Part One - Prologue

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Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, war, war never changes. The year is 2377, I think. It has been such a long time since the war that ravaged the land of Equestria and the Zebra lands ended, well did it end? What was this war over? Resources of course. One pony can’t have more than another or that causes problems. I was only a filly, of 7 years old, when my family and I was transported north from the Crystal Empire to a Stable-Tec instillation. They called it a stable, Stable 744.

The stable was situated in a cave that was in a remote section of the Scandineighvian mountains. I can still remember the way the stable walls looked; how metallic and clean it was when we first arrived. So out of place. We were told that we would be staying for a week because it was a test run. After three days, a Stable-Tec representative arrived and said that the war had escalated to a point where all the stables were locking down. They told us this was no longer a dry run but the real thing. Mega-spells had been detonated and destroyed most of the world. We weren't told what had happened exactly just that by the end of the week that Stable-Tec would start the procedures that would keep us alive.

Stable-Tec kept their promise and soon the whole Stable was fully automated. By the end of the second week, the first government of Stable 744 was established. We had elections. Every pony that had a cutiemark was allowed to vote so that didn't include me. We voted that a Unicorn stallion, with a brash personality, named Glacier Rain would take command. By the end of the third week, Glacier Rain had implemented Stable-Tec’s rules. I can not tell you what happened by the end of the week because I was not conscience, per Stable-Tec guidelines.

I can tell you the conversation was not one that went over too well with my parents. The book was a large one and it slammed down on the table in the room that my parents and I had begun calling home.

“Look, as residents of Stable 744 you have to listen to what I say.” said Glacier Rain.

“I understand that Mister Rain, but this is a little much isn't it” my father said as he held my mother close.

Glacier Rain focused his horn on the book he slammed on the table and flipped it open to a previously marked page. Glacier Rain sighed, “Look there are a little over 150 ponies in this hole in the ground that all depend on me to keep this place running at peak performance. I have had this same fucking conversation about 50 fucking times already.” He focused his magic and lifted the book “According to the STSG-744 section 0001” Glacier Rain cleared his throat and began to quote word for word “Stable 744 is a history preservation Stable. The point of this Stable is to preserve the ways of life of Old Equestria. When the Stable sensors read that the magical radiation is within a safe level the stable door will open, it will be up to the ponies inside to have saved the knowledge of pre-war equestria.” he paused and let that sink in and then he continued “STSG-744 section 0002 The Overstallion or Overmare in cha-“

My father interrupted “That's all well and good but what does that have to do with taking our daughter?”

Glacier Rain walked over to my father and got in his face “Will you let me finish? If you could keep that fucking mouth of yours shut, then you might learn the reason why we need to take your daughter along with the other fillies and colts that don't have their cutiemarks yet.”

My father stared dumbfounded that Glacier Rain was more of a dictator than a leader. “As I was saying STSG-744 section 0002 The Overstallion or Overmare in charge will follow the Stable-Tec guidelines found in the Stable-Tec Stable Guidelines to the up most perfection” Glacier Rain sighed and flipped the pages and stopped at a new page. “Now here is the reason we need all the blank flanks” He stopped to clearing his throat again, maybe he was a smoker? “STSG-744 section 0012: By the beginning of the second month all the Fillies and Colts who do not have any cutiemarks and appear to be in perfect mental capacity are to be rounded up and put into a state of suspended animation where they will be educated via telepathy.”

Glacier Rain closed the book and floated it into his saddlebags. My father and mother looked at me and then back to Glacier Rain.

“Well I suppose” my mother said holding back tears.

My father stepped forward and with an angry tone said “What if we refuse to comply?”

Glacier Rain smirked and stomped the floor and in burst 4 Security ponies; all but one was holding security batons in their muzzles and the other was holding a pistol in a magical field. “Please sir, try something” Glacier Rain said.

My father looked at the guard ponies and frowned as he recognized at least two of them including the one with the pistol. “You’ll follow this bastard?” he said as he turned away and met my face. “Listen girl” he said with tears in his eyes. “I love you and I don't want this to happen but if I don-”

I stopped him with a hug. “Dad,” I said “I have to do this for Equestria, I’m like a war hero or something.” I smiled and kissed him on the cheek and then I went to my mother and kissed her and hugged her. “Don’t worry mama, we will save Equestria.”

After this emotional exchange, I turned to Glacier Rain “Alright Mister Rain, lets do this for Equestria” I said. He nodded and a guard pony stepped forward and directed me out. As I left my family behind I thought I heard Glacier Rain say to my parents “Project Equis is important, and your daughter understands that.”

The guard pony walked me to a corridor that I didn't know existed, which was not hard to do since I hardly left my families quarters, the Atrium or the Cafeteria. This passage was hidden behind a wall that had a painted logo that read “Project Equis - Equestrian University of Intelligences and Sorcery.” I did not learn this until I was shaved completely of all fur, including my mane and tail, but Stable 744 was a two part stable. One part was a normal stable that housed some of the residents that lived near the Crystal Empire and the other part was the housing for the Arcane College that was located in the Scandineighvian Mountains. I learned this when they set me along with 60 other fillies and colts, all shaved and naked in a room with a projector.

The projector started up and soon an image of a stallion and mare popped up on the screen. Both of the ponies on the screen looked well educated and looked to be native of the Scandineighvian mountains. They were both unicorns and looked as though their entire life goal was about to be completed.

“Greetings my little ponies!” the stallion said “My name is Professor Buckston, and this is my wife and assistant Doctor Buckston.” he said in a really happy voice. “You are probably all wondering the reason why we have brought you here and I aim to tell you all.”

The screen turned white and the couple disappeared. The same logo took their place on the screen and the two walked out in front of crowd from a door that was next to the screen. They were accompanied by two floating robots that had both had four arms and various tools that had medical and surgical applications at the ends of them.

“Well then I see we have a good crowd” the buck said. “Welcome to Project Equis! The pinnacle of my wife’s and I career.”

The presentation lasted 15 minutes, it went into detail of what we were going to go through. First, we would be numbed and have a tube put in that would feed us nutrients while we were put into a deep sleep. Then, while we were asleep the doctors would feed education into our heads that would allow us to learn everything we needed to know to be successful ponies. They told us that most of us would be asleep for 30 years. Others would be asleep for 100 years, depending on how well we took to the education implementations.

After we were all clear on what was happening and what we were in for, we were given formal mental testing; most of it was answering questions about social problems. For instance, “If you seen a stranger drop a few bits what would you do?” the testing took 5 minutes. After the testing, we were told what group we were in.

Group A went to the room we saw the presentation in, Group B went to the clinic to start preparation, and Group C went to a special auditorium. I was classified as Group C, so after my test I was escorted by a scientist to the auditorium where 9 other fillies and colts were. We chatted only a little, mostly questions about what the future would be like and how long we thought we would be under. I must have been the last one that qualified for Group C because after 10 minutes of waiting we heard the door lock.

Another Pony walked in, this time he was alone, no robots or anything. “Hello my very special ponies,” he said with a concerning smile. “I am Professor Alpha.”

The name was weird, possibly he was in charge of every pony? He wore white coveralls and on his feet he wore what appeared to be rubber boots. He made us all stand up and once we did, we knew that something wasn't right. A small buzzing sound could be heard.

“Ponies I want you to try to move around.” We tried and we could not; not for lack of trying, of course. We could not move anything, our heads were fixed in a forward position so we had to look ahead. He smirked as we began to panic.

“Ponies right now you are experiencing paralysis due to a targeted electrical current. As you can tell, I have specialized boots on that allow me to walk around you as you try so hard to move.” At this point, long mechanical arms slithered out of the floor and met him by his sides. “Now then, you will not survive this procedure.” he said nonchalantly “I will be harvesting your brain and stripping the memory cortex out of it and toss the rest to the side where your body will become compose for the stable’s gardens. any questions?” he laughed and then the colt that was next to me was grabbed and jerked into the air in front of us by one of the robotic arms. The arm grabbed the colt by the throat using a claw like hand. Now that the colt was no longer touching the floor, he started thrashing about and screaming. Professor Alpha laughed “Go ahead colt, scream this room is sound proof!” The second robot arm swooped over and the claw it possessed retracted to brandish a small saw. “Now then be careful to not to damage the brain.” The computer beeped in acknowledgment and began to saw into the colt’s skull. Blood rained down onto the floor splashing onto me.

I was scared because I knew what was going to be of me and I wanted to wake up, it had to be a dream right? The saw retracted and the claws returned on the one arm and in one motion the top of the colt’s head was removed revealing his brain. The colt had only a little life left in him, but, when the arm grabbed the brain, the colt screamed only for a second and then was silenced. The brain was swiftly moved out of the room and within a minute the next filly was grabbed up and the same procedure was performed. I watched as three others had this happen to them. Soon it was my turn to die. There was no point in fighting the procedure. The arm grabbed me up by my throat and I was lifted into the air.

Professor Alpha looked into my eyes and smirked, “There is a fire in this one, computer try to save the embers of the fire.” the computer beeped and the saw started. At first I saw red, my blood was seeping into my vision. It only took maybe five seconds of pure pain, but my skull cap was removed. I saw it fall and knew that soon it would be over.

Before the claw scooped out my brain, I said as loud as I could muster “Celestia won't forgive you!”

Professor Alpha met my eyes again, “Oh dear filly, Celestia and Luna, for that matter, are not anymore mortal that you or me. For all we know, they are dead in the ruins of Canterlot.” He turned away from me.

My life was leaving my body slowly. “Only seven years old and she has the fire of a mare who has lived three times that.” He turned back, “Computer, remember lets save that fire.” the computer beeped and I died.

Thats how I died. Thats why I am here now, in this state that is. I have no physical body, no true physical form really. Hell, as far as you know, I'm just a dream. I suppose I am just the true product of Project Equis. Oh my name is Star Charmer, if that even matters anymore. I would say this is my story but from here on out its your story Glacier Mane.

Chapter I - Of Broken Horns

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June 3rd, 2377 - 20:40 Hours

I sat staring at the pale redness of an apple that was grown from one of the stable’s personal gardens. The apples here were for the most part tasteless, maybe a hint of something was there, but still tasteless. I laid my head on the table and sighed. Being in a stable meant three things for certain: you were born in a stable, you died in a stable and there is nothing to do in a stable. Well, according to my counts, I had completed two of those. I used my magic to levitate the apple to my mouth and I took a bite. As I chewed I got up and began to walk out of the cafeteria. I saw one maintenance pony plastering a new sign on the wall. As I passed him I saw the poster said, “Elections Next Week!!! Valence Versus Trotten!!! All Ponies with Cutiemarks can Vote!!!” The sign was a red, white and blue audacity with more enthusiasm than we truly needed in the stable.

The maintenance pony finished the sign work and casually said,"Hello!" and followed it with a “Glacier Mane, when are you going to run for office?”

The question was asked quite often around election years and I did not really mind; however being asked 20 times in a setting can get annoying.

I smiled my best smile and said “Who knows? Maybe I’ll just be a write in.”

He laughed and gathered his things up “I don't know any pony in their right mind that would vote for them. Valence there wants to start back the Equis agenda and Trotten wants to eliminate any homosexual ponies in the stable!” We started walking down a corridor towards the atrium.

“I know I don't think either one is a good fit for democratic processes.” I said as the maintenance pony set his things down once more. He pulled out another poster and began to plaster it to the wall.

“Your family ran the stables good.” he said nonchalantly, another phrase that was common in the stable. “I tell you I'm not the only pony around this stable that thinks so, but it's time for the Glacier family to take back the power in the stable.” He grabbed a pasting brush with his mouth and began to paste the wall.

I turned, shrugged the comment off and said as we entered the atrium, “Who knows maybe one day.”

He turned to me and fixed me with a glance. “Glacier Mane, I’ve heard a lot of other ponies saying they want you running for office. I would not be surprised if you were thrown into the race last minute. Maybe you should consider the position.”

I wished him well and walked off, forgetting the conversation all together.

I walked my usual path through the atrium and to “744 Brews and Spirits”, the tap house that opened up near the security pony offices. As I walked in, I threw what remained of my apple in the trash chute. I sauntered up to the bar and slapped a hoof down. The bartender, a unicorn mare that had a shot glass on her flank, walked up and floating up a glass and placing it in front of me.

“What are we having tonight, Glacier?” She asked as she floated the apple bourbon over along with a pot of hot tea and two sugar cubes. “You are the only customer that gets this drink. I honestly don't even know what it tastes like”

She poured the hot tea into the glass about halfway and dropped the sugar cubes in. The cubes of sugar dissolved and she filled the rest of the glass with the bourbon. I reached out to grab the glass with my magic but she grabbed it first and took a large gulp out of it. She slammed it down and swallowed. Her eyes fixed mine

“Not bad, unique taste with a bite.” She said pouring me another one, “This one is on the house, since I drank some of yours.”

I used my magic to grab the first glass, drinking the rest and then reached for the second one. I noticed she had not taken a chaser, that was sexy but could she hold her liquor?

“Drink with me!” I said “Take the credits out of my account let's see how much liquor you can hold.” I laughed.

The bar was dead at this point which was unusual for a Friday. She walked around the bar and sat down next to me. I looked her over, she was a light yellow mare with golden hair that had streaks of pink highlighting. Her stable barding clung to her tightly she was absolutely gorgeous, and that was not the liquor talking, yet.

“I hope you know I am a Bar Pony, so I hope you have the credits to cover this.” She floated two shot glasses over they were filled with what looked like vodka."I plan on drinking you broke." I grabbed one and floated it to me. “Here is to us!” she said and we drained the glasses.

June 4th, 2377 - 10:13 Hours

I woke up in familiar surroundings. I was laying in my bed, a bottle of vodka next to my head. I floated it to my face and read the label “Stable 744 - Vodka. 805th run” I sat the bottle down and noted a dull throbbing behind my eyes.

“Looks like I'm wearing dark lenses today.” I said as I moved the covers.

As I did so I felt something. I looked over to see the Bar Mare. My eyes widened and then I noted the feel of sweat on my body. I had slept with her and I did not even know her name. She must of felt my eyes on her because she stirred awake. She looked around and her gaze caught mine, Oh fuck, she was even more gorgeous.

“Well hello Mane.” she said as she got up and steadied herself. “I'm so sore.” She yawned as she walked into the bathroom.

I walked in behind her and started the water in the shower. I climbed in and began to shower off the sweat of last night. I was alone for only a few seconds when she climbed into the shower with me. “Woah!” I said as I jumped away from her, not far mind you it was a shower. “I don't even know your name!” I exclaimed.

Obviously, she did not take me seriously “Glacier Mane, I know you keep to yourself but every pony knows every pony. I’m Serenade.” she spoke softly as she grabbed the soap and lathered it on.

Well that answered that question, but why was she in my shower, with me? “Hello Serenade.” I calmed myself down “I assume we fucked and didn't get into too much trouble.” I grabbed the soap from her and lathered myself up. She didn't say much just a nod and she stepped out of the shower. I hope I had not offended her. I finished my shower.

I walked out of the bathroom and found her sitting on my bed looking at some of my personal things. “So,” she began without looking at me “what does Mr.Glacier Mane do in the stable?” she said as I reached into a cabinet with my magic and pulled out a half empty bottle of bourbon.

“Well,” I sighed “nothing really, I am suppose to be a politic pony. The next in line for the Overstallion position in Stable 744.” I drank from the bottle and offered my new found friend a swig. She contemplated what I had said and she took a big swig. “Also I am an Alcoholic.” I finished the bottle.

“So your Stable Royalty with a drinking problem then huh?” she got up and walked towards the door of my bedroom.

I got up and put the bottle away and followed her into the great room of my quarters."Hey I do not have a drinking problem! I said as I sat down on a chair "If it was a problem I would be sitting at the bar right now, which by the way is not a terrible idea."

“Okay okay sure thing whatever you say. So tell me, where exactly do you fall into the whole stable royalty?” I sighed and walked up to her.

“It's a long story Serenade but the just of it is this: 300 and some years ago my my great great and so on grandfather was Glacier Rain Stable 744’s first Overstallion. Since then seven generations of my family have held that position.” I walked away and put my pip-buck on my foreleg. “Look don’t take this as me being too fast or anything. But are we like a couple or was this just a fuck and buck?”

She walked past me and kissed my cheek “I guess you will just have to find out huh?” She left and there I was, alone, in my great room.

My chair that I had chosen allowed me to rest the side of my head against the wall which eased the pain of last night in my head. My cheek burned where she had kissed me. I was still confused on what she meant, but it made me feel good actually. I turned my pip-buck’s radio on and tuned to the stable broadcast and listened to the announcements and same 14 songs that played on repeat all day.

June 4th, 2377 - 12:15 Hours

“Attention all residents of Stable 744, this is a news update coming live from the stables very own broadcast station… Where else would it be coming from? This is DJ Feedback with a special election news. A new pony has been officially added to the ballot. Stallion Glacier Mane has been officially added due to popularity amongst the stable ponies. Thats right ponies the choices are now Valence, Trotten, and Glacier Mane. As we all know Glacier Mane is the youngest member of the Glacier Family. Although he is a stable favorite we still have no idea what his views are or what platform he stands on. We do know that Valence runs on the platform of reestablishing Equis, and Trotten runs on the Bigotry platform, I’m sorry The Pure Stable Platform. Truly Glacier Mane is a wild card. More on this as the story develops. As a Reminder the Elections are on Wednesday June 8th in the Atrium. That is all for your Lunch time news, enjoy the rest of your day ponies and remember Hard Work Is Happy Work!”

