Equestria was a peaceful land that seemed to be incapable at getting into fights they were friends with all of the species surrounding them except the zebras, the zebras were always the bottom of the barrel they were always ignored if they had a idea that would helps large number of ponies and after the zebras realised that they were being used they decided that enough was enough and broke the peace treaty they had with equestria but not with the other nations as they would not be powerful enough to take on the entire world so they tried to get in the good books of all of the powerful nations and tried to show they could manage without the ponies.
This didn't go well as the ponies started using the other races like the griffins and dragons to funnel supplies back to them and they did this successfully.
Until the murder of a high ranking unicorn called Script Writer and the royal guards he was with were knocked out and seemed to be drugged and a poisoned blade was used and pierced the heart of Script Writer.
This caused an uproar as the Zebras were known for using poison on there weapons and the relationship between them did not help in the slightest as Celestia and Luna were appalled at the news and and threatened to start a war between the two nations this forced the zebras to raise their military power and started to research new weapons and new ways of killing if it did come to a war.
Equestria had the ministries and the zebras had the Senjata Besar who were specially trained to produce weapons as these were zebras who were raised in equestria and worked in factories in the main weapon producing cities like canterlot, hoofington and Manehattan, when this murder happened prejudice started to spread and any zebra or zony was instantly bullied and attacked even if they didn't agree with the leaders of either nation these zebras went back to the zebra lands and tried to help the nation by using what they had learnt to further the technology of the zebras from poisoned dart and daggers to guns and bombs and eventually they had a balefire megaspell and dropped it onto all parts of equestria.
I put the book down as i was sick of reading the same banned material that we were left with in stable 11 we were where all of the stuff that wasn't wanted was placed they only built a few, 1 in every 100 stables and my family were lucky to be one of the first in as we were just out hunting and then the sirens blared and they ran as they knew it was built and ready for habitation they got in and survived the apocalypse.
200 years later here we are in a stable consisting of us Thestrals who are ridiculed for being somewhat pony like but apart from hooves we had next to nothing in common with them as we were carnivores and ponies while they could stomach meat most if not all were off put by the thought of eating meat we could see in the dark they couldn't, we could fly silently compared to pegasi and we were much supior fighters so we were nothing like those ponies.
Changelings were quiet which was good as we rarely ever saw them and ever since I was young I had a deep hatred of them as I was always nervous of them replacing my brother Midnight and my sister Mitternacht or Mitter which none of the changelings knew was her nickname so we would sneak it in to conversations in which it would be ways lf telling if a changeling had replaced her, my nickname was Fanks so she it would say it instead of thanks and people thought it was a lisp so we could switch if I suspected her. But the main reason I hated changelings is they were always watching and it was like they never sleep always walking on all surfaces or just standing stareing at us they would also look at each other and would never communicate which was the creepiest. Uhhh just thinking about it makes me shiver.
Griffins were pure predators but that also came with an ego and a love for possession which having both them and dragons was surprising we had lasted 2 years let alone 200 years but this stable was fitted with a fake field and slaughter house for the animals that 3 of our species had to eat to survive, the dragons quickly asserting dominance over the food and the Griffins took over the security which lead to a lot of fights which if they involved a thestral or a changeling Normally ended bloody but by the time you are 5 You have seen more blood then most ponies see in their lifetime we take it in turns skinning the animals for food as griffins don't enjoy having to clean their feathers 3 times a day.
My name is True Fang my coat is dark blue my mane is black I have yellow eyes but no cutie Mark which is kind of strange for stable 11 thestrals as we are not always going to have a military cutie Mark so i flank is bare.
My family are one of the highest ranking thestral family as my great great great yada yada grandfather was one of Luna's personal guards and had a spot in the princess' vault but he was out hunting with his wife and bad to take shelter in stable 11 and back then it was almost like 4 stables as each species had its own section to sleep in because of different preferences for sleeping so us thestrals slept in pitch black darkness.
Us thestrals were used as the security guards as we were the only species to be nearly entirely raised to be guards for Princess Luna so we were trusted to be fair and unbiased, it was hard to be biased when your species hated all of the other species so we were fair, strict but fair.
