Chapter 1 - Program: Greyscale
*HISSSSSS* The creaking and tumbling sound of the Stable 2 door opened slowly as it had the first two times, this time by a stallion. The stallion earth pony had a dull grey coat, security armor of the highest class with his baton and security pistol holstered(even though he had never used his pistol), hazelnut brown eyes, white fudge hair, and a cutie mark of a broken and distorted rainbow without its color.
"Finally...three times the charm, eh mother?" His mother was standing there beside him, a bit staticky in his eyes, but nonetheless there. It was all too familiar for him to see his mother. He never looked at her, but he knew she was there somewhere...
"Yes, son. The third time is definitely the charm." She smiled weakly, but sincere enough for him to turn around. He saw nothing there. "I don't want to come back...I don't want anypony to come back...to see the horrid things...the blood...it's everywhere..." Our hero, Colorwave, was somewhat caked with blood, a brown-ish red color called maroon that spread out across his security armor and unarmored parts of his body. "I-I barely even remember what happened..." Then the memories started coming back to him. One by one.
He remembers only five things: Stable 106, his C.A.T results, the news of the Stable 2 door opening, the orders by the Overmare, and the door opening by his hooves. Stable 106 was naturally his beginning, and a new chapter in his life.
Stable 106 was a controversial stable out of the other 111 that had their Overmare pumping in psychodelic drugs on its residents to see the effects...and the plan backfired. BADLY. Colorwave was only nine when he and his family, consisting of: Hard Wired, his father who was a mechanic on some of the machines operating in the Stable; Haunt, his mother who had a gimmick job as a spirit caller; and Little League, his older brother who had a career in baseball at his high school. Colorwave was a young and bright colt who had the most wonderful career in art, as demonstrated when he gained his cutie mark at the age of seven when he painted what would be his cutie mark: a greyscaled and distorted rainbow. This cutie mark, unfortunately, was very subtle foreshadowing. After about two weeks in the Stable, it came time for Colorwave's birthday, he was turning ten.
"Alright son, go on ahead and open your present!" His father had told him. "It's a wonderful gift, and we're sure you'll love it!" His mother said next. Colorwave eagerly opened his gift, and saw a PipBuck 3000. "Just like you guys! I'm going to be just like you guys!" Colorwave smiled happily, and squeed. Nothing could ruin this special day of his. And five days later, something did indeed ruin his day. Not much is remembered about what happened that day, except only three things: He woke up and found his parents fighting each other. League had tried to stop them, but his own father had grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed what he believed was a "dirty blue monster". His parents murdered each other in that same minute, and Colorwave had the unfortunate privilege of watching it all go down.
In a short time, the residents killed one another, the insanity spread, and many symptoms and side effects were "equally" distributed throughout the residents. Colorwave later learned he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, with cognitive symptoms. The three surivors were a filly mare, a scientist, and Colorwave. After three whole years of survival and hardships, the Stable 106 door opened, and the three were sent to different Stables.
Colorwave was sent to Stable 2, the filly to Stable 13, and the scientist to Stable 53. Colorwave was accepted among everypony there, and his C.A.T came out as a Security Guard, which happened to be one of the only things remembered. He was a good security guard, stopping the troublemakers, helping the ponies in need, being a normal pony. And then the fateful day came when the Stable 2 door opened.
Velvet Remedy was loved by all in the Stable, including the pony she tricked into getting her Pip-Buck taken off, Littlepip. Velvet then found out the Stable 2 door password, and left. Littlepip left shortly after, determined to bring her right back. Three days later, they were pronounced dead by the Overmare, even though she didn't know either. Colorwave had tried to keep the peace, oh he had tried. He needed comfort, since he mostly had serious talks with the PipBuck technician about his mental illness. He needed a friend, a dead friend, somepony like a sister or a brother to him, since his siblings and family all died back in Stable 106.
He went to see the Overmare. He tried to persuade her to create a squad to bring the two back alive and return before a month. The Overmare had different plans, which brought him to his next memory: his orders. His orders were to "be somepony you're not." He had to enfore curfew by 8:30 instead of 9:30, give harsher punishments, hurt the innocent worse, and all because the two ponies had left. Poor Colorwave. Why? Because his mental illness became increasingly WORSE without his friend.
He didn't hurt anypony, or enforce any punishments, or even kill anypony. He became a shell of himself. He didnt receive any treatment for his illness, and it started with that and Pip leaving. He went to see the Overmare two days later, and the Stable 2 population number dropped one pony later when she was found dead.
Except...none of it was real. Everything he thinks he does is real: Him being friends with Pip, killing the Overmare, his mother being there. None of it ever happened, and none of it will happen. He doesn't realize he has schizophrenia, he only calls the things he knows AREN'T real The Deep. The Deep is a common name for his schizophrenic hallucinations, the ones he knows aren't happening. This leaves him confused and blinded by what's real and what isn't. He hopes him leaving IS real.
Colorwave took one hoofstep outside of the doorway, and flinches. The ground felt so...weird. He finally left the comfort of the Stable with his Security Armor, his Guard Baton, a 10mm Pistol with 54 bullets intact, and his Pipbuck 3000 in tow. He imagined something...intense. Something to jump out at him, like a Radroach, as he left. *CREEEEEEEAKKKKK* The Stable door he heard closing as he stepped into the darkened room, and his PipBuck light barely helped him guide his way to a cellar door, or at least, what WAS a cellar door. Maybe there were ponies waiting for him, ponies to guide him to the two missing.
He opened the cellar door, and was greeted with an immense and bright light, as he covered his eyes in shock and pain. The light was a bright yet somewhat small ball of illumination in the sky, which he remembered as the Sun.
"W-wow...it's so...empty." There was almost nothing to be found. Immediately, messages of locations and a Level Up sounded off a notification on his PipBuck, as he saw the nearest location was Sweet Apple Acres.
"Seems about right. Everything is in proper, not so proper being outside, order." Colorwave grabbed his Guard Baton out of it's holster, and slowly trotted down the hill to find a place to either stay, or refresh his mind...gather his senses, if you will. He remembered the location "Sweet Apple Acres" popping up.
There was a place so start.
Author's Note
This song plays during the chapter, I'll be doing this quite a lot with songs in chapters. Colorwave's starts are exactly what you see in the story, and it'll be done with the Level Up's and stuff with him interacting with it.
