Preparation

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The bombs that fell scarred the world, turned life sour, twisted it into dark remnants of what it was. Cheerfully colored ponies, burnt black by the flash, red from the seeping wounds began to turn on each other. Life was strangled out of the land.

The Princesses were gone. Whether incinerated from the bombs, or their hearts broken by the ruin, no one knew. They took the light, honor and hope of Equestria with them. There was a sliver of hope left in their absence. Deep underground structures were created, structures known as ‘Arks’. The remnants of the equestrian species fled to them, to endure the poison and fiery storms above. Eventually the Arks opened up to a scarred and warped land.

Some of these ponies took upon the mantle of rebuilding the world. Many found their dreams dashed, whether from a bullet or the noose. A few of the lucky ones serve at the behest of a cruel master. They quickly learned that dreams die in the wastes, or they did.

Some made progress, returning the world to a shadow of its past glory. Those with the ideas of friendship started towns, raised armies to fend off those that wanted to take and not give. Small spots of color in a bleak world, ponies made names for themselves, were spoken of even after they passed. Seeking or bumbling into glory headlong, they became legends.

Here we have neither. Three ponies who don't know the safety of an Ark, nor the serenity of a good night’s sleep. It becomes tiring and makes one iritable. Neither murderers or saviors, the trio hunted for caps, bits and scrap to fill their stomachs by the end of the day. They never sought trouble, but were capable of bringing it when necessary.

"An Ark? That's what we are after?!" The unicorn shouted, though paused once the entirety of the bar turned toward the table where he sat. "That is what we have been scraping by for? Logically there are no Arks that haven't been raided already, or have proven to be impenetrable by mundane means. It's a total waste of time going into one of those traps. If there was anything worth taking in the abandoned ones, it would have been done already. Radiation, ghouls and errant security bots alone would tear us to shreds!"

The other ponies paused, as if waiting for more from the bespectacled stallion. He swept his long strait hair back, to keep it off the table and away from the beer bottle before him. "Oh, that's all." He said, still getting used to the group dynamic, as he was still fresh with the 'team'.

"Ok-" the large earth pony mare with a mane cut that looked like a dust devil picked up a salon and she was unfortunately in its path. Short, random pieces stuck out near the longer ones. She cut her own mane, enough to keep it from her eyes, and it did look that way. "Imagine this: An Ark, built for only the wealthiest ponies. Free from the twisted programming and experiments that other Arks had. This vault was meant for high society, their every need taken care of by a fleet of robots what grew, harvested and served the meals. They want for nothing and merely enjoy life and its luxuries."

"I have been gathering information for a while now, and thanks to Ticker's hacking skills," she nodded to the unicorn who had previously spoken, "I have narrowed down its location. More importantly, a way inside." The monstrously large mare leaned in to the group, whispering the next part. "An Ark that large has to have a few ways inside it. I believe that a mine, located nearby has the way in. It's built too close to it for it to be a coincidence."

"Ok..." the third member, a smaller mare with a slightly curled mane said. ”So we get into the mine, find this Ark and the way in. Then what?"

"If the fragments we pulled from an Arkitecture server are correct, the Ark is split into two areas: The large and luxuriously furnished living area. Then the other half, the support side of the Ark. The part where the robots labor in underground areas to produce the food, mine the ores for expanding and repairing as time goes on. A ponyless, automated area filled with supplies for the robots’ self-repair systems, food processing and storage. Ours for the taking!"

"See, you keep saying robots," Ticker grimaced. "We'd have to shut them down, and that means wading through a whole sea of the things before we even get to the terminal. That means fighting them, and three against enough robots to feed and provide for an entire Ark, those are odds beyond calculation. I don't fight and I made that clear." His nervousness forced his hoof to push the glasses back on his muzzle, the thought of such a battle caused undetectable tremors in his body, enough to unseat his glasses.

"They are service robots. This Ark relied on secrecy to keep itself safe. The constructors believed that any effort and materials in security were a diversion from being pampered. They aren't going to attack." The large mare, who was named Skye, confidently said. Even as a foal she was large, and now, she towered over any stallion by a head.

"And if that doesn't work, I have my hammer." Lily, the smallest of the group said. Her size was a concern initially when she joined up, but she made up for that in strength. Wielding a hammer half her weight, if there wasn't a door to open, she was able to make one. She wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but the ability to pass as helpless one second and quickly drive a pony's ribcage past it's spine with a single kick made up for that.

"I can see you two have made up your mind..." Ticker sighed. He feared that joining up with two head strong ponies as technical support seemed like a bad idea. Now he was going to either trot back to where he came, hundreds of miles away, or join in on a suicide mission. Perhaps while they are fighting he can slip away...

"So, are you in?" Lilly grinned at him, her head barely above the table when standing. Her smile conveyed something more than an eager attempts to get him to say yes, something he couldn't read, but there was a clandestine meaning behind it.

"Yes... I'll go." he sighed. It was going to be something he'd regret, he was sure of it. "So, where is this Ark and why have we been saving a mountain of caps?"

"In the shadow of the Unicorn Range, between the Canterlot ruins and Vanhoover."

"Bucking hell!" Ticker grumbled, "That is several hundred miles away!"

"The reason why we have that mountain of caps. We travel along the rails as far as they can take us. I've seen a few pump carts near the railyard, we can fix up or buy one of those and use it. That would make the journey faster and safer, flying through irradiated areas and past anything dangerous."

"And what if we come across a section of broken rail? Or cars piled on the track?"

"There are three rails, three chances that one will be clear. Besides, if we run across any unpassable tracks, we have a unicorn to carry the cart." Skye gave Ticker a nudge.

Ticker had to think for a minute before he realized it. He bit back a string of choice curses. Truth be told, he didn't put much stock in his magical abilities, preferring the tactile sensation of his hooves instead of the buzzing cold that rang through his skull when using his horn. Years ago he had thoroughly convinced himself that he was suffering from a well-known disease that force-fed magic back into his brain, destroying higher function cells and would slowly drive himself insane if he used it too often. Or at least that was what the half burnt pre-war medical journal had him believe. It described his feelings perfectly when using magic, to a T. It even explained his egregious intelligence being a side effect, one that would dwindle over time.

Ticker didn't use his magic for a good reason, as he kept seeing himself babbling in a ditch in some shit hole settlement. Sucking cock for caps when he had a moment of clarity, the only thing he saw himself doing. That was the reason he refrained from using magic, chems and trying to eat mostly clean food and water. Anything that progressed what he was sure afflicted him, was something to stay away from. Truth was, he didn't know, but he didn't want to take the risk either.

As the trio left the bar, Ticker began to worry about the beer he had. The two mares half singing and half mumbling a song together in their drunken stupor. They soon arrived at a rundown motel. Long burnt carriages swept to the side, stripped of metal and the wood dry and cracked, unable to rot in the arid region of Las Pegasus.

The makeshift doors and cloth covered windows didn't keep much of the sand and dust out, but it was a visible barrier at the least. The best feature of the motel was neither comfortable beds nor a tasty breakfast in the morning. The best feature was the secure, encased in concrete safes, the armored guards on the roof and the unparalleled security for the cost. The caps and equipment were safe while they were out and asleep.

It was the kind of safety and security everypony was looking for. A meal in their stomachs, a roof over their head and never having to worry about danger again. That, in truth, was what everypony was searching for.

The next day the trio set out to collect what they needed, sold what they couldn't carry. For the most part, they bought food, ammunition from the Gun Trotters and Ticker filled his packs with rad-away and healing salves, saving space for his little invention: A specially made interface board, complete with wired connectors for everything in the wastes. There wasn't a terminal he couldn't get into. The board, or more appropriately box, had a display of lights and a tiny screen interface, something off of a tiny pre-war television, or possibly a Pip-Buck. He never figured out which. Still it was his own, specially designed skeleton key.

Lilly packed her bags with food, to the brim. For such a small pony, she could carry a lot. She was capable of dragging, from a dead stop, an entire train engine across flat land for miles. There wasn't much else to her, as long as she was fed and let loose to smash things every once and a while, there was nothing she longed for. Skye had found her in a raider camp, tangled in a mess of chains, she had managed to kill the captives as they were tying her down. Thankfully the other raiders were out at the time when her chains were cut loose. The two had been fast friends ever since.

Skye was different. Constantly reading and collecting any action comic she could get her hooves on, she billed herself as the frontline pony. Headlong into battle, first to the fight. Her massive size scared the battle hardened, able to trample anypony in her way, leap up great distances. Though her reckless displays of agility came at a cost. There was very little fur on her chest that wasn't thickly scarred; her fore-hooves were no different. Armor was her friend, but it didn't stop all damage. Her burden was the thick plates of steel on her front and sides, and food tucked into a small satchel.

The whole expedition hinged on getting a working pump-cart. At the rail depot they parted with the rest of their caps for what they needed. Information about the condition of the rails and a decently rusted but working cart and they were off.

The track was supposed to be clear to the ruins of Ponyville, but up north towards the Canterlot the track was out. They would have to travel a mile over land with the cart to reach the CloudsDale switch.

The rail ponies gave them something an odd truth. That any rail had been repaired between settlements was a hot spot for raiders, but they never attacked the rail, always the cars. If they attacked the rails, the supplies would stop. The raiders wound up jumping on, taking what they could, dealing with any resistance and then jumping off with what they grabbed.

It made logical sense. A parasite feeding off the body was best served if the host lived for as long as possible. Biting the skin instead of severing the artery. A lot of the more fortified trains simply tossed off excess when they saw a raiding party. Payment for staying away in the simplest terms. Ponies got paid and put extra caps towards extra crops and supplies. It didn't stop them every time, but the ones scrambling for the overboard food weren't going to catch up and fight.

The two mares seemed to be having a good time with the see-saw action piston, driving the cart along at a decent speed. Sensors on the tracks alerted the local raiders throughout the journey, but instead of a slow moving train, a tiny cart sped past. They paused in curiosity and amazement, somepony so brazen to take a pump-cart, then reach blazing speed and whipping out of range when they realized what it was.

Past the ruins of Ponyville they reached a section of track where they needed to slow down. A large rail hub was ahead and the fires, held in buckets from overturn rail cars, were not a welcome sight.

"Think they are friendly?" Skye asked in jest. The silhouettes of carcasses cast upon the three story depot made the inhabitants’ intentions crystal clear. "What do you think?" She asked, passing the binoculars over to Ticker.

He messed with the settings, trying to get his glasses to work with the damned thing and finally found out he needed to hold them away from his eyes to see clearly. He spotted two sentries, one looked drunk, the other steadfast still, possibly asleep. The rail platform had chains across the track, wrapping around the metal rails and up onto the platform and locked to the side rails. There was no way of getting through that station without derailing themselves

Ticker concentrated on the windows, smudged with blood. He was able to make out a few shapes. A mental count brought the number of potentially violent offenders to nearly ten.

"I count ten. Maybe more sleeping. We, um, you can't take that many." his ears flattened against his head. "It's dark, maybe we should wait till morning, and they are half awake, I think that would be the best way to get past."

"How about we just knock?" Lilly grinned, slipping the massive hammer from the sling that nearly encased her torso.

"I agree with that. They sound like they are having a good time, happy raiders won't be likely to attack." Skye said in confidence. Though her confidence was encased in steel plate, and she put on the last part, a shaped muzzle helmet that turned her from a mare into a night-mare.

"Oh Buck no, I'm not getting into this." Ticker whined. "A creepy town is one thing, but skeletal remains on pipes are another thing entirely."

"So stay here, we'll take the cart, deal with them and try to find your remains when irradiated roaches tear you apart out here. All alone. In the dark." Skye knew how to get him riled up, get him moving.

"F-fine..." he stuttered.

"Just look mean." she grinned from under the helmet. "And pump the cart." Skye said, moving to the front of the cart, using her plated body as a shield.

Slowly the cart rolled forward, the ponies above on the hobbled together structure stood alert as they saw them approach. Some were ready to fall over; others held their rifles towards the cart. None fired as they drew to the ram shackle fence doors over the track.

The two ponies on the cart were stunned at what happened next. From the helmet Skye wore, an alien voice emerged. It sounded like death warmed over, the gravelly voice echoed from the louvres in the muzzle.

"Open the door." It growled. The ponies above held firm for a second, they could clearly see the stallion and small mare by the armored abomination that appeared as if it could stand on its rear hooves and swipe them from the gantries. "Do I have to knock?" It asked, picking up the sledge hammer whose head was as large as its own.

The doors screeched open, shaking ponies using all their effort to do as the thing asked. Skye tapped her metal clad hoof once, the cart started to slowly move inside the compound, stopping gently against the chains wrapped around the rails.

Skye stepped off the cart and onto the platform, the ponies moving away from her, the rifles shaking in their hooves. She could easily stomp a few of them out of existence, but the rest would gun the group down. The hulking steel pony stood there, their arrival and grand entrance would surely draw out whoever was in charge.

Silence was broken as a pegasus fluttered down from the roof top. His brown color and purple mane carried a loft that was not seen outside of large settlements. A cream collared and brown leather coat hung around his torso, a flight jacket from the old Wonderbolts in Canterlot. His hooves clopped down onto the platform and he began to trot circles around the massive mare.

"W-what do you w-want?" he asked, a stutter in his voice surprised the party. His body displayed confidence, his demeanor, steel grey eyes pieced the group, sizing them up.

"Passage." The mare growled, her voice sounded like a demonic spawn, breathing in a heavy thrust of air from the muzzle that shook the air around her. The ponies around the figure stepped back, though the apparent leader stepped forward.

This was a tactical choice made by the pegasus. They didn't come in shooting and seemed to only want a way through. They had a massive tank with them as well, surely some mutated pony for muscle. Out in the wastes, it was good to put up an impenetrable facade. The feeling of dread that anypony who tried to stand against them was already in the grave. The pegasus dropped his act, perhaps a tactical blunder, but no good was going to come of either of the sides fighting.

"I n-need some m-medical supplies. M-my wife and a f-few other are wounded." His ears folded flat, his eyes lost compsure and glazed over. "P-please." he stuttered.

"I don't deal with raider scum." the behemoth replied flatly.

"It's n-not like that."

"Explain the corpses strung up then." Skye demanded, moving closer to the pegasus as he began to shrink down on her approach.

"Every p-pony leaves y-you alone if they think y-you are going to k-kill them. We grow w-what we need, t-trade with a select f-few who know. We've n-never held up a train, we let t-them pass, give them s-safety. The d-dead ponies are decorations, n-nothing more."

The entire group surrounding the platform began to break up, heading back to the walls to keep a lookout, few stayed to make sure the situation didn't break down. "P-please, something... anything."

Skye hesitated. By now they would have had a fire fight. The ploy was quite the thing as well. Who would approach the place that looks like a raider base? She breathed a sigh of relief, the gamble paid off. She was sure that they meant no harm, the pegasus was nearly in tears as it was. A pony strung out on chems or alchohol wasn't this cohesive, this emotional.

She reached a hoof up and hefted the helmet from her head, setting it down in front of her. The pegasus was breathless, this monster he thought was a ghoulish mutation was actually a mare of fair complexion, not an abomination of the wastes. Just a really large mare.

"And we can pass safely?" she asked, her voice having returned to normality.

"Y-yes! Just a few m-meds and you can even l-leave right now!" the pegasus exclaimed.

"Show me." Skye said as she nodded to Ticker, indicating that he bring his supplies. "I've had a few nasty wounds myself, kinda had to learn how to take care of myself."

The three made their way inside, still on guard. What in the large rail building was short of amazing. From floor to ceiling it was clean, train cars had been disassembled and put against the walls for protection from bullets. Shelves stocked with dried fruits and vegetables inside access pits, the metal shutters ready to be closed in a moment's notice. Out the metal door to the sideyard, barrel fires lit the crops in an eerie glow.

They walked to the second story, passing shaped aluminum 'ponies' wrapped in clothing. From a distance they would look like bodies. They also noticed that the ones they counted at the window were fake as well. It was a real show of ingenuity. Soon they reached the manager's office, inside were several ponies laid out on makeshift mattresses, piles of blood soaked bandages were being cleaned with alcohol and being dried.

"T-they caught some fire the other d-day. T-take a look."

Skye went towards the mare with a bandage wrapped around her flank and pulled it off. She noticed swelling around the multitude of holes. The next pony had caught one in the back, he was lucky, the bullet had bounced off his spine, doing minimal damage. The third had a smashed leg and was set properly already. She moved back to the mare with the shotgun wound.

"It's infected." She announced, "Did you dig the shot out?"

"N-no."

"Ticker, come here." she waved. The unicorn stood there, the sight of blood churning his stomach. "Come here!" she growled. Slowly the stallion came forth, grimacing at the gore before him. "I need you to feel around, feel for some metal."

Ticker gulped hard and slowly lit his horn. The dull buzz started in his head as he slowly and carefully searched for metal. He closed his eyes, so that he would have to see the green puss ooze from the wound. Soon he found something that didn’t belong and carefully pulled it out of the wound track. The mare began to groan in agony as the pellet made it's way out, gushing a spurt of blood as it was freed.

Skye grabbed the pellet with a pair of tweezers in her muzzle and pressed it against her chest piece. The magnetized plate area sucked the pellet towards it.

"I need a maget or a coil of wire and a battery. Do you have any morphine or sedative?"

"S-some. I'll get it." The pegasus left the room and was back in a few seconds. Another pony from the yard had returned with a broken compressor clutch and gave it to Skye.

She sighed, realizing that it was going to have to do. Skye injected the contents of the syringe into the mare and then moved the large clutch near the flank and wound. Soon the pellets moved towards the magnet, out of the body. Fresh blood flowed from the wound and it was quickly covered.

"Ticker, healing salve." He was ready and his hoof shot up, the leather bag in hoof. She poured the contents out on to the wound and pressed the bandage down hard, grinding the powder inside. Even under the effects of morphine the mare groaned, the pain over powering the drug.

"That is as much as I can do. The salve should stop the infection and start to heal the tissue. The leg had been properly set on the stallion and there is nothing I can do about the wound on the back. It's already been sewn shut and shows no signs of infection. I can't say if it did any damage to the spinal cord, but time will tell. I’d say give them some fresh food and water, but it seems that you have that covered well in hoof."

The pegasus was sitting down near the mare, she placed her hoof on his. "T-thank you." he said to the group. "You c-can have some of our f-food in ret-turn."

The group thanked the pegasus, wished them well and took what was offered. They decided it was best to move out. As much hospitality as they were shown, this was the wasteland. Friends one minute and enemies the next, that was how the world worked these days. They had been lucky so far and decided not to press that luck.

They passed through the rail yard and a few more miles down they found a switching station and pulled the cart into a small metal shed on a sidetrack. Once the doors were secured they laid down to sleep for the night. Things were going suspiciously well for the group. All of them silently waited for the other shoe to drop.

They made good time through the hoof hills of the Unicorn Range, it would seem that Celestia herself was smiling upon the journey. They met no resistance whatsoever as they cruised up to the junction where they needed to disembark off the track for the Clouds Dale line.

The landscape was in their favor. The Las Pegasus/Manehattan line was above the Clouds Dale line, geographically higher. The cart rolled easily down the slope across the clearing, Lilly was also pulling it with a chain. Soon they had the expanse behind them, the cart on the new rail line and were plugging away at the remaining distance.

Ticker argued where the best spot was to disembark the line and begin searching for that Ark. His reasoning was that it had to be nearer to Vanhoover, the ancient map wound up having a mineral guide to Equestria from the pre-war era. The ore deposits were richer in iron, silver and gold with trace amounts of coal dotting the area. If a self-sustaining Ark was to be anywhere, it would be nearest to deposit rich area.

Skye argued that it had to be closer to Clouds Dale, a major hub where they could have easily traveled to and enter the Ark if, or as it was, when the bombs fell. It was an hour away from Canterlot by air. It did make sense for ease of access, but if it was near Clouds Dale, it would have been discovered already. There was a major hub of ghouls living in the irradiated area, friendly if wearing a radiation suit. The deadly levels of radiation kept most away. Ticker began counting the radiation from the Geiger meter, it was above normal, but still safe.

The plan to search near Clouds Dale was, however, cut short. The area was too irradiated. They had to constantly check the meter, and downing anti radiation pills and Rads away too quickly. There was no searching that area.

Outside the irradiated zone, they took a break and the remaining rads-away while they were at it, for good measure. Skye had to admit defeat, though did so through clenched teeth. They had to make their way elsewhere.

One thing they were not prepared for was the cold. The air began to bit into their muzzle and ear tips. All of them had begun taking turns pumping the cart to stay warm. Their teeth chattered as they whipped into the icy wind.

Snow began to fly in the air, small flakes at first, then huge globs. They couldn't stop, there was nowhere to stay. For miles the dead rocky land continued. Blanketed in snow, they saw white for an hour. Soon they passed the ruins of a smeltery. It was covered in snow, but the toppled ore carts were a sign.

They began to look in earnest for a junction, a turn off towards the mining complex. It was more for shelter at this point than the Ark. They were beginning to freeze out in the wind whipped plains. Numb hooves began to fumble the bar and Ticker began to complain of feeling an intense heat.

Skye spotted a pole, bent, but it was a pole. The turn off they had been looking for. She was still standing, but the others had become useless. She switched the track and began to furiously pump the cart, not stopping until it crossed the threshold into the complex and slowed down into an open mine shaft. She pulled the freezing ponies from the cart, kicked the guard shack until it was splinters and crossed the poles on a battery, shorting it out and tossing it on the wooden pile.

Soon the roaring fire had Lilly and Ticker stirring, mumbling in their near frozen slumber. The walls absorbed the heat and radiated it back, making blankets that Skye was searching for unnecessary. Soon they were awake, fully cogent and beginning to realize what had happened.

"Next time, we pack coats..." Ticker said. In this somber moment, everypony just nodded, realizing how close they came to death. "This Ark had better be worth it. We'd better be able to stay there until we die or something. Something to make up for this..." The group nodded again.

"Still, we should press further in. There is a foreman's office down near the first junction. Ticker can work his magic with any terminal, find something in there." There was no objection. They were merely happy to be safe and so close.

Soon the trio was back to moving under their own power, however dampened it was. Luckily, there were no signs of frostbite as they slowly searched the foreman's office.

