I lay flat on my back inside the thin tube. It was clammy, dark and very cramped. It was made worse by the tight-fitting, thick, yellow PVC environmental suit that encased me and made my entire body sweat profusely. The torch fixed on the helmet of the suit was the only source of light and it was focused against the very tip of my horn which protruded out of the top of the helmet; the airtight seal maintained by a rubber flange.

Stable Seventeen had two main sources of power. A series of turbine blades, mounted in the fast flowing hot water above several nearby geothermal vents, were the primary power source. Several gas vents, dotted in and around the stables various sections, provided the rest. It was inside one of the many gas syphoning tubes that I now found myself.

I clicked on my PipBucks transmitter. “Go silent”, I said to let the head of maintenance know I was starting the repair work. I didn’t want anything to distract my concentration given what I was about to do. Focusing, I cast the first of the two spells I’d need for my task. The repulsion spell formed at the tip of my horn glowing intensely in the darkness, causing a small vacuum to form inside the bubble as the gas in the tube was forced away.

So far, so good.

I now began the spark spell, raising my horn up to the corner of the patching plate. Pinning the plate in place over the microscopic crack with my hooves, I concentrated and increased the power of the spark at the tip of my horn. A high energy arc of magic jumped the short distance from my horn to the patching plate; superheating the plate’s edge, and the tube behind it, on contact. I continued carefully, running my horn around the edge of the plate, fusing it seamlessly to the syphoning tube.

Repairs like this were getting more common which didn’t bode well for me. I was one of maybe a dozen unicorns capable of casting the repulsion spell and the only one that could cast both the repulsion spell and spark spell simultaneously. It usually took two ponies to do the job I was doing, one for each spell. The biggest issue was the size of the tube, which made it an exercise in patience, as two ponies struggled to work together inside a tube filled with highly flammable gas. If there was a stray spark, well the water pressure would be the least of my worries.

I finished the weld, carefully ending the spark spell and then the repulsion spell. ‘Not bad Fran, not bad at all’ I said to myself. I clicked on my PipBucks transmitter again. “Patching complete, Arc. How’s the pressure looking?’

“It’s going back up. Quite rapidly I might add. That damage must’ve been more severe than we thought.” The old voice crackled through the loudspeaker. “Good job. Bring yourself back in. Let’s get you out of that suit.”

“Roger that Arc, heading back now.” I switched on my PipBuck’s radio and clicked through the half a dozen or so channels until I found something that would keep me occupied for the duration; settling for Spline’s Guide To DIY. There were music channels, but Chord, the stables last great composer, had died half my life ago so there was little in the way of new listening material. Concertos and Symphonies begin to lose their charm just like any other music if that’s all you listen to.

“If you remember in episode four hundred and eight we covered the more complex types of wood joints; if you don’t remember, all the episodes are available to download to your PipBuck as a Pipcast. Today are going to cover how to utilise these to maximise the strength of your construction…” I started back.

After thirty minutes of squirming and wriggling back down the tube, and getting even hotter and sweater in the process, I finally saw stable-light. Manoeuvring into the transfer tube, after checking that I was clear of the door, I signalled Arc to start the transfer process.

A bulkhead dropped down behind me and the tank began to fill with a disinfectant fluid, forcing the gas out the top. The moment the tank brimmed there was a clunk and the liquid began to recede, pulling in stable air. A light flashed on the wall of the tank indicating the process was complete and I pushed open the inner door of the transfer tube and slithered out.

“Welcome back Francium.” Arc clapped his hooves together in approval. “Another fine job. If only you could teach that dual spell technique to everypony, we wouldn’t be up to our necks in busted pipes.”

I pulled off the suit's helmet and dropped it into the maintenance laundry trolley. “You and Inertia would’ve done it faster.” I proceeded to undo the suits many sealing zips. “You were always the best at the tubes.”

The old buck shrugged. “Perhaps, but I am old, decrepit and I need you young fillies and colts to fill in after I am gone. Not to mention it now only takes one filly to do the work of two bucks.”

I pulled a face of mock indignation. “I’m not a filly anymore. I’m a young mare thank you very much.” I tossed the suit in along with the helmet with a playful huff.

Arc grinned, revealing his dwindling collection of teeth. “You could have fooled me. Have you seen the state you’re in? What about how you smell.”

I looked around into a glass cleaning tank and was rather shocked. My usually luscious blue and white mane and tail looked like tangled knots of damp seaweed. I gave my soft blue forehoof a sniff and regretted it. Arc chortled at my expression.

“Perhaps you are right,” I said grimacing. I smelt awful; mainly of plastic and perspiration. I was pretty sure I could smell something else too, but there was no way I was going to check for that in front of the old buck. He’d probably fall off his chair with… well, I couldn’t decide between shock or laughter. “I best go and have myself a shower or two.” I turned to go.

“Three.” Arc snickered, waving his hoof in front of his muzzle. “Then you’ll be all ready for your mare-friend.”

I glanced back quickly. “I don’t have a mare-friend. You know that.”

“I know.” He winked. “But still…” He paused for a second then said, “Either way, make sure you’re on time for Lillypad’s Cutecinera. The little one’ll be really upset if you aren’t there. You know how she gets without you or Helix around; you’re like mothers to her.”

I felt my heart sag slightly. “She had a real mother. We can’t replace her. Helix would never do that to Lillypad.”

“Even so…” Arc paused, his happy expression faltering. “Just be there. For Lillypad.”

I smiled at him. “Always.”

He returned my smile before turning back to his computer. I could not believe how quickly the conversation had turned. I gave the old buck one final glance before turning back and heading out into the corridor, closing the door quietly behind me; ‘I wonder what his mother was like?’ my little pony muttered quietly.

I started to head back to the core of the stable. The gas dome was one of seven sections set away from the core of stable seventeen. Three separate geodesic domes housed Gas Syphoning 1, the Algae Processing Plant and Air Processing & Maintenance with a final heavily reinforced cuboid for the stables apple orchard. The remaining three sections were large hollow rings which each supported a turbine blade over three of the largest geothermal vents surrounding the stable. All of these were linked with each other and the core by tubes which were partially submerged into the seabed for protection; quite a feat of construction one hundred fifty metres down.

