I sat panting on my bed. Some time had passed since I had gotten back to my room and my heart was still pounding. I could've just gone right out. I could've just left the stable and put all of this behind me.
To see the outside world was just humbling. Thoughts and questions swarmed through my mind. No, I decided. I chose to stay. That was the choice I would have to live with for the rest of my life.
I don't know how long I had been sitting there, when the door opened. I jumped, still half-expecting security. It was just Rose. She looked mad.
"That was stupid!" she chastised
"I won't be doing it again," I said with a shrug.
"Our deal this morning, was that if you did something stupid, I would turn you in."
Oh Celestia, please no.
"Wait, it wasn't that stupid if you think about it," I argued.
"Oh really? You, by yourself, shut the entire stable down for the entire shift, maybe two! Even when ponies pull emergency switches, the entire stable doesn't shut down! And You! You could have been hurt! You could have been captured!" She paused. "You could have been killed! I heard gunshots!"
I rolled my eyes. This mare was insane.
"Exactly," I said. "I was trying to get out."
That shut her up. I awaited her response.
"Why didn't you then?" she asked.
That was the question I was not sure if I was ready to tell any mare.
"I- I don't know," I lied. "Maybe I was intimidated by what I saw through the door. Maybe I'm not ready to leave yet."
"Wait, you saw outside?" she asked.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I did. I had the door opened before security got up there. It wasn't stupid after all, because now security is off my tail. They think I got away," I countered. We had moved passed that argument, but I was really not going to risk her turning me in as soon as this door closed.
"Hmmph," she said. "Fine, you got away. Now what? You're still here."
"I don't know," I told her. "Maybe when I'm ready, I'll go for real."
She shrugged.
"But you saw outside. For real. What was it like? What does post-war Equestria look like?"
"Post-war? Well, there were the ruins of a city. Skyscrapers and buildings, all hollowed out. The ground was dusty and brown. There was a crater and roads. What do you mean by post-war?"
"The Great War, you know, the whole reason we are in the stable."
I shook my head. Unfortunately, history was not a class they taught in breeder education.
"The Great War," she began, "was the result of several wars between the Kingdom of Equestria and the Zebras. Massive megaspells fell from the sky like rain and destroyed anything that centuries of friendship and harmony had built. The old capitol, Canterlot, was where the Ministries had set up to fight the zebras. I... thought that all of this was common knowledge."
"I suppose it would be, but when you're born for one purpose, you don't exactly get a chance to learn much else. You mentioned megaspells. What are those?"
"Honestly, I don't really know. In school, we were taught that they were magic spells, potions, whatever, and they were weapons made to pretty much destroy entire cities. The fear of these weapons are why the stables were built. That way, ponies would have a chance to survive the end of the world. So when they started falling, Stable-tech rounded up as many ponies as they could and shoved them into the stables."
"Was Stable-tech one of those ministries you mentioned?"
"No, Stable-tech was a business. They built the stables, with the help of the pre-war government, and they designed the pip-bucks that we wear. There were six ministries. Each one was lead by an bearer of an Element of Harmony. Let's see, there was the Ministry of Moral, the Ministry of Awesome, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Arcane Science, the Ministry of Technology, and... Oh, what was the last one? Ministry of Image! That was it."
I sat on my haunches. The world suddenly seemed a lot bigger than I had thought. All my life, I had never thought about what came before myself. I had never questioned the stable, the cells. I had seen the outside, and now I was hearing that ponies used to not live in stables at all? Until a few days ago, I had pretty much just accepted things for the way they were.
"We are in here to be the survival of the pony race after the megaspell holocaust," Rose added.
Finally there was one more thing I needed to know.
"What about the stallions before the war?"
Rose was silent.
"Were they breeders too? Were the wars fought entirely by mares and stallions just got caught in the middle? What of the zebras? Did they have males that helped in their society?"
After a few moments, Rose replied
"I don't know. There was the battle of Broken-hoof ridge where Big Macintosh, a war hero from a small town, took a bullet for the princess. I don't know if he was there as a breeder, or if he was a soldier. All I know is that he was there. I'm not a history buff. Everything I have told you is primary school knowledge. It's why we need to trust the Overmare. She will lead us on until Stable-tech retrieves us the stable."
"How do we know Stable-tech didn't go with the rest of Equestria?"
"Stable-tech made the stables, surely they built one for themselves."
I sat against the wall of my hideout and sighed. Had Stable-tech designed these stables to be like this? If so, how many stallions were enslaved in all of the other stables across the wasteland that had become of Equestria? How many stables had been made? There were so many questions. Was it worth risking the future of Equestria for the freedom of a few stallions? Any damage done to society could be permanent.
"I have a lot to think about," I told her.
"You still haven't given me a name," she said.
"I'll get back to you on that."
The door hissed closed and I sat. I sat thinking about the ponies from the past. I thought about the megaspells. I thought about the ministries. I thought about the princesses. I thought about the zebras.
After a few hours, my stomach growled, and I realized I had not eaten in a while. I grabbed a box of apple chips and a bottle of sparkle-cola. Then I looked to the mound of boxes, half of which I still hadn't gone through. It would be best to lay low for a while. After all, security thought I left. Best not give them a trail to chase anytime soon.
Every moment I waited though, was another moment that fifty breeders suffered.
I opened the box. More metal, some glue, more food.
Thank you so much for reading chapter seven. How do you like the story so far? Leave a review.
Brohoof /)
