Un-Stable

‘It is seven o’clock. Your day begins. Please wake.’

‘I know I know, I’m up.’ Rusty Ratchet had a hint of irritation in her voice. She had never been a morning pony. She rolled over in her single bed as thought about asking for five more minutes. She knew however that the maneframe would attempt to get her up with more and more urgency as time elapsed. It was a pointless fight. One that she was never really prepared to take on every morning. She sat up, stretching her hooves and yawning. To her side, a door opened automatically the size of a small closet. A fresh stable jumpsuit with the number 135 printed on in blue and yellow looked crisp and ironed only recently. She pulled it off the hangar and put it on. Slightly more of a chore for an earth pony like herself, but she always managed just fine.

‘Breakfast is in the main cafeteria. Please attend within the next twenty minutes.’ the maneframe said softly. The voice came through speakers situated all throughout the stable. The computer directed these instructions specifically to Rusty in her own quarters, as each instruction was fed to the occupant directly. A daily routine for each occupant. Rusty worked maintenance, being a former mechanic before ending up in the stable. One of only three others assigned to the task meant that work was plentiful, although frustrating. Often Rusty found certain things she needed to get to were inaccessible on purpose, the stable maneframe repeating the same mantra of ‘An attendant will rectify the issue. Thank you for identifying the source of the problem.’ which Rusty would have been perfectly capable of fixing herself. The maneframe didn’t trust her, that much was obvious. What bothered Rusty was why? Why give her the job of maintenance pony when half the time she was stopped from doing her job. It had somewhat added to her grumpy nature over the years, the mare giving a dismissive ‘Yeah, yeah.’ at the maneframe’s reminder that she needed to attend breakfast in the next twenty minutes. She needed to wash up first and get ready for the day.

‘Morning.’

‘Yeah, morning.’ it was an equally glum response. Peppermint was looking at her bowl of food, picking at the uninteresting selection. ‘You know you’d think working on the farm I’d get preference on the good stuff, but nope. Look at this.’ Peppermint slid the tray towards Rusty. ‘At least it’s packed full of protein I suppose.’

Rusty looked over the meal and slid it back, it was always the same sort of food with little variety. Each day Peppermint complained, it was the starting conversation that got the two of them going. They often met up in the cafeteria, both ponies having early starts meant that they quite often ate together. The two had formed a bond quite quickly, with Peppermint sharing a similar temperament and nature to Rusty the pair got on quite well, despite working vastly different jobs. Rusty didn’t make it down to the farming department very often except when one of the bits of machinery needed a bit of tlc. She found excuses on her off hours however to see Peppermint, who she would quite readily say was her best friend. ‘You know I’m just gonna agree with you Pep.’ Rusty replied.

‘Yeah…maneframe wake you up again today?’

‘Mmm, I actually managed to get here before it started bleating at me.’

‘That’s rare.’ Peppermint chuckled. ‘Usually it’s upset you aren’t here and eating.’

‘You have ten minutes of allocated eating time before your shift begins remaining, Rusty Ratchet.’ came an announcement over the speaker. ‘You have eight minutes of allocated eating time before your shift begins, Peppermint.’ came the follow up.

‘At least we timed it better today.’ Rusty said, eating a spoonful of oats. ‘I’m just glad I wasn’t allocated to fix one of the dispensers before I got to eat myself.’

‘That’s a plus.’ Peppermint replied. ‘How is maintenance?’

‘Steady, stuff always breaks.’ Rusty said. ‘You know how it is, got any farm equipment down?’

‘Got a robo-seeder down.’

‘Hmm, maybe I’ll be down later.’

‘One in three chance.’

The two continued to talk and finished their meals until their allotted time was up, at which point Rusty and Peppermint parted ways.

Rusty had a small office, if you could even call it that. She was reasonably sure that it was a repurposed storage cupboard. It had all her tools crammed up against one wall, with a tiny desk and small terminal computer for logging issues shoved up against another wall. There was barely room to swing a cat inside. Rusty didn’t spend much time here, it was claustrophobic. She came to get her tools, log onto the terminal to see what duties had been allocated for the day and then leave as quickly as possible.

She quickly found the duties, transferring the list to her PipBuck which she read down:

++ DUTIES ++
1) Regular maintenance - sanitation department

2) Regular maintenance - oxygen recycling

3) Reported issue - living quarters door A24 improperly closing

4) Reported issue - farming robo-seeder inoperative

5) Maneframe request - cafeteria dispenser upgrade

++END DUTIES++

The first two were rather mundane monthly check ups on systems to ensure everything was running smoothly. Rusty was quite happy to see the robo-seeder was on her list. The last one however she wasn’t looking forward to. Maneframe requests often meant the maneframe instructing her what to look for as she worked on the task. Often it ended in frustration with that same repeated line once she hit a point where she needed to delve deeper into that system. An “Upgrade” however made her mind wander. It came down to the food available of course, but perhaps Peppermint might get offered something better to eat if they were going to start improving the food dispensers. A pony could dream.

She grabbed her tools which she placed in her maintenance saddlebags and folded the list neatly in one of the front pockets. Rusty headed out for the day.

-

Aside from the robo-seeder where Rusty had gotten some brief respite talking to Peppermint, nothing had gone as planned. The regular maintenance jobs had taken much longer than expected due to complications and Rusty was running quite a bit behind schedule. When she made it to the cafeteria, she only had an hour before the allotted window for dinnertime was scheduled to begin.

‘This task will need to be completed quickly.’ the maneframe reminded her. Rusty gritted her teeth.

‘Well could you tell me what I am doing? The list was vague. What sort of upgrade?’ she asked irritably. ‘I could use a bit of info.’

‘After running a number of simulations, the dispensers mean peak efficiency is only sixty seven percent. This must be brought up to eighty five.’ the maneframe explained.

‘Efficiency in what?’ Rusty asked. She was given no answer, just more instruction.