I had turned 17 recently and I was happy as today was Luna Appreciation Day which meant we got first dibs on the food so I knew I was going to get a large leg of beef so I woke up looked at the calender and my mouth immediately started to salivate and I had to wipe my mouth with a forehoof and I quickly let go of the bar that I was hanging from as we all slept upside down which was safer as we could hide from other predators in the wild and also we would camouflage when we had are eyes closed as all thestrals have dark coloured coats and some level of echolocation but few were masters of it as my Luna serving great many times grandfather's name was Silent Echo as he could apparently know layouts and positioning of people without even entering buildings.
I had woke as we had no sunlight or moonlight we just woke when we heard the new day chime which signalled 12:00 every morning and every morning it was time for us to switch with the griffins as they roost for the early hours of the day which leads to a few early bird gets the worm jokes from the fathers of the stable because you know dad jokes but those jokes had stopped being actual funny jokes probably when the stable door shut.
I approached the bulliten board which had a timeline for the security guards and I was to guard the reactor, I sunk immediately as this might as well have been a punishment as 2 members of the stable went down their and they were the most boring, nerdy changelings ever they were called Mini and Miney and they were not only twins but both were the girliest creatures I have ever known they rarely ever talk and the only time they use their mouths to speak is to giggle or to ask me a question which is either needlessly sexual or the classic "do I look good" I don't know you barely change very time I see either of you oh Luna they make me so angry.
The walk to the reactor was boring as the dragons remained in their quarters as they were isolationists and few would come out to do the necessary jobs for the whole of the stable. Although I did see the only changelings who seems to talk regularly Antennae or Ant as he liked to be called and he would always walk and try to spend as much time with me while I was on patrol as nobody would really attack because anyone who damaged the stable hurt themselves as much as they hurt the rest of us.
"Hey Fang, reactor patrol?" Ant said with a smug grin that barely showed his fangs, "yeah so I am going to be late to lunch and it is Luna Appreciation Day" I slumped as we walked, Ant looks at me "why do you celebrate that day if Luna isn't around to celebrate?" "Because she is the reason our species amounted to anything, because without her we would probably be savages who fight over each meal like a pack of hungry Manticores" I say looking straight into those solid balls of colour that are his eyes he shrugs and says "Hey I was just asking we don't celebrate like the day chyrsylis nearly took over equestria or the birth of her or anything like that" he says as we approach the staircase that leads down to the reactor level, "Ant what is wrong with your species? Why do they never speak and just stand there watching?" I ask as I just needed to get that question off of my back and Ant quickly replies "All changelings within a certain area are able to talk to each other inside of their head almost like a hivemind without the leader" I look at him clueless "if I say hello in my head other changelings can say hello back if they are close enough" he says as he dumbs it down to my level "thanks we never get taught about your race as they were only ever perceived as the villains who sneak into towns and slowly replace everyone until few are left and they discover the plot and get swarmed by the replaced ponies..." I look at Ant as he looks at me annoyed and I don't realise it at first but then it hits me or by it I mean Ant's chitin covered forehoof, "ow what was that for?" I say as I rub the spot on the back of my neck where he hit me, "you were droning on so I had to put a stop to it because if you had done that while around Mini and Miney you would have never heard the end of it." I laugh nervously as he tells me what I was doing " thanks I need to stop doing that."
The rest of that walk was in relative silence with little bits of conversation about what Ant was doing today as he was usually put in charge of food prep but a thestral was because of Luna Appreciation Day so he wasn't on food so he had no idea so he was going to remain with me until some other security guard came and got him.
When we arrived at the reactor I noticed that both Mini and Miney were not here yet "I wonder where those 2 are?" I ask quickly checking in the control room, nope empty even rubbish from 2 months ago were down here from my last time being on reactor patrol it looked like it had been abandoned and the I noticed something "Hey Ant can you come and look at this for a minute" he slowly trots over and I realise that apart from the occasional spark of electricity and a quiet hum of the reactor itself it was completely silent "what is it Fang?" He asks as he approached the monitor of the terminal eyes going wide as soon as he reads what is on the screen
To: Crimson
I have planted the device in the reactor so it detonate at 12:00pm on Luna Appreciation Day, I really hope what you say will happen after the device detonates does happen I would hate to live in a world like that, that must have been what it was like to live during the great war.
