Author's Note

Link to Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nn-u7BnAQZ0ug46I4erL3t3GSPk3FzJWNgPnr8lFEi0/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 1 - Stable 57

Every Decision has consequences

If I had to describe life in the stable in one word, it would be boring. Once you get your cutie mark and become old enough to work everything starts to blur together, days turn to weeks and weeks to months; most of the time I didn't even know what day it was. Conversations with friends even got stale. Doing the same thing over and over again, even if you like it, gets old after a while. My only occasional bits of fun were when my friend in security snuck me into the range and let me shoot off a few rounds of her gun. I didn't really hit anything, but I didn't try to. While I found actually shooting the gun fun, the idea of actually causing damage to things didn't sit well with me.

I worked as a computer technician so I didn't get much work, the computers around there were built to last and were probably as old as the stable. Most of my job was helping other ponies use the computers and on the off chance that they did stop working I got to have a little fun working on them. Most of my time however was spent reading comic books and messing around on my own personal computer. In fact, that's how I got my cutie mark; I built my own personal computer out of crap I found in the stable, and suddenly an image of a computer appeared on my flank, sealing my fate to work on computers for the rest of eternity. This of course wouldn't be so bad if the computers ever broke, which like I said was rare, and on top of that there was about 30 other computer technicians, so even getting assigned to a job required you being the closest pony to the problem, or being the first computer pony somepony ran into, which happened to be me at the time .

“Silver Light.” Some pony called my name, this couldn't be good, especially when I was walking to my room, and not in the maintenance hall. Due to my job, I was usually referred to as computer mare, or more commonly, nerd or something similar. There were two ponies that called me by my name, my friend Soft Heart, who worked in security, or my mom.You see my mom was not a creative pony and named me based purely based on my silvery blue coat. However this pony who called my name was neither my mom or Soft Heart.

“Silver Light, I need your help with something.” The purple pony with the pink mane continued in her stern but bored voice. She was the Overmare’s assistant and wound up doing most of the Overmare’s work mainly because said Overmare wasn't too bright. She hated her job, and I didn't blame her; she was originally supposed to be the Overmare.

“What’s the matter? Is the Overmare’s computer broken again? she didn't spill coffee on it again did she?” I asked In annoyance. while I always felt special when I would go into that office, since it belonged to the Overmare and all, it was never for a good reason. The new Overmare had been in charge for about a year at the time and during that year I had to fix her computer 3 times. The first time I was asked to go in there she didn't know how to turn the screen on, not paying attention to the big “on” button there. The second time she somehow managed to unplug the computer, that's still a mystery how she did that one. The last time she spilled coffee on it. That’s not counting the several times I was called about a technical problem like what commands did what and what certain terms meant, sad thing was most of those Violet Dawn could have solved but the Overmare didn't trust her because she wasn't the official computer pony. It was honestly a miracle that the place didn't break down ever, seemingly none of these ponies knew anything about computers past the basics, and never seemed to try to learn more about them. I’m surprised this place is still running since it was up to just a handful of ponies to manage the 600 public terminals, everyponies own personal terminal and the mainframe, not to mention all the wires everywhere that broke and wore down.

“I wish it was that stupid. Oh no it’s far worse, just wait till you see” She said with a heavy sigh. Violet Dawn hated her job, Her exams showed she was highly qualified for the Overmare position and everypony expected her to become the Overmare, heck even her cutie mark was a cog wheel with the stables number 57 on it. She got it when the Overmare was sick and through the circumstances she was the one there to the run the stable for a week, it made up for her being the last one in her class to get one. In Stable 57, the overmare is chosen every 25 years by the current Overmare and her staff with the Overmare having the final stay, however the previous Overmare made sure that her own daughter got to be Overmare next because she felt bad that her daughter was made fun of for being the stupid one. That one move had single handedly ruined the old Overmares reputation. I guess everypony has that one fatal flaw.

<***>

I was put in front of the Overmare’s computer. I always felt privileged to even be in that office, even if the reason I was there was stupid. While she was stupid, Daisy Chain had one good quality about her, she was the most organized pony I knew in that stable. Everything in her office had a place and was neatly organized. It was hands down the cleanest room in the entire stable. Her cutie mark even represented organization, being a picture of a stack of neatly folded papers and 3 pencils in a pencil cup.

I sat down in front of her computer looking for the most obvious thing wrong and working my way to more complex issues. I could find nothing wrong with it, her computer was completely fine, which to me was stunning.