I looked out the windows of the tube I was in, seeing the core looming high in the middle above me. A slightly conical tower of steel with inset windows and pipes jutting out at regular intervals, the Core was ten stories tall and contained Habitation, Recreation and the Mess-hall for all two hundred fifty residents of stable seventeen.

I reached the core and joined the throng of ponies making their way to their rooms now that the day was drawing to a close. Some chatted about work, others discussed how they were going to spend their evening and a few moaned about being given evening and night shifts.

“Hey, Francium, you got a moment?” I looked around.

“Hey, Heather.” I squeezed my way over to the medical pony; she was still wearing her work coat and looked slightly frazzled. I moved in next to her in the small alcove created by two of the main support beams that ran up the inside of the core. “Wow, you look like you’ve had a busy day.”

“Yeah. Busy, but good. We have a new filly.” She beamed with happiness. “She was just over a week early, but she’s stable all the same. Helix came over and took the sample so the machines can start the genome mapping.”

“That whole process gives me the creeps.” I shuddered, “The idea that the buck that I mate with is pre-planned by a machine, it’s just odd.”

“But it’s always been this way, and it’s necessary. Otherwise, we would’ve hit the limit of gene diversity years ago.” Heather rolled her eyes at me, “Besides, you don’t have to know whose foal you’re having. You can be artificially inseminated, remember.”

“It’s the ‘not knowing’ bit that I worry about. I’m fine with having the foal; though I’d prefer a daughter, it’s just the feeling I get every time I pass a buck, that he could be my father and I’ll never know. It’s just weird.”

“You’ll probably get a daughter anyway. Helix has been working on improving the biasing injection that your mother developed. The intended ratio is still three to one, but we should get something like seven to three rather than the nine to four we’re currently getting.”

“Heather, I’m a maintenance pony. I’ll have forgotten that by the time I get back to my room.”

“Yeah.” She shrugged, smiling slightly, “But it’s still intriguing, isn’t it?”

“Is there something you need me for specifically?” I asked, “I could really do with a good shower.”

Heather gave a sniff. “Oh, great Celestia.” She backed off slightly, “You do.” She laughed at my expression, “Yeah, I’m afraid that Helix won’t be around again tonight with the new tests to set running. She also has two ponies to inform of their genome results. We’ll have two pregnant mares to care for in nine months.”

“Do you think she can spare five minutes?” I asked, my ears drooping slightly. Another night without Helix. “I was supposed to be cooking for her before we went to Lillypads Cutecinera.”

“I don’t think so I’m afraid. I’d leave her to it personally, she seems a little disturbed.” Heather frowned then checked her Pipbuck. “Right, gotta dash. I’ll see you at the Cutecinera.” She waved goodbye and was swallowed up by the crowd.

“Oh well, best go and freshen up,” I muttered to myself. Suddenly I found myself smiling as I noticed where I was standing. Right here, in this very alcove, almost a year to the day, was when I’d first kissed Helix. My inner pony let out a little squee of delight. I got a few odd looks as I set off; a random maintenance mare, who badly needed a wash, grinning from ear to ear.

I closed the door to my small room and sighed. I was exhausted, sleepy, slightly annoyed and could sense a familiar feeling disturbing the pit of my stomach. Hunger? Not quite. Thirst? Not that either. Ah, that was it, sexual frustration. I sighed, again. I had planned a nice meal with Helix before we went to see Lillypad, perhaps a quick make-out session too, but now that Helix was stuck working I didn't know what to do.

I settled for feeling frustrated, and besides, I had more immediate problems than my overactive hormones. I was in need of a serious clean and my mane and tail could do with a complete makeover. I also wanted to wash before I turned myself on further with my own scent.

The blast from the shower was heavenly. I could feel my worries, and more importantly, the grime, literally flowing off my body. I picked up a bottle of shampoo and began working it into my two-tone mane and tail with my magic, the water cascading down soaking every part of me and filling me with warmth and contentment that only a hot shower could. Despite its little ups and downs, I thought, my life was good.

There were many in Stable Seventeen that groaned and complained. Some despised the monotony and the menial tasks, the fortnightly cycled menus in the cafeteria: ‘What, apple puree and mushrooms again!’, and the constant hum of the stable lights. That did get me down occasionally; that the lights in the public areas of the stable were constantly lit. Yes, you had your own switches for your room, but you could never escape the eternal hum of the main lighting.

Some got tired of the views out of the stables numerous windows, complaining that it was just an eternal murky blackness and, to a point, they were right, but what we had was something that took time and thought to appreciate fully.

I stood there for a while longer, peering into the gloom watching odd shapes flit through the ray of light emanating from my window. Eventually, I stepped out of the shower and picked up a towel with my horn and began to dry myself. “Clean at last.” I chuckled to myself, drying my cutie mark. I smiled slightly to myself.

“Right let’s go over what we know you can do.” Helix sat beside me at the kitchen table with her brand new double helix cutie mark, compete with two test tubes upon her soft purple flank. “You can levitate like every other pony. That’s normal.” She jotted that down on the little notepad. “But, you have greater control than most, that’s not so normal. What else?” She puffed a strand of purple mane out of her eyes.

“I’m good at making models. My mechanical and electrical skills are pretty good.” I said into the desk. I rolled my head over to look up at my best friend “Helix, do we have to go through this again?”

“Yes,” she said firmly, scribbling down ‘superb mechanical and electrical skills’.

“I’m not that good.” I prodded the notepad.

“You can fix almost anything, so long as you know how it works; you don’t even have to hack a terminal, you can just rewire it to get past the security. No one else of our age can do that. So yes, yes you are.”

“I suppose so.” Helix had a very high view of my skills which I didn’t share. Yeah, I was able to do some pretty cool and difficult things given I was a filly, but there were plenty of other ponies in stable seventeen that could do what I did. Except one, “I’m a very good welder.”

“Exceptional welder.” Helix corrected, “That buck with the greying mane in maintenance told me that you did both the spark and repulsion spells the other week. At the same time! Nopony else can do that.”

“He’s called Arc, but I can’t see how that links to my cutie mark?” I moaned, “If my mark was welding or engineering or electronics or maths then I would have it by now, but no…” I looked down at my blank flank, “I am still missing something.”

Helix shrugged sadly, “We’ll just have to keep trying things. Hey, why don’t we give this a break; it’s just stressing you out. What do you want to do instead?”

