“Some secrets buried away in boxes are peacefully forgotten, just as we hope they’ll be. But some refuse to stay in their boxes, popping out at the worst possible times. And then there are those that linger and fester, gnawing away from the inside out.
-Jeanne Birdsall

I stared at the blood, lost with fear. It was clear from the smears and stains that someone had written those words in their own blood. Quick Stitch approached the words as my vision narrowed, “I think this was written using a wing, instead of a hoof or horn.” As he spoke I felt myself hyperventilating. My hoof moved to my chest and I held it in my panic for just a few more moments.

The steel walls of this place felt too alien looking, like something horrific, as my vision narrowed and the walls felt tight. I started to inhale and felt like no air was going to my lungs. I shuddered and winced, some pain filling my upper legs. I looked around rapidly, desperate for something to distract myself from the blood writing and the stable walls around me. This isn’t Stable 43, your friends will protect you. Quick Stitch’s mouth was moving with Chifundo’s but I couldn’t hear them; the only sound was a constant ringing bell in my ears.

Just lose yourself in something. I slowly dragged my hooves over to the grenade turrets and started the process of unjamming and unloading them. My hooves were trembling, I found it impossible to steady them. Ya know, handling explosives, shaking; let’s just blow everyone up. Nyota placing a hoof on my shoulder made me jump out of my skin. Sound returned and my vision opened up as I spun around to see Nyota and Quick Stitch looking at me, concerned.

They both jumped back and looked at each other for what to do. Quick Stitch turned back to me and spoke first, “Sunrise, are you alright? You were hyperventilating.” His horn lit up as he explained to me with his medical magic tingling over my skin.

I felt a rush of instinct in my head, looking at the door. What if someone locks us in? I rushed past them without answering and ran up to the cog shaped door. There was a set of blocks I knew would prop the door open and not allow you to close the door without removing them. I slammed them into place. I can’t become like this pony who wrote this blood! I frantically shoved the wedges into place, one and then a second, before Alguacil, Nyota, and Quick Stitch all stopped me. They were physically restraining me from putting the lock wedges in place.

“Hold on, Sunrise, calm down.” I was panting as Nyota whispered in my ear. The source of my panic was now known: being locked in a stable again.

“I have to make sure we do not get locked in!” I shouted and Quick Stitch held me down while Nyota stroked my head while Scopola Mina and Chifundo approached us.

“Y’all seem awfully panicked, but we’re underground. It ain’t like anyone can come in here and get us easily.” Scopola Mina smiled at us as she trotted up.

“You do not want to be trapped in here if someone re-locks that door. Stable-Tec did all sorts of terrible experiments to me and others in places like this; those were on the books. This one should not exist.” I shot back as I started to calm down. I could hear my heart beating inside my ears and cold sweat covered me from head to hoof.

Quick Stitch nodded to Alguacil as he started to use his talons to shove the manual locking wedges in place. They were like giant metal door stops, but for a cogwheel door made of three feet of solid steel and lead. “Scopola, let me put it to ya this way. Ya don’t wanna be locked in here. In one of them Stables, Stable-Tec locked a guy in here with nothin’ but puppets.” Alguacil kept moving the next wedge into place, straining his voice as he did so. “Guy went so crazy, when he got out, he killed twenty raiders with his teeth. His frickin’ teeth! Didn’t even bother to go full cannibal either and eat ‘em, just ripped at ‘em enough to kill ‘em.”

Scopola Mina stared at Alguacil, dumbfounded, while the rest of us raised an eyebrow at Alguacil, debating if his story was true or not. He used his bulk and talons to move the last block into place and the intercom announced, “Manual Locking Mechanism Activated. Door in Open Mode until Manual Locks are removed.”

“Okay, note to self, make sure to prepare to reinforce the mindwall with extra concrete-flavored frosting.” I turned my head slowly towards Pink as I felt my rising panic die down.

I’m sorry, what wall? Pink didn’t respond with anything but a whistle. Before I could inquire further, Quick Stitch grabbed my attention by moving my head to look into his eyes, which he shined a light into my vision without warning.

I winced in pain and he held my head still, “Hang on, Sunrise. Yeah, she looks fine, and her pupils are reacting.” He said as Nyota gave me a soft hug. I snapped to, realizing my friends were all waiting on me to move. Pink made a d’aww noise in the background while I slowly pulled Nyota into a hug back.

“It’s okay, Sunny. I got you, we’ve got you. Whatever you are remembering, we’ll handle it together.” I nodded against Nyota and patted his back to get him to let me go. We ventured deep inside, following the trail of blood from the letters written in it. I kept feeling like Nyota, Quick Stitch, and Chifundo kept taking looks at me. It was as if they expected me to panic again.

I felt unnerved, something felt deeply wrong with this place. It was just as wrong as my own Stable felt. The bulkheads and heavy steel reminded me of a warship’s corridors, but this wasn’t floating; it was real and a bunker that did not move. Every step echoed off the metal grated floor with a clang. I felt my legs getting weak, almost like jello if not for the armor plate’s ability to lock in place and support me. Pink peeked around the corner and I felt something warm against my neck.

“You should name the bunny! He is your new pet, after all, and pets deserve names!” I paused and tilted my head around to look at the bunny on my back. He was nuzzling into my neck, but the way my armor plates were around him; it reminded me of a science fiction character. I smiled.

“Hey Nyota, should I name the bunny, Bodda Pett?” I asked, turning to Nyota who stopped and looked at me, puzzled. I gave him a nervous smile, the kind where I could feel my cheeks forcing it despite a restrained terror throughout my body.

Nyota smirked, “Sure, we can call him that.” He replied and Pink used my tail to pet the bunny softly without having the tail flail actually touch him. I am always surprised she can get my tail to do stuff much less something so precise and graceful. Bodda Pett just began to purr and the purring lifted my spirit a little bit; the room even seemed slightly brighter because of it.

Scopola Mina made a d’aww noise and I turned my head with a raised eyebrow, “Welp, ya named it. Now y’all gotta keep it.” I just glared at Scopola Mina while passing a set of stale crackers in Bodda Pett’s direction.