“So um...what seems to be the problem? Your computer is working just fine.” I told her frankly. Violet Dawn sighed and rolled her eyes, letting me know that the bombshell was coming.

“No no,” She responded “You see I found this old file and I want it deleted.” I had to physically stop my hoof from smacking my face. This was stupid even for her.

“You….don’t know how to delete files…?”

“Well no, I never needed to until now. But if you would go ahead and do that, I would be very happy.” I sighed, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, the pony who runs the entire stable didn’t know a simple two button press to delete files. I was pretty sure I went over the simple basic functions of a computer with her several times.

“Alright...so um, what’s the file?” As I turned to face her, I saw Violet Dawn out of the corner of my eye quite literally banging her head against the wall, noticing a very slight indentation in said wall, she probably did that a lot.

“Oh it’s nothing important. It’s just really old and I’d like it removed.” I couldn’t tell if she was lying about its importance or she really didn’t know what she had. I looked back at the computer and at the file. It was dated at about 15 years ago. The files name was [Dismissal of Blue Berry]. I stopped. that was my dad’s name; my dad who had disappeared around that time 15 years ago when I was 6 years old. This was the chance I had been waiting for; a chance to finally learn about my dad.

I remember liking him. I was extremely sad when he disappeared and every time I ever asked about him, my mom or the older ponies would get uncomfortable and change the subject. The best answer I ever got was that he died, no explanation, no how or why, just “he died”. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I plugged my pipbuck into her computer.

“What are you doing?” She asked in response. I was honestly surprised that she caught that, as I dont normally plug my pipbuck into her computer, but I still sighed.

“I’m going to upload some instructions on the basics of computer use should you need to delete or do something else again.” While I did have such a file ready to move over, my main goal was to move over this old file to my own pipbuck to read later. After the deed had been done I unplugged my pipbuck and turned to her. “Alright, you’re all set.” I said, backing away from the computer. “Thank you so much. You may leave now.” Daisy said to me, trying to sound official, but came off as somepony badly attempting to sound official. As I got up to leave I saw Violet Dawn mouth to me “Kill me.”

<***>

I had to stop myself from flat out running to my room. What was on this file? What would I learn about my dad? Was it good or bad? So many questions ran through my head at the time I almost missed the door to my living quarters. I sat on the couch and activated my pipbuck. Now I was no pipbuck technician, I was much more handy with a standard computer, but I at least knew its basic functions and how to properly use it. I pulled up the file and started reading:

[Dismissal of Blue Berry]
Blue Berry, husband to Cherry Blossom and father to Silver Light, has for unknown reasons decided to leave Stable 57. He stole the access code from the Overmare’s computer and left. Security was unable to stop him due to earth ponies being unable to combat unicorn magic {Note to self: Start hiring unicorns on security detail}. Blue Berry rendered the security guards unconscious by telekinetically throwing them against a wall then made his escape. From this point on, Blue Berry will be listed as dead, and all future records will show him as such. Cherry Blossom will be listed as widowed. It is dangerous to list Blue Berry as “left” as it may inspire others to do the same. It may seem obvious, but we cannot allow other ponies to leave the stable at any cost.

This seemed like something important , I was surprised that it didn't get deleted way sooner...also what? It’s possible to even leave? And why did he leave? I had so many questions and no way to answer them. I had one resounding thought...Find him...But that got me thinking more. But that’s impossible, there’s no way I could find him, he’s got a 15 year head start on me, plus I’d be leaving everything I know behind. All these thoughts were swimming in my head. I now knew why all the older ponies are unwilling to talk about him, it must of been a sudden event for him to just up and leave. This was a lot to take in, I needed to talk to my mom about this, but I knew she would just try to change the subject and suggest I forget about the file, luckily I had plans with Soft Heart the next day, she could help me out, maybe I thought, I could even convince her to come with me, of course even if I decided to, but I was still very hesitant about it, I thought was stupid for thinking about it, so I just decided to take a nap, I’d think about it later.

<***>

“You’re out of your Luna damned mind!” Soft Heart exclaimed as I explained to her my findings. “You’re crazy, completely crazy this is stupid, and your stupid for thinking that thats a real plan!”

I rolled my eyes “This could be my one chance to actually find out something about my dad! I remember liking him when I was a filly, then one day he just leaves no goodbye no nothing, then I’m told to just forget about him because he just died, no reason bam dead, but now...” I telekinetically grabbed Soft Hearts gun and fired at the target down range, hitting nothing of course, but then again I wasn’t really trying “...Maybe I can actually find something out. I can go out and find him!”

