the turrets at the entrance, and all the robots it’s hiding inside those modules.” Stonehead pulled Lily’s head aside, tossing it with the rest of her body without a second thought. “But what about after? This will be impossible to explain!” Stonehead continued in a mocking tone, “Sorry everyone, but an evil computer program was holding everypony hostage unless it saw what happened to starving ponies!”

The Overseer nodded. “Yeah, I plan to step down soon at this rate. Even if they all found it in their hearts to forgive me, there is far too much blood on my hooves. I can’t just wash it off anymore. I’ve already herded everypony into this misery when we evacuated. This is just too much for my old mind to bear.”

Stonehead tossed a piece of debris to the Overseer, deliberately missing him by a few inches. “No, you won’t. That’s just what EQUINOX and the rebels want. We need to stand unyielding in this trial. Let’s gather up all the younger ponies and rally them together. We’ll make them understand. Somehow, some way.” He took a deep breath. “Because they are the ones I care about the most.”

“Especially your daughter.”

Stonehead nodded. “I wish I could just pour my heart out to her. I love her too damn much, and I can’t stand to see her starving every day. Last night, I caught her struggling to pick up one of the broken shelf units. I can’t stand to see that, anymore.” He sighed. “We need to end this, one way or another.”

Runestone had heard enough to understand what was really going on. The Overseer and Stonehead needed him and his team. This EQUINOX needed to be stopped from whatever it was doing and the entire Stable needed to be gotten under control. He pushed on the furnace door, creating a loud creaking sound as the rusty hinges gave. The two older ponies turned to see his head emerge from the furnace’s door. “What exactly is going on and what can we do to help?”

There was a long time of silence as the three ponies crawled out of the dark furnace. Each side was carefully evaluating the other, determining whether their stated intent was true or not.

Stonehead finally made the first voice. “Sir, I think we should let them help. Whether or not they believe us, all three of them have a reason to be spared. I will not let my daughter be hurt, Runestone is the only pony here with any sort of electronics experience, making him the most vital part of our plans, and without First Aid, all the ponies here will all die rather quickly.”

“And so, we are left with no choice.” The Overseer looked at the three of them with something Runestone had never seen. There was genuine sincerity in the older pony’s eyes. “I promise to fix all this and come clean, but I need help to do so. First, we need to deal with the problem now.”

Runestone started with a series of inquiries. “Why not just release anypony who wants out and be done with it?”

“Because our Stable Door is controlled by someone else and not even I can override it. Even if I could, it’s guarded by about four different turrets.” The Overseer sighed, scrapping his hooves across the floor.

Runestone continued. “I’m going to guess this EQUINOX can control a lot of the Stable’s automatic security, which nopony knows anything about. What kind of automatic security are we dealing with, exactly?”

Stonehead spoke this time. “Really, there’s only those turrets at the door.”

Gaia perked up, “That explains what happened to that Thundermane who tried to break out.”

“Yes, Gaia. Equinox doesn’t want anypony escaping save those who it personally has authorized, usually me or some other parent who’s more concerned for their child and has every inclination to come back. But that is the only real system that’s in the Stable.”

“So how is he threatening us?” First Aid was a little outraged at everypony being so easily manipulated, but as he thought, he followed up with the answer. “He’s controlling the food and water.”

“Yes, it is.” The Overseer put emphasis on the word ‘it.’ “It can completely shut down distribution, poison the food and water, and even alter the nutrients to create deficiencies.”

Runestone quickly solved the puzzle pieces for Gaia and First Aid. “It didn’t need violence to control the population. So, Hydroponics and Water Processing must be controlled directly by EQUINOX, so a series of networked robots and pre-programmed subroutines must keep them running however it decides. Probably also food manufacturing, right?”

“Very good. Now, Runestone, you are the smartest pony in this Stable. You need to explore a means to get EQUINOX out of our lives. The rest of us need to get everypony under control.”

Gaia looked at her father. “Um…did Mom..?”