Chifundo shuddered and paused, his mane was standing on end comically, but the sight of someone doing it outside of a cartoon was disturbing. He was standing in a doorway, and when Nyota got to it, his body froze solid; as if in shock. They both looked at each other and there was some sort of silent language being exchanged. Great, more weird zebra behavior— My own thoughts were interrupted by a presence, almost like a real ghost touching you, all over.

A brief blackness shot over us and the lights in the bunker flickered on and off. I felt like I was in a vacuum for just the smallest second but it was terrifying none the less to be unable to breathe. Something here was pulling the very magic of Equestria out of me. The rest of our party sensed it too but didn’t appear to feel it as strongly. We all looked at each other, trying to figure it out.

Nyota and Chifundo spoke at the same time, “Star Children.” We all looked at them for an explanation, but neither gave it. A light bulb flickered and then exploded at the end of the hallway. We all trained our weapons on it, and the creeping terror loomed up, trying to fight through the adrenaline.

Nothing came.

We all still felt the tension in the air and made our way down deeper, until we came to a junction. One way led deeper into the facility, following the trail of blood down a set of steep metallic stairs to a second level. The other was a closed door with the words ‘Overmare’ glowing from a flickering sign display of red light with black letters. I went up to the door and pressed the button next to it. The hydraulics of the door were still powered and it wasn’t locked, and with a whine the metal door slid open smoothly just as the one inside the decontamination room had.

Alguacil stopped me, “What if it’s a trap? And what ‘bout ‘he bleeder? Sunrise, we need ta head downstair first.” I groaned and turned my head towards him.

“The overmare’s office will have information for what this place is, and what it is supposed to be used for. We should head in there to find out what we are in for first.” I snapped back. Alguacil leaned down, using his eye to give me a check over.

“Sunrise, ya ain’t exactly in ‘he right frame of mind; perhaps someone else should be decidin’ how we proceed?” He replied, for once his voice lacked authority to it and I felt a pain of genuine concern as best Alguacil could express it.

Before I could answer, though, Quick Stitch called out from downstairs, making the decision for us. “Hey! You all need to come down here.”

We made our way downstairs and found Quick Stitch standing over the body of a pegasus. The trail of blood leading right up to him, two wounds in his forelegs. His wings had been plucked clean and made into a cloak of feathers around him. It was grotesque how they had been removed and reused on his own body. His head had a gunshot wound right through it and on the floor next to him was a Colt .45 pistol. A Colt .45 pistol with the word ‘Rainbowrise’ written across the handle. I know that gun, that’s dad’s!

I sprinted forward, ignoring the dead body and grabbed onto the gun, holding tight to my chest like it was a precious artifact that would disappear if I let it go. “Sunrise, WAIT!” My friends called but I didn’t care if it was a trap. This was the first sign of my parents I had seen, and I wasn’t about to let it out of my grip. I held the cold metal tightly with my hooves; keeping it close to my heart. No one could move me until the cold metal had heated up and matched my body temperature from me holding it so tightly.

The world seemed distant and all I could hear was my own slowly calming heartbeat. Finally! Some sign of you. I hope you’re near! Pink, Nyota, Quick Stitch, Scopola Mina, Chifundo and Alguacil all had to work to slowly get me to release the weapon. They looked at it, and in this oppressive place that creeped all of us out, some little flicker of hope had been found. “No, wait, let me keep it. It...it belongs to my dad.” I whimpered as Quick Stitch started to finally pry the gun away from me.

He nodded and slowly pushed it back into my grip, and we all sat there trying to figure out this situation. The only clue we had was a dead pegasus, wearing his own wings as a cloak. Blood dripping from… Dripping? I tilted my head and Quick Stitch let out a gulp, “This guy died very recently. He must have died within the last hour.”

Quick Stitch and Scopola Mina were downstairs trying to figure out what was going on with the body. The rest of the Stable was empty. We had found a hydroponics bay loaded with fresh unirradiated food. Scopola was doing tests on it for poison or foreign agents. Alguacil was guarding the door.

Nyota and myself, we had gone to the medical bay which was attached to the Overmare’s office. I kept trying E.F.S. every few moments. Something was telling me we were not alone down here or not safe. I wasn’t sure why or what. We had found nothing over the course of nearly half an hour of searching every single room. There was a massive set of forges, heavy metal printers, 3D plastic printers, and manufacturing facility in the bowels of the Stable. We could see it through several glass windows but couldn’t get in, there was a locked door and the glass proved bulletproof from Alguacil’s gun. The bullet stopped cold on it, and didn’t even crack the panelling.

The room was massive, the size of several buckball fields and looked to be an entire pre-war factory for mass production of an entire Equestrian regiment’s worth of materials in a month. We were not sure how to turn it all on, not yet nor did we know what was beyond a locked door. The door simply read: “Authorized Personnel Only.” Written in blood next to it read, “Weird Dogs.” Nyota was checking through the medical facility along with check every single air vent cover in the facility, to make sure they were all screwed on tightly.

I was toying with the Overmare’s computer, trying to get it to log in. Perhaps it could unlock the doors, turn on the forges, and give us some answers. The potential threat of something down here with us, keeping me on edge, was making it difficult to focus. I bit my lip when Pink jumped onto my H.U.D. “Hey, silly filly, you should probably check one of those files that Coffee Stain unlocked for you!” I hesitated and nodded to her.

I changed from my administrator access panel on my PipBuck to the files, and there was a note from Coffee Stain titled, “You’re Welcome.” I looked around as if she were going to suddenly appear again right next to me, and then I opened it. Inside was a series of passcodes and the file they were found in.

Overmare #1: Breadcrumb
Overmare #2: JackinaBox
Overmare #3: GuardianofGuardians
Overmare #4: TheWhyofStable-Tec

I cautiously typed in the first password and the overmare desk extended a large circular metallic disc. The disc was nearly large enough for a pony to lie on and dozens of uniform pointy crystals rose up out of it. With a metallic click and a whine; a three-dimensional map projected out like a hologram. I stared in awe. There were tags all over it, tags that included a Z axis and the map was huge, it featured all of Equestria, with a blinking dot labeled, “Stable-Phi”.

