The Vault Initiative

by rockyrobben

Chapter 1

Author's Note:

"In an Equestria devastated by an apocalyptic war, the few that remain try their best to survive and rebuild, however they can"

On the first day of judgement, the sky became fire.
On the second day of judgement, we won the war.
On the third day of judgement, the world ended.

---

It was never meant to be like this. We were meant to be equals, not slaves!

A vicious breeze tore past, ruffling my fur. It brought with it scents beyond my wildest imaginations, tantalising my imagination about the surface. Why? Why did it have to end up like this?

I had just caught the last of sunset through the gap between the rocks of this sunken chamber. "Lunarium" said the sign buried within the wreckage of broken glass, rocks and dirt. A column carved into a rearing Earth Pony stood defiant against the wreckage.

I took every chance I possibly could to visit this statue. No matter how much of the landslide pressed against the statue's head and raised forehooves, it continued to resist. I gave it the name Dusk Light --my name-- as I had to remember, no matter the pressure, I could not crumble and break. For, if I did, the ceiling of my life would crumble upon me, and I would be no more.

I leant my head against the statues rear hooves and stared up between its raised forelegs, where the silvery sheen of moonlight bleached my aqua coat in its light.

"Luna," I said. "The lesser sister."

There was no heat to the light that fell onto my exposed belly. Most ponies blessed this illusion as Luna's ultimate sacrifice. They said she tried to fix the sun, but faded before she could return it to its place. They said that without her, even these tunnels would have burnt. But they were all fools: Luna was not strong enough to move the sun, only veil it with her night.

And so, twelve hours a day, Celestia's sun mercilessly burnt this world and purged it in fire. Just as she intended. "Oh, Glorious Leader, please return to us and save us with your fury!"

I imagined our most illustrious leader, who ruled Equestria for a thousand years without aid, blast the rocks with the strength of her presence alone. I imagined her crumbling the ceilings of this vast underground metropolis, vaporising Equestria's enemies with her magnificent anger.

Oh, how the Diamond dogs, our captors, tormentors and slave drivers, would beg and grovel for mercy! I imagined their barks and howls as they burnt for all their crimes. I imagined the Alpha, the biggest, meanest, most disgustingly savage one of them all, crumble before my hooves and beg for my mercy. And I, being Celestia, would not give it to him. I would make him howl.

And then, when this underground world became ours once more, my ire would turn to our old enemies, the ones who started this cursed war and forced us to live in a hole for the rest of eternity: The Changelings.

My hooves curled from merely thinking of their vile, insectoid shapes. Changelings were horrible. Changelings were evil. They started a war so despicable and vile that the blackest pit of Tartarus looked like a fairytale.

I slammed a fist into the hard stone and winced as a shard of glass nipped my flesh. It was those creatures' stupid loyalty. Every single bloody changeling would fight and die at a command from their queen. They did not hesitate. They did not falter. And they never surrendered.

How could we fight that?

It was their fault. If it was not for them, then my Gracious and Benevolent leader would never have had to move the sun.

I picked up a huge purple gem that was mine and mine alone. The cut stone gleamed in the silvery spotlight and its edges sparkled. As I looked into the mythical depths of what once was my Leader's necklace, a small, niggling doubt crept into my mind. Oh, Celestia, Why did you leave us when you did?

It made no sense. On the thirteenth day of the fourth year of the war, My Humble Leader brought the sun closer to our world, and boiled those bastards within their own shells. But, in doing so, she just vanished, leaving only a small tear in reality that marked teleportation. And an ever-consuming sun.

It irked me that most ponies blamed her for the fall of Equestria and our subsequent capture by the Diamond Dogs, as if that had anything to do with her. I tried telling them that it was just some form of trial, but they ignored my pleas. I touched the hoof of the statue with my own. I will be as resilient as the armour you wear, my friend. For I am Dusk Light, and I await her return.

I took a deep breath, hoping some air would calm the explosion inside my head. I shook as a familiar fire inside sparked into life, fuelling my muscles on a diet of adrenaline and fury. I would prove to them that she existed. I had this gem, and with it, I could follow her through the infinite nothingness and emerge wherever she had teleported.

All I had to do was escape, find this "Canterlot" place, and cast my spell on her gem.

I clutched the stone tighter and let its coolness flow through me. It was all so achievable! But, that revelation could wait for later. I was still a slave. And, if I did not return to work soon, the Dogs would search for me...and hurt me.

I got to my hooves, stretching off the soreness of resting on small bits of debris. I placed my gem back into its hidey-hole, ready for my next visit.

---

I slipped between two fallen boulders within the mess of a small yet deliberate landslide; The Dogs did not want to let their slaves to wander in places they should not be. The bright aura from my horn as gems, driven into the cave sides, filled the cavern with a cold and steady light.

I passed a Dog: a big, gruff and hairy creature whose forepaws dragged along the parallel grooves dug into the floor. Its stupid, beady eyes glared at me as its floppy ears swivelled in my direction. It growled, exposing a row of savage yellow teeth.

