Chapter 2: Opening of Stable 86

With my saddlebags packed, I levitated them with each bag on each side of my body and my canteen was tied off onto the strap of the right saddlebag.

I was ready.

Just one last thing to do, I levitated out a blank sheet of paper, a quill and some ink. I began to write.

To Berry:

I am leaving the stable behind in a bid to find a new water talisman for the stable. During my work I discovered that our water talisman is damaged and degrading. The stable population will probably be dead or dying within 5 years’ time. The overmare has refused to send somepony outside to procure a new one. I am going outside to gather a new talisman. I wish to write this to you as you are the only pony I can trust and the only friend I have ever had. I hope it will not take too long to get the talisman. I will send a message to you from my Pipbuck when I come back and I am at the stable door.

I will send you the password to open the door when I come back. Please do not tell anypony about the talisman, I don’t want to cause panic.

P.S: The overmare will probably freak when they discover what I have done. I apologise for leaving and hope to be back as soon as possible.

Your Friend: Amethyst.

I re-read my note twice and was satisfied. I took one last look around my small yet comfortable room and snuck out into the corridor once again. I slipped the note under Berry’s door and continued up to the top floor.

Once at the top floor I preceded to the steel door I have never used before and it opened with the touch of a button. As the door was closing I heard somepony shout “stop, what are you doing out of curfew?”

I galloped through the next door just as the door behind me opened. I locked the door behind me and turned to the room I was in. I stood in a dark room with a large mechanical pin on swing arms connected to a device in the ceiling.

Bang, bang.

Somepony was banging up against the steel door I had locked.

I booted up the terminal and punched in the password it requested “CMC=ScABSB”.

The door mechanism swung into the gear shaped door and with a loud squeal and sound of metal on metal, the door was pulled in and swung to the side revealing a dark tunnel that sank into the darkness.

I gulped as I stared into the dark cavern. Maybe the rumours were true that there was just nothing outside the stable, just a great dark void.

I was terrified at the prospect of going outside. I stood there trembling when the door behind me lowered with a clang to reveal a single security pony with a Taser levitated.

I panicked and activated my only other spell apart from Telekinesis, a simple shield spell that enveloped me in a dome of thin flowing energy. The Security pony said in a worried yet powerful voice “Amethyst? What are you doing?”

I looked into his eyes “saving you and the other five hundred ponies that live here.”

He just stood there and blinked.

Deciding that he wasn’t going to do anything I turned to walk through the stable door to the “outside” leaving the perplexed unicorn stallion standing there stunned at what I have just done.

“Good bye” I muttered stepping over the threshold of the stable door and collapsing the shield spell as I went.

I was preparing to shut the door behind me when I heard the security door open and close. I assumed he had gone off to tell the overmare.

I sighed as I allowed the door to close once again making an ear splitting screech as it pulled into place, echoing loudly throughout the dark cave as it plunged me into pure black darkness. The only light was coming from my cutie mark from each flank which gave off a very soft glow as the stable barding did not cover my flanks. My pipbuck was also illuminating slightly.

Heart pounding against my breast, I activated my pipbuck light which illuminated enough so I could see where I was going and set off deeper into the caverns, my hoofsteps echoing with each trot.

The earth was very rocky and the ceiling very low. My breathing began to slow as my panic began to subside. It was very quiet. No hum of the lights and generators, no banging of doors or the sound of hooves on steel. The air was humid and smelt very musty and dirty.

*                                        **                        **                      **                                                *

I wandered deeper and deeper into the cave for what felt like an hour or so, the cave was perhaps a little wider and higher than it was at the stable door and I could hear the sound of running water.

I was just wondering where the water was coming from when the cave opened up into a massive black cavern. I couldn't see the walls or the ceiling of the cavern.

I wandered aimlessly wondering where to go when an old decaying wooden bridge loomed into view, a small stream gushing under it with the sound of rushing bubbling water filling my ears. I crossed the bridge carefully taking note of the heavily decayed wooden batons that held the bridge in place.

With a sudden lurch I was plunged into the ice cold water below. I could hear my pipbuck clicking at me as I fought to stay afloat. I felt myself get swept away, my head slipping below the water before resurfacing for just enough time to draw another breath, the sound of the bubbling water filling my ears. I used all the strength I could muster to prevent myself from slipping into the watery depths below. I couldn’t swim as there was no need to learn to swim growing up in a stable.

Just as I was running out of energy to stay afloat I hit something extremely hard and felt jagged rock hit my underside. I held onto the slippery rock as hard as I could, coughing out the water I had breathed in before looking around at what to do. The water was moving much too fast for me to let go and hope to not drown along the way. The water’s edge was too far for me to try and jump from this partially submerged rock. I held up my left foreleg, my pipbuck which was still clicking softly while maintaining a grip on the slippery wet rock to light up the cavern.

