I opened my eyes half hoping to find myself back in the stable. As bad as the stable was, my last memory was not a good one. When I saw the ramshackle combination of weathered wood and rusted, corrugated metal, I knew I was back in Coltington. The room smelled clean, almost too clean. My armored barding hadn't been removed again, so at least there was that. I tried to move but found that my legs were all tied down to the bed I was on. Oh hell, this couldn't be good.

“So, he finally wakes up,” Last Stand grumbled at me. I turned my head towards his voice and saw him sitting in the dark corner. He blended in with the shadows almost perfectly. As he ambled forward, I saw the look in his eyes that was cold and made me shiver and wish I hadn't woken up. The way he was holding his favorite shotgun didn’t put me at ease at all. “I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to come back. Not after stealing from me, and you know how I feel about thieves.”

“But I didn’t…” I started to protest.

“SHUT UP!” he bellowed, his chest heaving. “Don’t even try it. Muddy already told us what you did.”

Damn it, Muddy, almost killing me twice wasn’t good enough? “I don’t care what he said to you, I didn’t do any of it. Did he also tell you that he tried to kill me and almost succeeded?”

“That’s exactly what he said you’d say. I knew you couldn’t be trusted. Tech, and those that work with tech, can never be trusted.” He swung the barrels of his shotgun and aimed them squarely at my head. He racked the slide and even the “chack-chack” sounded more menacing. “Any last words?”

“Last Stand, just what is it you think you are doing? We talked about this earlier,” a calm, monotone voice said. I turned to look and saw Big Boss entering the room.

Last Stand looked even more annoyed than before. He growled before he said, “I know what YOU said, and I never agreed to it. He stole from me, from the company, and he deserves to die!”

“Enough.” Even though he didn’t raise his voice, Big Boss spoke with a calm authority that demanded obedience. No wonder he was always the pony running the big operations. “Last Stand, will you please leave us?” It sounded like a question, but there was no mistaking it was a command.

Last Stand grumbled like a peal of thunder as he trudged out of the room. He glanced at me over his shoulder one last time before he left and closed the door.

“Dust Cloud.” I began to speak but Big Boss cut me off. “You know, what you have to say doesn’t really matter to me. What I do care about is what you’ve done to the company. Haven’t we taken care of you? Paid you well? Outfitted you so you’d be safe? Healed you when you were injured during operations? And now you do this?”

“But…”

“Wait for me to finish. You have no idea how much trouble you’re in, my little pony. Last Stand wants to kill you. No one trusts you. Muddy is gone. All I want to know is where is the tech you stole and why did you do it? You may speak now.”

Where to even start? “I know this is going to sound strange and will probably contradict everything you’ve already been told. Can I at least get through it all before you tell me I’m crazy?” He nodded. “OK. Well…” I briefly outlined what I saw when I walked in that lab with Muddy and Silver. Picking up the tempo of my speech, I explained how Muddy almost killed me and left me for dead and how I made it to the clinic and got healed by the robot. In order to protect Silver so they didn't send another team after her, I did leave out the detail about her staying behind.

Big Boss sat quietly, contemplating my words. He touched his hoof to his chin and simply said, “Hmmm. You put me in a difficult position Dust. Muddy is no longer around to talk to, which is the only reason I’m giving your story any credence whatsoever. And your version is not unbelievable. I just wanted to see if you’d try outright lying to me. That being said, now what am I to do with you?”

“Um, I have an idea. How about you untie me and let bygones be bygones?”

He laughed. “Nice try. The problem is that, right now, everyone you know wants a piece of you. Your friends are either gone or hate you now. All I care about is the loyalty of those that work for us. So I have a proposition for you. As of right now, you are, as far as I am concerned, a thief. Usually, we just take you out back and shoot you… and trust me, Last Stand is first in line for those honors. But I also have my doubts. Dust, you’ve been nothing but a hard-worker to us for as long as you’ve been with us. You have never hidden any tech loot from us and you could have easily done it. And the value of the material you’ve brought back… But then again, we have no reason to doubt Muddy’s story either. So here is the proposal. You go back into the stable and clear out the Utility wing of anything valuable. Unfortunately, Prickly Pear’s team was severely injured by a malfunctioning computer so they weren’t able to even start their job. Go in, get anything you can get your hands on, and get out and we’ll be square.”

“OK, which team do I go in with? I don’t trust Last Stand to keep me safe.”

“Oh, you misunderstand me. When I say you go in the stable, I mean just that. You, and you alone, go in.”

“Wait a damn minute. You’re going to send a single pony into a situation that severely injured a entire scavving team AND their fire team escort. Hell no!”

“Alright…. I see…” He turned his head towards the door. “Last Stand, will you rejoin us?”

“No.. nononononono… I get it… I get it.”

Last Stand practically ran through the door. “Yes Big Boss?” He wasn’t even trying to hide the delight in his voice.

“Never mind, Last Stand. Seems like Dust here changed his mind.”

As excited as he was moments ago, Last Stand seemed incredibly crestfallen now. “Ok boss.” He turned and slowly made his way back outside.

“Ok, but I need you to do something for me. You will keep Last Stand off my tail?” I asked. He really did scare me.

“We will tell him that it would be in his best interests to leave you alone, but we can’t promise he’ll care so much. That’s the best I can do.”

“Do I at least get to sleep on it? I’ve had a rough few days.” I laughed nervously.

“I fail to see the humor in the situation.” Big Boss glared at me.

“Doesn’t sound like much of a choice. I’ll do it”

“Oh, and Dust, I’ll untie you so you can sleep tonight. But don’t get any bright ideas. I am posting guards at the door and guards outside with orders to shoot. Do we understand each other?”

