Walls... All I ever knew... From the moment I was born and probably till I die Ill only see the same set of walls... The walls of stable 47...I looked to a scrawling mural of a science fiction scene across the hall... I helped paint it... I was pretty glad it was across from my door... Every day I left my little room I could see it... The colorful and imaginitive piece breaking the heavy feeling of boredom and bleakness for a short moment. There were other murals in the vault... Some chose to paint their doors... Others would create sprawling masterpieces on the wall of scenes ranging from grassy plains and beautiful lanscapes to things like portraits of important ponies from history. The overmare had a pretty loose policy on painting the walls... All we had to do was get permission, we'd get to pick a wall and that was that, painting was largely a group thing, ponies would join in to help out no matter what they were doing or who you were... It was like some kind of sacred unchangeable ritual... If we were late because of it we were forgiven...most likely because everypony knew how bleak and hopeless life could get in a stable.

I checked the time on my pipbuck... Seeing as it was still a bit early I headed to another room in the male sleeping rooms... The elaborately painted door slid into the ceiling and floor and allowed me in... The room belonged to a close friend of mine... Brass Hammer... He was a maintenance assistant down in air purification. He greeted me as I walked in.

"Hey! Source Code! How's it goin?"

"Bout as smoothly as life here gets... Finally regreased the joints in my robot legs..."

"Not scrapin anymore?"

"nah... Still need to readjust them but for now its working well enough"

"any word from the population stability center?"

"I need to go in next week... Hopefully I dont get such a bitchy one this time... Then again.... Thats most of em"

"yeah... True that... Least we're not working there full time like those poor bastards down there"

"just imagine.... All day every day... Just sex... Seems like it would be pretty shit after awhile..."

"any word about 'After Hours'?"

"section four, junction 12... 21:00"

"got it Ill bring snacks"

"good... Best be going... Maintenance is probably waiting"

"seeya round"

I left his room swiftly, a quick check of the time revealed that I was gonna be late...

"shit... Better hussle" I began running until I got to the walkway above the main community area for these floors, I jumped down over the railing and used my wings to slow my fall a tiny bit before flapping the slightly clipped appendages furiously to slow down. I turned and dashed for the elevator to the maintenance floor, I hopped in and smacked the button third from the bottom with a metal "hoof" I caught my breath and waited for the elevator to come to a stop in the maintenance section.

I walked out of the elevator onto the more industrial feel of the maintenance floor... I walked up to the electronics repair area and walked through the door, a box on the wall beeped as I passed it, signaling to me that It detected my piobuch and punched me in for today... And only two minutes late.

"Code... I got some news... You're being transferred to medical... Overmare says that you're fancy robo forelegs would be better used in the medical ward on our floor... " my boss immediately said as I walked in.

"Oh come on... Dammit... And I just got transferred here...well i guess Ill be going to the medical ward... Maaan...screw assignment branch... Morons have ni itea what they're doing... Seeya round Circuit..."

I had only been transferred to maintenance after being stuck with janitor duty for a year while I waited for a position to open up... Even though I was a stallion... Which were somehow seen as lesser beings... They realised I had skills with electronics... When I finally got a position with maintenance I stayed there for only a month before being stuck in medical because a nurse retired.

I was reminded of why I resented this place... Yes it was big and well stocked... But it was filled with a ton of mares and barely any stallions.... And we kinda got the short end of the stick... Some bitch a few generations ago revoked a ton of rights granted to stallions...asshat...essentjally made us decond class citizens where our only good job pospect was reproduction.

I walked into the medical ward, the doctor and nurse didn't look too pleased.

"Great... Some idiot stallion from maintenance..." One mare said as I walked in with a reassignemnt note on my pipbuck

"wash up and put on a lab coat... You'll be logging patient records and doing routine checkups and vaccinations. The guide book is on the terminal... You'll figure it out"

Thankfully today had been slow....so At least I could learn some stuff without all of the extra pressure, I went to my quarters and removed my labcoat... I brushed my teeth and got in bed, however would just have to look like I was going to sleep for about a half hour when the guards finished random checks of rooms...

After thirty minutes passed and the dayshift curfew was met I got up, grabbed a makeshift shank from under my pillow, and headed to the ventillator grille on the wall. I pressed the edge of the shank's rough metal edge into the gap between it and the wall, pried it up a bit and deployed my fingers, the small metal appengages slid out and unfolded from my artifical hoof, I grabbed the grille and hinged it open, I snuck in and closed it behind me, I walked through the short vent and dropped down a vertical shaft, and walked forward, i reached the main vent shaft for this floor and walked forward until I was pretty close to one of the fans that circulated the air in the Stable, I opened a vent below me and quietly dropped into a maintenance shaft below the floor.

