[Stable 111]
I’m a simple kinda pony.
Growing up in here, that wasn’t a bad attitude to have. Keeps you focused on what matters and away from what doesn’t. Get your pipbuck, take the C.A.T., get a job, get married, make sure your genes are compatible then have kids.
And if there’s a problem, you fix it. No further thought beyond that.
It could be bleak to some but it was life. Which is far more than we could say if our ancestors hadn’t made it to the Stable in time. You learn to accept the life you have pretty quickly in here. Having it essentially dictated for you from the get go is a hard pill to swallow for some. If you were unhappy with the cards you were dealt there was little a thing you could do to buck the system.
My father made sure to instill that lesson into me. He was a hard-looking stallion with an even harder heart. He had little patience for how simple a pony I was and a small temper. Oh, and he hates my guts like no tomorrow, which is fine since I go on hating him right back. I’m just more polite about it.
We don’t talk to each other much and we try to avoid each other’s gaze when we can. Doesn’t matter since I got his gold eyes and black mane so I practically look like him in the mirror. Mama gave me her dark blue coat and sweet heart.
Mama’s name was Sweet Treat. She worked as the head baker in the cafeteria for our Stable. I heard she cooked the tastiest Oat cookies which were sweetened by her special ingredient called love.
Mama… I never knew her as a son should. There were complications during the birth, fatal ones. The doctors told me she was the bravest mare they’d ever seen while she was pushing me out of her body. My father never saw it that way. He didn’t look at me and see the eyes of his offspring he helped create.
He saw a problem. A problem that needed to be fixed.
He beat me. Beat me real damn hard. His hooves were like blunt clubs on my hide when he got in a fixing mood. Whatever it took to satisfy his anguish over the loss of Mama.
Being a young colt barely able to spell, let alone defend myself, I would resign to lay wherever I was and take it. Take it until I couldn’t any longer and the conscious part of my mind would be wished away to somewhere I couldn’t be hurt ever again.
It’s how I would cope. By letting go of who I was in the moment and focusing on what truly mattered.
Enduring.
Not just enduring to see another tomorrow in the Stable but enduring to show him that I was strong. That I wasn’t just a weakling, a burden, a murderer that ruined the pony he used to be.
I had to let go in those moments. Tears were the first I did away with, they did nothing but stir him on in his assaults. Showing him, such weakness disgusted him even more. Tears were the hallmark of a child and I rid myself of them quickly.
I then let go the cries and whimpers of pain. As I grew to the age of a teenage buck I could weather the abuse. I was still growing but I was no longer a colt.
The last to be done away with was the pain. It wasn’t the kicks and strikes from his hooves that cut the deepest. It was the words.
***
I am a full-grown stallion now. In my professional opinion that was not always a good thing. Sure, I was tall, dark, and hopefully a little handsome, but living in a Stable gives you a lot of things to bump your head on.
I was more than just tall, I was as burly as a tree and had the strength to match that as well. I’m pretty sure I’ve dented parts of the Stable just by bumping my noggin from daydreaming. Though every now and then my mane got in the way as well which leads me to cracking my head on a wall or something. It was long, black and unkempt. Just the way I liked it.
My friend, Valley Green, on the other hand hated it. She is one of those mares that takes an eternity “prettying” up in the bathroom each day. Besides that, we were actually very much alike. She had a… colorful personality. I’d use the word, shallow, but I try to be polite in my own thoughts as well as in conversation.
I was trotting about the Stable hallway to her dwelling today. I chose the long way to admire the walls for a spell. They truly did deserve some kind of appreciation from somepony. Most others just go about their days going by and not paying much mind to them but I was not most others. I saw more than just a gray-green wall of metal. I saw protection in these walls, shelter, and most importantly I saw Endurance.
***
My memory began to wander as I stared at the walls. The rest of the hallway drifted away from my perception. I was a little colt again, a blank flank. Today was Overstallion Day so all the kids got a break off school. I had decided to spend my time reading stories of the Old World to pass the time. Stories about the Goddesses. Some of the words were hard to grasp since I was a colt. Hell, I still have a hard time getting through it.
My father was a Stable Loyalty Inspector, which unfortunately for him, didn’t get relieved of their work on this day. He was already in a sour mood so I did best to stay out of his way. Not that it ever helped.
He had donned his Loyalty badge and exited our room after a couple minutes. That’s when I decided to hop off the sofa I was reading on and trot to the door to Fathers room. Prior to that day, I had glimpsed something in father’s room that piqued my interest intensely. Something that I deserved to see.