Ticker broke out his device and jacked it in. Pre-war terminals had a very long life span. It was all military grade material and connections. The shelter of the mine and its position uphill gave it an advantage by keeping water out. Soon the terminal was spooling information from its drive. Entries on increased production piqued his interest as the ticked away at the keys on his board.

Foreman Slate, CE 1:17-2061

Damned War. They got us digging all day and night. Five hour slotted times for sleep and two breaks for lunch and dinner. Most ponies just grab something from the cafeteria for their saddle bags later on. We ain't got time to eat cause we only get food shipments once our quota is filled. Bucking Arkitecture. Between the mine collapses and damned near starvation conditions, we aren't afraid of no bombs.

Foreman Slate, CE 2:31-2061

They had us lay rails. Not just trolley rails, not just ore rails. I am talking heavy rail, military grade stuff. They came from the entrance and went off into shaft 3, drift number 9. I thought those tunnels were oddly large. I need to speak with Arkitechture, I have a meeting with them tomorrow.

Foreman Shale, CE 3:1-2061

I got promoted! Arkitecture said that Slate had an accident. I told them that 'Things happen, and they happen all the time.' They gave me a raise as well! What luck!

Foreman Tungsten, CE 12:13-2061

Cave in again. I told them that that damned train is vibrating the shelf in shaft number 1. I told them, but they didn't listen. Now we have a total collapse, I can't reach any of the miners on any channels, radio or terminal. Half our workforce is dead or missing, the other half is clearing the rubble. I will have to add more later, seems a train of Equestria Guard has arrived, they are going to help with the excavation. Dunno why they need those big guns though.

jklfgjklbrwi, CE 7:21-2291

IT WUS SUPOST TO BE HEER! THAT DAMD ARK! Oh Buck... I thinkk im cuming doun... DAM IT!

"Seems that there was a presence here. Lots of talk about Military trains coming in and out. Seems they usurped shaft number 3 for something. We can follow the heavy rails there. If anything, find drift number 9 in that shaft."

"So it's here?" Skye perked up.

"SOMETHING is here, a munitions cache, an Ark. Something that required military presence. Let's not jump the gun. I have to look over the charts to see. It's going to be a while..." he said.

Skye and Lilly began to search nearby for papers or anything to help. There were remnants of camps, empty tins of food and soiled garments. They found the collapsed tunnel, or at leastthe wall of rubble there. Brass crunched underhoof as they drew closer to the remains of the gate. Brown splintered wood stuck from the rocks. They drew closer and realized that it wasn't wood, it was the flesh wrapped bones of the miners. Desiccated beyond recognition, the taught flesh and soiled clothes bore holes, the bullet casings scattered across the floor behind them spoke of what happened.

Lilly folded her ears flat. "This is wrong." she muttered, drawing in closer to Skye, who was poking through the pockets of the deceased miners. She spied a silver metal card in the pocket of a pony off to the side, his uniform was a blue hue, Arkitecture colors. The pony had been trapped under the cave in and suffered with the miners. The metal card was the size of a hoof, it had slotted holes in the aluminum face and a large blue 'A' on it. "We may need this."

They returned to Ticker who was pouring over large pieces of paper by the light built into his break-out box.

"Hey! I found something."

"What!" The two mares exclaimed together.

"See this-" he moved a hoof over to a section of the number 4, 5 and 6 shafts. The mares looked at it intently, trying to decide if they saw what he did.

"The shafts are deep, but look at the structure of them. The drifts run only North and East!"

"I... what does that mean?" Skye mumbled in confusion.

"See, shaft number three only has drifts going South. The other three shafts travel North and East. Shafts 1 and 2, which are farther out and staggered. They have drifts that run North, South and West, but not East."

"I don't see it. What does that mean?"

"These mine shafts are all drilling away from one area. See?" He motioned towards a rather large area where there were blue dotted lines, not the solid red ones. "The blue lines mean a planned drift, a tunnel. The red ones represent a finished or bored run. It looks like they changes were made daily here."

The mares just stared at him.

"Damnit, it means that they were avoiding the area. They were tunneling around it. With the logs, it seems that they started with shafts 3, 4, 5 and 6 at the same time, increasing production. But as they started shaft 3, they were pulled off of it, working on the other ones, in a direction AWAY from the area planned for shaft 3. It means that there IS something there!" Ticker giggled, relieved that they were right.

"I don't see it, but if you say so, then I believe it."

"Ok ok ok ok... It seems that the lower drift, tunnel. Number 9 was the main loading and unloading area. That's where we will find the door anyway. I'd have to see it, see if I can open it. But if the main controls are on the other side and all we see is a steel door, we can't get in that way."

"Ok, assume we can't get in. What then."

"Um.... let me..." he paused, flipping through pages,” If what we think is right, and the robots are mining outwards, Southward, we could possibly find a way down in shaft 4 or 5. They intersect close to this 'void' area. If we are lucky, then an earthquake or tunnel collapse COULD have us in the mining area of the Ark. Not sure, but it's a chance." Ticker rattled off.

"Ok. Then let's head for the main door, see if we can't crack that open. If not, we'll detour around the area and find the tunnel." Skye nodded.

Ticker grabbed the maps and a grease pencil, tucking them into his lighter saddle bags. He grabbed a few plastic rods as well, biting down hard on one and it began to shine like the sun. Lumex Rods. "We'll need these." he passed the remainder of the pack out to the mares and they began to walk down the West tunnel, following the main tracks into the tunnels.

Soon they were deep within the mountain; several hours of near silent travel had them still on the rails. They began to find corpses, pre-war and some recent ones. Lilly pulled her hammer, Skye took charge, the shotgun mounted to her right hoof and Ticker fell back between them, the safest place.

"Think there is anything here?" he whispered to the two. Skye shrugged in a 'there could be' way. "Because I didn't see and entrance or exit wounds, no lacerations, bites, plasma scarring, residual magic, ligatures around the neck or hooves. From the position of the bodies, the more recent ones, look as if they had laid down and died."

"Thanks Doctor, when I need my prostate checked I'll come to you." Skye mumbled.

"Mares do not have a prostate." he huffed.

"You know what I mean." Skye rolled her eyes.

"I think you mean a gynecological ex-"

The air was filled with a thunderous clap, dirt kicked up from the ground filling the air. A blinding flash had Ticker's eyes seeing white, his ears ringing and disoriented, he began to stumble sideways.

"The Buck was that?!" he shouted, waving a hoof to see if that helped his blinded condition. He'd fallen over and was unaware of that fact until his equilibrium was restored. "Skye?! Lilly, Hello?!" He coughed from the dust, his Lumex Rod was casting a harsh glow on the particles, creating a fog. He thought he heard something and called out again.

"SKYE! SOMEPONY?"

Another blast rang out, this time further down the tunnel. Again his ear drums were slapped with the pressure wave and began to ring. He couldn't see a thing, hear a thing. He whipped his head from side to side, trying to find the other Lumax glows from his friends. There was nothing but his light.

"LILLY!" he shouted. Still couldn't hear anything, no replies nothing. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!" he screamed, trying to get a response, trying to get information to them. That was the most important thing.

"I'M GOING TO STAY RIGHT HERE. I HAVE MY LIGHT ON!"

Soon the dust settled, leaving his light to cast it's fervor throughout the tunnel. He saw a drop off, the bottomless pit that was shaft number 3. He peered over the side, unsure if he was going to see anything, hoping that he didn't. There was nothing down the hole, nothing he could see.

Another pop happened down the tunnel, it echoed loudly, but it lacked the ear drum searing ring. As it cascaded across the rock face its origin became muttled. Fear spurred him to move, he wasn't going to stay there, his friends were fighting something and he had all the medical supplies. He couldn't just sit here. Another pop, this time it sounded like a rock dropping it was so far away.

Ticker grunted, Buck! He needed to find them. Another successive pop from down a tunnel spurred him to move. He bore down full throttle, the Lumex Rod at his side bouncing, casting moving shadows as he went. He could have easily missed them, down a side drift, an upkick in the floor or a sinkhole. He didn't know where they were going, but he looked down occasionally to see that he was clopping over fresh hoofprints.

There was another distant pop, farther away, behind him. He turned around and sped back down the tunnel, he was sure that the hoofprints he was following had been new. Another pop, this time like a soft shoed hoof clop. Further away still.

The Lumex Rod was fading, it's brilliant glow little more than a weak light, barely able to see his own hooves now. He slowed to a canter and reached around to his saddle bags, his heart stopped.

The flap was unhooked, the bag was empty. His unbridled sprint had rocked the bag and emptied the contents. He cursed under his breath, now he had no supplies, no friends close by. He still had his breakout-box. He was royally Bucked either way.

Another pop, almost a whisper now. He was sure if where it was coming from, down another path that he hadn't seen before. The Lumex was now dead, leaving him to crawl along at a snail's pace, making sure each hoof was meeting solid ground before putting weight on it. His eyes were adjusting now, slowly but they were getting there.

As he rounded a corner, a thunderous blast sounded. It felt as if it shattered his ear drums, his left eye was no longer seeing black, it was blinded white. He cut a scream that curled his own blood, rear hooves pressing him upward with a force he had never felt. Ticker lost where he was, his hooves trying to jackhammer ground like his heart. He couldn't hear, couldn't see and to make matters worse his head hurt now.

The last thing he remembered was air rushing past his body. It felt like the pump-cart, cool and fast. His equilibrium was screaming as the wind changed directions constantly. The world was spinning and he didn't know why, he just tasted black cherries. Odd...

Soft Surroundings

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Ticker woke up, or at least that was what he thought happened. His head was throbbing and a nervous hoof clopped around on the floor for his glasses. Everything felt odd, it felt tight. He had a broken rib before, but this tightness he had never felt before. From his neck down, everything felt like it was under the compression of a bandage. He still didn't find the glasses, and the cold floor felt like something different.

The carved stone floor had morphed into something soft. It pushed easily under the softest caress, eliciting a nearly mute squeak as his hoof passed across it. His world was more than blurry, it was a blurry black and it still tasted like black cherries. What happened?

Ticker rose to his hooves, deciding that was a bad idea as his stomach pressed up into his neck, ready to spill out the contents. Bad idea, bad idea. His body didn't respond as normal, every limb felt stiff, but on the outside. It wasn't a muscular feeling, or skeletal, something was holding him back. His skull thumped pain into the rest of his body, he needed to lie down, yea. His feeble hooves sat back down into the floor, his weight sinking into it and cradling his torso.

His hoof failed to find the glasses in the dark, but he did find out that he was in a small room, his sniffles and grunts bounced back quicker than before, muffled, but faster. If his head hadn't begun to twist his vision and stomach when he tried to do anything more than exist, he would have been exploring the area. His friends were still out there, and he needed to find them. To help.

"Lilly, Skye?" he whispered softly, expecting to hear nothing.

"Shh!" a hurried gasp of air passed by his right side, the only one he felt he could hear out of at the moment. "Ticker, is that you? I think there is something here, I d-don't know where we are."

"Yea, it's Ticker. I think we are in a room somewhere. It's small, the.." he paused as a wave of nausea passed over him, "They echoes are... small. I think I have a concussion."

"What happened? It feels hard to move and the floor is... squidgey." Skye grunted as a thick hoof hit the floor, sending a light thud through the room

"I know, the floor is wierd." Lilly chimed in at full volume. "It's like a body; it has almost the same feeling. When you step on one that is."

"SHHH!" Skye hissed.

With a bright flash the entire room was cast in a soft glow at first, but then the lights became jarringly bright. Soon the entirety of the room was bright, the trio could see perfectly, even if the world was a bit blurry for Ticker.

The walls were a very calming blue; it wasn't a light blue, neither was it a foal blue. They looked as if they were quilted, large squares on the wall. But they weren't the wall. They protruded from the surface of the actual wall by what looked like two hooves width. The material had a thick sheen to it, where the light was closest it shone a bright white, near the darker areas it was a deep blue, in between the two colors was a rich creamy reflection layer, dazzlingly brilliant with a flat blue, a perfect contrast with the other colors.

The room had a high pitched odor, one that tingled the sinus passages of the occupants. Silently they all agreed that it was a scent they had smelled before, the stench of tires. The smell of latex. Odd that it would fill a whole room, causing their heads to swim in its intoxicating odor.

Ticker squinted, light was hurting his eyes, he couldn't tell if it was from the lack of glasses, or the pounding in his skull. He reached his hoof up, after feeling the telltale tickle of blood under his fur. His hoof slowly made its way up, the potential reason why they felt thick and dumb glared as tonal as the walls.

His entire body, as much of it as he could see had been coated in an Ark colored blue, the meduim/dark tint. A paly tellow band ran around his waist and up the center of his chest. The rear hooves were cast in heavier dark grey material than the rest of his body, thick rear hoof boots. He shifted from the sunken position in the floor, peering between his legs. A thick sheath capped his member, causing the material to bulge otuward. It pinched as he prodded it with his hoof, sending a slight pain through his member.

"What the Buck?" he gasped. "What am I wearing?" he asked, peering over to his two friends. They were encased in the same style of suit. How they found a monster mare sized one was a mystery, but Skye and Lilly were wrapped in the same suit.

"I don't know, it's uncomfortably tight, and it pinches my lips something terrible." Skye answered.

"Hold still, " Ticker gasped as a wave of pain shot through is skull, "I think I see a collar." The stallion slowly trudged through the vacuum like 'sludge' that was the floor, each hoof stifled by the suit and then the gel-like surface. He moved his head closer to Skye's neck, trying to focus the thick band and box at her throat.

There were no markings that could be made out, nothing to hint at it's purpose. It did have a small, unlit diode covered by a polycarbonate bubble and a rather small keyhole. The suit's neck looked like it flared up under the collar, ribs of padding barely protruding from the tight grip.

"It's locked on. I can't see too well, but it seems to be keeping the suit on. Also, there is something on your ear." he cautiously moved a hoof up to the mare's ear, flicking the tag.

"OW! That hurts!" she shouted, her own hooves shooting up towards the thing. "You have one too." she frowned. Ticker reached up, he did have one as well. A light tug and the tingle of flesh bleeding caused him to stop.

"The buck?" he asked again. "Do you have anything on your flank? My... stallion-hood feels weird."

"The suit pinches back there, can you see it?" She asked, turning around in place, her plot now right near his muzzle.

He carefully pressed a hoof against the little bumps. Four half-rings were stacked around her lips, biting into the folds tight. An odd clitoris protruded too far to be natural, it was either enlarged or there was something by it as well.

"I didn't know you were pierced." he mused, "They must be catching on the suit."

"I'm NOT pierced!" Skye snorted. She turned back around and sat firmly down on the floor, wincing as she did.

"It looks like you are now..." Ticker informed her, his muzzle turned down. "What happened when we got seperated anyway?"

"I want to know what has happened just now. I wake up in some kind of suit, I have labial piercings now and a Bucking ear tag. The walls are pillows and there is something around my neck. Also, you have..." she paused, counting in her head, "... you have two… no that is three bars on your flank." She looked at her own and over to Lilly who had become bored with the two talking and had found a way to sink herself between the two floor cushions, her back and head poking out like a Lake Scraper emerging from the water. She had the marks as well.

"I think we have found the Ark." Ticker said. "But it seems that we are in a small antechamber somewhere. I think we are inside it."

"Hello Ark citizens!" a scratchy voice boomed from somewhere in the room. The thick window and door-less walls seemed to speak from nowhere.

"Can you hear that, or have I broken down into Etherial Kerotine Rabidus? The first stage of that is hearing voices..." he whimpered.

"What? No, I can hear it too." Skye stood up, her eyes wide as she backed into a corner. "It's coming from... everywhere..." she gasped.

"You have been chosen as one of the lucky few to wait out the apocalypse in the safety and security of Equestria's most comfortable vault. Now you can sit back in luxury as the world above strangles the life out of itself. Count yourself lucky, the mare and stallions up on the surface are boiling in a sea of torrential fire as you enjoy the constant cool temperature of the Ark!"

"Does it know it's close to three hundred years too late?" Ticker retorted. "It's an audio recording, a welcome message."

"Food, sleep and the best activities anypony can enjoy are waiting for you. Enjoy the 'REDACTED!' Lounge and our select cigars and cigarettes to entice your tastebuds and tingle your muzzle. Take a refreshing dip in the 'OMITTED!', several laps and water settings are there for your comfort. And finally, after dinner you can lay down in your new bed and you and your favorite somepony can 'FORBIDDEN!' throughout the night in the sound proof walls of your luxurious new apartment."

"What the buck is going on here? The tape is wrong... Why is it screaming at us?" Skye whimpered, neither of the two ponies had seen her like this. Her hooves were shaking, her teeth chattering, horror spread across her muzzle.

"Calm down," Ticker moved over to her shape, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "It's going to be allright."

"N-no it's not, I HATE small spaces, I need to get out of here... It's... it's too much..." Skye murmured.

"Close your eyes." The stallion said, "Close them and tell yourself that you can leave whenever you want. You want to be in here now. Can you do that for me?"

"I want to be here, with my friends. I want to be here..."

"Due to several accidents and other residents of the Ark befalling a fate best left to those surface dwellers, the Ark has changed from its original design into a more pony friendly environment. We at Arkitechture are happy to report that these improvements to your living space have reduced casualties and accidents to zero. For the last one hundred and fifty years, the residents have enjoyed the serene peace that only Arkitechture can bring you."

"Due to the past transgressions of the previous Ark inhabitants, a new set of rules has been instated. Please check your digital Arkitechture hoof book on your Pip-Buck for the standard guidelines as well as the updated guidelines, provided to you by the Ark's intake team."

"Now, some of these rules may seem harsh, but any upstanding Equestrian citizen like yourselves should have no problem quickly adapting to these new rules. New residents will be given a one hour leniency for all transgressions, security will come for a visit, let you know if your transgression and then ask you to have a nice day! After the one hour period, punishment will be applied swiftly by security staff."

"These rules help protect Arkitechture property. Everything you see is Arkitechture property, any harm to this property will be marked, recorded and appropriate punishment measures taken to instill that such a transgression never happens again. Any interference with punishment will be met with a mark and punishment of the offending pony."

"Once a pony has accumulated too many marks with the same transgression, harsher punishment is required, accompanying longer punishment periods. An excess of fourty marks in the same transgression will result in permanent loss of offending sense."

"Continued offenses that require more than one permanent offending sense be revoked, that pony will be removed from the general population and permanently stored safely where their aggressive behavior cannot harm the rest of the residents."

"Comply with security at all times, disobeying will only extend the punishment length. Refer to your Pip-Buck for the amended rules and regulations. You can also ask your fellow residents for tips, if they are capable of communication!"

"Welcome to Ark One-eleven!"

A hiss filled the room and a double tile of the wall peeled away, revealing a large hallway, decorated in the same way as the small antechamber. The same blue rubber, floor to ceiling.

Skye immediately bolted from the room into the wide hallway and stood there for a few seconds, breathing deeply, muttering to herself what Ticker had told her.

The stallion felt better, the dizziness and sickness had passed. He helped Lilly, who had become stuck in the floor panels, to her hooves and out into the hallway.

"Feeling better?" he asked to the gasping mare.

"Marginally." Skye replied.

"Let's stick together for the time being. This entire place gives me the creeps. That recording was very odd, it has me concerned for these rules, as most of the recording mentioned them."

A loud buzz pierced the air and the door they entered from closed behind them. The padding on the exterior of the door melding seamlessly into the wall. A low beep came from their collars in unison, the lights blinking a strong yellow.

"The collars are blinking! I hope they don't explode." Lilly frowned. "That would be bad..."

"Let's try to get out of these suits, it's rubbing me the wrong way." Skye said, putting a thick hoof onto her chest and pulling down. The material screeched and stretched, but didn't give. She raised a rear hoof and took the material between her teeth and bit down hard. The latex moaned under her grip, stretching but never tearing.

The collar emitted a rapid set of three beeps.

"OH BUCK! IS IT GOING TO EXPLODE?!" She yelled in terror.

The collar beeped another three times rapidly.

"BUCK BUCK BUCK!"

The collar emitted three sets of three beeps.

"Stop! Just be quiet!" Ticker clamped her muzzle shut.

"Resident, please remain where you are. A securtiy bot has been dispatched to your location. Comply or face punishment." Her collar squeaked in a tiny voice from within it somewhere.

"What? I thought we had a free pass for an hour!"

"SHHHH!" Ticker hissed. "We don't know what this means, stay quiet and we can figure out what is going to happen. Don't make it worse!"

Skye nodded, wide eyed in fear. "Don't let it take me." she whispered.

"Quiet!" he reminded her.

A gleaming metal sphere approached the group. In one of its long arms it held what looked like deflated squid. It floated towards them, scanning the three. Skye then was singled out, and it approached she dropped to the floor, gasping in small quivering shakes. A humm was being emitted from somewhere, it was impossible to tell where, but it was affecting the large mare enough to cripple her from speech.

"Resident, you have one count of violating rule number 75, subsection C, article 8. 'Tampering with Ark equipment and/or apparel'. You have four counts of violating rule number 2, subsection D, article 98. 'Verbal profanity and/or language' unbecoming of a proper mare like yourself."

"There are fifty four minutes left in your probationary period. These two offenses are punishable by a muzzle and or gag being applied for a period of four hours. Tampering with punishments will result in a longer period of punishment. Have a good day, Resident!"

Skye remained on the floor for a few minutes. Ticker gulped, the expediency of the bot's arrival, the shrewd announcement of the offenses and the fact that it had the muzzle with it. This place was going to be... very interesting.

"What happened? You fell over, what... what did that thing do to you?" Ticker asked.

"I think... there is something inside me. It was humming, like a fan. I couldn't stand anymore. It..." her cheeks blushed a hard shade of red. "It felt really... good..."

"What?" Ticker was dumbfounded. "What is inside you?"

"It's... I don't know. It feels good." Her cheeks continued to turn a bright crimson.

Ticker moved to her rear and pressed the latex against her plot. What he saw greatly baffled him. He saw the rings again; the large clitoris and a small tube emerge from between her folds. It had a twisted appearance, as if a hose had a wire around it. Her pucker just below the short tail sheathe had no defining features, it was a dome, truely odd.

"You don't feel anything odd?" He asked. Skye shook her head, no. Ticker pressed in on the dome covering her pucker.