I am shocked but want to see if there is anything else on this conversation between these 2.
To: X
I am happy you trust me because we need all the trust we can get in this wasteland full of its parasitic taint and the invisible fires of radiation.
You need to plant that device it will set off 24 hrs after it is planted and believe me you do not want to be near the stable when it explodes.
Plant it inside the reactor so it is hard to remove if you go just before midnight you will avoid any guards and the reactor will be very lowly powered so you will only receive a minor shock while doing it.
To: Crimson
I trust you and if I can save this world please allow me and tell me what to do.
To: X
If you are having trouble thinking that you need to do this imagine what happens if all of these monsters get out into the wasteland they could form their own army and so would be next to impossible to beat in any sort of fight.
You might be different from the rest of them and that is why I trust you will do the right thing when the time comes you could sacrifice a few hundred so tens of thousands could live full perfect lives without any worries.
But you need to trust me X.
I change to the next one but before I start reading it i look at the time on my pip buck and it is 2am so if the bomb is planted we will still have 10 hours to stop it I notice that their is only a couple of entries left so I download them to my pip buck to read later after we diffuse this bomb, if we diffuse the bomb I gulp hoping this won't be the end of us.
I start to approach the door to the reactor as I see on the EFS or Eyes-Foward Sparkle that a bunch of red blips are nearby so I just stand there in shock as I hear a lot of clip clopping of hooves and the click clacking of claws approaching and my eyes widen as the door opens to see the head of Security a descendant of a prison warden a Griffin called Solitary Confinement.
He quickly orients the guards around so that they are surrounding us completely as he approaches us "You scum ridden disgraces do you really think you could get away with what you are planning" he says pointing a talon at me while 2 more griffins flank me ready to attack if I made a bold move, Confinement resumes "you really thought you could plant a bomb without anyone knowing and you could get away without anyone being any the wiser, that is what I love about you criminals you are always so shocked when we find out your plan and act all surprised and innocent when the bad guys always lose."
He starts to lead us out with the flanking griffins remaining in the same formation. "what are you talking about i just came down here for my patrol check the bulletin board if you don't believe me" i say as i try to stop walking but get budged forward by the griffins behind me Confinement just laughs at me "no i believe you were supposed to do that but you planned for the bomb to go off while you were patrolling making you look non the wiser like you were just an innocent little bystander" he spits in my face while looking directly into my eyes and making me sink back as my ears fold back on my head in fear as Solitary Confinement was always the last person you would want to anger because he woluld always threaten to throw us out into the radioactive crater they he thought the world was but from reading the few of those entries on the terminal it wasn't so if crimson was to be understood and even if they wanted to blow up our stable she had to be telling some truths in them, "no i haven't been down to the reactor level in months" and he pushes me back even further as if he is staring into my soul "you are in such disbelief that you would doom the hope of all of our species on your own selfish beliefs that destroying all of us is the best" i try to find the words but they are pushed out along with a fist to the gut from Confinement as i double over with my legs just giving out from underneath me and i hear Ant behind me "hey that is out of order he has done nothing wrong" any retort they had was hidden behind the fist to the gut to ant and a quick follow through from the batons of the security guards as they beat him he handles it better because of his chitin but multiple blows from a baton and cause damage to anything.
"i am sick of dealing with these terrorists they are wasting time, just throw them out but rough them up a bit because i am want them to be begging for the radiation to put an end to their pathetic lives" Confinement says as he walks off and the griffins who are with us smile darkly at each other and leap at us both i am pinned down by all 4 limbs with the griffins size advantage he manages to keep me pressed to the ground and starts to go wild on my rib cage with his talons and his baton i feel air escape my lungs and the cracking of my ribs i just hope my lungs don't collapse because even though i might not be the smartest thestral or creature in the stable but i know that collapsed lungs are bad news the same with punctured lungs or anything punctured for that matter. i look over at Ant just as the griffin that was 'roughing us up' swing his baton full power right into the eye socket of Ant and i just hear a squelch and a scream of pain as his eye pops i see his body slump as he covers his eye socket with a hoof and as i look at him i start to see red i start to thrash and i look at the griffin holding me down and he goes to punch me in my muzzle and i time my jaw correctly and bite down on his talons and one thing about a thestral is we have one of the strongest bites of all of the species on the whole of planet Equus.