It followed a line of mine carts tethered together with frayed rope. In front, a yellow-maned Earth Pony strained against its tethers. Blood dripped down her pink coat where the rope cut into the sides of her maw. More tethers, dampened with sweat and crusted red, wrapped around her neck and belly. I tried to un-notice that she had a mine cart for a cutie mark. Oh Celestia, Mother of Mercy, what an awful, miserable mark. Had our tunnels finally reached Tartarus? Because no mortal could possibly allow the soul of an innocent creature to tie itself so irrevocably to an object of slavery, right?

It made me doubt my own mark. Could three golden stars represent oppression? If only I remembered what I did when they appeared, maybe I would understand how to stop this.

I passed row upon row of stone supports, each carved --by ponies most likely-- into Dogs, all holding the beam with their lanky paws. Each stared down at me with lifeless glassy eyes, showing me angry snarls or tongue-lolling grins. Some looked silly, some looked sinister, but each one reminded me which species were in control.

The clopping sound changed as my hooves left the rough brown rock of the earth and connected with square slabs of glass-like stone of the Central System. I entered a round cavern that marked the beginning to a number of tunnels. Here, the traffic picked up as Ponies dodged the Dogs to do whatever they were told to do. A train of mine carts, filled with shiny gems, rumbled its way around the complicated sets of grooves that circled around a carved Dog in the centre of the room. This one clearly depicted what would happen if Ponies challenged their authority. The masterwork in the Pony's agonised expression as it was torn in half made me wonder if this were actually the work of a cockatrice.

I almost slipped on the surface as I sidestepped an oncoming Dog that, thankfully, barely looked at me. There was a general rule in these pits: if a Dog looked at you for more than three seconds without command, it signalled that your next destination would be slipping down its throat in tiny little pieces.

Eventually, after an endless walk of following a particular set of tracks, I heard the gurgling of fresh sea-water rumble through the earth above. The sound was hauntingly reassuring in its familiarity as it came from my workplace; the room where I spent every evening desalinating water.

My hooves crossed the boundary of black stone slabs and onto the beautiful marble that marked my chamber of eternal damnation. This room, unlike most others, had corners. It was such a silly thing to notice, but it reminded me of the houses in the old picture books.

Once upon a time, somepony had decorated this little rectangle with a colourful mural. Unfortunately, scratches meticulously removed all the detail leaving stone-grey marks all over the peeling paint. Gem-light reflected off a pool of water, making the rich, deep-blue liquid sparkle. The bases of two small columns marked the sides of a small stone overhang that intruded into the centre of the pool.

I rounded a parked group of abnormally rusty carts. Only a single carriage had been filled with buckets of clean water. I stepped up to the edge of my platform and stared at the same face I had witnessed every day for over eighteen years. My face seemed gaunt and thin, as if I had seen a ghost, or that I faced hunger every day. Each hair on my lavender and white striped mane looked brittle and covered in grime. I tied it all back into a ponytail, but many strands escaped captivity and obscured my magenta eyes. When had I last bathed?

"Hey Dusk," said the crimson pony to my left. "Now that you are finally here, could you pass me a few more buckets?"

Water Lily, or just Lily to her friends, swished her white-as-crystal mane, spraying water all over the place. She gave me the "Oh, I'm sorry, did I disturb you?" stare. I did not mind. In all honesty, she could probably murder a pony in front of me and I still would not notice.

Oh Celestia, Light-of-my-Life, why could I not pry my eyes away from those flanks?

No! I was not staring at her arse; I was admiring her cutie mark! Yes, that magnificent white flower blooming on the lily-pad perfectly accentuated the roundness of her rear...

She noticed me staring. I gulped and found myself looking straight into the water, and cringed at my own stupid expression. I wished my mane would hide the redness burnt onto my cheeks, but alas, my unruly hair must remain bound. At least my coat blended with the blue of the water so well that, if I squinted, my reflection would largely disappear.

With a wave, a little bit of magic, and the blush that out-crimsoned her coat, I pushed a couple of empty buckets next to the mare.

She nodded thanks with a muted giggle. Thankfully, her attention left me as she channelled her spell. A small pillar of water, covered in a cyan aura, rose out of the pool like a charmed snake in a story I once read about. It was as if she sucked up the water inside a colourful straw. As the water rose, small white crystals formed and fell back into the pool. In a moment, her two buckets were full.

"Ooh, is that jealousy I see?" she said. She squinted in my direction and then recoiled with a hoof over her open mouth. "Oh, I think it is!"

The pony to my right, Flood Gate, barked a laugh. "Most ponies would be jealous of you, l'il missy!"

I had no idea why, but a unicorn with an Earth Pony's build just looked odd. Scars lined his chest, parting his grey fuzz with lines of pink. He probably did not use magic to clean the water; he just threatened it into cleaning itself.

