//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Fallout Equestria: War Never Changes // by jarmari //------------------------------// Chapter 2 “I...I...” I stammered, looking around in horror at the sight before me. The parking lot lay in ruin, rusted out sky wagons littered the area. What had once been a beautiful park across the street was a blackened hole, the twisted wreckage of a slide and swing set lay just outside what I was realizing was a blast crater. The buildings that had surrounded the facility were even worse, crumbling in on themselves, scorched piles of rubble...it was like I was looking at hell itself. Skeletons littered the streets, in the distance I could hear gunfire and explosions. The sky was an almost solid sheet of cloud. “Things got bad, real bad.” Crackshot said, patting my shoulder gently. “I never thought things would reach this point...I thought common sense would prevail and we'd emerge on the far side as a better world...greater unity than we'd ever known in the past, take all the technology that had come from the war effort and put it to peaceful use.” I fought to hold back tears but my voice was breaking down pretty quickly and I knew I'd lose it. “I'm sorry Sugarcube. I just don't know what went wrong.” Crackshot shook her head sadly and moved towards the one sky wagon that seemed to still be in a functional state. It was covered in rust spots and looked like it might fall apart at a moments notice. “Come on everypony lets blow this Popsicle stand.” Brute Force said, pushing me on before I could sink any lower in my feelings. The sky wagon was quite the sight, two turrets sat on either side of the wagon, mounted to the windows, which had been fitted with steel slats to aim out of and minimizing the ability for someone outside to hit the gunner inside. I slid the box I carried into the back and under a bench where other boxes sat, Brute Force sliding his box in beside mine. Ruby pushed past quickly and hopped into the pilot harness in the front. The front had been armoured as well to keep someone from easily tagging the pilot. “I've never seen a sky wagon like this.” I marveled. “Yeah these are actually a newer thing, one of the few technologies that came about after the war. The Enclave made em. Ruby stole this one when she was banished.” Crackshot explained. “And before you ask, I'll explain the Enclave later...for now I'll just tell you it's the pegasus military.” I had been about to ask but just nodded for the time being. “Alright, everypony ready?” Ruby called as the sky wagon started forward across the lot and then up into the air. I started to sit on one of the small benches that lined the walls along the inside of the wagon but was thrown to the ground, along with Crackshot and Brute Force, as Ruby pulled hard to the side. “We got a problem!” Ruby yelled. “We got bots and Slavers shootin' it out down there and some of em have decided we need to be dragged into it.” She paused as she lurched down quickly, a missile exploding just above us. “GET ON THE CELESTIA LOVING TURRETS!” Brute Force grabbed the closest gun to himself and opened fire after only a moment of looking for his targets. I moved to the turret beside him but he shoved me to the other side. “You take the left.” He said, looking to Crackshot, who took up the turret beside him and opened fire as well. I glared at him for a moment but moved to another turret and looked down, I could see dozens of robo ponies and various automated sentinels I didn't even recognize. “Geeze they came a long way in two months with robotics. I recognize some of these from basic prototype schematics.” I grabbed the turret and opened fire on them, watching the bullets rain down on them, causing some of the smaller ones to spark and in some cases explode. “This...is...taking...too...long...” I grumbled. Between Ruby having to dodge back and fourth and the armour plating of the robots we were getting nowhere fast. I stopped firing and pulled open the turret control. “What the hay are you doing?!” Crackshot yelled at me as I started pulling piece after piece from the guns. “Don't worry!” I said, waving a hoof at her. I slid one of the crates out from under the bench and pulled two mean looking rifles with blue banding on them out of the box and, with practiced ease, pulled the weapons apart. “Sorry about these ones.” I started combining pieces of the rifles into the turret as fast as my magic would allow and soon I had it snapped shut again, taking a cable and running it to my pipbuck. “COME ON!” Ruby roared at me. “Alright alright, don't get your mane in a knot!” I pressed down the triggers and the machine started to whine to life as it charged up. “Aaaaaaand...BOOM!” I cried as the machines reached a high point, and then sputtered and died. “FUCKSAKE CANE!” Brute