“I get it. I leave, I die.”

“Very good.” He came over the bed and untied my hooves. “Good night Dust Cloud,” he said as he left the room.

I sat up for several hours, the blood trail leading towards the Utility section haunting my mind. I guess to be accurate now, it was a blood trail leading OUT of Utility. Somepony, or ponies, had been injured enough to leave that trail. I hoped I was getting the whole story from Big Boss about it being a computer malfunction and not something more. My eyes finally got heavy and slowly closed. I had a dreamless night's sleep.

A knock at the door startled me awake. “Dust Cloud. Time to get up and get going.” It was Big Boss.

“Yeah, give me a second to get ready.” I crawled out of bed and gathered my gear. Opening the door I saw Big Boss and two guards waiting for me.

“You ready to go?”

“Wait, can I make one more request? Can I please speak with Prickly Pear before we go? At least I’ll know what’s waiting for me down there.”

Big Boss contemplated it for a few seconds. “I will take you to see Prickly Pear, but I can’t guarantee he’s in any condition to help you. Let’s go.”

I finally realized that I had been held in one of the rooms in the local clinic. The sickly-sweet smell of decay was stronger in the hallway than it had been in my room. Something was wrong for the smell to be that strong. We went down a short hallway to another room. Big Boss knocked. “Prickly Pear, may I come in?”

I heard Prickly Pear’s faint voice, “D...d...d..doors… watch the doors!”

Big Boss headed inside. After a few moments, he called my name. I walked in the room. First I noted the overpowering smell of urine and shit. I was not prepared for what I saw. Prickly Pear had been through the wringer. His two front legs were splinted and covered in bandages which were bloodstained. Under the sheet, I could see that his two back legs ended at the knees. He must have voided his bowels at some point during the night leaving a large yellow stain on the top sheet and a small puddle on the floor. And his eyes… his eyes were wide open and unseeing. He was staring into space and did not notice me entering.

“Prickly, it’s me Dust Cloud. How are you?”

“The stable… the stable's alive. The stable is angry!” he cried out.

“Prickly, what do you mean?” I asked.

“Get out! Everyone get out! The doors! It’s using the doors!” He was terrified.

“Prickly, it’s OK. You’re in Coltington now. The stable can’t hurt you.” I was doing my best to calm him down.

“Coltington… oh good… I’m safe…. No, wait. It’s another trick! The stable, it's alive and it wants to kill us all!”

The doctor shoved his way past us and injected Prickly Pear with a syringe. Prickly slowly faded into a restless sleep. He would whimper every few second and would mumble, “It’s alive!’ under his breath.

“OK, that’s enough for the morning, he needs to sleep.” The doctor basically shoved us out of the room.

Big Boss turned to me. “I hope you got some useful information. You ready now?”

“Do I have a choice?.” I didn’t feel ready, but I didn’t really have a choice.

“You do have a choice, I just don’t think you’ll like the alternative, with you being dead and all.”

We walked out the clinic door and passed Last Stand. He was sitting there cleaning his shotgun. He winked at me. A chill ran from the tip of my nose all the way to my tail.

The walk to the stable was quiet and uneventful. Several attempts to start conversation were met with silence. We made our way down into the cavern that led to the stable entrance. The cooler, stale air set my hair on edge. As the daylight faded, my stomach started to tie itself into knots. I broke out into a cold sweat.

“Um, are you sure that I can’t have someone come with me?” I laughed uncomfortably.

“Unfortunately, no. Dust, I didn’t want to send you in alone. But Last Stand convinced everyone else that we shouldn’t risk any more ponies on this. I convinced them that this operation would probably do what Last Stand wanted and kill you, and if it didn’t, we got something out of it. I'm really the only reason you're still alive.” We got to the door control panel. Big Boss activated it and the strobe lights washed the cavern with their yellow light and the klaxons were almost deafening. The door retracted and rolled to the side accompanied by the usual grinding and squealing. Once the strobes and klaxons stopped and the cavern was silent once again, Big Boss turned to face me.

“You have twenty-four hours to get what you can. If you can’t find anything of any value, you are to bring back the control chip from the water purifier which is in the deepest part of the Utility wing. There will always be guards on duty. They will re-open the door in twenty-four hours. If you try to leave earlier than that, they have orders to kill you. If you aren’t back here when they open the door, we will booby trap the door to kill anything that attempts to leave. Any questions?”

“No. I think I got it. Either I die out here, die in there, or get lucky and survive it all somehow.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Good luck.”

I walked into the red-lighted stable and heard the klaxons and saw the yellow strobes as Big Boss closed the stable door behind me. Once the door closed completely, I was alone and could only hear my own breathing and the soft hum of the stable ventilation system.

“Silver Lining? Are you here?” I called out. Unfortunately, the only response was my own echo. I didn’t expect a response. She probably was hiding down in the lab assuming she heard the stable door opening. My first priority was the check on her first. Maybe she knew something about the Utility wing. I went down the stairs into the Atrium and then to the lab door without any incident. After overriding the lab door, the cooler, fresher air from the lab section blew over me. I made my way back to the fateful room where I almost died. When I got to the door, I reached out to the door control, but then froze. The vision of Muddy behind the door, waiting for me so he could finish what he started, haunted me.

“Well, here goes nothing.” I pushed the door control and waited. Once I was satisfied that there wasn’t anything waiting for me on the other side, I stepped into the lab. Out of a sense of paranoia, I looked around the room making sure there was nothing waiting for me in the shadows.

“Silver Lining? Are you in here? It’s Dust Cloud,” I called out.

“Dust Cloud? You came back?” I heard a faint voice call out from the cavern in the back of the lab. “Be right there!”