“Yes, Mom was killed because she wanted to end this madness before it began.” Stonehead walked over, giving Gaia a soft hug. “He pretty much has total control over everything and all we could do is enforce his rule to preserve whatever ponies were left, and keep you all in the dark, less we risk the A.I. starving or poisoning our families.”

Runestone thought back to all the conspiracies Gaia kept egging them both into. “So….Sweet Roll?”

“Ordered dead by EQUINOX. It seems to be able to directly communicate with my security, so it just bribed somepony to kill him in return for a greater portion of rations.” Stonehead sunk down. “Same deal with Lily I bet.”

First Aid looked to the door. “That may be why everypony is in such a frenzy. EQUINOX is directly communicating with ponies, promising them something, whether it’s extra food, extra water, or possibly control over the food and water.”

The Overseer nodded. “That was my guess, too.”

Runestone took a deep breath. “So, what did EQUINOX ask you two to do about, well…this?”

Stonehead shrugged as he spoke. “It just said to maintain order and control by any means necessary, but not to do anything to compromise his ultimate experiment.”

“So it expects things to get violent.” Runestone thought hard for a plan to end this madness. “We have too much to do in order to stop this.”

“Don’t hurt yourself, Runestone. I already have a plan for the current problem with the Rebels. I have control over the speaker, so I will rally what few ponies I can. I will try to convince all the ponies that a third party is hacking into the wireless servers in the Stable, and attempt to persuade pones to stop listening to said party. Everypony who still follows it without question will have to be…removed.”

Stonehead nodded. “Then perhaps it is best to cut out the eyes and ears of our beloved EQUINOX wherever we can.”

“Don’t go overboard on that,” Runestone cautioned. “We don’t want to risk this EQUINOX finding out what we’re really up to.”

Gaia couldn’t hold her questions any longer after listening to all of them. “What does EQUINOX even mean? I know it’s not important now, but I just gotta ask. And what was this experiment it was running here?”

The Overseer sighed as he hung his head. “It’s an acronym. Equestria-tech Quality Universal Intelligence Network Overlord Experiment. And the experiment was how a population would deal with limited and altered food and water.”

“Oh…of course.” Gaia said nothing more on the matter. “Okay. I will see if I can find out how many of our friends have been in contact with this thing and get everypony to the library. At least they will trust me.”

“Okay, then. Stonehead, you might want to go ahead and give First Aid a proper gun. His crossbow won’t do for such close quarters. Runestone, find someplace to hide. I will not risk you getting accidentally killed or go missing in this mess. You are the only one smart enough to get rid of this damned thing.”

Runestone thought for a few seconds. “Probably the medical bay would be best, considering the lockdown. Also, one last question. Is this EQUINOX a local A.I. or is it broadcasting from somewhere?”

“As far as it has told me, it controls all of the outside Stables, so it must be broadcasting them from some central location. I will tell you as much as I can after we deal with the current insurrection. Now, get your hiding spot and the rest of us will move to stop this.” The Overseer trotted out the door, with everypony else following before splitting off.

Runestone went straight to the med bay and did the hardest part of the plan: waiting. He simply sat one of hospital stools and went through his mind, trying to come up with a plan. This EQUINOX was completely locked in. It had access to every camera, Hydroponics, Food Manufacturing, and Water Processing. And it was controlling at least a hundred and fifty Stables. “It has to have a sub-A.I., a slave program it created as an underling to….” He stopped and looked around the room before he saw it. The sole camera in the Medbay was still active, and staring at him with its cold, emotionless gaze. The Unicorn paused for a minute, trying to figure out to remove the camera. He wasn’t worried so much about the camera, but about the microphone. After mentally debating, he levitated his laser pistol from his pocket and fired at the camera. The heated beam melted the device, frying every internal circuit and removing the A.I.’s eyes and ears from the room.

He holstered his weapon and continued talking to himself, debating a plan to free Stable 147. “It has to have a slave program to maintain the Stable and compile reports for the Master program. Wow, even with that in mind, this EQUINOX has to have remarkable processing power.” He shrugged, continuing to think out loud. “The only solution left is to delete the slave program, most likely in the server room. Well, that will be easy enough. If I can’t hack it out of the system, then Gaia can just blow the whole system with her explosives, though that would probably be less preferable. We’d also have to sever the A.I. connection at the same time, else it will copy a new slave program to the servers. We may just need to destroy the servers altogether.”

