Born of Sin: Descent to Madness

by Not so New Brony

Nearing the Edge

It was the middle of the night cycle and Stedson was going over some of the expense reports from the last few months. He was altering some of the numbers in the reports to cover the cost of upkeep for his daughter's pets so that Day and his inspectors wouldn't find out about the conditioning.

Although he had gotten better at forging numbers, the task had become increasingly difficult.

Despite their near constant 'disposal', the animals still cost an arm and leg to feed. He had to find a solution to their rather rapid rate of reproduction before it became a problem.

One of the guards had become suspicious when he spotted an Iron Feather playing with her pet kitten in the barracks. He managed to convince the guard that she was helping him handle one of his ‘lab animals’ for an experiment.

Normally, he'd do the ‘accounting’ during the day cycle, but right now he wanted to keep his mind occupied so he could forget the nightmare he just had. It was just a lousy coincidence that the reports happened to be related to the nightmare which replayed itself in his mind.

---

Stedson was inside the room where the IF units went through their conditioning. The familiar surgical tools were laid out on the table next to a pair of precision gloves. He looked around and saw the room was lined with dozens of Iron Feathers. One of them stepped away from the others and walked towards the table. He couldn't identify this unit no matter how hard he tried.

The Iron Feather put on the gloves with practiced ease and took a scalpel from the table. Stedson turned towards the adjacent table where he saw a puppy sitting on it, wagging its tail happily at its owner, unable to comprehend what its master was going to do to it.

“Daddy ?”asked the young filly.

He turned to the filly next to him. “What is it little one?” his voice sounded older, gravely, but most of all he sounded tired.

“Do I have to do this again? I like Winnie a lot,” said the filly in a pleading tone.

He let out a sigh and repeated the words he'd probably uttered a million times over by now. “Little one, have you ever loved something so much, that you care more about it more than even your own life?” he asked, expecting the same response from those before her.

“I love you and mommy...and my sisters too.” surprised by the filly's answer, he smiled and ruffled her mane affectionately, the filly giggled at the sensation.

“That's not what I meant little one,” said Stedson. “The reason you must do this is because it’s the hardest thing to do. Many believe that watching a loved one die is hard, but it’s harder, much, much harder to watch them die by your own hoof. I make you and your sisters do this because I need you all to be able to kill without any hesitation or remorse. That's why you'll have to do this little one.”

“Do I have to hear that song again?”the filly asked, this time with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Stedson chuckled softly and nodded. “Yes you do my child. Know that I do this because this is what is going to keep you and your sisters alive when the time comes.” He returned to the control panel and readied the equipment. “Are you ready little one?”

“Yes daddy, I'm ready.” The filly replied and walked up to the puppy, it barked a cheerful greeting to its master.

He flipped the switch, and the room was filled with familiar upbeat music as the filly was caught in a trance.

Do you believe in magic?

In a young girl's heart

How the music can free her

whenever it starts

“You know what to do little one.”

The filly immediately plunged the scalpel into the puppy's paw, but instead of hearing a yelp of pain from the dog, it was the cry of a frightened filly. His eyes widened when the puppy was suddenly replaced by a much younger Iron Feather unit. It took moments for him to recognize 522.

He tried to run and save her but found he couldn't control his body, he was frozen in place.

All he could do was watch as 522 was held down by her sister, who repeatedly cut her victim with the small blade. 522’s screams didn’t affect the Iron Feather one bit as the smiling filly continued cutting away at the frightened filly’s body.

Then, she stopped. She tossed aside the bloody scalpel and stood back to admire her work. Stedson was relieved, thinking that the torture was over. That was until he saw the smiling filly reaching for a bottle of igniting fluid and doused 522’s shaking body with the bottle’s contents.

'No! Please… stop!' Stedson cried out in his mind.

The IF unit reached for the box of matches at the side of the table and pulled out a single matchstick.

'No! Stop! Stop it! No!' he raged out for he knew what came next. He struggled to turn his head away from the sight. He couldn't.

Just go and listen

It'll start with a smile

It won't wipe off your face no matter how hard you try

The cheery song became slow and distorted as the smile on the filly's face became even more menacing as she struck the match and casually threw it on her maimed sister who instantly caught on fire. He blocked out the screams as best as he could, but it was too much.