The Griffin tries to force my mouth and fangs off of its talons but all that succeeds in doing is allowing my fangs to sink deeper and I start to get the salty coppery taste blood rush over all of my tastebuds and my preditorial instincts make me want more so I start to pull back and tear off his claws and he takes his paws off of my back legs and I buck him in succeeding to tear of his talons as he stares at his stump and quickly faints from a combination of shock and blood loss.
I lick my lips to get all the remaining blood on my lips off if there is more and can groom myself when we get to somewhere safe but now I need to help Ant so I narrow my eyes and stare him down letting a low growl rise in my throat and I see the Griffin's eyes widen in fear of why happened to his companion as he sees the blood staining my fangs and the torn talons of the other Griffin and he starts to get into a really defensive stance and I just growl and stare right into his eyes as I lower myself into a pouncing stance and he starts to back up I growl at him "let him GO and get out before I have some seconds" I say licking my fangs trying to look as menacingly as possible, it works as the Griffin moves so fast that I see some feathers get left behind him and I quickly go to check up on Ant and his eye.
Oh goddess his eye, his eye looked like a smooshed grape and I realise that it needs to be bandaged I panic and look around for anything to use my vision rests on the severed hand of the Griffin and I notice I tore of most of the lower arm with some of the padding under the boarding exposed so I work quickly as I try to get it to stop the bleeding as I try to wake Ant up nudging at him with my muzzle "Ant, Ant we need to move Confinement will be coming back soon" I see his good non bandaged eye slightly open and he must be weak so I try to give him some emotion "Ant feed you need energy and we need to move now" I say as I start to panic as the adrenaline starts to wear off, I hear a weak chuckle and a slight tugging sensation on my mind in a slight whisper he says "don't panic I don't like the taste of panic" the more he drains he starts to sit up and says sounding a bit stronger with the draining sensation ending "you'll have to carry me I don't want to start walking with one eye and fall" I huff but concede "okay climb up but can you flap your wings to lighten your load so I can keep my speed" i see him nod and climb onto my back and as soon as he slumps over my back i hear a faint buzzing and as soon as i start hearing the buzzing sound i start to run i notice that we are on to the second floor and i know that we just have to have a pipbuck to open the stable door so i make sure that it wasn't broken and after a quick look it turns out it is fine and i cheer quietly and quickly resume running and while i am running up the stairs to the entrance floor i past Mitter and i quickly say to her "Mitter i have to leave the stable i can't explain but keep away from the head of security because he thinks i am a terrorist so me and Ant are going to have to leave." i quickly spit out and nuzzle her and start to run but she says "let me come Fangs please" she says using my nickname "i wish i could but we are leaving the stable and you are too young, please stay here and try to change this stable for the best." i say with tears in my eyes and i start to run to get out fast before the security start trying to get us.
we approach the door as a siren starts and i realise that means that all of the security guards will be coming for us so i quickly rear up and put my forelegs on the door controls and using my mouth unplug the file transfer plug and insert it and i see the screen change with some text appearing
Stable 11 door controls activated
READY TO OPEN
i see the hatch covering the button open and quickly smash the button and as the door opens i see confinement and as I back up to the door of the stable as it opens I see something that I never thought I would see in Confinement's eyes and that was fear as everyone in the stable thought that the outside was certain death with no hopes of surviving so the more I back up his eyes continue to widen as he looks at me with fear in his eyes "you're crazy, no you are batshit insane if you walk out there you are going to die."
I jump out and see Confinement press the door controls and the door begins its long shutting process "better out here then in there" I say as I turn around to take in the wasteland that surrounds me.