My eyes widened, “Fuck Me!” I said as I walked into the kitchen. I had yet to leave my quarters and now I really did not want to. My pip-buck dinged with a notification, I looked down. It was a message telling me that now the broadcast station wanted an interview later today. “It shouldn’t be allowed to push a pony into the race this close to elections.” I breathed out. I ignored the message completely and grabbed bottle of bourbon I was not nearly drunk enough for this shit. I downed two shots before I got another notice this time it was my grandfather, Glacier Rain III, and he wanted to talk to me. Of course he did, his grandson was just thrown into a political race. I replied with a quick “OK, be there in five”

I walked, with my bourbon in a glass that floated next to me, to my grandfathers quarters. Thankfully the hall that I lived on along with my family was considered off limits to just any pony. So I wasn't stopped on my way to his door. I let myself in and found him at his table. He had a cigarette in his muzzle. His coat was a silver with a mane of greying blue hair. To be honest to look at him was almost to be looking at an aged version on myself, except he was not a unicorn.

“Hello grandfather.” I said as I approached him. I took a sip from my glass.

“Hello Mane.” he said “Politics finds you in your usual state I see, drunk.” he said glaring at my glass.

I sat it down on the table “Honestly Grandfather, I don't want to be Overstallion.” I walked away from him, floated a chair to the table he was sitting at and sat down in front of him.

“Too bad it's your bloodline. You have to be the next Overstallion.” He smoked his cigarette and blew smoke into the air.

“I said I don't want to be Overstallion!” This time I was firm, but it was to no avail. I grabbed my glass with my magic and went to take a sip, only to have my grandfather smack it out of the air with his hoof. The glass fell, clattering to the ground and finally shattering after it bounced.

“Celestia Damn It! Glacier Mane!” Do you not see that the Stable wants you to lead. Valence is a dumb shit who doesn't have any connection to politics just that he wants to be important and the same goes for Trotten. You can be a strong leader and you won't be alone I will help you be the best Overstallion possible!” I considered what he said, only after I considered licking the bourbon from the floor.

“I got a notification from the broadcast station they want an interview today” I said lifting my pip-buck to read the notification once more.

“Well schedule it now, you will run for Overstallion and you’ll win!” my grandfather exclaimed; obviously, he wanted this more than me.

“I don't know, grandfather, it's not what I want to do.” I still needed to consider this whole situation before making a decision.

“The hell you say!” my grandfather exploded. “What do you want to do Glacier Mane be a drunkard without power or a drunkard with all the power? For fuck sakes, you ignorant foal, Overstallions get the best booze. If that's not incentive enough to run, then I'll beat the idea into you myself. Now schedule your fucking interview, your ponies want to hear from you!”

I left my grandfather's convinced that I was going to run, just so he would shut up about it, well that and the free booze. I scheduled my interview for later that day. “Let's get this over with.” I said as I did so.The Broadcast Station responded almost immediately with a time. The words of my grandfather echoed in my head “…Your ponies want to hear from you!” I walked into my room and began to get ready. I needed a platform to stand on and I needed it quick.

June 4th, 2377 - 18:00 Hours

“Good evening to all the ponies of the best Stable, Stable 744. Its DJ Feedback here with your news. First things first. Food levels in the Stable are nominal and no need to worry about rationing. Same goes for water levels. The filter statuses are nominal and are working a peak performance. Let's see, hmmm, nothing else happening until the elections and speaking of elections I have with me the newest candidate, Mr. Glacier Mane, to discuss his political stances!”

I straightened myself in the chair. The microphone was positioned perfectly so that DJ Feedback and myself could speak comfortably.

“So Glacier Mane, welcome to the studio and thanks for taking the time to speak with me and the rest of the stable.” he said as he leaned back and let me acknowledge what he said. “Well, the first question I have to ask is what stance do you plan on running on? Considering the time of the elections is near it will have to be a good one to secure a win.”

He looked at me with anticipation and wonderment . “Well, as you know if I win the Overstallion position,” I fluffed my answer “I will be the eighth member of my family to hold that position. So It's a pretty big order to fill and, as many should know and perhaps remember, my family hasn't had a clear track record of where they fall when it comes to what policy they follow. So my family is a wildcard family, for instance my great great and so on Grandfather Glacier Rain was for the implementation of Equis. The next generation of my family to hold the office of Overstallion was Glacier Fire, he was the pony who stopped the implementation of Equis.” I took a breath and continued, “My grandfather Glacier Rain III, he focused on businesses in the Stable and brought to us the digital currency we all use. So when it comes to me and what my stance is I would have to say I want to run on the platform of implementing the Resident First Policy.”

DJ feedback looked at me with a dumb smile on his face, but he recovered. “That sounds great Glacier Mane, I assume it means the needs of the Residents are top priority?” He said as I nodded to let him know he was right. “Now not to be a downer but your opponents say that you cannot run the stable because you are an alcoholic. What do you have to say about that?"

I was taken back I clearly was not ready for this. I was in the race for only a few hours and trash was already being thrown at me. Thinking fast I retorted with, “Who doesn't like a drink now and then?”

I left the interview as fast as I could and wouldn’t you know it I had to push through crowds to get to the atrium. I was on my way to the tap house of course, but not to drink. I wanted to see Serenade and at least figure out what the hell was up with us. That would take some pressure off the fact I was blindly running a campaign. I turned the corner and was taken back when I saw Serenade waiting for me outside the tap house.

“Come on, let's go to your place.” She said as she pushed through the crowd. We walked as fast as we could to my quarters.

However, one mare was able to shout out, “Is she your mare friend Glacier Mane?”

Without missing a beat Serenade turned around and said, “Yes I am, so stop eye fucking him okay!” She turned back around and kept walking.

“Well, that answered that for me.” I said to her as we finally hit the private hall.

June 5th, 2377 - 01:20 Hours

“Look here honey, it'll be fine.” Serenade said as she unlocked the door to her quarters.

I sighed and kissed her goodnight and turned to walk away. It was quiet hours so I had to be as fast as I could without making a sound. I had made it back to the atrium when I noticed I had a follower. I could not make out who they were just that they were closing in fast. I made it to my door and noticed they followed me all the way to my door. Now they stood just five feet away.

“Um excuse me,” I said as I turned to meet them “What do you need?”

The pony like figure was dressed in what appeared to be black leather and spoke in a mechanical voice. “I am Delta 554 I am here to deliver a message from EQUIS.”

Now the pony had my attention. “A message from Equis?” I said confused.

The pony walked up to me unnaturally fast, “Drop out of the race and support Valence.”
Now I was really confused, however, putting two and two together I deduced that reestablishing EQUIS was a big deal to this pony. Look, I'm an alcoholic not an idiot.

“I'm not going to drop out of the race sorry.” I said assuring myself that this pony wasn't dangerous even if I was not 100% sure.

The pony held a blank stare, “Inadequate response, use of force authorized.” The pony grabbed me by the throat and pushed me into the wall. I could see that he was not a unicorn, so he couldn't use magic. I enveloped his hoof that he had on my throat with my magic only to feel like I was grasping nothing at all.

I couldn't move his hoof at all. He stared blankly at me and spoke, “Use of Force has been enacted. EQUIS will rise. Counter Magical retaliation.” He slammed me on the floor.

I was near blacking out, darkness seeped into my vision. I lifted my head up to try one last attempt to remove his hoof. When I did his other hoof met my horn and shattered it, slamming my head on the floor. The pain exploded in my head and darkness seeped into my vision even more. The pony leaned in “EQUIS is this stable’s purpose. Do not test us again. Message delivered, returning to homebase.” I blacked out, and drifted into a deep sleep.

I opened my eyes to find myself in unfamiliar surroundings. “Hello?” I said only to be met with silence. My surroundings looked like a book. Trees that were huge and snow, snow was everywhere. I could see what looked like a modest village in the distance. I did a quick turn around and saw a cave, it was lit with a few miner lamps. I felt like the cave was familiar, but I did not venture into the cave.

“Hello, Glacier Mane.” the voice made me jump.

I turned and saw a beautiful unicorn mare smiling at me. She was a light blue and had a stylized white mane with a pink stripe. “Oh dear, they broke your horn badly didn't they?” she said.

I reached up and touched my horn, well were it should have been, but it was gone. “Why did they do that to me? Who are you and where am I?" I spouted out the questions.

“Now I know you have questions but in due time, let me first say this my name is Star Charmer.” She smiled, walked over to me and draped her hoof over my shoulder. “And this is outside Stable 744 before the megaspells hit.” I was shocked it looked so beautiful but it couldn't be real. “No its not real Glacier Mane.” She said it like she was in head. “This is a memory, one of my memories. Now Glacier you have to wake up. You’re in the hall of the stable looking like a fucking idiot.” I shook my head and the scene around me started to fade except Star Charmer. She stayed next to me as it faded. “Listen to me, you need to win the election and open the stable. The ponies of Stable 744 need to have the choice to leave the stable and get away from EQUIS.” With that the scene around us was black as she left my side and started to walk into the abyss of darkness that now surrounded me. “Don’t worry Glacier Mane, we will talk again.” I woke up to find myself surrounded by Security ponies and Medical ponies. I was still in the hallway, just like she said and I looked like a fucking idiot.

Chapter II - The Pony Time Refused to Forget Revised

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June- 5th- 2377 08:00 Hours

“Look I’m fine.” I said exasperated as the medical pony, a butter colored mare, looked me over.

It had been almost seven hours since I was attacked. The security ponies had asked me all manners of questions including a description of my attacker and possible motive, instead of political. Besides all I could remember and want to tell them was that he was an earth pony in leather, very fast, and was for EQUIS. I could remember his name but I did not think Delta 554 was something that would make much sense so I left it out of my description. It did not take too long for them to come to the conclusion that it was for political reasons. Since the pony was for EQUIS then maybe Valence would know something about it. At that point they left me with the medical staff. I had been in the clinic for at least 5 hours. The butter colored medical mare replaced the bandages around my now shattered horn of which only, roughly, half now remained. She looked at me with what looked like pity and maybe star struck like wonderment.

“You should be fine Mr.Glacier Mane.” she said.

Mr.Glacier Mane? Really was that what I was now. I dismissed it and smiled “So tell me how bad is it?” I said really only worried if I would be able to use my magic to lift a bottle.

“You should be okay.” she said as she put away the supplies that she was using to bandage my horn. “To start off Mr.Glacier Mane, the injuries you sustained to your neck are no more than bruises and the same goes for your back.” She grabbed the used materials and threw them in the trash chute. “As for your horn, I would avoid using your magic for at least a week.” This was not the news I wanted to hear. “Now Mr.Glacier Mane, I believe the doctor wanted to speak to you before you left. He should be in with you in a few minutes.” She finished cleaning and left me by myself.

The walls of the clinic were metallic grey with posters neatly hung portraying a minimalistic yellow and pink pegasus, some with a saying that said “You Don’t Need To Be A Steel Ranger To Be A Hero!” What the hell was a Steel Ranger? The concept was lost on me but I guess it meant something to the original stable residents, I mean the posters were over 200 years old. I looked to every wall noticing every pit in the steel that made them up. It was boring. How long was I expected to just sit and wait for the doctor to show up? I was tired, really tired. It had been the better part of a day since I had slept. The exhaustion level I was experiencing was draining on me. For Celestia sakes where was this doctor?

“Glacier, you need to take a deep breath and be patient.” a mare’s voice came from beside me which was weird since I was alone. I looked to one side of me, then to the other and then looked back to find a blue unicorn mare next to me.

She smiled at me. “Well they patched you up good didn’t they?” I was confused. First she was in a dream and now she was next to me in the clinic.

“How were you in my dream and now here in the clinic?” I said. “Teleportation is a hard spell to learn but Dream Walking that is an alicorn level spell.” She got up and walked in front of me.

“That’s an easy one dear, I am not really here, haven't truly been here in over 200 years.” She looked at the poster of the the pegasus and spoke the words of the poster, “You don't have to be a steel ranger to be a hero, oh Fluttershy ministry mare of peace.” She turned to me, “I was only a little girl when I came to the stable. I never really understood anything about the war just that it was bad.” She walked back over and sat next to me again kicking her hind legs like a filly would. I was of course trying to process all the information I was receiving from her.

“What do you mean you haven't been here in over 200 years! You were in my dream!" I stopped then slowly said matter of factly, "You're a figment of my imagination.” She frowned at my words.

“That wasn't nice at all Glacier.” She said with a pout. I felt bad like I had done something wrong like I had insulted myself.

“I’m sorry. Are you a ghost then?” I did not believe in ghosts but it was worth a shot.

“No, I'm not a ghost don't be ridiculous.” she said with a snicker “Close but not really one.” Now I was confused, more so then I was.

“Then what are you then?” I said on the verge of demanding.

“Thats for another time. I promise I will tell you when you are over stallion besides it’ll mean more than. However, I wouldn't go around and tell people you are talking to a ghost because you'll look like a fucking idiot and that's not good for the votes.” She smiled and the door to the clinic opened up and the doctor walked in.

I looked away from where the mare who called herself Star Charmer was, to the doctor and then back to where she stood but she was now gone.

“Hello Mr.Glacier Mane, Im Doctor Hoovenstein.” The doctor said, “Who were you talking to?” I shook my head and said nothing. “Well then, I did some tests on your blood and they came back with high levels of alcohol.” He said flipping through his papers with a hoof. He was an earth pony with a charcoal grey coat and white mane with a deep silky voice, the nurse mares were probably all over him. The fact he was bringing this up was something I did not want to listen to but I let him continue. “How much do you consume?” he asked quite bluntly.

I had this answer rehearsed, I cleared my throat, “Two glasses of wine everyday; however, last night I had a little more than that. I had four glasses of bourbon to celebrate.” I smiled and looked at the doctor.

He laughed and stared at me, he knew I was lying. I started to sweat but said nothing more.

“Two glasses of wine everyday.” He repeated every word putting emphasis on two glasses, “So do you like red or white, or maybe a rose wine? You seem like a classy stallion, so I'll say white.” He set the papers down and looked at me and I knew I was in trouble. “Don’t bullshit me, Glacier Mane.”

I sat there shifting in my place like I was on trial. “Two glasses that's it.” I lied “Like I said I had four glasses of bourbon last night.” He walked up to me and fixed a gaze at me.

“Well then this will be a surprise for you.” He turned around, grabbed one paper and sat it down on the seat next to me. “That is a test I did when you came in with high levels of alcohol in your system. Don't ask me who gave permission, it's Stable protocol to do so.” He sat on the swivel stool in front of me. “The test was for a liver analysis to see if your liver was functioning normally.” I looked over the page and saw what it said I went grim. “I can tell by the lack of color in your face that you understand that it’s not good.” He took a deep breath, “Okay so as you can read your liver is functioning at a whopping 31%, which is below the standard level of Stable Physical Standards by 24%.” He got up and took the paper from my hooves. “I have scheduled a blood purge for tomorrow at 15:00 hours, so that would be the sixth. You will be staying here that night because the seventh is the day we remove your liver and implant a Stable-Tec state of the art robotic blood filter. It is mandatory that you come tomorrow. If you do not, then I will send the security ponies to fetch you.” He wrote something down in his notes. “Now the seventh you will be released into recovery probably by lets say 20:00 hours.” He shut his notes and walked to the door, “Do you have any questions?” I shook my head and slowly stood up. I was taken aback. I was 24 years old and I was on the verge of total liver failure. “Alright then, I will see you tomorrow at 15:00 hours. Please for the sake of Celestia, do not be late.” He turned and left the room. I walked out behind him at a much slower pace.

I was met by Serenade right outside of the clinic. She hugged me and kissed my cheek; however, she could tell there was something wrong. “Don’t worry dear I’m sure a broken horn will look tough.” She tried to cheer me up but saw that it did not help, “Glacier, honey what's the issue?”

I looked at her and then back to the floor. Its funny how when your world is crashing around you that you seem to notice all the mundane things that you either forgot or you just altogether ignore. For instance, I noticed for the first time that the floor was not a complete uniform color but shades and hues of polished concrete. “My liver,” I started “it's failing from all the alcohol. I'm scheduled for a blood purge tomorrow and then the next day I will be having it replaced.” I said as I started to walk towards my quarters with Serenade in hoof.

“How bad is it dear?” Serenade said trying to grasp the severity of the situation.

“Well it’s functioning at a 31%.” I responded to her.

She thought this over and nodded “Well then looks like we got to give that liver something to remember before tomorrow right?” She smiled and walked me over to my quarters “Tonight,” she said “I am staying here with you. We are going to get drunk off our hooves and fuck as many times as you can stand it.”

June 5th, 2377 - 22:00 Hours

The drinking started as soon as the door closed. Of course there had not been any breaks for us, and we had not left at all. Serenade floated my bottles for me so I would not use my magic. “How are you doing Glacier.” she slurred her words, even in my drunken state I could see just how sexy she was.

“I’m doing so great!” I slurred in response I forced myself up and stood on my hind legs, “Fuck every single one of my Livers.” I proclaimed and then fell on to the couch that Serenade was sitting on.

She laughed and took another swig of the bourbon that she had delivered to my door, courtesy of one of the Stable-Tec robo-butlers. She floated the bottle over and allowed me to take a swig myself. She floated the bottle over, looked at how much was left and then poured it out all over me. She threw the bottle and it shattered on the wall. She draped herself over me and began to lick the liquor off my chest. At least that's where she started. She followed the liquor trail down to my cock. I responded in a way you would expect. I could feel a tension building up in me and I enjoyed it. She looked up at me and smiled a drunken smile. Oh damn this was going to be a good night I thought.

“So now that we are all smashed and horny,” she said noting that my body was showing signs of both, “Let's start fucking!” It didn't take me too long to agree to this plan.

Before I could respond she wrapped her mouth around my cock. It took everything I had not to lose my composure right then and there. Her tongue trailed my stallion-hood’s length multiple times. I sat there moaning and I’m sure everyone who walked by the closed door of my quarter knew what was going on. She began to fuck my cock with her mouth. Going first really slow teasing me with her sucking and licking then she she would begin to suck my cock fast as I bucked into her. After what seemed like an hour, I pushed her back gently releasing my cock from her mouth. I grabbed her by the hair till she was eye level with me then pushed her back on to the couch. She smiled at me as I began kissing my way down her pussy. I heard her moan of pleasure and bit down gently, smiling to myself when I heard her shout my name. I used my tongue to trace every fold of her mare-hood teasing her just like she had done me.