Force roared, turning to take up the other turret. “No.” I stared intently at the turret for a moment. “I can fix this!” I turned and bucked the turret hard with my back legs and the turret whined to life and began firing pulses of blue energy that rained down on the robots, causing them to start whining in kind and most of them chugged to a stop, many of them sparking and exploding. “HA!” I cried triumphantly as Ruby quickly darted towards the opening I'd made through the robotic combatants. We pulled away from the remaining attackers and soon we were sailing through clear skies. “That...was stupid.” Brute Force growled at me as he flopped on one of the benches. “But genius. I can't imagine anypony else being able to field strip two EM disruptors and mounting them into a turret.” Crackshot smiled widely, a sight I knew would haunt my dreams. “My marefriend was a good teacher.” I smiled warmly. “But why the pipbuck interface?” She asked, holding up the interface cable I had added to the turret. “S.A.T.S. is WAY more accurate than pony eyes, and since the gun fires in an expanding cone it didn't need to use an excess amount of power to take out multiple targets.” I grinned. “Just amazing...” Crackshot sighed. “Hey, mind if I borrow you two for a minute?” Ruby called back from the cockpit. “No offense Cane you just can't answer the questions I have unless you know the coordinates for our mobile base.” She laughed. “Why don't you just try and get some rest?” Brute Force said, gesturing to the bench as he stood and moved to the cockpit with Crackshot. “Yeah why not.” I nodded. I took the chance to sit and look out the windows at the land below, black dead trees littered the landscape, burnt out buildings, collapsed ruins of homes, bones all over...there were a few small camps here and there but many of them were either abandoned or had some rather mean looking ponies in em, and though many looked up at us, no pony else seemed stupid enough to take a shot at us, I even saw what looked like small traveling groups, 3 or 4 ponies walking with...cows? They looked like cows but we were pretty high up and something seemed off about them but I just couldn't put my hoof on it. “Hello?” The voice snapped me out of my entranced study of the landscape and I looked up to the cockpit, but the three were still talking quietly. Turning back to the window I saw there was now a pegasus flying along beside us, a cloak covering what appeared to be a power armored form, from tail to wing tips to their head. The armor was painted a mix of purples and dark blues.. “Hey guys! We've got company!” I called, turning back to the cockpit, and Brute Force was back at my side in an instant, but turning back I saw that the skies were again empty and a quick glance around the immediate area with my EFS revealed no marks outside of the three green ones that corresponded to my companions. Crackshot came out and looked out the windows too. “Nothing there...” She said, looking at me curiously. “There was a pegasus. I coulda sworn.” I sighed, settling back down onto the bench. “Don't worry about it.” Brute Force said, moving back towards the cockpit. “There's lotsa pegasi around, if it ain't shootin' at us I don't care.” I sighed and settled down on the bench again, sorting through the few things I'd taken with me from my office. I hoped I'd be able to come back and get some other stuff, but for the time being I had what was most important, or at least what I felt was most important. I pulled the note from Rosalea out again and unfolded it. Of course it was no different than the first time I'd looked at it. A simple note with a simple apology and that was it...I turned it over a few times in the hopes of spotting something I might have missed, but besides being worn and yellowed from age, it was just a note. “Why'd you get so mad at him for trying to take up the other turret beside you?” I heard Crackshot muttering to Brute Force. I probably wasn't supposed to hear them so I just continued to busy myself with sorting inspecting the few things I had on me. “The slavers were on the right, the robots on the left. He...” Brute Force paused and sighed. “He's a 200 year old, pre-apocalypse pony, he's probably never had to take a life, I just...didn't want him to have to start now. He may have helped build those robots, but we're practically drowning in the blood of all the ponies we've killed I just didn't want to propel him to that point so quickly. I'm sorry I know it sounds stupid.” “Not at all.” Crackshot said, patting his shoulder. “We try to protect our children from the horrors of the wasteland as best we can for as long as we can, he might not be a foal but no pony should have to be poisoned by the wasteland, yet each and every one of us is eventually.” She nuzzled his cheek gently