While Handy is in the medical bay with the others, Gearing and Swift execute their plan to check out the lower levels and uncover just what horrors have been hiding under their hooves the entire time.

Sable, despite many objections, eventually agreed to hang further back behind the lead pair. She flat refused to stay on the ramp down with the set of four protectaponies standing guard against anything sneaking into the rest of the stable. However, she accepted the position of leading the vanguard group of protectaponies. They move up with Swift and Gearing, but only after Gearing locates a spot for them to move to and establishes that as a moveable fallback position. She’s done so, but only grudgingly. She would prefer to stay at Gearing’s side. But this is an important job as well. By keeping the chosen positions secure, she keeps his flank safe.

So much the better for her to wreck later.

Early on in the excursion, a hapless radroach scurried out from an upper corner towards the protectaponies at Sable’s position. It didn’t seem to notice them at first, but stopped in the middle of the walkway long enough to turn to face them.

Sable was already in a particularly bad mood at this point, and stared it to death. Almost literally. Her eyes glowed red and locked on it as it crossed the path, and the moment it turned to look at her, a side panel opened up near her shoulder and a gem tipped device popped out just enough to turn the roach to ash with a burst of magical energy before disappearing back inside. Sable was not amused.

Deeper in the lower levels, Swift creeps along, a step at a time, with her EFS activated. They have developed a system so far, one that seems to be working, and seems to be getting better the more they work together. She comes up to an area, and springs forward, hitting the ground with an exaggeratedly loud clang.

As she’s landing, she uses her legs and redirects her momentum back the way she had been coming from. The multiple red icons on the peripheral of her EFS instantly begin converging and she sees a group of mantises come running and leaping around the corner towards the sound. She trots backwards, bouncing side to side as she figures out which ones will be within reach the soonest.

A volunteer jumps through the air at her, and slashes with both of its claws at the space she was a moment ago, then catches a retaliatory powerhoof to it’s torso, sending it flying backwards and crashing into another mantis. They charge at her but the red lights start going out from her EFS as they’re getting closer to her.

Behind them, and slightly above, a shape whips through the darkness. Only becoming visible the moment it attacks, and leaves another mantis down. Swift still can’t believe it. She’s watching it happen. And is still having trouble making sense of it. The fourth one to fall is even closer, and she’s only able to make out Gearing as the light from the stun rod he’s wielding crackles to life with electricity and reflects off his face ever so faintly, like little twinkling stars on a new moon night sky. Then he’s gone again. Even between the pauses in her intentional noise making she has a hard time hearing him move around.

How can something mechanical, and that heavy, move so quietly? She wonders as she spins and knocks the last two mantises, who were oblivious to the fact that all of their friends have seemed to have disappeared and were trying a gang attack, backwards with a powerhoof and spinning bucking hit respectively. When they land on the ground a distance away, the first one to land gets covered in shadow a moment before it explodes into a spurt of green goop as Gearing hops down and lets his weight do the rest. The second one starts getting up and gets zapped strong enough to put it down, then another time just to make sure.

Swift and Gearing nod at each other, and he slips back into the shadows as she stands there. A few moments later her pipbuck vibrates with the location of the next small group. In this matter the pair snake through the lower levels. In some locations Gearing gets inventive, and finds ways to split up larger groups, luring them to their doom before finishing off the remainders with Swift’s help.

The lower levels of Stable 68 are about as bad as they had expected. The place is entirely in disrepair, and the matter is compounded by the oversized insects nesting and damaging things with their normal habits and unsanitary practices. Despite their expectations, there are far fewer bodies than they had expected, with little to no explanation for it. There had been at least a thousand ponies in this stable in the beginning. And it fell into darkness pretty quickly. But the number of skeletons they’d found are only a fraction of what would be needed to make up the numbers.

But, despite all of the problems the stable is having in the lower levels, Gearing is able to confirm that the hull has not been breached. There is no side hole from something or someone tunneling or blasting their way in. Furthermore, the threats from attack were far more subdued than they anticipated and feared. The nests of insects, while present, were nowhere near the wall to wall of disgust Gearing had expected to find. Probably from a lack of food as there was very little left in the lower levels, and nothing edible at all. Unless insect was on your menu, in which case bon appetit. The good news continues with a complete lack of ghoul representation, no leaking radiation, nor rampaging robots. The lower levels were, pleasantly, surprising in how void they were.