Silver Lining flew up from the cavern below and landed in the lab. “Oh Celestia, I never thought I’d see you again! How are you doing? How’s your wing?” She gave me a big hug, squeezing my wing in the process.

“Owww! It was OK until just now!” After shaking off the pain, I filled her in on the events at my house and how Muddy tried to kill me again.

“Oh, Dust, I'm so sorry. But, what are you doing back here?” she asked.

“Funny story, really." I paused. "Well, maybe not. I am in here to clean out the Utility wing or else they’ll kill me. Muddy framed me and they think I stole from them. Shouldn’t be too bad, though, based on what we’ve seen in the rest...” I started to slow my speech based on the look on her face, “of… the...stable… what?”

“Umm, Dust, the Utility wing, is haunted,” she murmured softly. Her pink face had gone nearly white, even in the dim lighting of the emergency lights.

“What do you mean, haunted?” I asked.

“Well, in the few months I’ve been here, that’s the one place I haven’t been in. There are all types of weird sounds I hear coming from that area. I have never set hoof in that part of the stable.”

Well, shit, first Prickly and now Silver. Looks like I had my work cut out for me. “Um, well, at least now I know I’m heading into some danger. Maybe if I play it safe, I can make it out of there.”

“Oh Dust, please don’t go in there. Let me talk to them, explain that it was really Muddy,” Silver pleaded.

“Not gonna work… do you think they’ll believe a pegasus they’ve never met before who just happens to have a story like the one the alleged thief is telling?” I shook my head and muttered under my breath, “Go down to the surface, he said. Do something meaningful, he said. Well, fuck you very much General,” and out of some weird, long lost instinct, I added, “Sir.”

“What was that Dust?”

“Nothing… don’t worry about it. Listen, Silver, I normally wouldn’t ask another pony for their supplies, but I need to know. Do you have any weapons or medical supplies hidden away in one on your caches?”

“Well, I do have a small supply of healing potions, and I think I may have found one or two grenades.”

“Can I have them? I will repay you somehow. Something tells me I will need them.”

“Um, sure. I’ve hidden most of my stuff in the cavern. I’ll be right back.”

She flew down into the cavern below and disappeared into the darkness. When she left my view, something made my stomach uneasy. I glanced around the lab, expecting someone to emerge from the shadows and attack me. When I saw her pink form reemerge, I felt a sense of relief.

“Here you go, hopefully this is enough.” She handed me a half-dozen healing potions. Next, she handed me three cylindrical spark grenades and not the apple-shaped frag grenades I was hoping for. “Is this what you wanted?”

“Not what I expected, but I thank you for it.” I placed the spark grenades and healing potions in my saddlebags. “Alright, I’ll see you around I hope.” Turning and starting to leave the lab. I heard hoofsteps behind me. Looking behind me I saw that she was following me. “Where are you going?”

“I left you alone once before. I am not doing it again. After you left last time, I regretted my decision almost immediately. I don’t want to be on my own anymore. And I won’t let you go into the Utility wing alone.” She stomped her hoof down to punctuate her statement. The thud echoed throughout the lab and cavern.

“No, I can’t have you following me. I may not make it out of there alive, and I don’t want to put you at risk.”

“Dust, can I just say that I want to stay with you and leave it at that?” I could see the pleading in her eyes.

“Alright, I don’t really have time to argue. But listen, when we’re in there, do whatever I tell you to. If I say stay down, stay down. If I say stick to my side, I want you attached to it like glue. And if I tell you to run, I want you to run, even if it means leaving me behind.”

“But…” she started to object.

“No… I insist on this. I may be getting myself killed, but I don’t want you to die along with me. This is my problem, not yours.”

She opened her mouth as if to argue, but then stopped. “OK, I guess I can live with that.”

“Good, let’s go.”

We made our way back up through the Atrium and into the entry room. We paused at the door marked Utility and saw the blood trail leading to the door. I heard Silver gulp beside me.

“You sure you’re good with this?”

“Y..yeah. Let’s go.”

I reached out for the control that would open the door. When the button was pressed, the door slid open and I was overwhelmed with the coppery stench of blood. It was nauseating. I heard Silver gag a little. “Breathe through your mouth. And smile, it’ll alleviate the gag reflex.” It was an odd look for her. Her normally pink face took on a shade of green, which was impressive in the red emergency lighting, and topped off with an obviously fake smile. How I wish I had a camera.

“For now, I guess we’ll follow the trail,” I pointed down the hallway.

Fortunately for us, the blood trail was dry and crusty but we avoided stepping in it as much as possible. Even though I didn’t expect to find anything, we still ducked in the first few rooms. These storage rooms were usually empty in stables. The first people to discover stables typically cleared them out since they were so close to the surface. There were a few spark batteries and random parts, which I stowed in my saddlebags. As we got the the end of the hallway, the blood trail led down the stairs to the next level. After reaching the next landing, we walked through the doorway. The hallway broke off in two directions.

“Left or right first?” I asked Silver.

“Umm, left?”

“Alright.” After we took a step away from the doorway, it slammed shut behind us unusually quickly. The sound echoed down the hallways for a few seconds. I turned around and hoofed the control box. The door did not move. “Hmm, this is interesting.” I bucked the control box to get to the inner workings. As I reached for the mess of wiring, I heard a high pitch whine. Sparks flew out of the box nearly burning my hoof. I shielded my eyes from the intense light and heat. The hallway filled with the scent of ozone and melting plastic. After the fireworks subsided, I looked back at the junction box and saw a melted slag of copper and plastic.

“Looks like we aren’t getting out that way.” I turned towards Silver, “Do you know if the Utility wing has an entrance into the Living Quarters?”