“I’m rebuilding that model that your mum gave me for my birthday last year; that really difficult one. Oh and I dismantled the Griffon Chaser II for you to have a go at.”

Ten minutes later we’d exchanged moods. I was having fun building ‘Horse Shoe Tower’ in miniature and Helix was getting in a flap over the Griffon Chasers complex flying mechanism. That was the exact reason I loved that kit; it was really fiddly to get all the bits in the right place so that the wings would flap properly.

“Oh, for the love of Celestia.” She cried out, dropping the model with a huff. “I enjoy doing these with you Fran, but this one is just beyond me.”

“What are you struggling with?” I levitated up her model to inspect it.

“I was holding the two halves of the body together while the glue hardened, but they slipped and now they are joined together at completely the wrong angle,” she sulked.

“No biggy.” I focused hard, really hard, harder than usual, with a soft pop the two pieces separated cleanly and I handed them back to her. “There you go problem solved.”

But Helix was suddenly gaping at me.

“What’s wrong? You’ve seen me do that before.”

“Yes,” she stuttered, “but not break a model apart, fuse one together, and levitate lots of things together at the same time. That’s three spells; three very different spells.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve done it,” I told her thinking back.

“Wait there!” She said jumping up. She dashed off and returned a moment later with one of the other models I had given her and two glasses of water.

“Try this.” She said excitedly, “Heat up this glass.” Helix held one glass up for me, I obliged, starting a positive transfer spell. The water began to bubble slightly.

“Freeze this one, but keep heating the other one.” I focused on a negative transfer spell and condensation started gathering on the surface of the glass.

“Now pick up my model and start to break it apart.” I focused. This was hard, but not too bad. The model's individual parts began to separate from the decomposition incantation on the glued lines.

“Now continue building your model.” I looked at her with an ‘are you sure expression’. She just beamed back. ‘Okay...’ I thought to myself. I focused once more levitating the bricks off the table. My horn suddenly flared and I almost dropped everything, but Helix cried, “No, keep going.” I pushed again my horn began to glow brightly again as I started the binding spell. The effort was exhausting, but I began to smile.

I was maintaining five spells simultaneously, five!

“Gimme another. Let’s make it six!’ I called out to Helix even though she was right next to me. Helix dashed out once more and returned with two metal cooking pans. She levitated them up to my horn.

“Weld them.” My smile broadened even further. This I knew I could do, and I was good at it so it was just a question of if I could maintain six spells.

I started the spell and it came fairly easily, but the moment the spell began to manifest itself my horn flared again. I was sweating with the effort. My inner pony was jumping around like mad shouting ‘you’re going to burn out, you’re going to burn out!’ But I didn’t care.

Ever so slowly I brought the spell up, slowing or reducing the intensity of the other spells so that I could mentally, and literally, free up some space in my head. The spark jumped to the pans and, with whatever brain power I had left, I began to weld. It was possibly the worst weld I’ve ever done. Uneven, blotchy, even a couple of holes clean through the pans but it was a weld. Before I could truly appreciate what I was doing my horn flared out again with such ferocity I blacked out.

“Doctor, she is awake!” I stirred, slowly opening my eyes. My mother was peering at me with worry and Helix sat on the end of my bed looking at me with a mixture of glee and concern. “Francium, what in Celestia’s name were you doing!” She held me in a tight hug. “You had me terrified!”

“I was trying to get my cutie mark,” I replied sheepishly.

“And you succeeded.” The doctor came over with a stern look on his face, “ It's really quite rare for some pony of your age to over flare, so whatever you were doing must have been very strenuous. You’ll not be able to do any magic for at least a week and it may take up to a month to regain all your magical strength because of your young age.”

“Wait. I succeeded?” I looked at Helix whose eyes had lit up instantly.

“Yes but...” the doctor started.

I ignored his protests and tore back the bedcovers, wriggling round to look at my flank...

And there it was.

I put the towel back on the rack and looked down once more at my cutie mark. Three intersecting flares of magic of red, green and blue with smaller white flares in the centre. Some cutie marks were fairly simple but mine had so many details and swirls and shades of colour in random patterns with highlights and reflections that it looked just like a real horn flare. It was beautiful.

“Feeling nostalgic are we?” A sultry voice snapped me back to my senses. I spun around. Helix was lying on my bed. Lying on my bed looking at me with her big blue beautiful eyes and long eyelashes and… and… wait?

“What’re you doing here?” I exclaimed.

“What’s it look like?” She replied innocently, rolling onto her back and batting her eyelashes.

“It looks like… umm.” I could feel butterflies in my stomach again; damn she looked hot! “Like…” She raised an eyebrow, pouting slightly. “like… wait, Heather just told me that you had work to finish.”

“Well, how else was I going to surprise you?” Then her eyes suddenly dropped. “You’ve forgotten haven’t you?”

Oh no… her birthday? No. My birthday? Definitely not! Hearts and Hooves day? Again, no. I couldn’t think of anything. “I am sorry… I can’t remember.” I looked at her sadly. I had a useless memory for dates. Wait… dates! “I’ve got it!” I literally jumped with glee that I’d remembered. “It’s been a year since we started seeing each other!”

Helix’s eyes softened. “Well done.” She smiled at me again and shuffled slightly looking exceptionally cute. “Well, what are you just standing there for? It’s rude to keep a lady waiting.” I didn’t move. “Well come on,” she beckoned, and I followed.

Sometime later, Helix popped to the bathroom to ‘freshen up’. She left me tied to the bed, unable to see and unable to make a sound. I was in bliss. Part of my head was sending out warning signals, but in this state, I had no way of figuring out what it was warning me about. I turned my head towards my clock, hoping that would jog my memory. Blackness; damn this blindfold. I knew I needed to be somewhere, but I just couldn't put my hoof on it.

“Worried about missing the Cutecinera?” Helix had returned, “Don’t worry it’s just over two hours away.” I felt her breath on my face and made as much noise as I could. “Hmmm, that thing is very effective at keeping you quiet isn’t it?” I scowled at her, or where I thought she was anyway. I heard her giggle. “That’s nothing.”

I felt the side of the bed compress as Helix moved onto it and then on the other side too as she straddled me. She removed the blindfold and my jaw stayed exactly where it was, dropped. If it had been able to move it would have hit the floor.

