Chapter 1.

Adaptation

“Once upon a time..”

Beep! Beep! Beep!
The alarm rang through my ears as my mind was still racing to catch up. I groggily rolled out of bed, a few lavender feathers danced in the air when I lifted my blanket. I dug through my closet to find a freshly washed Stable jumpsuit, supplied to all Stable folk. Courtesy of the Overmare. The morning announcements played over the speakers, the Overmare saying her usual spiel.

“Good morning ponies of 52! Today's breakfast special is applesauce and carrot bits with a radish smoothie. Once finished, please report to your designated assignments. Have a good day!”
Her sing-song voice only made me more annoyed, I always hated having to haul my feathery ass to get ready for the day. I didn't have an official Stable job, technically I was still a teacher's apprentice.

In short, a student. Some ponies stay students even after getting an occupation, only if they got one early. Life is boring in the Stable if you don’t have an interesting occupation. You could be stuck with plumbing duty for the rest of your life or repairing PipBucks. Speaking of which, I would always etch in my initials on the metal casing with a cafeteria knife.
S. B with a crude star next to it.
Starbreaker.

That’s me! The cranky pegasus who is ‘irresponsible’ and a ‘delinquent’. The words of my predecessors. The words of my peers who just didn’t quite understand me. I carefully stepped over the mess of my room, navigating to the atrium door that led to the main hallway where all the living corridors spilled out into. I could hear hoofsteps and murmurs of the other Stable ponies. I stepped out of my room and trotted down to the community showers. We had private toilets, but not showers.
The showers were made of tile, it was impossible to not slip in there.

I turned the nozzle with my hoof as hot water spewed on my face. Something about the action of hot water drenching your hide was oddly relaxing and comfortable. The showers were filled with mares, it's always busy in the morning. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sour Note, a white unicorn with a slick black mane and red eyes. And Apricot, a peach colored earth pony with an electric blue mane trailing along. They chatted about Celestia knows what very loudly, and giggling over all the other mares around.

The thing about Sour Note is, she’s a stuck up ass who criticizes everypony who doesn’t meet her standards. Her mom was a singer and would produce the most angelic music. Too bad her daughters a priss. Apricot is just her little pet. She’s sweet sometimes.

Suddenly my shower didn’t feel so warm. I dried off with a wool towel and started to work on my mane. It's a red color that almost looks glossy. My coat is a lavender color with a lighter lavender color painting freckles on my face. I'm a shire horse, so I have a light lavender muzzle and legs that resemble socks. I blow dried my mane and wings.

“Hey, shit head! Clean up your damn feathers. The drains gonna get clogged again!” Sour Note yelled from across the showers.

Apricot along with a few others laughed. She sure was sour, anypony close enough to get a taste would be left with their muzzles scrunched. Her cutie mark was a jagged music note, it reminded me of how much she squawked. I threw on my fresh Stable jumpsuit, repping the number ‘52’, while finishing up my mane. To me, other than my silky feathers, my mane was the most important part that I actively tried to make look good. A smaller earth pony trotted next to me, Zippy Zapp. only asking if I had the notes for class, I didn't. I finished up and left quickly without much more than a grunt.

Class was going to start soon. Although I had my cutie mark, I still needed to attend class until the proper age I can officially go full time in the workforce. Which should be soon anyway. When a Stable pony gets a cutie mark, they’re assigned a job best suited to their talents. But you have to be a certain age to finish school and work full time. Unfortunately my cutie mark isn’t much of an open book. It’s a star with a lightning bolt in its trail. On fire. Pretty badass if I do say so myself.

Double unfortunately that means the Upperponies are having a more difficult time putting me into an occupation. The Upperponies are above the normal Stable ponies, they make all the schedules and assign occupations. They monitor the Stable itself to make sure everything is in check. They run over the files of all the ponies to make sure everypony contributes to the Stable. All hail Stable-Tec. Once I get my file successfully analyzed and sorted I'll finally start working.

I've always wanted to be a painter. I could do a new paint coat on cafeteria walls. It’s in dire need of a new paint job. Hopefully I’ll be able to change the bland ass color in my room too. I know that the very low amount of pegasi in the Stable typically do Artificial Weather Management for the greenhouse and farms. I don’t really care for that junk, but as a pegasus, I should. It was said that pegasi controlled the weather of pre-war Equestria, and even had weather factories up there.