However, it wasn't over, not yet.

“Stedson! Help me!” a fearful voice cried out to him, the blood was drained from his face when he saw what happened next. 522 had been replaced by Candy Striper, she screamed out in agony as she was surrounded by the fire which had spread around the room. With his movement suddenly returned, he ran to her.

He pushed aside the smiling filly and grabbed Candy's outstretched hooves only for a pair of burnt and bloodied hooves to latch onto his. It was 522, she had the same happy smile on her bloodied face her sister had.

“Daddy...Come play with us,” she called out to him innocently. His eyes became wide when he realized what she was planning to do.

“No, don't do this! Don't-”his pleas fell on deaf ears as filly pulled him into the flames. Stedson cried out in agony as the flames surrounded him and Candy. He held her close as the fire burned them alive, the last thing he saw were the Iron Feathers, smiling at him before the fire engulfed them all.

---

Stedson was brought out of the flashback when he heard moaning from his bed. Candy was moving in her sleep as she wrapped her forelegs around his pillow, and cuddled with it. He smiled at her as she slept; it was almost hard to believe that they were really lovers. What started several months ago as a convenient cover story to fool the staff and guards had become a wonderful truth.

She and his daughters were truly the only good things he had left; he’d be crushed if anything ever happened to either of them. He shook his head to rid himself of the frightful thought and turned his attention to the reports.

“Stedson?” Candy called out to him in a sleepy voice. He glanced up from the monitor to greet a bleary-eyed Candy, she had been woken up by the bright light from the monitor. “Is it morning already?” she asked before letting out a yawn.

“Nope, sorry if I woke you up, I just had to go through these reports before I send them-” he suddenly felt his muzzle being clamped shut as it was covered with Candy’s grey aura.

“You. Sleep. Now.” She demanded before releasing him from her magical grip, he smiled at her grumpy expression and relented to her demand. He sorted away the reports and turned off the monitor before joining Candy back in bed.

Candy was pleasantly surprised when Stedson planted a deep kiss on her lips. "Mmm… Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for,” she cooed softly. Stedson became quiet, he didn’t dare tell her of his nightmare but Candy saw the worried look on his face and asked, “Stedson…is something wrong?”

“N-no-nothing is wrong,” he stammered out. Candy remained unconvinced by his act. He could lie to the guards and staff like a professional con artist, but to her he was an open book.

“Stedson…” she warned him, “What aren’t you telling me?” the stallion squirmed under her scrutinizing gaze, he’d almost prefer Steel Gaze’s glares. Almost.

Knowing that it was a losing battle, he sighed in defeat. “I… I had another nightmare. It was 522...” Candy’s hard stare softened at the mention of the dead filly. She knew that he still felt a lot of guilt over the filly’s death.

“Oh honey…” she said softly as she held out her hooves to him, hoping to comfort him with a hug but he shied away from her, “Stedson?” she asked worriedly.

“There’s more, you… you were in it too.” Stedson muttered. He paused as he recalled the sight of Candy being burned alive, crying out to him. “There was a fire… and… you were…” his body started shaking as the flashback came to its climax. “I couldn’t save you…you were… gone.”

His body stiffened up when he felt Candy’s hooves embrace him, pulling his head to her bare chest “Shhh… It’s alright Stedson, it was just a nightmare. I’m still here,” she whispered soothingly as she ran her hoof down his brown mane. He was calmed down by the rhythmic beating of her heart.

“Thank you…” whispered Stedson before he laid his head down on the pillow.

“What for?” asked Candy as her magic pulled the covers over them.

“For being the light in my life,” Stedson said, giving her one more kiss.

Candy rolled her eyes at him, “That’s really corny you know.”

“Sorry…” Stedson mumbled out sheepishly.

“Don’t be…” the mare whispered as she snuggled next to him. “…because that’s just the way I like you…” she drifted off to sleep before she could finish the sentence. Stedson joined her in slumber soon after.

For the first time in a long time, he was able to sleep peacefully.

---

Candy waved goodbye to an Iron Feather as she left the medical bay for training, “Bye Mommy!” the little filly called out before the door closed shut. Once the filly left, she started packing up the materials she was using earlier for the filly’s study.