"OH CELESTIA! I FELT THAT! What... is it?"

The stallion's collar beeped three times.

'Buck' he thought to himself, a frown sliding down his inquisitive muzzle downward.

"It's a covering on your rectum, I think we all have it."

"Turn around, let me see." Skye swirled her hoof. She inspected the back end of her companion and found a domed cover over his rectum. She inspected his member, carefully touching it. Instead of the soft flesh of a sheath, she felt a stiff material encapsulating it. Ticker grunted as she touched it.

A security bot floated over to the group. Ticker sat up strait, his muzzle twisted in confusion, teeth gritted tight and painful groan escaping from his nostrils. He didn't want to move, that might make this thing growling inside him worse.

"Resident, you have one count of violating rule number 102, subsection R, article 1,435. 'Eliciting an unsolicited pleasurable response from another Resident."

"There are fourty nine minutes left in your probationary period. This offense is punishable by stimulation for two hours and a straitjacket being applied for a period of four hours. Tampering with punishments will result in a longer period of punishment. Have a good day, Resident!"

The robot floated off and Ticker collapsed to the floor.

"What type of Bu-... place is this? It felt like a melon is inside my lower colon. It's... I w-want it out." he stammered, rolling into a position where it felt less intrusive.

Skye blushed, she was not alone in her awkwardness.

"We've been here ten minutes and have been cited over five times. This is going to get horrible rather fast. We need to find a way out, either of these suits for the time being and the Ark itself eventually. I have no glasses either, I'm afraid to ask for some, as I might wind up mummified for a week." Ticker said. He stood up, still feeling a pressure from deep within his flank.

"Let's see if the rest of the place has anymore ponies here!" Lilly said, her nimble frame bouncing on the pads as she was light enough to not sink in.

"Good idea. We need to find these rules out before we never see each other again." Ticker smiled in discomfort as he moved forward. This was embarrassing.

The three moved through the padded hall out into a larger area. It seemed to be a large hall, what once was a large hall anyway. The normal Ark railings and benches had been replaced with the padded rubber. Stairs were gone; instead a large cushion and a tube replaced them.

Lights far above in the ceiling cast a sheen over everything and everypony in the area. A quick head count had the immediate population at fifty ponies. All were clad in the same thick latex suits. Unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, all were inside. Some of them sported tattoos on the visible flesh of their heads, while some ponies had no flesh visible at all encased further in latex garb. Rounded hoods, tight fitting hoods, muzzles, blindfolds and straitjackets all made of latex adorned the various other residents.

The padded walls were great at muffling conversations between the groups of ponies, the grand room was filled with muffled voices. Propped against a large couch like objects, the more fettered ponies grouped together, nuzzling each other and giggling between themselves.

This entire set up had Ticker and Skye blushing. It was some sort of twisted Ark. A pre-war, hyper sexualized nut house. There were no upstanding citizens here, these ponies all looked like the rough wastelanders who would skin your hide as soon as look at you.

Lilly was, thankfully, oblivious to the quite blatantly mature atmosphere. "They are all so shiny!"

Her reply elicited a small laugh from Skye and a stern look from Ticker.

"I don't see a single terminal anywhere. I only see... rubber. I think we are bucked- MMF!" his hoof wasn't fast enough to stop the word from escaping.

His collar beeped and a bot showed up, citing 'Language unbecoming a stallion' and threatened a muzzling for four hours. At least this time the thing inside him shrunk once the bot left. They had to escape, they just had to.

"Hey hey hey hey hey hey! ...HEY! Sorry!" a voice repeated from behind them. Skye and Ticked turned around, Lilly had wandered off to see all the shiny ponies. There was medium framed zebra pony, his blue eyes searching the two new comers, then focusing elsewhere. His long mane had seen better days, it was unkempt and a part line behind his cheeks in the mane told of a strap constantly sitting there.

"Hello?" Ticker inquired, sitting down beside the zebra.

"Hey!... What?... Who are you?" he stammered. stomping a hoof into the thick floor.

"Um, you talked to... us?" Skye trotted over to him as well.

"NO! Um... Yes. I think so. Yes."

"Are you all right?" The unicorn asked.

"Sometimes, yes. Hey, you're a unicorn! You need to be careful, the silver guards take that away really quick if you miss use it. Bye bye!"

"I think he's... crazy." Skye whispered into the stallion's ear.

"I used to have a fix for that... yea. Boffle Flowers. They stink, but it helps, it helped, it will help. And it's not here anymore, well it never was here and it's making things really bad. But, but but... You are new here. And the silver guards are looking for ANY excuse to do things to you, odd things, weird things. They WANT it to happen and get some sort of perverse pleasure from it. Just stay away from them. Even if you DON'T say anything, they still get you in trouble." The zebra droned on, it seemed like he was saying the first thing that entered his mind.

"We... could use somepony to help us with the rules. How long have you been here?" Skye asked, speaking slow and trying to catch the gaze of the zebra who appeared to be watching everything BUT them.

"There IS no time down here. It's always just... now. There are pads, dinner, pads and then another dinner then the bed, which is a pad but a pad you can't move. The hole is scary at first, but it becomes normal. The WORST part is the stimulation, they build you up and up, but it rarely comes down."

"Anything we'd need to know, what to do and not do?" Ticker placed a hoof on his shoulder, trying to draw the gaze of the zebra towards him.

"No, um... yes. If you curse they make you unable to talk. If you run too fast your hooves stop working. Sometimes it's dark, but nopony is in bed. And there are points, you can't eat them and they probably taste horrible anyway. But when you have points, sometimes your curses can go away."

"We know about the strikes-"

"NO! The strikes are bad, they taste like the floors and walls and my hooves. The points are good, you want those. They are like... not... strikes? It's confusing. I have some of them sometimes."

"How does one go about getting these points?" Ticker had caught onto a lot of what the zebra was babbling about, and he would fill Skye in later.

"You HAVE to be punished!" the zebra exclaimed.

"No, that is a strike. What is a point?"

"Yes... no. Um. Points are when you ask to be silent or in the dark. But they always tease you when you ask for points. It's frustrating."

"I think he is saying that the Ark rewards 'good' behavior. Having seen a trend of violence in the past, if you willingly curb your 'bad habits' by asking for the punishment, it builds up a rappour. Points that can be used as a free pass as you willingly want to get better."

"What?" Skye and the zebra said in unison.

"It's circular logic, self fulfilling prophecy. You have to be bound or stifled to avoid being bound or stifled."

The two continued their stare at the unicorn.

"It makes sense to me." Ticker shot them a look of confusion, now he was beginning to doubt his line of thought.

A bot approached the three.

"Unusually high vocal decibles detected in this area. Verbose Resident, identify yourself."

"It was, wait... Yes, it was me!" the zebra shouted and raised a hoof.

"Do you need assistance in reducing this volumetric transgression? This is not a strike. It is a learning opportunity to make yourself better for the entire Ark to enjoy your presence." The bot held up muzzle, edging it closer to the zebra's head.

Before he answered the bot, the zebra leaned over to the mare. "Stay away from that unicorn right here," his hoof pointed to Ticker who was all of a hoof's length away, "I think he's a bit... off. I can't understand what he says."

Skye couldn't help but giggle, as they shared the same sentiment most of the time.

"Resident, the previous inquisition still stands."

The zebra turned his head sideways, as if he had just seen the bot beside him. "What... Yes?" he answered.

The robot beeped and the two arms simultaneously pushed his head into the thick rubber muzzle and secured the straps at the rear. The metal clasp at the rear clicked shut and emitted a low tone. A numerical display began to count down from twenty four hours. The zebra was confused as to what just happened, he had his mind in another place when he was asked, unaware that he was agreeing to a voluntary muzzling.

"You now have two points, resident. Have a nice day!"

As the bot turned, Ticker stopped him,

"Um, robot... thing. I have a question?"

"Inquiry detected. Resident, finish your line of inquiry."

"I need glasses, I can't see that well without them."

The bot paused for a second, floating silently.

"Resident was not admitted with spectacles. An appointment has been set with the Ark optometrist. You will be collected when your presence is required. Have a safe day, Resident."

The bot floated off.

"Well, that was blunt." Ticker grunted. "Skye, let's go find Lilly and start looking around. And, I'd ask your name," he said to the zebra "But it seems that you can't tell me. I will try and find you later then."

The zebra furrowed his brow and huffed through his nostrils. He felt whole heartedly that the unicorn was to blame for his predicament. If he wasn't there, the bot wouldn't have snuck up on him and he wouldn't have been muzzled. He'd make sure that the unicorn got his due, besides dinner was nearly ready. He was hungry.

The Trio re-united and began to slowly explore the ark. Slowly they wound around the entire complex. Ticker building a mental map in his mind.

There was a central causeway, a ten pony wide hall that formed a circle around the large area. In six equal increments there sat huge gathering halls, larger than the lounge they had been in previously. They were roughly five stories tall, the large area at the bottom was where the ponies gathered. The upper levels and smaller rooms that used to be game rooms or lounges and a smaller walkway the further up one traveled until it was the top story balcony. All the places where a pony could fall off were covered by a thin mesh net that was surprisingly strong.

Off of the identical large halls were three, ten story circular towers. A vacuum lift was the only way up. These were the 'apartments', the large rooms having been converted into massive bunk houses for the population. From all the space they had in there, Ticker guessed that there were upwards of one thousand residents at any one time.

In the center of the ring was a two story structure at the ground level. The area that looked like a warehouse had thick walls running down its length; holes were set into the walls at head level. Neither of the three dared to stick their head inside. This room was accessible at ground level from the massive halls in any direction. Later on it was revealed to be the kitchen, the ponies were not even trusted enough to feed themselves.

The level above that was the pool, but had been converted into an inset lounge. Water was too dangerous. The padding inside this room had extra volume, nearly reaching up to the ponies’ torso. It was as close to a pool as the residents were going to get.

Above that room was dark, though lights slowly flickered to life. The room was laid out into quarters. One quarter of the room had small spheres dotting the wall. There was no way to know what was inside them, as they were devoid of windows or doors. They evacuated the room once a bot floated toward them and asked if they were in need of temporary isolation, then informed them that anypony in this room could not stop. It was a travel through room; anypony found inside that lingered was scooped up and isolated for a period of time.

After several hours they groaned at the aching hooves. They were no strangers to walking, but this wasn't walking. This was trying to gallop through molasses with a gale force wind blowing at them. They collapsed on the 'couch', back in the same smaller lounge they had met the zebra in. He was nowhere to be found, in fact, most of the ponies seemed to have disappeared.

"Is it bed time?" Skye asked, looking around at the near barren room.

"Probably dinner." Ticker replied, his stomach growling angrily at him. "I didn't see a kitchen though."

"I think it was that room with all the holes in the wall. I looked inside one; it had two arms inside and a place for your head. It was odd, but I think it's the cantina."

"It is," Ticker confirmed, after having trotted over to the door and peering down the long hall. "Let's see what they are serving. Maybe talk about... some things."

They made their way to the odd room and saw the flanks of hundreds of rubber clad ponies without heads, as they were stuck into the wall. Lilly stepped behind Skye.

"What is wrong with them?" the small mare asked, her voice dripping with anxiety.

"They are eating." Skye explained. "And Ticker is going to show you that it's all fine. He's going to stick his head in there and stomp twice to let us know its fine. Aren't you Ticker?"

"Yes...” he replied flatly, pausing as his muzzle started to enter the black area. He took a deep breath and put his head inside the wall.

Nothing happened at first, but then again he wasn't trying to back out.

"I think it's bro..." he stopped, his head would no longer move backwards. The two panels in the wall had slid shut, trapping his head inside. He squirmed for a bit, and then stomped twice. The show hadn't even begun yet.

The arms from the wall came forward, one using its two rubber coated pinchers to carefully grasp the top of his muzzle, the other on his bottom, holding his mouth open. It would have been wrong to use a euphemism to describe that object heading towards his maw, in the simplest words, it was a long cock that was being pushed into his muzzle. He got a glimpse of the end of the shaft; it had two large holes in it.

He gagged as the thing pushed down into his throat, the arm slowly gliding it in. It stopped once it ran out of length to push and the arm retreated, the second one returning with a limp piece of latex and a clear hose in its pincers. The rubber was a hood, and it was placed over his head, leaving only the ears uncovered. The hose pressed into the hood port that had attached itself to the cock gag.

Ticker waited, glad that nopony could see him; see the large cock down his throat, head stuck in a wall and totally vulnerable. It felt as if the machine was taking too long, as if ten minutes had passed already. A rush of air pushed down the tube, followed by a hot liquid that poured directly into his stomach.

This was an overt display of how bucked he was. A cock down his muzzle, hot liquid of what he HOPED was food pouring down his throat from the member no less. It was uncomfortable, embarrassing and disgusting. His stomach felt full and the machine stopped. He gagged as the cock retreated, spurting out some of the still hot liquid into his throat, in his muzzle and on his nose.

It tasted... Really good actually. It was a thick and chunky applesauce, a smooth liquid filled with small diced apples that fell apart when he mashed them with his tounge. There was another taste, another flavor as well. He had tasted it before, but not this strong. It was cinnamon, Celestia it was real cinnamon! And it was amazing!

The machine released him, the hood, tube and the feeding cock dropped down to the floor of the alcove, rolling inside and down a hidden line so it could be cleaned and ready tomorrow. All by the bots of course.

"Well, that was..." Skye trailed off.

"Disturbingly delicious?" he replied.

"You got the... member... too?"

"Yea. I think this Ark has everything taken care of, caring for the ponies inside, but in a sick twisted way. I think it's just bucking with us, everypony."

Ticker's collar beeped three times, he sighed nervously.

"You're the first!" Skye giggled.

The bot appeared, as it always had when their collars beeped.

"Resident, you have one count of violating rule number 2, subsection D, article 98. 'Verbal profanity and/or language' unbecoming of a proper stallion like yourself."

"This offense is punishable by a muzzle applied for a period of four hours. Tampering with punishments will result in a longer period of punishment. Have a good day, Resident!"

He couldn't run if he wanted to, his colon felt ready to burst. He let the bot do its thing as he gritted his teeth.

The muzzle slipped on easily, the inside padded region and the stiffer outer shell provided a comfortable but firm encasement. The rear strap was tugged tight against his skull, the toggle lock padding kept it from digging into his bone, as it should have been with the level of tightness the cold machine reached. It did a good job, he couldn't swear, or make any verbalization beyond a long string of "M's"

Ticker waited till the bot turned around before puting both hooves up to his muzzled muzzle and pressed against its surface, trying to get it to sit better. He didn't realize that it was meant to be that tight. His collar let out a short 'whooping' beep, having detected his hooves near his muzzle for longer than the time it takes to rub one's nose. He froze, that was a new beep.

'Tampering detected, muzzle will remained locked on for an additional 24 hours.' the collar informed him.

"MMMM?!" He screamed, but a mere two trots away, no pony heard a thing. His hooves kept hovering near to the muzzle, falling slightly then moving closer again. He had to stop himself from trying to rip the thing off. If he touched it again, it would add another ridiculous amount of time that he didn't need. The good thing was that now that nopony could make out what he was saying, his furious curses were going unpunished.

"Twenty eight hours." Skye whistled. "Going for the gusto then?"

A look of pure distain bore right into the mare. He took a bit of solace in the fact that she would buck up sometime. Hopefully her mess up was worse than his. This Ark had worse than a zero tolerance for these phantom rules. He imagined her in isolation, a fitting retaliation for being so smug.

"Aww, you look adorable in that." She cooed, closing in to his muzzle and giving his nose a small kiss. He flare his nostrils and huffed at her harshly.

Four hours was agony enough. The total of twenty eight was going to be a nightmare. A quick calculation in his head meant that this time tomorrow, plus four hours, he would be out. He would be able to get it off right before bed. Hopefully the bots were as spot on with their removal as they were with application. Somehow he didn't feel that they were. Somewhere deep inside he knew that he was going to spend longer than the twenty eight hours muzzled.

Ticker was at a loss, both for words and an activity for them to do. So far, their entire trip around the Ark, or the few places they had managed to visit he had not seen a terminal, a door or a single piece of what should have been there. It was just miles and miles of floors, ceilings and walls laid with thick padded blue. Every inch of the Ark.

"No terminals and no doors." Skye sighed, she peered over to her friend and couldn't help but crack a smile. It was hilarious because of the stallion's intelligence, as much as he knew about most subjects, all was for naught. A champion of the circuits and wires, defeated by the same. However stifled he was now, Ticker was their only chance at an attempt to escape. It was still funny.

Ticker had a look of being regal. The tight suit around his body, accentuating every shape, around every muscle. His head held high, so that the bottom of the muzzle didn't press against his neck and cause a choking sensation. His breathing had to be controlled; any rapid succession of breath produced a light headed feeling. He had to remain calm, move with a purpose. A silent sentinel.

He felt like an utter foal. He couldn't speak with the damned piece of latex locked to his head. Communication was key to survival, and he couldn't do that for the next couple of hours. Glasses were another issue; all he could see were blue fuzzy shapes of ponies against a blue background. The low tone of failure began to ring hard, and it stung.

Questions began to rattle in his mind. Ones that never came up before. Survival, hunger and safety were always a priority before. The amount of physical and mental faculties used to make sure you wake up the next day, find food and keep from getting your head ripped off. They were 'safe' now, even though it was stretching the meaning of the word.

Yet with the security about them, the only thing he could think of doing was to escape. This type of setting didn't match his vision of being safe. Safe was having enough caps to not worry about food. Safe was thick walls that radiation and bullets couldn't get through. It was a roof over your head and floor under your hooves. It was good times with your friends. It was...

It was everything he had here, a perfect description of it. Minus the latex suits, the nut house re-decoration and bindings when you disobey the phantom rules.

Ticker let Skye lead them through the Ark, where ever she wanted to go, he silently followed. From their path, he was able to tell she was looking for a way out. She had an odd method of exploration, picking the left hoof wall and following it endlessly.

By the time the group had fully explored one of the large halls and a single apartment complex. All they managed to find was a brand new level of exhaustion from quagmire of a floor and restrictive suits pulling them back every trot of the way.

The oddest room they found had road dividing like rubber cushions; one was meant to sit on them, hooves on either side of the structure, barely touching the floor. The unicorn was their test subject, the two mares deciding that his current situation was warrant enough. Any further hindrance on his part would not hinder them or their overall goal.

Ticker huffed in defeat as he mantled the structure. Instantly small doors opened up near his hooves, latex bands shot across them, pinning him completely to the structure. He groaned in disapproval as a fifth belt brought his head down to the divider, pinning him to this... thing. The rear section of the furniture rose up, hoses snaked from the interior of the open section and to the rear of his suit.

Ticker grunted as the twin hoses attached to him, seemingly melting through the suit to attach to the plug in his rear and the cage around his member. The plug inflated, started to vibrate, causing a string of constinents to emerge from his mouth. His eyes crossed as a second part of his binding began to stimulate him as well.

His cock began to push out against the cage and he began to feel what it was. A tight silicone cap over his head and collapsed shaft, a thick catheter snaked through the urethra and into his bladder, which had been mercifully drained before the stimulation.

A scalding sensation filled his colon, the heat holding fast within. He quickly realized what it was for; catheter for urination and enema for the excrement. He whined, groaning wasn't doing any good.

"What is it?" Skye asked. "What is it doing?" She edged in closer to his flank, trying to discern the purpose of the tubes. She moved back to his restrained head. "A bathroom?"

"Mmm hmmm."

"That's good to know, I've been needing to use it myself. Does it.. hurt?"

"Hmnnn..." he whined.

Skye mantled one of the bathrooms across from Ticker, she wanted to watch him. His squirms and moans had made her quite... aroused. The mare gasped as her hooves were restrained, her head pulled down. There was one difference though; her head was covered with a hood, a cock gag shoved into her muzzle.

She felt what Ticker did, the emptying bladder, the swelling rectal plug, but a devious little surprise made her tug at the bonds. Mare were different, they could become fully aroused without much organ expansion. Her lips still expanded, thickening against the new piercings and becoming slick, rubbing together in the vibrations from a small silicone toy protruding into her nether.

Skye groaned into the gag, pulled at the straps. She was certain that everything had been drained and cleaned, but still the machine still teased her. It built her up and up, the struggles rocking the thick latex suit, its hindquarters smeared with her lust on the interior made it slip and glide over her throbbing lips. The whole Ark would have heard her; perhaps that was why the hood and gag was applied.

Her breath caught in her throat, her burning flank tightened, hooves pulled against the traps as the ripples of orgasm began to arc across her nervous system. Her brain seemed to disconnect from the mental aspect of her life, the Ark disappeared, bindings dissolved and her entire body poured every spare neuron to the highway from the pleasure racking her flank.

Traffic jam. Dead stop. The toy died within her, the power turned off, subsequently her arousal came to a halt. She screamed into the gag, rocking her back side against the padded seat. Cleverly it had dropped away and she was merely waving her tail and nether region in the air.

It took several minutes for her to stop, the sensation had faded and she was culled off. The experience had left its mark, poured some whiskey in her glass, but kept it away from her lips. Heart rate slowed down, and she settled into the bonds in an exhaustion set in. It was only then she was released, from the bonds.

Ticker had been out just thirty seconds prior to her. His muzzle dripping with what appeared to be saliva or nasal discharge that was slowly making it's way down to his chin. Skye hadn't fared much better, her muzzle was smattered with pent up anger from being denied. The two locked eyes, almost communicating their experiences, or at the very least they understood.

"That was... fun." Skye giggled nervously, trying to wipe her muzzle clean while using her hoof to hide her reddening cheeks at the same time.

Before anything more could be said, their collars beeped twice in rapid succession, then again.

"What do you think that means? We didn't do anything wrong."

Ticker began to look around, for an answer. Ponies passed the doorway, more than usual. It would seem that they were all going somewhere. The three moved out into the hallway with them, sticking together as they waded through the sea of ponies.

A quick and brief conversation made it clear that it was time for bed. The lights in the Ark began to slowly dim, the low chatter that was ever present had died down. The less mobile ponies were picked up by a fleet of the bots, carried off to bed.