He continued, trotting back and forth in the room as he thought. “Anyway, the connection will be either an impossibly long and buried wired connection direct to EQUINOX itself, which would be expensive and tedious to construct. The only other option is to rely on a long range wireless transmission tower that would be slow and visible to the outside, which would reveal the Stable’s location, not to mention the wireless signals could be detected, hijacked, and/or faked.” Runestone sighed. Both options were massively impractical for efficient communication considering Stable 147 was hundreds of miles to the Southeast of Equestria, which meant it was a coin flip to figure out which one was right. But only one had the luxury of discretion. Something that Equestria-Tech would need if it was really doing experiments that were more than likely unsanctioned but the Royal Council of Equestria.

“It’s gotta be hardwired. They will have to be connected directly from the server room to Equestria, heading northwest for minimal cable length, maybe angled towards lower elevation to get as far towards the bottom of any body of water, as to avoid environmental interference and accidental discovery.” There was no way he could give a good guess without accessing the server room, which EQUINOX would aggressively monitor, more so after today.

Runestone paused his train of thought as the speaker system chirped feedback as the Overseer spoke clearly. “Attention, Stable 147 residents! I have reason to believe some of you have received electronic contact from an unknown sender. This sender is a group of rouge Stable dwellers who want to kill as many ponies as possible to horde the food all to themselves. They have tapped into the Stable’s wireless network and are sending out requests to all with a Pip-Colt or a Terminal. Please, ignore any electronic messages received and report them directly to the Chief of Security, Stonehead. All other ponies should return to their living spaces and await for the all-clear signal.”

Runestone smiled in approval. They needed to make sure the A.I. was spared the blame, or things could take a turn for the worst. The less suspicious or discrepant they all were, the less likely the A.I. was to poison their food or sabotage the equipment they wanted to liberate.

Gaia was having a rather easy time with all her friends in the library, giving them a short version of what was going on, especially after the Overseer’s announcement. Soon, all the younger generation ponies were in the library, swapping any and all communication from EQUINOX.

Apparently, from what they could all piece together, regarding the younger adults and the fillies, EQUINOX wanted them to seize the Stable for themselves. It was planning to establish Ace Steel as the new Overseer and wanted Gaia as the new Chief of Security. This would mean that all the ponies left in the Stable would be unaware of the truth and remain oblivious to the true function of the Stable.

Gaia conversed with her fellow conspirators. “So, we need to not let the A.I. know we’re onto it. No communication with it, just take what you’re sent and do as the Overseer says.”

One of the jocks perked up at her. “Gaia? Why should we listen to him? He was in on this from the very beginning!”

“Not by choice, guys. Look, this A.I. is controlling all our food and water. That’s a lot of leverage against everypony here. Okay? But now we plan to remove that leverage. Just remain calm and do as we’re told. Then we will get all the answers and we will decide the next plan.”

The group of ponies reluctantly agreed, and the issue wasn’t pressed any further. They just waited for the storm to blow over.
Stonehead and First Aid, however, had the rough part of the job. Not only did they have to try and destroy all the security cameras, but they had to do it without being seen by them. Fortunately, Equestria-Tech didn’t put a lot of money into their design. All the cameras were simply white boxes on a swivel, moving back and forth. Of course, it meant a lot of double backing, as when one camera went dark, other cameras moved to compensate for it.

They had only gotten halfway down with the main halls when a security force appeared before the two. Both were armed with ballistic body armor and submachine guns, pointed right at Stonehead and First Aid. “Sorry boss. We’ve been told killing you gets us a promotion.”

“Didn’t you listen to the Overseer!? It’s a bunch of lies!”

“Yeah, except we know who the messages are really from, and our A.I. buddy is gonna make us the leaders of this here Stable.” With that, the ponies pulled the triggers and bullets filled the hall.