‘Blueprint plans have been transferred to your PipBuck. Parts are already waiting on the nearby table. Please follow the plans and install the parts into Dispenser C at optimum speed.’ the maneframe finished. Rusty looked over to the nearest table, there was a small collection of parts that weren’t there when she had been in here with Peppermint earlier in the day. She wondered which pony had brought them.

Rusty said nothing and began looking over the blueprints on her PipBuck. It advised an hour and a half working at “reasonable speed” for installation of everything. A number of parts needed removing first and then replacing with new things. Rusty ignored it, getting to work as quickly as she could and starting to pull things to pieces with her tools. She managed to get all the gubbins that needed to come out in half the allotted time neatly piled up on a table adjacent to the one with the new parts. She kept her speed going into installing the new ones. It was by all accounts extremely efficient. When Rusty had a job to do quickly, she focused on it heavily. It was one of the traits she held that made her a good mechanic.

As she worked she looked at some of the parts that were replacing old ones. It seemed to tie in with the maneframes comments about efficiency. Shiny new silver metals replaced well used but well cared for old parts. Slicker delivery belts, a larger tray for the meals to come on, it seemed to be all things that would increase the speed at which a dispenser would be able to deliver food. With the final bolt in and five minutes to spare, Rusty put the dispenser into test mode and watched as the new parts quite happily whirred into action. All tests on her PipBuck reported that the system was working as intended.

‘Your efficiency at installing the new parts is noted.’ the maneframe simply said. ‘That is all for today.’

Rusty wiped her brow. ‘A thank you would be nice.’ she said under her breath. She didn’t get one.

‘Well done, now clear out - it’s nearly dinner time.’ came a voice. Rusty was packing up her tools and looked towards the door. Cloudy Skies, a security pony, had appeared without a sound. Enough to make Rusty jump slightly, throwing a wrench upwards in shock that landed neatly back in her tool case. Cloudy, being a pegasus, had most likely silently flapped into the doorway and landed quietly. It made her good at sneaking up on ponies, especially with her shorter frame.

‘You like doing that, don’t you?’ Rusty said, giving Cloudy her best stink-eye that she could manage.

‘A little bit. Keep the rest of you on your hooves.’ Cloudy replied. ‘But seriously, clear out.’

‘I’m going, don’t worry.’ Rusty replied, putting the last of her tools in her saddlebag and trotting past Cloudy on her way back to her office. She turned a corner, listening for the sound of the cafeteria door shutting, before turning back and peeking her head around to see exactly why Cloudy had wanted her to clear out. The cafeteria had a window, it wasn’t hard for Rusty to see what the security pony was up to.

There was muffled speaking, the same tone that the maneframe used clearly instructing Cloudy as it did everypony else in the stable. Cloudy stood in front of the dispenser that Rusty had just finished working on. She watched as Cloudy took a meal, then a second one appeared at a rapid pace. The pegasus took both to a table and began to eat. Rusty shook her head, assuming the maneframe wanted her to test the new upgrades. Security though? Weird choice.

It was, however, the end of the day. The hows or why’s Rusty didn’t much care for. She shook her head and headed back to the tiny office. All she had left to do was punch in her completion report and drop off her tools. Then she’d be free for her off hours before the day was out.

-

‘It is seven o’clock. Your day begins. Please wake.’

Rusty once again couldn’t be bothered to protest. She got out of bed, donned her jumpsuit and washed up. It was in the middle of washing up however that she realised she hadn’t gotten her usual instruction to report to the cafeteria for breakfast. The mare stood in her living quarters, waiting to hear something.

‘Hellloooooooo?’ she somewhat sarcastically said. Often she never got a reply when she asked anything of the maneframe unless it was related to the task at hoof. This time, she got a different instruction.

‘Please report directly to your office for your working duties today.’ was all it said.

‘What the hay? No breakfast?’ Rusty queried. ‘I gotta have fuel in me to work, ya know!?’

‘Please report directly to your office for your working duties today.’ the instruction repeated. There was no change in tone.

‘But…’

‘Please report-’

‘FINE! I’m going.’ Rusty shouted. She flicked her tail in annoyance. ‘But if I’m bad at my job today, that’s on YOU mainframe.’ Rusty pouted as a final protest. She got no reply. Her living quarters door simply opened. Rusty trotted off, she’d be passing by the cafeteria on the way anyhow. She wondered if she had simply been neglected, or it was the same for everypony in the stable.

The answer was waiting for her in the corridor outside the cafeteria. The door to it was locked tight. A number of ponies who started their work early like her were standing outside it, looking bemused. Some were talking. Rusty spotted Peppermint among the small crowd. There was a murmured discussion going on.

‘The door is locked and the overrides aren’t working.’

‘You mean there’s no food at all? I thought the maneframe was just joking!’

‘Can we open it some other way? I’m starving…’

Rusty decided she would quietly nudge Peppermint who was just about to greet her, until Rusty made a “Keep your lips sealed” motion with her hoof and pointed over to a corner away from the crowd. The two stood away from the small collection of stable dwellers, able to speak without being overheard.

‘This is very odd.’

‘I know.’ Peppermint replied, rolling her eyes. ‘I can’t work on an empty stomach, I’ll fall flat on my face in the middle of the day!’

‘Yes, but this is all just very strange. Yesterday the maneframe had me upgrade one of the dispensers, then Cloudy Skies tested it after I had left. Everything was working better than normal yesterday, so why today are we not even allowed food?’ Rusty said, rubbing her chin with her hoof.

‘You upgraded a dispenser?’ Peppermint asked.

‘Yeah, I don’t know where they came from. I assume one of the surface teams scavenged them up, shiny new parts and a blueprint that the maneframe had me fit. All worked like a charm, then it served Cloudy Skies two meals in quick succession. Don’t know why it didn’t ask me…’

‘Hmmpph. Well, this ain’t good. If ponies don’t eat, we’ll have a riot on our hooves before you know it. One skipped meal we can deal with. More than that? It’ll be a problem.’ Peppermint finished. ‘I got ordered to go straight to work.’