The apartments were the destination. An age ago, the buildings here would have seen gold and gem inlays, paintings and furniture most decadent. A large chandelier used to hang from the highest level. Crystal daggers of Damoclese reflecting lights brilliantly, now a polycarbonate cover concealing large flood lamps. Sensible, safe lighting. The wallpaper was removed, rubber in its wake.

Ticker began to panic. Ponies were going INTO the apartments, but as they passed the always open doors, there was nothing, nopony to be seen. He began to nuzzle Skye's flank, grabbing her attention. She saw his wide eyes and they stepped out of line. He tried to get across to her that the rooms were empty, despite the occupants that had filed in earlier.

Skye tried to decipher the actions. The pony had pointed to the line, to the room and then he walked around the entire space. She gave a frown and pulled them back into the line.

They followed the pony in front of them, doing as they did, moving and turning. The way everypony had the rhythms down made the actions even more unsettling, and the three of them stand out.

A rush of air filled the room, light began to stream from the spaces between the padding as they moved out from the wall. It looked like one of those prewar beds, a trundle stuck in a wall. Instead of a mattress, even a rubber one, it was two square rubber sheets over a frame, spaced apart enough so that the two ponies that would go in each would not be able to touch eachtoher.

A bot came in, dragging a rather un co-operative zebra wearing a muzzle. He was writhing in the metal arms of the machine, his hooves and torso swaddled in a blue and pale yellow straitjacket. Without a word, the bot edged in beside Ticker and placed the flurry of hooves between the sheets, holding him there as a whine filled the room. Soon the sheet stopped being effected by the zebra as it collapsed around his form. It hugged every curve on his body, sucking tight to show the seams of the suit he was wearing, the jacket's hold on his hooves.

No matter how hard the zebra pulled, the latex was there to pull equally as hard. The best he managed to do was get the encasement bouncing, by only a few inches. His muffled cries had turned into the groans and creaks of latex. The bot affixed an air hose to the muzzle piece and then stood still.

Ticker gulped, looking over to Skye. She had begun to slowly back up, intent to slip from the room. He shook his head at her, knowing what she was going to do, her hatred of small spaces. She then collapsed, her eyes curled up in her head, her rear hooves began to 'paddle'. From the outside she had a pained look across her muzzle, in reality she had fallen over from the rubber hooved sensation of the toy inside of her springing to life.

It over powered her as the bot carefully picked her up, placing her in one of the beds adjacent to Ticker's and then he watched as the air was removed, the muzzle air hose hooked up and then the small movements from the mare inside. It was a playful tugging, wishing her hooves were free to assist in building the sensation between her rear hooves. The 'tray' she was in had another occupant inside and it slipped closed, the door hissing as the padding returned to its omnipresent state.

Ticker slowly made his way inside the bed. The taught lower sheet supported his weight. He looked at the frame, rubber coated pipe with holes drilled into it. Very little light was streaming inside, the zippered slit clacking in the pinchers of the bot's appendage. Soon there was nothing but black.

Ticker heard a whine and began to move his hooves nervously. He couldn't see the black walls closing in, but he felt them. The sheet fell over him, his stomach, the nostrils protruding from the muzzle and hoof tips felt it first. It was cool, but became warm after a few seconds of contact.

The sheet became heavier and heavier. It wrapped around his suit and ears, drawing tight. A decision that the didn't want his hooves at his side cause them to move. But they only moved a few inches, as if he was placed inside a pocket, or a doll, only have the boundary of the outer shell to move.

An extreme sense of claustrophobia set in. It was quite moot to say that it felt as if the walls were pushing in, as they were. The pocket around his head began to shrink, causing him to breath in the same recycled air. Faster and faster, it seemed that his pace in breathing made it consume himself faster.

Soon the two sheets were touching themselves or the occupant. Every inch felt cramped, stuck. The latex stretching to encompass Ticker's frame, pinning his body into an immobile position. He sucked in the latex around his nose, trying to draw in air, but failing. A tickle touched his nose and air was let in, along with anchoring tubes, to make sure that they didn't fall out to have him suffocate.

The now airless sheets had drawn the sagging body tightly upwards, sitting perfectly in the center of the frame. Ticker tugged everywhere he could, hooves, elbows and head. The latex prison had a tiny bit of give, but the rubber's stretch had vanished with the lack of air. He was pulling against two sheets of latex that were sandwiched together, each effort pulled the entire frame. The immense friction of the binding kept him perfectly frozen.

The two ponies inside wobbled as the tray slid into the wall. He could hear the frantic creaking of latex from the zebra beside him. Instead of struggling, Ticker relaxed. There was a constant pressure on all portions of his body, cradled in a binding and warm hug. He was used to the hard ground, a spring tattered mattress or a cloth and always woke up sore.

He let his body meld into the bed, his joints relax and his spine popped, eliciting a moan from his muzzle. The air that escaped from the latex piece and into the bed was quickly ferried away by a silent, constant pull. Ticker's eyes were already closed; the air tubes were pumping in and drawing out. Stress faded, worry was gone and for once in his life, everything let go.

The state of pure blissful rest wasn't even distrubed by the electrical powered toys meand to stimulate and tease to no end couldn't detract from what he felt. The unnerving feeling that started to grow deep inside was even suppressed. The feeling that he was going to like it here, and that was something that he didn't at all feel comfortable with.

Padded Problems

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Most of the Ark was smaller rooms, made even smaller by the padding that lined everything. Moving from room to room had been the only thing that kept the crawling sensation of being trapped from her mind. The stand-by reasons of going into a small area didn't apply here. She couldn't leave when she wanted; there wasn't anything of value or a reward to make the small space 'comfortable' for the duration of her time inside. She just kept moving.

She had managed to figure out that anypony needed to toe the line in here. The swift punishment brought about on her friend, Ticker, had proven that any attempts to escape would be met with a severe and possibly permanent impedance. The hacker unicorn getting muzzled had put them back a day in the least.

Skye wasn't sure when she fell asleep. Lulled into a mindless haze by the events earlier in the day. The tiny vibrator inside her flank had managed to make the entire Ark ordeal bearable at least. Nopony had ever made her feel like that trip to the bathroom. It had turned on a switch she was all too eager to leave powered.

The strange looking beds had her stomach twist into a knot. The longer she stood there, the more powerful the toy inside growled. The balloon in her tail hole swelled up, causing her to lock her jaw to keep from grunting. Her resistance just wasn't there; she was waiting for a level where her head began to swim in lust. That was the only way she was slipping between the rubber sheets.

The black walls had closed in, trapping her in a near motionless state, the toys inside still chattering away. Her hooves so desperately wanted to wander between her thighs and pass out from a well-earned orgasm, but they were trapped, pulled back with an equal strength to what she applied to move them. Exhaustion eventually wrapped her in a thick blanket of sleep.

The morning arrived, or whatever passed as morning inside. The trundle the vac bed was mounted to shook her awake as the door began to slide open. Having your entire body wrapped in a pressure it had never felt before, coupled with the lowered mental capacity as the world began to filter back in after sleep told her to panic.

Skye bucked and twisted in the rubber encasement, still holding as strong as ever. Her screams were stifled by the fact that her muzzle had been clamped shut by the bed itself. Soon her useless movements began to eat up the slow supply of oxygen fed into her nostrils. A buzzing, light headed sensation told her that the mare needed air, and that it needed to be fought for. Instead of fighting, her limbs began to slow down. Her brain was fully awake now, letting her know that it was all right. For the time being at least.

The wait to for relative freedom was rather short. The death grip over her body had finally released and the harsh light from the Ark's ceiling began to stream in through the slit. Without wasting time, she dove through it and onto the soft floor, gasping the no longer impeded air.

"Ticker, Lilly!" She called out, a fear that they had been taken somewhere for some reason built in her chest.

"Here!" Lilly replied cheerfully. Ticker just held out a hoof to help her get up, silent as the previous day. She rose to her hooves with the help.

"Ok." The mare breathed slowly in, calming herself. "Escape is still something we need to find. Did any of you two see anything helpful, a door, a loose piece of wall, anything?" The other ponies shook their head 'no'. "All right..." she paused.

Ticker was always the smart one. He always had an idea, had some way for them to occupy time, search for an answer. How he managed to get that way was a mystery, everypony she knew had a better use for books than reading them, usually starting a fire. Survival was told orally or learned through blood and tears.

"We don't have much to work with here. The only thing we have is all this bu..." She almost did it, almost got one of those things strapped on her muzzle: too close. It was going to happen eventually, now was not the best time. She continued; "...All of this weird stuff and ponies. I say that we try to find out all we can after breakfast. See about finding out the rules and if anypony has escaped, or knows how to."

"What's wrong with this place?" Lilly asked, "I kinda like it here."

"Look at Ticker." Skye pointed over to the unicorn. "He's got that thing on his muzzle and we can't take it off."

"He did break the rules. When you are in a new city or town, you have to follow them." Lilly reasoned, eliciting a sigh from Skye.

"We aren't here because we want to be. The bu... The robots put us here. We never planned to stay and right now we are trapped. We are wearing some of the worst pieces of clothing I have ever seen, it's not very comfortable AND we can't attepmt even get out of it. They did who knows what to us when we were knocked out. They pierced and put some things in our... regions. There are things in our... back sides. Isn't all of that bad enough?"

"We're not dead. Isn't that something?" Lilly reasoned. Ticker, who had been listening to everything, huffed in what sounded like a laugh.

"I want to hit you..." Skye groaned at the unicorn, "But I don't know what will happen if I do."

"If anything," the mare turned back to addressing Lilly. "Tell me that the irritating things that happen, that tease you mare parts need to stop driving you crazy. At least say that."

Lilly turned her head sideways, perhaps not understanding what was said or its meaning. "Like a joke? Or tickling? I HATE tickling."

That was a question Skye had never asked her friend, a question in regards to if she ever had any relations with another pony. It was a moot one at this point, her reply had said enough. "You know, that feeling then a stallion puts his..." Instead of finishing her sentence, the large mare moved her hips in a thrusting motion. It got the message across, but the gasp she emitted as the still slick suit slid across the overstimulated chastised mound rang with a whole new message.

"Oh no. I've never done that." Lilly stated flatly. "It looks disgusting, all that... stuff that comes out, can't be good."

How Ticker's jaw seemed to fall open with the muzzle locked tightly around his head seemed insane. Perhaps it was his wide eyes that made it seem that way. Skye was equally confused to this revelation; she went around to the back of the smaller mare and looked at the suit's rear.

Instead of a tight thick material pressed against piercings, she saw a petite normal plot. What appeared to be a zipper with a lock at the top, just under her tail's beginning was there instead. The latex also hung a bit loose, allowing it to flex with her body instead of grind sensually against it. Nothing was stuffed inside, she was unhindered.

"You've never had the pleasure?" Skye, who was still shocked, said.

"No, I said it looks disgusting. Something that comes out like that, can't feel good." The mere thought of such an act had soured her expression, twisting her ears flat against her head.

"How do you go to the bathroom then?" Skye asked, a logical question.

"A robot comes when I need to. It seems they know when I have to go. It opens up the wall and there is a toilet there. Don't eat that roll of white stuff, it doesn't taste too good."

"What?!" The verbal expulsion minimized the equally surprised snort from the stallion.

"Move along residents. Nocturnal rest is over. Breakfast will be served in precisely thirty minutes. Comply." The loudspeaker of a bot whined right in the group's ears.

"Ok, ok!" Skye immediately began to move away from the now closed bed and into the main area with haste. Ticker and Lilly followed at her heels, taking care not to move TOO fast. That was punishable.

"So, they just take you to a part of the Ark that isn't this thick stuff? What's there? Can you see anything else?"

"No, it's just a bathroom, but it's a really nice one. It's not destroyed or anything." Lilly replied as they slowed to a trot. Ticker had fallen behind, not too far though, his head lowered and his sides heaving as he slowly moved forward. Just another reason not to get muzzled.

They made it into the large vaulted area where they met the zebra, who was almost near the same position as before, this time unfettered. A silent unanimous agreement from the three steered them away from him. Most of the same ponies were in the same place, the ones incapable of moving anyway. It would seem that they had formed groups; either new ones or they stuck near their friends.

Some of them had a look of utter desperation on their faces, constantly moving their hind quarters. Skye guessed that it was to alleviate the things inside them. If they had been here a while, there was no doubt they were feeling worse than she did in the recreational area. Escape was great, but a weight had been building in her plot since she entered, and it began to overpower most other feelings. It was just a tingle for the time being.

Skye pulled in close to whisper, knowing that Lilly was going to become rather popular if anypony outside their group heard it. "So they take you outside this area to use the bathroom..." It was more of a musing statement than a question. "That is probably the best news so far. Can you tell me anything odd about the room. Vents, windows and maybe a computer?"

"I can't remember. Everything looks so new in there. Maybe there was a vent but I don't know what an Ark vent looks like."

"They are roundish and look like a giant hoof print."

"Oh yes! I saw one! It was big too. If it was gone I could fit inside."

Skye and Ticker looked at each other; the mare was smiling almost ear to ear. The stallion's rolled flesh from the tight bands moved slightly, he was either smiling or trying to.

"Ok. Next time you need to use the bathroom, just take a look at the vent. See if you can tell how it's held on and if it can come off easily."

"Ok!" The small earth pony said. "But I am getting hungry, let's go eat. The apple stuff was really good yesterday."

"Sounds good. After that you can take us to where the door is so we can look at it." Skye grinned. This was the best news so far. She led the two companions to the hall, having been 'elected' the leader for the time being since the brains of the group was silent for the rest of the day.

As before, the canteen was packed, finding an area where they were side by side was tough, eventually finding a spot. The question of why Lilly wasn't buggered like they were rang in Skye's head. She inspected the rows and rows of pony flanks, peeking under the colorful tails as she went by. She only found a single mare, in the perhaps hundreds of plots she gazed at, that was also free of a new set of labial jewelry. Not an answer, but somepony to talk to later on. Why Lilly was unteased was simply not fair.

Ticker was a bit confused as to how it was going to work with his situation, but a rather quick hoof found a small metal port on the side of the muzzle he hadn't noticed before. He was the first to go in again, the proverbial cripple to the lion and sounded that all was fine.

Skye closed her eyes; she never wanted to see that inside of that small... huge open area inside there. With muzzle open, the machine went to work and the tip of the 'feeding' tube went in. This one felt bigger. Last night she was able to swallow and the phallic tube was down her throat, this one stretched her maw open to a near painful level.

Further and further it went, pushing every bit of flesh it came across outward and tightly along the shaft. It was too damned big, the pressure it created in her neck felt as if it was meant to strangle her, her vision becoming blurry as her heart began to work harder and push the blood past the obstruction.

Outside, her hooves moved nervously, trying not to beat at the piece that lowered into place to trap her there. Instinctively her body told her to pull out, but as much as her hooves pushed backwards she went nowhere. The massive thing stopped, having forced its way to the position and spilled out the morning's food into her stomach, filling it to the brim with all the vitamins and minerals a pony could need.

It was a liquid of course, nothing to choke on if it came back up. The feeding tube looked like a semi-flared stallion's cock for one reason. A twin set of tubes ran down the center, one for the food and the other for air. The Ark adapted, over the hundreds of active years, as many ponies had choked, sometimes to death, by chewing and ingesting food on their own. Not to mention the eating utensils, very sharp, very deadly. This was the safest way for a pony to eat. In the near century since its implementation, there have been no accidents or deaths using this extremely safe method.

Gritting her teeth was impossible, but she still bit down on the tube and merely waited for it to retract. Soon the cock broke free from her maw and she smacked her tongue against the liquid that had spurted out upon withdraw to swallow it. Like a cloth stretched past it's prime, her throat felt larger, open and oddly empty.

Skye licked her lips and chin clean of the puree of peaches and waited for the lock around her neck to open. There was no baseline for normal yet, but last night the machine filled her up and let her go. This seemed to be taking a bit longer. Quietly she waited, tugging at the bond every few seconds until a hiss made her bolt backwards.

"For the love..." She stopped herself, holding her muzzle from flapping wasn't easy, it was necessary however, as her muzzle was by far the worst of the group. "All right. Lilly, Ticker let's..." another pause. The stallion had vanished, the bay where he had been fed was empty. "Where did he go?"

She looked around desperately, trying to find trace of him. Lilly searched as well, though the larger mare's urgency hadn't been passed on. Most of the other ponies were still in the wall and hadn't seen anything.

With a limited vocabulary, she began to stutter out half-words and vowels. There was just no way it was possible for her to vocalize 'Why is the bucking place so bucking horrible?' without using enough swear words to run up a muzzle for a week's worth of time.

"We... we need to find him." Skye murmured, her eyes searching, darting from flank to flank in the area for her friend’s tail color. Halfway through, the other residents began to be let loose and make an orderly search impossible.

"Where do you think he went?" Lilly asked, trying to move the opposite way through the sea of exiting ponies. Chatter drown out anything Skye could hear, separating the two ponies left in a loud mess.

When the room was nearly empty, Skye had realized that both her friends were missing. Her heart began to pump in an odd rhythm, faster than she felt before, twisting in her chest and squeezing a coating of bile into the back of her throat.

There was a thought building in her head, she either needed to scream or run. One of those choices seemed logical, the reasons why it seemed to be the thing to do was unknown, it felt right. Her leaden hooves were ready to respond, carry her somewhere that was not here.

"I didn't see him leave. He had to go before we were done eating." A voice called out from behind her.

Skye didn't remember jumping, flying through the air. She just remembered that things skipped to a lovey view of the padded floor and giving her muzzle a good rub. The whole even hurt as much as flopping down into a pillow. Lilly gave her a hoof up from the floor, seeming as equally confused.

"Are you all right? You jumped really high, almost hit the roof!"

"Yea... j-just got scared. I need to sit down."

The walk to what she could begin to call the 'normal' area had been slower than normal. Her hooves felt unsteady and seemed to have as much give as the floor itself. This was the closest room to that small padded cell they were in, close to what they felt was the exit.

Instead of taking a seat on one of the many empty raised benches, Skye opted to back herself into a corner of the large room, face mostly hidden against the wall. Lilly sat down near the flank of the reclined mare.

"Do you think he did something? Got put into one of those isolation things they talked about yesterday?"

Skye didn't say a word. She shrugged and sniffed hard from under a hoof, trying to hide it. The collar around her neck let out a low beep, she almost missed it.

"What's wrong?" Lilly turned to her friend, seeing the start of tears form in the corners of her eyes.

A stirring began in Skye's loins, nothing that would cause her to roll around in a sexual trance, but rather a pleasant tickle. It began to remove the feeling of mental desperation, forcing her to part her lips in a smile. A momentary reprieve at least.

"I'm... I just don't want to be here." She grinned a bashful smile, trying to hide her flank deeper in the wall.

"I'm not smart," Lilly stated, "I let you do the talking with Ticker, about all the smart pony stuff that I have no idea about. The computer stuff and maps, things like that. There are a few things I can do well. For all the good it does and the fun it is, beating the life out of a pony who wants you dead is not really a skill. Not like the skills you and Ticker have."

"I think that everypony needs to talk more and fight less. In here, nopony wants to kill you for doing something wrong, or stealing food, the robots just tie you up for a while, try and teach you a lesson. I think that is better than having your teeth kicked in."

Skye didn't feel much better after the little speech. It seemed that Lilly had resigned herself to living here, but it wasn't without a good thought. She was right, it was safe here. Safe to the point that everything inside was dreadfully boring. There was no way that she was going to ask to be put in one of the horrid entrapments to try and liven things up.

"I'm going to try and get out of here still. There's nothing to do down here anyway." Lilly remarked. "Let me show you the door. Then we can look for Ticker a bit more."

"Ok. I hope he didn't get himself in a mess." Skye said, pushing up from the floor. "I'll follow you." she smiled as her rear hooves began to slide the suit across her agitated flank, teasing her into a light headed haze.

"It was here somewhere..." Lilly said, looking about the wall. It was along the large corridor that ringed the main rooms, where an Ark was expected to have a bathroom, between two larger rooms, to service them both. The small mare walked along the wall, pushing her side into each pad, collapsing a mare shaped hole that reformed after a few seconds. It seemed like she was tipsy, but when one of the large pads thunked before sinking in, Skye knew what she was doing.

"Here it is." lilly whispered.

"Hey..." a foreign voice said. The two mares froze, as if caught with their hooves in a snack cake jar. "I want to apologize about yesterday; this place can make ponies... odd."

It was the insane zebra. Today he seemed more stable, and normal. The mo-hawk mane, fluffled lazily about, still imparted a sense of being not all together mentally. He stood stock still, wearing the same thick blue and dull yellow ringed Ark suit. Though around his neck was a weathered and beaten collar, it looked older than her's. Instead of the thick metal band with squared off edges, his was rounded, the paint had become flaked off.

"Where are you headed?" he asked, keeping a distance from them, as not to offend.

"We are... looking for our friend, Ticker. You were in the same thing as he was last night and after breakfast he was gone. Seemed that he was taken while he was eating, haven't seen him since." Skye said, hoping to lead the conversation away from the wall Lilly was meaning on.

"Oh, yea. The muzzled unicorn. He's lucky to still have his horn, usually they go wild and try to get the studding ring off, have to get it removed. Or they wind up nuking their brain, forcing the magic to feedback inside their skull. After that they become perfect reisdents... I haven't seen him..."

"But-" he interjected before they could say anything. "But it does sound like he was taken for a medical exam. Sometimes it's easier to wrangle a pony if they are stuck. Did he have a problem at all?"

"Ticker did have glasses, lost them before we were put here. He asked one of those bots if he could get a new pair." Lilly said, reminding Skye of it as well.

"Ah, I wouldn't worry then. As long as he didn't fight or kick, he'll be back as his muzzled self with new glasses." The zebra reassured. "If not, he'll be in isolation for a few hours."

"How long have you been here?" The large mare asked, a prequalifying question for later ones.

"I can't tell. I lost count after the first few months. Long enough to know most all of the rules here. Broken quite a few myself early on and been through all of the paces. Was there something you wanted to know?"

"Yea," Skye said after a thought. "What IS isolation?"

"Ponies that tend to fight and destroy Ark property, which is quite literally everything and everpony inside, they get put into one of a few places. There are a few ways to be isolated, but usually they all have one thing in common. You are deprived of all your senses; hearing, speech, taste, smell and restricted or completely immobile."