All of us, myself and all my friends were listed inside. There was no keyboard or mouse interface on it. I was confused and reached up with a hoof to check if it was solid or not. It whined and whirled before zooming in on where my hoof touched. “What in all of my years with spirit, I have never seen anything this bizzare of merit!”

It was Chifundo, he was walking in and looked confused. I paused myself, T.A.G. in my PipBuck was 2D, it only gave me a compass heading and distance. If I was standing right on top of them but they were above or below, it would have trouble displaying that. This was fully 3D and it covered much more than the 2500m I could see. I turned to Chifundo while I kept playing with the...hologram? I think that is the right word. I explained to Chifundo how my PipBuck worked and all the things it could do; as well as how this map was significantly more powerful than that.

I turned to the computer once I felt like I had the controls down, as something about the map was bugging me. It seemed to have a slight lag to it. The 16 megabytes of the overmare’s computer was something that was much more powerful than I was used to. I noticed something in the upper right, a set of bars. They looked like a staircase, with two being shorter and filled and two larger ones that were empty.

I felt a memory welling up, telling what those bars meant. I pushed it aside, focusing on the moment. I can’t right now. Pink, help me; don’t let that wall fall. I pressed the arrow keys and tab button at the same time; moving to the admin controls. This monitor isn’t what I’m used to. My PipBuck is monochrome purple with green dots for friendly and red for hostile. It provides purple outlines when I hit S.A.T.S. and all its functions are in purple. This was really high end, white background and black text. Multi-color display in the same instance window instead of the monochrome shades of green.

I scrolled over the bars with the admin commands and the words: “Network Connection - Moderate” displayed in a dropdown window. I slumped back onto my flanks. “No, no, this…” I checked the desk and perked my ears up. There was no normal characteristic of humming fans or cycling radio tubes. The buzz of electricity was from the lights.

Chifundo tilted his head, “No?”

I blinked repeatedly, “This is not a computer. It is just a display.”

Chifundo tilted his head further and I sighed, “Right, zebra shaman who is not familiar with pony technology. A computer has three parts, Chifundo.” I pointed at the monitor then at the hologram display. “The display, or in this case displays.” I tapped the keyboard with my hoof. “The user input device.” Then I motioned around the room with a look of confusion. “And a tower, heavy machine, or other device that actually does all the computing. Which is not here; it is connected somewhere else.” I typed on the keyboard, ‘admin command: display network connections’.

There was a beep and a whirling from the hologram behind us. I turned to see the hologram zoom out and the display stretched out, covering half the room in a bright white light. Several flashing lights light up across the map. They were the same locations in my PipBuck. The one in Canterlot was flashing red. But the one that caught my attention was the only green one, ‘Stable 43’ near Stalliongrad. All the others showed yellow, which meant receiving signals were being confirmed but they were not sending back anything but an acknowledgement. There was no other data coming from them.

“That is why there is only a moderate strength connection, it has to come all the way from across the ocean or overland into the arctic Crystal Empire region.” Nyota walked in and whistled with a loud, wow across his lips.

“Well this sure is fancy.” Nyota commented taking a few hesitant steps forward. I nodded to him. “This is more fancy than anything I’ve ever seen in the courier trips I’ve made.”

“Yeah, and it’s connected to other facilities.” I pointed at the hologram, hence the flashing lights. I tapped on Stable 43 and the map zoomed in. There were dozens of tags stacked on top of each other. I stared in awe, I couldn’t count them.

Nyota blinked and hesitated, “What are those?”

I gulped, “Creatures inside, all with TAG ID’s, the same way I find you guys or know where you are.”

Nyota looked up at me, “Stable 43 is still operational, based on this then.”

I nodded, all the TAGs were green by the computer’s standard, which meant they were green to Stable-Tec. I nudged the desk and there was a metallic grind as a hydraulic drawer opened. Inside was a spherical key with a dozen prongs on it. A PipBuck was next to it, the same style as mine. That key was the archanokey that would open it and take it off my wrist, the same type of key Coffee Stain had used.

I picked up the key and plugged it into the spare PipBuck, with a press of the button and a click; the PipBuck opened. I looked at Nyota and Chifundo; they were right there with me. Chifundo held up a hoof as if to say, no thanks. Nyota walked forward and extended his wrist. I raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure? These things take a bit of getting used to and honestly; you might become like me, where you rely on it.”

“Hey, it helps you hit the target and, honestly, the Eyes-Forward Sparkle features sounds really nice for someone like me who sneaks around a lot.” I shrugged and nodded.

“I guess I will be teaching you how to use it.” I slowly pushed it onto his wrist and immediately the device screamed.

“Zebra Heretic!” Nyota yelped out as we heard the sound of an electric shock. “Zebra Spy! Die Communist Scum!” It shocked him again and Nyota slammed the device against the metal door frame with a loud crack. The screen actually cracked from the blow, something that not even gunfire had managed to do to mine. There was a loud whirring sound as the PipBuck on Nyota’s wrist rebooted.

It beeped and the display put a bunch of thick green bars across it for a moment with a loud zebra didgeridoo note playing from the electric 8-bit sound. “Welcome, New Zebra Overlord!” displayed in Equestrian and under it in Zebrican. I stared in shock, my jaw dropped. The PipBuck literally had a program to convert to the Zebrican side.

“Stable-Tec was fully ready for us to lose the war and convert to the zebras?” I blinked and broke the silence.

The screen displayed, “I praise you on your swift defeat of the Equestrian Kingdom, and begrudgingly welcome you as my new Zebra Overlord. I have engaged safety mode so your tiny zebra brain can understand me until you figure out all my features.” I grabbed Nyota’s arm and tried to dive into the PipBuck for files. It was reset to factory settings, all the files from the previous user were gone. I popped the holotape holder and inside was an orange holotape.

I grabbed it and pushed it into my PipBuck then hit play. The speaker loudly began to play, “Hello. I believe this project has given us just what we want, if ya know, 57 years after the war. The Civilian class recombulars take roughly seven days to complete a recompile and bring the creature in question back to life. It uses hard light to fill in the blanks until the body heals. There is a warning with the soldier class ones; it randomly creates an age for the creature being recompiled.”