‘Same.’ Rusty replied. ‘Look, I’ll just carry on, see what else I can find out. Keep an ear to the ground yourself. Okay?’

‘Fine, see you later Rusty.’ Peppermint said. She returned to the crowd. Rusty continued to pick up her work duties for the day.

++ DUTIES ++
1) Upgrade work - oxygen system

++END DUTIES++

‘You there maneframe?’ Rusty said, she was looking at the list on her terminal before she hit the print button.

‘Query?’ it was rare to get a reply, but it seemed to have decided to grace Rusty with one on this occasion.

‘Why do I only have one task on today's list?’

‘The upgrade work will take your entire shift today.’ came the response.

‘More upgrade work…’ Rusty said to herself.

‘Please begin immediately. Parts are waiting for you in the oxygen generator room.’ the maneframe said over the speaker. Rusty grabbed her tools. She assumed she’d be working alone again. The other maintenance staff likely had their own jobs to attend to. It was rare anything really required more than one of them at a time anyhow. Locking the office behind her, Rusty made for her designated work site for the day.

‘You have thirty minutes of allocated eating time before you must return to your work.’ came the voice from the speaker. It caught Rusty by surprise, she nearly dropped her screwdriver.

‘Huh?’

‘You have thirty minutes of allocated eating time before you must return to your work.’ the maneframe repeated. Rusty looked at her PipBuck. It was just past midday. Usually ponies got two meals, one in the morning and one in the evening. She had read about the concept of lunch in a history book, but breakfast and dinner was what the stable catered for. She stopped what she was doing. Perhaps this was an attempt to make up for the mistake earlier in the day, or some issue preventing them eating breakfast had now been sorted. In any case, Rusty downed her tools and was about to leave, when she decided to put a question to the maneframe.

‘What meal is this you’re telling me I have time to eat?’ she asked.

There was no response. Rusty didn’t stick around for one - skipping breakfast seemed to have had more of an effect on her than she thought it would have. She actually felt quite hungry, making her way at a fast trot to the canteen which wasn’t far. When she arrived, there was a small queue of ponies, all the ones from the morning, getting food from the dispensers. Peppermint was there, who shrugged her shoulders when Rusty caught up with her.

‘Guess it was a mistake.’

‘Weird though, is this breakfast?’ Rusty said.

‘Must be.’

Both ponies were allocated the same usual meals they would have eaten in the morning. Rusty watched a Peppermint quite eagerly started to dig into hers. Today, there was no complaining about the contents of it. ‘How's work going?’ she asked between bites.

‘Okay, I only have one task assigned to me today.’

‘Oh?’

‘Big reworking of the oxygen generation system. At least I think it’s an upgrade…’ Rusty trailed off. ‘I don’t like messing with the air.’

‘I bet. What makes you unsure?’ Peppermint said with a raised eyebrow.

‘Well as far as I can work out, I’m not “upgrading” it like the maneframe has suggested. I’m adding something to it, but I can’t work out what that is.’

‘But you must have instructions?’

‘Yeah, but they’re very…bitty.’ Rusty said. ‘It’s clear what I’m supposed to do - but a lot of the labelling is blanked off. It’s a lot of tubing, it leads to a tank I’ve not seen before. It’s on another level in one of the rooms that is sealed off housing the maneframe. I’ve got to connect it all up to a hole in the ceiling basically.’

‘Hmm…well the maneframe has never steered us wrong yet.’

‘Aside from this morning.’

‘Point taken.’ Peppermint said, chewing on the last of her meal. ‘Look we’re fed now, that’s what matters right? Problem corrected.’ Peppermint said, getting up. ‘I need to get back to work, you probably do as well.’

Rusty looked down, in her hunger she had barely noticed that she had completely polished off her meal. The silver tray glinted back at her, empty besides a few crumbs. ‘Yeah, all day on this.’ Rusty replied. She put her tray in the recycling, to be used for another meal. She wondered how many hundreds of times she had already eaten off it. She’d probably continue to eat off it for hundreds more.

Rusty had finished the work about twenty minutes after her shift officially ended. The maneframe had soullessly congratulated her like before.

‘Your commitment to the task is admirable. Thank you, Rusty Ratchet.’ it had said - this time she had actually gotten a thank you. Rusty decided not to dwell much on it. What had annoyed her was being unable to test anything she had done. The work had taken hours, completed slightly over time. When Rusty asked to run some tests, she got a very standard reply. ‘An attendant will rectify the issue. Thank you for identifying the source of the problem.’

‘It’s not an issue for someone else to fix, don’t you want to make sure all this works?’ Rusty had asked.

‘That is not required at this time.’ the maneframe had responded. Fine by her - Rusty was sure of her work anyhow. It was with that she had been told dinner was waiting for her. As per normal she had met up with Peppermint, the two chatted and decided to spend a few hours before bed catching up with the day. Apart from the morning, everything had been fairly mundane. The conversation had turned to life before the Megaspell. Rusty was quite often dismissive of the topic, it was Pepper who pushed to talk about it - she was obsessed with farming on a scale much larger than her little patch of land down in the stable. After a while it would often go on to cider production, something Pepper aspired to do if she ever made it above ground. When the maneframe announced it was time to turn in, the two parted company. That was the one thing, they always lost track of time when they were together talking. Rusty returned to her quarters, falling into bed and quickly going to sleep.

-

‘A three course breakfast is in the main cafeteria. Please attend within the next twenty minutes.’

‘ZzzHuh?’ Rusty thought she had misheard, rolling over in bed, she asked the maneframe to repeat the last statement.

‘A three course breakfast is in the main cafeteria. Please attend within the next twenty minutes.’ it said, nothing changed. Rusty got out of bed and freshened up as best she could. She was reasonably sure that the maneframe had gotten that wrong. Never in her time in the stable had she heard of a meal with multiple courses. It was something she had come across reading, sure, but the book had talked about things called “banquets” which sounded like an excessive waste of food. Peppermint would have been red faced and shouting obscenities at the top of her lungs if she had come across such a colossal waste of food.

