Chapter 2: Emergence

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

I awoke from my slumber with a jolt as the lid on the pod slid open, breathing stale and musty air into my body. Slowly, I rose out of the pod and landed on the ground. The stump that used to form my hoof ached and throbbed as I observed the decay of the ponies on the floor. The bodies were entirely decomposed, which meant I had been asleep for at least a year. I vomited at the sight and smell before regaining my composure.

“Momma.. I'm so sorry, Momma. I’ll find the ponies that did this.” I whispered somberly to myself. I don't know how or when, but what happened to my home won't go unpunished. I unhooked the necklace Dad and I got her some years ago and slipped it over my neck. I wanted something to remember her by. As I stepped into the decrepit hallway it was apparent I missed a lot. The rusted and broken walls along with the grime covered floor paired with the hardly functional lights told me one thing for sure. I was unconscious for much longer than one year. My brain swam with various probing questions. Why had those ponies broken into the Stable? How did they get in? Why were they so focused on taking us alive?

With my mind swarmed with uncertainties, one thing was certain: I needed something to protect myself, I scoured the room in search of a weapon or anything that would help me. There was nothing, and my throat had a significant lump of dread in it at the prospect of walking down the hallway to the door where Dad should lay. I slowly and unwillingly dragged myself forwards and lifted the door with my magic. The skeleton of a pony lay just at the bottom of the door, a lot of spent casings laying around him. He went out fighting.

My eyes widened to the size of melons at the battlefield that used to be our cafeteria. Most of the tables had been overturned to serve as makeshift barriers, and the metal was surprisingly good at catching bullets. However, whatever made those clean holes with the burn marks around them was much less assuring. Upon examining the shots, I noticed that the metal had melted and warped around the holes, and the exit was the same size as the entry. These were no ordinary weapons, of that I was certain.

I peeked behind the ramshackle barrier and saw 4 dead ponies, shredded security armor still wrapped around their skeletons. The gear wouldn't benefit me at all, just hinder my movement, and with already being down one hoof, I decidedly ignored the armor. The pistol, however, would prove to be quite useful. I levitated the weapon into the air and cleared the chamber as well as checked the magazine. Figured it would be empty.

I know Dad always stored a gun and extra ammunition in our room. I just had to hope it hadn't been taken or used in the gunfight. My three limbs fought when they had to carry on, obviously unused to the imbalance that came with only three hooves. As I stumbled towards my family’s room, something occurred to me that hadn’t before: how was I going to get out of the Stable? Surely those ponies got in and left somehow. I was getting ahead of myself, I needed to focus on the task at hoof. Upon opening the door to our quarters, I was shocked to find it relatively untouched.

Naturally, it had been ransacked, but given the state of the cafeteria, our room looked like paradise. I rushed over to the closet that belonged to Mom and Dad, and pulled the box out from the corner. In the container sat the 10mm pistol and a box of ammunition, as well as a holotape. The tape had “Play me” written on it. I loaded the gun and put the holotape, bullets, and spare medical supplies in the saddlebags I had. Next stop: the Pip-buck technician’s room.

The Pip-buck was an amazing binding of technology with the arcane realm, a sturdy device capable of automatically listing locations on a map, giving you vital readings, and even inventory management. They had a built in holotape player, and I needed some way to listen to Dad’s tape. And the hardened casing around the Pip-buck would be extremely beneficial if I had to bash something over the head. As I continued down the hallway, I took note of an odd skittering sound in the ceiling. The sign in the hallway indicated that I was close to the technician’s room.

Some steps later, I opened the door and was greeted with a grisly sight. The technician’s skeleton was laid back agaisnt her work table, her legs spread open. The worst part yet was the fact that her upper skull was missing and there was a lot of dried, semi-red material all over the workbench. However; all the Pip-bucks seemed to be strangely untouched. Guess murdering, raping marauders aren’t interested in them. I looked through each of Pip-buck, all varying in model and condition. After each of them failed to peak my interest, I noticed the blown open safe in the corner of the room. Inside was a Pip-buck that looked nicer than any others I had seen before. It had to be a new model.

I attached the contraption to my only forehoof, and was surprised to see something in my eyes. I audibly screamed but caught myself after a bunch of little red dots appeared in the center of my vision above what I thought was a compass. The dots scrambled for a bit before slowly moving in a solid line. Then I heard the skittering again.

