Jim and Braxton were still not speaking to each other as they walked side by side down the hall. Braxton pulled ahead as they reached the animal department. He scanned his badge to open the door. Jim crossed his arms and waited. The door shut behind Braxton.

Jim scanned his badge. The door opened again. Jim stalked through on his own.

The piles of hay were gone today. Jim could not remember if they had been there when he left last week, he had been far too tired to take notice. He was glad for their absence now, however, as it gave him more distance from Braxton.

Puss looked between the two storm faced youth. "Today shall be interesting." Turning on his heel he led the way down the hall. "Come! Today you shall be working with our most beautiful horses! Our pegisides!"

"Yes sir." The boys answered in unison, then glared at each other.

Puss pretended not to notice the animosity. "Right this way, boys! You'll be in the open air segment of our department, our pegisides are currently out exercising." He led them down several hallways to a large door.

They did not go through the door. Instead the cat scanned his badge at a wide elevator and let them all into the capsule. Jim stood on one side. Braxton took the other. Puss stood between them pretending the air was not heavy with their anger.

The doors opened again. A soft breeze drifted through the brightly lit corridor. Jim could smell hay, horses, and leather. They were scents he had gotten very used to during his shifts mucking out the stables last year. But those stables had been detached from the building.

Puss stepped out of the elevator and stopped, his hands on his hips. Before them stretched an extra wide corridor. On either side of the slick building was a single room. Beyond that were the stables. Each stall had a plaque above it. Eight of the ten were engraved with a name. The end of the hall had no wall, simply opening to the bright sky beyond.

Puss looked quite proud. "This is the pegisides sector! It is directly above our regular stables. Come, I shall give you a short tour. On the left here is clean supply storage. Hay, food, water pails, tact. On the right is our dirty storage. Wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels, the things you don't want near their food."

The cat strode forward. He gave the names by memory as he gestured to the appropriate stall. "Peter, Taylor, Etherium, Sunrise, Sunset, and Rosemond. Those six are siblings. This belongs to the baby, Symphony. And finally, Pegasus."

"Pegasus?" Jim glanced towards Braxton to make sure he'd heard that right. As he turned his head he remembered he was angry with his friend. He shot him a glare and turned his attention back to Puss. Braxton glowered back at him.

Puss acted as if he had not seen the exchange. "Zeus is not the most creative with names." He passed the two empty stalls and walked right up to the open air. "As we have significantly fewer pegisides residing here than we do horses," the cat stepped past the opening. He dropped straight down. Both boys lunged forward.

Puss stood about four feet below the edge of the stable. "Their stables are smaller," he continued as if he had never stopped talking. "So there is a bit of a drop between here and the stable roof. The Pegisides like to leap straight into the air and fly, but as the foals sometimes are not so good at first, we left some runway, so to speak, in case they need some practice launches."

Puss leaped back up onto the stable floor. "Try not to fall off the edge. The horses don't like when there's too much noise up here."

"Yes sir, it certainly won't be a problem for me." Jim said.

Braxton crossed his arms. "It'll be less of a problem for 'us Cyborgs'." Jim glared at him. Braxton glared back.

Puss coughed pointedly. "You will start by mucking out the stables and laying fresh hay. Each of you take a side. The fifth stable won't need to be mucked, of course, but do lay down fresh hay. We are hoping to have more pegisides joining us."

"I'll take the right side." Braxton's statement was clipped. He headed for the dirty supply closet. "Will our badges give us access?"

"Yes, they've been coded in." Puss stretched. "I am going down below. When you need to be rid of the waste, take it through this elevators and out that large door on the first floor. You'll be in the regular stables, I'm sure you'll figure it out from there."

"Yes sir." The boys answered together again. Puss left them to get to work.

Jim shouldered past Braxton to collect his wheelbarrow and pitchfork. He hung his personal bag up on a hook, then tossed his supplies into his wheelbarrow and turned to leave. Braxton cut him off to exit first. Both boys set to work on cleaning up.

The work was gross, but not overly hard.

Jim wiped his sweat off his forehead with his arm. He was proud of the work he had done. This was much easier than wrangling donkeys into a bath, and more rewarding. He could visibly see the job well done. He propped his pitch fork up and turned to see where Braxton was at.

Braxton was leaning against a stall door chewing on a piece of hay. He smirked and spat the hay out. Jim's good mood instantly soured. Of course Braxton had to finish first. The cyborg strolled over to his wheelbarrow. Jim grabbed his. They headed for the elevator together.