Due to the filly’s voracious appetite for knowledge on anatomy, the unicorn had to bring out some of the more advanced books to supplement her lessons. She wondered if she needed to teach her how to perform surgeries in the future. She shook her head at the silly idea.

It was amazing how fast the filly had learned in just one year. Candy wondered if Stedson’s genetic manipulation gave the clones an increased capacity for learning, she might need to ask her lover about it when she gets the chance.

After putting the books safely back on the shelves, she returned to her seat and took out some of the medical reports to review while waiting for her next patient. She’s been receiving more patients lately after the second generation clones started their combat training.

Just like their older sisters, some of the foals from the second generation have taken to calling her ‘mommy’ as well, though Stedson had cautioned the fillies about calling them ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ in front of others.

Candy thought he was just being paranoid but said nothing of it. Everyone had secrets that they wished to keep, she just wished Stedson would tell her some of his.

Just as she finished reviewing the last of the reports, the door opened up as a number of groaning fillies filed into the room. They all had varying degree of injuries; nothing life threatening, but still serious enough to warrant a visit to her medbay.

They were all second-generation clones, and judging by their tired expressions, they all had a rough day on the endurance course. The fillies gave her tired smiles as she greeted them. “Hello my little ponies, how did you do in training today?” With that said, she was bombarded with answers from the suddenly energetic fillies.

“Alright, alright, one at a time.” She said with a laugh as she started treating the fillies. While she treated their injuries, they told her of their exploits on the obstacle course.

One unit got lost when she took a wrong turn in the maze, she dislocated one of her legs when she fell into one of the traps set inside. Candy shook her head slightly as she injected said filly with some painkillers before popping the limb back in place.

While treating the next filly, the door opened up as another Iron Feather walked in. The filly walked up to Candy and tugged at the end of her lab coat. “Just a minute, I’ll be with you soon.” said the unicorn as she cleaned and bandaged up the lacerations on her patient’s back. It was a miracle her wings weren’t shredded. She wanted to know whose idea it was to include giant swinging razor blades for an obstacle meant for young foals, just so she could make them to run the course themselves.

Candy felt the filly tug at her coat again. “Mommy. I got something to give you,” said the filly.

She turned to the filly and instantly recognized 36. She was able to tell it was 36, since she’s smaller when compared to her sisters from the prototype series. Stedson became worried when the filly didn’t develop as well as the others. Candy told him that 36 was probably a late bloomer, but her words did little to quell his fears.

“36? What are you doing here?...Wait, where’s Stedson?” Candy asked curiously. The filly rarely came to the medical bay without Stedson at her side.

“Daddy told me to give this to you.” The filly pulled out a folded up piece of paper from her suit and hoofed it over to her. She levitated the piece of paper over to her face and unfolded it, curious about its contents. She raised her brows when she saw the words: “Hide Her!” hastily written on it.

The facility wide intercom suddenly turned on as Stedson’s voice came through the speakers, “All personnel, I’ve been informed that the inspectors are coming to the facility. Please prepare for a possible inspection. I repeat: Please prepare for a possible inspection.” The intercom then turned off.

Realizing what the message meant, Candy looked down at 36 and said, “36, I think it’s time for your medicine now.” The filly obediently followed the doctor who levitated out a syringe from her coat.

---

Stedson sighed after he turned off the intercom. He hoped Candy would know what to do when she got his message. He got up from his seat in the observation room, then left to greet the inspectors.

As he walked along the walkways over the training grounds, he watched as some of the 01 series clones run one of the obstacle course. The course itself was a long path filled with several obstacles that reminded him of the traps from a few Daring Do novels. The path led the runners to a part of the course where a large rock formation jutted from the asteroid the facility was built into.

Some of the data logs he recently recovered on his ‘excursions’ told him that this was where the zerg had breached the terran defenses and overran the defenders. He was thankful that the only zerg left on the asteroid were locked away in containment.

The rock formation was filled with multiple tunnels dug out by the past zerg, which the fillies had to navigate to find the correct exits. The next part of the course was a simple hundred meter dash to the finish line. He smiled proudly as he watched one filly after another complete the course.

He quickly left before the fillies saw him; he needed to keep his interactions with them to a minimum right now. He grumbled to himself and wondered why the inspectors would come without any warning. They always sent a transmission at least a day prior to their inspections. At least up until now that is.