The door to his room looked big and imposing compared from my low point of view. I stood on my hind legs and hoofed the access button and the door opened with a whoosh. I cautiously entered, my heart playing paddle ball in my little chest.
It was an ordinary looking room. It had a comfy looking double bed with a metal desk adjacent to it. My target was inside that metal desk. I inched towards it, fear blooming in my stomach as my knees were starting to get weak. My mind began to race as I thought of all the kind of punishment I would receive for such a violation of Fathers privacy.
A buck to my belly, a bottle hurled in my direction, maybe a good old fashioned slap across my face. He avoided the face as much as possible, harder to hide evidence of his abuse where my stable jumpsuit couldn’t cover it.
I had finally made it to the desk which felt like it had taken an eternity instead of a few hoof steps. I gripped the knob with my teeth and pulled the drawer open. Inside was an old framed picture of Mama.
There she was. Radiant blue in her coat and love in her eyes. She was smilingly gingerly and had a pretty snow-white mane. Complemented by her beautiful blue eyes which shined like polished diamonds. The boom in my heart was steadied, and the fear was washed away by a wave of warmth I felt come over me. I felt a connection with Mama in that moment. Like she had always been here with me, keeping me strong and watching over me. There was a stranger with her in the picture.
He was a stallion with a grey coat and a black mane that looked oddly familiar. He had a friendly smile and a foreleg wrapped around Mama. It was then that I realized this strange stallion was my father. Who he used to be before I came along and ruined everything; Tears began to well in my eyes.
In that moment, my father’s words felt like they had some truth to it. When I saw the photo, I didn’t just see my parents, I saw two ponies I had murdered with my existence.
My father never showed this picture to me and now I wished it had stayed that way. I thought seeing it would bring me closer to the mother I never knew and it did for a fleeting moment. But it was quickly replaced with regret as I truly believed that my father was right and I was a problem. That I deserved what I got from him.
“I’m a mistake… I killed Mama.” My tears were getting on the picture frame and so I closed it back and stifled my sobs. I turned to exit and leave this moment behind me.
Father was blocking the way, Madness in his eyes as he stared daggers at me. I felt a familiar terror grip my body as I anticipated the inevitable. He must have forgotten something and come back and happened upon me snooping in his room.
When did he come back? Dang, I should have been listening out. Im gonna really get it now…
Fathers mouth moved but it was a struggle for him to voice the words through his locked jaw. When he did, his voice had an iciness to it that frightened me even more.
“You… you little, blank flank. What the fuck do you think you’re doing in here? What right do you think you have to rifle through my things and look at my Sweet Treat?” Father said
“I-I just wanted to see what she looked like, papa.” I explained in a shaky voice.
“You don’t fucking deserve to lay eyes on her. She was my wife, my mare. Not yours!” He moved towards me.
That hurt. It always hurt but this time I felt a crazy feeling of courage that emboldened me to speak out in defiance. Like seeing Mama had granted me an ounce of bravery.
“She was my mother too, Papa! And I’m her son. I’m sorry I killed her and made you hate me. I hate me too, Papa I just wanted to see her!” I shouted as loud as my little lungs would allow.
The response gave my father a momentary pause. He gawked at my display of defiance then lowered his head to whisper something menacing in my ear.
“You aint nothing but a problem, and you know what we do with problems?”
We fix them.
He beat me, beat me with such a passion and rage I thought the goddesses themselves were striking me with divine fury. That was when I cried the last tear; when my body felt like broken glass that had been broken even more. He threw me out of the room and went to work. I laid there all night and when I awoke I saw something that left me bewildered.
On my little, blue flank was a sturdy, indominable wall of stacked bricks. My cutie mark. The symbol that told me what I was good at in life and was what I would be doing for most of my life.
“My cutie mark? A brick wall?” I was in too much pain and emotion to feel the elation and joy I should be feeling on such an occasion. The fanfare and celebration had been non-existent on the day of my cutie mark but I would remember this day as the true beginning of my life. It represented what I was destined for.
To Endure.
***
“Hey… hey you big, blue dummy I’m talking to you.” A petite unicorn mare was trying to get my attention. The voice and blonde coat and mane told me it was Valley Green. Who sounded exceptionally irritated judging by her tone of voice.