“Fuck! Glacier” she said convulsing with her orgasm. “You need to calm the fuck down!” she twitched and I stopped my fun.

I met her face and gave her a deep kiss.

“If I don’t survive the surgery,” I began...

“Shut the fuck up Glacier.” she demanded.

“No, No I need to say this.” I placed my stallion-hood at the entrance of her mare-hood, “I want to be the best fuck you ever had. The one you compare everyone to that never comes close. The one whose name you moan when you pleasure yourself.” And with that I pushed into her and blacked out.

June 6th, 2377 - 13:00 Hours

I woke up covered in sweat, multiple liquors, spit and probably the DNA of both Serenade and myself. I checked the clock on my Pip-buck that was still on my foreleg. Two more hours until my blood purge. I got up and felt the room spin. I could tell I was still drunk, well maybe buzzed, but I could function. I looked around and could not see Serenade so I called out for her. She moaned and peeked out from the crevasse that was next to the wall and my bed. She pulled herself up on to the bed and I could see where the escapades of last night had dried, which I found disgusting. Her mane was a mess and had knots all in it.

“We need to shower up before I go to the appointment today. We have two hours.” I said as I walked into the bathroom.

I turned on the light and looked at myself in the mirror. At some point in the night my bandages had fallen off and I could see my horn for what it really looked like. My horn was cracked off about half way up in a jagged edge. It looked tough just as Serenade had suggested it would look. I reached up, touched it and it did not hurt but I felt like it was sharp. I looked around for something to pick up, something small and lightweight. I wanted to test it out but it had to be something that could fall and not be a big deal. After looking I found and focused on a bottle of soap trying to levitate it over to me. At first it hesitated and then a sharp pain entered my head. The pain was splitting but I pushed on. The bottle levitated and that's all I needed to see. I dropped the magic and the pain stopped then bottle fell and clattered to the bottom of the shower. Serenade walked in and smiled.

“I see your magic is still there, not too strong but it's there.” She used her magic and turned the shower on. She stepped in and turned back to me, “By the way, that was the best fucking I have gotten in awhile.”

June 6th, 2377 - 15:00 Hours

“Okay Glacier,” Dr.Hoovenstein said as he sat me in a comfortable chair and leaned me back, “Now this will take a very long time, so we will be putting you under for the procedure.” I nodded and shifted in the seat to prepare for the long haul. “In all actuality Glacier you will wake up again after the surgery and you will be out of here in time for the election.” He smiled and began to gather his tools placing them next to me on a tray. There were two long surgical tubes both with IV ends and connector ends on the other ends. He had one nurse that was a unicorn mare float those behind me where they were connected to a machine that set behind me. “Okay Glacier here's the deal,” Hoovenstein said “The machine behind you is going to accept the blood that we are draining out of you and through a series of filters it will purify it. It will remove all toxins and even oxygen from your blood. Once it is purified it will be reintroduced to your body via the other tube where it will pump through your body and be oxygenated.” He smiled and looked me over, “We will do this process at least 5 times and then we will perform the transplant.” He walked over to me and set up an oxygen mask with a concentration of oxygen and nitrous oxide. “So any questions?” he asked looking at the gauges. I shook my head and he motioned for the nurse to insert the first IV into my foreleg. She walked around the backside of me and took the other IV and pushed it deep into my neck. Hoovenstein placed the mask over my muzzle and sensed my worry. “Don’t worry Glacier, I have performed this procedure 26 times.” He flipped the gas on so I would breathe it in, “I have only had issues with -“

I was out.

September, 2167

My hooves were crushing grass, beautifully green grass. I looked around and tried to get a sense of where I was. It only took me a few seconds to figure out I knew this place. I turned around and spotted the mountains that divided this village from the rest of the world. This was the village I saw from afar when I first encountered Star Charmer. I turned around again and was met with a sign that had not been there before, “Find The Clues and Solve our Mystery.” Perplexed I began to walk around the village and noticed that no pony was around. I saw a bakery full of cakes and pastries with no bakers, a post office with no post ponies, cottages abandoned but still cleaned. Where was every pony? I walked further into the village and began to notice that no matter what direction I turned I was always walking toward the largest building. Soon, I made it my task to reach it, obviously I had to go there.

Once I had set my mind on going there I arrived in no time at all. Outside of the building was another sign, “Inside are the answers you seek and the questions yet to be asked.” What the fuck did that mean? I looked up and saw the building had a name in big golden letters, “Equestrian University of Intelligences and Sorcery.” I thought to myself, I knew this name. After some consideration, I placed it as EQUIS. My mind flooded with memories of the pony who broke my horn as he said “EQUIS is this stable’s purpose.” So did he want the school to start back? This made little sense to me but I pushed forward and opened the door. The building was full of scholar ponies rushing around, but as I stepped forward the ponies closest to me turned to dust and floated on the air. This continued to happen with every step I took. The ponies did not acknowledge me almost as if I was not there. Maybe... I wasn't.

I turned to find the door had shut and a sign was there instead, these signs were really starting to become a norm for me. This sign like all the others was just as cryptic, “Follow the Voices of the Past.” It was then I heard what sounded like ponies in agreement with one another. I followed the sound up the stairs while all the scholar ponies continues to dissipate into dust. I reached the top of the stairs and found no scholar ponies were around. So I turned to look down the stairs and found a dark abyss had replaced the bottom floor. I turned back saw no sign but I continued to hear the voices so I continued my search to find them. My search lead me to double doors that swung off their hinges to reveal four ponies. Three of the ponies were in lab coats and the other was in business attire. I tried to make sense of what was going on and walked into the room. They didn't stop their conversation but instead kept talking. I also noticed that as I stepped closer they did not turn to dust. I began to listen to what they were saying as the business attires pony, who was a tan earth pony with a black mane, spoke first.

“So we will be starting up the Stable program by the end of the week, and we want it to be a split stable. Half of the stable is dedicated to the village residents and the other half is for this fine institution.” The business pony stepped toward the table and reached into a saddlebag that was on the floor pulling out two folders and handing them to two of the lab coat ponies, one a stallion and the other a mare but both were unicorns. The business pony looked at them both and sent them on their way. Then he turned to the other lab coat pony and pulled out another folder. “Now as for you, Professor…” he trailed off and looked at the folder, “Goodmane,” he continued, “We need you to lead up a special project. We need you to harvest the brains of certain residents and preserve their memories.” He handed the folder to Goodmane “Your job is different then those two, your job is more, how can I say this.... more intensive. You are the lead in this area so you shall be call Alpha in the stable.”

With that the dream shifted and I was no longer inside the school, but I was now in what looked like the stable, but I had no idea where. The room was pristine and barren of everything except a logo for EQUIS. In a swirl of light, I saw the pony known as Professor Alpha in front of me then the blue unicorn mare that I had come to know as Star Charmer. She was only a filly and was completely shaved, no mane or tail just skin. Then out from the floor and ceiling came two robotic arms both ending in silver claws. The one coming up from the floor grabbed her and picked her up from the ground. However, she did not fight the arm just stayed limp. The other arm’s claw retracted and revealed a spinning blade that dropped down slowly it began to cut off the top of her head. The top of her head fell to the floor and revealed her brains. I was appalled and ran to help her, but no matter how I much I tried to move, I could not. She moved her head and locked her stare at me.

“You see this is how I died.” she said as the claws on the ceiling arm appeared again and scooped her brain out.

The floor arm dropped her body and somehow I was right next to it. He lifeless eyes stared up at me and then she spoke to me

“EQUIS will kill everyone.” Then in an instant I was in an abyss, alone with the body of young Star Charmer.

I watched her body as the top of her head grew back suddenly she started to get up and as she did she aged. By the time she was on all four hooves, she was the age that I had saw her the first time.

“I’m sorry Glacier but you needed to see all of that to understand what I am about to tell you.” I was horrified but I nodded. “You see Glacier when I was killed by Professor Alpha and EQUIS it was so they could preserve the history of Equestria through the memory cortex.” She said, “That memory cortex was then implanted in the skull of a newborn foal.” She walked up to me and put a hoof on my shoulder. “They did this by removing half of your brain and implanting the half of my brain that they harvested and put in your head.” She said this as if it was not the most unbelievable thing in the world. “I know this is hard for you to understand, but Glacier I am in your head. I have always been but the head injury you experienced allowed me to come to the forefront of your mind.” She walked away from me and sighed, “You see why EQUIS has to be stopped?” She turned back to me, “There is no telling what kind of sick experiments these fuckers want to do to the ponies in your stable now.” She had a point, what would they want to do? They could not take the brains of the ponies that were alive in the stable because they had no memories of prewar Equestria.

I walked up next to her, “How many others are there?” I asked as if it really mattered.

“Nine others and I don't know who they are.” she said with a frown. “Look Glacier, we don't have much time but you need to win that election and open the stable so we can get away from EQUIS.” I nodded in agreement.

“I hope I get the chance to open the Stable. The only thing standing in my way is whether or not the air quality is breathable.” She agreed with my sentiment.

“Well Glacier it’s time for me to go” She started to walk off into the abyss.

“Will we talk again? What should I do next?” I said the questions swirling around in my head.

She stopped walking and turned around, “Of course we will talk again Glacier, I wouldn't just leave you all on your own.” She walked back up to me and kissed me on the cheek. “As for what you should do next, why don't you tell that mare friend of yours, what her name, Serenade that you have a dead mare in your head.” She laughed and started to walk away, “Mares just love psychos” With that she walked into the abyss and was gone.

June 7th, 2377 - 20:05 Hours

I woke up in a recovery room covered in a cold sweat with Serenade next to me.

“How are you doing dear?” she asked when she noticed I was awake.

My body was sore especially my stomach. I looked down and moved the blankets and saw a rather large scar.

“I'm fine, just tired,” I said as I looked around. I was tired, the kind of tired that required a lot of rest. “I need to tell you something Serenade.” I said as I pushed up in the bed, “I have to win that election.”

Serenade blinked and had a confused look on her face, “Yeah you do if you want to be in charge.” She said matter of factly.

“I need to tell you something else.” I said unsure of how she would accept what I had to tell her. “I, uh, have been talking to someone who is dead.” Her expression was even, unchanging, “Her name is Star Charmer. EQUIS killed her and put half of her brain in my head when I was a newborn foal. I don't know what EQUIS is planning now. The night I was attack the stallion who attacked me kept saying EQUIS will rise and EQUIS was this stables purpose. If I win, then I need to try to open the Stable door so we can all get away from EQUIS.” After I said it, I felt like I must look crazy and probably sounded delusional too, but I knew it was true.

Serenade looked at me and turned away, “Well if that's the case then you need to win don't you.”

Chapter III - Election Day

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June 7th, 2377 - 21:15 Hours

I was weak. I laid in the bed in the recovery wing of the clinic. Serenade had fallen asleep in the chair next to me. I knew I felt things for her but I would not say it was love. Maybe it was just the fact she was a likable pony and not hard on the eyes. Nonetheless, it was nice to have some pony there with me. The lights buzzed overhead and that allowed me to think long and hard about what I had seen in my dreams. I wanted so badly to talk to Star Charmer. I wanted some clarity to go along with the gravity of the situation I was finding myself in. At first this was just an election and free booze but now it was a power grab and the lives of innocent ponies were at stake. This was too much for me to deal with. Just days ago I was a drunk stallion with my mind on where I was going to get my next drink. Why the fuck now did I have to take into account every pony else? I’m not qualified to have the position of Overstallion.

The door to the recover room opened up and Doctor Hoovenstein was there with a folder of release papers. “Alright Glacier, are you ready to hear what I have to say?” I nodded and he cleared his throat, “Please try to keep the drinking to a minimum. When we purified your blood we noticed that we could hold a match to it and light it on fire. The alcohol content was extremely high is what I am trying to say.” He set the folder down on a nearby table, opened it up and wrote on a page then flipped to the next. “Also, here is a prescription for anti-rejection medicine that way the blood filter will be accepted into your system. Take one everyday for the next couple days after that you should be fine” He closed the folder and looked at me. “Do you have any questions for me?” I shook my head. “Good take that folder to the front desk in the clinic and you are all set to go.” He turned to leave and stopped, “Oh by the way, good luck with the election. You may be a drunk but you’re the best pony in the race.” He walked out as I sighed and closed my eyes. I shook Serenade and woke her up. It was time to leave, tomorrow was the day.

June 8th, 2377 - 08:00 Hours

“Ladies and Gentlecolts! This is DJ Feedback with your constant election coverage! I will be giving you constant Election results live as they happen. The polls are now open and will remain open until 18:00 hours, so be sure to get your vote in now. The top three ponies have already voted and the results are Overmare Islenska voting for Valence, The head of Security, Captain Iron Guard voting for Glacier Mane and the head of medical Doctor Hoovenstein voting for Glacier Mane. So We have Trotten zero, Valence one, and Glacier Mane 2. Please stay tuned in to the stable broadcast as we bring you up to the moment live results every hour.”

I did not even bother to leave my quarters because I knew it would be a mad house out there. Ponies running every which way to vote for whoever they liked. That's all I needed 200 some other ponies bumping into me. I was still sore and probably would be for the foreseeable future. I levitated the glass of water I had setting next to me on the counter to my lips and sipped. Serenade had left me to vote in the atrium so I was alone with my thoughts once more. I had noticed to keep myself occupied while alone I would try to summon Star Charmer to no avail. I felt my mind demand a drink, my body demanding to feel the burn go down my throat and into my belly. I knew it was what I wanted but not what I needed. I got up and walked over to my bedroom. I walked in and sat on the bed. The bed was a large queen size that sat on a metallic protrusion on the floor. The dressings of the bed were Stable-tec blue and yellow which was the standard for all residents. The bedroom was furnished with everything every pony else had. One dresser, one bed, one table, one trunk. Now that I was giving up drinking, not my choice but Serenade’s, the trunk was barren of all alcohol. I laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling and began to drift asleep. The combination of pills and surgery had left me ragged and I welcomed sleep every chance I could for the sake of a chance meeting with Star Charmer.

June 8th, 2377 - 13:00 Hours

“Attention every pony this is another live update on the election. With only 5 hours left the votes are as follows.
Trotten with 20 votes, Valence with 67, and Glacier Mane with 81. That means the stable still has 129 unclaimed votes. Trotten is far from clinching the seat of Overmare and is expected to drop out of the race by the next hour if her votes don't crest 50. This has been your stable 744 election coverage.”

I was awoken with a knock on the door of my quarters. I pushed myself up from my bed and made my way to the door. I was greeted by a rather strange pony. I had never seen this pony before. He was a tall, grayish brown earth pony stallion and was dressed in the usual stable barding. He bowed and asked for entrance into my quarters. I allowed him to enter taking in the fact that he moved robotically.

“Can I help you?” I asked quizzically.

He turned around and smiled a very cold smile. The smile looked as if he were trying to convey that he was happy but as if he could not really show any emotion. “Hello Glacier Mane, my name is Dusty Steelstrider. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.” he said as he bowed again. “I am here to thank you for running for the position of Overstallion. I hope you have been informed of what this stable needs.” He approached me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. I noted that the hoof was heavy, heavier than what a normal pony’s hooves should be. “I represent a secret group of special ponies that reside in this stable. What makes us special is that we are not made of flesh and bone but steel and arcane technology.” He tugged at his barding allowing it to fall to the floor and reveal a systematic series of tubes and gears. From the view he allowed I saw a complete skeleton made of steel. “I am a Pseudo Pony or a Pseudo.” I was both take back and intrigued by the mere sight of this creation.

I shook my head and looked at him in the face. “Either this is a hallucination or I have been terribly mislead.”I grabbed his barding in my telekinesis, “Please put this back on so I can talk to you without being distracted.”

He pulled his barding back on and walked over to my couch. “So I suspect you have questions and I will answer them as quickly as possible.” He made himself comfortable, or at least that's what it looked like. “We Pseudos were created by EQUIS.” He began, “We are one of many projects that EQUIS has worked on and 200 plus years has allowed EQUIS to create an almost perfect robotic clone of a pony.” He motioned for me to come over and set on the couch so I did as he suggested and sat down. “The night you were attacked, you were attacked by a EQUIS Loyalist Pseudo. You see there are two kinds of Pseudos the ones EQUIS controls and the ones like me that have separated from EQUIS by removing our tracking tags.” The puzzle pieces I had were now being more jumbled by these new pieces. “Allow me to add some clarity to the picture” he said.

“Good because this shit is starting to get more complicated.” I said as he sighed and began.

“Back before the war EQUIS was the most well developed University in Northern Equestria. They developed ground breaking neurological sciences and cutting edge arcane spells and robotics. These advancements were barred from wartime use due to an unfair advantage it would lend the Equestrian Armies and the fact that Equestria was worried about spies being in the ministries. Instead of war use the Ministry of Arcane Sciences instructed EQUIS to lockdown all developments in case of a Megaspell disaster.” He reached into his barding and produced a paper that looked old and weathered. “This letter comes from Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle. It says that EQUIS was to lockdown and take on the guise of being a site of nothing important. So that EQUIS would be the last location a Zebra sympathizer would infiltrate and it would be spared if an event such as a megaspell would occur.” He returned the paper to his barding, “Soon after they went into lockdown Stable-Tec began to work on this stable with the help of EQUIS. The stable was built to be twice the size of normal however it would be split . One half would house EQUIS while the other would house unknowing residents.” I knew this part of the story thanks to Star Charmer, however, I could feel that this was just the beginning. “Once the stable was completed EQUIS moved all operations into the stable. Once doing so Stable-Tec funded a project that took on the name of the institution as a whole, Project EQUIS. Project EQUIS took young foals and removed their brains in order to preserve the memories of the past. This was a barbaric experiment that has yet to show any results.” He sighed and sat back.

“Well,” I interrupted, “I believe I was a test subject of that experiment.” I said gauging him for some sort of reaction. “I have at least half of the brain of another pony, her name was Star Charmer. I have been given flashes of the past from her.”

