Author's Note
This is my second time posting this story, I'm just re-uploading it. The first time, nopony seemed to like it so I took it back into the shop and did some re-working of it. It's based on me and my friend's OCs so the names don't fit perfectly but I think the story itself isn't too bad.
If you like the story, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. If you don't like the story, please let me know why in the comments. I would like to know how to better write stories with an actual plotline.
Thank you for reading.
Execution
"Holy shit!" Yells BlazingSteel as steam billows out, barely missing his face.
"What did you do?!" Trout and Nade' Spam ask in unison.
"Turn it off!" I shout at Cosmic Silver. Being the closest one, he launches himself at the valve and spins in at fast as he can cutting off the flow.
"Celestia, I think I found our problem." Blazing mumbles. "The solenoid valve is busted."
"Awesome, now all we have to do is explain to the med ponies why they cant use their sterilizer for about sixteen to eighteen hours." I have always been the most sarcastic out of the group.
"Alright, you’re up Silver." Spam grins.
"Oh, not again." Silver groans.
"You heard those mares last Friday." I remind him, a smile on my own face. "A voice like silk, they said."
"Fine..." He mopes out of the room and down the hall.
"I'll start reducing the pressure." Trout states as he walks over to the valve and opens it slightly.
Blazing checks the gages. "Looks good."
Life in stable 41 was terribly boring from time to time. If it weren't for my friends, I do believe I would have lost my sanity ages ago. Being assigned to maintenance always sounds good to those colts and fillies that get their cutie mark for it. Always fixing problems, using a variety of tools. And in general fixing the things that keep everypony alive down here. It just sounds cool.
And it is, for about a month. Then it becomes routine. You go and figure out a problem in about ten minutes, usually have it fixed if a few hours and go back to wandering the halls or whatever you were doing before the job.
If that wasn't bad enough, they give you a field you take over for your entire life. Me? I’m in medical. My job is to fix whatever the med ponies want me to fix. They don't care if it’s a freaking light bulb, it’s our job. It’s where I met my friends. We were all assigned to the medical field and we just kind of clicked together.
Now I'm not saying we were rebels, but we definitely weren't the most formal ponies in the stable. You always have to watch out for security. If they see you drop a pin on the floor some of them will say you’re "setting a trap" and call you on assault. Since it is so rare that anything illegal happens, it makes sense that they have to have some form of entertainment. The part that doesn't make much sense is why they have to use us to get it.
In addition, we are targets of sabotage sometimes. Other than each other, not many ponies approve of our existence. They say our sense of humor is "disgusting" or "perverted". Personally, I don't understand how they can survive without it. Quantum Thrall is the maintenance manager of the hydrological region of the stable. We can’t figure out what his problem is. All we know is he hates us and we can’t fight back or he will have us behind bars. It’s a good thing we only rarely have to go there.
My name is Jammers, I handle all the precise jobs since I am the only unicorn. Trout, Nade Spam, and BlazingSteel are earth ponies. They are all there for opening things, turning wrenches and moving machinery. That isn't to say they aren't smart, we all work together on this. Cosmic Silver is a pegasus. Quite a sight down here, one of a kind he is. He is the descendent of just about the only pegasus mare who stayed below the clouds because of family and friends. Loyal to Equestria indeed. Whats left of it that is.
That evening we find ourselves at the bar. It is a smaller place but is always jam packed in the evenings. There is nothing more classic and few things more enjoyable than having a drink and a chat with a friend. Or four in my case. The day had been as boring as always, but there was one subject of conversation that could get us talking easily and never get bored of it. Mares.
The ups, the downs, the goods, the bads, and everything in between. We all want a mare of our own, but our reputation doesn't exactly make us prime targets for any desirable mares. With most of the stable being mares, you would think there would be at least one interested in each one of us.
Silver is the only one who has luck in it. If he goes out by himself, he can have multiple mares trying to make him their own. We have no idea how he does it, but damn, does he have a way with the mares. The sad part is, he is horribly unsocial and has never gone out with a mare for fear of "using" them. I suppose I can see where he is coming from, but also his overly carful attitude makes him all the more likable.
"Come on, just go up to her." Trout pushes Silver lightly. "We all know you want to."
"I don't have the guts to." He replies honestly.
"You have a way with them bro, she will love you. Trust me." Blazing presses.
