Author's Notes:

Thanks once again to everyone reading this, this is just as much for all of you as it is for myself, I never thought I would enjoy writing anything, but here it is.

Like with the others, this is still a rough chapter, and I will post here on my blog when it has been edited.

The halls of the Stable echoed at every step, the lights dim, making it hard to see. Looking around for what I could guess was some time, I found the atrium, the door seeming bigger then I remembered, the button too high for me to reach, but no matter as I found a broom to hit the button, and the door opened. The atrium itself was impossibly large, bigger then I remember, but also duller, lacking the color.

"over here!" I filly called to me, she was with a few other foals, some colts, other fillies, "let's go play."

Rushing over to join them, I was curious to play what, but I bet it was going to be fun.

"were going to paint the sky" the filly pointed her hoof up, and I saw color on top of color, the sky was bright, and filled with foals who flew around without wings. "Lets go!"

"How do we get there," seriously now, they were flying, and only a few were pegasi.

"Happy thoughts!" the filly giggled, and then jumped up into the air, floating up as she kicked her legs.

The other foals fallowed soon after, all of them floating off into the bright sky, joining with all the others up there. I also jumped, but only met the ground, and tried again to only have the same result, after the third attempt and failing, I gave up, slapping my hoof on the cold ground in irritation. "It's not like I wanted to fly, I'm just fine right here."

"then why did you not fly in the first place," the voice of a mare echoed in the room, soft and regal, "but no matter, lets see what secret you hold in that hoof of yours shall we."

I quickly looked around to locate finding the mare standing behind me. She was solid black: coat, mane and tale, but her eyes were the color of gold. She had on lab barding, it's blue, yellow, and white giving her form in the darkness she sat in. "who are you?" the atrium had vanished, replaced by a smaller room, the gray still here, but not the same as a stable, too decorated, and a bit blurry. "What's going on?" The mare walked out of view, revealing an older pony behind a desk, but every about the pony was muted, smudged, and blurred.

"what's going is that you are getting a promotion soldier." it was the voice of an older mare, but her tone sounded off, like an interment out of tune. "you have been chosen to take part in a special operation, it's utmost discretion is necessary."

My hoof immediately saluted, "yes mam, no witnesses mam," My voice was that of a mare, its tone sounding strong and stoic.

I could see a smiled through the smudged pony's face, as she pulled out metal briefcase from behind a desk, opening it to reveal three stethbucks inside. "we got a few new tools for you to use," she pushed the caseto me, "it sould help you deliver your message."

Looking at the pipbuck on my leg, and examining stethbucks, I held back a grin. "this sound like a normal mission, so what's the promotion... mam?"

"this mission will be what gives you the promotion, we need to ponies who are truly loyal to Luna to be in charge." A glass of wild pegasus flouted up, the smudge pony taking a sip before continuing. "But sometimes the old guard will stand in the way of this, so were going to have you ask nicely for them to step down."

"Some of them do seem tired, over twenty years of service must take it's tole, I'll see to it that retirement is considered, mam."

The smudge pony took another sip of wild pegasus before putting the glass down. "as long as you use the utmost discretion, otherwise we will have to find some pony better to fill the position. Now go, the mission details are on the pipbuck, and remember that the O.I.A. respects loyalty among all else, do not disappoint us."

I closed the briefcase and bit onto the handle before turning to walk out the room. Outside, two unicorns were there waiting for me, my lieutenant's, one taking the briefcase from my mouth. Looking back at the room I came out of, the door had closed as soon as I stepped out, but giving me a good view of my reflection in the glass that had it's blinds closed from the inside. My reflection was that of earthpony mare, I had a faded blue coat that looked almost gray, and platinum blond main that handed down to my neck, cut in a strait diagonal, longer in the front. my eyes, her eyes were link emeralds, cold, hard, and with a hunger. "Admiral Thorn Roseland, It has a nice ring to it."