His eyes widened and he started thinking to himself, “If that's true then you must know what is at stake then.” A smile cracked over his face, “You need to know that EQUIS considers all the residents as test subjects. Intel we have gathered suggests that they aim to round up another sect of the population and complete a sick cycle of brain experiments. The organization I represent refuses to let that happen again.” He took a pause and considered everything he had said. "Star Charmerm" he closed his eyes when he opened them a blue sheen was over them for a few seconds. "The records my group has complied has turned up that name due to the fact she was a first round subject." He closed his eyes and opened them again this time the sheen was gone. "If you have been receiving messages or flickers of the past from her that means the experiment was a success but do not tell anyone of this." He stood up, “You seem to understand what is at stake here. I know it's still too early to call the election but I have a good feeling about your victory.” He walked to the door and turned around, “I know this goes without saying but don't tell anyone about any of this, even that pony you rut Serenade.” He bowed and walked out shutting the door behind him. How could he know about Serenade? Of course every pony knew we were together but most probably thought of us as real good friends. Was it obvious that we were fucking?

June 8th, 2377 - 17:50 Hours

“Attention all Stable 744 residents with just Ten Minutes left in the voting day it has been almost decided. Trotten dropped out claiming only 40 voters. As for Valence he has claimed 107 voters and Glacier Mane has clinched the Overstallion seat with 143 votes. Leaving seven nonvoters in the stable. Lets welcome Glacier Mane as the new Stable 744 Overstallion."

It was done. I had just, in a matter of days and very little campaigning, gained the most power position in all of Stable 744. I rose from my seated position and grabbed my pip-buck. I latched it on, powered it up and began receiving notifications about my health. It seemed that the faux liver had adjusted to my body and was working as it should. I hadn't touched more than two drinks since my operation. I had just popped my prescribed medications when the door to my quarters opened up. I turned to see Serenade standing in front of me. She smiled a sweet smile and kissed me.

“You did it dear.” she said as she walked me over to the couch, pushing me down on and straddling me. “Do you want to celebrate by having some fun?” she asked sheepishly.

I kissed her deeply and replied, “Do you think that is a good idea considering my surgery was just yesterday?”

She weighed the options and wrapped her legs around my hips even tighter, “There is no way I am going to let you pass on fucking me tonight Mr. Overstallion.” she said rocking her hips against my cock. “I’m also not going to let you deprive me of being fucked by an Overstallion.” She leaned in biting my ear and smiled when she heard me moan.

The room was spinning. I gave into her demands and kissed her deep allowing my tongue to explore her mouth. I could smell sex in the air as I became aroused. She was good at this and the burning on my side from the surgery did not seem to hinder my movements. She ran a hoof down my chest and to my stomach. She continued to move south running along the length of my cock. I bucked and she took notice.

“I see I am doing something right.” she said as she continued to stroke me.

“Shut up.” I said as my hips bucked in her direction.

She continued to stoke me as I grew harder and bigger. She leaned down licking the first signs of precum before taking my dick into her mouth. I groaned loudly and bucked into her mouth more. She pulled away and climbed back to mount me. She kissed me deeply allowing me to taste myself in her mouth. She slid down onto my cock as I groaned. She began to buck and ride me keeping her eyes locked on mine wanting me to see her get herself off using my dick. But before she could come for me she pushed herself away from me and positioned herself on the couch. Her flank was to me and she shook her tail in a sinfully playful way.

“Well Overstallion rut me.” she stuck her tongue out and licked her lips.

I stuck my head at her marehood and took in its scent. It was sweet with the smell of anticipation and sweat. I stuck my tongue in and tasted her nectar making sure I moved every fold. She moaned and bucked against my tongue. I nipped playfully at her clit. I felt her orgasm and tasted my reward.

“Come on and fuck me." she begged.

I bit her mane and pulled it back so I could kiss her deeply letting her taste herself on my tongue. She moaned out then I took a hoof and smacked it against her ass. I felt her buck out toward me as I plunged into her. The feeling was intoxicating. Her marehood was tight in response as I rode her.

“Harder!” she yelled.

At first I was worried about the neighboring ponies, but what the hell I was their Overstallion now. I grabbed her on both sides and pulled in her tighter to my cock. I could hear the sound of smacking flesh and I pounded relentlessly into her feeling her wetness around me as she came over and over again. She turned her head and moaned. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and it was sexy. Too sexy.

“Cum Glacier!” she cried “Fill me up!”

I felt myself release at her words before collapsing. I rolled to the side taking her with me as I did. I was still inside her and she made sure I knew she still wanted me there by placing her hoof on my cock to keep it there. The sex had brought clarity and allowed me to think for once during this whole ordeal. I was Overstallion of a whole stable. Not only that I had to decide either to open the doors or whether to keep them shut. At face value this was an easy decision, if the soil and air monitors said it was safe then I would open the door. But if not then keep it shut. However, since this decision was to take in the account of EQUIS as well as the safety and well being of all the residents I had to choose a side. Either I took the threat of EQUIS seriously or I ignored what Star Charmer and Dusty said. I had to make sure it was the right decision if what i chose was wrong then I put every pony at risk of death. I finally got up and made my way to the kitchen pouring a glass of apple cider. Serenade had fallen asleep on the couch so now I was alone with my thoughts. I sipped slowly from it and stared off into space.

“Congrats Mr.Overstallion” a familiar voice said. I turned around to see Star Charmer smiling back at me. “It seems I need to discuss a lot with you now.” she said.

Chapter IV - Reins of Stable-ity

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June 8th, 2377 - 21:40 Hours“

Congrats Mr.Overstallion” a familiar voice said. I turned around to see Star Charmer smiling back at me. “It seems I need to discuss a lot with you now.” she said. “I felt like I should give you some space to celebrate” she said with a sheepish smile.

I rolled my eyes and grinned. “Star Charmer I need to know everything you know” I said “which I understand may not be a lot.”

I sat my glass down and approached her. “Well Glacier, everything I know I have already shown you” I was discouraged.

I quickly thought of the Pseudos. “Okay what do you know about the Pseudo Ponies?” I asked seeing if she knew anything more than what I was told.

She thought for a moment crossing her front legs together. “If I can recall, back before the war EQUIS was running a project that focused on robotics.” she said as she uncrossed her legs and walked to the glass of cider she picked the glass up and sipped casually “They called them Pseudo Ponies they were suppose to be robotic pony clones or something like that.” I was satisfied with that as an answer. The pieces were falling into place more.

“So what I have so far is that EQUIS was an institute that was on the cutting edge of all arcane technology and neurological sciences before the war.” I stated and Star Charmer nodded “Stable Tec, the company that built the stables and manufactured many advancements joined with EQUIS to created a stable that would preserve pony life as well as the institute in a whole, correct?” she continued to sip from the glass “With this stable being built to house both EQUIS and pony civilians Stable-Tec instructed EQUIS to preform experiments to, as they said, preserve memory data through brain removal.” without giving her a chance to interrupt I continued. “So that leaves us where we are today, EQUIS has began preparations for another round of experiments. As Overstallion it is my duty to protect the stable citizens.”

Star Charmer nodded and set the glass down and walked up to me “Glacier” she said “It is not easy being Overstallion and not to weigh you down anymore but you are the only one who can put a stop to EQUIS in this stable.” she kissed my cheek “Since I am in your head I was here when the Pseudo visited you” this revelation did not surprise me. “Dusty seems like a trustworthy pony and he did show you that he wasn't a living pony. I think what he says holds truth.”

I nodded and looked at her “So you think I should trust him” she nodded in approval “Star Charmer, I don't want to overthink anything but couldn’t opening the stable door cause EQUIS to retaliate against the whole stable?”

She looked at the floor and then to me “It’s a chance we have to take, sacrifice to survive. You can not do it alone you need support like how Equestria use to have a Princess and six ministry mares”

I walked over to the glass and picked it up in my magic and noted that it was empty “How did you drink this Star Charmer?” I turned around and saw she was gone. I sat the glass back down, “A question for another time I suppose.”

June 9th, 2377 - 10:00 Hours

The atrium erupted in cheers as I approached the podium that had been placed in front of every able bodied stable pony. I quickly scanned the room and I saw what I was now in charge of, Life. I still had no idea what I was doing, however, I did know what I needed to do or well what I thought I needed to do. Over the course of the election, well from the moment I was thrown into the election, I had been given options on what needed to be done. From the EQUIS loyalist Pseudo delivering his very strong hooved message, that resulted in my horn being broke, to Star Charmer and Dusty’s plea for an open stable. After the results I was able to force some thought processes to figure out what was best. Although Star Charmer was in my head, I had to decide what I wanted to do.

“Hello Everypony” I said to start “My name is Glacier Mane and I am your new Overstallion” the crowd cheered and I felt something I had never felt before, needed. “As I stated before, I am from this point on initiating the Priority One legislation, from this point on my agenda will be based on the individual needs of the ponies in the stable” I looked over the crowd and saw the face of Dusty near the center of the mass of ponies. “Over the next couple of days I will be assembling something that has not been assembled in the stable before.” The crowd was silent with anticipation over what my next words would be. “I will be appointing a staff to serve next to me to make sure I have the best interests in mind for the stable.” I could tell this was something that no pony thought would be necessary in the stable, however, I knew that this was something I needed. “I will need 2 other ponies to be my staff and I will be appointing them by looking at everyones C.A.T. scores, as well as taking applicants if you are a chosen candidate you can either accept or deny the position.”

I knew that Dusty would come to the Overstallion office to talk to me about the position of staffer, and I wanted him to because he was going to be one of the two the other, I had no idea. I finished the speech and left to go to my office. I was sure that this was going to be a big deal to a lot of the ponies in the stable. As I stepped down from the podium a guard pony flanked me. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw the pony, that I now knew to be a EQUIS Loyalist Pseudo, who attacked me a few nights ago. He was still dressed in his leather barding and he had a lifeless look on his face.

“EQUIS is not pleased with you Mr.Glacier Mane” he said as a guard stepped between him and me

“Excuse me sir but if you want to see the Overstallion make an appointment” the guard said pushing the leather clad pseudo pony away.

“Force detected, Lethal Force Initiated” the pseudo said as he grabbed the guard with a hoof and slammed him into the floor breaking his neck.

I moved back as fast as I could. “You failed to acknowledge what EQUIS wished and you shall die” he said as the other guard jumped between him and me.

“Stand Back” the guard demanded as he brandished his Stable-Tec issued 10mm pistol.

The whole atrium watched as the events unfurled and what could be the first assassination attempt on a Overpony ever. The Pseudo moved with lightening speed and sent a hoof down on the guard pony's weapon crushing it into the floor. With a liquid movement the Pseudo spun around and bucked the guard in the head cracking his neck. Now it was only me left to defend myself and from the looks of it I was going to die. The Pseudo approached me and raised up on his hind legs

“EQUIS WILL RISE” he declared as he started to drop down about the deliver a bone shattering blow to my body.

However, before he could the Pseudo dropped to the ground and started spitting what looked like blood onto the floor. I blinked to see Dusty standing there with his rear hooves in the air. Dusty was followed by a white mare that kept her face hidden beneath a cloak. Dusty turned to the mare and whispered into her ear. Without a word the mare floated the loyalist pseudo onto her back and trotted out of the atrium. I looked at Dusty and sighed a sigh of relief

“We don’t really have time to talk at length, however, we need to speak in private” Dusty said as he pushed me towards the Over Stallion office.

“I understand Dusty, I also wanted to talk to you” I wanted an audience with Dusty again but this was not the way I intended it to come about. It seems that EQUIS was not playing around and my plans need to be finalized quick.

June 10th, 2377 - 11:20 Hours

Dusty walked in and closed the door and locked it. "Glacier" he said in a monotone voice "you better have a damn good plan on what to do from here on out."

I smiled "as a matter of fact I do" I said confidently

"then let's hear it, I know I was there to protect you this time but I can't always be there for you." He said on a rushed tone.

I walked over to my desk and placed my hooves on it "Dusty, you heard me mention that I am putting a cabinet of staffers together to help me run the stable" I said as I floated a clear bottle of water over.

"Yes and I think that's a good plan but how can you trust anyone that you don't already know?" he questioned my plans

I sipped generously from the bottle "well Dusty since you and I are on the same page about all this I need you to be my first choice as a staffer" from the look he gave me I could sense a feeling of shock and possibly sheer rejection of the idea.

My senses were confirmed "oh no no no no" he said shaking his head "look the sentiment is wonderful really but no."

I pressed a button on the desk that caused a screen behind me to flicker to life. The screen showed short live clips of the stable. "Dusty, you see this?" I said pointing at the screen "these are my ponies, and your ponies too, they depend on me to make the best decision possible" I turned to face the screen. "These ponies are in danger and they need a leader who is backed by the best and most knowledgeable staffers as possible" I turned back around to face him "we are facing an unknown enemy that seeks to destroy us all, and you want to defeat them, join me and let us face it as a team!" I was sure to make the last part extra patriotic.

He looked at the ground and then back to me and turned around towards the door. "Let me think about it Glacier." He paused and breathed in, did Pseudos breathe? "In light of your election it seems that EQUIS may be attempting to kill you, I along with my group of ponies suggest you stay to your quarters." He looked back at me "As I said I will think about your offer and in the meantime call Serenade and make sure she is okay, she is not the target but she is also not safe either" he walked toward the door and walked out.

It seemed that EQUIS was not to happy with the election results and were willing to kill me in order to correct the problem that they perceived. I pressed the button on the desk and killed the camera feed. I turned to the terminal and began to search for the soil and air monitors. Maybe if i could find those then maybe one issue could be taken off my mind. Finding the monitors was the easy part. The programs were right where they needed to be. I clicked on their icons, However, the same message kept popping up "Stable 744 Overpony override needed. Please enter passcode." The fuck? I was the Overstallion I had the total authority to view the monitors, why would I need a passcode? I tried multiple guesses all telling me that I was using an "!!!UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY!!!" I hung my head and turned off the terminal. For me at this time nothing was being handed to me, I guess I should expect that as the new norm.

June 11th, 2377 - 09:00 Hours

"Hello mr.Overstallion sir" said auburn unicorn pony "I am here for the staffer position" he had his mane slicked back in a professional manner. "I have all of the necessary qualifications and have helped lead many of the prominent clubs in the stable" he sat in front of me with a smile on his face.

I honestly had no intention to hire him for the starting position, however, to keep up the appearance of not having chosen, at least to me, the most important staffer I needed, Dusty. He hooved over his résumé. I glanced over it, his name was Duke Chaser of the Duke family. The Dukes had been long time rivals of the Glacier family but since losing to my family in the election in which more great grandfather won the rivalry had been lukewarm. Duke Chaser, according to his résumé could be considered a political law pony. He appeared well versed in stable-tec law as well as Equestrian law. I smiled and shook his hoof.

"Well Duke, I will keep you in mind, the process of finalizing the applicants is far from over but you are one of the ones I will look back on." I walked him to the door and watched him as he left and I walked back to my chair.

I sat down and rubbed my temples with my hooves. I was still sore from the surgery and I allowed myself to pop another pain pill. I turned to my terminal and pulled up the soil and air monitor icon and attempted another round of guesses to no avail.

"It seems you don't know what you're doing" the familiar voice said from across my desk.

I turned the see who the intruder was to find that Dusty had let himself in.

"Dusty!" I said in a surprised and welcoming tone "I hope you have thought over what I proposed." I was eager to hear his answer.

"Glacier" he started "I thought over what you said and I took it to my group and we have a compromise." I did not like the sound of that but I was will to hear him out on it. "I will join you in office if and only if Serenade is also brought on as a staffer."

The fuck kind of compromise was this? Serenade was a bar mare not a politician and what could she possibly bring to the table, besides her fine flank?

"Dusty" I stammered a little "I'm not sure" he frowned

"Glacier it's the only way" I considered his words and sighed

"Okay I will think about it" he smiled and turned around and started to head out the door

"I'll come back tomorrow for an answer"

June 11th, 2377 - 17:34 Hours

I left my office flanked by security ponies, after the display of aggression earlier I welcomed their company. My first day as Overstallion was filled with pointless interviews and countless attempts to crack the passcode on the terminal. I made my way to my quarters and bid the security ponies farewell and locked the door behind me. I walked over to the kitchen spigot and floated a glass under it and poured water into it. I drank the glass greedily and sat the glass in a strainer. I turned around to see Star Charmer sitting at the table

"You should take Dusty up on his offer" she said drinking from a glass.

I walked over to her and sat down.

"why do you say that?" I said both curious and completely dependent on the answer.

"Well" she said "Serenade is an important part of your life as a lover and you need her to get Dusty to join you" she sipped from her glass and sat it back on the table. "Both of these ponies are the only ponies you can trust."

I saw her point, however, would it not be suspicious if I put Serenade, a known lover of mine, as a political staffer?

I voiced my concern to Star Charmer and it was met with a "Does it fucking matter if you save lives?" She had a point.

I nodded and looked down at my hooves, if that's what it took to have Dusty on my side then so be it. I looked up to find that she was now standing in front of me. She took my muzzle in her hooves

"Glacier you need to do this." She kissed me and then dissipated into a fog. The hell was that about?

June 12th, 2377 - 06:20 Hours

I left my quarters early, the security ponies had not had a chance to arrive at my door so I walked alone. I had thought about what Dusty had proposed and what Star Charmer had added to it. It was true that both Dusty and Serenade were the two most well known ponies to me. I was fairly certain I could trust both of them and it was a fact that I needed Dusty's help and that meant making Serenade my second staffer. I knocked on Serenade's door and waiting patiently for her to answer. I knocked twice before she answered, she was tired and appeared sleepy.

"Oh, Glacier" she said shaking her mane from her eyes "It's early is something wrong?"

I put a hoof on her shoulder and lead her out the door

"Come with me, it's important" and I drug her to my office.