Stedson pressed his hoof into the communicator attached to his coat, the call connected with a blip. A technician on the other end responded, “What is it sir?”

“How long till the inspector’s shuttle arrives?” asked Stedson. He heard typing something on the other end before he got a reply.

“ETA 20 minutes until shuttle arrival sir. Is there-” Stedson turned off the communicator before he took off running down the halls.

---

Stedson was breathing heavily when he finally reached the entrance to the docking station. It was at that moment that the gates hissed open revealing the inspectors, or rather one of them, as Spend Thrift walked through the gates.

“Inspector Thrift… where are… the others?” Stedson asked in between wheezes.

Spend Thrift looked at him and cleared his throat. “They're not with me today. You don't look so good Cog.” The white earth pony said in a bemused tone of voice. Stedson shot him a glare, which the inspector ignored as he looked around the facility curiously.

“Inspector Thrift? Is something the matter?” Stedson asked curiously.

Spend Thrift shook his head. “Nothing at all Cog. What's with the third degree? I thought I was the inspector here.” The inspector retorted with some hostility. Stedson immediately backed away from the earth pony, not wanting to offend the inspector any further.

“My apologies Inspector Thrift. I'm just curious why you're here so soon and alone for that matter. Are Inspector Peace Keeper and Inspector Steel Gaze alright?” the pegasus asked in a meekly.

Spend Thrift chuckled darkly, which made Stedson nervous for some reason. “They're tied up with other matters at the moment. As for me, I'm here on unofficial business,” said Spend Thrift.

“Unofficial business?” asked Stedson. He did not like the sound of that one bit.

The inspector noticed this and chuckled. “It just means that my visit here won’t be in the records. Not even Day knows I’m here. As for what my business is…” he paused as he moved in closer to Stedson’s face and whispered, “I simply noticed a few inconsistencies in your reports and wanted to verify a few things with you, in private.”

Stedson’s eyes widened in fear. Did the inspectors find out about the conditioning somehow? Or worse, 36’s stunted growth! “Of...c-course In-Inspector Thrift. Right this way.” he stammered out before leading the inspector to his private quarters.

Stedson neared the door that led to his quarters. He’d never felt more dread walking into his own room than right now. He had offered the inspector an impromptu tour of the facility’s newer additions to delay coming here, but the stallion declined his offer. He reasoned that he’d be brought up to speed during the official inspection in four months time.

“Well, here we are,” said Stedson before unlocking the door to his room as it opened up with a beep. Spend Thrift remained silent as he followed him into the room. The pegasus had expected some rude quip about the state of his room from the normally brash stallion. He found the inspector’s sudden silence unnerving.

“You’re sure no one will disturb us in here Cog?” asked Spend Thrift.

“I value my privacy very highly Inspector Thrift…” Stedson answered before turning around to face the inspector. “Now that we’re alone, mind telling me what are the problems you found in my reports?”

The stallion let out a chuckle, “I’m afraid that I wasn’t being completely truthful with you, Doctor Cog.” The earth pony pulled at the collar of his shirt, revealing a metal band with a small button, which he pressed.

“Ah, that’s much better.” ‘Spend Thrift’ exclaimed in a voice much too light and cheery to be the earth pony inspector. He was an imposter!

Alarmed by the fake inspector, Stedson went for the button on his desk that would trigger the station wide alarm. Before he could reach it, a small throwing knife embedded itself into the circuitry, cutting off any call for help as the imposter stood between him and the door.

“Come now Doctor Cog, just relax and let’s talk,” said the imposter calmly.

Stedson ignored him and dived behind his desk, rummaging frantically through the drawers for anything to defend himself with. He found a pistol in the one of them, but he realized he didn’t have his precision gloves with him.

Feeling desperate, he clamped his mouth down on the gun’s metallic grip and aimed the weapon at the imposter who had a bored expression on his face. Stedson’s moved his tongue around until he felt the trigger. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” Stedson tried to say, but all that came out was a bunch of gibberish and spit.

‘Spend Thrift’ rolled his eyes at him. “Really now Doctor Cog? Don’t you think firing a weapon of that caliber with your mouth is a tad foolish?” cautioned ‘Spend Thrift’.