Everything started to melt away, dispersing into darkness until I was consumed by it. Once more the black mare stood before me, other then her golden eyes and lab coat barding, she blended into the darkness like it was part of her. "Another one of thees, and so far from Luna's protection." She walked passed me, her hooves never making a sound. "such simple action, and yet for them to be know, an empire can crumble in but a fortnight." Turning to look at her again, she was gone, but what I saw was that I was in a massive room: sparks of lighting raced along the walls from metal poles, and a rainbow like fluid in large pods. At the center was a platform, though empty, I could feel it pull at me, as though it had it's own gravity to it.

"A secret for a secret is the deal, not that you will remember what you see." her voice echoed still, but only in my head, like there was nothing in-between my ears. "it is best that a few secrets are best left forgotten by simple minds, like a vague dream never understood."

Normally the worst part about waking up is the waking up part, being in a comfy bed, under warm sheets, and a pillow to cradle my head. The fact that I was on the cold floor left me confused, and considerably uncomfortably.

Getting up, I racked through my brain to why I was not in the bed, but I could remember nothing after entering the room. "Ironbuck, how long was I out?"

"Seven hours and twenty three minutes. The time is currently 3:35 am."

I scratched my head,wondering how much sleep I was going to end up doing here. "Ironbuck, did I do anything before I fell asleep?"

"you downloaded three messages from the terminal. Would you like to read them, or activate the text to talk?"

Terminal, I looked at the computer, so it was called a terminal, I'll remember that. "uh.. the text to talk, use that." the pipbuck did not respond, "right.. Ironbuck activate the text to talk, and play the messages."

"Playing message one: Acting Overmare Healing Herbs to Stabl-Tec employees - change in stable population. As per ordered by the Stable-Tec President Applebloom, the R&D stable will be now be sheltering a small population of Equestrian refugees, many of them will be zebras from Zebra Town. For all those concerned about security, Stable-Tec will have done an extensive background check on each new resident, if we let them in, that means they have no connections to the war, direct or indirect. Remember here at Stable-Tec, we seek to outlive the war, not continue it."

Taking a look at my pipbuck, I saw that the message was a little over a year old.

Feeling hungry I pulling out one of the MRE's from my bag, The MRE itself felt like a solid block inside it sealed packaging, and on the side it listed it as a seaweed brick. Opening the package, I could see that it was a solid green brick, though not as hard as a rock, it held its form firmly.

"Playing message two: Acting Overmare Healing Herbs to R&D Stable Residents - further change in stable population. Once more, Appleboom, our Stable-Tec president, has changed the population that will be let into the stable. The refugees that will be let in soon are going to be all foals, along with a staff to look after them, the exact number of new residents that will be joining us is currently under review. If you have any complaints, send them to me in a letter, and I will realy them to Applebloom."

This message was a little under a month after the first.

The brick offered some resistance as I took a bite out of it. It was a bit chewy, a little salty, but overall tasted good. The rest of the brick vanished after a few more bites.

"Playing message three: Stable-Tec President Applebloom to R&D Stable - Thank you for your patients. I know that over this passed year I have pushed for changes to the R&D Stable, and I am glad that you have shown your utmost patients with it all. At the end of the month I will be taking my position of Overmare of the R&D stable, and leaving Vice President Scootaloo in charge of further management of the company. Under my direct supervision as Overmare, we will see to the further success of Stable-Tec, and the survival of all those within a stable."

The message was listed as a little over a week old. Look at the rest of the data options, I saw that I had a quest open, 'cleanup's fun' it was called, remanding me that I said I would help Prancer Dancer clean the atrium.

Putting my new barding back on, and just in case I might need it, I also put on my saddlebag. "Let's see the damage." at this time all the foals sould be asleep, so it was also a good time to see the atrium in peace. Opening the door, I looked back into the room, I could not help but feel that I was forgetting something again, but not even a hint in my head would come up. What ever it was, it come up later, things I forget always do.

"A secret for a secret is the deal" the words left my mouth as I left the room behind me.

Heading to the atrium I remembered what I had forgotten, drinking things that glow will make your piss glow, it was an odd sight that made me a bit worried. Unlike in the restroom, the lights in the hallway all dim, though I could still see clearly, it did well to make me feel like it was night, and I sould still be asleep. Each hoof step I took echoed down the hall, giving me a seance of deja vu, but the quiet stillness was also calming for me, all it needed was a slight chill in the air to fill my lungs.