However, the lower levels were also unpleasantly surprising in how void they were as well.

Gearing had hoped to find some needed equipment that was salvageable down here, but it had mostly all already been removed. Apparently, anything that could have been taken, had already been taken long ago, and was used as barricades or scrap in other parts of the stable as things had devolved into the uncivil war that ravaged the stable. What was once delicate components of high technology, had been reduced to bullet shields and barricade debris.

While the lower levels were made safe, after the elimination of their small pest problem, they were anything but a boon for them. If anything, they were an unpleasant reminder about what they didn’t have. To keep the trip from being a complete bust, they started ferrying back and forth the corpses of the insects they had killed to the protectaponies. It wasn’t the best harvest of all time, but it was something. And, as they left the lower levels with the rest of the protectaponies, they could actually rest at ease, knowing for sure that nothing horrid was slinking under hoof just waiting to burst up and ruin their day.

As a matter of precaution, Gearing tests the carcasses himself. He doesn’t want to have any problem with someone getting sick from something he’d provided for them to eat. After a while of running sample after sample meticulously, he’s actually happy to declare all of the samples ‘Raider Disease’ free. It was the only thing he was truly worried about as he’d read in one of the reports about how the horrible hell-spawn of a disease was actually really resistant to being destroyed by cooking. They separate the meatiest parts for cooking, but the rest of the corpses and goop ends up tossed into the stable’s reclamation recycling machine that Swift introduces him to.

It turns out to be one of those situations where he would have greatly appreciated somepony telling him this stable had a functioning one. Which he voices as he clangs his forehead against a bulkhead near it repeatedly in frustration.

Both Swift and Sable sheepishly apologize. Then Swift explains that that is where most of their food has been coming from. A type of flake made of algae. It’s not exactly that tasty, but it’s nutritionally sound enough to put up with it. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Gearing points out with a groan, “The same thing that can make those chips, would be able to make chemical fertilizer to be used in growing food with hydroponics. Food that you all would actually enjoy.”

Swift agrees that would be a good idea, and can’t help but smirk awkwardly as he clangs his head a couple more times.

After the awkward revelation, Swift leads Gearing and Sable up to Maintenance to meet up with Handy. Swift heads right over and nuzzles Handy as he turns to greet them. Handy nuzzles her back and says with a smile, “Well somepony’s in a good mood.”

She sits down and smiles. “I got to blow off some steam. Was a nice change of pace.”

Handy smirks then gives an acknowledging nod towards Gearing before looking back and forth. “So, how’d it go? How bad is it?”

Swift straightens up and puts a hoof to her chest. “It’s fine now. Everything’s been taken care of.”

“What?” Handy’s smile fades as he looks back and forth even faster. “You’re kidding?” Seeing Swift’s grin he asks more than slightly cross, “What the hell?! You were supposed to just sneak a peek and find out what we were dealing with.” He looks over at Gearing and scowls. “Whatever happened to doing things smart and not just rushing in?”

Gearing rolls his eyes. “We did actually. Turns out it wasn’t as big of a deal as we thought it was.”

Swift waves a hoof dismissing it entirely. “Place was practically deserted. Just a few bugs to squish. Nothing we couldn’t handle.” She reaches into her saddle bag and pulls out the one piece she’d already prepared before coming back. “Grilled mantis?” She holds it out to him on a wing with a grin and a twinkle in her eye.

Handy takes in a deep breath then lets it out slowly. “So, everything’s cleaned out?”

Swift shrugs.

Gearing waves a hoof. “The place is an absolute mess still. There’s plenty of grime to clean and things to repair down there before it’s really useable. But we’ve secured it otherwise.” He lets out a sigh as he looks over at Swift for a moment before continuing. “Although, I was able to get a good enough look around down there to know that we’re in a bit of trouble. I don’t know for sure whatever was supposed to be down there.” He waves a hoof dismissively as he continues, “And it doesn’t matter really, but there’s not enough of what we need.” He looks over at Handy and frowns, “Unless you’re hiding a major stash of equipment and supplies from me… We need to go top side.”

Handy and Swift look at each other a moment before Handy taps his hooves in a quick t-shape. “Whoa, whoa, time out. What the hell’s this about?”