Suddenly, the air vent in the roof of the room crashed to the floor as four exceedingly large bugs dropped from the ceiling and jumped towards me. The first one bit into my side, the stinging pain from its mandibles almost outdoing the seething pain from my severed hoof. The gun completely leaving my mind, my magic wrapped around one of the nearby Pip-bucks as I slammed it into the bug twice. A second bug advanced and I smashed the device into this one as well. I continued to pummel each mutant until all that was left of each one was a crushed exoskeleton and lots of green goop. I had to give the designer of the Pip-buck props for making such a hardy device. With the red dots gone, I looked through what the Pip-buck I had on my hoof. One healing potion, a bandage, one 10mm pistol, 17 spare rounds, and the holotape. I needed to leave this place before something else shows up.

I had made a terrifying discovery within the timekeeping feature on the Pip-buck. I had been asleep for almost 200 years! No wonder why the entire Stable was in such an awful condition. At that moment, all I wanted was to lay down and go to sleep, and hopefully wake up to find my mom looking over me, watching as a guardian angel over my fitful rest, to wake up from this dreadful nightmare. However, some part of me knew that this was all very real. I needed to do is leave before I became part of this museum of bones.

I followed the signs towards the entry room of our Stable and found the large, cog like door that separated the Stable from the elevator still sitting open. Apparently, our attackers decided to leave the door open and our home exposed just to pour salt into the wound. The open, rose colored wound the Stable had suffered. Oh Celestia, poor Rose. I couldn’t even be angry, not like the ponies who had killed her, Mom, and Dad and everypony else were still alive. Nopony lived for 200 years. Unless they were as unlucky as me.

My eyes fixed on the terminal that was sitting in the entry room. I trotted over to it only to find that it was password protected. I was disappointed until I remembered Dad’s holotape. I pressed the tape into my Pip-buck and listened to the recording intently.

“Topaz, Hope, if either of you two are listening to this, then something has happened to me or the situation in the Stable has escalated completely out of control.” My dad’s gruff yet caring voice perforated the silence that had overtaken everything. “I have a list here of all the codes that you’ll need to find safety, and if necessary, leave the Stable. The entry code for the security armory is ‘5B43U’, the password to the Overstallion’s office is ‘K73S7V’, and the override for the terminal controlling both Stable doors, 1UN4. Take care, both of you. I love you.” As the audio cut out, I wiped the tears from my eyes and typed the password into the terminal. I was granted access with a resounding beep! I selected the option to send the Stable elevator, and heard the gears grind to life.

As I began to walk out onto the platform that would bring me to the surface, I turned towards the Stable that I had called my home for the past 200 years. I wished this was all just an awful nightmare. I wished that once those doors that seal the elevator off from the outside open, I’ll just be looking up at my mother with that motherly gaze of hers. However, my longing was ceased as the jolt of the platform beginning its ascent pulled me back to reality. The structure that was my home slowly descended from my view, and I turned to gaze upon the gap above me as the doors opened.

The first real light that my eyes had experienced in two centuries blinded them temporarily. Unfortunately, once they had adjusted, I was immensely disappointed to find that the entire world was overcast with grey, gloomy clouds. Where was the sunlight, the singing birds, the pegasi? It was all missing. I felt like I had emerged into an alien planet. The landscape was completely barren, broken and crumbling buildings all around, any semblance of happiness gone from the world. Which surprised me when I saw a stallion walking around at the base of the hill.

I slowly crept towards him, wary of ponies due to those ones in the yellow suits that had turned my life onto its head. Once I was close enough, it sounded like he was speaking to somepony. I hid behind a crate that was within 10 steps of him, and could finally make out what he was saying.

“No, Zara. We are not going to look in the stable. Stable-tec conducted awful experiments on the ponies unfortunate to live in these things. We have no way of knowing what could be there.” The stallion was a deep cherry red, with cyan eyes and a sun yellow mane and tail. He had a scar on his nose that arced towards his left eye. His voice was soft, and had a caring tone to it. He spoke with compassion and overprotectiveness to this Zara pony.

“Come now, hun. What’s the sheer possibility that this stable is full of bad things? It could be one of the ones where they didn’t experiment on anything? Even if it’s something as tame as teaching that mares aren’t as important as stallions.” I’m sure this was Zara speaking now. She sounded as if she genuinely cared about seeing if there was life in there. There was something strange about the way she talked though. Was it the weird ‘r’ rolling? I didn’t know. I stood up quickly with the intent of walking somewhere else, but as I did so, I scraped my nub of a hoof along the box and screamed out in pain.