“You were doing that thing again, Brawny Brick. You know that thing where you stare at the walls again like some kinda looney. I swear I wonder if you even have a brain in that head of yours.”
I turned my stare away from the wall to acknowledge her presence before she started poking me.
“Hello, Miss Valley Green. Your mane looks fantastic today.” I said politely
“Don’t you ‘Miss Valley Green’ me, mister. Tell me something, huh, while you were watching the paint dry on the walls did a single thought even come across that noggin of yours what you were doing out here?” Valley seemed quite cross about something I had done. Or didn’t remember to do perhaps.
What the devil had I come to see her for again? Like I said I was a simple pony which, like being tall, isn’t always a good thing. I was pretty forgetful at times I admit and I wasn’t the brightest horseshoe in the Stable. It certainly showed in my grades. Good thing Val was always there to help tutor me.
Valley and I worked together in the cafeteria of Stable 111. I was the fry cook and she worked the register. She was the brains and I was the, excuse the pun, but I was the brawn of the partnership. Valley seemed to have gotten the raw end of the deal since all I had to do was work the fry in the back. She on the other hand had to consult with some especially rude and annoying ponies from time to time.
She had spent the better part of an hour trying to explain to Old Man Eggnog that we didn’t have any peanuts in the Stable cafeteria.
I still chuckle every now and then thinking back to that day of watching her go back and forth with the elderly pony. He was concerned about some allergy he thought he had.
Annnnd now she was poking me.
“Equestria to Brawn, Equestria to Brawn; open your damn ears I asked you a question.” Valley was quite cross now.
“1000 apologies, Miss Green you know my mind wanders sometimes. Forgive me, now what’s all this negativity about?”
“The thing with my father we talked about yesterday. You said you would help with that.” Valley reminded me.
“Oh yeah, that ‘thing.’ Let’s get moving right now I bet your father is aching mighty hard.” I started moving towards the door to Valleys room.
Her father, Vintage, was in need of somepony of considerable size and I was the only one who really fit the bill.
“Once again, I’m sorry about losing myself for a moment there, I know it always seems silly but most folk really don’t appreciate these walls. They keep us safe from all the radiation on the outside for something like two centuries now. You gotta stop and admire the construction of this Stable every once in a while. Feels a little disrespectful not t-“
Bop
“Ow, ow, ow, damn your thick skull, Brawn.” Valley was clutching her hoof from the playful cuff she tried to give to my ear.
“Shut up about all that daydreaming and get inside It’s a damn wall stop acting like anybody cares but you.” I did as she said and entered the room but kept up the conversation as we went.
“You know I keep telling you that trying to hit me like that is gonna hurt for you way more than it will hurt for me. But like a moth to a flame you just keep trying, Valley. You sure you’re not the one with the thick skull?” I said with a smirk.
She didn’t return the quip and just glared at me to go into her fathers room. I turned and opened the door to the bedroom. He was a middle-aged earth pony with a sea green shade to his coat. He was sprawled out on his bed on his belly on top of the covers and I saw his expression brighten up when he saw me.
“Thank Celestia you showed up Brawn. My back has been killing me all week working in maintenance. I hope this isn’t too strange a request for you, Brawn, I just heard you were the biggest, heaviest buck around so I thought you would be the perfect choice for this.” He said craning his neck to look back at me.
“It’s no trouble, Mr. Vintage, I can do this no problem, but uh I’m gonna have to be gentle not to hurt your back more than it already is.” I said
“No problem just please help” Vintage said wincing in discomfort.
I nodded and climbed onto the bed. I placed my front hooves on his back and steadied myself. Then I brought my hind hooves onto the bucks back and began rhythmically massaging him.
It may seem bizarre, but I was quite good with my hooves. I wasn’t like a trained professional or anything it just came natural to me. I suppose he got the idea for this from seeing me work the dough in the cafeteria one day.
Several satisfying cracks from his back told me that Vintage was feeling better from the massage.
“Ohhhhh, Oh dang son. You really are good with your hooves you know that? Your being wasted in that kitchen; you should have been a masseuse cause right now I feel like a plate of warm pancakes.” Vintage complimented
“Should I arrange the marriage now or have you two not decided who’s going to propose first?” Valley joked as she stood in the doorway. I had to admit this was probably a very odd scene.
“Now what kind of father would I be to rob my daughter of such a great husband?” Vintage said in mock offense.
“Very funny, Dad, but me and him are employees. Aint nothing more to us than that.”