All I can do is sit there and chuckle as they continue to list off reasons why he should go and talk to a mare. It took a while of persuading, but eventually he cracks. He gets up and makes his way to the other side of the overly packed bar. Although we can’t hear anything from this distance over the chatter of the crowd, we can see everything go down plain as day. He taps the mare on the barrel and when she turns around her face lights up like she has been waiting for him to talk to her for a long time. Not long after they started exchanging words, she places her fore legs around his neck and gives him a big hug. I have never seen a more nervous expression in my life that was on his face when he turned to us looking for reassurance. We sit there and nod vigorously at him with huge grins on our faces, acting like complete idiots.
To our surprise, she follows her hug up instantly with a kiss right on the lips. Silver's blush is evident. Even if you can’t see his cheeks tint red, you can see how he reared back slightly and his eyes went to the size of dinner plates. It’s not until she wraps her fore leg around Silver and walks away with him that I realize my jaw is in my lap. And I am not the only one.
"That slick bastard, how does he do it?" Asks Spam.
"I think I'm done" Blazing bangs his head on the table. "With life."
"Literally unfathomable. I mumble to nopony in particular.
It’s about 00:00 when the four of us leave the bar. Being that it’s in the middle of the stable, it’s not too far of a walk back to our quarters. We walk inside and the first thing Blazing, Spam, and Trout do is picking up a deck of cards and start playing go fish. I meander on over to my bed and pick up a book. Some of the best entertainment I say. The room is uninteresting and bland. 3 bunk beds line one wall. A circular table is in a corner far from the door and a few dressers scattered around the walls. Other than the fan above us, the room would be a metal box without these things.
Only a little while after we get home, we are all startled by the door swinging open and banging shut by a very scared looking Cosmic Silver.
"Bro, what’s up?" I ask, concerned.
"Yea, what happened to the mare you were with?" Trout follows up.
Silver is sweating as if he had run all the way across the stable. He is panting like it too. "I-uh..." Was all we could get out of him until his breathing slowed down. "She was trying to bed me."
"You serious?" Blazing asks.
"Yea." He says and gulps. I think he realized his mistake by telling us he turned down a mare.
I walk up to him and whisper in his ear. "Here is what you are going to do." I try to sound as menacing as possible. "You are going to walk back over to her room and apologize for running off. Next you are going to enjoy whatever she does to you. You know why? The rest of us would kill to get this opportunity, and I am not about to let you throw it away because of some stupid phobia. I know you and I know you would never use another pony, let alone a mare."
"I-I just can’t do it, I'm sorry." He whispers back.
I am not about to take no for an answer. I lift him in my telekinesis and walk out the door with him before he can register what is happening. As if it wasn't hard enough holding him up, he starts to wave his legs and flap his wings hard. I drop him quickly and shut the door before he can get back inside the room. "I don’t think you understood me." I tell him. "I said you WILL go over there, I didn't ask your opinion."
"Come on dude, don't be like this." He is almost begging me not to make him do this.
"You’re lucky I'm not part of security, I could use my Pipbuck to search for her room. Instead, I'm going to ask you where she lives and you are going to lead me there." I continue, disregarding him.
He sighs and trots off down the hall with his head hanging. I follow close behind and make sure he doesn't veer off. After a few minutes of walking, he stops in front of another living quarter.
"We're here, can you leave now?" He questions, nervousness evident in his voice.
"No, because I know as soon as I leave you are going to go spend your time somewhere else." I get a kick out of his scared expression when I walk up and knock on the door myself.
After a little bit the door is answered by the mare that I am looking for. The problem is that she isn't in the state I was hoping. Her eyes are red and the fur under them was soaked with tears. She gasps when she looked past me and at Silver. His guilt is so prevalent I can almost sense it.
"Do you mind if we speak to you out here for a moment?" I ask and glare at her room mates who up to this point had been ogling at the scene.
"Um... Yea." She says quietly and walks out of her room, closing the door behind her.
"What is your name again?" I ask her.
"Daisy, Daisy yellow." She replies. Her voice sounds slightly hopeful as she continues glancing at Silver who is staring unmoving at the floor.
"Well Daisy, as I understand it you took my friend back here after a nice chat at the bar. However after showing an interest in him and requesting something... How do I put this?" I pause for a moment and plan my next words carefully. "More," sure, that works. "He ran away."
"Yes, that’s about how it went." She confirmed, blushing slightly.
"In that case," I step back and levitate Silver in front of me. His eyes are wide as he finally makes eye contact with his date from earlier. "I believe he has something he wishes to say to you."
I watch as they stare deep into each other’s eyes. "I’m so sorry." Silver finally croaks out. "I-I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm just a bit of a coward sometimes."
The forgiveness is obvious as Daisy leans in and hugs Silver tightly. "It’s alright." She comforts him. "We don't have to do anything like that if you don't want to; just spending time with you would be great."