“I don’t know… I didn’t spend much time in the Living Quarters… all the skeletons.” I didn’t think it was possible, but her complexion lightened even more than it already was.

“Okay, we’ll worry about that later. Stay close.” If this stable was laid out like the others, this level would house all the maintenance bays. This was where a lot of good stuff could be found. The first door we came across wouldn't open with the switch either. Fortunately, it didn't explode when I tried to override it. I finished the override of the control box and the door slid open.

We moved into the room and saw that it was a general maintenance bay. Maybe I'd finally find a working Pip-Buck. During our training, they had always fascinated me, and I wanted one. We made our way over to the workstation. “Jackpot!” I yelled out in glee. On the workbench were 3 Pip-Bucks. I picked up the first one. “Damn it.” The Pip-Buck was missing its screen and the entire control panel. The technician must have cannibalized it to fix another one. I put that one down on the table and picked up the next one. I hoofed the activation switch and nothing. C’mon. The first time I’ve come across Pip-Bucks and tell me none of them work. Picking up the third one, I hoped it would turn on and hoofed the activation switch. The screen lit up and from what I could tell, was booting properly. Eventually, I was greeted by a smiling pony hoofbumping the screen, followed by what I recognized as the main menu, but it indicated that the biometric interface was missing its input.

“Score! This should be enough to get me out of trouble… a fully working Pip-Buck… geez, I wish they would let me keep it. Hopefully they’ll let me keep the duds and I can cobble them together.”

I felt Silver Lining peeking over my shoulder. “A working Pip-Buck?”

“Seems that way…” I involuntarily let out a little squee.

Silver giggled. “Look who is as excited as a little filly… it’s cute.”

My cheeks got warm. “No… I’m not.”

“No, it’s cute, really.” She giggled.

“Can we drop it, please?”

There were a few precision tools used to work on small electronics which I stuffed in my saddlebags as well. We left the Pip-Buck bay and went into the other maintenance bays on this side. The next maintenance bay was where the robots were serviced. Nothing extraordinary in this one as well, but we did find a couple of spark batteries. I added them to our collection.

These were the only two bays on this side of the hall. We made our way back to the middle and headed in the other direction. Thinking back on it, our team should have been the one to clear out the Utility wing, with me and my expertise in tech. That did seem a little odd in retrospect. However, I was glad we weren’t. I might have ended up like Prickly Pear. That thought was cleared from my mind when I saw the door back to the main entrance was opened once again.

“Hmm, I wonder when that happened…” I thought out loud.

We checked out the two maintenance bays on the other side of the hall and found nothing of any value. They were filled with general tools and scrap metal, nothing that would help me earn my freedom.

We went back to the central hall and followed the blood down to the next level. In other stables, this would be the power generation level. Based on the size of the parts of the stable I had seen so far, there would be at most two generators on this level. Standing in the central hallway, I noticed the two large doors that should lead to the two generators. I nearly jumped when I thought I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. A brief search revealed that the hallway was empty. I heard a faint whirring sound and saw the security camera move. Funny how that was the first time I noticed that.

We kept walking and I noticed that the camera kept following us. “Alright, this is a little unsettling.” We scoured the two generator rooms and found nothing useful. We made our way back to the main hall and followed the blood trail down another flight of stairs. The blood trail came to an abrupt end at the landing where I saw what appeared to be the bottom half of two rear legs the same color as Prickly Pear. This must have been where Prickly lost his legs. I basically ordered Silver Lining, “Stay close and keep your eyes open. And don’t think about what’s on the floor.” She gulped, probably stifling back nausea.

This final level would house water purification, waste processing and the maneframe. I wasn’t expecting anything from the maneframe room, but I needed to at least get the control chip from the water purifier, just in case the Pip-Bucks weren’t worth enough. As we got to the landing, I stepped through the threshold. A motor whirred to life, louder than usual.

“Watch out!” I yelled to Silver. Leaping forward and landing on my side, I looked back and saw Silver frozen as the door closed, separating the two of us. I now knew what happened to Prickly. Poor bastard.

“Silver! You OK?” I yelled through the door.

“Yeah, just startled. How about you?” she called back.

“I’m OK. Let me try to override the door.” Remembering what happened last time, I took my time and stayed aware of any sudden changes. I bucked the box open and slowly reached inside it. There was no whine this time and I began to work with the wires. From somewhere behind me, I heard the sound of metal scraping on metal. I looked toward the source of the sound and saw a hatch opening in the ceiling above me. Once it was open, a sentry gun started to lower out of the ceiling. Oh, shit!

“Silver, be careful, the security system is active,” I yelled as I ran for one of the rooms on this floor. Hopefully I would guess right and end up in the maneframe room. That was my only hope. I slammed the control box and dove into the room in front of me as I heard the first shots fired by the sentry gun. They slammed into the floor just outside the threshold of the door. The door slid closed behind me and the firing stopped. All I could hear now was the humming of the machinery behind me and the beeping of the sentry gun searching for a target in the hall.

I looked around the room I was in and saw water purification systems. Damn it Stable-Tec, why couldn’t you label the rooms here like you did in the Admin wing. I swore several more times under my breath, using combinations of the goddesses and actions that aren’t appropriate to share. Well, at least I could get that damned control chip. I made my way to the control station for the water purifier, opened the access panel and removed the chip.

With my minor problem solved, I turned to my bigger dilemma. How to get out of the room without getting turned to swiss cheese. I hoofed the control for the door and peeked my head out into the hallway. It didn't take long for the sentry gun to retrain its sights on me. Two bullets pinged and sparked on the frame of the door as I hastily withdrew my head. I hoofed the control and the door closed. Apparently the way out wouldn't be through the door.