Soft Heart groaned “You really need to work on your aim, if I’m going to keep sneaking you down here, you better actually get good at shooting things, any way, theres probably a reason your dad left, like….what if he killed some pony? Or like he stole something important? He could be a criminal!”

I shook my head “Come on, thats ridiculous, and you know it!” Soft Heart grabbed her gun back with her own telekinesis

“And don’t you even think about asking me to go with you! Now look...I know this is like important to you but you have to think about the consequences, nopony knows whats out there, even if there is anything out there!” she put her hoof on my shoulder “I just think you should really think about this, you may be smart, but you have like no common sense at all.” I sighed and smiled at her. “Now” she took a step back sighing as she looked down, trying to contemplate it all herself. She was a good friend, I knew her since even before school. She would always be there for me and defended me when others would pick on me. It would always make me laugh a bit to watch the little pink and blue unicorn filly take on an win against the bigger hoofball champion. I even helped her get her cutie mark when she defended me when the entire hoofball team decided it would be fun to relentlessly tease me one day, of course her telling them to stop caused them to try to beat her up for “ruining their fun” they of course won that fight, if barely, being a 6 on one engagement, but most of them were hurt pretty bad and decided to leave me alone after that. Once they left, a big picture of a shield appeared on Soft Hearts flank.

“Let’s take your mind off of this for a bit, have a little fun, but after this, you really need to talk to your mom about this ok? look if you wanna talk about it later meet me in my room alright? Now lets see if I can actually teach you about these things you keep sneaking down here to shoot” she floated up the gun in front of me “Now, what is this?”

I blinked “Its...a gun…” She face hoofed

“Yes...what kind of gun is it?”

I looked at it carefully “A...uh...small gun.” Soft Heart gave me a deadpan look

“It’s a mouth gun or a pistol...do you know how much ammo it holds?”

“What?”

“Bullets…” She sighed, I thought for a moment

“A lot.”

She face hoofed “15 rounds, or bullets per magazine, do you even know what that is and do you know how to reload it?”

I thought for a moment “Umm...nope!” Soft Heart put the gun down and sat, putting her face in her hooves “Oh Celestia why?...Silver...how long have I been sneaking you down here?”

“About 4 months” I quickly responded

“4 months...and you know next to nothing about guns other than how to shoot and which end the bullet goes out…”

I nervously laughed “Well...um, yeah….” She looked up at me

“You should probably get going before the chief comes down and sees you” I looked at the exit

“Yeah, probably...I guess I’ll see ya then” I proceeded to leave before I got in any real trouble. Truth was I knew the answer to most of those questions, but I found it funny to act stupid around her and then see her reactions to it.

<***>

I couldn’t sleep, It was the middle of the night, or at least what the clock had deemed night time. I just couldn’t sleep with so much that had happened. Before I went to my room to attempt sleep, I had went over to the control panel for the large cog shaped door and examined it, I could hack in to it with no trouble at all, very old technology. I sat in my bed wide awake thinking about it, I went over many questions in my head.

Was I really that dedicated to this? Was I willing to leave everything behind just to find my dad who could be a criminal for all I know, where would I even start, heck its been so long how do I even know he still exists? What’s outside the doors? Is it a black empty void like some say? An irradiated waste with nothing but death and decay for miles? Even if there is a surface can anything even live there? It must be toxic and poisonous! I couldn’t leave well enough alone could I? I had to open that file instead of just deleting it. But now I’ve done it, I’ve opened a large can of worms and now here I am actually considering leaving everything behind to go chase this fantasy!

But then I thought about something else. What did I have here? A boring life with one friend and my mom...Ive been doing the same thing day in, day out for the past 5 years ever since I got my job. All in all, I’m bored with life and I’ve always wanted more since I could remember...

I sighed out loud, all that thinking was starting to stress me out, I was always indecisive, but I knew what I had to do, before I did anything at all, I needed to talk to my mom about this, and this time I planned to make her tell me about him, I need to know if hes even worth going after. My mom had always been honest with me, well except about dad, but she’d help me settle this.

<***>

She stared at me, a sad grim look on her face, I repeated “I know that my dad left the stable.”