We all listened intently to this information, revealing something about the boxes inside us finally. “The devices simply were not made to hold that many souls properly. So when a soldier class recompiles and the full recombulation is complete, it is random how old the creature in question comes out as. Sometimes they come out at the latest part of their life cycle before being put into the device, others they come out as young adolescents; right at the point of puberty. Their memories are also never intact; they come out with only the memories they had up to that point in life.”

The person on the holotape took a breath, “Look, if we had technology like this during the war, yeah, we could have won, but only the guardian class device works right. Not all the test subjects either, one of the prototypes; it belongs to some pony from Stalliongrad, one of the Project Pie test subjects.

“I don’t know why, but it mostly works; I’ve just seen some of the reports from this test subject and it is concerning. Perhaps Project Pie has a potential success story? We will need to get to Stable 43 to find out. Probability Drive or Shadow Window will have more answers. I’ll finish the evac of our facility here by the end of the week. For now, I just want to take this device off; I don’t know how you all can stand wearing them constantly. Perhaps I should have a tech look at it to make it more comfortable.

“As for the Tadoshin subjects here, we will have to figure out what to do about them. Once we seal the place up, we can come back here and make more recombulars after we develop a new nation state, under Stable-Tec authority of course.” There was a door opening sound from the tape. “Hollow, I’m trying to make a recor… Why do you have that? Hollow what are you—” The recorder was suddenly cut off by three loud gunshots. The sound of hooves against the metal floor and flutter of pegasus wings send a chill down our spines as the tape ended with a click.

The overmare computer also unlocked the doors to the foundry, which let us into the room. I also started a data download for the computer, to put as much as we could onto the Stable-Tec heavy duty holotapes concerning the search term: Recombulator.

We made our way down to the foundry, the door opening. None of us wanted to take the first steps inside. Alguacil turned and grunted at us, “Y’all scared of yer shadows?” Alguacil took the first steps and the sound of whirling gun turrets made us all jump. The image of Alguacil riddled with bullet holes flashed before my eyes. “Alguacil, GET DOWN!” I launched myself forward as the sound of empty ammo clicks filled the air. The turrets were beyond the door and above the glass, in a complete blindspot position.

Attached to them were spinning miniguns, four of them. There were also prongs for rockets, but they were also, thankfully, empty. There were no signs of struggle or combat. Alguacil squawked and spat, “Dammit, those must’a been emptied ‘afore the previous inhabitants moved out. Fer fucks sake, ya damn ponies are determined to kill us all.” I shook my head at him and the rest of us breathed a sigh of relief when we realized all the turrets in the room had been stripped of their ammo.

Inside was another terminal, this one was locked by something I’d never seen before. None of us had. The computer read: “Please present retina for access.” This with a device that looked like an overly complicated rifle scope. Quick Stitch raised an eyebrow.

“A retinal scan? That should be impossible. That doesn’t make any sense.” We all turned to the green unicorn with obvious questions on our faces. “Oh, umm, retinal is the pattern of your eye. But it’s so small it shouldn’t be something we could do. I mean in theory, it should be as unique as a fingerprint or our blood.”

We all looked at puzzled with, ‘What do we do now?’ expressions painted on our faces. “I mean the turrets are disabled, right, Sunrise?” Quick Stitched asked and I went about checking the turrets to make sure they were empty. We all took a turn and none of our eyes were valid ID’s. The computer simply read: ‘Access Denied.’

Nyota removed his eye patch, I raised an eyebrow. “You sure it will even register that?” I asked him, staring into the collision of cosmic bodies within his eye. Nyota grinned.

“You got any better ideas?” I shrugged and Nyota pressed his eye against the reader. There was a buzz, then another buzz, and another one. Finally, the computer read, ‘Access Granted. Welcome Head Researcher of Stable Phi - Project Dead Tree.’ When Nyota pulled his eye back, it still had a black pupil but the iris had warped into an eye shape, all its own. I stared in wonder as the vague eye shape slowly circled around to form the image of the cosmos. Nyota placed the eye patch back over his eye.

The scar near his eye didn’t go into it, it just looked like it did with the patch over it. I pressed a hoof against his cheek, “Why do you not leave it uncovered?”

Chifundo spoke up, “The Skittari are shunned by the zebra, it is even worse within Equestria. It is a tale as old as time, perhaps Nyota will tell the story, for it is not mine.” I nodded to him and turned back to Nyota who just smiled.

“When I know we’re safe, I’ll tell you about my tribe and why I don’t really associate with other zebras.” Nyota turned to Chifundo with a nod and that silent zebra communication I swore occurred between them. It was like a ritual, which they denied happened. “Thank you for allowing me to be the one to tell this.”

Something else pressed at the back of my mind, “How did you know your eye would do that?”

Nyota shook his head, “I don’t entirely know, but Ember helped me out, said there was a soul in the box that could help us.”

I tilted my head puzzled and blinked a few times, “Does that mean the head researcher is inside your box?”

Nyota shook his head, “I don’t know but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth on this one.” We all winced at the pun, then there was a laugh shared between us. I smiled at him and started to review what was on the computer. Hundreds of files, research data that could overwhelm any pony. There was more than a gigabyte of data!

No Way! Impossible! No device stores that much! You can barely get three megabytes on even the best computers. I blinked repeatedly and hesitated to start opening the files, instead trying to figure out a way to take them with us, to examine later. A search bar taunted me up at the top.

Quick Stitch softly pressed me aside, “Sunrise, what should I search?”

My mouth was dry, all the possibilities running through my head. I blinked at him; trying to figure out. Chifundo pointed at my PipBuck, “What about the files on your PipBuck.”

I nodded to him, “Yeah, we should search for that, what do you suggest?” Chifundo approached the computer and I stopped him. “Hey wait, anyone but you. No offense, but tech has a weird way of backfiring around you.”

Chifundo looked slightly offended but Scopola Mina giggled, “She is right, you use spirits and Equestrian tech isn’t exactly cooperative with, well, zebra shaman magic.”

Quick Stitch sighed, “Right, what should I search, Sunrise?”