“We need more equipment.” Gearing sits down and shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter if we’re all planning on making this a permanent home to stay in or just a base of operations to work out of. We have to get this place up to snuff.” He starts tapping out on the crystalline feathers of his left wing as he counts. “We need communications equipment. Spare parts galore. And, most importantly, a steady supply of organic materials.” He looks at both Swift and Handy then shakes his head. “This isn’t up for debate.” He points at them, then towards the medical ward. “You’re all organics. You have this little ongoing maintenance upkeep issue called ‘eating’ that needs to be addressed. The stable simply can’t produce something from nothing. I can increase yields with a hydroponics bay, and grow food like Scarlet is doing in the arboretum, but the plants need food too. Even the recycler needs inputs before it can make those chips that you love so much.” He gives Swift a grin and can’t help but chuckle as she blows a raspberry at him and scrunches her face.

Gearing bobs his head around as he adds, “But even so, I need more equipment to even get the hydroponics bays going… And that’s to say nothing of the other supplies that I can’t make on my own even with the right supplies.” He points a hoof at Handy and adds, “Ammo doesn’t grow on trees. We need to get either the supplies and equipment to make them, or get a reliable way of trading for them. Either way, that means we need to go out.” He shakes his head as he sits up straight. “And sooner than later.” He bobs his head for emphasis before staring at them.

Swift looks between the two, and can tell that Handy’s gone deep in thought, so she offers, “A group of us could go to a town we know of. It’s not too far away. We could scavenge along the way, just to see if we can find anything the stable can use. We bring back whatever we need and trade off the rest once we get there.”

Gearing taps on the floor to get Handy’s attention before he adds, “A small group. Like two or three tops. Anything larger might draw more attention than we want or can handle.” He looks between the two and asks, “How are we doing on food? Do we have enough to last for a while? What about storage?”

Swift waves a hoof around. “The algae is constantly in production, but there’s not really enough of it currently. If I do some hunting, we could stockpile the meat… although I don’t know if we have any freezers currently functioning…” She looks between Handy and Gearing as she admits, “Having a surplus wasn’t a problem before, so it just hasn’t come up.”

“Gearing,” Sable offers. “There are a number of long term cold storage units in the stable. A couple of them are still functional as best as I can assess. They do not have cameras built into them, but they are drawing power and the sensors I have access to confirm they are both holding relatively stable temperature.”

Gearing gives her a smile then asks, “Where are they?”

“Research and Development has a walk in cold storage locker that you are already familiar with. The second location is in the Arboretum. Its original design specification was for the storage of any surplus produce to be used in times of shortages.” Stable returns his smile and leans towards him. “There is also one in the atrium where the cafeteria was. But that was damaged during civil unrest and is currently nonfunctional.”

Gearing shrugs and waves a hoof around. “Well, there we go then. We can use the arboretum one and I can have a look at the atrium freezer to see if it’s salvageable or not. I’d rule out the R&D department, keeping food with biohazards seems like just asking for trouble.” He stands and motions towards the door with his head as he says, “Well, best go down to the arboretum and check out what we have to deal with.”

Swift starts walking forward, but Sable turns sideways, blocking the door after Gearing had left. Swift raises an eyebrow but before she can say anything Sable states, “I shall assist Gearing with investigating the cold storage unit. Please standby for a report.”

Swift pauses and stares at her for a few moments. Sable, seeing that Swift is no longer making a move to leave, turns and follows Gearing out ands down the hallway.

Handy walks over and leans sideways towards Swift. “What was that all about?”

Swift balks and looks around quickly, then says sheepishly, “I- I think she’s the jealous type. She didn’t like how much time we’d spent down in the lower levels alone.”

Handy looks at her sideways, leaning away a bit, before asking, “Should I be concerned about how much time you spent alone with him?”

Swift spins and stares at him with her mouth agape. Then, as a smirk creeps across his face, despite his attempts to keep a scowl, she scrunches her nose at him. She bops him on top of the head with her free hoof and says with a scowl, “Really going to accuse me of cheating? With a robot?” She tuts and turns around, walking away as she intentionally shakes her flanks in an exaggerated walk with her head high in the air and her eyes closed. “Well somepony’s not getting any for a bit.”