The first thing I realised is it was still quite early in the morning as it was dark but not pitch black like if it was midnight.
A part of me was excited that I was outside the stable but then I realised that I was outside the stable and not only that but I had a badly injured changeling with a popped eye and me with some bruised ribs and i mabye didn't look the most trustworthy with blood on my muzzle and with a bleeding semi-concious changeling on my back, I try to move and manage to move slowly until I notice that my back has gotten heavier.
Let me retract my former statement a FULLY unconscious changeling on my back, I feel pain shorting through my chest but I know I have to keep walking and as we slowly trot through the streets of Trottingham I notice that it is perfectly quiet and this silence quickly bores me so I start to move quicker to get somewhere that isn't silent and quickly realise that that is a bad idea as i feel all of the air escape my lungs, I feel my legs start to buckle and I try to take another step and that results in me collapsing I am out of breath and me and Ant both cannot walk so I look at my EFS and sigh in some sort of relief as there is no marks on the compass so I try to relax but that is hard but that is hard when you have a tap dance going on in your chest and Ant probably is not in a better position as he has lost vision inside one of his eyes so I don't vocalize my pain.
I try to start a conversation with Ant "hey you holding up alright" he quickly sits up and looks at me with a combination of anger and sorrow in his stare "no i ain't i have been kicked out of my stable i have left my hive alone and just put the cherry on top of this shit sundae i have lost my eye, so yes i am having a great time" he says sarcasticly with a bit of anger in it but i know his anger isn't directed at me.
I try to crawl over to him to allow him to feed on me as i would be his only source of food for a while so i might as well get used to the feeling of him feeding off of me "here you feed of me at the very least one of us should have some strength for any fights we have to have so might as well be you, you magic copy bug" i say with a smile as i use a silly childish insult at him.
While i was feeding him i must have passed out because all of a sudden it was day time and Ant was standing up i also heard another voice "what are you two and tell me why i shouldn't shoot you" i look up and see a unicorn pointing a long box with handle i try to get up "hey what's going.. Oh" i say collapsing mid way through trying to get up i hear Ant talk but try to save my energy so i don't look "please i'll tell you but can you please heal us or take us to someplace better then this please we are injured, weak and unarmed" he says with obvious fear in his voice.
I hear a sigh "i'll probably get punished for this but help me get your friend in the caravan and i'll take you to the nearest settlement you can get some healing potions there just hope you have the caps." Ant looks at him confused as they walk over and place me on the unicorn's back and i notice he has a green coat with a yellow mane i can't see his cutie mark as i have been placed facing the wrong way i quickly ask him "what do you mean caps?" i ask as they place me in the back of this caravan and i see Ant climb in as well and the unicorn answers my question with some skepticism "how do you not know what caps are, by injured did you hit your head at all" he says and Ant answers "sorry but we are fresh out off a vault which we were kicked out off by a pissy, egotistical head of security griffin and we haven't explored at all as we both seemed to have taken it in turns being unconscious" Ant says sounding dead serious the unicorn shrugs as he walks off to the front of his caravan "fair enough, caps are what we use as money in the wasteland if you find a bottle cap take it, simple as that." i look at him shocked is the world that bad that bottlecaps have become the new world's currency.
"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself the name is Long Haul my name says what I do, so you don't need to ask" he says almost like an advertisement.
"Yeah where are you taking us because we can let our injuries get infected" he quickly replies "we are heading to a small town called Facto it is called that because it is in an old industrial sector so they built it in a lot of factories."
