Vivarium

Gamma awoke on the couch to the sound of static and groaned, pressing her hooves to her ears, her legs felt like they weighed too much or she was just that much weaker after the past month. The colt was nearly a stallion, now nearly as tall as she was, was watching the swirling eddies that hopped around the screen and morphed into shapes she could barely understand.

Her horn lit and the remote glowed, then the television turned off. The stallion turned and growled at her like a predator. “I’m watching the radio!” He snapped and turned back to the television, pressed the remote, and turned it back on.

Gamma pressed herself up and moved to the kitchen to the small pile of hay they’d started leaving on the floor by the table. She stepped over some wrappers and kicked a chunk of wood aside as she took a bite of hay and chewed slowly. The house was a mess and the last two trunks were in the kitchen, one on the table.

She swallowed and went to the sink, drinking from the faucet as the dishes hadn’t been washed in a week. Her horn lit and she plugged the sink, thankful for something to do while Packer was playing outside doing whatever he did lately. She spent time washing dishes in rote motions before she finished and put them away.

She smiled for the first time in what felt like days and started picking up the mess from the floor and counters, shoving the random detritus into the nearest trunk. She shut it and lifted it with some effort behind her as she went outside and noticed the house next to theirs was open. She casually threw the trunk into the street and winced at the strain it put on her before she went to the house and looked in.

The house was being demolished, but when she looked at the cart, she couldn’t help but smile. Packer was at least staying busy and was building something inside of a garage he’d made around the cart. She really wanted to know what it was, but gave him enough space to work in peace.

Gamma sniffed the air and reminiced about actual smells. She and Packer had noticed weeks ago that everything around them had the same few scents and it was really adding to their boredom. She longed to smell other ponies or pets, the scent of leaves on the trees or even trees themselves.

It felt like she was a doll in a toy house being ignored by her owner, left to die and decay alone, forgotten in an inescapable maze.

Packer loudly dropped something from upstairs and then after some stomping, tossed the bathroom sink down the stairs. Their eyes met but neither smiled, then Packer went back to doing whatever he was doing.

Gamma turned around and left her stallion to his work while she went to the grass outside their house and lay down to rest. Her eyes closed and in the ensuing silence, she fell asleep.

“Hey.” Packer’s voice roused her and she opened her eyes to look at him. “It’s lunch time, let’s go get something to eat.”

Gamma lifted her head and grimaced when she looked at the sun. “What?” She asked. “It hasn’t even started screaming yet,” she said, referring to the child they were watching over.

Packer moved beside her and helped lift her up onto her hooves. He gestured to the small garage he’d made and led Gamma to it. He trotted around and went inside, then the back dropped to the ground and Packer walked out pulling the cart behind him.

Gamma smiled again when she saw he’d done his best to make a wheel and she quietly stomped her hooves in approval. “It’s lovely,” she said as he moved the cart free. He stopped, unhitched, and went to her. “But, how’s that going to get us anywhere new?”

Packer nuzzled his mare and gave her a kiss. “We load up the boy and go for a trot, then when we get back here, I’ll make us a nice meal like we’re going out to eat. It’ll be nice.”

Gamma nodded weakly. “That would be lovely. I… thought you were getting tired of me,” she admitted.

Packer sighed. “Just because we’re bored and can’t get away from one another, doesn’t mean I don’t want to lose you. You’re all I have in this world,” he glanced back, “you and my cart. Go get the thing and we’ll go for a trot, then have a nice picnic in the back yard.”

Gamma smiled and turned to walk back to the house sluggishly. She turned off the television and picked up the young stallion in her magic, with great strain, and took the protesting youth to the cart and set him inside. She climbed up behind him and they held on as Packer started to trot around the block.

After two trips, they stopped and went back into the house where Packer gathered some hay and Gamma gathered some fruit and vegetables. They met in the back yard and started to snack, the young stallion watching the events quietly.

“Mother, what are you doing?”

Gamma stopped chewing and smiling at the peaceful moment and looked at the strange colt. “I’m not your mother, and I’m having a picnic with my boyfriend.”

The colt inhaled and then started screaming. Gamma lay down and curled up, covering her head with her forelegs while Packer ignored the noise and continued to eat. A minute later the young stallion moved to Gamma and pressed his muzzle against her hip. “I”m thirsty for your milk, mother.”