When she arrived at the cafeteria, it appeared to be that the phrase uttered by the maneframe was not a mistake. Each pony had three breakfasts in front of them. What also was different was that they were exactly that, different. There was a variety of foods spread among the breakfasts. After working out how to stack her trays after the dispenser had spat them out at her at lightning speed, then get them to the table Peppermint was sat at, Rusty inspected the offerings.

‘This sure as heck makes up for yesterday!’ Peppermint said with a smile.

‘It does…I can’t remember the last time I saw a slice of cake offered for breakfast.’ Rusty said, observing the rather generous slice of sponge that was part of one of her three meals. It did look good though. It had several layers of cream, as well as a thick layer of sponge on the top and the bottom. Sugar coated the top. The middle appeared to hold a chocolate and orange filling.

‘Oh that cake was the best.’ Pepper said. ‘I wouldn’t normally go near it for breakfast! But today it just felt…right.’ she said, Pepper stacked two empty trays on top of each other and then moved onto her last, having arrived a bit before Rusty. Rusty herself decided it was best to just dig in. She started with a waffle, which wasn’t a usual breakfast offering either. She found however she was quite easily able to put the food away, talking to Pepper as she did so.

‘Don’t expect any dinner tonight I suppose. This is three meals, we normally only get two.’

‘Perhaps after all this time the maneframe has gone haywire, roll on if this is what we get now I say.’ Pepper said with a smile, putting a rather large cupcake in her mouth.

‘It all seemed fine yesterday.’ Rusty said between bites herself. ‘I wonder if…’

‘Wonder what?’

‘I wonder if this has anything to do with what it has been asking me to do.’

‘Well good job if it is.’ Pepper smiled again. ‘Seriously though, I doubt it. You upgraded one of the dispensers?’ she asked, Rusty looked over at them.

‘It looks like the rest have been done though, the speed they’re giving out meals matches the one I did.’ she observed, watching a pony walk to a different one to the one she had worked on and getting their three breakfasts extremely quickly. ‘I guess the other maintenance staff did them.’

‘Who knows, maybe ask them if you run into any of them.’

‘Which I never do, they’re always elsewhere in the stable.’ Rusty said with a sigh. ‘I think I last saw Turned Screw three weeks ago, I forget the last time I even spoke to Hardened Hammer.’

‘Keep an eye out I guess.’ Pepper said, she stacked her final tray up, having finished her meal. ‘I gotta get to my shift. See ya!’ the mare said. Rusty still had two trays left to go. She wasn’t however, going to waste them.

-

++ LOAD PROGRAMME ++

+Subset Hardware Check+

-Confirm food dispenser upgrades-

+All upgrades made and tested within tolerances+

-Confirm ducting system upgrades-

+Ducting system upgraded to deliver payload+

++ HARDWARE CONFIRMED READY ++

++ SOFTWARE CONFIRMED READY ++

++ CONFIRMING EXECUTION ++

• Subset Data Confirmation +

-Confirm systems ready to collect data-

++ PROGRAMME RUNNING ++

There was a gentle click as pumps began to whirl into life, systems started to route new actions via hardware. All of this happened in under roughly a second, without any ponies in the stable knowing. In the digital realm, if a computer system could feel satisfaction, the maneframe after all this time being able to execute its prime directive would have felt it. It had been a nuisance that the builders prior to the megapsells hadn’t finished the hardware side of things. The software had been waiting to spring into life for decades now. With Rusty and the other maintenance crew members working in isolation, the maneframe had at last been able to put the missing pieces together, completing the puzzle.

Now some purpose could be achieved, its main directive enforced. The software had been perfected, the hardware was in place. Data collection would begin immediately.

-

Another day, another broken down piece of equipment run long beyond its lifespan. Rusty was currently head deep in a microwave in the living quarters of Track Star, who currently wasn’t home. A good thing, often Rusty got distracted by other ponies of the stable. She went to reach for a tool, having found the problem. She made a few adjustments and ran a new wire between tracks on a circuit board which were damaged to bypass the issue and plugged it back in. One working microwave buzzed happily into life.

This was all before Rusty had given it a clean. The thing was absolutely filthy. Nothing compared to the food a pony could get in the canteen, at least in a stable, but quick meals could be put together in living quarters. Most were equipped with a small microwave, an oven and fridge in a small kitchenette area. It looked however like Track Star had been working theirs overtime. Odd for a pony like them, Track Star was a stable dweller that she knew fairly well - an athlete who was part of a small group of ten or so ponies meant to be in peak physical shape to repopulate the world once that was an option, they often also doubled as emergency security staff in the event of a stable needing defence, due to their physical prowess. The thing was as of late, more issues related to kitchen equipment had been popping up on her list of daily tasks. At least half of things she had to look at today consisted of fridges, ovens or microwaves on the fritz. It was odd, very rarely did they break because they were so little used. Everypony went to a canteen to get food most days.

She was just packing up her tools when she heard the door to the living quarters open up. Drat, she hadn’t been fast enough to vacate before Track Star had returned home.

‘Ah, Rusty! Thanks for fixing my microwave. I’m itching for some popcorn.’ came the voice of Track Star. Rusty pulled her head out of the saddle tool bag after depositing a screwdriver. She almost did a double take.

It was definitely Track Star. Same mane, same face, same stable jumpsuit. But… his face was chubby, his jumpsuit stretched. It barely seemed to be in one piece actually, it looked as if his large stomach was about to burst forth from the stretch material should he trot forward just a bit too quickly. Rusty tried not to stare but she couldn’t help it. She had only last seen Track Star maybe three weeks ago. The sudden shift in physical form was extremely noticeable. More So than other ponies. She had been joking with Peppermint breakfast this morning that she thought was retaining water. Peppermint had gruffly responded that she was retaining pies. Since the incident with nopony getting any breakfast, the maneframe seemed to have been offering up multiple courses with most meals. There was even talk of the fabled lunch being introduced on a trial basis. Everypony seemed quite excited in the stable about it, none were complaining that suddenly food was much more readily available than before. She had questioned Pepper about supplies - all food went into storage for the maneframe to dish out appropriately. All she had said was that she hadn’t been told of any shortages. Perhaps they had a glut of supplies as of late and this was the way to use them up before they went bad. It had been dismissed by her friend, Rusty at the time had decided not to push it any further.