Stedson tried to fire the weapon anyway, only to find that he couldn’t. His tongue wasn’t strong enough to pull the trigger! He cursed himself as he reared his head back and threw the firearm as hard as he could at the approaching stallion.

‘Spend Thrift’ caught the weapon in his precision gloves, pulled out the clip, then tossed both it and the gun aside. The pegasus backed away as far as he could from the imposter. “Who are you? What do you want!?” Stedson shouted angrily.

‘Spend Thrift’ gave him a cool smile and answered, “I’m Mr. Penny Pincher, El Contador for the Diamond Dog Security Firm. As for what I want… I just want to talk to you Doctor Cog.”

Stedson sat there at his desk as he watched Penny Pincher effortlessly pull his knife from the disabled panic button and slide it back into sheath hidden in the folds of his business suit. Penny Pincher noticed the angry look he was getting from the pegasus and rolled his eyes.

“I assure you Doctor Cog, I’m just here to talk. No harm will come to you,” promised Penny Pincher.

“Then talk,” Stedson retorted.

Penny Pincher snorted at the pegasus’ sudden bravado. “Very well… Do you know what I hate most, Doctor Cog?” asked Penny Pincher.

Stedson shook his head and replied, “No, I don’t.”

Penny Pincher shook his head in slight disappointment, “I’ll tell you what I hate most: Wasting time and money. Do you know why?” he asked.

“Because…Time is money?” asked Stedson.

“Very good Doctor Cog!” Penny Pincher said as he congratulated him with a metallic clap of his gloves. “I knew there was some intelligence somewhere in that head of yours.” Stedson scowled at the condescending tone in his voice.

“That’s good and all Mr. Pincher… but how the hell did you find this station?” asked Stedson.

“An associate of mine from Dominion Intelligence, Miss Sparkle, asked me to investigate Happy Day and his backroom dealings. Suffice to say, we were failing miserably. Day covered up his tracks very well. We spent nearly 6 years on this money pit of an investigation.” Penny Pincher said with some disdain.

“What does this have to do with how you found the station?” Stedson asked impatiently.

“I’m getting to that…Just as we were about to wash our hooves of the investigation, Miss Sparkle came through a year ago and obtained for me an annual budget report from Day’s personal archives,” Penny Pincher said with a smile.

Stedson quirked his brows at him “That’s it? Your associate went through all that trouble just to get you a budget report?” Stedson asked.

Penny Pincher smiled as he leaned in closer to his face and said in a low voice, “Never underestimate the power of an annual budget portfolio, Doctor Cog.” Stedson gulped and nodded his head vigorously. “Anyways, it took me several months to discover the discrepancies in the portfolio. Did you know what they were Doctor Cog ?” he asked.

Stedson shook his head.

“Debts! Gambling debts and sizable ones at that. But Day wasn’t a gambling pony. No, it had to be one of his subordinates. Care to guess who it was?” Penny Pincher asked playfully

It took Stedson moments to figure out who it was, “Spend Thrift…it was Spend Thrift wasn’t it?” Stedson answered.

“Indeed it was. Mr Thrift has a problem with gambling and as you can imagine, his penchant for such activities eventually landed him into many debts. He was about to be lynched by debt collectors when Happy Day came in and paid off everything in exchange for his services and loyalty.” He chuckled while shaking his head, “However, old habits die hard as they say. We tracked Mr. Thrift down to a gambling den on a backwater world in Consortium space.” Penny Pincher explained. “We were hoping to obtain information on Day’s illegal activities from him, but were quite surprised to find out about this station of his, including the coordinates.” He said with a knowing smile.

“And how did you obtain the coordinates from the inspector? Did you…” Stedson gulped audibly.

“Did we what, kill him?” Penny Pincher asked nonchalantly. “No, killing him would alert Day to our activities. We simply bought his loyalty; apparently Dominion Intelligence doesn’t pay him well enough for his services.”

“What makes you certain he won’t just betray you to Happy Day?” Stedson asked.

The earth pony chuckled in response; it was starting to grate on Stedson’s nerves, “I highly doubt he’d do that. He’s a greedy pony Doctor Cog, and greedy ponies only acknowledge a few things in life. Power and money are chief among them, the Diamond Dogs have both. Mr Thrift would be a fool to make an enemy of the Diamond Dogs.” He added darkly.