Gamma cried and shook her head. Packer frowned. “You’ve had enough. You’re eating like an adult, so go grab yourself some Celestia damned food from the fridge!”

“Father, you drink my milk at night, so I should have it during the day.”

Gamma looked up, blushing lightly at the stallion standing over her while Packer choked. Packer got up and snorted, spitting his mouth clear. “You’re watching us at night?”

The young stallion nodded. “I watch you a lot. Will you give me a sibling soon?”

Packer nickered and stomped to the young stallion, giving him a shove away from Gamma. “Stay away from my mare, keep your weirdness away from our bedroom, and don’t call me your father!”

The young stallion smiled a white toothy grin. “I will do no such thing. But, I will let you enjoy my milk, as it is the kind thing to do; sharing.”

Packer was ready to hit him, but remembered that nothing came of it, instead choosing to stand between the young stallion and Gamma. “You don’t know the meaning of kindness. If you did, and whoever you worked for did, we wouldn’t be here.”

The young stallion turned away and trotted into the house without another noise and the door closed behind him. Packer turned and nuzzled Gamma, who was looking wide eyed at the closed door. Gamma swallowed loudly. “He’s been, watching us? At night? When we’re… doing stuff?”

Packer nodded. “Sounds like it. I guess I’d better make sure to lock the door from now on,” he said, returning to his seat opposite the mare he loved.

Gamma shook her head and looked at Packer. “I don’t know how much longer I have.”

Packer stopped just before taking a bite of a carrot. “What are you talking about?”

Gamma sniffled and began to tremble. “I… I’m dying,” she softly said and stretched out, lifting her head to the sky.

Packer blinked at her and smirked. “Not very funny, honey. But, I can appreciate a little dark humor in times like these.”

Gamma’s eyes filled with tears and Packer’s smile fell. “I’m not eating enough, even if I stop nursing the little monster. Unless I just lay on the couch, I might only have a few months left before malnutrition gets me.”

Packer swallowed loudly. “There’s no way that’s right. We’ve got hay and grass, plus we’ve been getting enough vegetables in the trunks to hold us over.”

“Not for long. I’ve been keeping track, just like you. With that little monster growing up, our rations aren’t getting any larger. We’re feeding three already on rations barely enough for two! It’s not sustainable, and the grass doesn’t really offer anything as far as nutrition and you know it,” she snapped before he could comment.

Packer closed his mouth and snorted, his ire growing. “So, what? You expect me to just sit around while you starve to death?”

Gamma shook her head. “You and me, both, aren’t going to last long at this rate. We’re ponies, Packer, there’s only so much we can do with what we have here. Once that thing gets a little bigger he’s going to start eating to make up for what he doesn’t suck out of me, then that’ll be it for our rations.”

Packer snorted again. “Then stop feeding him! He’s old enough to get a job, why are you letting him drink your life away?”

Gamma sniffled. “I don’t know. I can’t just say no to a hungry foal.”

“Then say no!” Packer shouted loud enough for his voice to echo back. “I’m not losing you to that thing, and you shouldn’t give up just because it makes annoying noises. Let it fend for itself, maybe whatever’s doing this to us will give it its own house and let us go when it’s old enough. Tartarus, at the rate it’s growing, it’ll be older than us in a couple months.”

Gamma wiped her eyes and stood up. She moved beside her stallion as he sat, fuming. She leaned down and gave him a kiss on his head. “I promise to not leave you without a fight.”

Packer leaned away and glowered at her. “Don’t promise to leave me at all!”

The house was filled with the young stallion’s screams of hunger and the couple ignored it. “I can’t promise that with that thing living with us, but I promise to not give up. Is that better?”

Packer huffed and looked away from her. “It’s better than the first promise.”

Gamma smiled and used her magic to pull her mane from her face. She pulled his pipe from her mane and presented it to him, placing it in his lips. Before he could protest she’d sparked the tobacco and given him a kiss on the cheek before returning to her spot, sitting again. He quietly puffed and watched her quizzically.

Without any complaints, she picked up some sliced onion and took a bite while ignoring his puffing.

“Thanks,” Packer finally said. Gamma nodded with a grunt of agreement. Packer let a smile play on his lips and he pulled the pipe from his lips. He exhaled into the air above them and tapped the side of the pipe to extinguish the embers. He took a small bite of hay and chewed it wetly, smiling as he leaned closer to Gamma.

