Fallout Equestria: Stable 36

The tiny leaves of the seedling fluttered weakly in the breeze of the stable’s wind system, the sad and wilted stem drooping down onto Sebright Silkie’s hoof. She prodded the dirt stuck to the roots, taking note of the dry, crumbling, pale soil that collapsed at the touch. Another one, another potential life wrecked by the lack of nutrients in the stable orchard dirt. This life could have grown into a strong and healthy orange tree, and yet it would join the ranks of the sickly plants recuperating in the greenhouse. She looked up and around, scanning the fields that stretched out under the false sunlight as far as the eye could see. There should be rows upon rows of beautiful, flourishing trees and bushes, laden with fragrant fruit ready to be harvested. Instead there were only a handful of ripe fruits upon the empty and waxy looking plants, the soil barren of the lush grass that should have grown freely. The stable was in crisis, desperately trying to find a way to grow food in the increasingly nutrient starved ground. The happy posters that plastered the walls depicting families joyfully picnicking under thriving shrubbery was a far cry from the empty and depressing expanse before her. A lie told generations ago to comfort those who abandoned the world outside to balefire and death. A soft sigh escaped her lips and she slipped the seedling into her saddlebag.

“So can yeh fix it? I got a dozen more jes’ like it.” The farmer stared forlornly out, barely glancing at her. He knew the answer as well as she did.

“I can keep it alive, Hayseed, but I can’t fix the soil. We need the science team to figure out a way to put the life back in.”

“I can’t stand seein’ t’ life leeched from muh crops, Sebright. It’s gettin’ worse every harvest.”

“How long do you think we have?”

“Three, mebbe four more harvests. Then t’ soil will be well n’ truly dead. Our waste is keepin’ it goin’, but jes’ barely.” The stable had resorted to using their own bodily waste as fertilizer once the Stable-Tec fertilizer talisman had broken. The water talisman was also on its last legs, patched together over and over with spare parts.

Sebright nodded, pressed her lips together. “I still have some good soil in my greenhouse, maybe I could-”

Hayseed shook his shaggy head, stamping at the dusty ground. “Naw, yeh keep that for these here lil’ babies, they need yer magic touch. It’s what yeh good at. I gotta keep workin’, or there ain’t no feed for my family t’night. Not since lil’ Mayflower was born, we don’ got it too easy no more.” The bulky pegasus flew off into the orchard, the ‘sunlight’ flickering as he passed by the reflectors.

Sebright shivered, hiding her sorrowful expression behind her fringe. She had forgotten that Hayseed’s wife had given birth to a unicorn, a sin in a stable that prized pegasus genetic purity. They were a wonderful couple, and it pained her heart to see them suffer. Those who failed to birth healthy and strong pegasi were delegated the worst jobs, their food rations cut, and their wingless “defective” foals sterilized and tagged as little better than cattle, given menial, dangerous jobs and housed in the least shielded, lowest part of the stable. They wouldn’t kill the non-pegasi outright, but they made it almost impossible for them to live happy lives. Families that had wingless offspring anywhere in their lines were forever tainted and slipped down the social hierarchy. This was a pegasi stable, built for pegasi, maintained for pegasi. Anyone without feathers was simply an intruder. Sebright counted herself fortunate, she had only pure pegasi foreparents. All she wanted to do was keep her head down, grow plants and one day be introduced to her fated partner to start a family.

Slipping down the corridor away from the orchard, she could hear bawdy laughter from up ahead. She paused, debating on going back and finding another way back up to the greenhouse, but this was the fastest way and the seedling desperately needed to be replanted before it’s roots dried out and broke. Their stock of orange trees were quickly dwindling, and the loss of a single seedling edged the crop ever closer to extinction. She just had to be brave and hope that they didn’t see her.

“Looookieeee here boys! It’s the little chicken!”

Fat chance. These stallions never failed to find a chance to harass her. Gritting her teeth, Sebright flattened her ears against her head and trotted quickly past them. She didn’t have to turn her head to look, it was always Jackdaw, his idiot friend Lucky Puff and whichever hanger’s on they had accumulated that week who were seeking favour from the most elite families.