A sudden idea struck me when I laid eyes on a large boulder a few meters away from the water’s edge.

I used my magic to attempt to lift the heavy rock; my magic enveloped the boulder which in turn let off a soft purple glow that partially illuminated the cavern. A shot of overglow burst from my horn. The boulder lift partially off the ground and with extreme effort I dragged it towards the water’s edge until, with a huge final heave it came crashing into the water sending a wave of freezing water over my head.

Breathing heavily after shifting the heaviest thing I had ever moved, I looked at my work. The boulder was large enough to only just jut out of the water. This was enough for me to clamber onto the rock I was sitting on and make a small leap to the large rock I had just pushed into the water. With another small leap I was on the water’s edge, water streaming from my mane, tail, stable barding and my saddlebags.

I sat on my haunches coughing out the remaining water and recovering from the exertion from pushing the boulder into the water. I looked at my pipbuck and found that the water was slightly radioactive and I had absorbed a small amount of radiation. Shivering slightly I got back on my hooves.

*                                        **                        **                      **                                                *

I set off along the slippery wet rocky ground deeper into the cavern praying to the goddesses I was going the right way.

I began to wonder what would happen in the stable once the overmare found out what I had done. What would she do to my mother when she found out I got in using her pass card? Dragging Berry into all this, I hoped she would hold her tongue and not tell anypony what happened with the water talisman. The overmare would probably lock down the stable or do something incredibly stupid to make the lives of everypony/zebra more difficult.

I sighed, thinking about what my actions would bring to everypony back in stable eighty six. Shaking my head I said aloud “I’m being a stupid pony, I’m saving everypony and zebra in the stable.”

Even as I said it my mother’s voice came looming into my head “That is not your job.”

Well, I thought savagely, no pony else is going to do anything about it.

The cavern wall came into view and a new cave entrance in the wall of the cavern appeared.

I slipped into the cave thinking how selfish my mother was. All throughout my childhood it was all about the overmare and her “friends.” She was never at home, she was always working or she was at one of the Overmare’s party functions drinking and gambling in the Overmares suite.

As for me I was always at home as I had no friends, well... apart from Berry, but she had things to do as well. Normally I just read books, studied medicine (At least until I got my cutie mark), modifying my pipbuck or doing anything else that could stave off boredom.

Not that I disliked my mother. Even though she could be a neglecting, not caring bitch she is after all my mother and as much as I hated to admit it I loved her as my mum. After the incident in the atrium she comforted me when she realised I had been crying in my room; even though it offered little comfort, she was very against my sexuality.

The ground slopped upwards quite steeply and as it did I could see light ahead. I galloped towards the light hoping that it was the end of the cave.

I slowed to a trot; I stepped out of the cave into the fresher, cooler air that still smelt quite musty with a hint of decay. I looked around and could see I was standing in what had once been a densely wooded forest.

I could tell due to the amount of trees that were just blackened husks. The trees that were still alive however were covered in dead leaves. A gust a cold wind blew through nipping the skin beneath my coat causing me to shiver. Cold was probably an understatement, it was freezing. The wind howled causing the leaves to blow off the trees, it gave off a heavy rustling sound as massive amounts of leaves blew across the ground.

I took a few steps forward wondering where to go. I checked my pipbuck as an icon appeared that showed my location as ‘Whitetail woods cavern entrance’ and underneath that said ‘Stable 86.’ My pipbuck picked up a new radio station.

Radio station? I thought. Well at least there are other ponies out here.

I looked left then right then straight ahead, I had absolutely no idea where to go. I had spent all my time planning on actually getting out of the stable that I didn't have any plan on what to do when I actually got out. I looked up and saw nothing but great massive mats of swirling dark grey clouds.

I looked back at the ground as my vision swirled, my head was spinning and I felt sick. I fell to my haunches and vomited onto the ground as my head continued to spin. I wiped my muzzle and floated my canteen and took a sip of water to wash the acidic taste of bile away.

When my head stopped spinning I got back up still feeling quite ill. I saw a barn a few hundred meters away. I decided to head towards it, I needed some rest and to lie down before I continued. I also needed to find out where it is I should be going. I didn't dare look up again. All through the entity of my life I had known a ceiling that was just there, the walls of the corridors. I was not used to this massive expanse of open space, it was very alien to me, hell the whole outside was alien to me from the sounds of the rustling dead leaves to the cold wind against my coat to the smell of the air.

*                                        **                        **                      **                                                *

I reached the barn which was in a heavy state of decay. The paint was peeling off, windows were shattered and the wood looked like it was beginning to rot. I stepped inside to the smell of rotting timber and decay.