"You said earlier when you were talking to Ant that you have never seen creatures like us" Long haul looks at me "yeah I've been all around and i have never seen anything like you two" he says as he keeps looking at us while slowly trotting forward. "I am a Thestral or Batpony and my friend Ant is a changeling. We are from Stable 11 which was full of us along with griffins and dragons" i say as my head slumps along with my wings as i realise i am probably never going to see my brother and sister again but i know that it is safer for me to stay away from stable 11 as i don't know if Midnight and Mitter would last out here. "What is with that somber look on your face" Long Haul stared at me with a questioning stare i reply "nothing just thinking about the stable because i woke up went to do a security patrol and all of a sudden the head of security tells me i am a terrorist and me and my friend are beaten and we are forced to leave" Long Haul looks at us with a skeptical look "are you a terrorist?" he looks at us and is probably trying to figure out where his weapons are "no we ain't we found that someone in our stable was conspiring with someone from the outside to blow up our stable, someone probably a pony called crimson" i say explaining our situation to Long Haul as he keeps looking at us quizzically, i decide that know is a good time to read the rest of the entries from the terminal in the reactor control room.
To: Crimson
I think i made the bomb correctly are you sure this is the only way to stop bad things from happening to equestria, if i do this won't i have to leave the stable i have a family hear and i don't want to leave them to die.
To: X
You have to keep me a secret as if you told the overmare she would proceed to cause some bad things to happen to the rest of equestria.
You need to make a bomb to stop bad things from happening.
Here is a recipe for a small improvised explosive follow these instructions carefully and plant it inside the reactor do it before midnight so security is not down there.
1 fission battery
4 large bullets from the armoury
20 cm of wire
1 timer which can be set for over 15 hours
The rest of the entry showed the recipe for how to make it it was basically attach this to this, tie them together and be careful not to make it explode too early, i decide to keep it as if the wasteland is bad explosives can be helpful.
There is only a couple more entries i proceed to read them.
To: Crimson
How am i supposed to bring down a stable with 500 creature which are larger then me even other thestrals are not as big as me.
Why do i have to do this? Why can't i tell the overmare she can help
To: X
To who ever is reading this i am Crimson you have to keep this message a secret because i have a huge task to ask of you.
Can you please eliminate this stable as it is a danger to Equestria.
If you don't reply this message will delete in 1 hour.
These entries if anything have made me more confused about what was going on with this Crimson but I learnt that X was also a thestral as she referred to the thestrals as the other thestral which meant all but themselves but that still left 124 other thestrals in the stable as i was not X so there was still a lot of thestrals it could be.
When we arrived at Facto i was shocked at how beautiful something in this wasteland could be with the bright orange glow from what must have been the forges that were used in here before the war and were probably restarted when Facto was founded. I saw ponies all around us trading and just chatting with each other and if most of the towns were like this won't be so bad, but i know that is just a dream nothing is perfect especially in a world like this.
Long Haul decides to give us a quick tour while walking us through "welcome to Facto, nice little town but don't piss them off or else they will be your worst enemy. The clinic i am sending you is Cauterizer's clinic run by a little pony by the name of Laughing Gas they is the closest thing to a doctor that is in Facto so be happy they will be treating you and not someone like me who barely has any medical experience." he takes a pause probably allowing us to remember the name of the doctor Laughing Gas he resumes "if you want to trade there is a square for that stuff in between the 4 factories that make up Facto. I have a little store called Long Haul if you need stuff hauled across the wasteland i am always ready to do so." he says finishing his little bit of self promotion he sighs i wonder how many times he has had to do that to other ponies.
"Long Haul is there a bulletin board or someway to get a job because we are some caps because we can't rely on free help and begging" Long haul looks at us and nods his head at a building on the second floor "that up there is called Crash, Bang and Wallop those three ponies are always hiring and giving out jobs but if you do get jobs from them be prepared for a few weird conversations as they are identical triplets and you have to know their cutie mark but you see the cutie marks and you will remember." i nod in thanks and we arrive at Cauterizer's and he helps me walk in as my body isn't screaming for me to sit down or i will pass out but i am probably not far of doing that.
The clinic was empty which could mean good things as this town could be safe, there was only a couple of medical beds and a bunch of medical boxes probably filled with tons of medical supplies, and what of this doctor were they make of female I did not expect what came through the door.