and stepped back. “I know...thanks Grandmare...” Brute Force smirked softly. “I'm your great great Grandmare and don't you forget it.” Crackshot laughed. “Yeah well that's a mouthful so I'll stick to Crackshot.” He broke into a full on grin as I finally look up at them. “Well that's a terrifying sight, don't smile often I take it?” I asked, taking a chance on the joke, and though Brute Force glowered at me Crackshot and Ruby both laughed loudly. “He's got you down.” Ruby said, looking back at Brute Force. “I hope he'll get me down...” Ruby and Crackshot both said at the same time, Ruby's voice taking on a sultry tone and Crackshot's a rather demonic version of a sultry tone. Ruby stopped talking and now Brute Force laughed with Crackshot. I looked at both of them kind of confused. “Don't worry Cane I'm not flirting with you.” Crackshot said, moving back out of the cockpit. “I've long since passed my prime. Ruby is just very predictable.” “AM NOT!” Ruby cried in a hurt voice. “Am so!” Brute Force called back, laughing all the harder as he settled on a bench again. Crackshot looked at the small pile of stuff I had pulled out of the saddlebags. The note, the memory orbs, the picture of my proposal to Rosalea, the bag of caps and the almost full bottle of wild pegasus. “I remember hearing about that.” She said, pointing to the engagement picture. “First party in Ponyville in years to actually have any of the ministry mares in attendance.” She moved and sat beside me, looking towards the cockpit for a moment before she leaned in close. “20 caps says she invites you to the bar once we're landed and settled, 20 more says she gets drunk and cries on your shoulder, and whatever is left in there says she invites you back to her place for a 'sleepover' party.” She chuckled quietly. I sighed and shook my head, tapping the photo gently. “For me this wasn't even a month ago. I haven't even had a chance to grieve, let alone be in a place where I'm ready to get back in the saddle.” “Well just remember that when you're almost too drunk to stand later tonight.” Crackshot smirked, looking at the rest of the stuff. “And these?” She asked, pointing to the memory orbs. “Well,” I levitated the first one, my name etched into it “This is mine, it's full of notes and schematics I was planning and didn't want to forget, I have a bad tendency to be struck by inspiration at weird times so I would store them in an orb just in case so I could come back to them. This one I have no idea.” I said, lifting the second one. “Well don't let us stop you.” Crackshot said. “We've got about an hour before we reach our base and it's easier to ask you to lose yourself in a memory orb than it is to drug you so you don't see where the base is...” She said seriously. “I...uhh, I guess?” I said dumbly. “And if this one doesn't prove to be very long I can always go through the other one. I know there's at least a few hours worth of memories stored in there.” I levitated the orb up and touched it to my horn. <-=======ooO Ooo=======-> Well this was weird. I'd never been in an orb that wasn't mine...I...my host, was moving through the halls of the R&D facility. I --I'll just say I until I know who I'm in-- I moved through the corridors, it seemed to be late at night, there was almost nopony else around except for a few guards who just nodded as I passed them in the halls. I walked through a few labs, still shiny and filled with technology, checking each room one after the other, but everyone seemed to have gone home. I sighed more than a few times, clearly my ride was upset about something. I poked through a few smaller side rooms and even a supply closet. Finally I made my way down the main hall; past the server rooms, two scientists inside waving as I passed, moving past the door marked 'Armoury' and into the mare’s changing room. I walked along the area quickly to see if there was anyone around and slumped into one of the stall showers, closing my eyes and just letting the hot water run along my body. I hadn't realized just how stressed out this body was until the hot water started to work it's magic on the knotted muscles and sore joints. I let out a soft groan of relief, suddenly realizing I was occupying a mare's body. The whole going into the mare's change room to shower probably should have been a clue, but I was a little slow on those kind of things. What can I say? After what felt like an eternity of just sitting in the hot water, I stood back and shook off HARD. Ignoring the towels that were sitting in a cabinet at the end of the shower stalls, stretching out my wings—oh, I'm a Pegasus—and moving back into the main area. I moved to the door of the change room, a red hoof reaching up and locking it. Moving back past the benches and the lockers, and into a dressing room on the opposite