Rose trotted down the hall of the stable. It was early and many ponies were still asleep. Under the Overstallion, things were a lot different than they had been under the Overmare. There were no mandatory shifts to work, no quotas to meet, and no obligations to fulfill.

It had been a relief in that sense. Though the stable still felt like a glorified prison, under the Overstallion, many of the things that had been dreaded under the Overmare had become tolerable. Ponies did their work because that work needed to be done, not because they were told to. This was how Rose felt. It was like this were a group of ponies with one common goal, not pieces of a machine.

Even so, all of these ponies had still been under the Overmare. Her influence stretched far. Even if she had no direct control over what these ponies did and did not do, the thoughts and ways of thinking that she implanted into a pony's subconscious remained. They were like wounds in a pony's mind. Until they healed, they could be reopened, and even after, there remains scars.

Rose entered the dining hall. On the far side to the left, doctors were treating injuries of a few ponies that had gotten hurt doing something here or there. Work accidents were not uncommon, especially with how old everything was in this portion of the stable.

To her right a mare and a stallion were in the kitchen. Apparently that one had a particular knack for the culinary arts. The pies, casseroles, soups, and other foods were a testament to the couple's growing experience and experimentation. A slight smile crossed Rose's face as the mixture of smells permeated the air.

On the opposite side of the diner, a door similar to the one Rose had just entered opened. Three mares entered and made for the window that bore the cooks' creations. Like her, they seemed to be looking for some breakfast. Rose noticed that the male chef looked over when they entered. A momentary look of panic crossed his eyes before he galloped into the pantry at the back of the kitchen.

Rose, looking on, raised an eyebrow.

The three mares went up to the counter and took their pick from the prepared dishes. Once they had taken their liking, the group looked around for a place to sit. There were few ponies in here. A couple of mares sat at the table closest to the open window discussing the treacherous situation with the reactor., but besides them the hall was empty save Rose, the cook, the group who had just entered, two doctors each seeing to their own patients at the far end, and a single pale earth pony buck seated near the far entrance they had come in. He looked like he was just finishing up.

Rose noticed the newcomers exchange a look that she did not like. One of the other mares caught the exchange, and whispered something to the others that had been talking about the reactor. As one, the group returned their trays and left. The doctors closed their curtains for privacy with their patients.

The stallion looked around. He noticed a precarious situation and picked up his tray in his mouth. Standing up to leave, he froze with a shudder as one of the three mares called out him.

"Hey, where're you going?" she called.

He turned around slowly, setting his tray back onto the table.

"I'm... er... going to the armory?" he said. His voice was higher pitched. Few of the stallions had a deep voice or really a masculine form for that matter. Probably because the Overmare made sure that anything that may be conceived as a show of power, strength, pride, or anything else was snuffed out of the ponies of the stable, the stallions especially.

"Why? We're about to eat. Why don't you join us for a little company?" asked a second mare.

"I'm... full! I d-don't need any more food. Really, I should be going," The stallion began to back away as the mares advanced.

"I didn't ask if you where hungry, colt!" Glared the first mare. She shoved the stallion's tray off the end of the table and placed hers where his was. The group kept advancing. He kept stepping back, keeping several hoof-lengths between the two until his rump bumped the wall.

"Why don't we find somewhere real nice and quite, huh?" The first mare suggested. Her friends had fanned out so that any way he tried to run, he would go straight into their hooves. They chuckled to themselves.

Rose looked over at the cook. She rubbed her eyes. There was a tear in them. Apparently this had not been the first time this had happened.

Finally, the stallion tried to make a dash for the door. His legs exploded as he bolted straight towards the right-most mare. He didn't make it three steps before the first mare pounced on him. She wrapped her hooves around his neck and twisted, slamming him into the ground, his own momentum being the driving force. She picked up the bruised buck and pinned him to the wall.

All Rose could do was look on, aghast.

"P-please! I- I don't want-" The stallion begged.

"I don't care what you don't want. I'm more powerful, and you don't get a say! I say that we go find somewhere nice, and you do it. You know why? Because you're a buck. Understand? You have to do what I say because I'm a mare and you're not!"

Her face was brushing his. I could see tears in his eyes. Blood dribbled out of his nose from getting slammed. He still tried it. His hind hoof smashed into the mare's hind knee causing her to cry out in pain and her leg to bend at an odd angle.

The mare lost her grip on him and he tried to run. One of the other two mares grabbed him first. He tried again to strike at her, but she saw it coming and deflected the blow. His head was slammed into the side of the nearest table. With that, he was out of the fight.

"Oh, you are going to pay for that, young buck. C'm 'ere!"

She stood over his disoriented body. She held a handle in her mouth. With a flick of her tongue, a blade flipped out.

"No buck will ever strike a mare and go unpunished, do you here me?"