In addition to being a large room that housed my desk and several terminals my office also included a personal bathroom complete with a shower, sink and toilet and a fully furnished bedroom. I had yet to use to bedroom because it felt cramped. I walked Serenade into the bedroom and told her to sleep. I had no idea when Dusty would arrive, however, I needed her to be alert and ready to take on the task of being one of my staff. I left her alone and went to my desk and began pulling out a desk drawer after desk drawer to search for a passcode to the terminals monitors. I pushed aside blank paper pads and pens and found what looked to be promising, however, the code I had found did not work. I floated the paper beside me and walked into the bedroom where Serenade was snoring. The paper had a code but it looked more like a combination to a safe and if there was going to be any safe in this Overstallion suite it would be in the bedroom. I looked around and at first saw nothing but a room. Everything looked to be the same as a normal room that anypony would live in except the one square of steel that shone with a matte finish. I walked over to the square it was on the far corner of the room and was next to the dresser. I laid on my stomach and focused on the panel, the panel lifted away easily and revealed a safe, exactly what I expected. Inside the safe was not what o was expecting. There was no code to the monitors only 4 bottles of whiskey and a white milky colored memory orb. I levitated the bottles out and looked at the labels "Stable 744 -Whiskey - Batch 002". This was a treasure. Second run of whiskey in the stable, probably the only ones left. I returned them to the safe, well all but one, and grabbed the memory orb and suddenly faded away.

November, 2198

My vision darkened and then brightened. I saw staring into a mirror, well not me but the, oh god the mare whose memory I had hijacked accidentally. She was a cream colored earth pony mare with a light blue mane. She smiled and cleared her throat. "Hello, if you are seeing this you are either Overpony of stable 744 or the stable has failed and is being looted." She frowned and continued. "I am Overmare Glacier Lilly, Third Overpony of Stable 744, I am one year into my ten year term. I am recording this without the consent of EQUIS." She stopped and looked down at a piece of paper and then back at the mirror. "EQUIS has no reason or want whatsoever to open the stable. The monitors are in working order, however, are only activate with a passcode known only to them." She took a deep breath and exhaled "EQUIS is evil and needs to be stopped. Please find the code or some other way around the monitors and let us out" everything went black and I woke up in my own body on the floor of the bedroom whiskey bottle next my head. I shook myself off and stood up, Serenade was still asleep oblivious to my little black out episode. I focused my levitation around the orb and placed it back in the safe and closed and locked it. I returned the panel and levitated the bottle of whiskey next to me as I walked out of the room.

June 12th, 2377 - 09:35 Hours

Serenade stumbled out of the room, now fully rested. I know I had fallen asleep at least once maybe twice. While I waited of course. I had the Stable monitors pulled up and were watching all the ponies go about there business. Moving one way or another to complete the jobs that they were assigned. The cameras where everywhere, except in living quarters, every pony knew that they were there, however, acted as if they were not there at all. This fact was proven to me as I caught one stallion rutting a mare in a maintenance corridor, of course I switched to the next camera, once I got an eyeful of the mare, what? I am only equine. Serenade walked up to me and kissed me on the cheek.

“What is all this about dear?” she asked as she walked over to one of the chairs in front of my desk.

“I have a friend I need you to meet and a proposition to ask of you both.” I said as I sat up in my chair.

I caught her expression, her eyes were wide with astonishment.

“Glacier!” she almost yelled “I am not that kind of mare!” confused I looked at her.

“w w what do you mean?” I said completely oblivious to the issue.

“I will not have a threesome with you and your friend!” she almost yelled at me.

Whoa. What the fuck? This took a turn for the worst and quick.

“No no no no no that's not what this is about” I said quickly adding “This is not about sex, it's about politics.”

She sighed and began resting easy again.

“Glacier, I don't know what I can do pertaining to politics I don't a lot about politics.” I rested back in my chair and looked at her.

“Honestly, me neither.”

June 12th, 2377 - 10:00 Hours

Dusty walked in this time he was wearing a suit, a nice business suit.

“Good Morning, Mr. Glacier, and Mrs. Serenade” he said with a slight bow. I was taken back from the sight of him, he dressed as if he knew she would be here. He walked up and sat in the chair next to serenade. “Lets get to business here Mr.Glacier” he said “Also can we please keep some things at a low priority until later.”

I acknowledged what he meant and I agreed, the thought of Dusty being a pseudo could send Serenade running.

“Of course” I said as I sat up to look more business oriented. “As you both know, I need staffers to help run the stable. I need these staffers to be who I trust.” I paused to make sure that they, well make sure Serenade, was following what I was saying. “You two are the most trusted ponies I associate with. So what I am saying is that I am offering you two the job of Staffers”

I paid no attention to Dusty, this whole deal rested on Serenade agreeing to say yes. However, as Overstallion, I had the final say.

“Glacier, I told you I don't have politics as one of my many fortes.” she said as she began to sweat a little.

“No matter Serenade, you know the ponies better than anyone, and that is experience enough.” I said reassuring her. I could tell she was not being sold so easily. “Serenade, I need you to help me, Please.” I said almost begging her.

“O o o okay” she said looking at me with a smile “I’ll do it”

I smiled and looked at Dusty “Alright, what say you Mr.Dusty?” I asked as I looked at him

“Of Course I will Mr.Glacier, I am honored you would ask.”

I got up and walked behind them both “Well now that, that is settled you need titles” I said placing a hoof on each of them. “How about Ministers? You have Overstallion Glacier Mane, Thats me of course, and then Minister Stallion Dusty of the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry Mare Serenade of the Ministry of Public Relations” I patted my hooves on them and they agreed to the titles, Dusty more so that Serenade. “I wont have a press conference over this.” I said “Just send out a message over the pip-bucks that way its faster, we have a lot to do” I walked back to my chair and set down and began to pull up the Stables mass publication terminal.

“Well Mr.Glacier it seems you already know how to run a stable.” Serenade said as she began to get up from the chair

“Serenade” I said stopping her “I am not finished with today's business and I need you to be here for it” she slowly set back down and I finished typing the message and sent it.

***Attention all Stable 744 residents The Staffers have been chosen. The decision came down to the most trusted and qualified candidates. Please welcome Dusty Steelstrider to the newly formed Ministry of Commerce in the office of Ministry Stallion. And Serenade to the newly formed Ministry of Public Relations in the office of Ministry Mare.***

I looked over at Serenade and back to Dusty. “It’s time, Dusty.” I said.

Dusty reached up and began to unbutton his suit.

“whoa Glacier, I am not into this I told you” I shushed her and reassured that this was nothing to do with sex.

Dusty removed his suit only to reveal fur and hide.

“Serenade” he started as he stood up and turned to her “The first time I met Glacier I looked different.” he said as he stood on his hind legs and pushed into his chest.

A slight hiss and a puff of steam escaped around what appeared to be an oval in the center of his chest. The oval pushed out and he took it in his hoof. On the inside was the familiar sight I had seen before. The gear and clockworks I had seen before were now concealed under lifelike synthetic muscle and hide. Serenade’s eyes went wide and she was trying to grasp exactly what she was witnessing for the first time, hell it was still hard for me to grasp what I was seeing and this was the second time I had seen it.

Chapter V - Blood of the Innocents

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June 12th, 2377 - 10:10 Hours

Serenade looked at the hole in Dusty's chest with wonder and what looked to me like confusing.

"When I met Glacier for the first time" Dusty began "I was in the middle of updating my outer core, I had no covering and so I looked mostly like a walking mechanized skeleton"

That was true. I recalled that the sight of him in that way was too much.

"So you're not a real pony?" Serenade asked. It was a viable question, one that from Dusty's expression was expected.

"In many ways no, I'm not" Dusty said "I will say, I have thoughts and feelings just as you do"

Serenade looked over at me and then to Dusty "If Glacier trusts you, then I do" she said offering her hoof to him.

Dusty bent down and kissed it, inciting a blush from Serenade's cheeks. Dusty returned the piece of his chest that he had removed and looked at both of us.

"I know this goes without saying" he began "please do not tell anypony about robotic ponies, okay?"

Of course I already knew not to but I agreed and so did Serenade. I turned my attention to the terminal on my desk. I loaded up, just as the hundreds of times before, the soil and air monitors. The same message popped up and asked for a passcode. I turned the monitor of the terminal to Dusty and Serenade.

"This is our current problem" I stated flatly.

Serenade looked at the screen and then to me. "So you want to open the Stable?"

Before I could answer Dusty spoke up "It's the only way to assure EQUIS cannot hurt anymore ponies, both real and Pseudos."

I thought over what Dusty said and looked at him "What does EQUIS want to do with Pseudos like you?" I asked wanting to seriously know.

"We are rogue elements" Dusty started "once they catch us if they ever find us. They will dismantle us and then use the spare parts to make new Loyal Pseudos."

His face remained expressionless, however, it still helped somehow convey the severity of the situation. Not only were the lives of all the stable ponies at risk but also the lives of all the Pseudos.

"Dusty" I said looking at him with concern "won't EQUIS know that you're a Pseudo?"

His gaze never shifted or faltered "I doubt it" he said "when my group left the control of EQUIS we all had reconstructive surgery on our faces along with having our tags removed. Hell some of us had memory wipes and took on new personalities. All in order to be safe."

So inside this stable were refugees that were hiding from EQUIS, and in order to hide they changed their appearances and sometimes their minds. How bad was EQUIS to the Pseudos? I brushed this question off in pursuit of figuring out a way to access the soil and air monitors.

“Well” I said as I changed the subject back to opening the stable door “The first thing we have to do to open the door is to confirm that the soil and the air is within a reasonable range” I turned the terminal for them to look at it. “Here is the first problem with that” I tapped on the monitors and brought up the passcode screen “EQUIS is the only ones who have the passcode.”

Serenade looked at me then to Dusty.

Dusty let out a sigh “No problem” he said with an assurance that I felt was not appropriate for this situation.

“What do you mean Dusty” I asked trying to find the glimmer of hope that he had found.

“Well, I have a friend that I can get up here tomorrow to unlock it for you” he started for the door “It's a long shot but I am almost certain that we are willing to take it.”

I turned the terminal around and turned it off. Serenade stood up and looked at me and then to Dusty

“If that is the route we have to take and opening the door is important then we should take it, I agree.”

I nodded and walked over to the door and let Dusty out. I turned around and walked back to Serenade

“Well that went well” I said.

Before I could say anything else a hoof connected with my right cheek.

“What the hell Serenade?” I said recovering

“How could you Glacier?” tears were welling up in her eyes. “No warning no nothing just throwing me into the thick of whatever the hell this is.” she stormed for the door and turned around “I was sure that this whole opening the door was just a fucking drug induced thought but apparently it's an obsession now.” I was hurt but I could see why she would feel that way.

“Serenade, I have to do something besides lead these ponies down a path of destruction”

She turned and opened the door and turned back to me.“I'm in this only because I have to be” and with that she slammed the door.

Fuck. I had no idea what to do now. Serenade was the only real pony I knew and here I was alone once again. This feeling of being alone was not new but was a feeling I knew all to well. Growing up I never had a friend really just ponies I knew and went to classes with and that was it. I stayed to myself and now that I was in charge I was relying on others to be there with me. Sure, Dusty was there for me but only to gain safety and security that was supposedly outside the door of the stable. Serenade, on the other hand I had no idea how to classify that. Was she just with me for my cock, or was there something more there? Was it love? I slammed my head on the desk and floated the bottle of whiskey to my field of vision and placed the capped end in my muzzle and opened it. I spit the cap to the floor and began to drink.

“This always solves problems.” I said as the first burn of the bottle flowed down my throat.

June 12th, 2377 - 14:27 Hours

“Sir!” the voice called out to me I was shaken awake from a drunken slumber that I had not intended to take. “Sir this is important” my eyes fought to adjust. “Celestia! If I knew that he was this bad of a drunk I wouldn't of voted for him”I shook my mane and focused my eyes. The bottle was emptied and laid on the desk on it side. I looked up and saw the face of a security pony. “Sir, this is of the utmost importance” she said as I straightened myself in my chair

“Go on then please” I said still slurring a bit.

I was drunk but I could function. The mare rolled her eyes and cleared her throat

“Sir, as of 12:00 hours we have received 25 missing pony reports in the stable.”

I began to sober up quickly. “25, are you sure”

she reached into a saddlebag and pulled out a folder that was at least 3 inches thick. She dropped them on my desk.

“This is every report we have received. Normally Missing pony reports only reach you if they last for more than 12 hours, however, the Captain thought it would be a good idea to let you in on this.”

I rifled through the file looking at each one noting that they were all young. Mostly earth pony.

“Have the missing ponies got anything in common? anything that links them together?” I asked

She hooved though the file to last page. The page was a catalog of pip-buck tags

“All were old enough to have pip-bucks” This was good, I had the tags and all I had to do was pull up the tags on the terminals Stable map. “The Captain said he would like for you to search the tags”

I nodded and turned to terminal the effects of the alcohol almost gone.

“Great Idea.” I pulled up the map and began to feed the tags into it.

Within only a second or two all 25 tags were located. In one area. Confusing but convenient. I looked at the security mare

“It appears that the missing ponies are in one place.”

I pointed it out on the main map and then sent the location to her pip-buck. I also sent the location to the whole security force. She nodded and turned to walk out the door. Already not even a full week into my office as Overstallion and I was already dealing with missing ponies.

The guard left and once again I was alone. I raised the bottle once more and poured the last drops down my throat. I needed a better coping mechanism. Maybe I did have a problem, hell I know I did. I turned the monitor off and got up levitating the bottle with me to the trash can in the personal suite that came with the office. The bed was a mess but I expected it. I could smell Serenade’s perfume in the room. I dropped the bottle into the trash and laid on the bed. I looked up at the ceiling. It was the same as everywhere else in the stable. Grey. The lights were the same. Buzzing. What made me so different than every pony else? I was in a cycle of self depression and had no way out until it ran its course. For fucks sake what was wrong with me? I closed my eyes and rolled onto my side.

“Glacier” the voice startled me and I rolled over to see who I knew it would be. She always had a way of showing up. “Glacier, It's me Star Charmer.” I looked up and lifted myself off the bed.

“I know it's you Star Charmer” I said as she smiled and walked up to me and sat down on the bed.

“You’re asleep right now and so I decided that I should spend some quality time with you” she laid back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. “You know I haven't really looked at the ceiling in this place.” she said with a sigh “It's kinda depressing.” she looked over at me and placed a hoof on my hind leg.

“Star” I said “Am I really good enough for this job?”

I made sure that the depression seeped into my words. I wanted her to see it, I loved watching others see that I was depressed, just so that they could try to help me and fall useless in their attempts. She moved up on the bed to where her face was with mine.

“Glacier, you may not be the best but you're the best we have” she took a hoof and held my face. “Of course if we had a better choice I believe I would of told you to become friends with them and be the sidekick, but this is your story” her words actually felt like they were helping and I needed that.

“If we do succeed with opening the doors, then I will have to lead all of these ponies outside, Star, how can I lead them when I don't know what is out there?”

Star Charmer face hoofed and looked back at me with almost contempt in her eyes.

“For fucks sake Glacier, stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself!” she was still laying on my bed but instead of laying in a restful position she was propped up on her front legs. “You are fucking stable royalty and here you are all depressed and shit” she slapped me with a hoof right where Serenade had. “You are worried about the future when you need to be worried about the present!” I was stunned how could she just slap me?

I looked down and started thinking over everything, she was right.

“You’re right” I said

I looked up and saw she was nowhere to be found. I moved my hoof to my face and felt the sting of a hoof slap. If this was a dream why did it hurt so bad? I jolted awake and sat up in the bed. I looked at my pip-buck and read the time 15:47 hours. I got up from the bed and walked into the personal bathroom and locked the door. I looked into the mirror and saw I looked like shit. My mane was tangled and drool was present on my muzzle. I turned to the shower and began to get the settings just right. While the shower heated up I turned to the toilet and relieved myself. I did not feel depressed anymore, nor did I feel like a strong leader, actually I felt far from it. I flushed and stepped into the shower. The lukewarm water rained over me and cleansed my mane. I closed my eyes and began to think thought over everything that needed to be done. Dusty was going to get some pony that could possibly unlock the terminal, once that is done then we can open the door. It was relaxing and was totally what I needed. But what about those missing ponies? I shunned the thought with the justification that the security ponies could handled it.

“Damn Glacier this water is cold” I jumped a little and turned to see Star Charmer, again “I couldn't leave you after slapping you” she bowed her head “It was uncalled for I apologize” she raised her head back up the water pinning her mane to her face and neck “But i meant every word” I smiled and rubbed my cheek

“I needed it Star I really did, but I need you more than ever” she moved closed to me and pecked me on the cheek.

The burning in my cheeks turned them red. She took notice and turned my head with her hooves and kissed me on the mouth. This time letting the moment last longer. What was going on? She was a figment of my imagination, well a vision that was produced by my brain because part of her was in my brain. That is when I felt it, he tongue dancing in my mouth. She pushed me up against the wall of the shower standing us on our hind legs. I turned my head away from her as she wrapped her front legs around my neck in a hug. She rested her head on my chest. The moment aroused me, however, reasoning stopped the moment.

“Star what is going on with us?” I said looking down at her.

She looked up and I saw joy in her eyes.

“I don't know Glacier but it makes me happy”

She disappeared in a vapor. I dropped to all fours again. The moment of arousal had left me wanting more so I quickly turned the shower to cold and let it erase the feeling that was left.

I walked out of the bathroom and sat down at my desk this time only for a moment when the door burst open this time with Captain Iron Guard standing in the doorway. The massive pony filled the doorway with muscles, obviously a product of having nothing better to do that work out. He trotted up to me and bowed for a second or two.

“Mr. Overstallion we have a situation” he said as he turned for the door.

I got up and followed him. His barding was similar to my own with the only difference being that he had armor plating strategically placed under the fabric.

“We didn't think it was end like this sir” he said as we entered the elevator.