side of the showers. Coming to a stop in front of one of a row of full body mirrors, and I realized I was looking at Rosalea... I was IN Rosalea... I'd had fantasies about this, except I had no control over her body which helped no one. She also looked exhausted. The shower had relaxed her, and she at least looked somewhat refreshed. At least compared to what I knew she'd have looked like just a few moments earlier. “Alright Cane.” She said, it was weird to feel my mouth moving and her voice coming out. “I don't know what's happened to you but I don't believe for an instant that you took off just because of some failed zebra attack.” She looked angry and hurt and confused and sad all at once. “I know you're going to show up again and we're going to laugh about all this, but the higher ups are furious that you took off. I wish you'd come home.” She hugged herself with her wings and sighed deeply. “Cane I...I hope I'm just worrying for nothing.” She broke down and sobbed for a moment before she composed herself again. “Cane...I'm pregnant.” She smiled weakly. “This isn't how I was going to tell you, but if you really are...are gone.” She fought back fresh tears. “You need to know, I don't know whats happened to you but you damned sure better get back here soon or so help me Celestia I will tear this world apart to find you and I'll build it back up on top of you.” She glared but sniffled and sighed. “Please come home safe Cane... I.... I love you... I'm going to leave this for you in your office; but what am I telling you for? If you're watching this you obviously found it or I gave it to you...” She sighed and pressed her hooves to her face for a moment shaking a little. “DAMMIT CANE WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?” She roared and the orb blanked out as she stood up again and started to storm off. <-=======ooO Ooo=======-> I woke with a start, finding I was still laying on the bench in the sky wagon but we were no longer moving, Ruby was standing over me grinning. “You're cute when you sleep.” She cooed, nudging my side. “Come on, we landed 20 minutes ago and there's a whole group of doctors salivating to get their hooves on you.” She smirked. “A what?” I whined, pushing myself up and off the bench, pocketing the memory orb quickly. “Why do a whole group of doctors want to get their hooves on me?” “You're a 200 year old non ghoul unicorn, they want to see how your body holds up compared to the immunologically compromised ponies of today. We've all grown up with radiation and taint, our bodies are wrecked compared to yours. They probably just want blood and mane samples and stuff.” She shrugged, looking at me curiously. “You look a wreck sir.” She said, sitting down beside me. “I take it you didn't like the orb?” I sighed and shook my head. “It was from Rosalea. She was upset that I was gone. VERY upset.” I looked up at her sadly and shook my head to try and keep the tears at bay. “She was pregnant.” I said quietly, unable to speak above a whisper, lest I break down into open sobbing. “She was pregnant and had to face the end of the world without me. Whoever knows what happened to them? We didn't put ourselves into the Stable lottery because we refused to believe the world would end like this.” “Well a lot of pegasi headed for the skies when Cloudsdayle was destroyed before they closed up the sky, I'm sure you noticed that earlier?” I nodded. “So maybe they got somewhere safe and lived happy, as normal as possible, lives in the clouds. I know that life up there is much easier than it is down here, but it's very oppressive living under the Enclave's rule.” She sat down beside me and wrapped a wing around me gently. That was the last straw for me, that gentle touch of soft feathers I had taken for granted with Rosalea, I broke down and started to sob, my head sinking down onto Ruby's shoulder as I allowed all the pent up anguish at my situation to crash down on me all at once, which drew a few questioning looks from the ponies in the unloading bay. Ruby just glared at them and extended her other wing, hitting the button to seal the door. I hadn't cried this hard at any point in my life. I don't think if you combined every instance of me crying in my entire life and tripled it would it have equaled this one. I wrapped my front legs around her and just hugged her close and cried. It didn't matter that I barely knew her, it didn't matter that I had WAY worse problems to worry about, all that mattered was that I had no more family, no more friends, I found out I was supposed to be a father, only to lose that too, all that mattered was the gentle embrace of the pegasus beside me. The soft gentle touch of feathers against my face and mane. It was the only familiar thing I could cling to. It was either that or my guns, and I didn't