“You like it?” She looked into my eyes and I nodded slowly. “I thought you might. It took a…”

“Helix, are you in there?” A familiar voice called. Oh Celestia… not him, not now. “It’s Tungsten. I tried your place, but you weren’t there.” He knocked again. “Come on, the Overmare needs to see you.”

Helix looked at me in shock. “What do we do?” she whispered in horror. Then actually smiled slightly, despite the situation, when I raised my eyebrows and grunted around the bit.

“It’s urgent. Francium. Are you there?” he groaned. “The door’s not locked, I am opening the door. You better not be showering or something.”

Oh, dear Goddesses no!

“We have to talk to him. Explain it. He got it all out of context.”

“How can you get ‘finding your sister and your ex making kinky love’ out of context? This is my fault, I should’ve told him. You’re his sister for Luna’s sake, and now he’s going to think I used him to get to you or something stupid like that.”

“But he knows we’ve always been friends.”

“Exactly, as far as he knows we could’ve been doing this all the time when I was with him. He wasn’t into it, so we just did normal stuff. Now he’s going to be wondering how I satisfied this side of me.” I sat there on the bed for a moment before slamming my hoof down on the bed; which just bounced back. I hit it again and again and again. After about a minute I just stopped, seething that I couldn’t take my frustration out on the bed without tossing it across the room, which I couldn’t bring myself to do.

“Feel any better?” Helix asked.

“No.” I put my head in my hooves. “He’s going to hate me even more now.”

“Why. You’ve done nothing wrong. It’s unusual to like this kind of thing.” She looked at what was left of the black garment she’d been wearing. She’d torn it off in a fit of stress and shock, and it now lay in tattered pieces at her hooves. “But not wrong.”

“But you’re his little sister, that’s why he’ll hate me for this.” Helix looked at me in confusion. Her makeup had run all down her face, but she still looked cute. “In his eyes, I’ve corrupted you and twisted you and messed with you. He might even think I did it to get back at him for something.”

“He isn’t like that, and besides you broke up with him.”

“I know. But he isn’t the same any more. He isn’t the same buck I asked out. He isn’t the same buck I… I…”

“Didn’t catch that last bit.”

“He isn’t the same buck I fell in love with,” I said quickly as if getting it out sooner would make it hurt less. I rolled over and curled up on the bed the guilt now filling my chest. “It wasn’t just what he caught us doing. It’s who I’d been doing it with. He loves you, you’re his sister. And I loved him and he loved me but I broke his heart when I left him. And now it’s like I am breaking it again as I take you away from him.”

“You know that doesn’t really make sense right,” Helix replied cautiously.

“But it’s still true,” I snapped back, making Helix recoil. “I broke his heart when I left him, and now I’m going to break it again because he’s losing you; his sister, to the mare that broke his heart.” I just sat there staring at Helix breathing heavily.

“You don’t know that. As I said, we have to talk to him.” Helix stood up and shook herself, trying to compose her mind.

“Helix, please no… I can’t,” I started.

“Can’t what?” she looked at me sternly. “Face him? Talk to him?”

“He knows things. He knows me; all the bad things about me.”

Helix grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to look at her. She actually looked cross with me. “I know everything about you too. I can guarantee I know more than him. I’ve known you longer, spent more time with you and shared every secret with you. So unless you’ve been lying to me, you have nothing to worry about. Now get a grip.”

I just nodded and she smiled at me shaking her head.

“So, what do you suggest?” I asked nervously, “How do we get him back to talk?”

“Leave that to me,” Helix got to her hooves and looked at me sternly, “Now you are going to stay here. No running off. Promise? Or do I have to tie you down again?”

“Ummm, I’ll stay. As fun as it would be, I don’t fancy having him come back and still finding me stuck on the bed. I can’t imagine it looking too good.”

“Yeah,” Helix gave me a final encouraging smile before slipping out the door. I went over and determinedly locked it; didn’t want another pony wandering in at random as I tidied up.

I ambled around detaching the hoof locks, picking up the bit gag and what was left of Helix’s outfit before hiding the lot in my saddlebags which were jammed at the back of my cupboard. Then it was just a case of waiting for Helix to return. I was halfway through making myself a cup of tea when there was a knock at the door. For a moment I was tempted to ignore it, but something inside me made me reach out with my magic and unlock the door.

I couldn’t read the expression on Tungsten’s face. A perfect poker face; well I only had the saying to go off, having never played poker in my life. Helix just looked at me with a calming expression and gestured with a hoof to my sofa. I carefully picked up my tea and settled myself down opposite Tungsten, who continued to look at me levely, his face not even twitching. Helix sat down carefully next to me and placed a hoof comfortingly on my leg.

“So,” Tungsten just sat there studying the pair of us with his grey eyes, “How long have you two been together?”

“One year today; well, officially anyway.” Helix looked at him, trying to see through the stoic expression to her elder brother inside. I had to admit, it was hard to hold his gaze; I could only guess at the tumult of emotion that must be writhing inside him at that moment.

“Wow. Kept it quiet didn’t you.” Oh please no; anger and shouting or crying and shock, not this unreadable wall. I knew him well enough to know that when he was like this, he was torn in two with his feelings; Ambivalence.

“I’m sorry, Tun. We’re sorry. I’ll admit we didn’t see it coming, it just kind of ended up happening.” Helix leaned towards him, offering her hoof, but he just pushed it away. “You’ve always known we’ve been close and that we trust each other with everything.” Helix looked at me imploringly; wanting me to say something, but I didn’t know what to do. If I said the wrong words then things could go from bad to worse in an instant.

“So, you expect me to believe that somewhere along the line, one of you said to the other ‘hey, how’d you feel if we slept together and then have a little bit of fun.”

“It didn’t happen like that,” I said defensively.

Tungsten turned his hard gaze on me. “Well, who asked who? How’d it happen then?” He asked coolly.

“Slowly. Just when we were spending time together we just got closer and more comfortable around one another.” I tried to think back to when things had changed; the moment when we became more than just friends, but it was virtually impossible.

“I think it was Hearts and Hooves day.” Helix looked at me. “We sent each other cards like we always did, but it was how we wrote them. Something more than ‘I love you as a friend’ more ‘I truly love you, deeply’...”