“Did you hear that?” Zara asked in a worried tone.

“Yes, we need to get going. Come on” The stallion calmly responded.

“But it sounded like a little filly! What if they’re hurt?”

“Raiders and slavers use foals as bait, Zara. We’re leaving.”

“Eulogy, we are not going to leave a poor filly to suffer!”

So his name was Eulogy. I contemplated running as he resigned from his argument and began to walk towards where I was hidden, but I chose to stay. He poked his head over the box and laid his eyes on me, a mangy, blood soaked, stable dwelling colt, quivering more than a filly on their first Nightmare Night.

“You really are just a foal. What happened to you?” I just shook as he spoke to me, unsure of what to do. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. Come here, I need to see your hoof.” He stepped forward and scooped me up with his left forehoof, cradling me against his side as he walked back to where he stood originally, finally allowing me to see Zara.

“Zebra! There’s a zebra!” I started screaming and squirming, which caused Eulogy to drop me. I was so frightened at the sight of her that I hid underneath the stallion.

“This is what I was afraid of. The stable dweller still has racist fears against zebras.” Eulogy sighed. I looked up at him and back at the zebra. She kept her distance, but she didn’t gaze to me with the barbarism and brutality that had been taught in our schools. Instead she looked to me with care and understanding. She didn’t hate me like we had been taught all zebras did.

Regardless, she was still a zebra! This one must have been lying to try and make me foolishly trust her. I tried to levitate the pistol out of my saddlebags so that I could put down this striped menace. However, before I could do anything, Eulogy pinned my head against the ground beneath his hoof while his other forehoof held the gun down. I could hear him audibly growling as I continued to squirm against his weight.

“Eulogy, don’t hurt him! He’ll never trust either of us if you keep him pinned like that.” I couldn’t see the zebra, but she was somewhere close to me. If only Eulogy would move his hoof.

“He’s trying to shoot you! Are you saying that I should just let him kill you, the one mare who I would give everything I have for?” Why was he saying these things? Why wouldn’t he let me kill her?

“Let him stand up, but keep the gun down. I can earn his trust without you threatening him.” I felt the pressure on my skull lift off as I looked to the zebra mare standing in front of me. She held her hoof out, and as I stood to face her, she once more didn’t look to me with hatred or seething rage or an urge to slaughter me. Rather, I received a look that only certain ponies were able to give. A mother’s gaze.

I stepped out from under Eulogy and sat in front of him as I reached my only forehoof towards Zara, connecting mine to hers. I found myself smiling as she smiled back to me. The mare picked me up and sat me on her back as she nuzzled Eulogy.

“What’s your name, little pony?” Zara questioned as she and Eulogy both turned to me.

“My name’s Topaz. It was my mom’s favorite gemstone.” I choked up as I said the last piece.

“Where’s your mom?” Zara asked, her voice full of concern. I said nothing.

“Where are your parents, Topaz?” Eulogy pressed. I didn’t want to go over the awful details of the past 200 years.

“My..” Tears began to well up in my eyes. “My parents were killed after these ponies in the yellow radiation suits attacked our stable. Both of them died so that I could be kept alive.” I motioned to my cut off hoof.

“Sweet Celestia..” Zara used the expression as if it was entirely native to her.

“How long ago did this happen?” Eulogy looked as if her legitimately cared about two century old dead ponies.

“Two.. Hundred years ago. My mom put me in this pod thing before she died. The talisman burnt out and I only thawed out just a few hours ago.” Both of them stared at me with shock and surprise.

“You’re older than most of the ponies around!” Zara stated in awe.

“My home is gone, my family is gone..” I sniffed as I looked at Zara and Eulogy. “Can I live with you?” They both turned to each other before looking back to me.

“Of course you can, Topaz. We need somepony else for our family.” Zara explained. “Hun, does that pony with the cybernetics still owe you for that one time?” Eulogy gave a reassuring nod. A large smile began to creep across my face.

“Then” Zara paused to look at me. “Let’s go home.”

Author's Note

Level up! Cryostasis adaptance - Due to time spend in a cryogenic freezer, you are now more resistant to cryogenics and energy attacks! Take 20% less damage from cryogenics and 15% less damage from energy attacks.

Massive thanks to Kkat for inspiring me to write as well as giving me permission to write this story, Stellae for helping make sure this is all correct as well as making it all something worth reading, and all my awesome friends. I love you guys so much!