First Aid yanked on Stonehead as he quickly flew out of the way and around a corner. “You got anything for them, sir?”

“Nope.” Stonehead sprinted around the same corner, occasionally pointing his gun around to take potshots at their attackers.

“Gaia does. We need to make it back to the Library.” First Aid beckoned the Earth Pony to follow.

“My little girl’s been making bombs again.” He chased after First Aid and the two made good time to the Library, where everypony else was holed up. “Gaia, explosives. Now!”

Gaia didn’t even stop to ask, rushing to Runestone’s bedroom and ripping off the mattress. She grabbed every charge she had and passed them back, with the other ponies pitching in. Stonehead helped them position the makeshift mines around the entrance while grenadiers waited in the back of the room.

As they waited, Gaia advised them. “Just like Hoofball, it’s all about the lob. Toss it with distance in mind, rather than speed.”

It wasn’t long before the Security forces came in, glaring through the broken doorway. “End of the line, boss.” With one step, they triggered the sensor modules in the makeshift mines, setting them off and getting caught in a mess of fire and shrapnel.

Stonehead barked out, “LOB!” and everypony obeyed. A few of the grenades missed the archway that indicated where the door used to be, but most made it through, eliminating anypony on the other side. Seconds later, the swearing of ponies could be heard just before the massive sound of explosions in the archway.

Gaia now came out of the bedroom, holding her scrap sledgehammer over her shoulders. As one more set of guards came in, she charged them, bearing her hammer down onto each of their heads. She moved her weapon with little effort, relishing as the blunt end collided with their skulls one by one, watching their skulls cave in.

It was barely a fight when the groups had banded together. All the guards were now either dead or dying, laying across the entrance to the Stable. Stonehead heaved his chest back and forth, trying to calm down from the adrenaline. “Everypony grab a weapon. Use it only to protect yourselves, and stay here. Gaia, any explosives left?”

“Nothing of the kind we used here, dad. Sorry.” Gaia lowered her ears in disappointment.

“No matter. You all stay here. First Aid, let’s find the rest of the cameras. Then we need to evaluate the rest of my security forces and see who’s not going to try and kill anypony.”

First Aid grabbed his crossbow this time and kept it holstered before leaving with Stonehead. Gaia remained with the others, teaching them all proper gun safety and usage.

As First Aid rounded the corner out of the archway, he saw the results of their work. Scorch marks and shrapnel had dug into the walls, but mostly into the pieces of ponies that were left, leaving blood and bits all over the place. “Yeah, don’t need an autopsy here.” The Pegasus chuckled at his own dark joke and followed Stonehead as they resumed their careful work of destroying security cameras.

Runestone was still working out his plan when the door to the Medbay opened. He turned to see the last of the Thundermanes, the gang of ponies still patrolling and randomly bullying the Stable. “Hello, pony.”

“I don’t suppose you’re here to see the doctor?” He used his magic to levitate his pistol out of its holster, raising it ready for combat.

“Nope, just to prescribe you a mandatory dose of death.” The ponies were now armed with revolvers, all pointed at Runestone.

The pony had no time to loose. His horn glowed as he levitated one of the Medbay’s beds before flinging it to the Thundermanes. He fired his pistol as he moved quickly to some form of cover, hiding behind First Aid’s metal desk. The Thundermanes fired their revolvers at him, but fortunately for the Unicorn, they had no training with them and were incredibly lousy shots. Only one bullet managed to graze against his left hind leg, but while he did cry out at the pain, he knew it would not cause any long term damage. Runestone shook it off as he hid behind the desk, waiting for his window of opportunity.

Runestone waited for them to empty their clips before emerging from cover. He saw them struggle to figure out how to properly reload, but didn’t pause to laugh; He couldn’t afford to. Instead, he took careful aim, firing at each pony’s head before ducking back into cover as they figured out the method to reload, or so they thought. After one shot, most of their guns clicked, as if jammed.

One of the ponies shouted angrily at them. “You gotta spin the cylinder! No, no, the other way!”

