Ponies are quick to make way for Stern as she moves through the holding pen towards the voice she'd just heard. They suddenly go quiet as Stern approaches, the sound of hooves scampering off into the crowds and fading in with the others. A small amount of recently-spilled food trailed across the floor, a few hoofprints indicating what looked like some kind of fight, and a very short trail pointing towards an enclosure with a very small opening. Through the little door, Stern could hear quiet sobs that stopped as her steps became audible to the occupant.

The large griffon crouched down and gazed through the doorway at an angle, granting herself a partial view of the little pony in the dark. Again, it was the little pony from earlier. Whoever had tried to take the bowl of food from him only succeeded in dumping it over his head.

"... Y-yes?" he says, staring at Stern from deep within his enclosure. Stern grabs the overturned metal bowl and refills it with the contents of her thermos. The food was still on the warmer end. She pushes the bowl through the small opening, surprising the pony inside, indicated by a small gasp.

"Eat up." Stern attempts to make her voice gentle with little effect, her tones are still angry and gruff.

There is a silence from the enclosure, a hesitant shuffle of hooves on the ground, and finally the satisfied scarfing of a well-cooked meal. Stern should have left it at that and gone about her day, she should have just ignored the crying and gone back to her work, she should have just beat some fear into the cooks and told them they were one mistake away from dying like she did to Wicked Slit. But she didn't, Stern found herself doing something Talons weren't allowed to do, something the slavers couldn't find in themselves to do. She needed to leave, she should never have opened her beak to speak to him. As far as Talons were concerned, they were keeping a bunch of savage, tribal raider slaves in line, which is why they were never allowed to meaningfully interact. If they did, they'd see the silent majority of ponies were...

A set of wide, teary eyes stared through the dimness out at Stern, scared because she was Stern, curious and hopeful because she'd made such an effort to care. The silent majority of Fillydelphia, the ponies least likely to ever run or cause problems and be apprehended by Talons, the ones who made up the majority of the weekly charts of slave attrition rates on Stern's paperwork were all the innocents caught up in the slave trade around Equestria. Stern, in an action that for the past decade remained alien to her, extended a modicum of kindness to the little pony.

"Are you okay?"

His bewildered expression contorted, becoming stony and blank, "Y-yeah..." he says quietly. His tears betrayed him, that and Stern heard what happened.

"What's your name?" Stern asks, continuing to break the rules out of a strange sense of curiosity. Why did she want to know anything about him? He was a slave, one of the listless masses that spun the gears of Fillydelphia, no more important than the numbers in her weekly reports.

"Murky. Number Seven." Murky replies, as if he were reporting in. It was a dry and impersonal tone of voice, not likely how he'd reply to another pony.

"Murky..." Stern repeats to herself, focusing on the name as if she wanted to remember it, "I like that name." Stern had already gone well beyond the point of no return in the department of not interacting with the slaves any more than was needed. Though at points it seemed the rule was 'no kindness allowed'. Stern had a single burning question on her mind, but didn't want to ask it because she couldn't help. He was going to the pit tomorrow,and he would no doubt die. Not even Stern could get a slave excused from it, word would spread and get to Red Eye, he'd find out she'd been personally involved with Murky and this was one of the few things he was absolutely firm on.

Murky looked at Stern in confusion, it wasn't often that griffons spoke to the slaves and it'd never occurred that they would be nice.

"I hope you enjoyed the meal, I helped make it." Stern felt eyes on her, maybe it was paranoia but she needed to be going. The griffon backs off and begins to turn before Murky speaks up, breaking what little heart Stern had been trying to regrow.

"Th-they're sending me to the pit tomorrow... Please help me, I don't want to die." Stern could probably pretend she didn't hear and keep walking. This was why they weren't allowed to speak to the slaves, this was why the slavers had to be absolutely heartless, Fillydelphia just didn't work unless everyone was irredeemably evil.

Stern could only leave with a shame-filled "I'm sorry, Murky."

Walking out of the petting zoo felt like the steepest uphill climb she'd ever walked. She wanted to do something, anything, to get him out of it, but anything short of just grabbing him and flying out of the city would get them both killed. Maybe if she flew high and slow, she could slip out through the smog- what was she thinking?! She'd be shot and killed like any other deserter for that!

Stern traveled across Fillydelphia to keep an eye on Littlepip while she was put to work in the scrapyards. She was supposed to be overseeing the stabledweller's safety, but her mind was on Murky. She'd seen hundreds of slaves die in the pit alone - so what made this one different? However short it was, she knew him. There had to be a way for her to get him out of this. Stern could suddenly see the ponies on the ground in a new light, normally they'd just been ponies toiling, angry tribals with no care for the future and the imminent death coming if Fillydelphia were not attempting to rebuild.

Stern gazed down on the scrapyards, taking in the movements of those working, the way their heads hung low and fearfully under the glares of the slavers. She felt pity, seeing the way nearly all of them carried some horrible wound barely covered by blood-soaked scraps of cloth. Others had given up, infected lashes across their backs and sides wept openly while they worked the few days they had left before they succumbed to their infections. Stern's talons gripped into the ground anxiously, allowing this was the opposite of everything she once stood for. She told herself it was for the future, that Red Eye would stop the Goddess and ensure a peaceful future but that this generation had to toil. She sighed, her heart rate slowly climbing to a rapid staccato, this wasn't right. She felt strange, looking over the group with a cold sweat. Stern's eyes jumped, focusing on one of the slavers with a predatory glare, the same way she'd look at a target and pick out the vital organs.