"Isolation is a heavy offense. Anypony in it has a minimum time they must spend in there, two days. It's quite relaxing when you are able to let yourself go." He added. "I would recommend that you try it at least once during your stay here." Skye thought about that, the meaning and began to think the worst for Ticker. There was no way she was going into a space that small willingly.

"My name is Lilly, what is yours?" She interrupted.

"It's Zephyr. Wow, been so long since I've heard my name said out loud. And you?" He asked the large mare.

"It's Skye. I guess it's nice to meet you then, considering all the silence we have gotten."

"That is normal. Ponies here tend to form groups based on the arrivals. Several ponies arriving within a period of time make friends because they are all new, the only common thing they have together. They form a group, sometimes talk to others at first about escape and go from there. They may talk to you."

"Allright, I guess we can try that. Try and learn how to not get tied up so we can get out of here faster."

Zephyr laughed, for a good long minute it was all he could do. "Ponies don't escape. They try to, I tried. You get to a certain point and you realize its do or die. So you go further, knowing you have to escape. Everpony gets caught, like I did."

"Then you struggle and make it so much worse. You come out of an isolation time where you can't remember how long it was. You kinda wake up on the floor in a hall. So many new faces around, you might have been so far gone that you stayed on the floor for a few days, the bots putting you were you need to be for food and sleep. And you don't want to go through that again; the first few days sticking in your brain can be quite the reason why you don't want to go back. That means stopping attempts to escape."

Skye was silent. Alone from hating the idea of being bound, being that way for a long period of time. She didn't want to think about that and moved onto a more pleasant topic. "So, why does the suit randomly make me... aroused."

"It's so you can only concentrate on it. They drive all the mares and stallions into a sense of 'heat'. Ponies are less likely to fight if they have the potential to feel one of the greatest feelings in Equestria. It's just a constant teasing to keep you in that frame of mind."

"So it won't let you... finish. That is why there are those piercings, why my hoof doesn't really help?" Skye didn't want to say that, the thought sunk her heart lower into her chest, her ears hanging at the side of her head.

"Sometimes you do. It's random as who gets to have fun, though having a few strikes is a good thing. Having alot of them really hurts your chance. You can even turn in your points for one, but it costs alot." Zephyr informed.

"Though you'll wish that you hadn't halfway through. Days strapped into a machine and completely numb afterwards, an attempt to make up for what you don't get normally. It very quickly becomes a cycle you want to repeat, it being the only exciting thing in the Ark. There are some ponies here that grow to like that stuff."

"There are ponies that like being tied up?" Lilly asked, scrunching her muzzle at the thought.

"It's possibly the only exciting thing in here. There are even friends that have a time challenge, how long they can stay like that." the zebra explained. "It's the only thing in here we get to do really. Blind 'races', tag and just a pony stumbling around are quite entertaining."

Skye shook her head while Lilly became entranced with the idea of that entertainment being as twisted as it was.

"So, how did you try and escape?" Skye shifted the conversation.

"I noticed that the bots used to go into a service door in the wall. I stood near it and bolted inside after the last one of the night went through. They know where you are inside the Ark, but outside they have to have the bots scan you, looking for the collar. I managed to sneak by most of the attending bots for the Ark, as they were all down in maintenance or recharging for the night."

"There is a massive network of tunnels, doors to the Ark interior all over these tunnels. Store rooms with the restraints nearby. I worked around and found a massive maintenance bay. It was filled with parts, new and old, all of the bots from all over the Ark come there."

"I followed the tunnels out into several areas. There were no marked ones anywhere. I went to the Arboritum where the food is grown. A large complex with underground trees and farms. I suspect that the Ark used that area for all the rubber in here, planting rubber trees as it needed. There was a massive seed storage bay, pre-war untainted seeds. And they are constantly being refilled. Food for the entire Ark."

"I was lost, wandering into the storage area, where all the things from the ponies outside are stored in bins and shelves. I know they take ponies from the wastes, because I was there once, and so were the rest. I eventually found the mining tunnels, where they dig up the ores for smelting then repair. As well as the minerals that are lacking in the greenhouse soil; the vitamins and so on."

"That was where I was found. I went through tunnel after tunnel, trying to find a way out. I ran into a group of the mining bots, got scanned. All Cerber... stuff broke loose. I was chased for an age, cutting up the suit rather bad, that prooved to be my undoing. Tripping on a loose shred, knocking myself out."

"I woke up back in the Ark, a new suit was put on and then several other things. I was read off a list of offenses. Hood, gag, straitjacket, other things I couldn't tell you cause I couldn't see after that. Earplugs... I was put into an isolation cell. I never was able to hear the list of offenses, but as long as the bots held me still, it must have been huge."

"Inside the box, immobile, I was teased endlessly. Food and waste taken away, it was made so I wouldn't have to leave. It must have been months or years, after the first few weeks you lose count. Constantly aroused, the blackness was no longer sleep or from overstimulation, it was a period where you were safe from the haze of hormones. I'd felt I had drooled along the inside of my suit."

"Then you just wake up at some point. Getting out of isolation, or on the floor of the Ark. It's hard after that, adjusting to something you weren't able to feel. I wanted more of that; it was too loud, too bright. I spent a slow time acclimating back to the normal world. It's not something you would understand, that there is a feeling of safety you get like that."

Skye had to stop listening to him after a while, it became too depressing. She still heard it, but had disconnected from its meaning. It had already been enough to make her start shaking. The small boxes, trapped. She didn't notice somepony walking up to them.

It wasn't until her head was guided towards the new arrival that she snapped back into reality. Skye had to state for a bit to remember who it was, the new part of the face she remembered was what had caused the confusion. It was Ticker, sporting new glasses, but still mute. He looked better, relieved, this made her feel better.

"Ticker!" She exclaimed, throwing her hooves around his neck as he grunted. She held him for a while, the only real hope she had for their escape. "Lilly found something." she whispered in his ear, still placing no trust in the zebra. "I'll tell you more once Zephyr leaves, but Lilly's suit is going to be the reason we get out."

Ticker raised his eyebrows and pushed the tussled glasses up back on his muzzle. He wanted to hear about it, get some plan moving.

"That your friend?" Zephry asked.

"Yea." Lilly and Skye said together.

"I think he was gone because of the glasses. He was probably tested and then held while glasses were made. That's why he's been gone so long."

"Allright, well this was fun. Thanks for all the information. If we need anymore, I'll be sure to find you."

"Yep, no problem. I'm one of three zebras in the Ark, it's easy to find me. And the only zebra with dark purple stripes." He turned around slowly slogged off on the blue padded floor. Once out of sight she turned to Ticker.

"Ok, Lilly doesn't have the annoying stuff on her flank. Don't ask why. But she gets escorted to a real bathroom when she has to go. There is one right behind this padding." She moved over to the wall and gave it a soft push, letting the padded door move on its hinges and clunk every so softly.

Ticker was at the padding in a second, his hooves carefully pulling a space so he could try and look inside. The light was off, and there wasn't enough outside to cast any in the room. He nodded vigorously.

"Lilly says there is a vent inside. Zephyr, the zebra, said that he got out of the Ark once. Says there are a lot of tunnels with doors in the walls. They all seem to lead to a maintenance bay, which can be followed outside to the tunnels. It's a way out. All Lilly has to do is open a door and let us in once she finds a different door to this area."

Ticker shook his head 'no'.

"No? No what?"

He tapped his muzzle and then made a circular motion on the ground.

"Wait?" Skye asked. Ticker nodded. "No, we need to do something now. What if tomorrow Lilly is locked up or something, what if I am? We have to do something now."

Ticker just shook his head again, making the clock on the floor. Skye was angered, she wanted to move, this idea of waiting was shit. Perhaps he knew something she didn't. Sitting around was going to be hard until tomorrow.

"Okay, we'll wait," Skye huffed. She got up from off the ground and started towards the main hall. The rest followed as they made a way to a bench of sorts and sat there.

"So..." Skye said, breaking the silence between them. "Zephyr says that some ponies really like this stuff, or they grew to like it. They even have little games."

"That sounds fun to watch." Lilly added.

Ticker turned his head slightly, not wanting to show the red from his cheeks.

Skye turned her head back to the general space in the room. The conversation died with no real interest in having Lilly talk about how fun it was, those were two words that didn't belong together. She began to knead her front hooves, pressing nervously in on the floor. The vibrator inside had been going off for a while now.

Her teeth were clenched in an uneasy scowl, lips twitching as she tried to not think of arousal. To not think of how much she wanted to rock back and forth, use the sopping wet suit to stimulate her lips. She didn't want to think of something real slipping gently inside, to massage her mare flesh with a real sense of accomplishment, of trying to do more than tickle one area. She wanted just thirty seconds to herself, unhindered by the jewelry, to let this slick rubber hoof touch her flowing heated lips. Slide around and finish her off.

"...lunch time." Lilly said, breaking her concentration, drawing her focus down to her friend. "I said its lunch time."

Skye looked around, and it was true. Ponies were shuffling off to the holes in the wall. She didn't want to go, but her stomach made the decision, moving her hooves seemingly by themselves.

Stomach full soon afterwards, they returned to the hall and did nothing again.

Their silence was broken when a pony approached another. Either there was an accident or it was on purpose, but one of them landed on the ground and yelled out to the other. Soon a flurry of hooves was flying at the first two, the rest of the ponies involved were pulling them off of each other, trying to stop the event before the bots caught on.

The collars started beeping and soon it was too late. At least a dozen bots began to file into the area, carrying restraints in their free limbs. Some ponies had been stopped in their tracks, the devices inside them springing to life and paralyzing them with pleasure. Others managed to ignore them and scurried off, they were not followed.

The bots began a clattering noise of reading off the ponies offenses. The two that had to be pulled apart were forced into the straitjackets and muzzled with a variety of muzzles with the large 'feeding' tubes attached. Some were taken off, writhing in the restraints and trying to loose themselves from the robot's grip. Others were left on the floor.

Some were taken to a medical bay, others to isolation for a few hours to cool down. If they had paid attention to the faces, one would be able to tell when they arrived back in the general area. As far as Skye knew, she would never see any of them again. Lilly however, was over near the ponies that had been restrained and left, asking them questions, the ones that were capable of answering did.

"She thinks this is fun." Skye told Ticker, "I think she wants to try some of that stuff out, for fun."

Ticker huffed.

"We can't let her do that. If she is our only escape option, then we need to keep her from getting in trouble and even asking to wear something."

Ticker nodded.

"I have to use the bathroom. Could you come with me?"

The unicorn moved his head towards Lilly then shook his head. He wanted to stay and watch her.

"Ok... ok." Skye nodded. She moved away slowly, to see if the two were catching up to her. She didn't want to go alone, she wanted to watch everyone, make sure they were safe and capable of performing their roles in the upcoming break out. Because tomorrow morning, Ticker was going to be able to talk, they would come up with something that would get them out.

But that was only if she was keeping them safe. Going to the bathroom alone, not being able to see if they were in trouble. Because Ticker couldn't talk her out of it, if Lilly asked to be bound. She was going to have to be there to stop that, and going to the bathroom meant she wasn't going to protect them.

She was losing control.

She mounted the foam 'seat' and let it bind her. The quicker this was over, the quicker she could protect her friends. The arms placed a hood on her, pushed the gag fitted muzzle over her snout and lock to the back of her head. Hoses in the rear attached and established a connection.

Because the sooner she was free, the sooner she could lie down and rub herself into an orgasm so that she could think clearly. Because the constant shifting of her suit across her wet lips was the only thing in her mind, there was no pushing it out of her head.

The rectal toy swelled, then the hot water rushed in, filling her to the brim so that all the waste could drain out, leaving her sparklingly clean on the inside. The weight of all the water pushed down, pressing her uterus walls tightly together. The constant stream of arousal fluids carried the vibration deeper into her, stimulating more than normal.

She cried out against the gag, cried for a release that so desperately needed to come right now. To seek the same relief as her bladder, to purge itself of the long awaited buildup pressing outward. Flood itself, the tense muscles finally collapsing in pleasure, having held for as long as they did.

Every muscle in her plot was enlarged, having bene told to orgasm, but never taken there, loading them up with more and more stress to endure. They were asking to be relieved, quivering with each second longer they held onto this burden. So it was important that those trillions of little cries, all sending information up to the brain that they were stressed. An endless stream of information that began to clog her mental capacity to do nothing but orgasm, input/output. Orgasm was the output, nothing else.

Wait a second; she was supposed to be looking after her friends. How could she forget something so important? It was the orgasm, that's what it was! It had and was even now distracting her.

Friends. She shook her head, got to get back to them. She was already free to go. Never remembering when the bathroom bondage had ended. Skye pushed herself up and made it her soul mission to find them, pushing that constant though that was always there, the orgasm out of her head.

To a lesser relief, she found her friends exactly where they had been left. Entertained by a spontaneous 'blind race', the ponies stumbled over themselves more than anything, cheering from the drove them to win nothing. The reward was the satisfaction of their friends watching. The floors and hoods were made so that nopony could ever get hurt from this, even if they were trying their best to actually hurt the others.

They'd circle around the winner and congratulate him. Give him a gift knowing they were made happy by his actions. Nopony was hurt and they all had the glowing feeling that each of them knew had a good time with this event. The Ark seemed to radiate at these times, the lights just a few clicks higher, cheers and laughter was honest.

Skye closed her eyes for a second, realizing that maybe this was the purpose of the Ark. Where ponies began to bond with each other, find out who they are and what they like. They had made up their minds that there was nothing else to do, making friends the highest priority. To hear of wondrous new adventures, true or false. To learn new jokes, ones that had never heard because it was funny where that pony was and it didn't get spread around.

To seek that kind of friendship where a simple look, a hello, a nod and sometimes even a presence if they were senseless. That they would remember what they had shared, what they had, all summed up in a split second. Its own personal feeling, it is so unique and pleasurable on either a physical or mental way.

Or that they were all cruel bastards and... CELESTIA OF THE SUN, WHY DOES THIS THING ALWAYS BUZZ AT THE WRONG TIME! She began to yell at her own body, that thought being there again. It came back with the vibration of the toy. Rearing its ugly head again.

Her hooves weren't kneading ceaselessly in the padding anymore. Her body had curled up, leaning on her side atop the padded bench. Her hooves helping the fabric slip over her mare parts faster than rocking could ever do. She was bent on all out stimulation, grunting into each thrust and return. Nothing else was there, her brain locked into getting her to orgasm, there was nothing to recognize the walls or the floor, her friends. There was nothing but the sweet release.

Almost there. The toy had stopped forever and the frenzied carnal groans became faster and faster as she felt her entire flank seize up as the muscles were releasing all of the tension. Her hooves stopped, they weren't there anymore, and they stopped massaging her. Why? What happened?

She saw shapes, her vision starting to come back. A large black shape loomed towards her and it didn't stop. Her hooves slid down into the sleeves easily. Slick polished latex slid over the suit, leaving little space between them. Her hooves felt heavier in some way, and as she was pushed on her front, they began to slide across her torso. Against her will, she wanted them to finish herself off.

She growled at this, no words could be formed yet, so it's what she did. The straps on the back of the straitjacket fell into place, cradling her torso in a relentless bond, removing the use of her hooves. A shape near her was different, somepony was standing over her, moving its head. It wasn't the one binding her. It was somepony else.

Her mouth was held shut and something slipped over it. It clamped down hard around her muzzle's length, the gel padding inside in little bubbles shifted to make all parts of her maw equally compressed, a perfect seamless clamp. Skye's mane was ruffled as the strap tightened and locked, silencing her.

Things began to make more sense. Ticker was hovering near her, following her. Wait, where was she going? His eyes had water in them, and he was saying something. It sounded like a continuous moan.

Skye craned her head around, seeing a metal arm of a robot grasping her back, the straitjacket. She also had a decent view of the glowing blue hover coils. No. She was being taken somewhere... NO!

Skye struggled. NO! She couldn't be taken somewhere. Ticker was going to be able to help in the morning, he was running alongside her, for what reason she didn't know, there was nothing any of them could do.

Eventually they stopped. Ticker began to try and pick her up, move her away from the damned bots. He managed to get her massive form over his shoulder, she was able to see that this was that room in the top of the Ark, the ones they didn't want to go to. Ticker was approached by a bot, she couldn't understand what it was saying; her senses were coming back at a reduced rate.

Ticker let her go, or she fell. There was no way to know. Skye was too horrified by what was going on to look around. Feeling as a passenger just watching as what the world wanted to show you, the pure dread pushing your ability to move out of your control.

Ticker seemed to seize up, his hooves dropping gently to the ground. The robots wrapping his torso in a straitjacket as well. He struggled though, more than she did.

Skye was picked up, and pointed to an open doorway, the inside of which seemed like a shriveled blue raisin was in, the latex padding limply hanging in the box. Unfilled gel padding, waiting to swallow a pony into its maw. Make them just a thought in a box, nothing more.

A black shape loomed in front of her head, a wrinkle of latex shining in the light. It was pushed over hear head, a click as something attached to the port on the side of her muzzle. The hood was pulled on and her world turned pitch black.

Skye was moved into what she knew was that cell. She was held momentarily as the limp latex began to swell with fluid. The thick gel was warm as it began to coat her; it was special and could be controlled to keep her comfortable. Each part began to wrap and pin the hooves into the two other cells, creating the perfect seal across her limbs. The arm withdrew and there was a pause, as something was happening.

Thick gel began to plop on her head, well inside the inner part of the inflatable hood, but it was thin enough to feel like it was drizzling on her head. It filled up to her eyes as she closed them, the pressure starting to push inward already.

She grunted as the rings in her flank were removed one by one, her swollen lips flowered outward, releasing their full form. An annoying twitch pulsed in her rectum; that was out as well. The relief was not long lived as two cold toys forced their way inside, burying themselves deep, the belt they were attached to was laced around her flank and locked on the opposite side, the device was now firmly attached inside of her.

The two large members began to inflate with cold gel, forcing a spasm from its temperature. It began to push her track outwards. But the door was shut and the entire cell began to press down on her from every angle. These two forces, the toys and the cell, began to work together, completely flattening her vaginal tract out perfectly.

Every fold, every wrinkle and imperfection was laid flat against the stallion shaped toy inside of her so that every part could be targeted and massaged. Small jets inside the center of the toy could spray gel at any area it targeted. Small puffs of sped up gel pushed the thin walls of the toys softly, vibrating as they went.

The rest of the cell had jets inside it as well; able to massage any muscle it had near complete access to. Every part of her body would be writhing pleasurably as they reach a level of ecstasy they have never experienced before.

This was why the ponies didn't want to leave. Once they were in Skye's position, and everything felt as it did. Every part of your being was at rest and peaceful. The world outside was meaningless, they didn't know what it meant to be truly pain free, feeling only pleasure.

Skye's vision wasn't black, she was in a state where everything was right, shedding a warm glow over her entire being, erasing all the darkness. The belt she was wearing went to work, the jets inside beginning to target her walls and give the sensation that she was being penetrated by the largest stallion in the history of Equestria. Every part of her compressed muscle was massaged.

Down near the bottom of her tunnel was a small bump. Almost imperceptible to even the aided eye, but the toy saw it, the computer felt it. That one-ten millionths discrepancy. It had a special grouping of jets, rather than send out the pulses of gel, they were miniature speakers, emitting a pulse of sound vibrations into the gel, targeted at that one special area. The nerve center of the g-spot.

It worked agonizingly slow, bringing her to near orgasm in the space of an hour. Dinner had already been pumped into her stomach through the muzzle port. Then it brought her to the edge. Vibrating and massaging every portion of her at a rate of near perfect efficiency, any more would send her over.

Skye's desperation was contained, even the powerful mare couldn't move even an inch in the compression of the gel. Everything was being touched, massaged and was being brought to an orgasm of its own, a little signal sent to the brain where the muscle could relax and say 'We don't need anything more, everything down here is fine. Relax for a while'.

For hours it built her up in this way, making sure that every muscle was ready with repeated stimulation. A long overdue wake up call.

Soon it reached the peak. Every part of her body was vibrating at that maximum capacity. The last tiny electron was added to all of the circuits, driving them to maximum efficiency.

Skye exploded in a wash of exctasy.

The world around her disappeared, her body, the orgasm, the containment. None of it was real anymore. She was just existing, free from her body. There were no more distractions, no more signals to her brain, nothing to cause any part of her to worry, nothing to cause anything to feel bad. Even her thoughts were not present. She was aware of them, but could not access a single point to focus on. They were distractions.

In this place where nothing was, Skye was there. Her muzzle open, screaming in a level of volume inside that wanted to escape, to transmit itself to every soul to hear. To tell them what this felt like, that being in this state where everything is perfection, is something they want. A message to the universe of pure bliss, only able to reach this level of pleasure and content by experiencing this.

This message, this invitation reached those within the area, filled them with a sense of calm, a small portion of this. In the hopes that it would eventually lead them here, lead them to her experience. She even heard tiny whispers in this level of consciousness, whispers that Ticker knew what she felt, and she heard him in his glory.

Slowly this feeling faded, letting her know that she was still in the cell, but that didn't matter. Her body came back to her slowly, each part ringing as the sense was restored and she was able to tell where they were mentally.

Everything was numb, the tired worn-out numb that stung each muscle as they attempted movement. She could still feel the heartbeat in her flank, pounding stiff even after the orgasm. The giant gob of liquid pleasure had spread out against her flank, coating it entirely.

She groaned in pleasure into the gag. It was silent, but she still felt it, felt what it meant, a deep winded sigh to express her content. She let herself hang in the gel as it was. No adjusting it, just a weightless feeling of comfort. She began to nod off; everything had taken its toll, leaving her without energy.

This was going to set her back from getting out by a few days, but this was going to be the best few days she would ever have. It was just something that was going to happen; there was no hatred towards the thing. She was just waiting for more of what happened before.

She slipped into an effortless sleep. Never knowing when it started, she just passed out.

Soon enough gel reached its maximum pressure, every part of her body immobile. It was impossible to open the door from the outside, the immense pressure pushing the locking pins against the frame, cemented firmly in by concrete.

Bad thing was, the increased pressure of the gel meant that the air to her lungs had to be pressurized as well, to keep from crushing her lungs, mixing nitrogen into the air so that it was thicker and compressed. Any old world diver would know what that meant. It meant that for the pressure, there was a time period you had to wait, slowly lowering the amount of nitrogen so it wouldn't be deadly if the pressure was pulled off all together.