As the ponies struggled with the basic mechanics of guns, Runestone continued firing, dropping down one pony at a time until there was one left. He took careful aim and pulled the trigger, only to hear the gun click. “Oh, of course it’s empty.” It was impossible for Runestone to keep track of how many shots a single power cell made for his weapon, so he couldn’t tell when the gun was dry until it was actually dry.

His foe smiled and finished reloading. Runestone didn’t have the time to reload himself, so he did the first thing that came into his mind. He used his horn to magically rip out the cover for the Medbay’s mounted laser and turned it on, aiming the beam directly at the last of the Thundermanes. The pony screamed as the intense beam burned into his flesh. Very quickly, the medical grade laser cut through his skin and burned into his organs, killing him.

Runestone sighed and turned the beam off, putting it back where it belonged. “Well, that was fun,” he growled sarcastically. He levitated his laser pistol, bringing it to eye level. “I should probably count the number of shots this thing takes per battery, but that would be a waste of ammo right now.” He holstered the weapon and examined the bodies. One of them had a Pip-Buck that was still on. Runestone checked the screen and read the message on it.

“Kill Runestone, and I will reward you all well.”

He set down the arm it was attached to and sighed. “From EQUINOX, no doubt.” He sighed and took inventory of everything they had. Most of their weapons were revolvers and the usual switchblades. He sighed, organizing everything and pulling the bodies into one pile.

From then on, he waited until it was all clear, with a set plan in mind to remove the malevolent A.I. from the Stable’s server.

Chaos reigned across the Stable. Gunfire and explosions echoed while the security alarm buzzed endlessly. Some of the remaining rebels had given up trying to seize the Stable for themselves and elected to surrender. Others decided to retreat to the Stable door for a chance to escape, only to be mowed down by the two mini-gun turrets in the room. In only a matter of hours, the rebellion was over and all the ponies were called into the Stable’s Hoofball stadium, the only place that could fit everypony. The Overseer expressed his gratitude to all those who had helped before finally confessing and confirming the truth behind EQUINOX and the Stable’s true purpose.

“I am sorry to have deceived you all, but now, now we have a chance to make things right. Now we have a chance to take this Stable for ourselves and evict out host. Runestone, step up. Please tell me you have some sort of plan.” The Overseer stepped down, letting Runestone speak. The unicorn paused for a bit, trying to figure out how to explain the technical concept of his plan to everypony without causing any brain damage.

“This EQUINOX has to have slave program in the Server room. This program controls the Stable’s basic functions and is responsible for food and water production and processing. So, we need to take it out. It’s not as easy as it sounds, though. The Server room is magnetically sealed and the access terminal has been locked out for ages. We will need to purge the A.I. without causing any damage to the electrical circuits, or we might cause a malfunction in the very systems we are trying to save. It can also sabotage our provisions at will, which means we need to secure everything quickly. And, we need to sever EQUINOX’s communication with the server, or else it will just plant a new Slave program to take control. And, the hardest part, we need to do all of this fast and at once.” The unicorn sighed. “I’ll need maps of the Server room. Schematics too, if you can spare them.”

The Overseer nodded. “We can’t access them electronically, but there is a maintenance room that should have all those.”

“Okay. Gaia. I need something to cut the doors open. Thermite would probably be best, as we don’t want any debris to damage the computers in there. First Aid, take that laser in your Medbay off the wall any way you can. We can use it to quickly sever the wired connections.” The unicorn took a deep breath before continuing. He needed to tell everypony the risks this operation would involve. “I feel obligated to tell you all the risks we are going to be taking by this act of rebellion. If we do this wrong, if we can’t evict this A.I. successfully, or if we don’t move quickly enough to isolate the servers from the automatic systems, then we are doomed to die. Our provisions can, and most likely will, be poisoned or destroyed by some sort of failsafe, should the A.I.’s experiment be cut short. If it comes down to it, the only way to survive is to destroy the turrets in the front gate and break the Stable Door open.” He sighed, looking around. “If anypony has a better plan, let’s hear it.”