I took a look around the barn which contained a bathroom, a kitchen and a bedroom. In the bedroom was a bed with a dank old mattress, an old wooden wardrobe and an old wooden duchess on which the mirror was shattered.

I took off my saddlebags and unstrung my canteen and put them at the foot of the bed, then lay on the mattress and played the messages I had taken from the overmare starting with the latest message.

23 hours ago:

Entry made by: Overmare

“Turns out that damaged water talisman has begun to degrade. That moron maintenance pony kicked it in frustration when the water went out two years ago, I asked my assistant to send her daughter down to have it examined. She managed to perform the task as asked, much to my surprise and reported that the Water Talisman is failing.

“Which is true, but the stupid filly wanted to send somepony outside to collect a new water talisman. The outside is poisoned. I would never allow anypony to open the stable door

“Needless to say I had an argument with her and wanted to have her given to security for even daring to address me the way she did with such disrespect.

“Opening the stable door would risk the life of everypony in this stable, the poison possibly or maybe somepony will discover that this stable is still operational and try to kill us all.

“These risks are not worth taking at least until the water talisman is dead. We have a water purifier and could possibly bring that online to recycle water. I will put this onto the head of maintenance. If we can limit the degradation of the talisman then it may last up to fifteen years or so.

“I have told Sunrise to tell her daughter Amethyst to hold her tongue. That pony has hardly any respect for myself or her mother. I’ve seen it firsthoof myself. Mind you that could be because she never spends any time with her”.

My stomach twisted at this message. Stupid filly? I felt a rush of anger at the Overmare. She has no idea I thought savagely. Even if we did recycle water, eventually we will run out and fifteen years seems the most amount of time we may get out of the talisman. I do not show disrespect for my mother.

I scoffed. If anything it was the other way around.

Most of the other messages were filled with stupid rambles about specific ponies the Overmare or my mother had spoken to about silly little things in the stable, complaining about maintenance, complaining about security, complaining about the orchard. Those messages were quite boring.

I found a random message from my mother while scrolling through the junk. It was labelled ‘Amethyst Cutie Mark’ the date was a while ago. I hit play.”

9 years 3 months 12 days ago

Sunrise – Assistant Overmare

“Amethyst finally got her cutie mark yesterday and we have arranged for the Cutie mark Ceñera on the Saturday. The overmare wishes to move Amethyst into maintenance as per protocols that once a filly or colt gets his or her cutie mark they get their first stable jobs.

“I know Amethyst wishes to be a medical pony, however with her magical skills as poor as they are, I cannot recommend for her to be a medical pony for one, and two her cutie mark does not show anything to do with the medical profession anyway. She has trained, I am sure she can strap a sprained ankle or bind an injury but to be a doctor she needs to be able to do so much more and she just does not have the aptitude, talent nor discipline to be in the medical profession.

“I knew from the moment she told me she wanted to be a medical pony that she did not have what it takes. I let her be a foal and keep herself busy. I’m sure it was just a phase.

“I think she is too young to understand.

“Maintenance is perfect for Amethyst anyway as she needs to practise her telekinesis which is at best mediocre and she shows a degree of enthusiasm when exposed to technology.”

I switched it off.

My mother never told me this, tears began to run down my face but I ignored them. She lied to me, all those years ago. She told me I’d be a great medical pony and to continue studying. She knew I would not make it and yet she told me to waste my time for her own damn benefits. She just wanted me busy so I wasn’t in her mane, so she could have the time of her life sucking up to the overmare and drinking cider in the “lounge” with her stupid stuck up friends.

I rolled over onto my stomach. I let out a sigh wiping away my tears and put my head down on the mattress. I began to drift to sleep, the dark coolness enveloping my eyes, and I fell into an uneasy sleep.

*                                        **                        **                      **                                                *

I was standing in a familiar snowy park with a single lamp post. I could see the familiar peach coloured pegasus and I galloped towards her. Coming to a stop in front of her, she smiled at me. I smiled back lifting a hoof to touch her, my hoof sank through her like a hologram and she vanished.

The dream changed. I was standing outside the cave that leads into stable eighty six. The dead trees bent at scary angles with dying and grotesque faces imbedded in the dead husks. I tried to run away from them but I couldn’t, I turned to the cave that led back into stable 86. I saw red demonic eyes coming through towards the entrance of the cave, the pink coated overmare trotted out of the cave with those demonic eyes and blood dripping from her mouth. She then shrieked “Nopony, NoZebra, No ONE will leave my stable EVER.”

I felt the ground turn upside down and I fell, the air rushing around me as I slammed into the massive swirling mass of grey.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Heavy lifting -- Your telekinesis is now 5% stronger when lifting heavy objects.