Handy starts laughing but, as Swift walks through the door and leaves, the grin turns to horror. He jumps to the door and waves a hoof at her as his head’s poking out into the hallway. “Hey! It was just a joke! You know that! Awww, come on!”

She keeps walking away at the same exaggerated pace, with a smile getting wider on her lips the further she gets. Then, after she’s turned the next corner she giggles, “Uh huh, on you.”

Sable quickly catches up to Gearing and the pair make their way to the Arboretum. Sable, being true to herself if nothing else, sneaks in a few nuzzles against Gearing before they get there, eliciting smiles and in kind contact.

As they are entering the Arboretum, Scarlet slinks over from the side and peeks at them around some storage boxes. “What do you want?” Her eyes go back and forth between Gearing and Sable then she looks at Sable and asks, “And, who’re you?”

Gearing waves a hoof towards Sable. “This is Sable. She’s Stable 68’s system’s administration A.I.”

Sable waves at Scarlet and flashes a smile. “I got a new chassis!” She hops over and leans into Gearing as she nuzzles his neck. “So now I can do this!” She giggles lightly and continues as Scarlet just looks at them with confusion of monumental proportions written across her face.

Gearing rolls his eyes, but can’t help himself from leaning into the attention. “We’re checking out the freezer in here to see if it’s still good for storing food.”

Scarlet hops up straight and looks around. “There’s a freezer in here? Where? I haven’t found it?”

Sable continues walking past Gearing and Scarlet as she says, “It’s in the far back section of the Arboretum, near where you threw all the garbage when you first started revitalizing the Arboretum.”

Scarlet’s head whips back and forth between her and Gearing before she points a hoof at Sable and asks, “How the hell-“

“She’s the Stable’s A.I., remember?” Gearing cuts her off. “Cameras everywhere?” He points in a couple directions to get his point across, she follows his lead, then turns to look back at Sable. She tilts her head watching the mechanical mare walk away as she tries to figure everything out.

Scarlet shakes her head and starts following them as she says, “I gotta see this.”

Sable turns around and looks at Scarlet bringing up the rear, then shakes her head. “Subject Scarlet, I have to forbid your entry to the freezer at this time.”

Scarlet pauses walking, and exchanges glances with Gearing as he continues up. He stops in front of Sable and sits down. “Okay. That’s it. That’s the second time you’ve thrown a wrench in someone wanting to look into the cold storage… What’s going on, Sable?”

Sable turns her attention to him and stares in his eyes. Not blinking. Not giving a moment of reaction away. He returns her stare’s intensity and neither of the two say anything for a while.

Tick. Tick. CLICK.

He slaps a hoof over his eyes then says softly, “And I was just teasing Scarlet about not realizing the cameras.” He pulls down his hoof, letting it slide down the length of his muzzle before he turns his head to look at Scarlet over his shoulder. “Scarlet… There’s probably a biohazard in there. We’ve already come across it before. Just wait for us to get a peek, then we can figure out what to do once we know what we’re dealing with.”

Scarlet tilts her head, and then grins ever wider as the hair of her mane and tail start waving slightly by increasing air currents. She grins at Gearing and steps on a moist part of the ground, causing it to sizzle. “Germs can’t touch me if I don’t want them to.”

Gearing looks over at Sable and she replies flatly, “The temperature increase required for guaranteed air sterilization would need to be higher.”

Gearing turns back to look at Scarlet and motions towards Sable with his head. “Go as hot as you can, without burning or melting the place. We can both handle higher temperatures. So that’s fine.”

“Kindly refrain from flash burns, however,” Sable chimes in. “My beloved Gearing’s flank is sensitive to scorching.”

Gearing looks at her absolutely appalled with his ears back and his jaw practically on the floor. Scarlet can’t help but giggle as her ears turn towards his whistling ears. They walk up to a section behind a wall that’s separate from the actual back wall, and Gearing realizes how Scarlet could have missed the freezer so easily. The wall in the back that jutted out had equipment and shelves on either side, and was used to hide the tools away from view from the majority of the Arboretum. A rather clever method of keeping the area functional but aesthetically pleasing. What’s more, the freezer door itself was nearly flush with the far wall, and the actual handle section had been covered over with a pair of metal cabinets.