It was a shame that he did not bother to maintain his appearance. No-pony should grow that tangled mess of hair on his chin. Scruffy I could handle; being a slave meant that foul body odour and tangled manes were common place. But, was it that hard, especially for a unicorn in one of the few prized positions where the Dogs left Ponies alone, to take a sharp stone and cut that abomination off his chin?

But, by the puppy-dog expression on Water Lily, her view differed greatly from mine. Oh well, she annoyed me anyway...

A few hours passed in relative silence, with all of us focusing on our jobs. We just managed to fill the train before a Pegasi (known by the stumps that once used to be his wings) came to take the train away.

Just when the rusty wheels on the mine carts squealed into motion, I heard the padding of a great weight on stone and an ominous heavy breathing. My heart sank.

"Stop." A deep, rumbling --almost growled-- voice weaved a murderous tale to any disrespectful pony. Water splashed as everypony's attention turned towards that terrifying voice.

We turned to spy the Alpha leaning into the train to remove a few buckets from the back. He gave us no notice as he piled the buckets around his feet.

Where most Dogs had floppy rounded ears, his were upright, spiky and pointed in our direction. He lacked the bulk of regular Dogs, but he towered over everything and moved with an agile grace that could put a maternal Earth Pony to shame.

I could not resist my lips curling into a snarl when he took more than his fair share. But, the theft of water was just icing on the cake. He was the oath breaker, slave master, and murderer. Celestia, Oh Glorious Leader, do not spare him one spark of your flames!

I felt my muscles bunch as I turned. He may have towered over me like a foal to a cuddly toy, but I had magic!

Lilly's ears lowered and eyes widened. Her mouth mimed words, but without the sound, I found it easy to ignore. I was not going to stand there and watch my enemy starve us of precious water!

I prepared my magic. All I had to do was grab the dog and hold it under the pool. It would be so easy. Why had I not done this sooner?

"Dusk!"

Lily's sweet voice knocked me out of my madness just in time for the Alpha to notice me staring at him, horn ablaze. In three bounds that seemed to defy time itself, he leapt.

A weight, greater than anything I experienced, pinned me to the ground. I struggled underneath him as a vice stronger than steel wrapped around my neck.

My lungs screamed for air and my hooves scraped at the paw around my neck, but it did not budge. My hind legs dangled as the Alpha lifted himself to his full height, his black eyes alight with predatory excitement.

I lit up my magic, and a pink haze surrounded the Alpha.

Stars blocked my vision as something blunt slammed against my head. The pink haze faded into nothingness.

The alpha laughed, lavishing me with the smell of rot. "Does Pony think to kill me? Maybe free Ponies from Dogs?" The harshness in each syllable felt like a punch to the ears.

I wailed as its claws sank into my flesh. "Pony is small. Pony is weak. Pony is prey."

It pressed its muzzle against mine, and I watched its teeth curve upwards into a spine-chilling smile. Behind the bulging eyelid of its left eye, I saw the milky whiteness where its iris would be. From here, I could see why. Behind the layer of wiry brown hair, the whole left side of its body rippled with uneven flesh. It was as if, at one point, its skin had melted like wax on a candle.

It had been outside on the Days of Judgement. It had tasted Celestia's rays. But how is it not dead? Wetness clouded my vision and dampened the fuzz down my cheeks. It should be dead! Nothing could survive Celestia's fury!

"Water-pony oversteps its boundary. Should it die?" It scratched its chin with one of those long hook-like claws.

I dangled in his grip unable to care about the searing pain in my neck or the burning of my lungs. In fact, I welcomed it. For so long, I believed in Celestia as an omnipotent, divine being. But why would she spare the dog that forced pony-kind into eternal servitude?

And if she failed us then, did she fail us by disappearing on the Days of Judgement? Did she die?

The Dog let go and I crumpled to the floor. Lily's hooves brought me into her embrace while Flood Gate put himself between the monster and myself. I heard him plea on my behalf, but I could not bring myself to listen. Even Lily's hypnotic scent was not enough to bring me out of my depression.

If Celestia was gone...then there was no future, no happiness; only blood, sweat and death.

The rumble of the Alpha pierced my melancholy. "Pony lost its fight, yes?" It grinned, satisfied, as it licked my blood off its claws. It leaned over, pushing Flood Gate away as if the stocky pony was nothing more than debris. "Twilight Sparkle broke just like pony."

I stared up at him, unable to comprehend. Mum?

"She reminded me of scared cub as Dogs killed Pony guards. I killed her then. Her blood tasty, as is yours, cub of Twilight Sparkle."

"No, please no." I covered my ears with my hooves and howled like a damned dog. How does he know?

His laugh shook the cavern. "I watched her break inside, before death. She stupid and weak. She came to my den and demanded that my home became hers, as did Bug-pony.

"I did what was asked, but under Dog's conditions. So, Pony, be slave or die. I do not care."

The Alpha left on two paws, not bothering to look back; he knew there would be no retaliation.

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