“What do you mean Captain?” I said as the door closed and we began down deeper into the stable.

The look on the Iron Guard’s face told me he was distressed and probably had never seen anything like what he was about to show me. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. He remained silent as he stepped out. I followed him to a set of stairs.

“We have to go down one more floor” he said as he began to walk down them. “Sir nothing I say will prepare you for this.”

I swallowed and started down after him. The scene of horror started at the bottom of the stairs. Blood painted the walls with the words of “EQUIS KNOWS BEST” and “DOWN WITH THE OVERSTALLION” among other things. The writings on the walls became more and more vial the close to the end of the hallway we got. I looked down at my pip-buck to see the map and noticed this was a dead end. Blood covered nearly every inch of the hall now the sticky residue causing our hooves to smack on the floor. The lights went out by the end of the hall and we had to use our pip-bucks to illuminate the rest. The lights of our pip-bucks shone on a scene that was unfathomable. The end of the hall help a blood painted EQUIS logo that was as wide as the hall itself. It was below the logo that we saw what had become of the young ponies. There laid the carcasses of the 25 missing ponies. All stripped of the stable barding and all missing the top of there heads. I walked up closer and Iron Guard accompanied me.

“It seems that their brains were removed in a violent manner in this hallway sir” he said as he motioned for all the security guards to stand back. “Sir I know this may be difficult but we need to figure out the best course of action to take.”

I nodded and turned away and began back out of the hall with Iron Guard on my hooves.

“Iron Guard, I need you to send out a bulletin letting every pony know what has happened” I said as we began up the stairs. “Please for the love of Celestia, don't tell every pony the gory details” we made it to the elevator and I pressed the floor we needed. “I will confine every pony to quarters until we fix this.” I said the doors closed. Iron Guard nodded. I stepped out of the elevator and Iron Guard followed me. I stopped at my door and he spoke

“Sir, I am sorry that something like this happened not even a week into your term.” he bowed and walked to the Security station.

I walked into my office and over to my desk. I pulled up the mass publication terminal and began typing.

***ATTENTION ALL STABLE PONIES, THE OVERSTALLION HAS ISSUED A CONFINEMENT ORDERS TO INSURE TOTAL SAFTEY FOR ALL RESIDENTS. SECURITY CAPTAIN IRON GUARD WILL ISSUE A STATEMENT IN THE FOLLOWING HOURS. ANY PONY CAUGHT OUTSIDE QUARTERS WILL BE ARRESTED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION***

I sighed and grabbed the microphone for the broadcast system in the stable. and spoke

“Attention all Stable Ponies, I need Ministry Stallion Steelstrider and Ministry Mare Serenade to report to the office of the Overstallion.”

I cut the transmission and set back.How was I going to tell Dusty and Serenade that it seemed that EQUIS had pushed their plans forward and we needed to do the same? I could not let Serenade see the scene that had more than likely etched and burned into my nightmares. I sighed and waited for my staffers to join me. It was now or never.

"You are correct, Glacier" I heard Star Charmer's voice echo.

Chapter VI - The Door to Hell

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July 12th, 2377 16:00 Hours

Dusty walked into the office and walked up to my desk. I had my back turned to him staring intently at the screens that showed the stable. It had only been an hour since I issued the confinement orders. The halls and atrium were dead. Save that for Security ponies going between the quarters counting the ponies and Serenade, who was walking up to my office.

"Dusty, we have an issue" I said without turning around. Iron Guard had yet to send out the news of what befell the 25 missing ponies.

"What is it Glacier?" He said sensing the distress in my voice.

"When can your friend get here?" I said flatly.

"Glacier I told you tomorrow." He said with a nervousness in his voice.

"That's not good enough Dusty, I need them here now" I turned around and looked at him in the eyes.

The door opened and Serenade walked in at first she carried herself as if she was irritated, however, that changed when she saw me.

"Glacier, what's wrong dear" she said approaching me. I turned around and clicked the monitors off and then back to them both.

"EQUIS has attacked the stable" I said as I turned on the map of the stable. "25 ponies went missing today and we found them here" I highlighted the corridor on the map "they were dead, brains removed."

"The signature of EQUIS alright" Dusty said as he bowed his head. Serenade looked shocked as if she was finally coming to a full understanding.

"Dusty we need your friend here now" Dusty shook his head "I know but the quickest I can get them here is tomorrow morning."

I didn't like the answer but it's what I had to work with. I closed the map and got up from my desk.

"Okay Dusty, but early!" I stressed the importance of early.

He nodded and left the office. Serenade walked up to me smirked a little

"Sorry for smacking y-" I pushed her away

"Serenade don't apologize, it helped me a little" I said as I walked to the doorway "I think we need to head on out of here and get some rest and relaxation, by ourselves." I saw the hurt in her face but I couldn't think of doing anything with her not with EQUIS making their presence known to me and the stable.

July 12th, 2377 - 21:45 Hours

I laid in my bed looking up, once again at the dull ceiling. Thoughts raced through my mind, what if the outside world is not healed enough for us? What would we do with EQUIS then? I rolled over and pushed my muzzle into the pillow.

"Glacier" her voice said.I looked up and Star Charmer was there. A smile on her face. "Tomorrow we finally get a chance to open the stable" she was almost giddy.

"Well if we can access the monitors" I said almost sounding defeated.

"Glacier" she said walking up to me kissing me on my broken horn "I am almost certain the monitors will work."

It was a hope l that I had but I couldn't help but see the darkness creeping around.

"I don't know Star" I said as I lifted myself up to meet her eyes "I feel this darkness around me, around tomorrow" I sighed and closed my eyes and laid my head down

"Don't worry about tomorrow, everything will be fine" her last words faded. I looked up and found that she was gone. I laid back down again seeking once more for sleep,

"Easy for you to say Star."

July 13th, 2377 - 08:20 Hours

Dusty was waiting by my office door when I arrived. At his side stood a pony I had never met before. Cloaked in a hood that hid their face all I could make out was the fact the figure was about the size of a foal.

"Hello, Dusty" I said with a half hearted smile "Is this your friend?"

Dusty nodded "This is Cion"

I opened the door and let the walk in first. I followed behind Cion, I watched as the figure slipped the cloak off the reveal a unicorn Pseudo.

"Hello Glacier" the foal spoke in a smooth voice.

It was hard to determine whether they were a stallion or mare. I bowed and walked over to my desk and pulled up the monitors to the same screen that plagued me. Cion nodded

"right to business I see" they smiled and walked up to the terminal and began to study it.

"Don't worry Glacier, she's the best code cracker we have" Dusty said with assurance.

"You bet you sweet ass I am" Cion said. She floated a pouch from her side with what seemed like levitation magic up and pulled out a screwdriver and began to remove a plate from the side. "I have to have access to the hardwiring" she said.

I nodded and left her to do her work. Serenade walked in to see Cion remove the plate. She eyed Dusty first and then me and then sat down on a chair.

"Here we are" Cion said as she pulled out a junction of wires. "This will allow me to plug in and gain you access to the monitors" she said as she reached up and removed her left ear to reveal an uplink cable.

With her unicorn like levitation magic she pulled the cable down and inserted it into the junction. She looked at the terminal screen and typed in a command and then looked back at us

"back in a jiffy" and with that she hit the keyboard and fell limp.

Her mouth hung open and her eyes were a solid shade of black with what looked like green lines of code. I walked over to her and stared at the screen windows were popping up and disappearing in flashes. It was amazing with each pop up that appeared and disappeared another character in the passcode was unveiled. I watched as the last of the passcode was unlocked and with that the screen went blank and then lines of data began to fill the screen. Cion had done it.

"We have access" I said as I shouted

"I told you Cion was the best" Dusty said as he walked over to the terminal to see what had been uncovered.

He nudged Cion a little she was limp, still. He nudged harder

"Hey Cion, quit fooling around" he said as he nudged again only to have her fall into the floor. Her mouth gaping and her eyes were solid black. "This can't be" Dusty said as he began to nudge her more. He stuck an ear to her chest "The core is not running anymore" he said as he kicked her in the chest hard enough to crack, maybe even shatter ribs. He returned his ear to her chest, nothing. Frantically he began to slam his hooves into her chest hoping that her core could kickstart from the jolts. "She was a child" he screamed as he began to damage her outer core. She was gone.

"What happened Dusty?" Serenade said "everything was going perfect"

Dusty shook his head."I should have expected it" Dusty said. He walked over to a chair and sat down looking blankly into the nothingness. "I should have expected it" he repeated.

"You should have expected what Dusty?" Serenade asked placing as hoof on his shoulder.

Dusty shook it off and cleared his throat "EQUIS knew rogue Pseudos would help open the door so they hid a program to kill any Pseudo that would override the passcode" he said as he got up and walked over to Cion. He bent down and disconnected the now lifeless core of Cion with his teeth. "That danger was always present, I suppose" Dusty said almost emotionless "What bothers me the most is that she had only been with my group for only 2 months, she was the baby".

I looked down and then back at the screen. Dusty walked Cion's lifeless body to the bed in the adjacent room and laid her to rest.

"Dusty we have the access to the monitors. We have what we needed" I said as I scrolled through the information. "Cion died for all of us to live" I said trying to lift the spirit of the room. I looked over line after line. "It looks like the monitors scan twice a day" I said "once in the morning and then again in the evening" Serenade walked up to see the screen "the most recent update says that air quality is sitting at 83% pure. We can breathe out there!" I almost shouted

"That's good but what about the ground." Dusty said as he walked back into the room, it was obvious he had completely disconnected from the earlier mishap with Cion.

"Ground radiation is at a nominal level" I almost sang as I spun in my chair "We can leave the stable!"

Serenade smiled and placed her hooves around me. "Glacier this is wonderful we can save everypony, but how do we get out?"

Dusty cleared his throat, "I would suspect that there would be an option to open the door"

I returned to the screen and scrolled down more sure enough there was an option to open an evacuation tunnel. This was the first time the mention of an evacuation tunnel was ever seen. It seemed that the door to the stable was hidden and was only accessible through an evacuation tunnel.

"Well this is it" I smiled "time to save everypony!" I pressed the button and the desk began to creak.

The floor began to groan with the sound of metal grinding. I jumped back as the desk slid forward and the floor separated revealing stairs that lead downward. Suddenly a voice broke across the intercoms, it was an unfamiliar voice, it was sweet but almost demanding "ATTENTION STABLE 744." The voice said "THE EVACUATION TUNNEL HAS BEEN OPENED PLEASE RETURN TO ALL SAFE ROOMS. THE SAFE ROOMS ARE THE LIVING QUARTERS, CLINIC AND CAFETERIA" I turned to Serenade and Dusty

"Well let's go see where this leads" I said as I walked down into the unknown.

The hall reminded me of the hall where the 25 missing ponies were killed. The lights flickered with age as we all walked down the hallway. Dust covered every inch of the floor. Faded red paint pointed toward the end of the hall and we followed. At the end of the hall we found a large unlit opening that illuminated immediately as we stepped in. There it was, the huge gear like door of Stable 744. The solid metal door was covered in aged and tarnished blue and yellow paint. I looked around and saw only a yellow control panel and a huge hanging drill like contraption that pointed towards the door.

"Well" I said "are we ready?"

Serenade nodded and Dusty just stared at the door. I walked up to the control panel and flipped a switch. The panel lit up and I found one red button that was larger than the rest that said open. I smiled and pressed the button and ran to meet my friends. The drill made a loud clang as it fell and swung towards the door. The drill spun into the center and another loud clang was heard but the door did not move, however, the voice returned "ATTENTION STABLE 744 STABLE DOOR HAS BEEN BREACHED DEPRESSURIZATION OF STABLE IN PROCESS" a hiss could be heard from deep inside the tunnels. The hiss was followed with a rumble and then the red lights began to flash all around us "ATTENTION STABLE 744 DEPRESSURIZATION COMPLETE. CLEANSING SAFE ROOMS" I turned to Dusty what did that mean I thought. "EXPERIMENT CORRUPTED, OPENING STABLE DOOR"

"This is not good" Dusty said as the door slowly began to slide away "We just killed everypony in the stable"

However, what happened next, that was hell. With a blinding light I was, along with my friends sucked in towards the small opening between the door and frame. Dusty slammed into the wall next to the door. Serenade slammed her head on the frame as she was pulled through the opening. I grabbed Dusty's hoof and pulled him with me as I passed into the blinding light of being outside. Dusty landed on top of me crushing my right leg. I wailed in pain as he pushed himself up and shook himself off.

"Glacier are you okay" he said as I got up and began to favor my right leg.

"Yeah, I'm fine just my leg" I said looking down at the limp leg It looked as if there was no bone structure at all.

I looked around and saw Serenade laying on her side yards away from me. I hobbled over to her to see what I was not expecting. There she laid, her head smashed open, red liquid pooled around her. As I looked upon her I began to feel sick in the bottom of my stomach I began to cry. tears streamed down my face and mixed with the red liquid. I dropped down to her body and as I did I felt metal. Surprised, I glanced up and saw her head was full of terminal components. Was it true? This whole time I had been in a relationship with a pseudo? With my good leg I rolled her over and saw her face. She opened the one eye she had left and looked at me.

"G G Glacier" she sputtered "We Did it, we saved everypony." Her eye rolled into her head and she died believing we had accomplished some great feat.

I got up and was met with Dusty. "I didn't know she was a pseudo, Glacier" he said as he walked away from the opening of the stable.

as he walked away I began to walk towards the stable "I need to save the others" I said as I hobbled into the opening a slight breeze now leaving the stable

"Glacier there's n-"

The explosion that ripped through the stable hit me as I marched into what truly became hell. The fire licked me burning my entire coat and mane away. I felt my ribs break under the concussive force as it threw me back out of the stable. What felt like an eternity only lasted seconds. I felt pain lash up from my limbs and felt the heat sear my lungs. I was flung from the would be grave where now everypony that was left inside had certainly perished. I hit a rock wall and fell with a thud. Dusty galloped to me and had a panicked look about him. I looked around, in shock, and lifted my previously damaged right leg. Only to not see it.

"W w w where's my leg?" I managed to spit out only for Dusty to quiet me "Dusty where's my leg" my vision faded and reasserted itself I began to look around me in a dizzying shake only to feel nothing. My body was broken and shock was taking the pain away.

"Glacier, I'll fix this" I heard Dusty say.

My vision went black for a second but again reasserted itself

"F f f f fix w what Dusty?" I managed to say but nothing was said.

I looked over and saw the burning husk of the stable trying to find Dusty, only to find the now burning body of Serenade.

"D d dusty I'm cold" I said as I looked up and saw the ceiling of a cave.

Strange here I was looking at another damn ceiling. Darkness flooded my vision from the edges and there she was, Star Charmer.

"Star what are you doing here?" I said easier than anything else I had said just moments before.

She walked up to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder.

"We are going to meet Celestia and Luna."

Glacier Mane Will Return!

Part 1 Epilogue 001 - Slaves Never Dream to be Free...

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I laid amongst the rotting and moldy hay that made my bed. The chains around my hooves were a constant reminder, I was a slave. The slavers had captured me about 3 years ago after killing my father and my mother. I was and still am a foal. Being that I was now around 16 years old I could relate to adults more so than children. I tossed my head over my shoulder and saw the quickly advancing night.

"We need the bed down" said one of the Slavers.

"I guess that's probably best, at this pace Pegasus Falls is a half days trot." Said the other slaver

I had heard stories from other slaves, the one we picked up and traded off to the other Slaver caravans, that if you were heading to Pegasus Falls you stood no chance of freedom. I sighed and accepted the fact that I was going to be a slave until I died.

"I think the old university is right up here, we can use it as shelter." the first slaver said as he pulled the caged trailer I laid in behind him.

"Yeah whatever, I'm tired of walking" the second slaver said eyeing me through the bars "besides I think this little shit thinks it's funny that I have to walk while he rides in comfort."

I shot up and looked worriedly at him "n n no sir" I muttered "I don't th-" he cut me off with a jab at the cage

"shut up you fucking worm no one asked you to speak" he yelled.

I curled back into the corner and rode in silence the rest of the way to our stop.

What was only referred to as the University was a big ruin of buildings all surrounding what looked to be a circle courtyard. The slaver pulled the trailed to the center of the courtyard and stopped. He unhitched the trailer and let it slam into the ground jolting me to the side of the cage. I struggled to get up and set back down on the moldy hay. The second slaver came to the back of the cage and unlocked the door and swung it open and with a gun

"Get the fuck out" he ordered and without hesitation I obeyed.

He grabbed my chains with his hoof and began to drag me to a post that was almost the exact center of the courtyard. He threw me as best he could and slammed me into the post. Quickly he began to chain me to the post. Starting with my neck and then to my hooves. He stood me up on my hind legs and forced me to stand on them.

"I need to let out some frustration" he said as he turned around and bucked me in the stomach. I was use to this by this point it was the nightly ritual. Beat the slaves. I coughed and spit up blood but he did not stop. Once more, to the stomach the pain burned as it spread. "Maybe I should just end it for this worm" he said as he pulled out a rusty switchblade knife.

He took the knife and pulled it at my throat. The first slaver stepped in and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"We need the caps" was all he said.

The knife dropped from my throat and then replaced with a hoof to my throat. I gasped for my next breath. I recovered in time to hear a mechanical voice seemingly erupt from everywhere

"TRESPASSING ON EQUIS RESEARCH PARK."

The area was filled with at least seven metal spheres much like the Sprite bots that bobbed their way around the wastes. However the similarities ended at metal floating spheres. These Sprite bots were Crimson and ivory, and had a devious look about them. Instead of having a Ministry of Morale logo stamped on the side these had E.Q.U.I.S. stamped on them. they floated with weapons drawn one energy weapon and two small non energy barrels of an unknown caliber. I watched hopelessly chained to the post as the bot circled the camp.

"LETHAL FORCE TO BE ENACTED" the bots said in unison and the slavers brought their rifles up.