Though this meant nothing her. To the computer it meant everything. It meant that her first time offense of four hours would turn into another eight for decompression. And in eight hours she wouldn't be ready to get out; the bots were not activated yet at one in the morning. So the computer adjusted her time so that she would be spending several more hours inside, several more cautious hours of decompression. It would leave her in a pressure of a few pounds, something that she could shake easily if it vanished.

It wasn't a setback, she was going to get free with Ticker and then once there, they could plot a course to escape.

Wait, why were they trying to escape?

Fettered Friends

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Lilly watched in equal parts horror and interest as her two friends were strapped tight and dragged to the uppermost level. Following far enough away from the bots to not be considered 'interfering', she felt helplessly swept away. To interfere would mean she would be joining them, in whatever fate they shared.

Why didn't they stop? The robots told them to, told them what they did was wrong. 'Cease this destructive motion, comply or be detained.' It told Skye, she was, after all, using both her hooves to pull the suit away from her crotch. It was like she wasn't there, wasn't listening.

Ticker tried to stop her from doing that, trying to pull both her hooves away. The poor unicorn's strength was no match for the determined mare. Still, he tried. 'Resident,' the bot said to him 'You are being detained for assault, comply.' Dumb thing couldn't tell he was trying to stop her. That was how he got in trouble.

Both of them had their front hooves wrapped up and taken to the isolation are at the very top of the Ark. They were put in a box, inside the wall. The panicked volume at which they were screaming was stifled by the muzzles on them. Fighting what little they could, the box seemed to collapse on them like a hungry maw. Slowly they disappeared into the expanding walls. Then the door was shut, and nopony would ever know they were in there.

But they were there; trapped in a hell that nopony knew until they were in it. Trapped in a singular experience where nopony could describe its horrible nature. They say nothing about it, nothing at all. Ponies who wonder what was done to the silent ones, something that would paralyze them with fear, as it would seem. It also may be a world of pleasure, she didn't know, didn't want to risk it being bad.

Still, it was just for a four hour session. But the bots weren't awake when they were going to need out. They all disappeared for the night, except for a maintenance crew. The maintenance crew wasn't programmed for that. So they were going to have to stay in there until morning, or longer.

Lilly knew that she wasn't going to be able to get them out. There were no buttons to open the door, no tools anywhere to crack the door open. The few heavy thuds she was able to get on it were completely lost inside the thick padding on its face. She had to run after that, the bot started talking. And she didn't want to go in the wall.

All of these events happened yesterday. Now it was past lunch and neither Ticker nor Skye had returned. It was way past the time they should be out. Then again, weren't the first time offenses longer?

She was strong, but not capable of what Ticker was, and just barely Skye. The wasteland was nothing like pre-war, the tales of Ark ponies and stories told of the pre-war ponies not wanting to read. It was possibly the single most useful tool in the arsenal. What pony would not want to learn to read? She hadn't found anypony to teach her, and that stopped her from learning much of anything in a book. This had her listening more, trying to discern what information is usable and what isn't.

There was none of that now, nothing new to take in. Still she paced slowly throughout the large halls, looking for her friends. She began to fill that space in her head with a thought she loved so much.

She imagined from tales of the old world, that she was a tree pony. The ones that knocked over trees with her hooves, then bucking the log into planks, smashing it into building material. Or whatever they did with those large trees. Massive burnt skeletons were all that was left, but they still reached into the sky. She wanted to see them in their glory tall and green, like the paintings.

It became a waiting game as she cruised around the ark. Looking in vain for something she missed before in the walls. An answer came as breakfast rolled through her system. The bathroom, the one that wasn't really weird. A robot approached her, and then the two headed to the bathroom.

First time she had a direction to go in. Get to the bathroom, get out and explore. Take anything useful that they all could use once back together, for their escape later.

It was a different one, in a different section of the Ark. She didn't know if this one was going to be different, it might not have a vent. Luck was on her side, and not only did it have a vent, the vent was stuck on the wall with nothing but tape, likely from the half used roll on the floor.

She did the business and was nosing around the vent. Lilly pried the cover off the wall and silently set it down. It was an evil villain tunnel! Like the ones from the old data crystals. The bad guys always had stupid large vents, big enough to let the good pony get through them. Except she was going to have to make it rather fast, see what was beyond the tunnel and look for an exit real quick. There were no friends waiting for her to get out, and then go back inside to rescue the others.

She carefully trotted the several pony lengths to the light source. Making sure each hoof wasn't going to step on something sharp and rip her suit. The grate on the other side was hinged, pushing open easily then swinging back so that it never looked open.

A lengthy hall extended past her on either side. It curved very slowly as it wrapped gently around the rest of the Ark in a ring. The lights were as bright as day in the service corridor. They were so bright that the glare they made hurt to look at. There was no clutter; no dirt on the floor. The paint was slick and glossy, new.

Lilly noticed that her hooves were leaving darkened spots on the perfect surface below her. A dark hoofprint was left in her stead as the rubber suit had something built into its design that caused this. The latex was cast in its form with a long forgotten lubricant mixed perfectly into the rubber cells of the latex sap that was collected. It served as a non-harmful lubricant that lasted the life of the suit and more. It's why they were always slick, always shiny; because they were always polished. Now it served as a marker, a way back to where she needed to get back to.

As Lilly saw it, she was leaving little N's on the ground, knowing that she would have to follow U's on her way back. U to get away. But there shouldn't be any problem there, the zebra said that outside the Ark, there were no tracking sensors, just the robots, and they were able of tracking her. If she was spotted that is. Hard to see a small pony who glistened like sunlight in a place that was damn near as bright as the sun itself.

Ticker had said something... something about robot sensors. There was a camera with night vision, into red mode that saw heat, and something about a fish? Seeing with sound he said. Probably heat, following the pipes a predetermined length to get to where they needed to be. Keep away from the robots.

Lilly traveled around what felt like half of the Ark, nosing into each room as it passed. There were several more bathrooms and storage closets. She kept following the curve, looking for a room that wasn't what she had seen before. It wasn't a room that caught her eye, rather the lack of one, the lack of anything.

It was a large opening in the wall. The four side-by-side pony width hallways were large, but what looked like a twenty pony gallop with three sets of lights along the roof and a railing in the center. It looked like one of the pre-war roads, paved with a mixture of asphalt and cork, traction with a springy cushion if you happen to be trotting to the edges of Equestria. No wonder the traders loved to use those roads, being able to travel longer without getting tired.

This road turned in to her right, sloping downwards towards the center of the Ark's wheel like outer tunnel. Fearing that time was edging her on, Lilly ran as fast as she could down its length. Eventually she popped into a massive circular room. The hundred or so stations that lined the walls filled with recharging bots, neatly stacked piles of parts for bots and several automated service stations told her that this was the maintenance bay.

Nothing was active, aside from air compressors running and the hum of the electric lights. As silent as it was, in an instant half the bots in here could turn on and begin to go about their business, only to see her. Likely far too many to hide from.

There were eight large tunnels that intersected here. This was the heart of the Ark. Every one of the robots returned here, was kept running and was fixed here. Each tunnel has a very helpful and large lighted sign above it. Four 'Ark Sectors' were the upard leaning tunnels, the other four all led down to other areas. 'Mining', 'Farming/Air and Water Recc' and 'Power/Service' were self-explanatory. It was the symbols she was looking at, knowing very little of how to read, the tree, nuclear danger, and pickaxe were her help to knowing what was what.

It was the odd square thing and a hammer that drew her attention. The words 'Store/Shop/Casting' didn't mean there was a store there, to buy stuff. They couldn't have one, but her definition of a store meant a pony selling stuff, and the curiosity to see what Arkitecture called a store led her down that tunnel.

It turns out that Shop was a place where they turned the smelted ore from mining into parts for anything that needed one. All automatic, all autonomous. The Store was where she wanted, there were four large open doors, a stack of collapsible bins and shelves and shelves of things she recognized.

From here she could smell the wasteland, as she bolted to the door. The grease, the blood and the sting of the dry dust that held the ashes of more than two hundred years of painful ends from the ponies who had perished there. A world imbalanced, but so much was lost in that time, this fear laden spirit in everypony out there, was normality. She realized once inside she had crossed a threshold, as her memories weren't as powerful as the aura from the clothes.

She didn't want to go further, stood just a pony's length from the racks of priceless salvation. Her breathing picked up as she realized that this... this was wrong. These clothes, the shoes, the cold steel of the weapons and warm-to-the-eyes golden brass. She stood there, shaking as something deep inside of her screamed to run away, that voice muffled by an unfelt black fog that was choking the life from it.

The further away she got, a reflex of her body, her mind wanting to go forward, the better she felt. It felt like backing out into the warmth of Celestia's sun after an age encased in ice. Her muzzle didn't show it, but she felt a smile return to her, one kind that happens deep inside.

NO! She had to collect things, get stuff ready to get out. There was enough stuff inside here for them to hold out against the bots, if worse came to worse. For now she gritted her teeth and began to push on ahead, despite the fear gutting her from the inside. She placed her front hooves on a cart, so she would have to focus on them to move. She picked out what she thought was needed, heavy coats, leather saddle packs and satchels and several small and large guns. She tipped entire contents of the shelf's width into the cart, the guns, and their magazines that were still loaded, yet to be unpacked. She made sure something was going to shoot with the options of magazines being plentiful.

They wouldn't need to sneak around if they had the guns to kill everybot in here. She pushed the cart from the store through the hall and into the large bay and up the ramp to the Ark outer service tunnel. All of this at breakneck speeds, as she was following her old hoofsteps, cast in a rich dark oily stain. She managed to give them something to aid in escape, something was better than nothing.

Her luck kept going, as no robot showed itself on the return trip. She managed to guide the cart into one of the supply rooms, hiding it near the back where the supplies were plenty. There were stacks of muzzles, hoods and other things she couldn't identify. Though the number of buckles and slack latex meant it was something she didn't want to get in.

It was safe for a while, maybe two days, she wasn’t sure. Lilly began to feel the clock start to kick her. She trotted around in circles, leaving a thick black ring in the hall, and then followed her path from the grate and quickly made it back inside, taking time to carefully and silently close the grate on both sides of the air crossover tunnel.

Her business was long done here in the bathroom. Now it was time to hope when she emerged, that a robot with one of those strap ridden things wasn't waiting for her, because she had taken too long. Her fears were put to rest when the bot spoke.

"Sorry about the time..." she said as she slowly slunk out of the bathroom, a bit out of breath from the exertion.

"Error!: User: This unit is not fitted with a chronological module, nor are this unit's sub-routines programmed to count time for external chronological functions. See supervisor for more information. Robot resuming 'assistance' routine."

"Can I be any further assistance, resident?"

Yes! A broken bot, luck holds out again, and it was time the universe aligned her for a turn of fortune to her. Twice in a row now, only got enough luck left for a few more moves, before it leaves her. She wanted as far away from that bot as possible right now.

"No, I don't need any more help." she responded back.

"Resume your day then, Resident." the bot chirped back, floating down the long corridor and into an access panel when it thought nopony was looking. Lilly saw it, and knew that was the panel just a bit further down. Escape was everywhere.

Now she had a spring in her step, pushing along the massive halls with a quickened pace, she had news for the others. Once she found them. Things were going along just to plan.

This pace slowed after dinner and almost to a dead stop when it was edging closer to bed. Now she was just sitting near a ramp to that upper level. She'd have a better chance of spotting them here as anywhere else.

Her mind wandered again, the tree ponies. Reality phased out as she devoted everything into the lumberjack pony. She didn't notice a dark red stallion come up beside her, almost on top of her.

"You've felt it, haven't you? The wasteland, recently you have touched it. I can smell it on you." The gravelly voice grunted, she looked at his face to discern between if that was a threat. His face was relaxed, almost smiling. The war that was played out across the rest of his head spoke differently; scars, and notches of his ear torn away long ago.

"You feel better in here, don't you?" he looked down on her, as if accusing her of taking a walk outside in the waste and then back in, and he was watching every bit of it.

Lilly stood up and turned so that he was viewing her flank, head twisted back so she could see if he needed a muzzle full of teeth knocked out. She waited, teeth barred in a snaring muzzle, ears folded flat.

"It's fear. That's what you feel. The feeling of normal returns, not as you remembered it though..."

Lilly dropped her scowl, unfolded her ears and turned to face him, still at a safe distance though, enough to run this time.

"And it.... it’s wrong. It almost hurts..."

The red coated pegasus smiled. His face turned from something you see a moment before you smash it, into something else. It was no longer cold; it felt as if it was a warm glow. It was a comfortable face that may have as well have been a friend. A connection that very few ponies share, one where both felt safe enough that they could be themselves, not a grizzled hoof veteran of the waste. A face older than it was, the drugs draining its vitality.

"That feeling you lose when going near the wasteland. It... it feels wrong to lose it."

The two stood side by side now, going to a lump in the floor served as a couch.

"I know, the face..." he waved his hoof around it. "That is what Equestria does to ponies these days. Live long enough and you leave an ugly corpse somewhere. This place feels different, like its uncorrupted land."

"What makes it so different in here; why did that happen?"

"The wasteland is the problem. Ponies like me turned this place into what it is. There was still stuff to loot, stuff to kill other ponies for in here when I arrived. This place was made for the richest ponies in Equestria. Everything was valuable, everything was stripped from everywhere. We all thought being here was a stopover, a night or two."

Information. Lilly stayed quiet, listening with everything she had. It could be important stuff that helps them later on. She responded to keep the conversation going with 'Oh? Tell me more', or 'Go on, this is great' conversation pieces to keep the story flowing. It was interesting to her, she needed to hear it.

"Ponies kept what they scavenged to themselves. They were living like this was still the wasteland. There was more than enough food and beds for everypony. They thought this was too good, they had to keep more for the long run. They formed groups, the first residents hiding in fear for their life. Soon, they seemed to be gone, and more wasteland ponies showed up."

"I was with a large group of ponies. We had run into another group while searching for a way out and food. We were out of our quadrant, looking for a way out and leaving any of the food carts alone. We didn't think they would understand, even if we stopped to talk and show them the food carts. It would have been a massacre. But right as we were hauling flank, a blue mist filled the Ark and we all passed out."

"When we woke, everything was… Well what it is now. The Ark had been overhauled with these pads and suits. I don't know how long we were passed out. Time stops having a meaning when everything is broken and it's about surviving to tomorrow. Slowly this new place filtered in, a place with rules and the staff to enforce them. Not much we could have done either way. We were all tied up for a week."

"Slowly, the violence stopped. The perpetrators either wising up their act, or just completely disappearing all together. We also noticed that the Ark was now smaller in size to what it was before. This whole place that we call the 'Ark', this is just half of what I knew. Other ponies said they awoke in the same place, but I have never seen them before. Maybe there were larger areas I had never been to."

"I don't know what happened to those areas, they may be other small 'Arks' like this, or still completely trashed. It's was a place to be envied. What I helped destroy was Equestria. But it's still here, in small quantities."

Lilly imagined a large brightly lit area, ponies scattered like sand on a blanket about the area. All enjoying themselves, all enjoying life as it was. That was the Equestria everypony was looking for, the one they almost killed completely.

"You think that this is sort of a punishment? The Ark preserving itself by sectioning off the violent ponies. Keeping them from destroying the rest of the place?" Lilly asked.

"It’s possible. The Ark may be keeping the pre-war ponies and their children safe from us. That means we get all of this. Everything foalproofed, strict punishments and everything else, just to keep us safe as well. That's the goal of this entire place. Don't know, could be that I am remembering stuff all wrong. Too many drugs can really wreck your memory, you know?”

"Oh. Yea, I was near some stuff from the outside." Lilly told him, feeling confident that he was somepony to trust. "They let me use a real bathroom, one that works. I went out a vent and did some exploring, found and stashed some of the stuff from a store, guns and so on."

The grizzled pegasus nodded, knowing that there was nothing he could say to stop her. "Just remember this, something to think about if you get caught: Remember that fear, the fear from the wastes and ask if you really want to go back into that."

"It is going to work." Lilly nodded harshly in disagreement, this was the way out. She felt it. "But I'll be sure to remember that question... What is your name by the way?"

"Everypony has always called me Cutter. It’s the last part of me that still feels bad, the last part I need to change."

"Well you look and talk like somepony named 'CuddleWing' He was just like you, big and tough on the outside, but a world of fluff on the inside."

Cutter chuckled "Why... thank you." He smiled halfheartedly, without knowing if that was a compliment or not. The two just smiled at each other for a bit. The stallions collar beeped, not a single or multiple beep, it sounded like several tones played in sequence, as if a jingle for a pre-war song.

"What does that mean?" They asked each other in unison.

Soon a robot appeared as they shared worried expression.

"Resident, follow me. Comply"

Cutter raised his eyebrows, and began to fall in step with the floating mechanical ball. He didn't have many strikes left to be honest, and disobeying an order was a strike. Lilly fell in stride, far away enough to talk, but not close enough to be 'interfering'.

"Hey, if I don't see you again, Think about it. Think if you really want to leave."

"Ok" she said back, the bot had opened an access panel in the wall to the service corridor and the two went inside. She wasn't going anywhere near that open door, not even if it didn't violate some rule. Everything hinged on her being as free as possible until she told the other what had been found. The door closed and it was a wall again.

She still had some time to kill before bed, so she chose to take a walk around the Arc again. Hopefully catch up to her friends if they managed to get out.

Lilly nearly made a complete circle by the time she came across one of the rather odd races that was being held. The viewers of the spectacle had backed up to the walls of the large open area. The open area around the massive padded support pillars had a rather rough course laid out. Along the outside edges was the first portion of the course, then a steeplechase laid out across the benches, with the finish line being the entrance to the canteen.

The most bizarre part of this was the fact that all the participants were 'blind' in some way. A blindfold, a hood or round ball, whatever the fetter, the race participants lined up and the laughs started rolling. Some ponies were backwards, some sideways. Soon they were all pointed towards the right direction.

Lilly found herself giggling, standing near the start of the 'race'. A large group of blind ponies running a track. She wanted to watch as much as she wanted to participate.

"I want to race!" She blurted out to anypony within earshot. A unicorn turned her head, scanning the small mare and making a rather obvious statement.

"You can't race," the vibrant yellow mare said. "Do you know what this race is for? It's for the ponies that can't see," she explained to Lilly. The unicorn's suit didn't fit right on her left flank, the latex sucked into what appeared to be a wound. Perhaps there was some interesting story for it? "You have to be wearing a blindfold or something else."

"Then I'll get one!" Lilly chirped with resolve. The unique gathering and odd placement of the ponies had several of the floating sphere bots hovering nearby. She approached the nearest one and spoke to it.

"I want a blindfold, so I can race with the other ponies."

"Resedent request accepted. Retrieving item." The bot hovered off and disappeared into a wall for a minute. Lilly had moved back to the starting line, waiting for the bot.

The bot returned, holding in its coated graspers something that looked like the mirrored lens from an ancient Wonderbolt's flight helmet. It had several more straps than one though, and was a solid piece. It was enough to cover the eyes with extra space as well.

She wriggled her hooves in delight; the anticipation of doing something began to be too much to bear. The robot approached her and she was grinning from ear to ear as it began to put the device on her. The crowd seemed to watch in anticipation, glad that somepony new was interested in joining in.

She closed her eyes as the thick piece of padded latex was pressed lightly against them. A strap went around to the rear of her head and was tugged tight. A second strap was carefully pulled under her cheeks. It was part of a pair that held the blindfold in position. The single rear strap could be pushed up or down, giving the blindfold slack to move sideways and come off. The under cheek and strap across the top of her head held in place rock solid. She didn't see any buckles on the thing anywhere, so its locking method was unknown to her.

She waited for a minute before moving, making sure the bot was done. She reached a hoof up to feel the thing. Her latex suited hooves slipped easily across the surface, though let her though it let her know it was there. Moving without the aid of sight was difficult, but the voice of the unicorn gleefully helped her to get into position. This was going to be so much fun!

Stood on the side where the other ponies were, she was ready. Soon, somepony started to count down. The numbers were recognizable, but it was the go command she was listening for.

"Go!" The voice shouted.

Fifteen ponies, ready to 'race' all moved forward at once. Lilly sprang into action, giggling out loud as it started, though it came to a sudden halt shortly after. Blinded as they were, they eventually tripped. Even Lilly went down, tripping over a large ball that was not in her path before, a hooded pony.

The only part of falling over that was painful was the burst of adrenaline, the body trying to see where it was going to land, but all she saw was blackness. The floors were soft enough to negate any impact as she landed with a squeak, latex on latex. She couldn't help but laugh out loud as she picked her hooves back up and started again.

It was everything she thought it would be. The group of ponies fell over themselves or others, only to pick themselves back up and run again. Some ponies knew the track well, or well enough to not trip as much. Lilly began to slowly trot, as running only made her trip.

The squeaks of nearby thighs and hooves on the floor let her know that she was on the right track. Once they approached a turn, the other ponies would either chant left or right, and the racers followed. Sometimes it was the wrong direction, her and the others bumped into a padded wall playfully.

The entire room was filled with laughter; Lilly was one of them. The fettered racers made it towards the last stretch, a path that led over the seating areas in the central portion of the room. They were less seats and more lumps protruding from the floor. They made for good obstacles.

The ponies began to merely crawl at a snail’s pace. Lilly was going slow, climbing the unseen hills of seats and pushing on. The crowd was cheering as she approached the entrance to the canteen. Soon the hills disappeared and her hooves failed to find ground, the slope was the finish line. The mare let out a host of laughter as she rolled harmlessly down the incline to the bottom. Soon the rest of the contestants did as well. Muffled cries of joy from under muzzles and hoods could be heard if you were close enough.

Lilly didn't know if she'd 'won' so to speak, but so far it had been the best thing to happen since their arrival. She stayed on the ground, waiting for her laughter to subside. Soon the ponies began to stand back up and move up the ramp. Most of the audience had come down to them, as they were friends and came to help them up and guide them. Lilly was cast in darkness, she couldn't see the collar on her neck blinking brightly. And despite her situation near the pony pile behind her, nopony was there to see it blink either.