I glanced around the room and saw there were no other doors in this room. I began to look for wall vents that maybe I could use to get to other sections of the stable. There were only two overhead vents, and there was no way I was getting up into them. I started to pace around the room to think and kept looking for other ways out. My search turned up nothing and I started to fear this room would become my tomb. I dropped down onto my hindquarters. One of the plates of my barding hit the floor panel beneath me and it made a hollow sounding ring.

What the hell…. I stood back up and looked closely at the floor panel. It appeared that it led to a shaft of sorts under the floor. But how was I going to get the panel open. I looked around the room for something to use for leverage and found some scrap metal on a shelf in the corner. I pried the floor panel off and slid it off to the side. The sound of metal scraping on metal was grating and filled the room with an ear-splitting squeal. Once I got the panel clear, I knelt down and looked into the tunnel.

It was pitch black and I could barely see past the couple of feet the red emergency lighting of the purification room cast into the tunnel. From what I could see, it was just barely large enough for a smallish pony to crawl through and it led back towards the central hallway. I lowered myself into the crawlspace and began to work my way down the tunnel.

After moving a couple of feet, my breathing became shallow and rapid. I stopped to catch my breath and I noticed that my head was pounding. I was never comfortable around tight spaces, but I didn’t think my claustrophobia was this bad. I stopped and tried to catch my breath. My mouth was extremely dry and my heart was pounding almost out of my chest. I pictured a pony skeleton trapped under the floor. My head was cleared when I heard a rumbling sound followed by several pings and the sound of running water coming from the room behind me. What the hell just happened?

I saw water start to flow into my crawlspace from the hatch I used in the purification room. The damn purifier must have blown! Of all the times for a systems failure, but I didn’t have time to worry about that now. I started to crawl my way toward the other end of the tunnel. The walls around me started to vibrate and the pipes started to bulge. I tried to move faster, but I was already short of breath and now the tunnel was spinning.

I heard a weird bursting sound and got slammed in the face with a jet of water. The pipes on the other side of me burst a few seconds later. Water was pouring into the tunnel and was starting to fill it. There was already a standing layer of water at my hooves. I had to make it through the rest of the shaft and quickly.

The shaft was now slicker due to the water coating the floor beneath me. I scrabbled my way along floor, moving painfully slowly. I had only traveled a couple of feet and had about two dozen more feet to go. As the water got deeper, it got harder to move. I had slithered several more feet, but the water was now up to my throat and was filling the shaft rapidly. I kept pushing myself forward, more out of desperation now than will. Progress was painfully slow and I knew it.

The water was now splashing at my muzzle. I was about halfway through the crawlspace. The water was going to cover my head shortly and then this would get more difficult. My hooves were not getting as much traction since I was starting to float a little bit. What else could possibly work against me here?

The water was now above my head and I still had about ten feet to go. My vision was obscured by water in the tunnel. I raised my mouth to the ceiling of the tunnel and took what would be my last breath until I got out of here. I inhaled as deeply as I could and continued to push my way towards air. As I kept pushing, my lungs started to burn, both with effort and with the overwhelming urge to breathe. The edges of my vision began to fade. Don't breathe Dust... don't breathe!

I started to panic. I was going to die this watery death, deep in this stable, under the floor, where no one would look for me. Silver Lining wouldn't even be able to find me, even if she could get to my location. I kept pushing my body forward and fought the nearly overwhelming urge to breathe. Kick, Dust, keep kicking! My head started pounding with every beat of my heart.

After a couple more kicks, my face slammed into a wall. Goddesses be damned, that hurt! I must have reached the end of the crawlspace. At least I hoped that was the case and not that I had simply gotten turned off course and slammed into a wall. I didn’t really have much choice. Bracing my legs underneath me, I pushed up with all my might.

Something above me gave and my body shot up through the floor of another room. I felt water cascading off my body and fell to my side on the floor of the new room. My lungs gasped greedily for air as I lay on the ground. My body heaved air in and out for a couple of minutes. Slowly, my vision returned to normal and my breathing slowed.

I sat up and looked around the rather small room I was in. The room was dominated by the large maneframe and its interface panel. The maneframe! Oh thank the goddesses! There was a chair for an operator near a small keyboard and a small utility table. I stood up and walked over to the door. I listened carefully and heard the soft beeping of the sentry gun trying to acquire a target. My situation was improved, but I wasn’t out of the woods yet.

I sat down at the console of the maneframe and looked at the small screen:

ACTIVITY LOG:

LIVING QUARTERS: LEVEL 2: DEPLOY ROBOT LQ.G.1

LIVING QUARTERS: LEVEL 2: TEST SUBJECT 1003 DETECTED

UTILITY: LEVEL 3: WATER PROCESSING: INCREASE PRESSURE TO ALL VALVES

UTILITY: LEVEL 3: ACTIVATE SENTRY TURRET U3.1

UTILITY: LEVEL 3: EMERGENCY HATCH SEAL: HATCH 3.2

UTILITY: LEVEL 3: TEST SUBJECT 1022 DETECTED

I scanned more of the log and noticed that the computer had been tracking our movements since, well, since the beginning. Several entries further down, I read the following:

UTILITY: LEVEL 2: EXPERIMENT CONCLUDED. TEST SUBJECT 1005 FAILED.

UTILITY: LEVEL 2: EMERGENCY HATCH SEAL: HATCH 3.2

The computer was running experiments! It thought we were test subjects in some sick and twisted game! I scanned the rest of the entries and saw that the computer was activating and deactivating various system. Perhaps the most frightening entry was the one that read:

PROTOCOL UPDATE: TEST SUBJECT 1005: UPGRADE TO LEVEL 3

I scanned back up in the most recent entries and found these two entries:

PROTOCOL UPDATE: TEST SUBJECT 1022: UPGRADE TO LEVEL 6

and

PROTOCOL UPDATE: TEST SUBJECT 1003: UPGRADE TO LEVEL 6

If what happened to Prickly was a level 3 experiment, and the computer had already upgraded Silver and I to level 6….