Sable leans against the cabinets with her shoulder and easily pushes them away, revealing the freezer access door behind. She turns towards Gearing and Scarlet before she asks, “Would you prefer to wait here, while I confirm its contents?”

Scarlet waves a hoof dismissing the whole idea. “I can handle myself. I’m not afraid of a few germs.”

Gearing grins and shakes his head. “I’m not letting you go alone.”

Sable smiles at him, scrunching her head against her shoulders happily before she turns and starts opening the door.

As excited as ever for something new to see, and a break in the tedium, Scarlet charges passed at full speed. Followed quickly by Gearing. Sable brings up the rear and switches on the interior lights, at least the ones still functioning. But the few working lights around the room’s perimeter and across the ceiling are enough.

Enough to drive most ponies out of their mind, and, at the very least, send Scarlet bolting back out of the freezer in search of a bucket. After a few moments of running around with her cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk’s at a buffet, she gives up and shoves her head in a partially decayed wicker bushel basket. Her efforts prove mostly in vane as the contents of her stomach splatter the inside, and start oozing out of the gaps, crevices, and decay created openings along the entire surface.

Miraculously, the algae chips she’d eaten manage to taste even worse the second time. Which, on top of what is already causing her distress, causes a fit of rapid fire expulsion until she’s completely empty and starts dry heaving into the basket.

Behind her, while Scarlet is still apparently purging her life away, Sable unceremoniously slams the door to the freezer shut with her restraining cables. Locking her and Gearing inside it alone. The poor basket does all it can, but can’t take the combined onslaught of Scarlet’s projectile vomiting into it, and the intense aura of heat that slowly scorches away it’s outside. Quickly she’s left holding a metal ring in the air as she whimpers and dribbles snot and drool from her muzzle and nose.

She aches. She moans. And no one seems to be there to help her as she turns into a pitiful mess partially sitting in her own vomit. But, a moment later, a noise behind her draws her attention.

FaWOOOSH… FWOOOSH… FWOOOOOOOOOSH.

She looks over weakly and sees Cure flamethrower sanitizing the outside of the freezer. She tilts her head for a moment, a long line of drool escaping her mouth and connecting to the bubbling puddle on the floor momentarily before it falls out completely.

Cure comes over and gently picks Scarlet up, who’s too weak at the moment to put up much of a struggle, and sets her to the side. Cure then uses the flamethrower on the vomit, concentrating it until the entire area has turned to scorched ash. Meanwhile she uses a spare pair of arms and pulls Scarlet’s mane back out of her face, and out of the vomit stuck to the side of Scarlet’s muzzle. Cure begins dutifully cleaning her and tending to her as Scarlet just stares in bewilderment. She turns her head slowly, and looks behind herself at the freezer doors, wobbling as she tries to clear the hyperventilation induced fog from her mind.

Sable’s voice comes from an intercom nearby, “It’s okay, Scarlet. Don’t worry about us. We’re fine. We’re safe. Cure will help us, once we are sure you are okay.”

Scarlet wobbles some more and looks around a bit. There, above the freezer in the corner, is a camera looking directly at her. She smiles weakly, as Cure combs out a piece of something that looks like a bit of carrot but can’t possibly be a carrot because she hasn’t had a carrot in a long time. She waves a hoof weakly, and can’t help but feeling a bit of comfort as Sable confirms, “Yes, we’re with you. You’re going to be fine.”

Inside the freezer, Gearing had a momentary thought of cracking a joke about Sable doing anything to get him alone. But, given the circumstances, even he didn’t feel comfortable doing that. Not even as a way of trying to defuse tension. Instead the first thing that does come out of his mouth is far softer, to the point, but not accusational, than what otherwise might be appropriate. “You already knew, didn’t you? That’s why you tried to keep Swift and Scarlet out of here?”

“I did not know. Not for certain. There are no cameras inside of the freezer. I had a theory, but could neither confirm nor deny until I had access to the cold storage unit,” Sable says flatly.

Gearing nods as he soaks in the environment. Literally.

The inside of the trot in cold storage unit is an homage to some very productive ponies. All of its contents are neatly arranged in rows upon rows and separated out into easily recognizable sections. The area closest to the door is a workspace dedicated to the execution of this unit’s obvious function with tools laid out in organized patterns all around it and quickly at hoof.