"Alright." Silver says and smiles.
Daisy returns the smile and opens her door again. She gestures inside and Silver walks in slowly. Once he is inside she turns back to me.
"Thank you so much for bringing him back. Would you like to come in and join us for a chat?" She asks kindly.
Be it just about any other circumstance I would have gladly obliged. But being that my friend was building his relationship with a new mare, I wasn't about to interject. "Perhaps another time." I decline. "Thank you for forgiving my friend; he truly is a good pony."
With that Daisy smiles at me and closes the door. I trot back to my room which would end up being vacant of Silver until the next night.
Two days later we all wake up at around 7:00. After washing and preparing ourselves for work, we head out to the medical bay to pick up our first job. We find the head of the medical team cerulean rummaging through one of the many cupboards.
"Medical maintenance reporting in, sir." I tell him.
"Good, good." He pulls his head out of the cupboard and turns to face us. "I need you to go down to the hydrology lab and pick us up some WFI. We are running a bit lower that I thought."
"Of course sir." I say and lead my crew out of the med bay and down the hall. We share a collective groan. As if existing in the same stable as Quantum wasn't hard enough, now we have to approach him directly. Our job is to fix machines, not run errands. But under the manual description all it says is know how to fix machines but just do what the manager says.
We get down to the Hydrology lab and step inside. It is probably the biggest room in the stable complete with catwalks, office desks, and huge cauldrons in the center being forcefully spun by equally giant turbines. We are almost immediately met by a mare with a red coat and glasses.
"How may I help you?" She asks slightly annoyed.
"We are here to talk to Quantum Thrall about getting WFI for the medical labs." I answer, attempting to hold a professional tone of voice. This place always gave me a bad feeling
"He is up there, make it quick." She points to the catwalk above one of the Cauldrons and walks away while marking something on a clipboard.
"Here we go." I tell my friends/coworkers. "Let’s get in and get out."
We walk over to the closet near the entrance and throw on lab coats and hard hats. Its required attire for these labs, because apparently water needs to be even more sterile than open surgery. The catwalk clacks under our hooves as we ascend the metal stairs and cross the bridge. As we approach him he turns to face us.
"Do you have a moment, Sir?" I ask him. I know I'm going to be doing all the talking since my friends want absolutely nothing to do with him. I tolerate him because I have to.
"What are you five doing in my lab?" He asks as arrogantly as possible. "I don't need you pieces of garbage screwing anything up."
I don't have to read minds to understand my friend’s aggravation, yet I keep my cool. "We have come to order some WFI for the Medical bay."
"And why should I help you?" He complicates things further.
"Honestly, I couldn't care less." I tell him hoping that if he believes me he won’t fight us much more. "Im just here to pick it up for the medical ponies that refuse to leave their desks."
"Fine, just take it and leave." He almost snarls at me.
I retreat back to my friends and whisper "nailed it" in their ears.
"Daisy!" He shouts to another pony in a coat. Of all the ponies that had to work for Quantum, it was Daisy Yellow. She approaches from the other side of the catwalk.
"What can I do for you, Sir?" She asks patiently. When she sees Silver, she smiles at him. This turns out to be a terrible mistake.
"I need you to grab some WFI vials from the cabinet over there, and don't associate yourselves with this garbage." He gestures at us with disgust. "I already think you’re useless as you are, don't make me treat you like complete trash."
Her smile disappears and I can see the amount of moisture in her eyes increase. "Of course, Sir." She says and trots over to one of the corners where the storage is located.
"Do you treat everyone like your bitch?" I hear from behind me. I turn around and realize it was Silver who spoke, rage blazing in his eyes.
"What did you say to me?" Quantum returns, pure hatred dripping from his every word.
I silently motion for him to back off, but instead he pushes past me and gets right up in Quantum's face. "That’s my mare you piece of shit." I have never seen Silver be this forward about anything. It scares me.
"Then I’ll be sure to make her feel like the garbage she is." He says with a devilish smirk. It’s enough to send Silver over the edge.
He lowers his head and rams it full force into Quantum's throat, sending him sprawling onto his back and gasping for breath. As if he didn't do enough damage already, he proceeds to rear up on his hind legs and slams his fore hooves into Quantum's barrel. Or that’s what would have happened if Quantum hadn't rolled out of the way in time. We all realized his mistake instantly after he made it. We were on a catwalk. Above a massive spinning blade.
The world seemed to go in slow motion as I watch Quantum roll out from underneath Silver and slip right between the fence bars. He falls helplessly for a couple of seconds before plunging into the water below and being caught almost immediately by one of the turbine blades. He was there one second, gone the next. There wasn't even a scrap of him left to pick up. Utterly pulverized.