I looked at My PipBuck, the file from earlier that gave me a name and number, a number which also now displayed with my PipBuck health monitor next to my name. “Try Experiment 043-014.” Quick Stitch typed it in and we got a file with tons of information redacted and marked out. It did, however, state that it was one of the recombulators shipped to Stable 43 for experimentation, a prototype for the ones to come.

Automatically the speakers of the computer started to play an audio log:
“If you are hearing this memo, the war has progressed to a point of no return. I must dub Project Gatekeeper a failure due to constraints of time. IF we had 6 more months we could have stopped the zebra balefire attacks. We cannot change the end and only delay the megaspell destruction that is coming. Good luck,

Celestia Bless and Luna Protects.”

I slumped against the wall, the audio log putting a realization deep inside me. They knew, they knew neither side could win. Even if the zebras were on the defensive and couldn’t stop our army, they knew! They knew the world would end if they kept pushing. They knew and didn’t stop! I wanted to scream, I wanted to rage, all I could do was slump there and cry.

Nyota stroked my mane and Chifundo softly looked me over, “What happened to make your face so long, who did something that went so wrong?”

I hesitated and whimpered, between the sniffles and tears I spoke, “They knew, they knew the war was going to end the world. They did it anyway! Those terrible, awful cunts! They knew!” I slammed my hoof into the wall behind me with a loud metallic smack. All I could do was weep for the future I had been denied, that Equestria had lost. The hellish present that we all now lived in; the feelings of dread from being in a stable only amplified it now. I had to let it out and my tears simply wouldn’t stop. I just laid there against the wall, breaking down.

We opened the desk the computer was on, there were dozens of blank holotapes inside one and Quick Stitch set about the process of transferring files onto them. He was searching and selecting files related to us, Project Dead Tree, and Stable Phi. Chifundo took a seat and a deep inhale.

“Sunrise, I should explain, perhaps it will help your pain. We believed Luna had become Nightmare Moon, to us she was a Star Child goon. No longer was the war about resource, it could not stop by any political source.” He took a deep inhale and hung his head. “Shamefully I must admit, the history is beyond my wit. All I know is that we believed our war to be holy, there was no stopping the folly.”

I looked up at him and Nyota, Nyota hung his head with Chifundo. “He’s right. Because Luna took over and we did not know the difference between Nightmare Moon and Luna; we believed a demon led your nation. There was nothing except total annihilation that would stop the war after Celestia abdicated to Luna.” He was speaking of the twin sisters. Our rulers, who had the power to raise the sun and the moon together. Alicorns with powers beyond anyone’s understanding and they did not use the Sun and Moon as weapons; they were more responsible than that.

I pulled the bunny out, softly stroking it and using the warm, fluffy Bodda Pett to comfort me. Chifundo kept using his leg to keep Snuggles back. I mean, I had to admit, Snuggles rubbing against me might panic me or get an adverse reaction. I remembered Bodda Pett hadn’t fled or run away despite the turrets spraying dozens of rounds at him. I tilted my head, I’m not sure if you’re that brave or if your survival instinct is broken.

Pink snickered, “It could be both! I mean it is pretty crazy down here with a bunny too! Don’t you think you’re being a bit silly? You got a mystery to solve!” I was reminded that at the core of our adventure; why did we wake up in a pool together. I slowly rose up and placed Bodda Pett onto my back, in the area between my armor plating that he had made into his little nest.

Alguacil was walking back from across the forge, he spat on the floor. “Yall gonna wanna go over there and talk to them folks on the intercom. They’re in some sorta panic room but they ain’t from round here, if well, ya catch my meaning.” We all looked up at him confused and then across the manufacturing plant we were in. There was a door across there, still closed and it read: “Panic” in oversized letters.

We started walking towards the door Alguacil had mentioned. Quick Stitch and Scopola Mina went back to the area we had found the dead pegasus to “Check On Him”. All of us were reasonably sure he was going to get back up. While we were walking, Nyota was fussing with his new leg attachment.

“Hey, do you want me to show you how that thing works?” I asked and Nyota offered me his leg, walking on his other three. I took the time to show him how to change the color settings, where files were on it, how to take a note, how to check his health status. When we got to how S.A.T.S. worked, he got excited and paid extra close attention. I also took the time to explain the different indicators of E.F.S. “Nyota remember, Green for friendly. Gray is neutral, Yellow is possible hostile but the system is not sure they will go hostile yet. Red on the other hand, you know what red means.” I paused for a second. “You are not colorblind, right? Because there is a setting for that.”

Nyota chuckled and shook his head, “Just because one eye only sees the spirit world doesn’t mean I don’t have full color vision and depth perception too!” He ruffled my mane and I continued the lesson. This really gave me a sense of scale of this factory, it was large enough to provide all the basics of how a PipBuck worked to someone brand new at its operation; and just barely reach the other side at a walking speed

“Thank you, Sunny, without you it would have taken weeks to figure out how all this worked.” I smiled at Nyota and we exchanged a kiss.

“I rely on you for my strength, you rely on me for my know-how. I guess we are a pretty good team. “ Alguacil grunted as soon as I finished speaking, we both turned to look at him.

“Maybe save the lovey dovey stuff for later, we got some locals to talk to.” He said pointing to the bulkhead looming up in front of us. Between us and the door were several large industrial production forges. There were molds made of an onyx material, I could only assume the ones shaped like cubes were to make the boxes.

We heard Quick Stitch squealing like an excited school filly behind us. “This factory is amazing! They have forges and printing plants! This is stuff I’ve only ever read about in books!” Quick Stitch rushed up to each machine as we walked, checking it. “Oh this is a fully functional crystal forge! That’s a laser lathe! A freaking metal cutting lathe with the precision of LASERS!” He ran up to a device with a small amount of shimmering liquid in it. “These only exist in theory!”

Scopola Mina stopped and we turned towards her, levitating a strange gun. It had a tank attached to the side that read: ‘Compressed Air’ and the barrel was less a barrel and more like a pipe. There were also several darts in round sleeves like my shotgun quick load sleeves. These had covers over their needles. “Hey, Quick Stitch, you might want this, being a doctor and all.” Quick Stitch stared at it, rubbing at the markings to make them more clear with a cleaning rag and dusting the weapon off. The rifle had the lettering S-2333 on the side of the stock.