“We can’t explain it. The only way for you to truly understand would be to let you experience our memories and feelings.”

“Yeah, like I’d put myself through that,” Tungsten huffed. “But the point still stands, who asked who?” He glared at me.

“What, you think it was me? Actually, why does it matter? Just so you have someone you feel you can blame this on? There’s nothing wrong with us being together, about us being happy, something that obviously isn’t important to you.”

I felt like kicking him, why couldn’t he get it? I loved Helix, there was nothing that was ever going to change that, and yet it seemed we’d have to go the rest of our lives with a disapproving Tungsten breathing down our necks.

My thoughts were interrupted by Helix and I’s PipBucks going ‘Ping’ in unison. I looked down at the message on the screen.

“They want me over in the Labs,” Helix looked confused.

“Apple Blossom wants to see me in the orchard,” I replied, just as confused. “A bit late isn’t it?” Helix just nodded slowly scratching her muzzle.

“That’s what I came to get you about earlier?” Tungsten said flatly, “Fine, go. Have fun fucking when you get back.” Ignoring Helix’s gasp of shock, he leapt to his hooves, jolting the table and sending my tea flying, and stormed out without a backwards look.

Helix watched the door for a moment, then turned to me and cried into my shoulder.

“Why does he have to be like this.” She leant close and I held her, nuzzling into her soft mane. “What is it about us that he despises?”

“I don’t know.” I sat there holding Helix close to me, feeling her heartbeat and listening to her breathing. “You know we need to go don’t you.”

“Yeah,” she sniffed. “Just five more minutes?’ She looked up at me.

All I could do was smile at her. Helix smiled back, squeezed me tightly and pushed in close. All I could think of as I closed my eyes, taking in every little movement she made and how her breath disrupted my coat, was just how much I loved her. My Helix.

The orchard was a vast rectangular structure connected to the stable by a series of underground tubes. Inside grew around two thousand apple trees of various ages and varieties. It seemed that when Stable-tech had planted the first orchard they had no idea which trees would work best and had just planted a bit of everything, which was odd considering that everything else Stable-tech did was usually planned down to the finest detail.

As I entered I felt a chill hit my coat. The Season Replication System, or SRS, in this area of the orchard were recreating mid-autumn, and the final crop of apples was beginning to ripen. Or to be more precise, they weren’t.

“Tell me if I’m wrong, but aren’t apples meant to be green or red?” I trotted over to Apple Blossom and Morning Bloom in the centre of the orchard, eyeing the very sick looking trees as I went past. Almost every apple was a creepy shade of yellow and covered in little brown spots.

“Yeah,” Apple Blossom muttered absentmindedly, then her head snapped up from the apple she was dissecting. “Oh, hello Francium,” she said, looking flustered. “What took you so long, we sent that message half an hour ago.”

“Dinner with Helix,” I said quickly.

“Ooo, that sounds nice.” Apple Blossom smiled at me, “It’s like you two were made for each other.”

It took a lot of self-control not to gawp at her. “What do you mean?” I recovered.

“That you’ve always been such good friends,” Apple Blossom replied brightly.

“Oh yeah, we have been haven’t we.” Phew. I glanced around the orchard. “So, what do you need me for?”

“We know that you were doing some preventative maintenance on the Season Replication units last week, and you had to replace the external filter in water pump three last month. We’re just wondering if it could’ve caused all this?” she looked around at the trees.

“I really wouldn’t have thought so,” I shrugged, “I am no expert, but this looks like a chemical infection. All the parts we used are cleaned by irradiating them, so there’s literally nothing living on them when we install them. You’d need to talk to Helix about chemistry stuff.”

“Well, their equipment better be more accurate than ours because as far as my PipBuck is concerned there’s nothing wrong.” Morning Bloom, groaned and levitated the remains of an apple into a bucket. It had the words ‘Irradiate Before Disposal’ stuck on the side.

“Maybe you need your Pipbuck checked?” I suggested.

“Nope, same result with mine.” Apple Blossom said dryly, “There’s an anomaly, but it reads as both an unknown liquid and an unknown mineral, which is impossible.”

“That’s definitely Helix’s territory,” I glanced around again. “How widespread is this? Has this happened to all the apples?”

“No, just sector three. The other three areas are fine. We got the water piping plans off Arc this morning. Turns out each section is fed from a different pump, probably for the precise reason of preventing mass contamination.”

Morning Bloom scratched her head thinking, “Where’s this sectors water syphoned from?”

I checked my stable utilities schematic. “Sector threes’ water is taken from a point off to one side of turbine one. Sector ones’ is on top of the core, sector twos’ is by gas intake one, and sector four is set away from the stable. Nearest structure is the geological outpost off turbine 3.” They were all nowhere near one another and I supposed that was the point; if one got contaminated it wouldn’t affect the others at the same time.

“How easy would it be to set up a fifth water syphoning point?”

“Not impossible but a lot of work. I’m not even sure we have the equipment. If we do, then it’s just a case of setting it up outside. The hard bit is running the new pipe and hooking it up to the pumps. Say a week, five days if everything goes smoothly.”

“And if we don’t have the parts?”

“Couldn’t say really, depends what we have to make; could be a week, could be months.” I just shrugged. “Sorry, but are you even sure that changing the water supply will solve the problem. The trees are already contaminated.”

“We don’t have many options. We can’t eat these apples so that’s twenty per cent of our food supply gone. I believe we have three months of reserves but after that, nothing. If you’re right then we’ll have to cut down all these trees and replace all the soil. It’d take months and then growing new trees would take years.”

I gulped slightly; that would not be good. “So, you want to try the easy stuff first before resorting to a full scale tear down.”

“Precisely.”

My inner pony groaned. “I’ll get on to Arc and the head of engineering; let them know what we’re planning. One of you’ll have to talk to the Over’s and get this approved.” They both just nodded. I turned and left them to pick a few more samples. ‘Something tells me you aren’t going to be getting much sleep for the next few weeks’ the little pony in my head chided at me. I told it to sit on my horn and spin.

I was silently kicking myself as I wandered back to the core. I’d told myself numerous times not to be late to Lillypads Cutecinera and yet somehow the universe had conspired against me. I made my way past the Labs and spotted Helix chatting to Cosmos. Oh, what the heck; I was already late, I turned around and knocked on the door.