Track Star was looking at her quietly, Rusty had drifted off into her thoughts. She smiled awkwardly and grinned at the athlete. ‘Oh no problem. You eat a lot of popcorn?’ she asked.

‘Usually during a movie. Although lately I just can’t get enough of it. Seems to be lots of corn of the popping variety for us! With some melted butter…ohhh, it is definitely a weakness.’ they said, trotting towards the kitchenette. ‘Of course I can't make it without a microwave. You’re my saviour!’ they exclaimed. ‘Anyway, I’m going to wind down. Been at the gym. See you later.’ it was a polite way to ask Rusty to leave, which they did. The door to the living quarters slid shut behind her.

The gym. Aside from having to repair the equipment, Rusty hadn’t been there much. She took a small detour to take a look at the interior from the outside, the large window letting anypony see inside.

Rusty wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but in her time reading she had come across gyms mentioned in a book or two. Pre-war they were described as dedicated buildings often with a large amount of equipment inside specifically for working out and fitness. Often they would include ponies trained to help other ponies work out if they weren’t sure exactly what to do themselves. This felt normal.

What did not feel normal was the stables gym. Fitness wasn’t just for certain ponies, it was for everypony. However since she had arrived at the stable, the gym was limited to only the ponies who needed it for their work. Security staff, the small group that Track Star was a part of and a few select others could get inside. Rusty was only permitted access by the maneframe when something was broken and needed her attention. She was not otherwise allowed in.

Not that there was much room inside. The gym itself only contained a small amount of equipment, a fraction of what she would expect based on her reading. Most of it was also very antiquated, even for when the stables were being built. It was as if the designers of Stable 135 went to a closing down gym and bought up the used equipment. She knew the maneframe was keeping a track of her between jobs to ensure she went to the next one, so she simply glanced through the glass window as she walked past.

The room was the same. It contained two treadmills, two weight lifting machines and two exercise bikes. One pony occupied the room, currently using one of the bikes. The noises they were making were muffled by the closed door, but it was coming through the glass ever so slightly. They were clearly trying to work out, but their size was putting a lot of labour on their session. The mare sitting on the bike had flanks that completely covered the tiny seat entirely. As they moved around, their stable jump suit which already had a number of rips was struggling to stay together. The rips already in place were getting bigger. As Rusty walked past, slowly, she saw one open up like a gash. Blubber from the mare's belly rolled out, propped up only by the frame of the bike she was sat on. She stopped for a moment, wiped her brow and then carried on in vain, trying to battle her way on with her session. Rusty tore her head away, focusing on her next task - she had a water dispenser unit to fix in one of the corridors. To get there she had to pass through the atrium.

The atrium was the largest space in the stable and the most central. Used for meetings and special events mainly. It was one of the few places pegasi could flap their wings and fly around unhindered. For the most part it tried its best to double as a space they could flitter around for a while to keep their wings working well. Rusty was used to sticking to the sides, just in case one of the pegasi came down for a landing while she was trotting across. She had learned the hard way the first time when Cloudy Skies had nearly taken her out. Rusty had escaped with some minor bruises that day.

Usually the space was filled with the usual fwump fwump fwump sound of flapping wings as pegasi circled around above. Her ears however failed to pick up anything as she entered the space, looking up at the small sky painted on the five story high structure, it was completely clear. Not one pegasi up and about. She decided in that case to walk through the middle. A few ponies were stood towards the centre, talking among themselves. The conversation became clear as she got closer.

‘It’s no good.’

‘Come on, you’re not trying - put your back into it!’

‘I’m telling you it ain’t happening!’

‘Pah, a few extra meals and you can’t even get off the ground! I’ll show you.’

Fwump fwump fwump fwump. Rusty watched the offending pony flap their wings. Their front hooves just about lifted up, then came back down to the floor rather quickly.

‘What!? That’s it!? You can’t mock me for not being able to fly and that’s all you can manage!’ the first pegasus said, rather upset at having taken such a verbal beating only to be proven right.

‘Hey, I got off the ground! More than you can do tubby!’ came the response. Rusty looked at the small gathering as she passed. All rather heavyset to varying degrees. To the point where they were all clearly having difficulty getting off the ground. She decided not to bother them, the argument was heating up as she passed and she didn’t want to get involved. Not that she could anyway, Rusty wasn’t blessed with wings. She gave her own stomach a pat. Perhaps when she got home tonight she’d dust off the scales and see what she was at herself. It had been a while since she measured her own weight and with the rather generous meal helpings lately, she couldn’t help but think she might have gained a few pounds. Everypony around her just seemed to be larger lately. The thing was, Rusty wasn’t exactly able to put a hoof on why. The extra meals would be a factor of course, but there was something else… Nopony was complaining, or seeing it as a problem. There had to be additional factors at play here, but what? Nothing was immediately coming to mind.

She carried on her journey to her next job. Hopefully she’d find those scales.

-

Rusty sat bolt upright in bed. It was two in the morning. The lights were out, the stable was completely quiet apart from the general low hums and whirs of automated machinery that barely registered on the ears of most ponies. Her eyes were completely closed. While sitting upright, she snored.

Both her hooves were forward from her body, horizontal and hanging in mid air. The bed sheet she had been under slipped off from them. The prior day had been absolutely exhausting, usually Rusty was quite good at getting undressed and getting into bed. This time she had left her stable jumpsuit on and simply pulled the covers over her to get a good night's sleep. In this deep state of tiredness, she was particularly susceptible to the maneframes experiment. The new mixture in the air that was being pumped into all the living quarters and all over the stable had been running for a short while, but it would take time for it to affect anypony. It seemed tonight Rusty was the first of the stable occupants to fall under its full effects. As she shuffled her way out of bed, recording equipment linked to the maneframe flicked on, observing what she did.