“A syringer! This is a medical grade delivery system! I’ve only ever seen it in medical texts!” We all collectively shook our heads at Quick Stitch. I looked up at a nearby mold, the cube was huge almost as far across as a pony is long. Inside a charred substance wiggled and jiggled; it moved in my direction like it knew I was looking at it. I flinched, as this substance was just unnatural.

Nyota frowned at me, “Sunrise, what are you flinching at?”

I pointed at the jelly substance which reacted and in the strangest most cartoonish way; reacted like it was offended. I can’t believe a liquid can be offended? It then dropped back into a puddle.

Quick Stitch approached the mold and tisked his lips four times. “Yeah, this is just crystal liquid. It isn’t alive, but someone burned part of their hoof working with it.” The liquid stood up and pointed at QUick Stitch, becoming somewhat solid just long enough to perform the action then drop back down into a puddle. “The magic is causing the animation and reactions. Crystals like this always have some sort of magic; someone burning a part of them in it would give it...” The crystal perked up at his comments, “...personality or purpose. It’s just residual magic though.” The crystal immediately deflated.

We moved away from the large cube mold and the freaky crystal liquid inside. We approached the door and the first thing I noticed about it was the extra reinforcement bars across it, as well as the lack of windows on it. I looked up to see two cameras pointed criss-cross from the threshold of the bulkhead. An intercom was there with a push to talk button, but no foreseeable way to open the door from this side. The sense of foreboding and dread was overwhelming as we closed in on the door.

I hesitated and winced trying to figure out why. My body felt physically sick as we got closer. My curiosity was peaked as we got closer to the door. “Alguacil, what exactly did you do that made you want to get us to come over here?”

Chifundo let out a whimper and pointed at the door. “Very bad juju.” He whimpered. We all looked at him, shivering from head to toe. Nyota’s normally relaxed personality was gone; he was tense and moved for cover near the door. He gritted his teeth without speaking. The rest of us drew our weapons, less at the sense of fear returning with renewed intensity and more out of the reaction Nyota and Chifundo were giving towards the door.

“There are some friends,” he used his talons to put air quotes on the word ‘friends.’ “On the other side of the intercom.”

I shrugged, “Alright, I guess I will press the intercom and talk to Alguacil’s mysterious friends.”

Alguacil snarled, “Sunrise, do I need to give you a lecture about lying?”

I turned to him a little confused as he kept his gun pointed at the door. “About what?”

“You said they were my friends.” Alguacil snapped back.

“I assumed you made nice with them, at the very least, or we would have heard gunshots.” I replied.

“Well, they are people. I don’t shoot people unless they are a r-a-i-d-e-r. I had to explain to them to NOT call me a r-a-i-d-e-r.” As he spoke he said raider like a small child spelling it out.

“Alguacil, are we friends?” I asked him point blank, hoping to calm the situation down.

“As best I can tell.”

I looked at the rest of our friends, “He never just says yes to that question, does he?”

There was a slow collective shaking of heads before Alguacil replied, “Nope.”

I sighed and shook my head, giving up on pressing the issue with Alguacil. We had a giant pink elephant in the room to deal with. “HEY! I take offense to that!” Fine, a pink pony in the room other than you. I turned back to the door in front of us.

Nyota went to stop me as I approached the corridor to this room. “Hang on, Sunrise. That room isn’t on the map.” I looked down to see that I had somehow crossed off the map while Nyota was standing still inside the edge of the map. This should be a solid wall.

I pressed the intercom button and cleared my throat with a gulp, “Umm, hello?” Scopola Mina joined me, seeming unphased the sense of dread. Nyota took up position beside the door and motioned Scopola Mina back. Scopola Mina rolled her eyes and trotted back to take up a cover fire position.

The intercom came back with a spew of different languages, most of which I had never heard before. I cleared my throat, “Umm, Ponish? We all speak Ponish.”

There were a series of clicks on the other side of the intercom then a seeming agreement between the clicking. “Yes, my colleague has reminded me you all probably speak basic Equestrian or at least share it as a common language.”

“Yes, Hi, I am Wandering Sunrise. What’s your name?”

“Hi, my name is,” There were a series of slurps and noises that I did not comprehend nor know if my mouth could even mimic to speak back.

“I umm… do you have something pronounceable?” I replied a little confused and smiling up at the camera pointed down at me.

“I will say, Shay is likely the best equivalent I can give you.”

“Right Shay, that works…” I trailed off trying to find the next words to say. Whatever this thing was on the other side of the door, I had never heard of its type of lizard like voice. The clicking reminded me of beetles calling each other in the summer, like cicadas. Which just made this person seem even more strange as my imagination wondered what they looked like. The image I came up with was a four-legged snake with insect chitin. I shuddered, reviled what my own imagination had come up with. “Shay, interesting name. Where are you from, and since I cannot see you, what species are you, so I am not rude.”

“We are from a very while away. One of the dark spheres in the cluster of the dark coal.” This was an answer I did not understand at all, my jaw dropping, flabbergasted.

There was another voice in the background, “Your kind would likely refer to it as the Bearded Benard Star.”

Alguacil whistled, “Told you they were not from around here.”

I turned my head back to Alguacil. “You made vague allusions, you did not tell us they were from space!”

“I told you they were not from HERE.” Alguacil smacked his beak talking back.

“Alguacil, can you not just say ‘different planet’ or ‘alien’?” Nyota asked him, raising his hooves and sliding against the door.

“I spend more time in the sky than any of you. I told you they said they were not from here.” I rolled my eyes and sighed. “They said they crashed here.”

The intercom replied, which I realized I had not let off the button. “Yes! We orbit the star Tadoeshia from the planet Tadoesh.”

“Can the thing you puked up in Silver Fang Shanty possibly be an alien?” Nyota slid up next to me and removed my hoof from the intercom button. “Oh, they heard this whole conversation.”

There was a loud hiss from the other side of the door, “Yesss…”

“We are NOT opening that door.” Nyota replied with a glare.