“Its fine, Mr. Vintage, I would be more than honored to be your big, blue bride. Where should we go for the Honeymoon, dear? I was really thinking of a trip to the beach where we first met.” I joked.
We all shared a jovial laugh together as I massaged the bucks back.
“I’m going to see what gossip the girls have heard about, you two have fun. Bye, dad.” Valley said exiting the room.
Vintage returned the goodbye and waited until his daughter had left to continue the conversation.
“I wasn’t completely jesting when I said that, Brawn. What are your intentions with my daughter? You both seem to work well together and I don’t think she’s got her eye on any bucks at the moment. Why not take it a step further and bring our families together. I’m sure the Overstallion would approve of the pairing, we don’t share any ancestors in our lineage so there’s no chance of any defects from the children.” Vintage obviously had been thinking this out prior.
“Sorry, Mr. Vintage, But now aint an appropriate time for that. You got a wonderful daughter but I’m content to be her friend if not Co-worker if you don’t mind.” I said honestly
Vintage seemed disappointed but not wholly upset.
“Well if you change your mind I want you to know you got my approval.”
“Thank you, Mr. Vintage.” I said
Right now, was not a good time for all that marriage business. My father is in no mood to be introduced to mares or parents.
I shifted the subject to something a little less serious to kill time.
“So what kinda work were you up to that got your back so twisted up like this.” I asked.
Vintage chuckled sheepishly a bit before replying.
“Truth be told, I wasn’t really doing my job at the time. I was in the maintenance tunnel where all the pipes and wires are. The other day I thought I heard something near the wall in the farthest section. You know how old folk like me are, always chasing at shadows and seeing things. I pressed my ear up against the wall and I swear I heard it coming from the other side.” Vintage said in a detached voice, his mind focused on the memory.
“Heard what?”
Vintage paused a spell before replying.
“Heard… think I heard somepony cackling? Keyword: Think. Don’t go around the Stable spreading the rumor that Vintage is finally losing his mind.”
Vintage was looking a little shaken. I would be too in all honesty if I heard laughing from the outside knowing full well that it is irradiated all to hell. But I had to know more about this so I pressed him further.
“Was that all you heard, sorry, thought you heard?” I asked
Vintage continued “No. There was a lot of shuffling going on, like there was a bunch of ponies moving.” Vintage winced.
“Shoot, I prolly am just losing it. Just pretend like I didn’t say anything willya, Brawn.”
“Pretend you didn’t say what?”
“Thanks, Brawn.”
***
After several minutes, my work was complete and Vintage was right as rain. He thanked me for the help and I was headed back to my room in the Stable. I liked those ponies. I liked them a lot in fact, they felt like the family I should have had. Not the father I had been saddled with.
I returned to my room in the stable, Father was sitting in the corner reading a book. An obvious method of trying to ignore my presence. The tension in the room was thick enough to bump your head on and I was a very tall pony. It was like this every day for years. He was in a wheelchair now and his mane was more than a little grey now. We didn’t have conversations, we didn’t have dinner together, and we didn’t look each other’s way. He kept his hooves to himself these days now. He learned the hard way that I changed ever since I got my cutie mark. That I could endure whatever he did to me and then some.
I started for the door to his bedroom and pressed the access button. I didn’t need my hindlegs anymore. The room still looked as ordinary as it always had, metal desk next to the bed. I opened it and looked upon Mama. I smiled as I felt the connection again; father didn’t try to stop me anymore.
He wheeled over to glare at me but he kept his tongue still as I looked at Ma. I sighed and put and closed the desk.
“Papa, you’re getting up there in years now and I reckoned that if you were gonna change you would have done so years ago.” I said, still facing away from him.
“I can’t speak for what you were like before I was born, back when Mama was around. You may think I’m some kind of beast, a vile creature that killed the pony you used to be. But, I want you to know that I never wanted things to turn out the way it did between you and me. What’s happened between us can never change but, Papa, I’m still gonna take care of you no matter what.” I turned to face him now.
His expression had been hard at first but I could see his resolve to be angry fading away. He just looked tired… so tired.
“Because that’s what Mama Sweet Treat would have wanted. Not for us to go on hating each other till we died, not helping each other. It isn’t hard to think over, Papa, we’re the only family we got in here.”
I trotted out of the doorway towards my room in silence for a few moments before he muttered a response.