Ms. Tulip taught her usual lesson on blah, blah, blah-oh look, it’s a blank spot on paper! I could hear some bucks chatting and laughing behind me, Marble and Florescences did their usual talk over the teacher-not do their work-and be disruptive, little ritual. My school papers are always covered in sketches of things I see in history class, or names in cool detail. I read a book about pre-war Equestrian wildlife. It had the most amazing things I've ever seen! I wished I had been alive during the pre-war era. I finished doodling what was called a “Cockatrice” on my paper when something hit the back of my head. Marble was giggling like an idiot and Florescences had a shit eating grin on his stupid face. I grabbed the crumpled paper and yelled to them,

“I think you dropped something.” I trotted to Florescences desk and dropped it in front of him.

“You should really be more careful next time, I know you're not all that good with your magic yet.” I whacked my tail on his hoof on my way back to my seat. Florescences looked like he wanted to grab it and turn me upside down. But he held his tongue, for once. Marble hadn't stopped giggling.

“Bitch..” I heard him say under his breath. The same mare from the showers leaned over to me, she had a baby blue coat with a wildly yellow puffy mane, and small zig zagging light blue stripes near her hooves. Zippy Zapp.
“Why do you let them get to you?

“What?” I replied confused, she looked at me worried.

“You know… they keep egging you on. And you keep responding.”

“What else am I supposed to do? Just let them throw paper at me?” she said nothing while retracting back to her seat. Her expression told me I was missing the point of something. I didn't dwell on it too much. Somepony whispered something to her, I brushed it off and tried to pay attention to the rest of the lecture. Tried.

The thing Zippy had said, it didn't completely leave my mind. What did she mean by let them get to you? They didn't get to me, at least I thought they didn't. They didn’t matter to me, but why did I still over analyze those words? Suddenly my PipBuck started flashing with an alert.

“Report to Upperpony Management.” Oh great. What did I do this time?
I dodged and weaved through the crowd of ponies going about their business, ignoring me and focusing on working to keep the Stable functioning. I made it to the head office of the Upperponies. Opening the door I was met with the smell of an apple tang that lingered in my nose.

“Ah! Star, yes, come in!” The stallion at the desk shoving his apple cider in the drawer was Iron Hooves, head of Upperpony Management. I made myself comfortable in a squeaky chair while he pulled out some papers.

“So, you’ve got your cutie mark now huh? It must be pretty exciting to get an occupation soon.” He said through glances while he shuffled through papers. I felt awkward, one because he wasn’t yelling at me for something I did. And two, he hadn’t mentioned anything about the mess I made with paint on the Sector C hallway.

“Uh yeah, it’s cool. Just finishing my studies for now…” my eyes trailed off to the walls. It was the same old Stable wall I’d seen everyone-but cleaner. A poster hung with an orange mare in a cowboy hat, smiling with the caption ‘You too can be a Steel Ranger!’. Ponies in metal armor stood behind her menacingly.

“Star, the management team has been looking over your file very closely since you got that cutie mark of yours. We know how passionate you are about certain topics and how you aren’t afraid to get your hooves dirty, so I'm happy to say that Upperpony Occupation Management has found a job for you!” My ears pricked up in excitement. “Although you'll still have to attend class for the time being, so you wont work full shifts.” It didn't matter, I'd finally get to do what everypony and my parents have been shoving down my throat! My mind trailed off to what job opportunity I would have, when Iron Hooves walked to the door.

“I’ll be escorting you to the Occupation Assignment quarters, if you don’t mind.” My mind was racing as we trotted side by side. My mom is a Stable nurse, so maybe I’ll get something science related? I hope she'll be proud of me! I took the time to look at Iron Hooves, he’s a big gray unicorn with metallic black hair and green eyes. His cutie mark was a golden trophy. Over his Stable jumpsuit he wore a brown vest with a Stable door pin on it.

Small reading glasses poked out of one of the pockets. During my time in the Stable, he was usually the one to take care of me whenever I got into trouble. That meant a lot of yelling. But at this time, he almost looked proud as he led me to the Occupation Assignment room.

The room was mostly Upperponies on terminals working on… whatever Upperponies worked on. A dark green stallion with a lab coat greeted Iron Hooves, they both towered over me. I was shorter than the average grown mare, but I wasn’t fully grown yet. My mom told me I’ll probably stay this tall sadly. A few Security ponies stood around the room. I can see why, these terminals hold a full Stable of information. Only the eggheads and management use these. If you wanted to find anything on anypony, these terminals were your go-to.

The ultimate shovel for dirt. The dark green stallion had a name tag “Trailblazer”. Heading to a more private room one on one, he gestured for me to sit in front of a camera facing a wall. Anytime a pony gets an occupation, they have to take a new ID photo. I smiled awkwardly as the flash burned my eyes. Trailblazer praised me as he looked through a folder with my name on it.