“Hey, Fran.” Helix gave me a quick hug and ushered me inside.

I very rarely entered the Genome lab, and I was always left stunned when I did. I was surrounded by numerous machines of all shapes and sizes. There were test tubes in racks on one side and the other usual lap paraphernalia, but many of the items were foreign to me.

“Impressive isn’t it,” Cosmos said proudly, watching me as I examined the contents of the room with a look of awe on my face.

“Looks complicated...” I trotted around looking closely at all the odd objects. I let Helix and Cosmos finish their discussion. All I could pick up was that they were planning to modify one of the analysis machines to try and find out more about the foreign element in the orchard, but most of it was over my head.

A table on the wall drew my eye. It was a floor to ceiling list of every pony on the stable. The table seemed to be colour co-ordinated; green, yellow, red, blue and white. I spotted my name and Heathers with green tabs next to them; Helix had a blue tab. Arc’s was red and Tungstens was yellow.

“Don’t examine that to closely.” Helix placed a hoof on my shoulder and turned me round. “Best not to know the future. Yeah, that’s the breeding outline.” She added judging my expression.

“Why’s yours’ blue?” I asked, pointing, “and why’s Tungstens’ yellow?”

“I... I can’t say.” Helix suddenly looked sad, but she shook herself and smiled back at me reassuringly.

“What do all these machines do?” I asked, changing the subject.

“They’re all part of the Genome mapping process. That’s the centrifuge at the end, which separates the blood for analysis. Then it goes into that big blue tank which breaks it down further and then extracts individual strands of DNA.”

“DNA is tiny though, there’s no way you could physically pick it up, even with magic.”

Helix smiled approvingly, “Quite right, so we use the next machine to take a Unicorns magic and allow them to control it on a microscopic level. Then once we have the strands they go into this,” she pointed at a tiny port on the wall with a handful of buttons.

“I’m guessing that there’s more to it than a hole in the wall.” I said.

“Right again, my love.” Helix pointed through a glass window and I peered in. Inside were banks and banks of little black boxes immersed in a translucent blue liquid.

“What in Equestria is that?” The thing was huge, at least twenty metres squared and three metres tall.

“The stables Gene mapper.”

“So that’s the thing that keeps us living down here. The machine that decides who we mate with?” Helix just nodded. “What don’t you like the idea?”

“I dislike it as much as you do. Something about it that disturbs me. Yeah, because of it we can live down here for almost half a millennium, but I just don’t like it.”

“And you work with it every day. Something you don’t like. Then how did you end up working in here? And your cutie mark, its almost entirely defined by that machine,” then something clicked. “It's because of this machine that Lillypad doesn’t have a family.”

Helix turned looking confused. “She does have a family, you’re part of it, I’m part of it.”

“That’s not family, not really. A family is blood relations, your mother, brothers and sisters. Ponies who share your genes.”

“Then who am I to you?” Why did Helix sound accusing? “Am I not part of your family because I don’t share your bloodline?”

“We’re not family, not yet. We can’t get married cos we’re both mares, though we can be partners, that would make us family.”

“So a piece of paper is more an indication of Family than love, or happiness, or kindness. Is it?” Helix just looked at me coolly.

“Wait... no... that’s not what I meant.” Why was she twisting my words? “It’s not as straightforward as...” But I stopped as Helix began to giggle. “What. What’s so funny?”

“You’re so cute when you get all worked up.” A grin was spreading across her face. “You’re just so easy to wind up.” I didn’t know what to say so I settled for sitting there; looking surprised and confused. “Come on.” Helix placed a hoof around my shoulder. “Let’s go see Lillypad. We’ve delayed long enough.”

We stepped into the atrium and I was amazed by the level of activity. It seemed almost everypony had come up to celebrate Lillypads Cutecinera. Even ponies that I only knew by face were happily enjoying the festivities.

“Wow, muffins!” Helix zipped over to a collection of tables groaning with food. “I haven’t eaten these since, well I can’t remember.” She levitated one to her muzzle and smelled it, breathing deeply. “Blueberry! I didn’t know we had real blueberries!”

“We didn’t. Punch grew the specially for this day.” A mare piped up who was pouring out apple juice into wine glasses. She waved her horn and the liquid transformed into what looked like white wine. “Have a glass.” She levitated Helix and I a pair.

“Thank you.” I gave it a sniff. “Chenin Blanc?”

“Sauvignon.” She held out a hoof. “Ambrosia.”

“Nice to meet you Sauvignon.” I replied.

“No, the wine is Sauvignon, my name’s Ambrosia.” She rolled her eyes.

Woops. “Sorry. I’m Francium. Or Fran.”

Ambrosia’s eyes widened. “So you’re Francium.” She looked approving.

“You know me?”

“Not really, but Lillypad told asked me to tell her when you and Helix arrived.” She looked at Helix behind me. “Is that her?”

“Yep, that’s my Helix.” I smiled back at Helix who was savouring each bite of her muffin.

“Fran! Helix! You finally came!” I slopped most of my Sauvi... wine all over the table as I was assaulted by a soft green blur. “What took you so long?” I looked down and saw the filly of the hour.

“Lillypad!” I swept her up into a hug. “Look at you, you’ll be a big pony soon!”

She scowled at me, “I am a big pony.” Then was instantly beaming again. “Where’s my other BSBFF?” I nodded and then had to dodge a flying filly as Lillypad leapt from my legs and scampered up to Helix who swept her up again in a tight hug.

It was wonderful to watch Helix and Lillypad together. The epitome of happiness and contentment. I watched as Lillypad took Helix by the hoof and dragged her off to play Pin The Tail On The Pony.

“She’s a wonderful mare isn’t she.” Ambrosia appeared beside me. “You’re very lucky to have Helix.”

“Yeah, I am.” Wait? “How do you know?” I exclaimed, spinning to look at her.

“I may just be a kitchen hoof but I know love when I see it. Even if you’re trying to keep it hidden.” She winked at me. “I’m not the only one, but there’s no benefit in telling everypony so we’ll let it stay secret.”

I felt shocked, “Are we that easy to read?”