“What, why?” I asked, confused.

“They speak of one of the stars, they are what left Nyota’s tribe with scars.” Chifundo replied with a snarl from as far away as he could stand and still see us. Chifundo never took himself away from his rifle sight, trained on the door.

Nyota nodded, “That thing that tried to come through, that Corners was trying to release. Yeah they are from the same place that brought it.” I shuddered, Corners’s death being something still fresh, I wanted to lash out and agree with them. Something deep inside me said I couldn’t, I had to see this through and know if they were innately evil or not. “We are not letting them out.”

Alguacil cleared his throat, “The door opens from inside, they are just waiting to decide to leave or not.”

I shook my head, “Nyota, we can’t just abandon them.”

“Yes, we can and we will.” Nyota replied with a sense of finality to his voice.

“And what if some other pony comes along and finds them? Finds this place?” I asked, looking at both of them.

“Weld the door shut?” Quick Stitch offered.

“That is a very good point. We could walk away, we could weld the door shut, or we could open the door and kill them for our own good.” I looked from Nyota to Chifundo, confused at the sudden hostility. I winced and frowned at them.

“They have not done anything wrong, we are talking about cold blooded murder here.” I took a step away from Nyota, appalled at his reaction.

“Sunny, you remember the story of Nightmare Moon? How Luna was corrupted by something?” Nyota asked with a hoof placed firmly onto my shoulder.

“Yeah but she was fixed by the Elements of Harmony, and life was good.”

“Yes, Luna was repaired. But what happened to Nightmare Moon?” Nyota asked, turning away from me. He stomped his hoof in anger.

“I am very confused, were they not the same pony, just more like alter egos, or the worst parts of one and the best of the other?” I asked, trying to piece together the story of Nightmare Moon I had been told as a child.

“Yes, but what if they were not, and someone or something wants to bring Nightmare Moon back?” Nyota spun around at me and leaned down, studying my reaction. I was trying to fit the pieces together but something about what he was saying wasn’t adding up.

“Is that what the zebras believe?”

Nyota nodded, “Because the stars aided in her escape.”

Scopola tapped a hoof against the floor, “Might I point out, they could leave anytime. They haven’t left yet because they are afraid of somethin’.” She nodded to the door. “That door is kinda sealed tight.”

“Well I am not a fan of giving them a chance, we weld the door shut is my stance!” Chifundo shouted and banged his rifle against a table as he moved it around to yell at us from his perch.

Alguacil shook his head, “Well considering when I talked to ‘em, they was ‘fraid of us being raiders and they fear raiders; I don’t think we should be so hasty.”

Nyota groaned in distaste, “Fine, I leave the decision up to you, but my vote is leave them here.”

“Should we not at least talk to them and meet them first before we judge these ponies?” Quick Stitch offered, pointing at the door.

“They are not ponies, do not be fooled by these phonies!” Chifundo cleared his throat and steadied his rifle. “They are not like by the spirits, I sense something eldritch near it!” Chifundo pointed at the door with his bracing hoof, “Very bad juju!”

I knew that Chifundo only used that term very sparingly and only when something genuinely freaked him out. I stared at him and processed the last time he said that, “The last time you said that, we had to bury Buddy.”

Chifundo shook his head and Nyota looked at me, “I thought it was when the Sentry bot tried to kill us.”

Pink pulled out a filing cabinet and held up several notebooks, “Nope, you’re right Sunrise, right as rain. It was when you had to bury Buddy.” I nodded at Pink and pointed at Nyota, pressing my hoof on his chest.

“Pink has a filing cabinet and says it was when we buried Buddy.” I looked back at the door, still unnerved. Quick Stitch approached the door and touched it. His eyes glazed over. “Quick Stitch, what are you doing?” He did not move, he did not speak. Something told me to get his attention. “Quick Stitch, hey, you there?”

A rising panic filled me as I rushed up to him and he did not respond to being pulled back or spoken to. He just stared at the door, transfixed and his eyes spoke of someone who was dead or soulless as we dragged him away from the door. Alguacil roared into Quick Stitch’s ear, “QUICK STITCH!” And he shook his head, holding it with a hoof as Quick Stitch recovered from his catatonic state.

“Huh, what?” My suspicion went up as Quick Stitch was trying to recover from what looked like a flashbang.

Scopola Mina asked Alguacil, “Ya know, can’t you determine if some pony is a good or bad at a glance?” Alguacil nodded at her. “So can’t we just have a discussion with them and y’all figure it out?”

Alguacil rolled his eyes, “I don’t think they will open the door unless we have the guard, who I think is the pegasus that is back in the lounge area; dead on the couch.” I reached over to my pack, clutching at the pistol within that we had found on the dead guard.

I sighed, “Alright, we will leave them here and figure out the guard.”

Alguacil nodded, “Look, I can keep here and keep them covered and get a shot off before ya know it. If ya hear my gunfire, ya know something went pear shaped.”

I groaned, “I really do not want to leave you alone down here, it is creepy enough being in an empty stable. Much less knowing there is some creature down here that can have that effect on Quick Stitch.” I pointed at Quick Stitch, who was being examined by Nyota.

I groaned and grabbed Nyota’s hoof, escorting him and Quick Stitch away from the door. Quick Stitch was stopped and looked back at the door as he exited the short corridor leading to it. Scopola Mina was standing there, pointing for Quick Stitch to keep going forward. He nodded and held his head in shame.

I had to move behind Quick Stitch and bump him forward on the hip with my chest everytime he hesitated and wanted to stop. Scopola Mina nudged me, then made several motions at the floor and I raised an eyebrow, “Huh? What?”

Scopola Mina rolled her eyes, “Maybe leave something on the floor that goes boom?” I sighed and decided if it would make everyone feel better. I took my time and started to setup two lunchboxes converted into claymores. Pink pulled on her filing cabinet which suddenly launched off my vision with an impossibly long drawer.

