We walked through a hallway, the same details in this as the rest of the hallways. My bandages hadn’t been very tight, or perhaps my blood found a weak point as the bandages clearly were starting to unravel. Blood trickled down my leg and onto the floor as we kept towards the nutritional halls. It wasn’t much, but it still bothered me. The cold, clammy liquid bothered me in a strange tense. I loved blood and everything about it. The smell, the sight, the taste, and the feel. It was one of my favorite things in life.

The hallway narrowed into a set of grey metal doors. #20429 stopped me before we went through.

“Ya best be hiding that, alright? They ain’t gonna like the workers lacking on account of a big injury like that.” He poked his head down and gave my bandaged wound another look.

“I can handle it.”

“If you say so. You better stop that limp ‘else ya might end up who knows where.”

I readied myself, having no attention on that limp. I didn’t notice it until he told me so I thought it would be best to stay close by his side. #20429 smashed through the door. It wasn’t out of anger or to make a loud bang, these doors were just so old and rusty that they had to be given a large push.

A gleam of light blinded me as the opening came into existence. Beheld in front of me sat the nutritional hall, a slim grey room with rust and asbestos conquering its ceiling, filled with tables that sat in perfect distance from one another, each sitting no more than four; no less than one. It held a small horizontal crevice in a wall where they would give us whatever food they felt would do us for the day. It never tasted good, but then again I never tasted anything that was “good.”

I stayed close to his side as we moved towards the serving area. This small spot had only an extending metal plate for us to receive whatever food they had. We walked up to it, speaking nothing, only waiting for them to notice our presence and do their job.

It was about fifteen seconds before one of the beings behind it noticed us. It slipped through two plastic rectangles with three courses on top. I didn’t look at it right away, I just kept with #20429. He started towards the last empty table. I looked around before we departed far only to notice the thunderous silence in the room. A few ponies per table, only one cleared of life. I usually sat alone, it didn’t make a difference. If we talked it would’ve been forced into cautious whispers, at least in this room.

Finally we approached this lonely table. He sat first. He was quite different. Where as most would sit with our legs perched in front of our bodies like a dog, he sat with his legs down and off the chair. I had never seen anything like it. I stayed with my usual way.

I looked down at my food. It was... not appetizing at all... what I’ve been told is a corn mush and the rest I have no intentions of knowing. Ignorance is bliss, at least that’s what our social creed is supposed to be.

I noticed his face turn towards me, his magnificent grey face, just caught by the edge of my sight. His mouth opened, “It still hurt?” he whispered.

I dared not reply in a mix of fear, a fear that they may take notice, but also a fear of change, and of nervousness. Nervous of what? I don’t know. The stale air brought his focus back to the meal.

I dug my face into the corn mush. It didn’t have a taste. That didn’t matter, when you only get one meal a day you just enjoy the satisfaction of having your stomach filled.

It stayed like this for a time, just eating the food as #20429 tried to make conversation with my silence. There was a loud laugh from down the room. I looked up. There at the end table of my row sat three fillies. They looked worried, one covering her mouth, talking unsure of what.. They kept on with their talk for a minute or two before the side doors to the nutritional hall opened. There at the doors stood two stallions. I couldn’t see their mask designs perfectly, but the marks stood out well. One, an albino earth pony with the loyalty mark, a cloud with a rainbow lightning strike, and the other all I could see was of a hat over his mask and the start mark. His hat was brown, it wasn’t old, nor ruined. Just a new age hat. It was something of farm-style. His fur was a light brown, and his hooves were scuffed noticeably from work.

The two stallions just stood there before the filly with her mouth closed tried to hide her face-held hoof against the table. The albino one walked towards their table and scattered them away. He put his hoof on the shoulder of the laughing filly, keeping her from moving.

“Alright!” shouted the brown stallion, “Get back to your quarters.”

We all stood up, except for the targeted filly. We made our way towards the way the two came in, #20429 and I in the back of the group. I looked back, the filly just staring at us, fear in her eyes. And then the doors closed, she was out of my sight.

The quarters were as they always were:damp, quiet, red, and frightful. I laid down in my bed, this time off-key with the others by just a second. No one noticed.

I stared at the ceiling, waiting for slumber.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

But it never came.

By the time the sirens woke the rest, I had already been ready for the day. I stood up and got out of my bed. Everything was normal, except for the laughing filly. She was gone. In her bed laid a new filly, one I had never seen before.

Author's Note

Sorry for it being short and rushed... I'll pace more next chapter, or at least try. Just starting to get into the actual ideas now.