The only sound that can be heard is the water below. Everypony in the room has stopped what they were doing and is now staring at Silver and he is staring at where Quantum had just been. It feels like an eternity before a herd of stable security push their way through the gawking mob and get their hooves on Silver. He doesn't even resist as they put hoofcuffs on him and drag him out of the room. It takes a while, but we eventually free ourselves from our horrified trance.
"He just killed somepony..." Blazing says softly to nopony in particular.
"Let’s go guys." Spam advises.
We begin to trot down the hall but by the time we get to the brig, we are in a full gallop. When we enter we check the inmate board and locate the one occupied cell. Silver is sitting slumped over on the metal bed, tears streaming down his face.
"Hey, Silver! Come over here." Trout pleads. Silver doesn't budge.
"Um guys..." Blazing says. I turn my head toward him and notice he is looking at a sign on the wall next to Silver's cell. When I read it, my heart drops into my stomach.
SENTENCE: EXECUTION
"Silver, talk to us. It’s going to be alright buddy, we'll do something." I'm not sure who I'm kidding with the last bit, there is nothing we can do against the Overmare laws themselves. "Don't worry, we will be here for you." And so we sit there in silence. Hours go by and Silver continues to sob.
Late that night we finally hear the door open and somepony walk in. Daisy is virtually in tears herself as she approaches us. She sits down in front of the cell and hangs her head slightly.
"Please talk to me Silver." She places her hooves on the bars. "I’m not mad at you; I want to thank you for defending me."
Silver stops crying for a moment and looks up at her. "Really?" He manages between sobs.
"Yes." She confirms. "You are here because you defended me, and that means the world to me."
Silver gets off of his bed and makes his way over to where she is sitting. They look at each other through the bars for a little bit before sharing a kiss. I look at my other friends to see that I am the only other one still awake. Sitting in complete silence must have worn on them. I scoot forward and add something to the conversation.
"You know, perhaps you just made the lives of a lot of other ponies better. Although they don't realize it now, they might be better off without him." It turns out this wasn't the right thing to say.
Anger edges at Silver's eyes. "You have no idea what it’s like to know that somepony lost their life because of you. If he had been anyone else, I could have lost a foal their father."
"On the contrary." I counter, not backing down yet. "You would never kill anypony with a family. You know why? Because ponies with families know how to show compassion toward others and aren't completely self-centered."
"I agree with Jammers." Daisy says causing Silver to cool down a little bit. For how little time they have known one another, it’s amazing the power they have over one another. Daisy leans in and whispers in Silver's ear. If the rest of the room hadn't been silent otherwise, I wouldn't have heard it. "Even though you don't need to be taught anymore compassion, I'd have your foals anyway."
Silver's cheeks go a deep shade of red and I have to try hard to suppress a laugh. Daisy grins and reaches through the bars to hug Silver close. He returns the gesture. "When will you get out?" She asks. "I have something planned for the two of us." She winks at him.
Silver's happy demeanor is gone in an instant. His eyes get wet again and he looks away from Daisy.
"What’s wrong Silver?" She looks frightened and seriously concerned. I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but it seems unavoidable. I grab the sentence off the wall and hold it up to Daisy. She sits there shocked for a long time as if trying to comprehend the two bolded words.
Eventually she breaks into fresh tears. "How could they do this?" She gasps. She looks like the definition of a pony whose world was crumbling between their hooves. "It was an accident."
I can’t believe it took me this long to realize the magnitude of what was going to happen. One of my few friends was about to leave us forever. I remember all the times we have talked about grand schemes that never came to pass. I remember all the times he has contracted the attention of a mare and ran for his life and all the times we have laughed at him for doing it. None of it would ever happen again. One of the worst parts, he finally found a mare that he likes and only two days later he gets himself a death sentence.
It’s my turn to join them, my eyes well up with tears themselves and let excess fluid run from them. Why was this happening? Why us? The three of us sat there for what felt like hours, attempting to choke back our sobs. All six of us end up sleeping there for the night.
Over the next few days my friends and I only leave Silver's side to get ourselves food or entertainment. We spend our time playing cards and chatting, anything to forget about the bars in between us. Daisy comes by at least twice a day to join us. She tells us that the overall mood of the Hydrology lab has improved and that she still doesn't think Silver should have to pay this harshly for his mistake. However when she explains this to security, they highly disagree. The argument gets heated enough to the point that they forcefully remove her from the establishment.