Neither spoke a word to each other on the ride down. Both of them shoved their badges at the door to open it. Jim wasn't sure who's actually registered, but he thought it was his. He hoped Braxton thought so as well. They pushed their loads through the doors and down the long stable.

The occasional horse lifted their head to watch them walk past. The intelligence in their eyes unnerved Jim more than he liked. None of them spoke, however, which was a significant improvement over last week's donkeys.

Puss was waiting for them when they arrived back at the elevator. The cat regarded his young assistants. "The pegisides should be coming in from exercise now. Take them to their stalls and groom them. I'll come inspect your work in a little bit."

The boys headed back up to the second floor. Jim crossed to the skyway and leaned out to look for the flying horses. Something bumped into him from behind. He pitched forward, landing awkwardly on the roof of the stable. Spinning around, he glared up at Braxton. Braxton shrugged innocently.

"Taylor!"

As Jim picked himself up, a graceful pastel yellow pegasus swooped in past his head. The creature landed gently and folded their wings alongside their back. Jim hauled himself back up onto the landing. He stood and turned once more to the open sky. "Peter!"

This unicorn was black with a white mane and tail. Jim caught his harness and led him to his stall. Braxton had already gathered his brushes and gone to work. Jim wasn't about to do a shabby job, but he certainly was not going to let Braxton beat him again. "Alright, Peter, let's get this done."

Jim caught up to Braxton at the entrance again. The cyborg was shouting for his next flying horse. Jim 'accidentally' bumped into him. Braxton slipped off the edge and onto the runway. He sat up and glared at Jim.

Jim shrugged innocently.

Braxton hauled himself up. Two more winged horses made their way towards the entrance. Jim guessed the blue one was Etherium and the orange one was Sunrise. They landed side by side and trotted down the aisle. Jim turned to follow them.

Braxton stood directly behind Jim, startling him with how close they were. Braxton planted his hands on Jim's chest and shoved him. Jim went over the edge and landed hard on the rooftop below. Braxton crossed his arms and glared down at him.

Jim leaped to his feet. He lunged at his friend and caught him around the legs. With a good tug, he jerked him down onto the roof as well. Braxton went sprawling. Jim grabbed the edge of the ledge and hoisted himself up.

Braxton grabbed his shoulders from behind and gave a yank. Jim's hands slipped off the edge and he tumbled backwards again. Jim rolled with his momentum and sprang to his feet. Braxton was waiting for him.

The boys met in the middle. Jim went low, his shoulder ramming into Braxton's stomach. The cyborg went up and over. He landed on his feet behind Jim. Without wasting time he spun and lashed out with his leg. The metal limb caught Jim in the back of the knees. Jim buckled and landed on his hands and knees. That had hurt.

Jim picked himself up and surged forward again. He lowered his body as if to try his throw again. Braxton was waiting for him. At the last second Jim dodged to the side and darted around behind his opponent. He grabbed Braxton's shoulder and swept him across his hip. Braxton latched on as he fell. The two boys broke apart as they tumbled across the roof.

Braxton kicked his feet up and leaped back up. Jim was slower to regain his stance. Braxton turned so his side was towards Jim. A smaller target. Jim stayed squared towards him so he could use both sides equally. Both boys brought their arms up to guard as they advanced on each other.

Jim led with a swift jab. Braxton swept his closest arm up to flash in front of his face. Jim's arm was knocked to the side, leaving his chest partially exposed. Fluidly Braxton snapped his arm from the block into a side chop towards Jim's temple. Jim barely stopped the attack before it hit him. He didn't see Braxton's palm strike until it had slammed into his collarbone. He choked and staggered back. Braxton's foot caught him in the chest. Jim sprawled across the roof.

Jim picked himself up reluctantly. Braxton was waiting for him as he brought his arms back up. Jim wasn't giving up on this battle that easily.

A loud thump from the other end of the runway interrupted the fight. Jim and Braxton turned to see what had caused the new thud.

At the end of the roof stood a large, angry white stallion. He lowered his head and snorted. Jim and Braxton exchanged glances. They both scrambled up and over the ledge and into the stables.

"Did that horse have a sword?"

"Yes."

The boys exchanged one more glance. Without another word they returned to their tasks at hand. There were pegisides to care for.