“I think she’s ignoring us, fellas!” Lucky Puff. As Snaps would say, he was a troglodyte with wings. Sebright gripped her wings tighter to herself, closing her eyes and trotting faster. “That’s a bit rude, don’t ya think?”

Her nose bumped into a furry chest, and Sebright looked up into the cream striped face of Lucky Puff, smirking down at her. Her heart began to beat faster, but not for attraction. Fear. Lucky was volatile, unkind. Sometimes he went too far, especially because she didn’t speak.

“Did ya have fun grubbing around with the farmers, little chicken? You smell like dirt and featherless freaks!” Lucky made a show of holding his hoof over his nose, backing away from her.

“Careful, Lucky.” Jackdaw, the Overmare’s son, drawled from where he leaned against the storage door. “She might contaminate you with their flightless germs.” Laughter rang out, forced and loud at a joke that wasn’t even funny.

Sebright began to shake, her heart pounding loudly in her ears and her legs quivering with terror. She hated these stallions, all they did was torment her. She had never spoken up before, always endured the blows until they got bored, but today was different. Today she had a life to save. She may have had a pure bloodline, but her skill with plants meant she had to work closely with the lower caste of ponies. This put a target squarely on her back.

“P-please move. I have an-an emergency.” she stuttered, her voice barely a whisper.

“She spoke! How rare!” Lucky pushed his hoof against her, shoving her into a wall. “You finally speak to me and all you can do is be rude? You think you can tell me what to do? You dig around with so much the featherless, you are pretty much a flightless chicken yourself!”

A pain slipped its way into her chest, she was indeed a weak flier. Maybe her work down in the farms was affecting her more than she realised? She barely used her wings anymore, avoiding the flight chamber. Sebright shook her head clear, determination on her face. Plant first, worry later.

“N-no, but I really have to go.” she made to move past Lucky, who smoothly stepped to block her path again.

“Aww going so soon little chicken? I think you can stay and play a little longer.” he nudged her off balance again, and she fluttered her wings frantically, feeling the precious and fragile plant in her bag shifting around. She had to get it replanted as soon as she could. Curse these idiots for risking the life of their stable for some amusement.

Lucky leered at her, clearly enjoying peacocking himself in front of Jackdaw. “Whatcha say, chicken? You think you’re too important to hang with me and my buddies?” Sebright felt herself instinctively shrinking, her heart now roaring in her head with anxiety. The plant would dry out too much and a valuable life would be lost if she didn’t get past this! It could still be saved!

“I’m sorry but have to go now, you’re in my way.” her voice choked out, surprising both herself and Lucky. His falsely friendly expression turned to anger, and suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her side where he kicked out at her. She dropped to the ground, winded and in shock, instinctively curling into a ball, protecting her bag from any more blows he would dish out. He always had more.

“You think you can insult me? You?” His hoof raised again. This time it connected with her head, and she let out a sharp cry, curling around her bag even tighter, holding her wings over her head. Through the ringing in her ears she could hear Jackdaw saying something, but she had insulted Lucky’s ego in front of his friends. This wasn’t going to end peacefully just because Jackdaw intervened. “I don’t think so, you fucking bitch. You’re just a brood mare in waiting!” he reared up again and Sebright clenched her eyes shut. The beatings always ended eventually, faster if she begged them or screamed in a way they liked. She hoped today would be the former.

“And you, my good sir, are a puffed up, over stuffed, ridiculous mare beating asshat.” A new voice, genteel and light, joined them. Sebright looked up between her hooves, relief and surprise flooding her body. Snapdragon walked towards them, his beautiful blue curls bouncing with barely restrained rage.

“What did you just say to me, youtainted cocksucker?” Lucky turned to face the new intruder, only to be enveloped in a cloud of pepper spray. He went down, screaming and clutching at his face.

“I said, you are a puffed up, ridiculous, over stuff sad excuse for a stallion.” Snaps stared cooly down at the writhing stallion. “Neither myself nor Sebright have the time to deal with your nonsense.” Snapdragon turned to her, his beautifully feminine face creased in worry. “Did he hurt you badly?”