“We didn’t marry because we had good genes, we didn’t marry because we had to have more kids for the Stable. We did it because we were in love.” He sounded like the words pained him as he uttered them.
“I just wish she could be here, with me.” He said.
It was more than he had cared to speak to me in conversation than he had in years. I felt for the buck, I truly did. Despite the years of abuse, yelling, and emotion at the end of the day we were both just tired.
“I wish she was here too, Papa… get some sleep.” I retired to my bed and quickly drifted off to sleep.
If only ponies were easy to fix.
***
It was a slow day at the cafeteria in the morning, only a hooful of familiar faces were present. Some ponies in Stable Security were around as well. Chatting and eating in the corner where they usually were. Val was trading gossip with another one of her marefriends, Garment I think her name was? The topics they discussed covered all typical mare stuff. They talked about who’s cheating on who, who they thought was handsome, complaining about what such and such may or may not have said about them. None of it really caught my attention so I busied myself with mopping out the back area.
It was after a good 10 minutes that it happened.
The whole Stable shook violently, pots and pans crashing everywhere in the kitchen. Ponies in the cafeteria spilled their food and ran into one another as the Stable rumbled. Everything that wasnt nailed down flew off in all directions; knives and plates fell and clattered onto the floor, cabinets burst open as the contents poured out.
Clang
A pot had crashed into the back of my head and dropped to the floor. A warm trickle of blood came down the back of my ear. Didn’t really hurt that much, maybe I was in too much shock to care.
It only lasted for a few seconds and by the end the Cafeteria looked like a tornado had ripped through. Valley was on the floor curled up and covering her face with her hooves. She moved them away and looked around fearfully. She let out a sharp gasp when she saw Garment. She was sprawled out on the floor with her neck bent at an unnatural angle. She must have slipped during the eruption and fell on the edge of the register table where she was just talking with Valley moments ago.
I felt bile working its way up my throat. I turned and heaved a whole mess of it out of my mouth. My eyes were watering and my heart was pounding a mile a minute. I had just seen a pony die and die a random and brutal death.
“What in the name of Equestria was that!” I heard pony some pony yell hysterically.
“Everyone stay calm we are gonna check out the situation!” Another said. Most likely a Security Officer.
“I have to check on my kids, oh sweet Celestia I have to go!” I heard more yelling and the shuffling of hooves as panic began to set in. I finally gathered myself and made my way over to Valley.
Internally, she was falling apart. It was evident on her face as she cradled Garments body silently.
“I’m gonna go get help. Stay here, Val, I’m gonna run to the clinic and get the doctor. Just keep it together for a few more seconds.” I knew she was dead. Her eyes were still wide-open shooting me a chilling stare as her face was caught in a terrified expression. I still had to try. I raced out the doorway down the hallway that was now filling with smoke and confused ponies. What the hell had happened? Was there some type of explosion in the Stable?
My stomach turned even more as I pondered that possibility that irreparable damage had been done to the Stable, dooming us to an influx of lethal radiation.
The smoke grew thicker and thicker as I neared the clinic. Out of the haze I saw the green figure of Vintage cut through the fog. He was coughing up a lung and his hide had been scarred by vicious burns. I pumped the breaks to inquire as to what the hell was going on.
“Mr. Vintage! What happened? Was there an accident in maintenance?” I asked, as I wrapped a foreleg around him to help move him towards the clinic.
Vintages voice came out in a hoarse croak “Wasn’t. Accident.” The green buck was silenced by a spray of red and viscera as a bullet ripped through his face, spraying my face and coat with a layer of blood. I dropped his limp body in horror as I tasted what I hoped wasn’t his blood. Behind me, out of the smoke, I saw a pistol cut though the white cloud as an aura of yellow magical energy gripped it in the air.
It was followed by the crazed looking unicorn who it belonged too. He was clad in dirty rags and bore a wicked smile that revealed he was missing teeth. A white-hot knife of paralyzing fear cut through me and sundered my mental defenses. He eyes fell upon me and his grin went from ear to ear now as he spoke.
“Hahaha! This is going to be fun! fun! fun!” His tongue was black.
More murder ponies came out of the mist. Each looking as similarly crazed as the one who shot Vintage, brandishing weapons as well.
The Unicorn leveled the pistol at me and fired.
Author's Note
Massive shout out to kkat for crafting such a wonderful setting and story and shout out to FallingSnow for writing Guise of Chaos which was one inspiration for this story. Its my first one and i hope you enjoy where I take it.