A little unicorn filly dressed in medical scrubs that had little spots of blood around that I hope was not from annoying customers I saw her cutie Mark and it was a canister of something so I wondered what it meant was it even medical or was it balloon modelling? Did they even have balloons anymore? Many questions but for now I asked her "are you Laughing Gas" I ask with a cock of my head and she quickly scowls at me "what just because I am a filly I can't be a doctor" says as she gets a good look at me and then smiles fully suddenly "Oh. My. Goddesses are you a thestral, like a full blooded thestral?" She says as she starts fangirling and as soon as I nod she starts coming over and examining me and starts listing off questions like "Do you drink blood?" "Are you purely Nocturnal?" "What are the tufts on your ears for?" And many more very quickly so I place my free hoof on her mouth and say to her "I will answer your questions but please heal me and my friend we are carrying injuries and we need healing badly" I say and she stops inspecting my body and shifts into professional mode "ok I will heal but I would like a full interview because we don't know anything about thestrals apart from the fact they were Luna's guard before the war and they all vanished until you showed up. So where is your friend?" I realise Ant didn't follow me in "Ant come in here and we can get your eye cleaned and hopefully properly bandaged."
I see Laughing Gas furrow her grow probably confused at the name Ant so you can guess her reaction when he walked in without a disguise I see her go into fangirl mode again but I place my hoof on her mouth again "he will answer some questions but sort his eye out because he has had some random cloth over it for nearly" I look at my pip buck "12 hours give or take don't want it to get infected now do we" I say looking at her hoping she can help she nods "I can clean it and give you an eyepatch because if it is as bad as your thestral friend says ain't no saving it" she frowns in sadness and walks up to Ant and when she lifts the makeshift bandage she screams and gags in disgust and when I have a close look o nearly have the same reaction.
His eye had deflated like a balloon and was leaking a green blood like substance on the bandage but what was worst is it kept twitching in from him trying to blink and look around. After a few minutes Gas calmed down and started to apply some disinfectant to the wound and while she was doing this she asked "what happened, I might not know changeling biology but that isn't normal" she says gesturing towards the eye I sigh "Ok this story will take a while so please don't interrupt me. Ok" she nods.
"When the stables were built 200 years ago many of them were only for ponies or one race of pony, stable Tec didn't lime this so they built what were referred to as 'oddity vaults' these were for any non ponies. In our stable Stable 11 there was Thestrals, Changelings, Griffins and dragons the stable was a normal stable apart from the kitchen and the farm, do you now what we eat?" She nods and says "Thestrals are Carnivores and Changelings are Emotivores" I nod and continue "so I was on security in the reactor and on my way to my patrol me and Ant start talking. When we arrive at the reactor it is empty even though 2 changeling engineers were supposed to be down there so we started looking and found some entries that show that someone was communicating with our stable telling someone to blow up the stable and they planted a bomb." I stop to take a breath and choke back a tear as my thoughts start to go to Midnight, Mitternacht and my Mother Loving Care, she was the head of the medical department and I hadn't even got to say goodbye, Solitary has probably made her think I was the terrorist. I feel a hoof on my shoulder and it is Ant, Gas is wrapping his eye in bandages and had an eyepatch ready to put over his eye, she is trying to keep a professional attitude to the situation but her curiosity is getting the better of her.
All of a sudden the door pops open as a Earth pony with a orange mane and a white coat comes in with a smoking gun and quickly looks at me and Gas "Gas you are needed its urgent I did it again" he says panicking and hyperventilating, I see Gas eyes widen and she picks up some medical supplies and I follow her and even for her size it is hard to keep up with her we get to the front gate and some unicorns are huddled around a prone form of a small pony probably a filly and we quickly approach and as soon as I see who it is My jaw could not have hit the ground any faster.
It was Mitternacht. What was she doing out here? Had Confinement Blamed her too and kicked her out? I could think about that she was injured so she needed help all other thoughts needed to be evacuated from my head. "Mitter oh god what has Confinement done to you" I see the bullet has passed through her shoulder but luckily she is still breathing so I lay down as she needs body warmth I wrap my wing around her protecting her from any cold air I see 2 ponies approach Gas and the white and orange stallion from the clinic I see red.