"What in Luna's blessed name is going on in here?" exclaimed a voice from somewhere behind Rose. Looking over her shoulder, Rose saw Circuit Board and Cinder both enter the dining hall. Cinder advanced on the group of mares, while Circuit trotted over to the opposite door.

"Oh, Cinder, I wasn't expecting you to come in here," said the mare

"I can see that, Emerald." Cinder said as she got closer. Emerald's two cronies approached Circuit, but she had the door locked via the panel before they were close enough to stop here.

"You still haven't answered my question, Emerald. What is going on in here?" Cinder asked.

"Rose!" Circuit exclaimed. She motioned with her head for Rose to go over. Apparently Rose had just become backup for these two.

"I... was just showing this pony a few techniques to help against the Overmare." Emerald covered.

"With a switchblade? Don't lie to me! How did you even get that?" exclaimed Cinder. "Now is not the time to go picking fights, okay? You of all ponies should know this Emerald! Especially with the ponies who have saved your flank how many times now?"

"Speak for yourself, colt fondler! You aren't the chief! You aren't even a captain!" Emerald yelled. "You can't tell me what I can and can't do!"

"You aren't a captain any more, Emerald!" Cinder yelled back. "And yes I can! While I may not bear the title, the Overstallion trusts me. I act with his authority, and until I do not, you will do what I say, or I will turn you over to the Overmare where you will be executed for treason! Do I make myself clear?" The four of ponies off to the side had been having their own little standoff. Rose, Circuit, and the two cronies now all looked at the other two as it seemed like they were about to go to blows.

"What does all this matter anyway? That lunatic is not going to change the stable. He's going to lose! This is the Overmare we're talking about! Gadget herself couldn't beat her! There's no way a stallion can stand a chance against her! No way! This little bucker here couldn't even beat me!"

"Do I make myself clear?" Cinder replied, much calmer. The mare huffed and stuck out her chest.

"Yes ma'am," there was a sting to those words.

"This isn't over, Emerald. Right, now all of you are to report to Gadget. She is over in the section that is under maintenance. You'll know where she is, just follow the ponies. Stallions, the Overstallion wants to see all you in the bunkhouse," Cinder ordered.

"Why?" asked the beat up stallion on the floor. He was shaking off the fight and trying to gather the situation again. The cook that had hid in the pantry poked his head out to hear the news.

"Apparently he has something he wants to say to you all," Circuit explained.

"I mean why are we doing this? Did something happen?" the stallion asked again.

"We're making a move." Cinder said, plainly.

"Right. And make sure you report to the armory first. That goes for everypony." Cinder ordered once more, looking at the two chefs who each nodded. The two doctors' patients opened their curtain and left with everypony else.

Sure enough, by the time the ponies from the dining hall made it to the armory, it was like the entire stable was crammed into it. They were testing assault rifles, strapping them to battle saddles, loading up on ammunition, kitting themselves out with wartime armor, and leaving for the rendezvous point. It was almost thirty minutes before Rose was on her way. She and Circuit left together.

"So it's finally happening, isn't it?" Rose asked. The two trotted along the corridors following the ponies toward the meeting point. The hallway was lit by lights lining the ceiling and walkway, but as they got farther away from the settled part of the stable, they crossed into a yet unexplored, unpowered, and unknown part of the stallions' stable. It wasn't long before they were once again stepping over the bones of those who once occupied this stable.

"Mhmm," Circuit Board nodded. "If all goes well, then in a couple of hours all of this will be over."

"If all goes well... A lot of these ponies won't see it though, will they?" Rose asked.

"I don't know. Maybe nopony else has to die. Maybe they'll just give up and we can get to the Overmare without incident," Circuit suggested.

"Do you really think that'll happen?" Rose questioned.

"No," said Circuit glumly. "We're about to cross into Tartarus. Celestia knows what will happen."

The rest of the walk was in relative silence. There was an electric buzz in the air. You know that expression about the calm before the storm? Well, this was the very personification of that analogy. Here everypony was safe, well-fed, relatively peaceful, and free. There were ponies who were literally shaking with fear or anticipation.

Some of the more weathered ponies that had been around since the stand in the medical wing held their weapons close. They carried their own equipment. Their eyes were distant and hard in the face of the upcoming battle. There were newcomers. To some of the ponies, like Rose, this would be their first time in the fray. They didn't know what to expect. They didn't know what was coming.

The lines were formed and a briefing was given by Cinder as to the nature of the plan.

Finally, two lines were formed on either side of the hall. At the front, two engineering mares were ready with laser cutters to cut open the sealed stable wall and allow the attack to begin.

There was a red emergency light in the corridor. Gadget was in a surveillance room, and would give a signal when to begin.

"Is everypony ready?" came a voice over an intercom.