Gearing takes in the sight, and has a hard time processing it. The cold efficiency of it is admirable, even if the individual that worked here was a psychotic workaholic of the highest caliber. The walls, shelves, cabinets, floor, even the ceiling pay witness to their work. Testifying to how studious the individual was.

Also how completely insane they were.

Every available surface is covered in some macabre decoration or another. Ponies, some whole, most not, have been expertly placed around the room. In the far back right corner, a collection of ponies have been hung by their back hooves from the ceiling. The hooks suspending them from their hind legs keeping them in nice neat rows to look like a platoon standing in formation upside down on the ceiling and waiting for their orders. Or they would, if it wasn’t for how the ones that still had their heads attached have had their throats slit to the point that the heads are barely hanging on. Under them is a tarry mess of the life fluids of countless ponies left to dump and pour out onto the floor.

Indeed, the entire floor is covered in some thickness of the partially dried congealed blood, causing Gearing and Sable to be slowly basting their hooves in nearly a full centimeter of the mixture.

The cause of death of the ponies ranges from being rather noticeable to only being able to be guessed at. Familiar holes from bullets mark a few of their surfaces. Others it was a sharp object of some kind as the body had been stabbed or cut repeatedly. All of them have a variety of pockmarks that look like pony bites. Some of them even appeared to have started healing a few of their wounds before finally giving up the ghost. One of who had a compound fracture on a foreleg that makes it hang even more grotesquely.

In the center of the room are various other stallions suspended in the same matter in varying stages of dismemberment. The ones who did this seemed to have a system. Rather efficient at that, and they were doing different cuts of pony flesh in rapid succession.

On a set of shelves, with no label needed, rows of pony heads stare into the center of the room. Some of which have bullet damage, others have been bludgeoned to the point of caving in. A few of the faces, especially of the more intact ones, seemed to have locked the last moments of the pony’s life onto it. Chiseled into eternal flesh with pure torment and terror.

Other shelves it takes a bit more investigation to figure out their contents. Pieces and organs sit in like minded containers. Some in plastic bags to lock in the freshness, such as the metal tub full of livers. Tongues, hearts, lungs. All of the organs are accounted for. Yes, there’s even a group of large glass jars labeled ‘Cock Stock’ where the stallions’ dismembered members are crammed together in the worst visual of an orgy ever.

The intestines are the easiest to locate. The entire ceiling is covered in them. They hang down like streamers in neat rows, winding back and forth as necessary. It’s mostly bits of wire tying them up there. They’ve been cleaned out, sectioned into roughly equal long pieces, and left hanging. Whether to dry or just be easily at hoof for use is unknown. Although the small table on the side of the room with the meat grinder gives a partial clue as he can tell the exit valve of the grinder has an intestine over the end like a warped sock stretched over too much leg.

Next to that sits a pair of large metal drums full of bones with bits of meat still on them. One labeled ‘Stock’ and the other labeled ‘Bone Meal’.

“And just what were you basing this ‘theory’ on?” Gearing asks as he continues to take in the view.

“During the civil unrest. Many ponies lives were prematurely terminated. Corpses are unsanitary and can lead to many diseases. The other ponies would tend to dispose of them. Sometimes in unorthodox ways. The preferred method of removal would be cremation. But those facilities had been working as fast as they could. Others were being tossed in the recycling facility. Some ponies took it upon themselves to clear the bodies from the common areas.” She looks around the room slowly as she adds, “Many ponies bodies had been brought here and, at the time, a plausible explanation was to be used as an expanded mortuary storage.” She shakes her head lightly. “I could not know for certain.” She turns her head towards Gearing and frowns. “Though I suspected. Yet, there was nothing I could do either way as the ponies went about terminating one another until none were left.”

“Well,” Gearing comments glumly. “I think we’ve found where a good portion of missing bodies had went.”

Sable nods and replies flatly as she looks over to the pair of metal drums, “Cannibalized to the last bone.” She turns and walks slowly over towards Gearing. “My beloved, I’m sorry for dragging you into this. We cannot risk the contamination getting out and infecting the rest of the stable… again.”