On the fourth day, a crew of eight security guards came into the prison. "Cosmic Silver, its time."
We all look at them eyes wide. This was the day we lose our friend. I turn to BlazingSteel. "I need you to go to the Hydrology lab and get Daisy, they will want to say their goodbyes." Before Blazing leaves I turn to the guards and ask one question. "Where is the execution taking place?"
"The stable airlock, only place they have ever happened." He responds without emotion.
I turn back to Blazing. "Bring her strait to the stable door." He nods at me and gallops past the guards and out the prison door.
The guards open Silver's door and cuff him right away. We all follow closely behind the guards as they walk down the hallway toward the stable airlock. We arrive and the guards lead Silver into the middle of the airlock. They sit him down and exit the room. The Overmare herself is there and she steps forward to the airlock door.
"You have been sentenced to death for the murder of another pony. There is nothing you can say or do to avoid this fate. However we will give you five minutes to say goodbye to anyone here who showed up to your execution." She sounds formal, yet I can detect a hint of guilt in her voice. It’s her job to order the execution, yet she doesn't have the heart to kill somepony as helpless as him.
At that moment Blazing and Daisy gallop around the corner. Blazing stops at our side but Daisy runs strait into the room and tackles Silver onto the metal ground. She sits up and turns to the Overmare, Silver still tight in her hug. "Please don't do this, he made a mistake. Go down to the Hydrology lab, everypony is so much happier anyway. Surly you can see that there can be a silver lining to this."
The Overmare walks up to the two of them and sits down. "I’m so sorry. If it was up to me, I would spare him. But if I don't follow the rules of my job now, nopony will trust me to do so in the future. I do what I can to try and keep as much order in the stable as possible." When she turns around and walks back out, Daisy starts to cry again and I can see the crushing guilt in the Overmare's expression.
The last four of us step into the room and approach Silver. He is trying to console Daisy. "It’s alright guys, go enjoy the rest of your lives. Just take care of Daisy for me, alright?" None of us respond, we just sit in a big circle and share a group hug. There is nothing left to be said.
"Time is up." The Overmare states to us. We all get up and hug Silver one more time individually.
"I can’t watch this." Daisy cries and runs off before any of us can say anything.
"The rest of you step out of the chamber." The Overmare commands. We turn and walk toward the door. My friends exit but I stop right before the door.
"Jammers, please step outside." The Overmare repeats.
"No." I say definitively. I walk back over to Silver and sit down next to him. "Loyalty in life, Loyalty in death."
Silver turns to me with a shocked expression. "Jammers, get out of here." He tells me, but I refuse to budge. He turns to our other friends. "Get him out of here." He says to them.
My friends enter the room again and walk toward me. I am expecting them to drag me out by my tail but instead they all sit down with us. "Loyalty in life, Loyalty in death." Blazing repeats.
The Overmare looks at us, her disbelief is obvious.
"Shall we proceed Overmare?" One of the guards asks. She looks at us and we all look back at her.
"Are you sure about this?" She asks the rest of us.
"Absolutely." With any luck, she will call it off due to not wanting to kill four innocent ponies.
"Yes captain, get it over with." She almost croaks. Before the doors can even close completely, she runs down the hall herself, followed by seven of the eight guards.
"You four are idiots." Silver says to us. He is obviously angry at our choice to stay with him.
"Opening Stable door in three" the final guard begins to count down. We all hold each other close once again.
"Two,"
"I’ll see you guys in a little bit." I smile at them and they return. Maybe this won’t be so bad.
"One"
I’m not sure which one is going to kill us first, the clicking of the radiation detector on our Pipbucks annoying us to death, or the radiation itself.
"Opening the door." The guard says before pulling the lever and walking away himself.
We are all alone as we hear the loud metallic scraping of the huge stable door being pulled out of its socket and rolling to the side. Instantly, our Pipbucks go crazy. The clicking is horrible to listen to... Wait a second. We all let go of each other, confused. We look at the Stable door. It is most defiantly open. We look at our Pipbucks. There is no clicking. We tap on them a bit and access a few different files to make sure they are not broken. They most certainly are not.
One by one we figure out something great. We aren't going to die, at least not now. Trout begins to laugh. I start to chuckle myself. The threat of death is gone and all we can do is laugh in relief.
"So what now?" Silver asks when we finally finish our giggling.
"Well we can’t stay here, or they will realize you aren't dead and kill you some other way." I tell him.
"So out of the stable?" Blazing asks.
"It seems that way, doesn't it?" I reply.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let’s take a peek." Nade Spam says to us as he trots out of stable and into Equestria. With nowhere else to go, we follow suit.