She looked up at him and spat a wad of chewed hay at him. “Cud attack!” She shouted and then shrieked. She barely got up as he leapt at her and then started chasing her around the back yard. Packer laughed as he bit her tail and gave a good tug, Gamma pretended to fall and rolled over just as he reached her. He stood over her, both of them panting lightly as they kissed.

The crash from inside the house made them flinch and they both got up and walked to the door, opened it, and gaped. Gamma could hear Packer’s breathing growing heavier as they both looked at the mess the young stallion had made, but beyond that was the form of the youth hitching up to the cart through the house.

Packer galloped into the kitchen and over the spilled hay, broken trunk, and then he vaulted over the couch that had been moved to the short hallway before reaching the boy and tackling him. Gamma ran through the house, around the obstacles, and used her magic to pull Packer off the young stallion, who was bleeding from several new cuts and sported a couple bruises to his face.

Packer pulled his cart back a little and pushed it into the makeshift garage while Gamma looked over the youth. “You shouldn’t have done that, why did you make a mess and try to steal our cart?”

“Will you give me a sibling now?”

Gamma frowned. “If I were to do that, it wouldn’t be your sibling because you’re not my son.”

Packer stomped to Gamma’s side and pressed his muzzle against her. “Leave it alone, let it heal and think about what it’s done.”

Gamma refused to move. “Wait, he’s still hurt and needs some attention.”

Packer snapped. “You saw what he just did to the house, he’s been watching us at night during our private time, and he just tried to steal my cart! You decide, right now; him or me.”

Gamma scoffed. “You can’t expect me to leave a child bleeding in the street while you pout about your undamaged cart.”

“I expect you to choose the pony you love over some monster freak that’s keeping us trapped here!”

“There’s no proof he’s keeping us trapped here,” Gamma shouted back.

Packer whinnied in her face and galloped into the house, slamming the door behind him, leaving her fuming on the sidewalk. “Jerk!” She shouted at the house. The young stallion stood up and walked away, leaving Gamma behind. “Hey, I just got into a fight with my boyfriend over you, you can at least stay here and-” she stopped when he vanished from her sight.

Gamma rushed to where he was to look for any signs of what had happened, but there were none. He was there, then just like that, she glanced at the house, and he was gone.

She hurried back to their house and rushed inside. “Packer?! He’s gone! He just, vanished,” she shouted.

“Good, maybe he’ll never come back.”

Gamma rushed up the stairs to their bedroom and saw Packer lying on the bed. “Are you… crying?”

“No!” He said, wiping his eyes.

Gamma moved and climbed onto the bed, lying beside him. “If he’s gone, maybe there’s a way out for us, too. Let’s get some food and load up the cart, then take another trip out of here.”

Packer lay down and covered his head with his forelegs. “You heard that monster, there’s no escape. Not without him guiding us, I bet.”

Gamma looked out their window in thought. “What if… we tricked him? He’s only a foal, still. He knows things, but he’s only a foal and can be manipulated. What if we turn it into a game, our escape? Some kind of hide and go seek or something?”

“You’re the child expert, I leave it in your capable hooves,” Packer replied, glumly.

Gamma moved and rubbed her side against his, laying against him and inhaling his scent. She didn’t want to get up, not only because of her lack of energy, but because he was still a source of comfort. He might be a jerk, but he was her jerk.

The front door eventually clacked open and they both raised their heads, listening as little hooves walked into the house and then went silent, indicating the young stallion was in the carpeted living room. The couple shared a look and returned to their comfortable positions, then the screaming began again.

It was as loud as ever, shrill and piercing. Gamma was the first to get up and walked to the door. “I’m not letting him drink from me anymore,” she said, looking back with a small smile. “I’ll leave that to you,” she said and hurried from the room, her ears falling flat as the door opened to the sound it was making.

Packer rolled to his side and sighed, waited several seconds, then got up and hurried to follow Gamma. Once he was downstairs he pushed the couch back into the living room with his head, then he went to the kitchen where his mare was hurriedly pouring granola into a bowl while gathering a spoon and rushing to the table where the intruder sat, shrieking.