Stern reined herself back in emotionally, she needed sleep. Red Eye would get the stabledweller's help and they'd stop the Goddess with that Enclave general he'd mentioned. If anyone could talk the Enclave into opening the skies again, it was Red Eye. She just needed to trust in him. Having calmed herself down, Stern resumed her duties overlooking the sullen masses of Fillydelphia. This was the last generation to squabble, another decade down the line and everything would be fine, they just needed to get through the hard times. Littlepip's first day in Fillydelphia was about the same as any new slave's. She felt the whip often until she figured out the way slaves acted. Luckily she learned to avoid trouble before Stern had to step in. Pushing... him... from her mind, Stern focused on the fact that she had paperwork to do tonight when she was done babysitting Littlepip.

It all happened so fast. Red Eye's announcement, tomorrow would be a day of peace where Littlepip would be approached and asked to visit Red Eye. However, when he asked about who wanted to volunteer for the pit, Stern saw a dirty gray hoof raise up. From across the scrapyard, Stern saw Red Eye stare at her with a silent expression that showed he hadn't expected her to do that. With several alicorns in the area watching, Red Eye was forced to accept Littlepip's volunteering for the pit, lest the Goddess become suspicious of his desire to meet her. As far as the Goddess knew, Red Eye was unaware of the stabledweller.

Stern sat in her office that evening, Red Eye pacing anxiously on the opposite side of her desk. She needed to ease his tensions.

"If the stories are to be believed, she's more than capable enough to survive." Stern says, trying to ignore the mental imagery of Littlepip going against Murky in the pit. "Red Eye, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You can visit her when she wins."

"If she wins, Stern. If. She may have had the advantage of friends and weaponry out in the wasteland. But what if she's up against that zebra? These are seasoned fighters."

"I have my doubts, these are just raiders. She's handled several alicorns, hasn't she? That's a level of resourcefulness that most ponies don't have."

Red Eye calmed a bit, but he still wore his worries on his sleeve. Or cape in this case. "And if she dies?"

"We find another unicorn, there's no shortage of them coming through Fillydelphia."

"You're right, Stern..." Red Eye says, clearly thinking deeply, "if there are any unicorns with a magic-related talent, send them my way. It doesn't matter how marginally related their cutiemark is, I want to screen as many of them as I can. Just... Just in case Littlepip doesn't survive this."

Stern nods, adding that to her list of things to do. Her long, long list of things to do. She hoped Littlepip would survive this, and that Murky would be spared combat at all. Stern was unable to sleep, laying on the remains of a mattress that had been stuffed with ancient pillows to supplement the destroyed springs. Why was this specifically weighing on her mind so much? Stern covered her face with a pillow, forcing the thoughts away and falling into a deep sleep.

She stood atop a scorched hill overlooking Fillydelphia. Stern remembered this place, she'd taken this route the first time they'd ever gone into the city. A trail led on towards pavement and through the outer ruins of the destroyed city into the heart of Fillydelphia. However, as Stern tried to walk towards the city, she found herself unable to pull forward.

Looking back, she felt an iron harness attached to herself in lieu of the Talon armor, she was fastened to a massive cart loaded with corpses, an impossibly heavy thing to pull. At the top sat Murky staring down at her, and sitting at the front ushering her forward was Red Eye gripping the leads.

"What are you holding up for? You've always done this." Red Eye calls out, shaking the leads, "Fillydelphia needs these ponies! Get moving!"

Stern refuses to pull, trying to get free of the harnessing only to find herself bound in more chains. The more she slipped free, the more that constricted around her limbs. Stern soon found herself encased in links of chain, burying her alive in the impossibly heavy rings of metal until she couldn't move and began falling into an weightless void of constricting chains that dragged her down into infinity.

Stern awoke in a cold sweat with a panicked squawk on the floor next to her bed. The room was silent, save for the distant whirring of machinery echoing across Fillydelphia's ancient buildings. Stern checked the digital clock on her terminal - 2:14AM. She stared at the bright screen through tightly-squinted eyes as she adjusted to the sudden brightness. There was no way she could get back to sleep, this guilt hung on her mind heavier than before. She knew she could do something dumb and rash to save a pony she'd know for all of ten minutes. She knew she'd get them both killed if she tried, and risking Fillydelphia falling apart without her was far too great. She needed to keep this city functioning so Red Eye could stop the Goddess. Stern wasn't sure if Celestia and Luna listened anymore, or if they even cared for the prayers of griffons.

Stern cast her eyes up to the skies above Filly, only greeted with red smog punctuated by the dark Enclave cloud cover. "I can't do it on my own and I have no right to ask after everything I've allowed to be done. Don't let them die tomorrow, and I swear I'll be the one this city needs." Stern spoke quietly to herself, unsure if she was speaking into the void or if anyone at all heard. She couldn't sleep, and just overlooked the city from her office until the sunrise brightened the dim sky, thinking about how she could do right by the ponies of this city regardless. She owed it to them to ease their suffering if she could.

Author's Note

Fake Murky fans be out here like 'Yeah I read Murky Number Seven' okay what about Murky Number One thru Six?