"That was quite a show." the unicorn re-appeared beside her. Lilly had begun to turn in circles, try to face the pony.

"That was fun!" she exclaimed. "Can we do it again?"

"Well, that sort of thing tends to take alot out of a pony. Especially the colts that been here a while. You're still fresh, still new and well built." The unicorn moved around the small mare, looking at her. "Extremely well built."

"Hmm..." Lilly thought to herself. "Makes sense." she shrugged. "Well, I guess I should go look for my friends." she said, lifting a hoof and then realizing the blindfold was going to complicate things.

The unicorn couldn't but giggle at the mare's line. Resolved she was, capable, she was not. "Well, after dinner you'll be free from the blindfold. Did you want to stick with me until then?"

"The minute you leave, I'll probably just fumble around. So yeah. I am Lilly, by the way." She held out a hoof, as was a standard greeting.

"Nice to meet you, I am Goldenrod." She put her hoof up, curled like Lilly's and they bumped together the suits at the cannon bone, a hoof shake of differing degrees. "Best way I can lead you around is for you to keep at my side, brush up against it to make sure I'm still there."

"Ok." Lilly smiled. Moving gently along the unicorn's side, touching them together briefly. "So, how long have you been here?"

"Several years. It's hard to keep track of time down here. So, how did you come to be here?"

"Well," Lilly paused, feeling the side of the mare leave her, but found it again quickly. "My friends and I were looking for a lost Ark, made our way north and found an entrance. Ticker ran off for no reason at all, screaming. We tried to find him, but eventually Skye disappeared and I fell down a huge hole. So here we are."

"Anything worth talking about from the outside?"

"Dunno. Last we heard the Nzr were in Las pegasus, and Celestia’s Legion were causing trouble. Though that was about a month ago. How about you?"

"I... it's a rather long story."

"I have the time." Lilly said, her ears perked up for more information.

"It's... hard to talk about. I did some... things. Alot of ponies died because of me. That happened and I ran away, into the snowy north. Starving and freezing I came into the caves above. It was oddly warm, oddly calming. I stayed for a few days, unable to leave as something had me horrified. I felt that if I left, I was going to die. Something was out there."

"I could barely move near the end. I couldn't leave the cave. The closer I got to its entrance, the weaker I became. My hooves began to shake, I could barely stand. I felt sick, so I stopped moving out towards the entrance. I went in deeper to the mine, it was warmer there. Real warmth I could feel."

"Soon I was standing on an edge, looking down on a spiral ramp. I was skin and bone, only enough energy to throw myself in. It was better than starving to death, one quick impact and it was over. I jumped."

"A fitting end, I thought. I.. I was rather messed up there. I thought I could hear them. Friends, enemies, all demanding I end it all. I could always hear them. I deserved it, after all. After what I had done..."

"Is that where the cut happened? When you fell?" Lilly asked, remembering the oddly fitting latex on her flank.

"That was from bullet. I wasn't a very nice pony out there. Most of the time we got by on the rare patches of grass and fruits in orchards, grabbing a muzzleful and running off before we were seen. But it soon turned to... killing other ponies… For their stuff." Goldenrod’s voice quivered.

"Turns out killing ponies for their stuff had consequences. We don’t know who paid them. Could have been anyonboby. We saw a pegasus and somepony in power armor. They were just a distraction though. A sniper's round nearly tore my rear haunch in half. I bolted, running as far as my injury would allow, and passed out."

"When I woke up, the three ponies were gone. And so were my friends... Those that weren't caught up in the gunfire were dangling from ropes in the building we used. I took what I could and moved north, killing my way to the cave."

"It's fitting, right?" she asked "Stuck here for the rest of my life, paying for what I did. The first few weeks were the hardest. I bit, kicked, could barely think, just an animal. I don’t remember if I was trying to escape, or trying to get myself killed. After what felt like an eternity in one of those boxes up at the top, I was out. I began to have time to think, think why I didn’t die, and why I was here. At least I couldn’t kill anypony down her, even if I wanted to.”

"I guess I haven't been that bad." Lilly thought, beginning to question herself, maybe she was meant to be here too. "I have always been nice to the other ponies, everywhere I went. I mean, why go through all the trouble of being bad when I was just as well fed by doing something for somepony? It all kinda makes sense. At least in here I can see how being nice can help. Seems that anypony that is nice here doesn't get punished."

"Yea..." the unicorn thought, "I guess that is what I have seen as well, just haven't been able to put the words to it. I decided after I was 'free' from the box that I would try my best to make up for what I did. Try to help out the ponies that end up down here, try to be good to others. Doing that... has put a smile on my face, a real one. This place... these walls... They change you."

"Is it a good change?" Lilly inquired, fearing that she might not want to leave, if this change was anything like what happened earlier.

"It is good." Goldenrod smiled, yet seemed uncertain "It was good for me at least. Some others as well. Being down here, I’ve started to… to feel more like a pony. If that makes sense. But not everypony takes it the same way. Some of them are just too violent I guess. Others… Well are like you I guess, just came here to get something to survive, and don’t deserve being trapped. This place can drive a pony sane. But it can also drive them the other direction completely.”

"Hmm." Lilly paused. She had seen both sides at this point. Still it drove two ponies sane and just one zebra crazy. Though, he said he was like this before he arrived here, but who is to really know, even she was beginning to question things.

"Well, it's about dinner time. The other ponies are starting to file in. Let's go so you can have the blindfold off to look for your friends." Goldenrod said, standing up with Lilly touching her side for guidance. Heads were poked into the walls and dinner was fed to them, the mares joined them and were soon out.

Lilly gave her thanks to the mare and was off unhindered to begin another lap around the Ark. She picked the pace up in the large corridoors, slowing to a crawl as she entered large spaces, looking at each pony to see their colors, match them to her memory. Room after room revealed no friends at all. Not a Ticker, nor a Skye.

Eventually she settled down in the atrium near the bathroom they were going to use and escape. She settled near the base of the ramp that went to the 'box' as everypony called it. Now it was just a waiting game, waiting for the three to reunite and share plans. Waiting for bed time. Waiting for tomorrow in all actuality. It all came down to just sitting around, waiting.

Her mind wandered. That race was fun, the blindfold was fun too. The other ponies had fun. Was that it, was that the secret? Were all the ponies here having fun everywhere? They looked like it to her, the muzzles and the blindfolds, the jackets and hoods. Maybe that was what they found fun?

Lilly didn't want to be left out of all of this potential fun going on around her. It would be tomorrow by the time she was ready to go to the bathroom again. Anything she was put in got taken off after dinner or bed time, so she wasn't hurting their escape. She could go and try some things out that sounded fun. Anything she got stuck in, she would be free from in the morning.

She began a new search, track down any pony in something and talk to them, ask if they would recommend it. Basically, find the things that she thought would be the most fun to try out. She eventually settled on a few items and after one last look around, ascended the ramp to the very top of the Ark.

The large round room was split into four quadrants by thick walls, more thickly padded pony oubliettes. She shivered to think of how they felt as they were put inside, not knowing they would come out. And she shivered at the thought of going inside, despite her resolve to spend the rest of her night inside one.

She noticed that all the cells were different. Some were thickly padded, like the walls. Some were an empty steel box. Some had pillows inside them; some were lined with straps and had other bondage furniture in them. It was an odd assortment of cells. She stopped in front of one that looked like a sagging tent. A large ring at the very center of the limp sheet latex. Tt looked like a hole that you just hung in. In the very least it was less intimidating.

A bot hovered by, but didn't give her the usual "Move" command. Lilly looked back at the doors where her friends were. They weren't getting out anytime soon. The next sort of 'checkpoint' was in the morning, when ponies were let out. Buck it, it looked fun.

Lilly called for the bot, a smile on her face as she read off the list of what she wanted, including being in that cell she liked, she even pointed at it to make sure it was the right one. The robot sputtered out its line and left. Lilly was lost in the euphoria of this actually happening, the mind numbing before the first shot being fired. And it could be a good shot or a bad shot, holding on that precipice until the bot returned.

It brought back everything she asked for. The bot began by slipping a stiff rubber muzzle cup over her muzzle. A thick rubber teeth guard pressed into her muzzle and seating on her lower teeth. The sides began to push gently against her muzzle, pressing them inward and downward, clamping her jaw firmly shut. Despite the harsh look of a razor's posture on the outside, the inside was perfectly fine, a compressing comfort. She murmured something that was drowned in the latex locked to her face now. The port on the side of the muzzle gleamed like it was bran new. There was a reason why Ticker looked good in one, because despite its hindrance, it felt good.

This next part was going to be interesting. The robot's arms swiveled on the central axis and an odd looking latex suit. It had legs for the rear hooves, but nothing in the front portion. Instead of legs, it has sleeves, pockets for the hooves to slide into. An inflatable straitjacket.

The bot stretched the thick rimmed neck open and Lilly trotted up and started to slide in. Her suit slipped down easily into the depths of her new apparel. Her rear hooves were in, but struggling into the sleeves was a bit hard, she was fighting rather thick latex, trying to get her hooves into an area not meant for them and up into the holes was a challenge, but it was done. The bot let the neck entry shrink back down, grasping at her neck tightly, just under the collar of her suit.

The latex began to contract around her. Where there was a bit of slack, it disappeared, as every portion of her body was stuck to the latex. Her hooves wouldn't move. They had nowhere to go; the jacket had conformed to her body exactly. She felt like this was the bed she had been sleeping in, just in a different position. Inside the jacket's crotch was a small hose, it was clipped onto a special cup that carefully cradled her plot, a bathroom.

The bot then took her rear hooves and applied thick rubber straps around them. One just above her hooves, one halfway to her ankle, one around her ankles and one right at the top of her thighs. Her legs were locked together, held downwards away from her body. She was then lifted into the cell and placed inside the small sack, held there as cables and air were fed into the jacket and the cell. Soon both were full.

The cell pressed in over her entire body, the air pressure curving the latex around her tail, hooves and upper torso. The jacket was full of air as well; it was squeezing so hard, she began to struggle to breathe.

The last parts, a hood came down into the hole followed by a set of ear plugs. The plugs went in first, as soft thin tendril snaked down the ear canal, moving to the drum and anvil and all the small ancillary passages and began expanding. The small tendrils became a very soft thick padding, surrounding the hairs, the walls and capture the ear's sensory organs. The plug made it impossible of hearing any sound, outside or inside her body. Heartbeat, breathing and mild whines of pleasure, all of these became silent. She heard nothing.

The hood was placed on, leaving the slightly blue hued world and entering into blackness. As the hoses in the latex covering were connected, her breathing became less labored; a slight increase in the air pressure was able to counteract the cell's walls crushing her lungs slightly shut. A whoosh of air filled the second layer of latex, forming the limp hood into a nice tight ball. It pressed inward around her entire form. She couldn't see or hear the door shut.

The pressure soon equalized in the cell's parts, keeping a stiff hold on the mare, but doing it as comfortably as possible. Lilly tugged at her predicament, feeling it pulse through the walls. It turned into a cycle where she pulled at every limb, feeling it just as immobile as the last and stopped. It was just wearing her out. And she felt tired already.

There was no struggle, no second thoughts, and no anguish about where she was. She was safe, warm, and well fed. When you come from nothing, from working until your hooves bleed for a meal, or trying to decide if that pain was from a bullet.

She felt as if this was the first time she could stop. Stop being Lilly of the waste, to not be on guard at all. To just simply 'be'.

Her ears began to calm down. They stopped searching for danger, stopped scanning the now dead silent area. If there was any sound, it would be the first thing they hear. One by one the always busy audio senses began to become quiet, stop feeding information into her brain.

Soon, her sight left her, smell and taste soon followed. Her body had reached a level of peace not known to many ponies. No longer was she spending so much energy to her survival, picking up all the small details of her situation. Now she was able to have all of her thought power to herself.

It was so calm, so peaceful in here. Like the forest, a faded image in her mind. She had once found a piece of paper, a flyer that was meant to draw ponies to its scenery. Except this time, the trees weren't grey and faded. The lush green leaves, the rich dark wood, it was there instead, fully fleshed out, better than she could imagine.

The more she looked left and right, the more she saw. A soft pine needle forest floor tickled her hooves lightly, flowers tickled her nose as she approached. She could smell them from here.

On her back sat a brilliant silvered axe, the edge covered by leather as it was so sharp. She drew it from her back and let the edges glisten in the sunlight. Instead of swinging at the nearest tree, she held it and listened.

The forest spoke to her, spoke of the seeds the trees had let loose, the flowers merely giggling. There was one voice, a low grumble of a tone. She moved closer and closer to it, the sound. Soon she entered a clearing, where in the center stood the most magnificent tree she had ever seen. It was a massive trunk, the seemingly separate gnarled roots giving it the very unique roundish shape it had. The branches twisted up, falling back on themselves as a great canopy emerged full of thick leaves and foliage.

With the reverberation of a thunderclap, his voice spoke out softly.

"Ah, young Miss. You have come to me at last."

"Who... are you?" Lilly asked, looking around. Maybe somepony was behind the tree. She looped around it, waiting for a response.

"I am... The eldest of ...all the trees. What have you come for young Miss?"

Lilly was taken aback; she didn't want to chop down a talking tree. "I... I don't know anymore."

"You were after wood." the voice said in a low tone, more of a statement. "But, you are looking for something else. Some other thought plagues your... mind."

Lilly remained silent, how she got here, she didn't know.

"Look around you, young Miss. What do you see?"

"Trees, lots of trees."

"All my sons and daughters. I remember a time where I was the only tree here. When the land was barren, the soil was ready for growth. There was a time when I could have branched out, sent my roots as far as the eye can see. I could have taken it all. But that wasn't going to make me happy."

Lilly had sat down, intent on listening.

"Instead, I bore seed. I sent them out into the world. As my children grew, I sung to them every night. I watched them all grow strong and tall. Soon the birds came, they brought with them flowers. Grass came with the flowers and soon it is as you see now."

"Ok, what does that mean?"

"It means that is the way things are. That the very world around you has always been shaped by what you do in it. Make sure that what you are doing in it makes it beautiful."

"Oh..." Lilly said, trying to stifle a tired yawn. The world around her had been lulling her into a deep sleep. The warm field, the soft breeze and the sunlight. Oh how she had forgotten about the sunlight. It pierced her every atom, warming them from the inside.

She yawned again, slowly sitting down and curling her hooves under her. Slowly her head nodded down and came to rest as she fell asleep.

It was dawn, or at least sleep was over. Lilly was released from the grip of the latex shell around her. The straitjacket strapped around her left as well, giving back all of her senses and control of her hooves again. Muzzle, earplugs were removed after the hood. When the world came back, the two moving blurs in the light came into focus.

It was Skye and Ticker, free and clear of any fetters that they were in since nearly their arrival. They didn't say anything about the bondage she had put herself in the previous night. They had been released just before bed and stood there and watched her ask for the items by name as they themselves were being unfettered.

That was no longer a problem, but there wasn't time to waste. They needed to know about her bathroom exploration. Petty useless squabbles can wait.

"Tell us..." he coughed loudly "...about the bathroom, what did you see?" Ticker had just gotten out of his muzzle, right after he was pulled from the 'bed'.

"There is one with a vent that crosses over into the service tunnels. From there we can get to a room where I managed to stash weapons." Lilly reported.

"What about the halls?"

"They are really wide with lots of rooms to hide in. There are larger ones, larger halls. They go down into a repair place, then from there, a farm, mining and the store rooms where I found the guns and clothes."

"Any terminals, computers?"

"I saw alot, they are almost everywhere. You should be able to get into one once we are inside the service tunnels. Then we can escape!"

"Not yet. We need to plan. If we make a plan and side plans for those, we can sure as ta-" He almost said a bad word. "We can be sure as ever that we will be prepared for everything." Ticker said, pushing his glasses back up his muzzle.

"I say we get to the guns and blow out way out." Skye smiled, harder than merited for the scenario.

"NO! No! If we vanish and kill half the bots here, what is going to take care of the ponies and the Ark? That is their food chain, their repairs, it’s... everything to them. We can't take them all with us; imagine thirty or forty ponies in the snow outside, starving and freezing. And the bots would have them starve, left in their restraints as the Ark shifts resources to make food for the ones that do survive."

Lilly and Skye grimaced, they knew in some way that he was right.

"So we have to do this quiet, we have to plan. The service bots go down to that maintenance bay and shut down, recharge the auxiliary batteries and get parts replaced. They are the only ones that have those scanners. I say we wait inside that air duct right before bed. The bots don't count ponies; they see each pony, deal with them and move on when there are no ponies. Its rather bad programming to be hoenst."

"And we can move out when they are all off for the night." Skye said. "We won't have to be quiet and we would be free all night to move around and explore, look for an exit freely."

"Yes. That is what we do. No pressure, no time limit. Only shoot them IF they spot you and start to issue commands. Nothing else."

Everypony nodded in agreement.

"Now, we need to go find somewhere to be quiet and sit today out until dinner. If we are careful, we can get past dinner without any more delays."

Once breakfast was over they retreated up to the uppermost level of one of the Ark's halls. They passed a bot that beeped cheerfully at the bottom of the ramp, moving aside to let them through. There was an area of the Ark that was not padded, a large and very thick window viewing down on the other several stories from above. It was a lounge for the new ponies, as they still had access to it. The older ponies couldn't go up there; too many strikes would bar you from the area permanently.

Ticker and Skye were just at the limit, the maximum of three strikes: no more or they would be removed from the access list. Lilly was free, zero beeps for her as the robot moved to allow her access. They were lucky, as nothing could be heard from the robot up there, the only safe place in the entire Ark where they were being monitored by the collars, not the video and audio feeds listening for seditious talking and actions.

They settled in the complete quiet, the first time any of them could remember where nothing was drawing their attention. No sounds that could, as they mostly did, turn bad on them in several seconds. It was silence that stunned them, it was alarming, as they were waiting for something to happen, return them to normality. They stood, searching for a while, making sure that this silence was normal here.

A voice drew Lilly's attention. She remembered it, the one of three ponies in the Ark she knew, and it wasn't the red pegasus. Zephyr the zebra whispered even louder, his head not quite around the wall.

"Hey, Lilly was it? Can I talk?" he asked.

"Uh... yes?" Lilly stuttered, he knew something.

"I just want to tell you that this is all ok. That everything here is allright. And you want it..." the zebra nodded in a quick motion. "This is something you want. Cause it is all going to just get better from here on out."

"What? What are you talking about?" Lilly asked in confusion.

Zephyr laid down in front of her, hooves tucked under him and his head resting on the padding. He began talking at a slow pace, pausing painfully between each sentence's end. "The walls, they are here to help you learn. Just like the floors and the restraints. It's all designed for you, and for me. For us to just be and exist. Slowly it takes over you, that feeling. Then you don't want to leave, you want to be here, in Equestria as it was. As it still is now."

"I'm trapped in a pillow castle," Lilly responded, "I can't say what I want; I can't leave when I want. I can't control my life, I can't just sit here!"

"Everypony goes through this. You will turn around soon. You are smart, and above all, you are pure. A white mark on Equestria's black face. Even if you don't see your friends again after a certain point, they will return. And I will watch you on that day, and you will laugh. This is how Equestria is meant to be."

"I'm getting out of here, with my friends. And you cannot stop me; you can come along if you want." Lilly offered, her collar dinging like Cutters, a multi-tonal ring, more or less.

"I see you are falling into it." The zebra grinned as he stared at her collar. "Remember what you did here, Lilly. It’s very important. And I can't help or try to stop you; that is none of my business. Don't worry little mare, you will be here five years from now, after that, it's your choice. What you decide now is going to dictate the next large chunk of your life and how you spend it."

"Fine... then, go away, I don't want to talk anymore." Lilly huffed in anger. The zebra nodded and started to walk away, back down the ramp.

"I think we can agree together that he is insane." Ticker said to the others, who nodded in approval.

"So, the next thing in the plan is to wait, wait for the right moment to act." Skye said out loud, both in confirmation and then to meditate on being a perfect pony until then. Then they would all be free. All they were doing now was waiting until after dinner.

Then Freedom.

Daring Departure

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If you had rolled a grenade between the three ponies, their hearts would not have raced as fast as with the singular event in front of them. Dinner was over with, the last meal they would have here, filled their stomachs like rocks. After suffering a small bit of the giggles randomly, the silent party remained that way until Lilly sprung to her hooves and said aloud: "I have to use the bathroom."

This was the first time anypony would ever say those words with two other ponies ready to keel over from a heart attack in excitement at this news. There was now a precedence set for a jubilant bowel movement.

"Ok, Ok." Ticker said out loud, rolling through the plan one last time in his head. "So, to the bathroom you used the vent on. Go down the service corridor to the first available door. Open it slowly, it should be a normal locked door. Twist the handle and push it open a few inches, we'll be in the area to see it move. Got it?"

"Yes!" Lilly nodded. "Door in the hallway, turn and wait for you."

"Good." Skye confirmed.

"Head down, we will follow a bit behind you." Ticker said to Lilly as she began to head away from them, going down the ramp at the top of the special area.

Hearts thundered in chests, Skye and Ticker kept eyes locked on Lilly, the small little key. Right now, everything hinged on her getting that door open. They watched, waiting as the robot approached her and then led her to the nearest bathroom. She disappeared inside and they began to watch the long padded hallway.

Seconds ticked by like hours, eyes feverishly searching for a bit of padding that moved. By now she should have been there, it was just a short trot away.

"What if she got caught?" Skye asked, twisting her head to Ticker to ask, then back on her section of wall.

"She probably used the bathroom first. She's not pumped and plugged like we are. A-" His reply had to wait, he thought a wall move. "Door, DOOR DOOR!" he muttered loudly.

The two bolted to the section of wall that had moved. Ticker used a rubber suited hoof to help pry it open a bit more. To his relief he saw Lilly on the inside, waving a hoof for them to come in.

"Anything I can say that will make you stay?"

Ticker and Skye felt themselves hit the ceiling, though it was more like they ran into each other and fell over. In the near-heart attack they both suffered, they managed not to curse.

"Zephyr!" Lilly chirped, "Want to come with us?"

"No... no..." he backed away from the door from his position where he seemed to appear. "I... can't."

Ticker regained composure and slipped inside the door. "We offered, he said no. Let's go."