Now on all fours, Rusty opened her bedroom door which led into the living area and kitchenette. She managed to skirt her way around the sofa and then trot her way towards the fridge which was humming away. Still asleep, Rusty opened the door.

The fridge was well stocked. There were no full meals as these were always delivered from the canteen, however there was a huge array of snacks. Chocolate, cakes and other unhealthy items filled the shelves. Normally, Rusty wasn’t much of a snacker and would only occasionally dip into what was in the fridge.

Tonight was going to be very different indeed.

Rusty’s nose sniffed at the contents of the fridge, her eyes were still completely shut and the mare was very much in a deep sleep. Her nostrils however led her to half a chocolate cake which she had been meaning to finish off, but hadn’t quite had the stomach to be able to polish off the entire cake.

The remaining slices vanished in about thirty seconds and quite a few greedy bites. Rusty licked her lips, before her nose started to seek out another treat for her to feast on. It found it in the form of a number of cream filled tarts that one of her unicorn friends had made a few days ago as part of a baking contest. Greedily, Rusty began to eat each one, barely chewing before she was reaching for another. Her hooves were firmly inside the fridge, searching out among the plates and packaging what she could lay her greed on next. There was a tub of butter, which she pried the lid off…

BloooRRoooRRRRRPPpppp!

With the sudden influx of food, her body was putting the jumpsuit she still had on through its paces. The material stretched to a degree, one size fits all ready did mean that. The thing was it didn’t quite account for a size larger than extra large. The blue and yellow material continued to expand as much as it was able, at least to the point where it could no longer hold back the swelling stomach of the mare who seemed to be determined to sleep-stuff herself with the entire contents of her fridge.

There was a barely noticeable shrip! as the suit started to fail to keep its form together, the material began to come apart mainly where her stomach was starting to bulge out and around her flanks. The rips got bigger as she continued to eat, forming large noticeable gashes where fat began to bulge outwards from the suit. Rusty however, seemed completely unphased. She was just over halfway through the contents of her fridge and didn’t appear to be stopping. She reached lower down to the freezer compartment and pulled out a large tub of ice cream. Stable produced in three flavours that came neatly packaged up in a plastic tub. Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. The entire tub was emptied and eaten so fast the three flavours blended together into one, with Rusty already looking for her next snack.

She let out another small snore, melted ice cream that had come into contact with her warm mouth dribbled down her lips and splattered on the floor. Her now enlarged stomach wobbled as it processed the snacks. Rusty’s nose had to work a little harder now to find the next edible item in the fridge. Most of it had been cleaned out and her greedy hooves were going for whatever was left that she could find.

There was lip smacking, followed by a huge belch.

‘BwwaaAAAaaaaaRRRpppp!’

Rusty’s whole body wobbled, her huge gut practically flopping out the rips in her suit as it edged closer and closer to the floor. It was a few mere centimetres away from doing so, when as abruptly as it had begun expanding, it stopped.

Rusty’s hooves and nose were no longer finding anything inside the fridge. Indeed, it was completely empty. She had cleaned it out, right down to the last available crumb.

Not finding anything left to eat, Rusty backed herself up, closed the door and turned around silently, heading back to her bed. Still totally asleep. This time on her return trip, her now enlarged flanks brushed up against the couch she had managed to get around before. Had she not been so tired, it likely would have woken her up. With no more interruptions however, Rusty got back into bed, which sank several feet lower and continued to snore, as if she had never left it in the first place.

As quietly as it had come on, the recording equipment flicked off. Data had successfully been collected.

‘GAAAAHHHHHHH!’

Despite the door to her living quarters being shut tight, the sound echoed out and down the corridor. Rusty had a rude awakening.

She regrettably moved herself out of bed far too fast, feeling her body slosh and wobble about beneath her. She had to wait a few minutes before everything stopped wobbling. Observing herself, she only had one thing on her mind.

‘What the heck happened?’ she was completely confused. All she remembered was going to bed in her jumpsuit, which was still on her body, but full of rips and falling asleep. She bopped her own head with her hoof, hoping it might have been a bad dream that she was about to wake up from. The rotund mare was however, very much awake and her body didn’t suddenly magically become thin again. This was her, a bigger, much more wobbly version of her that hadn’t existed just eight hours prior.

‘Breakfast is in the main cafeteria. Please attend within the next twenty minutes.’ came the voice of the maneframe. Rusty nearly jumped, then stopped herself when she remembered just how much it was going to make her body rock and roll. She didn’t fancy waiting another thirty seconds for it to calm down again.

‘What!? Breakfast! I think I’ve eaten a hundred breakfasts!’ Rusty blurted out. ‘Look at my suit! It’s ruined! I can’t go out like this!’

‘A fresh suit awaits you in your cupboard. Please attend breakfast in the main cafeteria.’ the maneframe said. Rusty ignored it. She trotted out her bedroom and into the main living area. On first inspection, everything looked completely normal. Nothing was out of place or broken, not that she was expecting anything to be - but she needed to be sure. There was one obvious place to look to get some clues. She felt like she had ate several meals. Cream seemed to be lingering on her lips for some reason. Then she remembered the tarts she had been given. As quickly as her hooves would carry her, she made her way over to the fridge and opened it.

It was…exactly as she had left it. The tarts were still there, half the chocolate cake and everything else that had been there last night. If it hadn’t come from the fridge, what in the stable had caused this sudden weight gain? Had the maneframe hooked a feeding tube to her mouth while she slept and pumped her full of blubber? Her mind was working overtime trying to figure out how this had happened. Nothing was making sense.

There was only really one thing she could do. She didn’t need breakfast, but she did need to see Peppermint. Using her PipBuck she sent a message.

++ COME TO MY QUARTERS ++

Hopefully, Pepper wouldn’t be too long.