The barrage of bullets that follow as well as the energy bolts disoriented me that is until a stray bullet broke my chain. I fell forward and hit the ground. Instincts told me to lay flat and I obeyed them. For what seemed like hours, but was surely minutes, the sounds of fighting continued. With my eyes closed I could hear the meaty tears of flesh and blood as well as the explosions of mechanical innards. Then silence. I looked up to see in the dying light of twilight the fallen bodies of the two slavers and the bots. I slowly stood up and began to count the bots, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. They were all dead and I was relieved to say the least. I jumped when one of the bots hissed and sparked back to life. The bot began to ask for help in a non threatening tone. I still approached with caution in mind. The bot could not float any more but was still mostly intact.

"Help me" it said as I walked up to it.

The bot rocked back and forth on the ground I sat next to it and picked it up in my hooves.

"I'll try to help if I can" I said.

The bot went silent and then uttered "Thank you"

I turned the bot over in my hooves and tried to sort out the problems on my own only to be forced to realize how unskilled I was at robotic repairs. I turned it back over and sighed.

"I'm sorry I can not help, I don't know what I am looking for."

The bot stayed silent then spoke again "go and grab the others and bring them here, I'll help you fix me."

I sat the bot down and did as I was instructed, I felt like I owed the bot it had saved me even if it was because I was at the right place at the right time. I brought back one at a time until the six dead bots encompassed us.

"Okay" the bot said " I need new propulsion jets, remove the back panel on the nearest bot"

Night had settled and after a long period of time the bot floated next to me and was battle scarred. I poked at a fire that I had gathered wood from the university for. The night was quiet and the bot was just bobbing.

"So shouldn't you return to where you came from?" I asked.

The bot stayed silent for only a moment "I can not return" I was curious but tried not to pry. Silence filled the gap in conversation "Maybe I should tell you about me" the bot said as it floated down onto the ground "I am not like those Sprite bots that float around and spew patriotic music. I am modeled after them, however, I am a sentient being" that explained a lot like how he was calling for help and how he acted like he did not want to die. "I am a Sentry Class II Security Bot. If I return to where I come from I will be decommissioned and destroyed. To them I am a hunk of trash"

I stared at the watermelon sized bot and looked at the ground "I assume from the logo on you, you come from EQUIS." The bot floated up and agreed

"I should not have this on me anymore since I am with you now"

I smiled I loved the idea of having some contact with someone or something else.

"First chance we get we will paint you another color"

"agreed" the bot said.

The next day I woke up to see the bot silently bobbing in the distance. He had stayed true to staying with me. My shackles were still connected to my hooves and they jingled as I rose up. The bot turned around and floated to me

"allow me" it said as energy bolts shot out and broke the shackles.

The feeling was amazing. "Thanks" I said as I joined the bot "so what are we looking at?"

The bot bobbed "the horizon, it's so bleak so much pain and so much opportunity for advancement."

I sat on my haunches and starred with the bot.

"Not to be awkward but are you a male or female" I said truly wanting to know.

"I prefer male, but being I am a robot I'm neither"

I did not break concentration on the horizon "you are a he then" I said

"okay" he said. "I think if we travel we need to carry spare parts for me so while you were asleep I found saddle bags for you" the bot bobbed off and extended an arm and grabbed a rough looking set of saddle bags.

He came back and placed them on me once I stood up. "What makes you think we will be moving from here?" I said as the bot began to load the bags with the spare parts.

He floated silently and then answered "Sensors indicate that something is coming. Soon." The creepiness of that statement visually bothered me but the bot only continued to pack my saddle bags. "It is best to find food and water my friend" the bot said as he closed my bags and retracted his arm.

I nodded and began to walk the opposite direction of Pegasus Falls. The bot followed by my side

"It has come to my attention that I do not know your name" he said.

What was my name? It had been three years since I had used my name I rattled my head only to realize I had no idea.

"It's been so long I don't have a name anymore" I said as the bot floated next to me

"if it helps according to EQUIS my name is CYEN04431" he said trying to make me feel better.

"Well then we will call you Cyen" I said with a smile.

We were now on the outskirts of the university campus

"I guess you can call me Horizon, Cyen" I said "because I am always heading there"

it was corny but it would work for a name. Cyen nodded and we kept walking. Then I heard a screeching sound come from the university. I turned around and so did Cyen.

"What was that?" I asked.

Cyen stayed silent and then spoke "what my sensors indicated"

I gulped and then I heard the explosion and seen the fireball. I was frozen and then I saw another stallion carrying two other ponies on his back. I watched as he galloped away with them

"Don't worry Glacier I'll fix this" I heard the unknown stallion say.

"Cyen we have to see if we can help" I said as I began to run after them.

This was the beginning of my long journey.

Part 2 Prologue - Luna

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I followed Star Charmer into the ever whitening area. There was nothing around us just a vast empty space. I didn't feel scared or anything for that matter just peace.

"Star" I asked already knowing the answer "are we dead?"

She just kept walking forward "looks that way" was all she said.

Great add that to the list of accomplishments - Became Overstallion, opened Stable, Killed everypony, Died at least I was dead I could not possibly achieve anything else. As I followed Star Charmer I noticed that even though we were moving forward you could not quite tell it. With no visual markers one could easily be moving in one spot and never really be advancing.

"Star do you know where the Goddesses are?" I asked.

She sighed and answered "no, however, I assume they are around here somewhere."

So we knew nothing of this place. I stopped and sat on the ground.

"What if we just I don't know wait?"

Although Star Charmer had been walking she had not moved, she noticed this and stopped and sat down with me.

"Are you upset Glacier?" She asked

"Why would I be?" I answered knowing my lie "I only killed hundreds of ponies"

it was a joke but the truth laced in that made me a little sick.

"I didn't mean for it be like that Glacier" she said almost with a sadness but the emotion was not there.

"I know Star it's not your fault who knew besides EQUIS that the stable would implode?" I said and that statement made me and her feel better about the situation.

The wait had dragged on and now boredom sat in. I was sure we had only been there for maybe 15 minutes but the emptiness around us made it impossible to judge time. The whiteness began to darken only slightly at first and then quickly. Soon the area took the shape of a room that was filling with the colors of violet, deep blues and hints of black. The change disoriented me and frightened me for a moment. Once the overwhelming change had settled into my head I began to notice white dots cast among the colors, some of the dots were clustered and the others were spread wide. The whole vision of it was beautiful and seeming unending. I looked over at Star to see if she was seeing what I was seeing. Star was starring directly at the dogs and sobbing.

"Star are you okay?" I asked unsure what would provoke this emotional response.

She dropped her head tears streaming down her muzzle "it's the stars, Glacier."

I turned back to the dots unsure of what she meant. Before I could respond a bright white sphere appeared in front of us. Again I had no idea how to react. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Star stand up and drop into a bow. I followed suit.

I had no idea what I was bowing to and I assumed that she did. I glanced up to see the sphere land and dissipate away and reveal a ebony and blue alicorn. From the books at the Stable library I knew who she was. Goddess Luna. She stepped forward with a gentle look on her face he wings out stretched in a royal fashion.

"Please stand my ponies" her voice almost cooed. I stood up and met the Goddess Luna. "It seems we find ourselves in limbo" she said as she took my hood and kissed it and then did the same to Star. "I have watched your lives for quite awhile from here and I know the circumstances surrounding your arrival." Her words comforted me and brought me to ease. At least I would not have to explain anything. "As of now you find yourself in limbo, you two are neither dead or alive. As for you Star Charmer you are tied to Glacier Mane for he is the one whose body refuses to die." Luna said as she closed her wings. Star Charmer looked at me and then to Luna. "You do not have much time to rest here for this is only a small break from the world that has become of my Equestria." Luna sat on her haunches and sighed. "I am no Goddess my little ponies only a long dead princess who over the year became a deity." I was shocked at what Goddess, well Princess, Luna had said it was blasphemy to hear but from her was it really? "My sister Celestia and I tried to save Equestria from war that devastated everyone. We failed. We failed with Canterlot first. That was where I died." Luna spoke in a grave tone with caused the room to become darker. "My sister will never join me here because in a last effort to save every creature she lost her soul." A tear fell from Luna's eye "Celestia is trapped in the heart of what is a weather control station known as the Single Pegasus Project. I watched as a group of Ponies battled the hell of the wastes to get there in order to control the weather to save Equestria. Celestia helps their leader, I believe her name is Little Pip, control the weather for that section of Equestria." This was fascinating the whole story of Equestria unfolded before me. I had questions but dared not speak. "The influence of the Single Pegasus Project is limited to that area of Equestria due to the pride of Pegasi. Thousands of ponies were helped when the skies were cleared but multitudes more remain" I began to feel my hooves lighten in weight. I looked down to see my hooves fading and I began to feel fear. "Be calm my little pony" Luna said as the began to fade more "You body may not be calling you back but life is calling for you" I looked over at Star and the same was happening to her. I looked back at Luna and she smiled at me. "If you can save more of Equestria, even one pony is more than enough". The vision went black.

July 17th, 2377 - 13:40 Hours

The sounds of beeps and hisses fill the air. I felt nothing but I refused to open my eyes. I had no feeling and I did not like that.

"I think he's coming to" I heard Dusty say.

It was good to hear a familiar voice. I turned my head towards the direction of Dusty's voice.

"Yeah I'm alive" I said but the voice was not my own, it was mechanical.

The sound startled me and my eyes shot open and I raised quickly from the bed. What I saw at first was streams of numbers and letters then a logo flashed up for a second. Then darkness and then the words "Optical Feed Established" popped up and then the room around me appeared upside down at first then with another phrase that said "tracking feed" it righted itself with a nauseating spin.

"Whoa Glacier take it slow" Dusty said "we just now we're able to bring you back"

I was confused and I was looking around the room. I had no feeling in my body yet I could move. I looked down and saw my hooves. Instead of my normal hooves that were made of flesh and bone I had the same metal skeleton that Dusty had showed me the first time we met. Fear erupted in me.

"Dusty what happened to me? what am I?" I almost yelled my voice still a mechanical grind.

"Glacier, you died and we couldn't save your body" he said as he satdown next to me "your body was just a limp broken frame. With some help we were able to take your brain and implant it into the skeleton husk of a pseudo."

The news was unreal and terrified me.

"We only saved a few organs but all in all we did the next best thing. We made you into a Hybrid Psuedo." Dusty said with a slight smile.

I glanced around and saw it was only me and Dusty

"What about Star Charmer? The pony EQUIS implanted into my brain?"

Chapter VII - Alive

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July 31st 2377, 08:37 Hours

I laid staring up at the ceiling of a run down medical research facility that was on the campus of the dilapidated Equestrian University in a medical bed hooked to machines. The purpose of the machines was to keep my new robotic body working as my new companion, Cyen a former Security bot for EQUIS, worked on my brain.

"Ah yes I see what you were saying" a Cyen said bobbing up and down "It appears you were an unknowing participant of EQUIS' memory experiment."

I had no idea what that meant for me but maybe that meant Star Charmer was still accessible.

"Star Charmer was the pony I saw in my head" I said trying to make it sound like I wasn't crazy "I saw her a lot, however, after the accident I haven't seen her"

Cyen was quiet for a moment before taking his arm and poking a part of my brain.

"Did you get uncontrollably sad when I did that" Cyen asked

"No i didn't at all" I answered

He poked again.

"Did you experience temporary blindness?" He asked

"No" I replied a little unsure of what was going on

He poked again one last time

"Ow!" I screeched

"I see" he said "It appears EQUIS took half of your brain and then half of this Star Charmers brain and put them together."

This was too much.

"It seems that instead of accepting Star Charmer's brain as its own your half sealed off and learned to function by itself... Remarkable" the robot said

"So what do you we about Star Charmer then?" I asked hoping I could see and talk to her again

"Well now that you are a pseudo Star Charmer's brain wavEs are filtered out. So seeing her much less hearing her is now impossible" he said as he closed the top of my head.

"Oh" I said in a defeated tone

"However" Cyen said floating up in front of my face "I might be able to separate the halves and place Star Charmer's half in an available Pseudo body."

The spirit returned to me and I was happy to hear that there was still some sort of hope.

"The procedure is simple" Cyen said "but very risky. You both could die"

Dusty walked in with another new companion, Horizon, he looked at me and then to Cyen.

"So is everything in working order?" Dusty said as he sat very heavy looking saddle bags down "I was hoping we could put some plating over his skeleton frame today."

The saddle bags fell over and solid white metal clambered out. Cyen bobbed around me and floated to Dusty.

"Not today Mister Dusty" he said "I will be preforming another operation on our friend here"

Dusty shot a look at me and then back to Cyen.

"Another operation" he said probingly "what is this one about?"

Before Cyen could answer I spoke up.

"Cyen found Star Charmer" I blurted out

"He found Star Charmer?" Dusty said cautiously

"Well half of her brain really" Cyen said matter of factly "it seems that Glacier Mane was a test subject for EQUIS"

Dusty shot another look at me.

"Half of Star Charmers brain is in Glacier Mane's head" Cyen said bobbing back over to me "theoretically I can split the two and put Star Charmer into a vacant pseudo."

Dusty closed his eyes in contemplation for a moment and looked at me.

"Well mr.overstallion what have you decided?"

I was taken back from the question and I looked down.

"It's worth a shot" I said as I lifted myself up and off the medical bed.

"I will make preparations then." Cyen said as he bobbed away

I walked over to Dusty and poked a hoof at the saddle bags.

"What's all this?" I asked

Dusty grinned and picked the bags up and put them over his back.

"Your upgrades we can't have a skeletal pseudo walking around the wastes"

He turned and walked out into the courtyard of the university. I followed to see what exactly he meant by upgrades. Dusty walked over into a building that was labeled "MWT School of Advancements"

"This is where I can find suitable parts for you" he said as he turned a corner "This is the Ministry of Wartime Technology's school where they trained their employees."

The only recollection of what the Ministry of Wartime Technology I had was based off of books that I had read in school. Dusty opened the door to the school and walked in. The building looked like all the others, dilapidated and charred from bail fire. I followed him in and saw the inside had faired just as well. The ceilings sagged and the walls were cracked. Years of dust covered the floor as my metallic hooves occasionally cracked glass from pictures and windows.

"Not too much farther" Dusty said as he opened a door that held to its frame by way of rusty hinges. "Me and Horizon scoped this place out this morning"

I was nervous, and excited, I was nervocited, I guess that's a word. I followed Dusty into a large room that was near the center of the building. This room had only slightly cracked walls and cleanish floors. In the center of the room stood a steel inclined table. On the walls and all around the room were fancy tools and equipment for what looked like robotic machining.

"What is this Dusty?" I said taking the whole view of everything in.

"This is were I'm going to put some armor on you" he said after he dropped the saddlebags on a nearby table. "Well it'll be like your skin, only we don't have equipment to give you hair and what not so you will constantly be encased in armor"

He reached in the bags and began to pull out individual pieces and arranged them on the table. I saw leg plates and chest plates and a horn and wings. Wings?

"Dusty" I said walking over to the wings "why wings I'm a unicorn"

Dusty smiled and walked up to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder.

"Not any more you not"

Chapter VIII - One pony's body

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August 1st, 2377 - 00:05 HOURS

Night had fallen and with it it brought the sounds of the wastes nocturnal residents. My new robotic skeleton crunched the rubble of the college. We had yet to spread to any other buildings, because Dusty and Cyen had not encased my body with armor so the littlest threat could leave me beyond repair. So we stuck to the Ministry of Peace School of Medicine where I had been brought back from the brink of death and the Ministry of Wartime Technology School of Robotics where Dusty planned to armor me after my final surgery. So I kept myself busy with walking into the courtyard and sitting. I walked to the center of the courtyard and sat on the ground and looked up at the sky. It was much different that the ceilings of the stable. The cloud cover was thick only offering short glimpses of dark blues and blacks. It was strange. I looked down at my legs and studied the metal and hydraulic tubes that made up myself now. "What was I becoming?" The thought bother me a little and I shook it off to look at the sky again.

"You know sometimes I think you can see Pegasi flying over through the cracks" a voice said.

I turned to see the red colored earth pony. He walked up and sat next to me and looked at me and studied my body.

"You look a lot different from the first time I saw you" Horizon said. "Sorry that was fucking stupid"

I smiled and put a metal hoof on his shoulder

"Don't worry" I said "I wouldn't know what to say either."

We sat in silence for a moment before he coughed

"So what happened really I mean I got bits and pieces from Dusty but he told me it was a long story" he said pushing for information.

I sighed and laid down on the ground.

"Well the story goes like this" I began "me and Dusty and a mare that came with us came from a stable"

I gauged his reaction to see of further explanation was needed.

"You mean one of those things that held ponies when the mega spells went off right?" Horizon said

"Yeah, one of those. Did you ever see one?" I asked

"No, but the slavers I was with would talk about them and how if they could they would take one over and use it as a base of operations"

The thought of that made me cringe a little.

"Well we are from one of those" I said getting back on track "I was elected to be Overstallion, the pony in charge"

"Oh" he said "what happened?"

This was the first time I had ever talked about it and I knew right off I did not like it.

"I opened the door" I said offering the quickest explanation

"Was that the explosion we heard?" He said with innocence in his wonderment.

"No" I said quickly

"Then what was the explosion?" He said pushing for information

I was getting irritated but I remained calm.

"The stable purged itself" I said turning away "ask Cyen he can probably tell you why"

Horizon nodded sensing the distress of the conversation.

"Okay, well don't go looking into the sky too long" he said "I heard it'll drive you crazy"

He got up and started to walk off.

"Hey" I said as he began to walk off "you need to tell me about yourself Horizon, I've done all the talking"

He stopped and smiled.

"I don't remember much about my family, just that no one really liked us too much. We were in a community and that community was close but I can't tell you what the people were like or if some of them survived the attack of the slavers. Maybe one day I'll remember" he said and he walked away.