Looking at the atrium door, it felt smaller for some strange reason, and slowly I pressed the button to open the door. Light assaulted my eyes, and music assaulted my ears, as I stood stunned by the sudden change in atmosphere. In the atrium was Prancer Dancer, dancing with a broom in her hooves, herself still covered in paint. Not far from Prancer was Candy Pop, she was sitting on a stool, with a bottle of cola in her magic. The loud music itself was one that was popular over ten years ago, not that I could remember the name of the artist.

Closing the door behind me, I trotted to the two mares, both looking like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. "hard at work I see," I spoke up, trying to be clever, "care if I join you two?"

"Oh! the... the stallion of the hour is here, heh, you sould drink up!" Candy Pop's voice slurred a little as she floated a bottle of cola to me, the soda itself was clear, but before it got close to me I could smell the alcohol from it. "It's Musket Balls moonshine, just don't tell the overmare... or Musket Ball."

"Candy Pop, I love you like a sister, maybe even a lover, but you are a rapscallion and bad example for the foals." Prancer Dancer spoke with upbeat tune, another soda bottle of moonshine rested near her.

Looking at the bottle I was just given, I could only think of two thing: one was that drinking so soon after getting up is what an alcoholic pony would do, and two was that I have not had a dink of booze in days. I lifted the bottle to my lips, and took a swig of the moonshine, the stuff felt like fire on it's way down. "Shit! this is strong stuff." I placed the bottle on top of a trashcan before shacking the feeling off.

The two mares both started to laughing, Prancer falling over as Candy Pop pat me on the shoulder, "Drink up, Prancer said you might show up. We got the maintenance hatch opened up, you can get a rag and bucket there." I could see a small open door that had a drain at it's bottom, and held a bunch of cleaning supplies.

Looking around, their was a lot to clean up, with the room near the two in a clean state, but the floors of it were still a mess "don't you have robots to do mist of this?"

Prancer got up, pushing the broom to the side. "the robots are good for scrubbing the floors, and dusting the shelves. Were just cleaning up the places the bots can't go, Places that takes a ponies touch." she rotated her hoof as she talked, clearly not a fan of this work. "but I'm glad your here, it's going to make work go so much faster."

This then begged the question, "So what did Candy do, or is also just helping out?"

Candy Pop rolled her eyes at the question, but Prancer chimed in. "She got caught handing out the B Lab soda to the ponies at Labs A, The overmare confiscated all the bottles, and sent her here to help me."

"she didn't find the moonshine, thank the goddesses for that." Candy Pop said with a slight giggle, as she took a swig of the drink.

"too the mooonshine!" Prancer also taking a swig from her bottle.

I used the levitation magic to grab the bottle, and bring it to my hooves, "bottoms up," taking another swig, the stuff still burnt on it's way down, if I had to guess, the stuff was more then half alcohol.

Grabbing a rag and bucket, I joined then in cleaning up the atrium, it was almost amazing how much the paint had gotten everywhere. Looking around, their was even a long trail of small hoof prints inside one room that went up the wall, and across the ceiling. Lucky four us, that was just one room, the rest were the normal mess.

The room that Prancer Dancer, and Candy Pop had already worked on was the lounge. It's was a big comfy looking room, with some tables, and a lot of places to sit down. In the room was a few more bottle of the moonshine, and a saddlebag discarded on a couch, on it was a red cross with a lollypop on it.

The first room I worked on with the others was the arcade, with different arcade machines lined up along the walls. From my count, there were fifteen of the arcade machines, most were games I have had played before, but a few were new to me. I stopped at one, it's tittle was 'Don't Mine at Night' the art on the machine was that of a colt holding a sword, and a filly holding a pic axe. Another one was had the tittle 'Fighting is magic' the art for it was spectacular, with six mares displayed all over the machine. It was surprising that I had never seen them before, as they looked like the kind of games I would buy.

The arcade room proved to be a big chore to clean, as any reasonable pony would expect, nearly all the foals had been in here, and had touched everything. Luckily the paint wiped off easily, made for foals Prancer told me, so other then being easy to clean up, the foals could eat it and only get a stomach ache. Candy Pop had the easiest time at cleaning, using her cheating magic quickly wipe off buttons. Prancer also had an easy time, not that she did any different then what I was doing, but she was faster at this then I was.