“Sorry! SPOILERSSSSSS….” After I heard a crash and several falling pieces of metal, as well as an electric blast that sounded like a lightning bolt; she reappeared with her mane frizzed out and smoking with several burn marks. “Ah, here it is. Yeah, you should use a low powered explosive. This old stable might collapse under the pressure of a claymore. According to Granny Smith’s Anarchist Cook Book, you should use something lighter or magically explosive in nature.” I groaned and put the claymores away, pulling out instead some magical fission cell bombs, and rigging a couple of trigger strings on the floor.

Quick Stitch stopped at the door where the turrets had been clicking away at us. “I think I should stay with Alguacil, too.”

I shook my head, “Nope. Quick Stitch, we need you to figure out if the guard has a box, and we do not trust you down here after that reaction when you touched the door.”

Quick Stitch sighed, “Shouldn’t we not take hearsay and rumors or old wives tales. Then figure out what to do in this case? Wasn’t Corners a good pony till she encountered that thing in The Roof or whatever transformed her?”

Alguacil spat, “Hell no.”

I growled and leaped up at Alguacil, “TAKE IT BACK!”

“From where I stand, I am speakin’ da truth.” Alguacil snarled down at me and turned his beak up at me.

“Maybe this isn’t the time, you two. Y’all should resolve this later?” Scopola Mina put a hoof on my shoulder and tried to pull me down. I wanted to just box Alguacil’s ears off for that comment.

I snarled and spoke through my teeth, letting Scopola Mina restrain me while Nyota kept Quick Stitch from going back to the door with a glare and physically moving his body between them. “If I had any other choice, I would have chased her down and not let that happen. She might not have been the best, but she was getting better. She had a good heart, so take it back.”

“That ain’t what I’m talking ‘bout.” Alguacil snapped back.

“I do NOT care! We do not speak ill of the dead, especially when they were our friends.” I smacked my hoof mockingly off Alguacil’s chest. Pink pulled out a large sign that read ‘AL = Raider!’ I had to physically ignore her urging to call him one. “You don’t even speak ill of Raiders after they’re dead, and yet you’re doing it to Corners.”

“I don’t speak o’ raiders, period.” Alguacil started to move away and I tried to push Scopola Mina away to maintain physical contact.

“Do it! DO IT! DO IT! Call him a raider! It’s what he is! He’s just a raider with a badge!” Pink screamed and I was inclined to agree. Alguacil was proving today that he considered us less than friends, and him speaking of Corners was just making my blood boil.

“Hey, let’s not do this here.” Scopola Mina pulled harder on me.

“Perhaps we should have this conversation away, here your emotions are not kept at bay.” Chifundo agreed with Scopola.

Scopola Mina nodded and I started to calm down just a little bit, “Chifundo’s right, y’all are acting a might bit squirrelly.” I huffed in agreement and started back towards the stairs to the middle floor where the staff room were and where the dead guard was.

“One of Pink, keep out of this stink!” Chifundo shouted before Pink could say anything else.

I snapped my head at him and snarled under my breath, “She is mostly right about it, too.”

Chifundo with Snuggles and Alguacil both agreed to stay down together and keep the door under guard while we figured out what to do about the guard back in the lounge. I had been making a concerted effort to ignore Snuggles’s existence. As we walked off, I had to admit the feline looked cute nestled on Chifundo’s back; if you can call something that lethal cute.

I felt like I could blow a gasket and bash Alguacil’s head in, but as we got further up the stairs I got more calm. Scopola Mina came up, “Y’all are acting funny. I’m having to be the adult here and you guys are acting like children.” I rolled my eyes through I could not disagree; something was keeping us on edge and we were not acting completely like ourselves.

Once we had checked on the blue pegasus guard, who was still very much dead, we went to the garden to check on Scopola Mina’s tests. The various herbs, fruits, and vegetables she had tested all came back safe. From the look of one tree growing both bananas and tomatoes out of it, we could speculate that this was a potentially a prototype “Everything Tree” like the ones The Roof now had.

Nyota gathered as many herbs as he could, taking one of the red leaves and biting into it. I winced at him, praying he hadn’t just consumed something potentially poisonous. “You are the worst earth pony, Sunrise. Ya think he would literally intentionally consume something poisonous?”

How should I know? I work on machines, I don’t grow crops.

“Oh come on, Nyota is smar—” Pink was interrupted by Nyota wheezing and hacking while I ran forward and put a canteen to his lips as he washed out his mouth.

“Neat! This is the most potent I’ve tasted in a while!” I blinked in disbelief as Nyota gathered the herbs. He and Scopola selected ripe vegetables, gathered fresh rice and fruit, as well as cross referenced their knowledge of herbs and chems to get stuff they needed for mixtures. I helped while we had left Quick Stitch with our dead guard friend. It was a calming exercise to say the least, if somewhat time consuming.

We came back to the stairs and heard a breaking crystal noise. Alguacil yelled up, “It’s fine! I’m just tired of those turrets tracking me so I’m breaking their targetters.” I rolled my eyes, thinking about the damage he was doing and how it was likely not a part we could replace easily, until I remembered the manufacturing plant he was standing in.

I looked at Bodda Pett, who was asleep on my back, and then yelled downstairs, “Hey, Chifundo, please make sure Snuggles does not eat my bunny.”

“Snuggles is as tame as a lamb, she could not commit something so damned.” I groaned, though I had to admit that was a good point. Despite my fear and apprehension of the creature, it had not actually done anything to hurt any of us, yet.

We came back into the room to find Quick Stitch watching the television. It was actually in full color which was something very rare and expensive when the war ended. There was a cartoon on it, something called ‘Road Runner.’ An explosion made me jump out of my skin and I flinched. I swore the cartoon blast was far too realistic sounding. Nyota rolled his eyes and cut the TV off. Quick Stitch made an upset face at him and Nyota glared back with a look that I thought only an angry father could muster.

“Well, I can confirm one thing.” Quick Stitch said as he got off the couch and took a carrot from Scopola Mina.

“Oh, so what’s up doc?” Scopola Mina asked him as he nibbled on the carrot.

“Well, that pegasus has a box like us. I’m also certain he killed himself this time. From examining him, I am pretty sure he plucked his own feathers to make that cloak, too.” Quick Stitch nibbled on the carrot more and I couldn’t help but feel this was its own cartoon playing out. “The question I can’t answer though, is how many times has he died?”

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