The maintenance tunnels were mostly unlit, the only light was what my pip buck emmitted and the occasional indicator light on some equipment, I walked along the shaft towards where the main atrium was and turned left towards the section below the "reproduction ward" aka extra rooms where ponies banged eachother... I walked until I reached the service section I needed to be in, I Could hear creaking and slapping above me... Along with occasional moans of extacy from the ponies above, i walked down the tunnel until I reached the hatch to the service junction I told Brass about.

on the hatch was a large red lever mounted flat to the surface of it, I shoved the lever into the 'open' position, the hatch popped slightly out of the floor with a metallic clunk and rattling of latches, I pulled the door open and climbed down into the junction below, shutting the door behind me, I opened a hatch into the section used for wiring maintenance and droped down to where Brass now sat with about four other adult ponies and a couple foals... One of them was my father.

"Is everypony here?....good, so... Tomorrow...tomorrow... is the day that Im chucked into the recycler... Scummy bastards... Worry not... Ive written down everything I know in the log book... To which I will be giving a cabon copy of to my son... Son... I also wanna give ya this... Its called Lobotomizer... It has been passed down for as long our family line has existed in the vault... And subsequently modified by each owner... Take care of it... And if anypony wants ta take it... You know what to do... "

" shoot em till they stop moving" I responded"

"just a reminder... Our mission here isnt to kill al, of the mares... Just to make ourselves equal again or to escape... Im tol old to get out and I embrace death... Just remember me..." everypony solemnly nodded and we left through the many vents back to where we had previously been...

As soon as I woke up I found a very pissed security mare staring me down.

" You are under arrest, if you do not let me detain you I will use force" my brain slammed into overdrive and thought of how I could get away... If I just let her take me I would be crammed into prison... But If I tried to stab her I might get exiled from the vault... Perfect...

After about an hour in a security holding cell disarmed of my shank I was brought to the overmare's office along with with several other ponies, mostly mares... Ones that I probably had to harm at one point or other.

"first witness... What has this stallion done to you?" a white mare with violently hot pink hair stepped foreward... She had a large scar on her forehoof... One that I gave her when I needed to escape her during a smuggling job.

"This piece of shit slashed at me and ran when I tried to report him to authorities for being shifty..." at least she didnt devulge into shouting or trying to hurt me.

"Thank you miss... Please return to your seat... Next witness" She was from maintenance... Based on her barding and apparent filthiness.

"I was never directly involved in any of his supposed crimes but I did see him talking to some kooky mare in maintenance... They talked for only a few minutes before he hoofed her a piece of paper and left... It seemed suspicious"

"Thank you witness number two... Now final witness, please" the last mare was one from security... One that I had the pleasure of being arrested by

"I caught this stallion crawling through the vents... There was evidence of a hallway grate being opened, he was caught after I followed the sound of him in the vent to the stallions barracks... I found and arrested him then next day after I saw him emerge from a vent near a room and enter. I waited at the door to intercept him for fear that he may try to attack if he was inside, after I arrested him, I found a homemade shiv tucked undr his pip buck... Which you see before you on that table.

"Thank you... Now, what does the persecuted have to say"

"Respectfully I plead guilty... I in fact did commit those crimes"

"The Persecuted has plead Guilty, now Mister Source Code, you have a choice of punishment due to your compliance in this trial... Do you wish to be Exiled from the vault Never to return, or to be permanently put on breeding duty for your crimes and disloyalty to the Stable"

"I Choose Exile..."

"Very well, you are allowed any possessions you wish to bring along, you will be supplied with a weeks worth of dried rations and water, and a simple knife and standard issue 10mm pistol to use as defense, as per Stable 47 Exile Conduct code. You will have two more days in the stable to pack and prepare, You will have a security mare watching you at all times and interacting with anypony aside from security personnel or myself is forbidden... Is this clear?"

" yes Ma'am"

"Therefore, I Dandelion Meadows, Overmare Of Stable 47 Sentence you to permanent exile from the Stable." She used her horn to whack the gavel on the desk once.

"This session is adjourned.... Officer Cuffs, please fit this stallion with a tracking bracelet and bring him to the Stable door in two days time..."

"As you wish" a plain white security mare with navy blue hair came up to me and clamped the tracking bracelet on my hindleg. She escorted me out soon after and brought me to my room.

I grabbed my Father's old military saddlebags and began stuffing the packs with necesities, and anything I would need to survive outside... The first things in were the 12.7mm Lobotomizer pistol, some amm, and my father's personal notebook recorded onto a tape.

Author's Note

This might fit reasonably OK with the sides Stories of F;E... Probably not perfect but semi decent.