“If you got Inspector Thrift on your payroll… Why did you come here yourself? You could’ve just sent him as your representative.” Stedson stated in a ‘matter-of-fact’ tone of voice.

“Indeed, I could have used him as a messenger boy, but he’s hardly a wordsmith…” he pressed the button on the band and spoke in Spend Thrift’s voice, “…Don’t ya think so Cog ?” he asked before turning the device off again. “Aside from Mr. Thrift’s… questionable diplomatic skills, I came here personally to make you an offer.”

“An offer? What kind of offer?” Stedson asked curiously

“To have your revenge for 522’s death,” answered Penny Pincher.

Stedson’s eyes widened in surprise and asked, “H-how did you-?”

“Find out about the unit’s death?” Penny Pincher finished, “Quite easy really. Mr. Thrift was very forthcoming with the information he had, once he received his first payment.”

Stedson sat there silently as he contemplated the possibility of getting revenge on Day. It was a very tempting offer, but his when his thoughts drifted to Candy and his daughters. He worried about the repercussions of killing Happy Day. The guards would probably retaliate and slaughter everyone in the facility… especially Candy and his daughters. He couldn’t risk it.

“Why should I even betray Day? If anything ever happens to him, it will end badly for Candy and my daughters.” Stedson exclaimed.

“At least Mr Thrift’s evaluation of your attachment to the clones proves true. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this…” Penny Pincher paused as he reached into his suit, Stedson’s heart started pumping wildly as he worried the white stallion was about to pull a gun on him. Instead, he pulled out a data pad and tossed it to him.

“W-What is this?” Stedson asked.

“My associate also grabbed this on her last trip into Day’s archives. It’s a full copy of the plans for the Iron Feather Project you’re running. I believe it will convince you to change your mind on the matter at hoof.” Penny Pincher explained

Stedson gave the stallion a suspicious look before opening up the data pad’s single folder. The words ‘Iron Feather Project’ was typed on the folder. He turned to the next page and started reading. The first few pages contained details on the project he already knew about. So he only skimmed through them briefly before moving on to the next page. This went on until he came to a file he didn't recognize. It was titled: Short Leash Protocol. He turned the page and started reading, his eyes became wide as he read the details of the project before he threw the data pad away in anger and disgust.

Penny Pincher walked over to the fallen device and saw what made Stedson so angry. The file revealed that once the Iron Feathers have completed their training, they’d go through a surgical procedure where a failsafe device would be implanted next to the unit’s heart before they are put up for sale to potential buyers. The failsafe device had a kill switch that would send a lethal shock to the heart, killing the unit should they become hostile or insubordinate.

Penny Pincher sighed as he picked up the data pad and selected a new file before turning it over to Stedson who refused to look at the data pad, let alone take it. “I know this upsets you Doctor Cog, but there’s more you need to know about the project.” The angry pegasus gave him a distrustful look before taking the datapad in his hooves.

There was a different file titled: Clean Slate Protocol. Stedson didn’t like the sound of that one bit, but Penny Pincher gestured for him to read it. Stedson did so begrudgingly.

The file explained that once the cloning process became more streamlined and autonomous, Day plans to ‘officially’ introduce the Iron Feather Program to his peers in the Dominion Military. This act will boost his chances on becoming Lord Admiral when the current one dies in a premeditated ‘accident’.

To ensure that no one will be able to implicate him in the abduction of hundreds of ponies, as well as the embezzlement of funds from Dominion Intelligence, Day will forcefully resocialize everyone aboard the station and kill those resistant to the process.

Stedson couldn’t read anymore as he became sick to his stomach. He tossed the data pad aside and threw up in the trash bin next to his desk. He felt Penny Pincher’s metallic hands rub his back gently as he emptied his stomach of its contents.

Penny Pincher watched as Stedson wiped off the mess from his muzzle and looked up at him with bloodshot eyes, “Well Doctor Cog, what’s your answer?” Penny Pincher asked expectantly.

“Tell me what you need me to do.”

Comments

[KRissCHu573]

Wow...just...wow...

[Not so New Brony]

3256028 I'll take that as a positive comment.

[KRissCHu573]

3256618 Eyup.