Skye needed no convincing, she slipped into the service hatch.

The zebra took a timid step forward. "Don't" he shook his head. It was as if he knew what was out there, what awaited them all. His eyes were more focused than before, softer in a way. They were pleading for them to stay, to close the door and come back.

"We have to go." Ticker said to the group, it was eating away time they didn't have sitting here. The zebra just watched them as the closed the door, never moving closer, but just staying still. Soon the wall was back to normal, just a padded wall with no hint of a door behind it.

"Lilly,"Ticker said, now that they were outside the Ark's living area, "We need to get to those weapons, let's go."

The three walked at a cautious pace, looking for any signs of danger as they followed the darkened hoof prints to a door where Lilly stopped for a second, then went inside. Her two friends were now seeing what she did before. The shelves on shelves of 'supplies'. Muzzles, jackets and piles of latex and straps. There was enough in here to mummify anypony beyond being recognized in any real way.

Skye approached the large bin where she saw the barrels of guns protruding. She approached it, but paused, as if she hit a wall. Ticker grew concerned as she just stood there and approached her.

His stomach twisted, as if a shotgun had been discharged into his chest. Everything inside him was burning, pulsating in a rythm with his heart, shooting what could be only described as pain into his entire being. Barbed wire felt as if it were wrapped around his entire body, the coils drawing it tighter, cutting deep invisible wounds.

"Whoa..." He shook his head to clear a fuzz building. "What... is that?"

"I.... I don't know. Its... wrong." Skye mumbled while backing up with Ticker.

"Its... We need to go. This thing or not, we need to leave." Skye gritted her teeth together and pushed onward towards the cart. She was grunting the closer she got to the weapons. By the time she picked up the rifle, she was almost in tears. Her hooves fumbled with the belt around the stock, getting it to strap on the outer hoof was a challenge. Soon the rifle was slung around her hoof. She struggled with the magazine, but eventually got it in.

"See. N... nothing to worry about." She grinned. Both of Ticker and Lilly knew it was a lie, they could sense it. They could also feel the pain she was in.

Lilly did as Skye did, though she seemed to have an easier time retrieving the gear than her friend. She grabbed a bundle of the weapons in a pack and slung it over her shoulder. Ticker managed to collect the apparel, bundle it up and toss is over his back.

Looking over at his companions, he noticed that they felt different to him. He couldn't put a hoof down on what it was, how they had changed, how he had changed. He had a sinking feeling build up, that they were no longer who they were.

"We are not who we are." he mumbled. "I... We had best get to a terminal, I don't know how long we have until the place becomes alive with them damned bots."

"Let's go, I know where one is." Lilly said, leaving the room and beginning to head down the hallway, following her tracks from the day before, she led them into another store room. This one had a terminal inside, in the back behind more shelves of restraints.

Ticker let the clothes slide off his back and pressed the power button. The old terminal sprung to life, the noisy whine as the tubes heated up, soon the screen flashed in a pale white as text began to spool down the screen. Soon the Arkitechute logo was displayed and the menu popped up.

Ticker hadn't manually breached a system lately. He was able to get through anything with his box. He'd already done all of this code cracking work, it was all saved and ready to go. He found the command line input and used the buttons to tick out a line of code. The machine blinked out and sprung back to life, this time with more options, full access.

He sped through several design documents, blueprints laid out as tiny dots across the screen. From a distance they formed a solid line, but close to the screen, the glasses he wore clarified it to the tiny dots. He scanned through several more pages and found what he was looking for.

The Ark didn't have one main door, as he was soon to discover. It had seven. Scattered across a rather large area were four. The three others were accessed through the mine. One at the rail depot they were headed towards, but he was looking at one that led into the first mine shaft. Shaft number 1. All they needed to do was open the door and get out, strait shot. Sadly, the most direct route took them though the maintenance area, across a garage network and into another service shaft that led directly to the door.

He stared at the maps a bit longer, memorizing them solidly. Once sure he had the directions down he closed the terminal and pushed the keyboard back under the display.

"Ok, I have got it. A way out. Bad news, we are going to have to head to that store, I need my breakout box. We can grab whatever else we need there then head out. Food, water, canteens, anything we will need for the trip back to Las Pegasus."

"We should probably try and grab whatever we can. Ammunition is a bit light, and we can take some things to trade. I doubt they have any Healing Salve lined up neatly on shelves waiting to take." Skye added.

"Actually, everything in the store is sorted." Lilly told them, "Ammunition, clothes and everything. Just take what we want and go. It's a store where you don't have to pay."

"Allright, I figure we need to hold here for a while, let the bots go down to the maintenance area and follow them after. We should be safe if we stay back here." Ticker said. He had allowed for a waiting period, but only after a terminal was found. Waiting again. This time it wasn't the food in his stomach that was gnawing at him, it was something else.

The trio watched something nopony had probably ever seen before. For just being in one quarter of the Ark's exterior halls, the stagering amount of robots that hovered near the door on their way to the maintenance bay had them re-thinking their plan. Ticker counted over thirty in their silence, meaning that there were perhaps four times that many along their route. It was an insight into how big this Ark really was.

They spent more than twice the necessary time after the last bot passed, freezing in place. This was going to be common place, an over cautious approach to everything, as this was the part of the plan where things were going to go wrong. They couldn't afford that now, or ever.

Ticker slowly crept to the door, minding the piles of clothes slung over his shoulder on the shelves. The only good use for the suit he was in was the fact that his hooves were encased in rubber, completely silent as they pressed down on the thicker bottom layer as he strode forward. He watched to the right and left of the door, making sure it was safe.

"Come on." he whispered, waving a hoof. "Lilly, where do we need to go?"

"Follow the prints on the ground." She answered. "They go to the store and the robot area."

"Ah." Ticker mused, he hadn't noticed the prints on the ground, he was too focused on staying free. Sure enough, there was a line of hoofptrints, coming and going left on the concrete floor. The suits were shined and coated so heavily that it soaked into the concrete. He also noticed that the few days they had been here, their exposed coats and manes had a gloss to them as well, a by product of being in and around latex every second of the day.

The three quickly and quietly trotted down the access tunnel. Ticker knew Arks were large, but this one was even larger. On the terminal he saw schematics for several larger rooms, not any maintenance tunnel sized areas either. There was a large portion of this Ark that was... missing.

Nearing the bottom of the tunnel, they slowed down, making sure to check and see if the bots were offline. To much relief, they were. Facing inward so the arms on the outside of each alcove could attach the power cables to charge them up. None were at the steel machines that looked like an octopus, arms all folded neatly away.

Lilly guided them to the store, though the doors were shuttered at this time of night. They were metal shutters, with a single lock near the bottom, storage gate for all intents and purposes. The small mare leaned forward and sent a bucking into the door that sheared the simple latch from ground.

Progress was slow through the room. The ponies felt more than sluggish as they combed the shelves. Ticker pulled out some better clothes, something more suited to the cold and then moved down to what looked like an electronics section. Skye was concentrating over the munitions, having dumped her current load-out for something more devastating. Lilly didn't know guns, but problem solved. Lilly did know medicine, not what all the parts were used for, or why, but memories made her capable of choosing the important supplies.

Ticker found his box, stacked neatly among the radiation detectors, lights and the seldom pip-buck. It had been damaged during the events that led them here, but an outer case overbuilt for the wastes had cracked the plastic he used for several selector stitches. A quick tap on the power swtich and the bulbs sputtered to life, a hum coursed through the case as everything was working fine.

"I have it!" He cheered.

"I have got some better weaponry and Lilly has packed up a rather complete medical set. Let's grab some caps and head for the exit."

"Not caps," Ticker mumbled, "Medical supplies are worth twice their weight in caps. Miscellaneous electronics, rare parts." He told them, sweeping several things he saw of importance. An XR-KB memory chip, an intact pip-buck, several I/O sequencer banks, then moved to what could be called an ores portion of the large room. Several gems, rocks with gold flakes in them, bags of crudely smelted silver, gold and other ores.

"All in all this weighs about ten pounds, cap-wise, that is just over a two thousand. What is inside here now, roughly thirty thousand caps. We have everything we came for, we need to go."

"Wait, I can carry alot more." Skye said, "We need-"

"No, because if we run into problems and have to ditch something, we wouldn't spend hours debating on what to throw away. We have enough for now. Come on, we still need to find a place to fill the water, get food and crack the door open." Ticker countered.

"I'm going to take a few more things-" Skye had a hoof wander up to the shelf. Ticker stepped in, and moved her slightly away.

"No, we go now." He stated flatly, averting her gaze from the shelves.

"Yea." She nodded, realizing he was right.

The group silently moved out of the store and back to the maintenance, taking a more somber tone than before. Ticker paused to get back into the system inside the bay, off-loading maps onto the breakout box. He had it in his mind that with the memory chip he managed to grab, this would just more than a code breaker. With maps in tow, they moved down towards the main concourse.

The large tunnel opened up to an ever wider area. The lights appeared as dots on the ceiling, barely able to illuminate the ground, some were dead on the rows overhead. Special lights were on to highlight the main path, though spotty at best as to their condition. As their eyes adjusted to the dark state, they began to see things off to the sides of the tunnels. Ticker and Skye recognized them as vehicles, trucks, buses, construction equipment. They had managed to collect quite a bit of dust, obscuring their real color.

Most of them sat low on the ground, the tires have bled the air and dry rotted over the centuries. It was questionable if they would ever run again, oil had leaked out, the fuel had rotted the lines and any hydraulics had collapsed a century ago. Small rodents had found their way inside, chewing wires, making nests in the seats. If anything they were a decent house for anypony.

"Was this all the equipment from building this Ark?" Skye asked.

"Or a last convoy before the doors closed." Ticker remarked, looking at the amount of buses stored as they approached the end of the cavernous area. Four tunnels, each going to a different place had him consulting the maps. "We go down the last tunnel to the left for food, back out and down the farthest right tunnel for the Ark door." Without debate, they slipped into the four vehicle wide tunnel and stayed on course until they reached a smaller vehicle storage area.

This area was vastly smaller. The lights were able to illuminate the area completely, showing several busses and a fleet of small, twin pony cars. No tops or glass, just clean white bodies, two seats and a small area for luggage. They passed them and went to the unloading area, a dock or receiving area for the food and seed shipments. One pony lagged behind.

"Some of these are clean." Ticker remarked, pushing on the seats of two nearby carts. His hooves did nothing to one, but pulled a layer of dust off another. "We need to be careful... Something still lives in here." Lilly drew in close to Skye, Ticker followed suit.

"Dry storage is up ahead." he whispered.

The group went in through a pony door, to the second part of the loading dock. Lifts were lined up against the wall, some charging, others not. Overlooking the large bay were two windows, two offices inside. A wide hall ended in a door. They moved inside and found themselves facing two great walls, one silver and the other painted a light blue.

To the left was cold storage. Neither of them wanted to open it, fearing that the seal on the many large doors were the only thing holding back a fog of rot that would turn their noses inside out. They instead went through the first door, dry storage.

Rows and rows of shelves spilled out before them, stretching into a darkness that they couldn't see into. They weren't concerned by that, rather their jaws dropped as they were greeted by a wash of perfect silver. Hundreds of thousands of cans, tins and boxes stood them in the face. There were no labels, just black text that was stamped on the top of every item.

Peaches, pears, apples, blue berries. Before them was enough food for the rest of their lives and beyond, for several hundred ponies. Carrots, beets, jalapenos, their eyes ate the words like nutrition inside the cans.

"This is where they store all of the food that is produced. Open it later, recycle the cans." Ticker mused in awe.

"I want strawberries, and grapes and anything!" Lilly whispered in a rather loud tone.

"Get oranges, apples and pears, it's going to be cold and we'll need energy out there, sugars are quick energy. Then anything else you want." Ticker told them, knocking two of each tin and can into a small satchel. They were little more than a snack at best, holding the equivalent of two muzzle-fuls inside the metal. He stacked them as much as the bag would hold without feeling too heavy.

The ponies packed what they could, careful not to disturb the rest. Soon they were back out on the road from the bay, traveling to the split off. They made a quicker pace as things began to go their way, an invisible push helped them along.

Jumping at the pipes that sprang to life, the odd fan turning on and other noises that the Ark made as they traveled down their interiors. They exited the main road at a junction, entering a service tunnel and winding through a maze of corridors.

"Door, NOW!" Ticker growled, darting over to a door, the three ducking inside.

"There's something up ahead. It's supposed to dead end, with a door to the left. There is no mention of a structure up ahead." he whispered.

"Did you see anypony?" Lilly whispered back.

"No, but its a place where they stop you. I don't know when it was made, but it's newer than the blueprints."

"Let's go." Skye said, edging a hoof out the door, the other raised with the pistol mounted to the sling. Before there was any objection, she was gone towards the checkpoint.

Ticker hid behind her, whispering pleads to Celestia to help them, to have them pass without incident. Killing anypony or the robots was a bad idea. Skye jumped up on the half wall and peered over, nothing. She motioned for them to proceed.

They found several chairs, a table and ceramic mugs. All coated in a layer of dust. Ticker breathed a sigh of relief. It had been abandoned years ago, perhaps from when the outbreak started, the wasteland ponies taking over the Ark and pressing outward.

"Just two more flights of steps beyond that door and we are in a sub-service corridor to the exit. Let's all agree now not to shoot anything." Lilly nodded as soon as the sentence was over, Skye nodded shortly after. "We are so close, no buck ups now."

Skye took lead, going up the steps with a firm determination in her eyes. She could smell it, taste it, home. The wastes. At the top she went down the hall, Ticker calling out a direction after she was already going that way. The tunnel collapsed down to barely head height, Skye was nearly crawling through the area, her height betraying her.

A grate was kicked off it's mounting and they wriggled though to the opposite side. Ticker propped the grate against a wall and began to move through the room.

The room had a string of monitors at standing height, a couch, a television, radio and a small refrigerator. The unicorn moved to the terminals and set the box on a chair. He selected the cord and plugged into the access port.

Skye switched the lights on, revealing the room entirely. The monitors sat under a glass window, looking down on an pentagram tunnel. The size was large enough for a bus, and the occupant in the control room to look into the driver's window dirrectly. A service door to the left of the window led directly into the area. The area where the door was.

Only, instead of one door there were two. The concrete floor marked them out, Ark and Exterior. Both doors were closed, locked tight and looked as if they hadn't moved in two centuries. However, one was going to move. They had worked so hard to get here.

"I have to see if the hydraulics are working, the air pressurization and all of the servos. This is going to take a while." Ticker said, sliding his chair from terminal to terminal, flipping switches on the adjoining boards to the side. "It's been an age, let's hope Arkitecture build their stuff to last." he winced, as one of the switches crunched under the pressure, turning on, but breaking in the process.

Skye moved through the thick door and into the tunnel. Just a few trots away from freedom.

"No hydrulic failures, the air pumps are fine. Last pressure check was earlier today. We are..." Ticker paused. He stared for a second at the screen, shaking his head. He moved from terminal to terminal, glancing up at the tunnel from time to time. He stood up from the terminal and swung the large bag, the canteens and clothes from his back. "I need you two to get all the stuff into the tunnel." he said, returning to the seat.

The two mares nodded, gathering what they could on their backs and gripping the rest in their muzzles. They moved into the door tunnel and set the bags down. They turned to head back inside, to wait, but they found the door they came through closed.

"Ticker?" Skye asked, giving the door a heavy push, locked solid. The air screeched at them for a second as the speakers warmed up and began to transmit sound, the unicorn's voice floated over them pair now locked in the room.

"Once you get through the door, take a left. There are lights inside my satchel. You will reach the end of the tunnel and wind up in Shaft number one. Then it's a right and you will see the entrance, that office where we stopped to look at maps."

"What?!" Lilly and Skye shouted. "No, you can't stay... you have to come with us!"

"I have to stay. Not because I want to. I have to." He said, not paying attention to mares at the door, but rather the screens.

"No! What are you talking about? You have to come, unlock the door and we can leave together." Lilly pleaded, edging over to the glass so she could try and draw his attention.

"I have to stay. This isn't just a push button system. It's a sequential lock. I have to manually open each one. It's some bullshit security they added, I haven't seen anything like this. That means that one pony has to stay behind, flip the switches as they need to."

"NO! We can figure this out, we can work through it. Hide out in the service areas until you can figure this out. Ticker, please open the door! I-I can't protect you in there." Skye yelled, pounding as hard as she could against the door.

"The second we left the maintenance area, the collars started emitting an RF frequency. We wandered out of range. That frequency alert is stored in the data center, and once the day starts, we will be tracked down. You two have to go and go now."

"Then we'll come back for you. We'll sell this junk, use it as an attraction to get ponies to come here. We can bust down the doors and get you out. The NZR will want to know about this place anyway." Skye backed away from the door, tears forming in her eyes.

"NO! The NZR can't learn about this place, nopony can! Don't you know what this is, this place?" His voice boomed over the speakers.

"Its a bunch of shit, that is what it is." Skye responded, beginning to pull on the clothes they brought over her suit. Boots, under garments and cloak, Lilly was mirroring her, getting ready to go outside.

"No... look at us, take a look at what happened to us when we were in the Ark. How we felt inside, it was something... its beyond words. In all my travels, everything I have heard, this... I can't even say."

"Since we left the Ark's walls, and started the escape, we have changed, for the worse. That feeling when we approached the weapons. It wasn't right, it wasn't natural."

"You are talking shit, the only thing I have felt has been misery. This damned suit, this damned thing, this whole damned place. It's been one horrible ride every damned day. We are going to get you out, all of Equestria is not going to stand in our way, we will get you out." Skye shouted to the window, her hooves eager to get out. Sooner she did, the sooner she could come back.

"And do what? You felt the same thing as I did, as Lilly. The wasteland is not a place for ponies like me, the closer we get to going back outside, the worse we feel. I don't want to feel that, I don't want to go out there. If that means I have to live inside a tiny box until the end of time, then so be it. I'd trade thirty of those lifetimes if I never had to step hoof in the wasteland again." Ticker said over the intercom, his voice was low and quiet, as if he had long ago made peace with this decision.

"It's all shit Ticker," Skye said, "What we felt was nervousness, that what we were doing was going to. That is why we felt what we did. It wasn't anything else, just jitters."

"Two hundred year ago," Ticker started talking, his hooves hitting switches as he bagan the boot up cycle for the depressurization. "Bombs fell on Equestria. Hundreds of millions died. There was a decision made to end everything, because if they were going to die, then so should the rest of the world. End the war at any means."

"Tell me that; that many lives ripped of the face of the planet didn't do anything. Tell me that the hundreds of years of tears shed by ponies before they were left to rot where they were slain, that it didn't change anything. Shattered innocence, senseless violence and hoarding because we believe that it's not enough. It is everywhere, the air we breathe, the ground we walk on, it's poisoning us slowly."

"We live in a world where magic lives in everything we are, everything we do. It's a part of us that we can't ever get rid of. It gives us senses beyond what we see, what we can do. It survives even when we expire. This darkness, this numbness and pain we feel... It comes from that magic. Centuries of ponies slaughtered for trivial reasons has tainted it, made Equestria a dark place to live."

"This Ark. There is something here that isn't that fog. Breathe in now, you've been slowly depressurized with air from outside."

Lilly and Skye did, though the smaller mare was the only one to say anything.

"Its... I can feel something." she remarked, scrunching her nose to see if that made the feeling stronger.

"It feels heavier, harder to breathe. Like its choking you. Anything beyond that door is a world of pain I do not want to enter. This place... there is something odd about it, and it is a good feeling. There is something here, something that Arkitecture would go to so much trouble to protect."

"That is why you have to promise me, to never come back, to never bring anypony here, never mention this place. Never return. Tell me you will stay away. If the wastes fouls this place, this last bit of Equestria that isn't dead. Things might not ever get better."

"No. We will come back. We'll get you out. We won't stop, we can't just leave you here." Lilly shouted. The room had the air whipped into a frenzy, a cold bite ate at their noses.

Ticker stoped talking as the deep thrilling screech coursed through the two rooms, the door was shaking off centuries of rust coating the locking pins. The rooms vibrated, a deep seated rumble that knocked the dust off the walls and fixtures. One by one the large pins ground home, out of the recesses in the steel holes.

The door slowly crept backwards on hydraulic rails, pulling the door from the hole, sending the room into a cloud of dust as air spilled in from the outside. A single piston applied pressure to the gear shaped door, giving it enough energy to roll on the spines several times. Short of a new system, the massive door opened halfway, the hydraulics were past their prime. A crescent black hole awaited the mares.

All the lights dimmed slightly as a new load was put on the electrical system. Amber caution lights began to flash throughout the two rooms. Small speakers inside the hazard lights began to croak out a tone, they were broken, but still let the trio know it was an alarm.

"Ticker! Let me shoot out the window, then you can get out, come with us!" Skye lifted her hoof and aimed the pistol at the glass, firing three rounds. The glass shimmered a light blue, the bullets mushrooming across the plate, the energy being absorbed by the enchantment.

"It won't work. It would take an Alicorn to get though this glass. The pressure would also suck me out, killing me in the process. You need to go now, those lights are a security alert, this place will be swarming with bots soon. Remember, left out the door and then right at shaft one. Use the pump-cart to put as much distance between the Ark and yourselves as possible."

Skye was beating on the window with all she had, the only thing it was doing was rippling blue waves across the surface. She slowly stopped, realizing it was useless. The lights had stopped, Ticker's attention was drawn downward, his eyes widened.

"Go NOW! They are sending a master over-ride for the door, its going to close!" He shouted, nervously looking at the monitors, spending a fraction of a second on each one. "The hydraulic pressure is building, if you don't leave now, you'll be stuck in here as well. GO!" his screamed into the microphone, the speakers cracking and an electrical pop fried them.

A blast of air forced out the wasteland from the area, pure air entered and a loud whine filled the room. Skye slid down the ramp to the window and went to the door, Lilly beside her. She edged Lilly to jump the gap and leave the Ark, Skye jumped as well, though turning to look through the window one last time. Ticker was waving his hooves to go, she heard the drone of fluid pumping through the lines and the large door started to wobble. She withdrew to beyond the door, into the mine.

Latex Gilded Cage

by GearMane

Preparation

Soft Surroundings

Padded Problems

Fettered Friends

Daring Departure