“No, it’s hard to spot. Most just see you and Helix as really good friends, and they know about how you spent almost every waking moment of your childhood together. Spotting the love bit is hard.” ‘Well at least our secret relationship isn’t on display,’ I thought.

Speaking of relationships, I saw Tungsten walk in out of the corner of my eye. He looked happy enough, but something about his posture told me that he was cramming his real feelings away while he was in public, ‘which might be an advantage’ my little pony thought.

I picked up a glass of wine and cautiously made my way over to him. Either he didn’t spot me or was ignoring me, as I got all the way up behind him before he turned around.

“What can I do for you.” He said it pleasant enough, but he couldn’t hide the anger in his eyes.

“Sauvignon Blanc?” I offered him the glass.

“Bless you.”

“Wait, what, no that’s the wine,” I said sheepishly.

“Oh,” he took the glass from me but didn’t drink it.

We stood there in a little pool of awkward silence. I didn’t know where to start. Heck, I didn’t even know what I planned to achieve by coming over to talk to him.

“What do you want, Fran?” He looked out calmly at the activity before us but there was a sharp tone to his voice that made me shiver.

“I wanted to say that I... that I’m sorry.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” I faced him. “I’m sorry that I kept you in the dark... about Helix and I, I’m sorry that you had to see us doing what we were, um... doing. And I’m sorry that we didn’t tell you. But... but I am not sorry that I’m with her.”

“Strange apology. You’re not sorry?”

“I am sorry, but I don’t regret it. Why can’t you accept that Helix loves me? Or that I love Helix?” I eyed him as best I could, trying not to sound as though I was pleading with him. That’s hard when you’re secretly having a mental panic attack. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Please, Tun, what...”

“Don’t call me that!” He snapped, causing a few heads to turn. “Just go.”

“Not until I’ve got an answer.”

“To what? Why I’m so cross about you fucking my sister? That’s case in point!”

“You make it sound like I am using her to hurt you. Why would I do that? I don’t hate you! I loved you! I still do... in a way and...” I stopped myself.

“You... you still love me?” He no longer sounded angry; he was just as surprised as I was.

“Yes.. kind of... not romantic like more...”

“Friend than foe?” Helix appeared at my side.

“Yes, friend. When we split I hoped that we could step back to like we were before, but we had changed and weren't the same and you had joined Security and toughened up and... and become withdrawn...” I stuttered into silence.

The three of us just stood there for a moment, looking between each other.

“I’m still angry; very angry.” Tungsten turned to leave. “But you’ve given me something to think about. You know that’s rare.” And without another word, he vanished from the atrium.

“I’m proud of you. Very proud.” Helix gave me strong hug and pecked me on the cheek.

“For what?”

“For standing up to something you feared.”

The celebration didn’t last much longer. I enjoyed a few rounds of pass the parcel and almost had my head taken off by Poppy, one of Lillypad’s enthusiastic friends, as she tried to take out the Pinata. But eventually, after all the muffins and Sauvignon were gone, Helix and I returned to my room. I rattled off a quick message to the rest of maintenance about the orchard and then we settled down on the bed just holding one another.

“Do you think Tungsten meant what he said?” I asked, “That he’d think about ‘us’ I mean?”

“Yes. Part of him might not like it, but I think, more for me than for you I’m afraid, he’ll come round eventually.”

“I just hope I didn’t screw it up when I let slip that I kind of still liked him.”

“Don’t worry, it’s to be expected. You can’t go for as long as you did without making some very deep feelings for each other. He’ll be with you in some small way forever.”

“You ought to be a physiatrist or a therapist. I could have never gotten that.”

Helix just giggled and pushed her head further into my mane. “So, do you want to continue?” she asked, nibbling up my neck and whispering in my ear.

“You’re kidding right, we just got caught and you want to go again?”

“We only got caught cos I forgot to lock the door when I came in.” I heard a faint click. “No worries this time.” She purred.

“On one condition.”

“Oh, and what would that be?”

She squealed as I quickly rolled over and pinned her down, making sure that she couldn’t escape. “This time you’re the one that gets stuck on the bed.” She made the cutest little eeep I’d ever heard. Nervously, but smiling all the same, she nodded. ‘Now for a taste of your own medicine’ my little pony grinned. Shame part of me knew that it’d be a while before we’d be doing this again.

The next two weeks were pure chaos from the very first day. It didn’t take long for the stable to work out something big was happening. The changes on their own wouldn’t have sparked suspicion but collectively they signified that something wasn’t right in stable seventeen. Be it the apple recall, the sudden increase of algae-based food in the mess hall, or that orchard three was suddenly off limits, it didn’t matter which; the usually happy atmosphere in the stable slowly became tainted with worry and anxiety.

All of us working on the problem were forbidden to reveal anything about what was happening, which only added to the stress. Engineering and maintenance shifts were extended in an attempt to speed up the pump modification and the pipe reconfiguration. But the biggest issue came when the geologists announced the location for the new pump.

The location that they’d decided upon was up on a ridge above the algae fields; the complete opposite side of the stable to where pump three was currently located. This seemed logical enough; get it as far away from the contaminated site as possible, but it meant that we had to move the pipe sections; each of which was eight metres long, two metres in diameter and weighed about one and a half tonnes, up a steep slope with the manual lifting gear. It took a crew of ten to fit the pipes but eventually, after fifteen days of backbreaking work, we were three pieces from completion.

“I’m glad this is the last time I have to do one of these things,” Jib muttered trying valiantly to work his hind legs into the EVA suit. “They’re far too tight.”

“You get used to them after a while,” I rolled the black rubber up my hind legs with my magic and worked my fore hooves into the front legs of the single piece suit. “At least you don’t have to use them every other day. The maintenance suits are just as difficult.” ‘But not as sexy’ my little pony winked.

“Still doesn’t help me.” Jib pulled at the suit with all his telekinetic strength to no avail.

“Be gentle or you will rip it!” I quickly worked the suit up over the rest of my body, tucking my tail in at the last moment, privately enjoying the way it hugged every part of my coat. I activated the couplings across the spine that made a watertight seal and trotted over to help him.

“Like I told you before, keep your hooves firmly on the ground and roll it rather than pulling. Tuck your tail in, that’s it. Now the same with the front, use your magic to roll it up while you keep your hooves down. There we go.” Jib gave a little wiggle and the last of the suit slipped over his shoulders. “There you go. Now for the seal.”