The next room was another game room, two pool table sat in the middle, but not much more. The girls had me take care of this room on my own, as they went to take care of the theater room.

"Hay Slowtrot, What do you call a police pony with no leggs?" Prancer yelled out from the next room.

"I don't know... not in the mood to work I guess." I yelled back

"A baton!" Prancer answered, I could also hear Candy Pop giggle.

The game room was an easy clean, the foals may have been here, but seeing as it was made for older ponies, they seemed to not have spent as much time here.

The next room was a two rooms long, and had a dance floor, along with a DJ set up, which meant it was another easy clean. Candy Pop decided to play DJ, and Prancer showed off her dancing moves. When they convinced me to join, and do a dance off, I met the challenge, but no amount of moonshine could hide that I didn't know how to dance, and I ended up jut falling on my face, ending the dance off before it even started.

The last two rooms were more game rooms, classic stuff too, with table tennis, foosball being the main attractions of the rooms. Now quite drunk, Candy Pop claimed herself the next princesses of equestria, standing on the foosball table when she did, and granting Prancer Dancer the lord of the flop, Prancer responded by flopping on the ground.

We headed to the second floor, and unlike the floor below, the rooms took up two spaces like the dance floor did, each one was a spots room, with little to clean other then the walls. At this point the work went fast, and with Prancer Dancer singing, the time went by fast. Candy Pop joined in, but she sluerd much of the time, and when they tried to get me to join too, mostly chose to hum the words.

When it was all over, it was a nice moment, until Candy Pop puked in her bucket, then it became a funny moment.

"so Mister Slowtrot, what did you do outside, before the hole pipbuck problem," Prancer asked me as she rubbed Candy's back.

I sighed, "Nothing realy, nothing at all." I placed my hooves on the railing, and looked down. The robots had already moved in, and were cleaning the floors.

"Oh come now, you got to have been doing something" her voice was calm, more inviting then prying.

"Nope, I worked jobs I was no good at, spent the bits on rent, food, and drinks, and whet to sleep hoping that the war would be over when I got up." sometimes I hated how the drink made me more chatty, but the drunk times were when I could easily talk to some pony, or let them talk to me.

"Nothing new, I've see a lot of ponies like that over the years. More as the years went on." She walked up besides me, putting her hooves on the rails as well. "But things will get better, from what I've been told, your a real lucky pony. To even be alive ofter what that thing did, I wouldn't be surprised if Stable-Tec gives you a ton of bits just to forget the hole thing happened."

"that would make life a little easier, maybe find a nice place far from equestria, you know, until the war is over."

Prancer gave a gasp, then sighed "that's probably the smartest thing to do right now." she tapped her hooves on the railing. "I'm sure some pony has told you this ready, but I use to be Part of the Ministry Of Moral, early on when the ministry's were first formed. Our job was to keep the sprites of the ponies up in the dark times, help them get through all the fear and anger. My teacher was not happy that I'd joined up with the M.O.M. saying that laughter can't be issued by the government. That day the grate Ponyacci left equestria, off to lands not poisoned by war, and I was to proud to go with him, and too ashamed to go and find were he dispersed too." Looking over at her, she was crying a little, looking into the small bottle of moonshine.

"The M.O.M. did do good work, but along the way this just, just weren't the same anymore, instead of making pony's happy, we were forcing them to pretend that they were happy. I had enough when I held a pinky party, and even I had to pretend to enjoy myself." she rotated her hoof again. "I would always tell myself that a party pony was no party pony if they hated the party, and there I was, being a party pony who hated the party I was running."

"too much pink I say," Candy Pop joined us, looking a lot better after emptying her stomach, "you cant just paint everything pink and call it a day, it hurts the eyes."

Prancer laughed, "you know that is so true, and never go into the little fillies isle in a super store, the mountain of pink is overwhelming."

I even joined them in the laughter.

Prancer nudged me, "but no matter, I now get to put a smile of all the foals faces, real smiles, I've even seen the stiffs down in the lab crack a smile now and then. so what were we talking about before?"