"Wait!" came a voice from somewhere behind me, the cook. "Where are the stallions?"

Mutterings began among the ready fighters as to the whereabouts of the ponies that had set this whole thing into motion.

"They'll... be along shortly. If I know them, they won't let us down," said Cinder. There a few more mutterings followed by some rather obnoxious outbursts about the stallions cowering out.

"Stay close to me." Circuit whispered to Rose, who nodded.

The red light turned green. The engineers' laser cutter began their work on the stable wall. In about a minute, they were done. They pushed on the plate, and a doorway fell inward. Rose was rather far up. She could see out of the ancient blackened stable into the upkept relatively nicer-looking grey of the Overmare's.

Two security guards were just rounding a corner on patrol, when they saw the attack beginning. They screamed and ran. The first shot was fired. A mint green unicorn raised her rifle. The automatic weapon was joined by a chorus of others. The two security ponies were gunned down before the had made it very far.

The mares pushed on down the hall to the staircase. They pressed on towards the main level. They were going to get the jump on the Overmare no problem.

As the first ponies approached the room where the Overmare's field headquarters had been, they had met relatively little resistance. Not a single pony had fired back, and the security ponies had been in small numbers.

The attackers burst in the door only to find it empty.

"What?" exclaimed the pony beside Cinder before she was thrown through the air and pinned to a wall. Her armor was stripped off.

"Mares!" exclaimed a voice out of thin air.

"Stealthbucks!" cried one of the engineers nearby. Gunshots ripped the air quickly after that. The mare that had pinned the first attacker was shot at random. She left the room trailing blood. The rebels tried to persue her, but everything was silenced by a note, pure and crisp over the Mare's intercom.

"Traitors, backstabbers, and turncoats," a hellish voice began over the intercom. The Overmare was addressing the attackers, Rose among them. "You once again find yourself within my grasp. How does it feel to have been so close, only to fail once more?"

"Overmare, you coward! get down here and face me yourself!" Cinder declared into the air.

"Hmm, such a tempting offer, but no. Each and every one you has betrayed me. ME! The one who truly controls this stable and everything that happens within it. You turn against me by the hundreds. I'm sure each of you know what the consequences are for such a crime. And you knew full well what would happen the moment you started it.

"I see you, Cinder. A lonely security officer. Unextraordinary. Friendless. The only pony you've ever trusted is yourself. Gadget, my mutinous engineer. She and I have known each other since we were foals. Circuit Board, have you gotten around to telling her yet? No? I'd say you haven't long left now, hmm? Butterbread..."

She continued to name the mares involved in the rebellion as well as something about them. For several minutes this went on. One by one, she blindsided as many ponies as she could.

"... Pink Rose, my own daughter. I really must ask, were were coaxed into this?"

"Enough!" Rose blared. "What are you doing mother? Overmare! You are the worst Overmare this stable has ever had! Why are you so intent on tearing it apart?"

"I'm not tearing it apart, my love. To see the ones responsible for that, you need only to look to your right and left."

"Is that really all you care about?"

"Its my stable, sweetheart. I need to make sure it stays that way, because if it doesn't, then all hope for the future of Equestria is lost."

"It's always about that, isn't it? My stable, my stable, my stable! Why can't it just be us for once?"

"Rose, I gave you everything you ever needed. I gave you comfort! Anything you asked for! What more could you want?"

"You! You were never there! You didn't even attend my cutecenera because you were so concerned with nitrogen deficiencies in the gardens!" There were several gasped from the mares around the area.

"Rose... I had a job to do!"

"Does it not bother you that this is the first time we've spoken to each other in three years?"

"I..."

"To answer your question, no, I didn't have to be coaxed. You're not my mother, and I'm not your daughter. When we get into your office, I'll be the first one to pull the trigger!"

From somewhere down another hall adjacent to this one, hoofsteps could be heard. Gunfire erupted from behind the attackers, along their flanks. Directly across the room, a door opened. A unicorn was maintaining a shield. The mares in the front of the attacking force opened fire, but their shots were useless. From the two sides of the room, power-armor clad ponies with heavy weaponry emerged.

"Fall Back!" Cinder bellowed.

"So it seems, Rose. Then all of you are traitors. You will all pay the price for your actions. Unruly subjects get punished. It was even so under Celestia and Luna. So it shall be with me."

The mares began a mad dash retreat. They were halted in the hallway by another power-armor clad pony, that is, until an armored pony with a sword dashed over the mechanical monstrosity's shoulders and took its head clean off.


Ah, here we are back to Rose. I've been meaning to get this written for a while now. What do you all think? Kind of a different perspective on the events from the last chapter. Also, it seems like some personal prejudices of the Overmare are still prevalent even among the rebels. What are all your thoughts? Thank you for reading, and thank you for getting this far.

Brohoof /)