Gamma set the bowl down in front of the child and spooned a heaping wad of granola into its mouth, silencing it; save for the crunching made. Gamma sighed and started picking up bits of the trunk in her magic, piling them up when the child got up and moved to nose under her. Gamma used her magic to push the colt away from her underbelly.

“No. No more of my milk for you. You’re old enough to eat like an adult.”

The child narrowed his eyes and started in inhale. Gamma wrapped his muzzle in her magic and kept it closed. With a couple tugs, his little muzzle was freed and he went back to the table. “If I can’t have your milk, nopony will,” he said in a somber tone, then he picked up the spoon and took another bite of granola.

Packer smiled at Gamma, who shared the expression. They hugged at their little victory and then went about cleaning up the mess from the young stallion’s earlier tantrum through the house.

Gamma grinned with triumph and pranced in place when they were finished. The child, having finished eating, had wandered to the backyard and was hopping around meowing like a cat. Packer hated cats. He was surprised when Gamma hugged him tightly and they shared a kiss. “Let’s go upstairs,” she whispered into his ear before she nibbled on it.

Packer chuckled. “What brought this on?” He asked, noticing her hiking tail.

Gamma kissed his cheek and turned, smacking him with her tail as she passed him. “Are you going to complain?”

Packer heard the meowing and wished he could magic the door shut, instead he followed Gamma quickly and nipped her cutie mark earning a laugh.

…

The sun was rising in the perfectly blue sky and Packer had just finished washing the breakfast dishes. He kissed Gamma on the forehead as he passed her and tried to step on the stallion’s tail as he passed it.

The months hadn’t been kind to Gamma, but she was holding on pretty well given the changes to their diet they’d made. He was glad starving the colt had earned them more food, but it was just barely enough to keep them moving at this point, some days. More food in a trunk only meant that it had to be shared, or else the colt that had grown into a stallion would just shout and stomp around like a petulant foal until he had the same portion size as the adults.

Packer hated the stallion with every fiber of his being, and he hoped Gamma did, too; even if she was more tame about showing her negative emotions.

Packer looked outside the front door and grit his teeth. He turned back and bucked the door closed so hard the whole house shook. He stormed to the television and bucked its side, shattering the glass, breaking it. The stallion glared past his mare to the stallion that was watching television.

“Why did you do that, father?”

Packer faced the now stallion with a glare, nostrils flaring. “Where’s my cart, you worthless bastard?!”

Gamma tried to get up, but time was wearing on her and she wasn’t as strong as she. The stallion looked at Packer blankly. “It is gone.”

“You piece of--”

Packer rushed to attack the stallion that had infiltrated his life, but was stopped by Gamma’s magic. She gave him a shove to stop his momentum, then pulled him to the side of the couch. “Help me up,” she said weakly, but with confidence. Packer glared back at the stallion who stared at him.

With a little effort on his part, Packer helped Gamma to her hooves and walked with her to the front door. She opened it with her magic and they walked outside and to the street. She looked down both ways and then looked at Packer. “Yup, it’s gone. Garage, too.”

Packer stepped away from her. “Are you seriously joking about this?”

Gamma giggled and her eyes brightened a little, something Packer didn’t notice had faded. “At least you have our house.”

Packer turned to the house and glared at the number 42. “I hate this house! Why would I want it to be anything I have?”

Gamma placed a forehoof against his side. “We might be here until the end, please, just accept it like I have. It’s our house… our home.” Packer stepped away and shook his head, still staring at the numbers. “We’ve made memories here. I…” she went quiet for a few seconds and then moved to nuzzle him from the side. “I’m going into season soon. I… want you to be there for it, with me. Here.”

Packer’s eyes went wide and he turned around completely to face her. “Here? Soon? You, me… us,” he stammered and looked her from front to back. “But, you’re not healthy enough to bear a foal for a whole year. I can’t stay here for a whole year!” He looked into her tired eyes. “I can’t risk your life, even to be the father I’ve always wanted to be.”

Gamma glanced past him to see the stallion staring at her from the window. She looked back at Packer and kissed him. “I know what I want, and what I want is your baby inside of me.”

Packer stared at her and his eyes began to well with tears. Gamma hugged him as he started to cry. “I… would be so proud. We have to get out of here, somehow.”

Gamma nodded and looked at the stallion, narrowing her eyes. “I have an idea. But, it’s something only I can do. Do you trust me?”

Packer sniffled and hugged her tighter. “With everything I have.”