“Congratulations Starbreaker, your assigned occupation will be…” scientist? Artist? Weather management? The anticipation was crawling from hoof to ear, until he blurted out:
“Technician! Welcome aboard the Stable workforce!” He shook my hoof while I blankly stared at him, still processing what he said.

“You’ll be under the apprenticeship of Pipedream. They already know of your appointment and will be waiting for you in the Technician HQ tomorrow to start your shift.” It felt like drool was running from my mouth as I sat there stiffly and stared, dumbfounded. Technician?! I couldn’t believe it, I wasn’t going to do anything associated with what I’m actually passionate about?!

Trailblazer shooed me out of his office and told me to get a good night's rest. I sauntered through the halls aimlessly, it felt like my mind was still trying to crank the gears and churn out a thought. I found myself wandering near the clinic where my mom, Dawnheart, would be on shift. I walked towards her attending to a patient, she saw me and spun around. She's a dark purple unicorn with a soft white creamy mane.

“Star! I’m so glad to see you! I heard about your assignment, I’m so glad. How do you feel?” she nuzzled my cheek softly.

“Uh yeah, just processing it all.”

“Being a technician takes a lot of skill, you'll finally put your creative efforts to something useful in the Stable.” She turned around to check an IV drip. I noticed how tired she looked to be working, apparently Buttercup busted his wing again trying to haul around farming supplies. He whispered his thanks under his breath, looking all guilty.

“I just never thought… that I would have this kind of job.”

“Your father was a part of the Artificial Weather Management team as a technician. He always had that tinkering bone in his body.” she snapped at me. “And looks like it passed down to you, obviously the Upperponies see something in you.” At that point I wished I was part of AWM. Maybe I could have proved to everypony that I wasn't just a nuisance and a disappointment to my fathers status. Although he didn't actually put in weather commands and code the exact right water PH for the sprinklers, he did the heavy lifting. He would fix the water purifier talisman when it broke and was the pony to install most of the systems.

Sometimes I never thought I could live up to the amount of help my father gave to this Stable. I was always living in his shadow, his contributions. The AMW controls crop growth, we make the crops into food. Without his help, the Stable would starve. The other Stable ponies had high hopes for his offspring, too bad I won't be working in the flashy AWM control panel above the gardens. Flaunting my wings and doing flashy tricks to woo the other workers. To get my mind off things I headed to the gym where countless ponies were getting in their routines to stay fit. Being a technician takes a lot of strength, as I've learned from my all great and admirable dad.

I saw ponies practicing telekinesis in another room with a big glass window, they seemed to be able to only carry light objects like boxes and books. My usual routine was a wing workout. If you don’t routinely exercise your wings, they could become weak and you won’t be able to fly properly. Or your feathers will get weaker.

I added a few pounds to my weights when benching, and did a few more push ups than before. My wings were sore afterwards but I felt good, I felt more empowered than ever. I don’t know if it’s new found confidence from the assignment, or just some inner epiphany. The Overmare had said the dinner menu over the speakers but I tuned it out, maybe being a technician wouldn't be so bad.

It was curfew for the Stable, everyone shuffled to their living corridors for the night. I sat in my bed thinking about my day. From the way I was positioned I could see out of the little window on the corridor door. The lights were dimming as a warning of when the night cycle would start. The voices of ponies died down as one by one the soft thud of closing doors echoed. Outside, the lights don't turn completely off.

Instead the hallway is painted in a dark blue hue so we can still see. I'm told it mimics the night on the surface, and that tiny dots called stars litter the sky, making it glow. I wondered what the surface looked like at night, was it encased by a ceiling, and did it smell like cleaning supplies too?

The Stable was never truly quiet. You could still hear the soft murmur of the ventilation system and humming of the hallway lights. Always a hoofstomp here and there, the metal walls adjusting with a grind. I took the time to study my room. Clothes scattered around on the floor, small light bulbs line where the ceiling and wall touch, they blinked in and out creating a twinkling effect. My terminal sat on my small desk, the bathroom door closed with a poster hanging on it, Victory, Just a Wings Beat Away! It had pegasi with cool purple jumpsuits and goggles.

They stared out into the sky, determined to conquer anything. A small shelf on the same wall as my bed, holding books and art supplies. A nightstand right next to where my head lay, a small lamp and an alarm clock sit on top. The walls were a dull white normally, but with the main light off they looked a soft creamy color. Something about the atmosphere always lulled me to sleep. I started to drift off before I knew it.

Author's Note

I'll be publishing the chapters one at a time, feedback is appreciated to better my writing!