He waves a hoof then begins to say something as he’s sitting down, half way down he freezes, then looks under him, and thinks better of it as he quickly rises and manages to keep his flank out of the crimson substance under him. He looks at Sable and says softly, “I understand. Really. I do.” He trots close enough to begin nuzzling her neck and cheek. “We’re okay. This can’t harm either of us.” After she’s let out a long sigh of relief, and reciprocates the affection, Gearing looks back at the trot in cooler’s door and asks, “But how do we get out of here now?”

Sable frowns. “I’m having Cure make preparations at the moment. The ponies in this freezer had been infected before death. It’s possible that the cannibalistic disease dubbed ‘Raider Disease’ and ‘Blood Hunger Plague’ is sitting dormant.” She shakes her head hard then stomps a hoof into the floor with a sickening sucking down before a flopping plop as it makes impact. “The entire facility needs to be sanitized. Cremation is the only guaranteed solution.”

Gearing frowns. “But how do we go about getting her in here without risking letting it out?”

“I’m already working on a solution for that as well, my beloved,” Sable replies as she looks down at the taffy like substance on their hooves.

Gearing has a slight smile creep across his face, then he turns around and faces the door as he says, “That’s my filly.” He looks back at her over his shoulder as he slowly lifts a wing. “You going to leave me here all alone, or you going to join me?”

Sable grins widely then scampers over slowly, more out of trying not to splash the unsanitary contents all over her beloved than anything else. She dips down under his wing, leans in sideways, and presses into his side, letting her head curve and come to rest across his chest as he drops and wraps her up with his wing.

She nuzzles his chest and lets out a very happy sigh as she asks, “You are not mad at me?”

He shakes his head and gives her an encouraging squeeze with his wing. “No. You did your best. You did what you thought was right. I’m not going to hold that against you...” He grins widely as he turns his head to look down at her. “But I will hold you against me… You’ve seen enough of this already to last a lifetime. We’ll just stand here and wait.” Gearing looks around and lets out a rough chuckle. “Heh… they must have had a bad case of OCD, everything’s organ-ized.” He glances at her and gives a crooked grin as he finishes.

Sable takes in a deep breath and lets it out as she relaxes into contentment. A moment later she opens an eye and looks up at him. “It’s a shame the conditions in this freezer. This level of isolation would be perfect for us to further our relationship…”

He tilts his head and eyeballs her for a moment, and can’t help but notice the smile on her face. He lets out a sigh before he snickers and shakes his head. “Sable, we’re not having sex in the middle of a graveyard.”

“No?” she asks flatly.

“No,” he replies with a smirk.

“Okay, just thought I’d throw it out there as a way to pass the time,” Sable says with a grin.

Gearing looks her over, and can’t help a wide smile forming over his face. They’ve grown close, very close, and he’s gotten to know her mannerisms rather quickly. And, currently, he can’t help but notice that, despite the blatant offer and encouragement, she’s not wiggling her flank. Given her proclivities and sense of decorum, random offers, requests, or even initiations of sex are not anything strange. Regardless of location or present company. She’s very open with her desires.

But, that’s not what this is. She’s not simply being her typical flank chasing self. She’s wanting to distract him. To keep him busy. To give something else to do besides focus on the fact that he’s trapped in an enclosed space with the corpses of countless ponies. Getting to know somepony goes both ways, especially when that somepony is as observant as this one. She’s very well aware of how disturbed he really is by this scene. And how he’s simply just getting through a situation that he has little to no control over.

Bravado be damned, this mare’s got him pegged and he’s not fooling anypony in this room.

Gearing pulls her in tightly as he groans in approval. He lowers his neck down and nuzzles her cheek with his as he lets out in a deep gust of air, “Gods I love this mare…”

And that’s when her flank started wiggling.

Footnote: Internal Monitoring component beginning diagnostic. . .

Internal component 01 not responding. . .

This chapter sets a few more questions in motion and puzzles to be solved, while answering a couple in the process. Work on the time line continues, and substantial progress has been made. Even more individuals have shown support and offered to lend time and talents for helping to get all of that sorted, to the benefit of all, and for that I'm truly grateful.

For those wondering about a potential plot hole with a certain piece of equipment, especially if you've read project horizon's and know all about stable 99, don't worry, it hasn't been overlooked. Though I'm not sure yet if it'll be explicitly answered in the story or just be some extra info released with an "ask x" series.

As always, questions, comments, and suggestions welcome and encouraged.

-Quillsy