"I think it was.." nothing came to me, between the moonshine and Prancers sudden story, I had forgotten. "something, I'll remember it later."

We shared another laugh, and enjoyed a bit more of our dink, except for Candy Pop who had enough for the night.

Looking back down, two ponies had walked in, both keeping to the spots that the robots had already cleaned. One was the mare from the diner, the one who had me sign the forms, the other was an older unicorn stallion, with a dark blue coat, a light blue main, and security barding on.

Prancer nudged me again with her hoof. "looks like Dot an Cross is on a date with the security chief again, his name is Brass Badge by the way."

almost like on cue, Dot an Cross looked up at us with an irritated looking glare, "it's good to see that you were able to get some real work done, even if it is your own mess."

"Now Dot's, we can't just stop and tell off every pony we see, were on a tight schedule." Brass Badge spoke with a tired tone before looking at us. "Speaking of which, seeing as your done here, can you go to the overmares office, Healing Herbs sould be there, let her know that we will be back tomorrow."

Dot en Cross gave Brass Badge a stern look. "Seriously Brass, your sending the clown, the gossip, and a pony that dose not even work here to the overmares office. Are you trying to give Healing Herbs a heart attack."

"I'd have asked the others to do it, but every pony up at this hour is busy with work, other then them three, and it's just a message." He retorted.

"fine, but I better not find out that they did anything stupid in her office." Dot an Cross stomped a hoof before waling it the door.

When Brass Badge looked back up at us, we gave him a collective nod, and watched them leave the atrium.

"I bet their going to knock horns at the resort," Candy Pop blurted out as soon as the door closed, "that's what most ponies do when they get time out of the stable."

"They realy sould just announce it, and tie the knot, it's been a long time since I planed a wedding." Prancer sighed after she spoke.

Candy Pop had the biggest grin on her face, looking over me, and at prancer. "It's only a matter of time, she is pregnant."

Prancer gasped, "Fucking no way!"

Candy nodded "Doc Lifebeat confirmed it yesterday, grumpy Dot's was all speechless about it."

"you don't think shes going to tell him about it topside do you?" Prancer had a big smile on her face as well.

At this point I was getting unconformable with the conversation being had, with me in the middle. "excuse me, but you said something about a resort?"

The two looked at me, almost as though that they just remembered that I was here. Prancer Dancer was the one who spoke up, "so no pony told you, well then your in for a treat,"

she patted me on the shoulder, "The R&D Stable is on non other then the Marewaii Islands, the second island to be exact. Plenty of sun, warm sands, and places in which to enjoy yourself at."

I faced hoofed, "My first time to Marewaii, and it's stuck underground."

Candy Pop then patted my shoulder from the other side. "this stable is built under Stable-Tec's own resort, when your done with the testing, I'm sure they will let you stay there for a few day." Looking at Candy Pop, she was a bit too close, her eyes locked with mine. "There's something I want to ask you Slowtrot." I nodded, feeling a bit dumbstruck by her sudden closeness. "Can you go to the overmares office and deliver the message for us," Candy Pop backed off a little, "were a bit on her short list right now, there would be a lot of glaring, an ranting if we were to bother her."

Prancer burst out laughing as Candy pushed herself off the rails, and back to all fours. "oh and wile your there, can you pick up the bottles of B lab soda that she confiscated, I'll have a surprise for you if you do." She gave me a wink.

Sighing, I got back on all four hooves, "no problem, but no promises on the soda." an Icon in my upper right of my vision appeared, stating a rout had been set, and a new quest had been started. Finishing off the moonshine, I placed the empty bottle in a nearby trash can, and walked off to one of the atrium's side doors, it opening with a soft hiss when I hit the button.

"It's not just Dot's who is pregnant, well it's not confirmed, but..." the closing of the door cut off the rest of Candy Pops conversation, leaving me in back in the still quietness.

The door to the overmares office looked no different from all the other doors in the stable, but like with going to the principals office, It filled me with a bit of dread by just looking at it, even if I had done nothing wrong.