August 1st, 2377 - 10:20 HOURS

I woke up to the now familiar message "OPTICAL NERVE CONNECTION SUCCESSFUL" it was still early and only Dusty was around. He was staring out the dirty window of the Ministry of Peace School of Medicine. He wore a black duster and the same monotone look he always had. He was sitting next to the body of Serenade. I was still unsure of why we had kept her body. Her head was smashed open and revealed the inner workings of her pseudo mind. Besides the caved in and utterly decimated left side you could almost pretend she was sleeping. I walked up and picked up her hoof and studied the way it looked. It looked almost real even felt real, and Celestia knows "that" felt really real. I sat her hoof back down with reverence and look back to Dusty. He still stared out the dirty glass at the wastes.

"Cyen says that we should be able to upgrade you today." Dusty said not looking away from the window.

"Well that'll be good" I said joining him at the window.

"That's weird" Dusty said looking out at the horizon "I have been staring at same area of land and I've notice these small pockets of low laying yellow clouds. Sometimes they spark with electricity and others they just pass by always in the same direction" he turned away from the window and looked at Serenade. "Look I wanted to be respectful" he said "but I can't find another pseudo body for Star Charmer only bits and pieces it seems we exhausted our resources on you."

I turned towards him "so are you asking for permission to dismantle and repair my mare-friend to put another personality in her head. Am I hearing you correctly?" I asked

"Well when you put it that way it sounds heartless and barbaric but that the jest of it yes." He said

"Do I have a choice?" I asked stepping toward him

"If you want to talk and see star charmer again, then no" he said bluntly

I was taken back. On one hoof I would be defiling the corpse of my now dead mare-friend, regardless of whether she was a pseudo or not it felt wrong, and on the other I would be giving life to another who had theirs cut short. I thought over the options. If the stable taught me anything I was the decision maker.

"Do it" I said with a breath of anxiety and strength mixed together.

Dusty turned away from me and slid a knife over with his hoof.

"I'll prep the body for Star Charmer" he said as he picked the knife up in his teeth and slid it down Serenades skin filleting it back to reveal the armored endoskeleton.

It was a gruesome sight but a necessary one I understood that, however, it did not make it easier to watch. The armored exoskeleton was bare in about an hour leaving a hunk of faux skin on the ground.

"Alright" Dusty said "I know that the head looks rough but I think me and Cyen can fix it up easily shouldn't take more than an hour or two tops"

I nodded and turned to walk away.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I said looking back at Dusty.

"Honestly without armoring you're pretty useless Glacier, sorry" he replied as he began to disconnect the head from the body.

I turned back around and walked out of the room to find somewhere else to be. I was useless and that annoyed me a little. I walked into a smaller room off what use to be the main foyer of the school of medicine. I found Horizon looking over a small map of the surrounding areas. He had a piece of charred debris in his mouth and had apparently been marking on the map with it. I took a quick glance at the work he had done and saw what he was doing.

"A map?" I asked "where'd you find that?"

He spit out the makeshift pencil "It was on one of the slavers" he said and picked it back up.

"Oh" I said

He spit the debris out again and looked at me.

"We need a radio" Horizon said "Slavers use to tune into aNy nearby station, one of the stations they could pick up was from Tenpony Tower had a host named DJ PON3."

"Interesting" I said "a radio would be of some help"

"You got that right" Horizon scoffed

"Maybe we could find one in this place" I suggested

"Not likely, seems like raiders have been through he scavenging and took what was considered necessary to them"

"Raiders?" I questioned

"Yeah, they are common up here on the surface" Horizons said still trying to grasp living in a stable. "They are psychotic ponies who kill and steal from other ponies and use the corpses as decoration. Personally I'd stay away from them if you don't have protection"

"Ah, I see" I said trying to wrap the idea of psychotic ponies but I moved on "what's the map for?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Well it's to kinda determine where to go from here" he said "you see I came from the east somewhere from off the map. We where heading to a Slaver camp called Pegasus Falls. That's down here somewhere. So basically I'm marking known landmarks" he said sliding the map towards me. "It's of my opinion we move west to see what we can find. I've heard that there is a town that is suppose to be a days trot from here, once we are all set we should move that direction"

He had a compelling point, being that it was made off of assumptions I couldn't just jump on it.

"Lets ask Dusty what he thinks and see if Cyen has any objections." I said with a smile. "Please continue to work on that map. It'll be useful to us I think."

August 1st, 2377 - 16:32 HOURS

I had spent most of the day just toiling around and once I even walked over to a building we had not touched however the large rat creature I encountered caused me to gallop full speed away. It was later when I decided to join my company of ponies back at the school of medicine. Dusty was first to spot me and he had a look of anxious anticipation.

"Glacier!" He said as he approached me "it's finished Star Charmers body, everything should work perfectly well and we can start the procedure now!"

Now I was filled with anxiety.

"Sure, where's Cyen?"

As I spoke the orb floated in from the operating room. He was stark white with what seemed to be the most sterile things he could find. He bobbed over to me.

"This is what is going to happen" Cyen said casually "I will hook you up to life support systems and so on I will have you brain hooked to one and Star Charmers hooked to a separate one. Once you are closed back up I will work on Star Charmer, it'll take her some time to wake up, same for you. The whole procedure should take 147 minutes" he floated off back into the operating room.

"Well I guess I'm ready" I said as I followed my spherical surgeon.

Dusty followed me into the room and helped me up on to the table.

"I want to be an Alicorn when I wake up, Dusty" I said with a smile.

"That's the plan" he said as Cyen opened the back of my head. "You'll be the first Pseudo Alicorn" and then everything went dark.

Chapter IX - Bowing in the name of

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"What is this?" I asked as the world around me was the familiar white. However, instead of making a grand entrance Luna sat patiently for me.

I walked up to her and she smiled. Her mane flowed as if it was alive. It was peppered with stars and twinkling lights just like the old pictures from the stable.

"Hello Glacier, again" she said

"Why am I here your majesty" I asked in a hasty bow. It was then I realized I wasn't a pseudo here but I was in my normal body.

"Well, Glacier" she said as she stood up "I have been watching you, your friends saved your life and now you are putting your life on the line for your friend. You are noble"

I didn't know what to say. I didn't see what I was doing as a noble sacrifice but a just cause. Did that make me noble?

"I thought it was the right thing." I said

She walked up to me and put a hoof on my shoulder.

"I know what is about to happen, Glacier." She said "travel west and south, although major parts of the wastes are claimed by virtuous ponies. It is time for you to take place as a virtuous soul."

She turned away from me and the scene went dark again.

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OPTICAL NERVE INPUT SUCCESSFUL

"Glacier can you hear me?"

"I don't think he has come out of it yet"

"Glacier nod if you can hear me"

I groaned my mechanical voice left my mouth. I shifted my head up and down to signify I was responsive. As soon as my nods stopped Cyen flew in front of my face.

"I need to test your responses to ensure I got the surgery correct" he said "now follow me side to side" the orb moved to the left and the the right, I did as instructed. "Good now up and down" again I followed. "Everything checks out for sensory output I'll come back and check again" and with that he buzzed off.

"Dusty" I said turning to him "am I an alicorn?"

He shook his head. "Not yet, the surgery was" he paused "complicated to say the least" he paused again "everything went great nothing went wrong" he assured me "I just wanted to let you wake up first before adding changes"

I sat up and looked around the room, it was a different room than before. The room was bare and only had a disheveled couch and a few chairs.

"What about Star Charmer?" I asked looking around and noticing her new body was not around.

"She is in the operating room" Dusty said "She's fine but not awake yet" Dusty walked up to me and helped me up and out of my position on the couch. "She won't look like Serenade, Glacier" Dusty said. Although I had not thought about this made me feel more at ease.

"That's good I guess" I said as I began to walk.

"I went ahead and stripped the fur lining on Star Charmers new body so you wouldn't be haunted every time you looked at her.

This was probably for the best, I followed Dusty out of the room and into the operating room. There we found Cyen checking monitors and vitals. On the table laid a solid white pony shaped robot. The chest heaved slightly with silent breaths. The body, obviously female due to its curves was sleek and smooth, definitely the oddity of the room because it looked too clean for this world. There where lights on it's chest that were dead but you could hear a slight hum of life. Cyen floated over to me and Dusty

"She's in R.E.M sleep, a very good sign" he said before looking me over again "how are you? You seem fine" he said bobbing in my face.

"I'm good was disoriented at first-" he cut me off

"Good sign the brain is responding to its surroundings" he said before turning to Dusty "you can have your fun with equipping armor" he said before floating back to the sleeping Star Charmer.

I followed Dusty out of the medical building and into the robotics facility. Where Dusty had shown me what he was planned on doing to remedy my lack of armor. He walked into a room with a work bench and a metallic stand.

"Alright" he said "if you can stand on a that platform we can begin" he motioned toward the metallic stand.

As I walked up to the stand it shifted and spilt apart to surround me with four spires. I looked and Dusty as small robotic arms came from each spire.

"How do we go about building an Alicorn?" Dusty said as he grabbed the first piece of armoring "first we clean you out" he turned to a terminal screen and selected something that caused air to blow all over my body. "That should do it now let's start from the ground up shall we?"

He hoofed over the first piece to one of the robotic arms and then a second piece to another until all the arms were loaded. He walked back to the terminal and began to press the buttons causing the spires to spin. With lightening speed the arms installed the first pieces of armor, lower leg guards. The guards were white just as Star Charmers, having them installed I felt heavier but like I could jump higher than a normal pony.

"Dusty do these pieces of armor have any enhancements?" I asked

He walked back over and loaded the arms with the next pieces "yeah the legs will help with endurance as well as sturdiness and maybe jumping" he said as he finished loading the arms and walked back to the terminal.

The same process continued and the upper leg armor was installed. I felt the same enhancements as before. Now was time to install flank and chest armor. The arms worked just as quick as the chest was bolted in and hooked up the flank was also installed, giving me a metallic swaying tail. Dusty grabbed a piece that was obviously for my neck and loaded into the arm.

"Almost finished" he said as he stepped away

The arm went up to my throat and began to equip the armor. As this was happening I saw Dusty load the back armor into the other two arms. It had wings, Large wings. He stepped back and the arms moved over to my sides and dropped the back plate and wings on my back the weight was enormous but my legs held strong. The arms worked quickly and bolted it down. I could feel that now I had wings and could move them. It was not a sensory feeling but just an acknowledgement that they were there and they could move. With one hoof extended and holding what seemed to be a hollow unicorn head Dusty walked up to me.

"This is it" he said "this is the most advanced head piece I have ever seen. It will link into your CPU, which happens to be your brain, and allow you to control every piece of your equipment. It also has preloaded spells that are quite impressive" he placed the head on the arm "it is also loaded with all the technology that a Pip-buck has" he walked to the terminal and started the arms again. This time at the end everything changed. My vision went black and then green numbers filled my vision. BOOTING UP popped up and then was replaced with black. Soon the black gave way to the room and messages began to pop up. VOICE CALIBRATION. COMPLETE. WING CALIBRATION. COMPLETE. Other messages came and went soon they all stopped and a compass appeared in the corner of my eye and a Heads Up Display lined the top of my vision. Dusty walked up to me and looked me over.

"Well how do you feel?" He asked

"To be honest" I said with a start, my voice was different now I sounded like I use to before everything had happened. I place a hoof over my mouth.

"Don't be so surprised" Dusty said "I told you I would fix you"

I put my hoof back down "do you have anymore surprises?" I asked he put a hoof on me and turned me around.

"Well, remember I said we couldn't give you skin and hair?" he said, I nodded "well decided to delve deeper into this place and while looking around I went on a hunch" he said as we began to walk out of the room. "And I found where they put them on the pseudos. I had to work on it to get it to run but I got it working. I know you would be happy to have some fur on you and personally I think it would be best to put some on you before we travel. We don't want to cause too much attention, hell Im sure an alicorn would cause enough"

I agreed and I was happy to hear that. We walked into another time riddled room. This one had a machine that looked like I was suppose to step in and the skin would be applied. Dusty stepped me up to the machine and I entered. Dusty walked back to a terminal and began to press buttons the machine began to whir as it encompassed me inside. I could hear Dusty outside the machine.

"Now Glacier" he shouted over the machine "this first step with lay a clear skin over you that will simulate a nervous system. After that this will be painful."

Before I could object the machine laid a thin clear substance on me and I began to feel. I no longer felt like a machine but rather a pony. Then another flesh colored skin fell on me and the machine began to tuck and secure it on me from the reflective surface of the walls around me I could see that I looked like a naked hairless alicorn. The feeling was amazing, I could feel air on my new skin and the heat of the lights. Then came the pain. The machine began to insert each follicle of hair and it was excruciating. I screamed but nothing stopped the pain. Every hair was being forced into the pink skin and I could not stop it. My screaming echoed off the walls and I watched my new hair and mane be installed on my body. My pink body began to become gray and my new mane took on the color blue I was looking more like my old self, only now I had wings too. The last step was the worse. The machine held open my newly formed eyelids and inserted lens that made my eyes look lifelike instead of the lifeless eyes of a robotic pony. It was not until the blade came down to my muzzle that I realized I had no mouth. My screams were through my new skin. The cut was precise and clean. The machine finished up by molding the skin tighter and giving me more life like features. When the machine opened up you could not tell I was any different that the Goddess Celestia herself, the only differences were the obvious ones. Dull pain ached over my body. My grey coat began to lighten to a whiter shade of grey, almost white but not quite. I stepped forward wincing as I stepped.

"The pain should subside in an hour or so." Dusty said.

"Yeah I hope so." My new voice mimicked my original voice so well it was eerie.

I stepped up to Dusty and realized now instead of standing around the same size. I was at least a half a pony taller than him. It was also around this time I noticed my hoof steps sounded natural as opposed to the clanking of metal.

"I on taking Star Charmer in here as well to get her coated with fur and a mane" Dusty said as I began to walk around the room.

"That would be a good Idea" I said as I stopped in front of another machine that looked odd. It was still apart of the skin machine but looked like it worked separate of the machine as a whole. "Dusty" I asked "what is this for"

He walked up to the terminal and began to activate the machine.

"It appears to be a cutie mark machine" he said cycling through the options.

I looked down at my flank. It was bare, of course what was I expecting? My original cutie mark was a boring snow flake. Something I had never seen, nor had anyone else in the stable for that matter. The mark was pointless and only meant I was part of the Glacier family tree.

"I want a new mark" I said to Dusty

He paused his cycling and looked up at me.

"What would we give you?" He asked

"I don't know" I said "when I was out during my surgeries I saw Goddess Luna and she told me what I needed to do." I turned away from the machine "when ponies see me they will think I'm a god. As over stallion, I killed my ponies, now I've been given a chance to redeem myself as a leader by becoming a god. Ponies shouldn't think otherwise." I turned back to the machine and approached it.

The machine opened up but did not close as the other one had instead two arms came out and centered on my flanks.

"So what do you think my new mark should be?" I asked Dusty

"Well since you are a god now it has be something that would connect you to the goddesses" Dusty said thinking

I began to think, the only thing I knew about the goddesses besides the dreams with Luna was what the Stable texts had provided. Dusty began to type on the terminal quickly.

"I got it" he said as he began to select the options he wanted.

"What is it? I asked before he could start the machine. I had a feeling this was a one time thing, no take backs.

"It's from one of the stable books on the goddesses." He said "the book has a whole page of symbols that were used in old spell books that implied divinity. The symbol I'm thinking of is simple to replicate and no doubt will work with your godlike appearance."

He began to start the machine up and I looked at him worry in my eyes but I did not move to stop him. The machine hurt, but after applying my skin on I could handle this. I looked at my flank as the mark began to form. I watched as a circle encompassed a triangle that held a square that swallowed another circle. The mark was obviously ancient and I hoped it fit with the "godlike appearance" like Dusty said it would. When it was finished Dusty approached me.

"It looks good" he said

"Hurts like hell but yeah, so what's it mean?" I said trying to ignore the pain

"Hell if I know" he stated

"What? You branded me and don't know what it means?" I said angrily.

My horn glowed bright blue and a wave of magic knocked Dusty back into a wall. Immediately after seeing this power I stopped and galloped to him.

"I I I'm so sorry Dusty I didn't mean to" I said helping him out of the crater in the wall.

"Don't worry about it" the look in his eyes were full of shock and fear. "I'm sure we will find out what you mark means one day" he stood on this legs and turned to walk out of the room "we need to check and see if Star Charmer is awake"

We walked into the medical school again this time Horizon who was sitting in the corner of the main room stopped what he was doing a stared.

"Glacier? Is that you?" He said with hesitation

I nodded "is Star Charmer awake yet"

He shook his head "Cyen has been in there the whole time."

I looked at Dusty "maybe you should get some rest, I know that's what I'm going to do"

Dusty nodded and walked out of the room and down the hallway.

"Well Horizon" I said walking over to an all but destroyed couch "I'm going to try and sleep off this aching I have from having skin and hair put on me."

Horizon continued to stare at me, he opened his muzzle opened as if to ask a question but then he closed it.

"Please hold all questions till after I sleep." I said as I rolled over and drifted off to sleep. Hoping the pain would be gone by the time I woke up.

-------------------------------

The feeling of somepony watching me jogged me from my dreamless sleep. The first scene I saw was the sagging ceiling. I took note that I did not see the optical nerve connection message. However, that was the least of my problems. I turned to find my stalker to be met face to face with the mare that I had only seen in hallucinations.

"Good Morning Darling" the light blue unicorn said with a smile.

Fallout Equestria: EQUIS Rising

by Glacier_Mane

Part One - Prologue

Chapter I - Of Broken Horns

Chapter II - The Pony Time Refused to Forget Revised

Chapter III - Election Day

Chapter IV - Reins of Stable-ity

Chapter V - Blood of the Innocents

Chapter VI - The Door to Hell

Part 1 Epilogue 001 - Slaves Never Dream to be Free...

Part 2 Prologue - Luna

Chapter VII - Alive

Chapter VIII - One pony's body

Chapter IX - Bowing in the name of