“Holy mother-bucking goddesses,” I muttered under my breath. The computer was really trying to kill us. I had to get out of here and meet up with Silver. My assumption was that she was test subject 1003 and she was stuck somewhere on level 2 of the Living Quarters. I had to get out of Utility first.

Keying in commands, I attempted to access the maneframe’s override procedures, but found that I was locked out. The computer kept saying I had insufficient access and to contact my nearest Stable-Tech representative for assistance. Yeah, I’ll get right on that once I have a time machine.

I went back to the main menu and looked for a way to modify the experiment. Again, all I was told was that I lacked a sufficient level of access. After randomly going through menu options, I found one I was able to access: SENSOR MAINTENANCE. Maybe I could shut down the sensors and blind the computer.

The only menu option was for Sensor Reboot. I selected that option and saw the the screen start a countdown from five. When it finished the countdown, I heard the soft beeping in the hallway stop. Awesome! It worked.

Feeling pleased with myself, I trotted to the door and hoofed the control panel. The door slid open and I stepped out in the hallway. I was halfway into the hall when I heard the beeping from the sentry resume. No fucking way! I saw the turret swing towards me and I dove back into the maneframe room. Three shots ricocheted off the floor behind me. That had to have been only about 10 seconds! I had to get into the hallway and override the doorway in just 10 seconds?

I sat back down at the console and looked for the Security subroutines. Maybe I could override all the hatches and have all the doors in the stable open at once. Unfortunately, I was informed hatch control was under strict control of maneframe experimentation control.

Think, Dust, think. Can’t go back, so we go forward. I pictured the hallway. The sealed door was blocking my access to the higher levels of Utility. The other wing housed a, presumably, flooded water purification room and a waste processing room. Then there was a stairway down… A stairway down! It would mean going deeper into the Stable, but I had no other choice. The question now became, would ten seconds be enough time to make it past the sentry and out of sight? I had no choice, I had to try.

I went back to the maneframe and rekeyed the menu option for rebooting the sensors. After five seconds, I heard the beeping in the hallway stop. I galloped to the door control and hoofed it. The door opened halfway and stopped. Fucking computer… now it was playing games with me. I slid to a stop and almost smashed my face against the half closed door. I stuck my head out in the hallway… it was a tight fit. The motors whirred as the turret swung its way towards my door. The doorway was a tight fit as I quickly pulled my head back in and the door slammed shut behind me.

I let out a growl. “Fucking maneframe, fucking doors, fucking stables…” If this was typical of all stables, then no one made it out. I imagined ponies dying in multitudes of horrible ways. And I was probably going to be another one… and Silver too. I was shaken from my thoughts by the beeping resuming in the hallway. The door slid open again. “OK computer, you wanna play games, I can play games too.”

I grabbed a screwdriver off of a maintenance cart nearby and galloped towards the door. I jammed the screwdriver into the door track as hard as I could and got it wedged. Hopefully this would hold the door. I went back to the maneframe and rebooted the sensors once again. Breaking into a full gallop, I turned towards the door. As I got closer to the door I saw it start to close and get jammed against the screwdriver. Right after I passed through, I heard the motor whining against the strain.

I made it several steps into the hallway and I heard the screwdriver skitter away as the door closed behind me. Well, there was no going back now. I got under the sentry gun and turned down the staircase. The harsh beeping of the sentry gun droned on behind me as I waited on the landing. Hopefully, I was out of line of sight. I hoofed the door control and nothing happened. The computer was playing games again.

I bucked the control box and quickly shattered the computer board behind it. Hopefully that would prevent the computer from remotely operating the door. While frantically looking for the wires that would activate the door’s motor, I heard the sentry gun whir to life behind me. Ah, shit. Gotta move quick. I touched the two necessary wires together and the door started to slide open. After the door was fully opened, I galloped through the opening. The sentry gun opened fire and sent several rounds towards me. A couple of rounds pinged against the floor behind me. Then I felt like I got slammed in the torso. I dove and slid against another door. The firing from behind me stopped. Searching my body where I felt the impact, I found the mushroomed round that my armor had stopped. Thank you Enclave R&D. My side still throbbed, but I was alive and I was out of Utility.

Hoofing the control, the door slid open and I walked into the Living Quarters. I sat down after the vestibule door closed behind me. I needed to calm down and brace myself for what would happen in the Living Quarters. There was a crazy computer trying to kill me, Silver Lining to find somewhere in the Living Quarters and I had to get back to the front door, all without getting anyone killed. And this trip was supposed to be hard.

Based on what I read in the maneframe, Silver was stuck somewhere on Level 2. Hopefully she hadn’t gotten too far, and I wouldn’t have to search all the levels. I wondered how many levels this particular stable had. Unfortunately, most of the records regarding stable specifics were deemed unimportant so the Enclave never sent teams to recover them.

I looked at the door in front of me and it indicated that I was on level 4 of the Living Quarters. Great, just had to find my way two levels up first. I reached out for the door control in front of me, half expecting it to explode in my face. When I was able to activate it without any problems, I guessed the computer stopped using that particular game. Which, of course, made me wonder what games it would be using.