All the ponies remained silent. Some of them murmured to themselves, as if debating. Runestone just waited. He knew this wouldn’t be an easy choice for anypony to make. It was basically choosing how they wanted to die. They could either leave things the way they were and live on in absolute misery, or they could risk their doom by taking over.

One of the older ponies spoke up, clearly voicing his skepticism. “How do we even know any of you are telling the truth? Some computer program is controlling our food supply? I don’t buy it one bit.”

Runestone expected such a question, but they really didn’t have anything but the trust of the Overseer. “I don’t know if this is really the truth. But regardless of whether or not it’s true, we all know and have proof of one thing. Somepony is sending anonymous messages, promising rewards of rations or freedom in return for murder and sabotage. There is only one place these messages can originate from: the server room. Only there can we find the answers, and only I have the ability to hack into the system and get the truth. If you don’t want to trust the Overseer any longer, not that I’d blame you, trust me when I say I want this chaos to end as much as everypony here.”

This seemed to end any doubts. Everypony knew the answers they needed were there. The only way in was to break in. Finally, Ace Steel spoke up. “What do you need us to do?”

The Overseer nodded. “For now, we should take the day off. We’ve all just survived a complete disaster and we should rest and recover. Tomorrow, we will begin preparations and make ready an invasion of the server room. For now, everypony rest and recover. A lot of ration units have been scattered around the Stable since the rebellion, so take and eat your fill, but remember to share with one another. We all need our strength.”

At those words, the ponies slowly began to dissipate from the room. Runestone, Gaia, and First Aid were among the last ones out, looking at one another. “You know how to make thermite, right Gaia?”

“Yeah. Dad had me make some for him in secret a while back so he could get through doors that food hoarders were locking themselves into.” She smiled and trotted along. “You should probably get to the Medbay, First Aid. A lot of ponies must have been wounded.”

First Aid was studying Runestone’s graze from earlier. “I bet.”

“I’m fine, Aid.” Runestone tried to shake his friend off, not in the mood for being babied.

“I know you are. But at least let me clean and bandage it properly.” First Aid tried to grab the Unicorn’s shoulder, pulling him to the Medbay. “Come on, you can help me set up a triage. I need to prioritize injuries. “

“Okay, okay. I guess you’ll need all the help you can get with the patients coming in.” He pointed with his left hoof to the line of ponies waiting outside the Medbay.

First Aid sighed. He took a deep breath and spoke out loud. “Okay, everypony. I need you all to form an organized line. I will treat wounds based on severity!” He trotted past them all and entered his office, grabbing a stack of paper and labeling them. He and Runestone started passing out each sheet to ponies based on how hurt they were and, one by one, they were treated.

Gaia had finally found the time to bond with her father. Materials were collected inside the trash disposal. She didn’t want to admit it in front of all the ponies, but thermite would be hard to make from scratch, especially with the limited resources the Stable had. “This isn’t exactly going to be stealthy. Runestone is right, there is a high risk of failure.”

“Which is why I want you to also use scrap metals for some sort of ballistic shield. Several of them in fact.” Stonehead sighed. “I want us ready for every contingency.” He handed her as much explosive material as he could muster. “So, please, talk to me. This is the first time we’ve been able to talk…”

“I know….what was mom like?” Gaia looked at her father with affection and curiosity.

“She was beautiful and strong-hearted. She was a lot like you. When she believed in something, she did everything in her power to do it.” He sighed, sitting down and putting a hoof around her back. “That was probably what got her killed.”

Gaia paused for a long time, thinking about what he had said, before turning to hug her father close. “I’m sorry for all this dad. I’m sorry we ended up here!”

Stonehead hugged her back. “I am too.”

As the three of them worked, they felt true happiness for once. In spite of a malevolent A.I. controlling every aspect of their life, they found peace with their friends and family. It was no longer everypony fighting for themselves. They were about to fight for the survival of Stable 147.

Author's Note

God, real life sucks. I never have any time to write anymore. Well, this is done, and I've started on Chapter 4. Enjoy everyone.