even want to think about what might happen if I tried to find comfort in those. She hummed softly and rocked me gently side to side. I just held her, long after I ran out of tears and just sat and shook softly. She started to sing quietly when my sobs tapered off and I fell quiet. “Hush now quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head...” She sang, stroking my mane. I finally got my breathing under control and slowly lifted my head, my eyes a swollen puffy mess from crying, the shoulder of her armour soaked with tears. “I...I'm sorry.” I said softly, slowly getting my feelings under control again. “Don't worry about it Sugar.” She smiled warmly, leaning forward and kissing the tip of my horn. “You can buy me a drink at the bar later.” I chuckled softly, guess that was 20 caps to Crackshot. “Come on get your face cleaned up and I'll take you to see the doctors.” She said, standing again and stretching. I nodded and took a few minutes to get myself looking presentable again before following her out of the wagon. Outside the wagon was amazing. We were in a docking bay with about 3 dozen sky wagons lined up on raised platforms arranged in a horseshoe shape, the center filled with crates and dollies, ponies bustling about cataloging and sorting and moving cargo constantly. A few looked at us as we emerged but none stared for very long, Ruby's angry glare daring anypony to look for too long or say anything rude. The whole area looked like an old military base, and this was the underground take off area, the roof even had the same linked shutter doors that I remembered from the few bases I'd seen. I asked Ruby about it and she got a sheepish look on her face. “Yeah we might have kinda lied about the base being mobile. We were actually discussing how we were going to explain the fact we brought somepony back with us. But you have a vast knowledge of computers and robotics, that should be all they need to convince the higher ups to let you stay on.” “They being Crackshot and Brute Force?” I asked, looking at her as we moved from the docking area into a tight hallway. There was barely enough room for us to walk side by side though it widened into a main area, ponies bustling about with boxes or paper work and even weapons and armour. “Exactly.” She nodded. “So can I ask you a question?” I looked back to her again after taking in the larger main area. “Of course.” “Why do you call Brute Force Brutus?” “Oh...” She smiled a little. “It's actually kinda morbid.” She said seriously, I nodded. “When we were younger we snuck out to go check out a factory a mile or so away, we figured since it was so close that it had already been picked clean. Instead we found a group of zebra scavengers. I wanted to just head back but Brute Force jumped them, they never saw it coming, he took down all 6 of them by himself with just a pair of knives, all he got were a few cuts and a single bullet wound. So I nicknamed him Brutus after the Zebra that assassinated a Caesar thousands of years ago.” “Yes I know that story.” I said, smiling a little. “You're right, it is morbid but it's accurate.” “And he has an affinity for it so we just kept it.” She nodded, stopping in front of a pair of double doors with three pink butterflies on it. “Well, we're here.” She smiled, opening the door and nudging me inside. “Remember just behave yourself and I'll be waiting for you right here when you're done.” “Yeah I know.” I trailed off when I saw three unicorn doctors look up at me with grins that bordered on psychotic. “Umm, maybe you'll stay with me?” I asked, turning to look at Ruby, but she hadn't come through the door with me and I couldn't see her through the small round windows. “Ah you must be Sugarcane.” One of them said, coming over and and putting a hoof on my shoulder. “Come in come in, I can't tell you how excited we are to see you!” “Oh boy.” ////////// “Emergency quarantine procedures in effect in Medical bay” Blared a voice over the PA system across the base as I darted out of the medical bay, struggling to pull my barding back into place almost tackling Ruby as I did. “What the hell Sugar?” Ruby demanded, stumbling backwards and barely keeping herself from falling over. “Why did the computer enable quarantine?” She asked, watching the shudder slam shut over the door I had just run out of. “It didn't, I did.” I said, grabbing her in my magic and pulling her along quickly down the hall as I slung my saddlebags back into place. “The lock down will lift in 10 minutes. I wasn't gonna let them keep poking and sampling me.” I grimaced, sticking my tongue out as we moved into the main foyer again, a number of medical staff hurrying past us to try and help with the quarantine. “How bad could it have been?” She snorted, smacking the back of my head. “And lemme go! I can walk