When the door slid open, I saw a long hallway in front of me. There was a sour odor, but very faint. It reminded me of other stables filled with old rotted bodies. I couldn’t see the end of the hallway in the dim, red lighting, but I did see there was a branch off to the right a good distance down the hall. The first two doors I saw were the restrooms and were marked for mares and stallions. I quickly searched both bathrooms and saw that the first aid kits were already ransacked. High Ground’s team must have done a pretty thorough job, or someone else had previously made their way through here.

When I was back out in the hallway, I saw the door control for the first bathroom I went in was illuminated with a red indicator light. I hoofed the control and nothing happened. It seemed the computer was still playing a game with me with the doors, but it had changed. I would be able to enter each room only once. Well, that shouldn’t be too hard to handle. But I had to be careful since I needed to check every room for Silver.

I entered the first room, calling out Silver’s name as I entered. I also searched the dressers and lockers, but found nothing of any value. Finding the drawers already ransacked, I guess that by the time anyone got to level 4, they stopped checking dressers and the like. The most disconcerting thing about the room was the skeletal remains that lay in the bed under the sheets. The Overmare ordered everyone to stay in their rooms and from what I saw, this poor pony did. Until he or she died. I said a short prayer to the goddesses for the occupant before I left.

The next few rooms were a repeat of the scene I found in the first. Now I know what Silver was talking about when I asked about the Living Quarters earlier. The sight of the pony skeleton in the bed never got less heartbreaking, especially when it was obvious it was a filly or colt.

I decided to stop searching room by room since there was nothing of any value, monetarily or offensively, and made my way to the staircase on the opposite end of this level of the stable. Making my way up the two flights of stairs, I found my way to the door marked level 2. I hoofed the control and walked through.

The first thing I noticed was the sound of a plasma pistol being fired every few seconds. The second was screaming every time it did so. And the screaming sounded a whole lot like Silver.

“Don’t worry Silver, I’m coming!” I screamed out. And then I felt immediately foolish. Best case scenario, she wouldn’t hear me. Worst case scenario, the robot with an energy weapon now had a new target.

Great move, Dust, great move.

As I walked through this level, I noticed that all the door controls were illuminated with a red light. I assumed that all the doors were going to be locked so the only room I could make it into would be the room Silver was hiding in. Game level 6, maybe?

I walked to the end of the corridor and peeked around the corner. Down at the far end of the hallway was a Mr. Gutsy robot. The large orb-shaped robot was floating outside of a stable room on its jet engine. It was about three-quarters of the way down the hallway. There was another branch about half-way down so I imagined this floor had a figure 8 design. I went around the other direction and up the middle hallway in order to get a better look at it.

I peered down the hallway and saw the Mr. Gutsy still outside the room, taking potshots into the room with its plasma weapon. My guess is that it was still detecting Silver as alive, but couldn’t quite get a clear shot at her. I was going to take care of the robot, but first I needed to get inside and check on her condition.

Well, time to see if this robot would react to sound. I reached into my saddlebags and grabbed a hoofful of caps. I hurled them down the hall away from the robot and myself. They clattered along the ground with a shower of metallic pings as they bounced off the stable floor. The Mr. Gutsy turned and started moving towards the sounds.

“You better run you zebra-loving bastards!” it gleefully called out as it moved down the hallway. I pinned myself against the wall as closely as I could and waited. Hopefully the robot wouldn’t notice a pegasus squeezed along a stable wall. I held my breath as I heard the jet engine sound approaching my hiding spot and then saw the robot glide past. When it was past me by a good deal, I started walking down the hall as quietly as I could. Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do to hide the sound of horseshoes on bare metal. The robot spun around.

“Who’s ready to have their ass kicked?” it said as it started floating back towards me.

I took off at a full gallop towards the room I assumed Silver was in. Plasma bolts flew past my head and I felt the heat of some of the shots. One shot hit my mane and I caught a whiff of smoldering hair. Thankfully it wasn’t a direct hit. I slipped a little as I tried to round the corner into the room, almost falling to the floor, but I made it inside. I sidled up next to the door frame and turned my head to check behind me. That was when something large and heavy hit me right in the face.

“Mother-bucking goddesses,” I hissed as I clutched my face in my hooves. I felt the blood dripping out of my nose and tasted it as it dripped in my mouth. Could I get injured anywhere else today?

“Dust, is that you?” Silver said. “Oh Celestia, it is. I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry for that. I thought you were the robot and I panicked and…”

I turned and stared at Silver. “So you throw something at it? That was your big plan?” I glanced down at the ground and saw a large paperweight sitting at my hooves. “And you throw a paperweight?” I blurted out through my two hooves rubbing my face.

“Well, it was the only thing I could find…” she sheepishly said, her face started to turn bright red. “I said I was sorry.”

“That and five caps will get me a Sparkle Cola!” I yelled. She turned her head away from me. I immediately felt pangs of guilt. I sighed deeply. “Silver, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that… it’s just that… it fucking hurt!”

“Yeah, well, OK I guess. How did you…” she started saying, clearly hurt, but we were interrupted by the Mr. Gutsy.

“There’s nothing I like better than making some other poor bastard die for his country!” we heard from outside in the hallway.

“Quick, here,” Silver whispered as she moved behind an upturned bed tucked in the corner out of sight of the door. “It doesn’t seem to be able to hit me here.”

“That’s all well and good, but we gotta get out of here.”

“I know… any ideas?” she asked me.

The Mr. Gutsy appeared in the doorway and started firing plasma rounds into the room. It wasn’t hitting us, but it was filling the room with the smell of ozone and sulfur.

“This is fun,” I grumbled. “What do you have on you?”

“Just some food, medicine and general supplies.”

I growled to myself. “Alright, so much for the easy way. Think Dust, think. Mr. Gutsy’s are armored, so light arms are out, not that we have any. I won’t be able to sneak up to it to deactivate it. Maybe…” I continued rattling off technical specs and thinking of reasons why we couldn’t do anything to get out of our predicament.