“The way you act around these things, it’s like they are your children.” Jib eyed me. “You treat your suit with something bordering on love.”

“It's too valuable to damage, so I might as well enjoy looking after it.” I gave him a quick smile before hurrying away. I was never going to let on to anyone, except Helix of course, know exactly how much I ‘liked’ these suits. For some reason the fact they were black made my stomach flutter every time I wore one; ‘I must be a really kinky pony to get a kick out of maintenance gear’ I kept thinking to myself, but I couldn’t help it.

I picked up my helmet and slipped it over my head, using my magic to tuck my mane in at the last moment and slipping my horn through the flange at the top trying not to squirm; that always tickled. Arc came over and slipped a freshly recharged deconstruction talisman into its slot on the suits spine.

“Francium Test, francium test.” He spoke into his Pipbuck.

“Four by Five.” I replied as his voice emitted from the helmets built-in speakers. He made an adjustment on his Pipbuck and repeated. “Five by Five. Perfect.” The old buck tapped the side of my helmet and then went to do the same to Jib.

I entered the airlock with the rest of the fitting crew, ten ponies including Jib and myself. Everypony had been working virtually non-stop for the past two weeks fitting the new pipeline. All of us were experienced in the EVA suits bar Jib. He, with his brother Boom, were the strongest telekinetic’s in the stable. Boom, with his greater strength, had played his part early on in the pipe laying by manoeuvring the massive sections from storage out to the construction site. Now it was over to Jib, who was not as strong as his brother but had far superior magic control. This was key, to get the pieces to line up correctly and to not damage them while they were fitted.

Jib joined the rest of us in the airlock as the final checks were made. The airlock doors shut and I felt the floor shudder as the locking pins slid into place.

“Flooding the tank in three, two, one.” Arc triggered the valves and water was suddenly rising up through the grate below our hooves.

I began to breathe deeply as the water pressed the rubber up against my coat. It made it over my hooves, my knees, I felt it press against my chest and then it began to approach the top of my back.

“Remotely sealing suits.” A light changed from green to blue in my helmet.

This transition point was where things could go wrong. The suit was essentially powered by water, via the deconstruction talisman which provided both oxygen for the user and energy for the suit's systems. Until the talisman was submerged and the suit's systems kicked in, you had to rely on the air that was trapped inside the helmet when it was sealed. It always freaked me out, but I couldn’t remember why.

I watched transfixed as the water made its way up the visor of the helmet, turning the world a murky blue. Then I felt a sudden rush of energy as the suit's systems activated. The pressure of the water on the suit relaxed back as though the water was no longer there. The HUD popped up on the inside of the helmet as the suit linked with my PipBuck showing talisman charge, oxygen flow, exterior pressure and repulsion spell status.

“All suits and systems read as normal.” Arcs voice echoed slightly in my helmet. “Opening outer airlock now.”

We all turned in unison as the door retracted, parting down the middle and opening to reveal the lake bed below. A few small fish darted away as we ambled out of the airlock. The moment we were all clear Jib wrapped us in a telekinetic field and slowly began to guide us to the bottom of the ridge; it seemed to me that this must be what it’s like to fly as a pegasus, only much slower. I’d always wondered why there were no pegasi in stable seventeen, but I had resigned myself years ago as just one of those unknowable mysteries.

Over the next hour, we manoeuvred the first of the final three pieces into place, beginning the pipes rise up the slope to the top of the ridge. As a result, it was going in at almost forty-five degrees which was causing us problems.

“Keep an eye on the top sling, it’s working loose again.” One of the team called. “Down ten. Stop. Jib, pivot the tube around its lowest point, good, stop.” Dozens of fine adjustments followed to get the piece in just right.

“Everyone hold. Francium tac all the support columns. Flange, remove the slings and prepare the next piece” I moved around the tube taking it to the pre-placed support points.

Despite all the planning and calculations, the low tolerances on the parts meant that I was bridging gaps of up to twenty millimetres in some places. It was barn door engineering but once we were done there would be very little to go wrong. I finished the sixth weld; that tube would probably never move again.

Now for the main reason I was out here. Whilst the others prepped the net tube for the lift I wiggled my way into the end of the tube and up to the new joint. I activated my helmet’s torch which illuminated the tip of my horn. The joints between the tubes required watertight seals and the only way to ensure that was with a perfect weld; turns out there was one thing that I was better than anypony else at.

I wiggled back out and moved aside to let Jib and the rest of the team manoeuvre the massive tube into place. It was supported by a pair of air-filled sacks which made it neutrally buoyant, making it easier to position. Glowing in the soft amber magic telekinesis of Jibs spell, the hunk of metal ponderously floated into place.

“Hold and check.” All signalled back clear bar one pony at the high end of the tube. “Flange, what’s the problem?”

“The pre-placed support is a good fifty millimetres to low and the sling has slipped to block the attachment point. Is there room to lower it a little further, before we attach it and remove the sling?”

“I think so. Jib, lower very slowly.”

Millimetre by millimetre the piece dropped into place, tilting the tube back. The sling suddenly slipped off the welding tab. The tough fabric tore instantly. The pipe lurched. Metal ground against metal. The sac shot upwards and the tube lurched sideways. I felt a thump in my chest as the strap of the second sac twanged free. The pipe dropped from Jibs telekinetic grasp.

“Stop it!” I screamed. Every unicorn present lunged out with their magic, but the pipe was too heavy. It tore itself free from our collective grasp and began to roll, building momentum. The whole scene went into slow motion as the pipe tore through the algae fields and straight through the side wall of the stable. A bright flash flared for an instant, illuminating the exterior of the entire stable. Everypony stood frozen in shock.

When the sounds of rending of metal, shattering glass and rushing water had subsided we all just stared. I glanced over the shattered panes. The twisted struts. The warped metal beams. The algae spewing into the water. The flickering lighting in the dome.

Celestia help us.

Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk: Diligent worker - Years of difficult and sometimes dangerous work have made you more careful and conscientious of what you are doing when working or repairing. +15 to Repair and +10 to Science skills.
Quest Perk; EVA Suit Level 1: Your Knowledge of the EVA suits inner workings makes the Deconstruction Talisman last 10% longer.