on my own.” The magic field around her dropped and she straightened herself out, falling into place beside me and starting on again. “Now, how bad could it have been?” She asked again, looking over at me again. “It was just bad okay?” I asked, shaking my head. “Unacceptable. You either tell me or I'm taking you back there to ask the doctors to their faces.” She paused and gestured to the right. “Come on.” She again guided me down a narrow hallway, going through another pair of double doors, this one had a music note and a martini glass on it. Inside was clearly originally a room set up very much like the medical bay, but it had been overhauled and converted into a bar, a dozen or so ponies scattered about at tables, a green earth pony tending the bar. She nudged me to a table in the corner and waved to the bartender who nodded. “So come on, lets hear it, they're not gonna find us tucked back here for a while at least.” She said, settling into the chair beside me. “I just got very fed up very quickly.” I said, shrugging. “They wanted to know all about my dietary habits, allergies, history of family illness. They took radiation readings, blood and mane samples, poked and prodded me all over. They wanted to know about my sex life...” I blushed a little as the bartender came over and put down a tray with a green bottle and two glasses. I floated them off and he smiled. “Thanks, I always get dirty looks when I use my mouth for moving cups and things.” He said, starting off once Ruby handed him a small stack of bottlecaps. Ruby took the bottle in her mouth and poured some thick green liquid into each glass. “What is it?” I asked, floating the cup up to my muzzle and sniffing it curiously. It smelled like lighter fluid, and moved around in the cup like snot. “Umm...” she looked at the bottle for a moment, turning it with her wings to examine each side. “It's uhh,” She tilted the bottle back and looked at the bottom. “It's green.” She shrugged, setting the bottle back and downing the glass, retching a little and grinning. “And STRONG.” I downed mine and almost threw up, it tasted worse than it smelled and I had to fight the most violent coughing fit I'd ever had and every desire in my body to throw up something so vile, so I quickly downed another to give the first shot in my stomach some reinforcements against my body's desire to remove it. After two more Ruby grinning widely. “You're my kind of stallion.” She said, finishing her third shot. “Crackshot doesn't drink because she has a hole in her stomach that leaks when she drinks any liquids, and Brutus is a light weight. Just drinks buckweiser and Sweet Apple Acre's Hard Cider.” She sighed, resting her head on my shoulder. “So what happened next?” She asked, looking up at me. “The doctor said he would be right back and he went into the back room where the other two doctors had gone with the other samples they'd taken. I saw one of the nurses preparing a reproductive fluid extraction device...” I said, shuddering and downing another drink with a grimace. She snorted and covered her face with a wing. “The fake vagina with the big bottle on the end?” I blushed furiously and nodded. “So I quickly hacked the computer in the room I was in, triggered the lock down and bolted and here we are.” “Oh Sugar.” She said, swatting my face with a wing and giggling “I heard tell they made it from plans found in the medical database, and then modified it with some TOYS found in an old store a few miles from here...” She chuckled. “Maybe I'll go ask to borrow it and you and I can go back to my place and you can compare the two...” She whispered, pressing firmer to my neck and actually kissing me gently before shifting back to just resting against me. “You know you probably could have just said no.” “Yeah well they weren't really big on taking no for an answer when they were talking about wanting bone marrow samples, and those actually HURT, unlike an orgasm, which is what the other doctor was going back to prepare for, if I hadn't been able to hack the computer I'd have probably have had to SHOOT my way out of the medical bay.” I said, resting my head on top of hers, I was feeling a good buzz from the green liquor and was at least feeling more comfortable with her. She was so similar to Rosalea my foggy brain was all to happy to take comfort from her presence. “Oh well don't look now but...” She pointed a wing towards the door as some very pissed off doctors wandered into the bar. I sunk lower so my face was hidden behind her wing. “Come on Sugar, we can go this way...” She got up, keeping her wings askew to keep me covered as we moved towards a small door at the back of the bar. I grabbed the green bottle and floated it along behind, pulling it close quickly and tucking it into my saddlebags. She pressed me through the