Knocking on the door a few times proved no response, though I was entirely unsure that she sould hear me unless I bucked the door. Pressing the button to open the door also provided no response, other then giving me a short buzz, which I could only guess meant that I needed a key. I was at a bit of a loss to what I sould do next, other then wait for her to open the door herself. Though now thinking about it, I would be a good idea to wait until I was more sober, it be a few hours before the moonshine had run it's cores through me.

"may I," quickly turning my head to the side in surprise, I saw an all black earthpony mare with golden eyes and lab barding, "shes been locking the door more often lately, like she is hiding herself away." she pushed her hoof onto the button, and the door softly hissed open.

The inside of the overmares office was dim like the hallway, except for a lamp on her desk, which shined onto Healing Herbs, who was asleep in her chair.

"Thanks, I just need to..." the mare next to me was gone, nether in the office or down the hall, she was simply gone, as though she was never here at all. The hair along my spine raised up, as in protest to the fact I knew she was here, but now just gone. "right, no ghosts here, not at all" I whisperer to myself.

Inside the overmares office I could the bottles of B Lab Soda that Candy Pop had asked fore. There were also plenty of boxes scattered around, and a ton of paperwork on her desk. Overall I could see that it was not the kind of job I would want, not unless I was being paid a ton of bits to do it. The room had one window, and in taking a peek I could see that it looked down into the atrium, Candy and Prancer were still down there, putting away all the buckets and rages we had used.

Seeing that the overmare was fast asleep, and that the alcohol in my system made me feel a bit braver, this was an opportune time to grab the B Lab Soda for Candy Pop, before I woke up Healing Herbs. The levitation magic helped a lot to when trying to quietly put the stuff into my saddlebags, and I was presently surprised when I was able to fit ten in each bag without a problem, they didn't even make much noise inside it, or even puff out the bags all that much, it must have been some sort of magic to it. Twenty bottles was about all there was of the glowing stuff, though there were other Sparkle-Cola bottles as well: one batch was green, it was labeled as A Lab Soda, another one had a blue color to it, labeled as C Lab Soda. Seeing as though I had already taken a few, I decided that taking a few more would not hurt. A frowny face appeared in the upper right of my vision, making me feel a bit bad about taking the other bottles.

Before pulling back, and waking up the overmare, the self behind the boxes of soda caught my eyes. On the shelf was a bunch photos in decorative frames, each of them having the same two ponies in it: Healing Herbs, and a shy looking pegusi, she looked like the mare of the Ministry of Peace. Most of them showed the two together with nurses caps on, they were ether among patents, other nurses, or by themselves, all with big grins on their faces. Second to the last photo was a little different, as the two were in lab coats now, and surrounded by unicorns who were also in lab coats, the happy feeling on their faces seemed to be not as big as before. The last photo seemed to be bursting with joy, it was a group photo, and other then Healing herbs, and what I guessed was the six ministry mares, the few other mares in the photo were unknown to me, above them was a big colorful banner saying 'Baby Shower' on it.

Mumbling from Healing Herbs snapped back into my mined what I was hear for. Walking up to her desk I knocked softly on to it's metal surface, hoping not to startle her awake. She slowly opened her golden eyes to look at me, before pulling herself up in her seat, "If this is about another setback, just find a work around, I'll take care of the paperwork," she said with a bit of a yawn.

"Sorry but I'm here to let you know that Dot.. Dot an Cross, and Brass Bridge, no wait, Brass Badge. They will be back tomorrow, I mean they asked me to tell you that." I was realy hoping I was not making myself sound like an idiot.

Healing herbs rubbed her face with her hooves, and and looked at me with her pale green eyes. "oh, your the one with the pipbuck we need, why are they having you run errands, you sould be down in Labs B, getting that thing removed." She sighed before tapping on her terminal. "Messaged received, so get back down to the pipbuck lab, were one a tight scheduled right now." Waving me off, she accidental tipped over am empty bottle of B Lab Soda.

With nothing more to do here, and not wanting to irritate the mare, I stepped out of the office and pressed the button to close the door. As the door closed I thought I could hear Healing Herbs wispier over the doors soft hiss, "A secret for a secret..." giving me an odd feeling of deja vu again.

Footnote:

Quest complete: cleanup's fun.