I leap up and get in an aggressive stance spitting at him with venom in my words "YOU" his eyes widen in fear "What have you done" my wings flare out in a show of dominance as I continue to approach while keeping an eye on Mitter as I see Gas treating her, the stallion stutters "I.. I....I'm s.. Sorry I have n.." I press my face I to his slit pupils staring into the soul of this stallion as he starts to panic his ears are laid back on his head "if she doesn't make it out of this with anything more then a scar then I am going to come and tear your throat out you Noctrali Maaltijd you are going to dr" Gas and Ant say in sync " FANG STOP!" Ant gets in front of me and pushes me away as I continue to growl at him baring my fangs in the most aggresive posture I could force.
I walk up to Mitter and see that her shoulder has been bandaged and a bullet has been removed and she is lucky that it didn't hit anything serious and when I spot him I growl and he curls into a ball and is sobbing uncontrollably I lay down beside and look at Gas "sorry about that Thestrals are really protective over family and yes this is my little sister Mitternacht her name is Germane for Midnight because that is my little brother's name so that is sorted as the painkiller you have me are wearing off" I say as the pain slowly starts to come back, my instincts tell me to stay close to Mitter so I curl up next to her and place my wing over her and lick her neck to show her that a family member is nearby as that is a thestral family tradition, I see Gas look over at her curiously as I stand up and place her on my back and mouth "later" she nods in understanding and we start back towards the Cauterizer's Clinic.
We arrive at the clinic and I placed Mitter down onto the medical bed and I laid down behind her trying to provide her with heat and to act like a pillow while she rested until I needed to sleep but that was not for a while because of all the remaining adrenaline coursing through my body and the pain slowly starts to come back after the painkillers start to wear off and I look over at Laughing Gas and she is obviously in a position to ask some of the questions she wanted to earlier today so I nod at her and say "let's get this over with" she giggles and asks the first question.
"What is the purpose of the tufts on your ears, do they provide you with better hearing or do they keep you warm in colder temperatures?" I sigh as this was always asked of us in Stable 11 by the other races "Thestrals can speak in a pitch which the average pony is unable to hear, the tufts provide us with the ability to hear it, also it does provide us with better hearing in general" she nods and scribbles it down in her magic.
"I know I said you are carnivores but do you drink blood for sustenance?" I again sigh as 3ven before the war my race was always falsely accused of being vampires but at least I can set it straight with Gas "can we drink blood yes. Is it tasty yes. Do we rely on blood? No, blood drinking is usually done through eating meat, but Thestral couples will drink each other's blood as it is the valuable essence of a body and shows the connection" she accepts this answer andnasks another.
"Because you are hurting I will let you sleep but I want to ask one more question. Earlier when you saw Mitternacht injured you went a little bit feral and you acted really protective of Mitternacht and it made me curious of your race's instincts?" I think for a minute of how to explain this to her "Ok never call a thestral this but Thestrals are like a hybrid. Part pony, part feline and part wolf. Before you ask the wings was from nightmare moon blessing our race with them even though we were tricked into siding with her because of ponies not treating us right. What you saw earlier is almost like a wolf's pack instincts. A member of the pack is injured and my mind says to eliminate the threat but all thestrals can suppress instincts in some circumstances."
"The feline parts are your eyes then?" I quickly respond with "yeah but also because of our lack of feathers we have to groom them so we groom somewhat similar to a feline with our tounges" I blush while saying this and quickly add " we can also move silently like a feline but only when we are hunting and only concentrating on the hunt" I think that distracted her.
She gets down from a chair and goes over to a medical box and pulls a jar of something, the bottle has a pony and a bunch of Zs she walks over with it "I know the pain is back but take 1 of these and it will help you rest. Do thestrals have a sleeping preference?" She says handing me a deep blue pill almost the same colour as my coat. I nod "Do you have a bar which will support my weight from it thestrals like to sleep hanging from something it relaxes us" I say and she thinks for a second until she points at the roof "use the big central beam but be careful" I thank her and fly up and hook my tail around the beam and take the pill wrapping myself in my with my wings and feel the sleeping pill and my body's tiredness start to kick in and my eyes start to close and I have my first full night's or morning's sleep but I am happy to be able to sleep without pain as I fall into a dream about hunting.