Sebright shook her head, standing shakily on her hooves. She peered into her bag, the plant’s roots were starting to look particularly withered but it was still salvageable. She breathed a sharp sigh in relief, leaning against the older blue stallion for support. “Thank you.” she whispered.

“Not a problem.” Snapdragon flipped his mane over his shoulder, fixing Jackdaw with a glare. “Let’s get away from these disgraceful fools.”

Jackdaw hadn’t moved from where he leaned against the wall, shrugging in response to the glare. He flicked his head, motioning for his other friends to pick up Lucky Puff from the floor.

Nudging her away from the group with his wing, Snapdragon and Sebright launched themselves back up the main flight shaft.

“Won’t you get in trouble for spraying him?” She asked softly, feeling the pain in her side pulse with each flap of her wings.

The blue pegasus didn’t turn to look at her. “Sebright, my sister is a flightless and I am the only gay in this Celestia-forsaken stable. My family is already the lowest that it can get. What more can they possibly do to me?”

Her heart throbbed again, this time with pity. Snaps had it rough, she knew that, and he still had to save her. She was truly useless.

“Is the seedling okay?” His voice was gentle.

“It needs love and my care but it will live. Hayseed said we would be lucky to get another four years from the farm though.”

Snapdragon cursed under his breath. “The Overmare had better hurry up figuring out how to open the door. ”

Sebright didn’t reply, she knew that if she got Snaps ranting about the future of the stable then he would be too angry to focus on his work later. Fear nibbled at her mind though, because he wasn’t wrong. Unless they brought in fresh dirt and a new water talisman from outside, everyone would die within ten years when the stores ran out. The Overmare was working on breaking through the door locks, but if the outside was too toxic to grow in they would die anyway. Their only hope was a stable that was said to be north of their own. Rubbing her aching head, she landed outside the greenhouse entry. Lucky had definitely given her a nasty bruise with that last kick.

“Do you need to see medical?” Snaps was frowning at her.

“No, I think I’ll just plant this seedling and have a rest. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone with the paperwork. Are you sure that you won’t get in trouble? Jackdaw saw you do it.”

“And I saw Jackdaw allow Lucky to smack a high class pegasus mare. They won’t do anything they haven’t already.” Snapdragon ruffled her mane before turning to the tomato plants that he had abandoned when she hadn’t returned on time, changing the subject. “Don’t worry about me, Sebright. Worry about you. Your Red String Day is coming up soon, what if you are matched with Lucky? What will you do? There aren’t that many eligible stallions in the stable, and most of them were just watching you get kicked in the head.”

The Red String Day. The day that she would find out who her fated match to be was, the one who the breeding program assigned as the most likely to produce the best foals. They would be wed for life under stable law. Matched with Lucky? That would be the cruellest fate of all. Anxiety knotted in her gut as Sebright gently lifted her tiny passenger out of the bag and into a small pot. She considered her next words, but she knew Snaps was right. There weren’t many options in the stable.

“I could deny it. I would, if it was him. They won’t force me, after all. We aren’t barbarians.”

Snapdragon looked at her pityingly. “Refuse? Your partner would be rematched with some other poor soul, you’d be sterilised and your parents would go down a class level for giving birth to a traitor. Is that what you want?”

Sebright lowered her ears, carefully spooning nutrient rich soil around the plant. She knew why he was pushing this, she knew Snap’s story, everypony did. It was the ultimate cautionary tale. He had always refused to obey the rules, openly flaunting his preference for males. When he had been matched on his Red String Day, he had defiantly refused to wed the assigned mare, choosing sterilization and getting a new foal approved for his parents. When his parents gave birth to their next foal, it has been an earth pony. The first in their line. They had been shunted down to the lowest class, forever punished for the crime of raising a gay son and bringing an earth pony into the stable. Obey the Overmare, breed with your match and keep the bloodline strong. They were the only surviving pegasus after all, they were the hope of Equestria.

“I don’t know. I suppose I will fly that gap when it comes to it.”

Sebright patted down the now moist and dark soil around the seedling, her mind full of jumbled, aching thoughts.