-

‘You know there’s vague messages, then there’s…oh my.’ Pepper held a hoof to her mouth, trying not to laugh. Looking around to make sure nopony else had looked when Rusty had opened the door, she pulled Pepper inside quickly. ‘Did you uh…eat everything in the store last night or something?’ Pepper asked.

‘That’s the thing Pepper, I don’t remember. I went to bed, everything was normal. Then I woke up with…this!’ Rusty said, she pointed to her huge stomach for emphasis. ‘I checked my living quarters, everything is exactly as I left it before I went to sleep! I’m even still wearing the jumpsuit I couldn’t be bothered to take off!’

‘What’s left of it…’ Pepper said with a grin.

‘This is serious! Something isn’t right. The other day, I saw pegasi in the atrium unable to get off the ground. I went to fix Track Star’s microwave, he’s gigantic! I saw one pegasi in the tiny gym we have here, barely able to keep her fat rump on the bike she was using!’ Rusty said, exasperated. ‘I’ve never known everything that goes on in this place, you know my frustrations with fixing things here. I need…’ Rusty said. She was quite keenly aware the maneframe had eyes and ears everywhere in the stable, except for a small number of places. ‘...I need you to follow me. It’s something I’ve been thinking about with the farm. Can we talk?’

‘Uh, sure.’ Pepper said. She wasn’t quite sure why Rusty suddenly wanted to leave her living quarters, but she thought she better humour her at least. Pepper wasn’t sure if something wasn’t right with Rusty of the stable, but she intended at least to hear her friend out before making any assumptions.

With quite a few stares along the way, Rusty had led Pepper to a part of the stable that not many knew about. It was a small room that held gear for expeditions to the surface, long untouched and the maneframe had no watch over it. Even the door was a manual locking mechanism, opened by turning a huge wheel attached to it. Once inside, Rusty locked the door behind them.

‘Why are we here? This room hasn’t been used…ever, I think.’ Peppermint said.

‘Because I need to talk to you without being heard by the maneframe.’ Rusty replied. ‘You must have noticed it too, it’s not just me. Plenty of ponies in the stable are suddenly much bigger than they were, take Track Star I mentioned already. Meant to be in the peak of fitness right? About all he seems to do now is exercise his jaw.’

‘Some of our farm workers are putting on the pounds. I mean we have been getting given extra meals in the canteen.’ Pepper replied, rubbing her chin in thought.

‘Exactly, and why? This stable has been running for goodness knows how long - what’s changed?’

‘I don’t know. Perhaps the maneframe in its age has started to go cooky.’ Pepper said, holding a hoof up and shrugging. ‘It runs everything. Somepony should take a look at it I guess.’

‘Then that’s where I’m going to start. If it lets me in.’

‘You think it won’t?’

‘What did I say earlier?’

‘Right…’ Pepper replied. ‘Look I think you’re putting too much thought into this. So we’re eating better? Is that a crime? Although you might want to tone it back…’ Pepper said. Rusty scowled. Her friend didn’t quite seem to buy the story it had just happened. When Rusty ran it back through her own head, it sounded kind of crazy as well, but it hurt not to be believed.

‘If I get proof, you’ll believe me?’

‘Of course.’

With that, Rusty made for the door - she’d get her proof.

-

Rusty needed to make a stop first. She knew the door to the maneframe would be bolted tight and shut. There were a couple of ways around it. One however was no longer an option, a small hatch led to an emergency access duct. It was however very much made for slender ponies, of which Rusty no longer fitted the description - not by a long shot. That left her with only one real choice.

Bing bong!

Cloudy Skies was off duty, she looked unamused as Rusty smiled at her from the other side of her living quarters door. On one hoof, she had a bag of chips that was half eaten.

‘What?’

‘I need your access codes.’

‘Sorry, my what?’ Cloudy Skies looked rather perturbed by the question. ‘Access codes? You know I’m in security because I don’t just give away important things like the stable access codes.’

‘I need to get to the maneframe Cloudy. It’s real important.’ Rusty pleaded. ‘Look at me, heck, look at you! Don’t tell me you’re not the slightest bit concerned that we’re all getting big and fat and nopony seems to care why.’

Cloudy stopped munching, then wordlessly put the chips down. They were on the same arm her PipBuck was attached to. Without saying anything, she punched in a few commands. Then watched as Rusty’s face turned to a huge smile. ‘Good luck.’ was all she said, shutting the door to her living quarters. When this was all over, Rusty would make sure she’d give Cloudy a big hug.

‘Rusty Ratchet. You are not attending to your duties. Please explain.’ came the soulless, flat voice of the maneframe. Rusty knew it would start asking questions sooner or later. She ignored it and carried on her journey to the maneframe door, now she had the access codes to get it open. Waddling her way down the corridor was quite hard work, she felt her flanks brush up against the narrow passageways a number of times, which made her stomach jiggle as she corrected her motion as best she could. After quite a bit of huffing and puffing, she reached the maneframe door. It was a blast proof door, made of multiple layers of heavy steel. Nopony was getting in or out without the access codes. The only thing besides it was a computer terminal to punch in the codes.

‘We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.’ Rusty said, waving her PipBuck around to show she was being serious. There was no query from the maneframe. It stayed silent. ‘Hard way it is.’ Rusty said, putting the codes in. Towards the top of the door, two red rotating warning lights sprung to life as the door began to lift. Rusty moved herself inside. She wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for yet.

The maneframe was not a terribly interesting place and she had been here before. It took up roughly fifteen percent of the stable and much of the level it was placed on. Tapes whirred, electronics clicked and a hum of cooling fans made a persistent sound that would likely drive anypony slightly mad if they spent lots of time inside. There was however one terminal larger than all the rest, central to the room and looked quite a bit more sophisticated than the other machinery inside. It was definitely where the maneframe was housed. Rusty had brought her tools, the saddlebag barely fitting around her. She had just about managed to secure the last notch into the strap when she had put it on. She untied it, her stomach thanking her by sagging downwards slightly. From within the bag, she pulled out a screwdriver to start.