“Can’t we talk abo-”

“No mom, we need to talk about this, I found an old file on the Overmare’s computer about how dad left the stable, I know that when he did, every pony was told to forget about him and act like he died but I know it isn't true, but I’ve been conflicted about what to do about it, part of me like….wants to go out and find him”

She looked me in the eye immediately “Your father...was a very good pony...I think I know why he left...he-he hated it here...he was always bored with everything, he talked about leaving...but I didn’t think he’d go through with it...” She said sadly, tears welling in her eyes “The night before he left...he told me that I was everything to him...but he didn’t return from the bakery that day...the Overmare told us that he did indeed leave, but we were told to just act like he died.” She started sobbing “And now you’re telling me that you’re about to run out there after him? Please don’t do this to me!”

I looked down, she was right, I was all she had left as far as family goes. But then I had an idea “I’ll bring him back!” The pinkish red pony with the deep purple mane looked up at me, “wh-what?”

I reiterated “If I find him, I will bring him back here, and if I fail...I will come back and never set foot outside the stable again.” I had to push this angle, I didn’t know how long my confidence in this idea would last.

“Y-you’re serious aren’t you?”

I nodded my head “You know when I promise something I always keep it” I was very good at that, I was known as a dependable pony if nothing else.

My mom looked down, deep in thought, tears still rolling down her face until she spoke “fine” she sniffed “But...you promised to come back...with or without him...you will come back right? You’re not leaving forever?”

I smiled and shook my head “I couldn’t leave forever, I couldnt hurt you like that” I hugged her hard, we sat there hugging for a long time, before I made preparations I still had one more stop to visit.

<***>

“You’re still an idiot, this plan is still stupid” Soft Heart said to me. We were sitting on her couch, some sandwiches sat on the table. I came to her room soon after I left my mothers, I was lucky that her colt friend wasn’t there or this conversation would have started out way differently, sadly though even if that did happen it wouldn’t have been the first time I interrupted them.

“Yeah maybe...but I said I would come back” I said looking at her, she tried to jokingly call me stupid to try to liven the mood, but I could tell that she was saddened by this “look...I’ll be gone...2 months tops, I go around see if I can find him and if I can’t, I come back”

She chuckled, still looking sad “You know its not going to be that easy, you don’t even know what’s out there, no pony does! I bet 10 bits you’ll walk out there, what ever that may be, and pussy out and come screaming back here in the first week, 50 bits if its the first day!” she nudged me hard, I chuckled. She never did like talking about sad things and would try to liven up the conversation however she could, “hey” she said in sad serious tone.

I looked up at her, she put on a sad smile “I don’t care if you’re out there for 2 months or 2 minutes before you come back...I’m gonna miss you...like a lot. It’s gonna be lonely in the range watching you intentionally miss a target and feign ignorance about my weapon,” She smirked, I chuckled “Yeah I’m on to you, but seriously...I’m gonna miss you.” She leaned over and gave me a big hug “And if you run into trouble,” She continued. “You show ‘em that Stable 57 doesnt mess around, I wont be there to fight your battles. You gotta buck up and show ‘em who's boss! 57 represent!” She nudged me hard and we laughed “Now come on, let’s finish our meals and I’ll help you pack.” We got up.

“One more thing.” she added.

“Yeah?”

“No matter how hard or tough it is out there, keep us in mind” she pointed at the number 57 embroidered on my stable jumpsuit. “Wear that 5-7 with pride, let it remind you of me and your mother, never take it off” I smiled and hugged her. “Now come on, lets get you ready.”

<***>

I always was plagued with indecision. I had thought I made up my mind, the next day Soft Heart and I had packed up some food and my few possessions, mainly comic books and my favorite books. Now here I was right in front of the control panel for the door and I was having second thoughts, my heart was in my throat, I was frozen in fear. If I stayed there too long I would eventually get caught, but going on forward would mean leaving everything behind, but then again I asked myself. Was I really truly leaving? I mean I was going out and then I was coming back right? That was the plan and I had to stick to it! I took a deep breath, it was now or never!

”screw it...no regrets!” I said aloud to myself and I connected my pipbuck to the control panel and got to work. Just as I thought, hacking this computer was very easy and in no time I had the password. I took another deep breath and I pushed the button to open the door. Immediately alarms all over the room starting blaring as the door creaked to life and began to open, spinning and then moving to the side to reveal darkness. I slowly stepped towards the darkness until it enveloped me.The door then started to close and as it was closing I heard security ponies rush into the room, but it was too late for them and I was beyond their reach. I wondered to myself if Soft Heart was one of them. That was it, I made my choice...regret sets in fast.