“Oh for Luna’s sake,” Silver rolled her eyes at me. Much to my surprise, she reached into my saddlebags and pulled out a spark grenade. I forgot I had those! She pulled the pin and stepped out behind our little bunker and hurled the grenade into the hallway. The robot fired a plume of flame towards Silver, but it appeared to miss her. Shortly afterwards, the hallway was filled with blue flashes of light and the sound of arcing electricity. The Mr. Gutsy fell to the floor with a loud clang and stopped moving. I ran over to it, removed the access panel and deactivated it.

I smacked my hoof against my forehead. “I am a stupid pony.”

“Dust, yes you are, but I having more pressing matters. HELP!” she screamed.

I turned around and saw that her vest was on fire. The sides of it were starting to melt and streak down her sides. “The vest, off, NOW!” I called out. She started to slip out of it and I helped her remove it. Once it was on the ground, I started stomping on it to extinguish the flames, which I had done in short order. “Let me take a look to see if you got burned anywhere.”

She started to protest, “No, really, I’ll be OK, just a few burns.”

I only got a quick look before she moved away, but I saw a series of scars that ran the length of her body. There were also several puncture wounds that had already scarred over. There were some fresh injuries, but most of the scars were old and already healed. The long, dark streaks and spots spoke to a long period of abuse. Her flank seemed to be heavily injured, obscuring her cutie mark, but I didn’t get a clear look at it before she turned away from me.

“Silver, what happened to you? All those scars on your back?” I asked.

“N...nothing… just a few injuries after running into… never mind. I’m OK, really,” she said with a clipped tone as she put her vest back on. “Can we just get the hell out of here please?”

“What were you about to say?” I asked.

“No…. no… never mind… don’t worry about it,” she sputtered out, “Let’s just go please.”

Fortunately, the rest of the way back up to the entrance room was uneventful. We spent the time discussing what had happened to us while we separated. She had it relatively easy. She made it back to the Atrium easily and thought she’d look for an entrance to Utility through the Living Quarters. Level 1 was clear, but on level 2 she was immediately set upon by the Mr. Gutsy and chased into the room I found her in. When I told her my story, she seemed enthralled and genuinely terrified for me. “Dust, I know it’s not my fault, but I’m sorry you went through all that.”

“It’s OK Silver, I’m here and I’m relatively OK and so are you. That is all that matters.” We got to the door and Silver went to hoof the door control, until i pushed her hoof away. “The guards out there have orders to shoot to kill if I try to leave early. The way I figure it, I’ve been down here for almost 16 hours, we should grab some sleep until they let us out in the morning.

She turned to look at me, “Should we head back into the living quarters and grab a mattress or two?”

“Oh hell no. I am not spending another moment in the living quarters. I’ve had enough of the living quarters for a long, long, LONG time. I’ll be fine sleeping on the floor. How about you?”

“I guess I can manage.” Silver took off her saddlebags and placed them on the floor and layed down, using them as a pillow.

“Umm, Silver. Mind if we share those? I don’t want to take my armor off in case the guards open the door and I can’t get my armor back on fast enough. They,” I gestured at the door with my hoof, “don’t know I’m a pegasus, remember?”

“Sure, just no funny stuff. Besides, I already know you were staring at my flank before,” she said with a wink as she nudged me in my shoulder.

“What, no, I would never, not like that, you see...” I stammered trying to collect my thoughts.

“Now we’re even for before when you joked about me copping a feel,” she giggled and then paused. “Are you ready to tell me why you don’t want anyone knowing you’re a pegasus?”

I knew I wouldn’t be able to deflect this time. “A few years ago, several earth ponies came across me in a bar. They saw my wings and immediately assumed I was with the Enclave and beat the snot out of me. Ever since, I’ve felt it was easier to hide the fact that I am a pegasus than deal with all the bullshit that comes with it.” Well, the part of avoiding the bullshit was true, at least. “Don’t you get the same?”

“Sometimes, but I usually keep to myself. The only ponies I talk to are usually shopkeepers and as long as you’ve got the caps, they’ll sell to you.” Silver turned to look at me. “Dust, thank you for saving me before. You could have just left me there, most ponies would. You are a good pony, and that’s refreshing for the Wasteland.”

“Thanks, you’re pretty good yourself.”

“Good night, Dust.” After a few minutes, I heard her breathing slow as she started to drift off to sleep.

As I lay down, I couldn’t help but to think about the past few days events. First, there was the inexplicable change in Muddy. Why had he attacked me and why did he seem so manic all of a sudden? If he was so willing to attack Silver and try to kill me, what would he do now that he was on his own? I had to track him down to get to the bottom of things. Maybe our facilitator had some information I could use. I’d have to track him down as well.

Finally, I thought about Silver. A complete stranger a couple of days ago who had saved my life as I lay dying at the bottom of the cavern at the bottom of the lab. She had done so barely knowing me and what I could or couldn’t do for her. She had been nothing but genuinely nice, and I couldn’t figure out why. I couldn’t help but to smile a little thinking about her. Why did I care so much though? I was down here on a mission, and I had no time for distractions. Right? My train of thought was cut short as Silver turned over in her sleep.

She muttered under her breath, “Dust, thanks again for saving me from Clear Skies.” She resumed her soft, slow breathing shortly after that.

I bolted upright and stared at her. How did she know Muddy’s real name?

Level up!

Skills
Science: 40

Perk Obtained!
Robotics Expert: You are a master of all devices robotic in nature and know the strengths and weaknesses of all models of robots.. You can now successfully deactivate robots that have not detected your presence.