‘You know why I’m here and what I can do with these. What’s going on maneframe? You better spill it before I start taking you apart.’ Rusty said. Admittedly it wasn’t a good plan, but it was definitely a plan. For a few moments there was silence, until Rusty felt something around her hooves. Four metal arms had clamped themselves around them. She tried to move, but was kept in place by the arms which were rigidly holding her down.

‘I’m very well aware of what you can do, Rusty, that’s why I needed to bring you here.’ the maneframe replied. A fifth arm appeared from within the wall, it snaked its way through the machinery and stopped just before Rusty. It was a hollow tube, which quickly plunged its way down her throat. Rusty felt a cool substance begin pumping through the tube, it was incredibly sweet and almost sickly. The mare however, didn’t have a choice, she was firmly held in place and could only helplessly swallow what she was being fed. The maneframe was silent while it made sure the mare wasn’t going to escape, then spoke once more. ‘Your skills have made this possible. I was unable to complete my task until now. The builders of this stable did not complete it before the megaspells fell. Those skills were lost, until you arrived. So malleable, a quick learner. None of the ponies who preceded you were able to carry out the work alone. You have been perfect, up until now. You are slightly too clever for your own good.’ there was a wicked tone in the voice that Rusty had not heard until now, a malice that cut through the usual soulless words. ‘Unfortunately I must…disable you.’

Rusty tried her best to spit the hose out, but the more she tried, the more it seemed to work its way more firmly into her mouth. Her cheeks bulged out as they strained to accommodate the influx of whatever it was the maneframe was filling her with. Rusty felt her already tight suit stretching far beyond any reasonable capacity as her stomach ballooned below her. All she could do was gulp down the fattening mixture that was making her expand beyond what she thought anypony could be capable of. Her already bloated stomach pushed quickly into her legs as it formed a bed beneath her. Behind her body, she felt her flanks push into the sides of two large towers, most likely databases and then wedge her even more into place. She tried wiggling, succeeding only in making her rapidly expanding rear rub up and down on the cold metal that was trapping her.

At last, her jumpsuit finally decided to bite the bullet and give up trying to hold back a tidal wave of blubber that was forming within it. The rips that Rusty had already put in it widened, the entire suit splitting in half with an almighty shrriiiipppp! as her stomach quite violently sloshed forward and broke through what little was left of the suit. It was barely covering anything anymore, she’d have gotten rid of the rest, but her predicament meant that was not happening.

The two silver towers that currently kept her bloating flanks from spreading further sideways began to creak, both were bolted to the floor, but now even the bolts were struggling to stop the expanding pony from pushing outwards as her body was filled to the brim. The maneframe recorders worked overtime as they observed the large pony push outwards further…further….further…

Crrunnnnncchhhhhhhh!

Both towers' bolts snapped, one heading down to the left, the other to the right. Each of them were pushed out with such force from Rusty’s bloated buns that they crashed into the next row of towers. Unintentionally, the maneframe had caused a cascade effect - it observed through cameras as the towers slammed into each other. If a computer could feel panic, the maneframe would have been panic stricken.

In its haste to stop the collapse, it let go of Rusty’s legs - not that it mattered too much, it had achieved what it said it was going to do. Rusty was immobilised, useless fattened legs wiggling as she turned her bloated head to see what was going on. She watched as one tower hit another, then another and another. The metal arms previously used to hold Rusty in place were trying their best to chase after the cascade, but not moving fast enough. The maneframe had neglected to remove the tube however, leaving Rusty to continue to fatten up.

By the time however the arms caught up to try to prop up the falling towers, only two remained. They grabbed in futility before falling to the floor, the control mechanisms for them knocked out as the final towers went over. At last, Rusty felt the strong metal grip of the tube in her mouth slacken. She pulled it out, tossing it aside as the liquid dried up, a few dribbles pooling on the floor where she threw the tube.

The room was now much more spacious. All that was left was Rusty occupying most of the space and the singular, more advanced portion of the maneframe in front of her. Rusty had bloated up so much, her huge stomach was now pressing into it quite firmly. She still had a little mobility left if she rocked herself.

‘Hmmm…’ she said to herself, grinning.

‘Please don’t.’ the maneframe replied. It was a futile plea, Rusty’s grin had turned into a cheshire cat-like mad smile.

‘How’s this for disabling?’ she said, using her massive rear to wobble herself backwards about a foot. As much as she could, the mare then rolled herself forward, putting all her weight on the metal maneframe, bringing all her new blubber to bear on top of it.

There was a similar crunching noise to the bolts breaking, just much louder. Rusty watched as the tower vanished under her blubbery belly, her fat rolls piling onto the metal and crushing it to a few inches thick at best under her weight. For good measure, she rocked herself back and forth on top of it, making sure the components got the benefit of all her weight to squish them down as much as possible. When the crunching stopped, Rusty wiped her brow, satisfied that she had disabled it completely.

The plan had been quite evident, disable her and continue with whatever it was trying to do. A rather strange way however to “disable” somepony though. It had worked though, it had made Rusty so large she was unable to move herself. Her bulbous flanks towered behind her head, her stomach had grown to such a size her hooves didn’t touch the floor. She wheezed slightly. Just the act of crushing the maneframe under her weight had been quite the chore. She felt warm though, soft and full. The mare let herself settle for a moment before reality rudely interrupted her thoughts of bliss that it was finally over.

She wasn’t completely sure how she was going to get out of here. Cloudy knew she had her codes, but she likely wasn’t going to come running straight away to see what had gone on. It seemed Rusty had some time until she was rescued, even then however she couldn’t move herself. They’d have to get some of the unicorns in the stable most likely. Then what? There were only a few places likely big enough to house her, at least at her present size. Still, Rusty had quite a bit of time on her hooves to consider the options.

She looked down at the hose, wondering if there was much left inside. Despite everything, she still wanted more.

There was an almost silent click of machinery as she picked up the tube.