The Last Day
Orange eyes held heavy on the email on her terminal, rereading the simple line of text repeatedly in an effort to fully understand. It was an impossible order. There was no real need for the stables, they were just the most extreme contingency weren’t they? The email before Starburst said otherwise. An alarm ran through the office building, startling Starburst backwards from her desk. It was really happening.
The world was ending.
Coworkers dashed down the main corridor with frantic words that soon overwhelmed the repeating alarm. Red light flashed at the corner of each hallway, and the elevators were quickly overwhelmed. Starburst took to the stairs and shoved her way past other ponies. She no longer cared that they once joined each other for office luncheons or Hearth’s Warming parties. None of that mattered anymore. Somepony was crying, others were shouting in anger, a pair of pegasi started a fight for airspace that Starburst ducked beneath.
Eventually the stairs opened up to the lobby where a crowd had gathered. Security ponies and sentry bots lined the glass doors of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences office. Outside Starburst could just glimpse what appeared to be an average sunny day. The bombing hadn’t started at least. Shouts bounced off the walls until all the noise was incomprehensible, feral pleas for being let out mixing into nothingness. They were animals trapped for the slaughter.
A terrible ache formed in Starburst's chest, a chasm of grief opening up as she processed what was happening. The Zebras were really bombing Equestria, they were really doing it. The world was truly ending. Starburst could only hope she would survive to see what came out through the fallout.
“Starburst Aura,” a voice came from behind the mare, startling her. She spun around and took in a stallion in a black suit. Sunglasses hid his eyes but she could feel them burning into her. “That is you, correct?”
She gave a nod and stepped closer, following him into a surprisingly vacant hallway. “Yes… Who are you?”
“That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you’ve been activated as an Overmare,” he replied as he led her down into an increasingly tightening corridor. They passed through a security screen that made her red hide tingle. “You are aware of what this entails, yes?”
Starburst gulped, and then found her voice. “Yes. I have read every issued manual since I was identified.”
“Good. Stable 36 needs you now, MAS does not.” He keyed them through another security measure, and Starburst gasped as she found herself in a miniature metro tunnel. A singular metro awaited her, with a few other ponies already on it. “Thank you for your service.”
“Is that… my team?” She inquired as she walked closer. Half familiar coworkers gave her attempts at hopeful smiles, but she could see the same dread within them as she felt.
“Except the pegasi,” he grumbled, “when Cloudsdale got hit they all went up to the sky. You’ll have to find a Head of Engineering and Security Chief from those selected to enter the stable.”
“Wait- as in all the pegasi?” Starburst questioned as she stepped into the metro. It felt a bit crowded with the hooffull of ponies joining her on the voyage. Fear drenched the air. “Stable 36 is supposed to have all three races, it’s a fundamental part of our mission.”
“I guess you’ll have to adjust,” he deadpanned, “because I doubt any will report for shelter. Once you arrive at your destination you’ll have a few blocks to travel west to get to the stable. We don’t know when Baltimare will be hit, so don’t tarry. Any questions, the rest of you?”
Silence met him, one mare whimpering in the corner but otherwise the MAS employees were focused on all that mattered now. They had to survive, and they had to be there for the ponies of Stable 36. The stallion gave a nod, and backed up to a control console. He pushed a few buttons, and the metro lurched with energy, Starburst nearly falling over. As the metro sped away, she watched the dark tunnels consume the lights of the station, and they screamed away into pitch black.
“Starburst Aura,” an older looking stallion spoke up. Even though he was trying not to show, Starburst could see him shaking where he stood. “Overmare… What are we to do?”
The mare sucked in a breath of air and looked over those who would now be her closest allies, some she did not even know the names of. She’d never been the most social, but now she would have to lead hundreds of ponies as the world they knew ended. If they even made it in time. Finding all the courage she possessed, Starburst gave them as confident a look she could manage. “We endure. We are now guardians of the remnants of ponykind. We will get as many ponies inside the stable as we can before total annihilation, but we will not risk the integrity of our overall mission for a few lives. I hope you can understand this, and agree.”
“What about children?” Asked the whimpering mare.
“As many lives as we can save, no matter their age. We will uphold the tenets entrusted to us by Stable-Tec and MAS. We will create an efficient, healthy, lasting stable that will one day reclaim Equestria. It will take sacrifice, and we may not always agree, but our mission needs to come first. The fate of ponykind could very well rest on our hooves. Yes, there are other stables, but from henceforth we must only consider Stable 36. After today… the world changes, and we’re all that matters. Am I understood?”
The specially picked ponies who would safeguard this refuge of ponykind exchanged looks, already facing hard decisions but one of them was made for them. Starburst would lead them, and they need only follow. They each nodded in their own time, and turned to the red mare. “Understood, Overmare.”