door and I found we were in a small cleaning room from the look of it. “Alright up you go.” She gestured to a vent in the roof that didn't have a cover. “Are you kidding?” I groaned, my vision swimming as I tried to focus on the roof. “It's only a few feet and we can drop down into the hallway beyond.” She said, pushing against my rump towards a stack of crates that seemed perfectly placed for reaching the vent. I groaned with the effort of focusing and made my way up slowly, staggering once and catching myself with my magic, I might not have been able to fly with my magic but I could at least keep myself upright. I reached the vent and squirmed in quickly, crawling along for a moment and stopping while I waited to make sure that Ruby got in alright. I felt her warm breath on my tail and she nudged me again. “Go go go.” She hissed. “I don't wanna stare at your ass forever, you'll come to another gap in the vent with no grate and you can just drop down.” I pressed forward and soon enough came to said gap. I peered down, the hallway was dimly lit and I quickly slipped down, catching myself again and landing quietly. I reached up with my magic and lowered Ruby down until she could spread her wings and land herself. “Come on.” She said, hurrying down the hallway and around a corner. I followed her until she stopped in front of a blue door and unlocking it with a small key from her saddlebags. “Now just get inside and shut up.” She opened the door and moved inside. I followed and she closed the door behind me. I was surprised to find myself in a small living quarters, a double bed sitting against one wall and a desk and lamp on the opposite side of it with a chair in front of the desk and another beside it, a second small door sitting in the gap between the wall and the desk. Clothes and books and random stuff littered the whole room. It looked well lived in, that was a polite way of putting it. “Your place?” I asked, noting the patchwork armour that sat in a pile at the end of the bed and the random dresses and hats that were strewn around. “Was it the key I used to unlock the door that gave it away?” She laughed, pressing her face into my saddlebag and coming out with the booze again. She tilted her head back and took a long swig, spitting the bottle out onto the desk and hacking and coughing. I laughed and took up the bottle, slamming the rest of it down and sighing, fighting with every ounce of willpower I had not to throw up violently. “Light weight.” I teased, setting the bottle down and pulling the Wild Pegasus out of my bag, at least with this I knew what I was getting into, and 200 years aged probably gave it a hell of an added kick. I popped the top and took a sip, grinning and taking a bigger one. 200 years had done well for this fine booze, it was silky smooth and tasted like heaven, immediately calming my stomach and filling me with a happy warmth. I floated the bottle over to Ruby, who had stumbled to the bed and collapsed dramatically, shaking it in her face. “You know you want some, it's better than the green.” I grinned, coming over and sitting down on the end of the bed. She reached up with just her head, like a foal reaching desperately for a bottle of milk. She whimpered and finally reached up with her wings and held the bottle still, tilting it and pouring the booze into her mouth. “Awe see Rosie, there's a good girl.” I laughed, the slip up in names seeming to be missed by both of us as I took the bottle back and set it on the desk. “And you know what good girls get.” I leaned in and kissed her deeply. I felt her breath catch but she relaxed into it after a moment and wrapped her wings around me, holding me close. I felt the stirring in my loins and shifted, running my forelegs down her sides, but as my hoof passed over her flank I stopped short, feeling the burns on her skin as I passed over her cutie mark and along the area her skin bumped out from the dashite brand. I broke the kiss and pulled back against her wings. She whined softly. “Don't stop now. Please Sugar.” She whispered, her voice cracking a little with aroused desperation. “I can't do this.” I said, shaking my head and drawing away from her. “I'm sorry Ruby. I shouldn't have let my mind get away from me.” She sighed and pulled her wings open so I could get up off the bed. “It's okay Sugar, I understand.” She said sadly. A knock at the door interrupted my response and Ruby composed herself before moving to answer the door. I hopped down and moved to sit in the chair by the desk. She opened the door. “Hel...” She was cut short as a cattle prod drove into her neck and a white unicorn magic field wrapped around her, throwing her backwards so she crashed down on the bed. “HEY!” I lurched up and tried to pull my guns out, but I was too drunk to focus properly and instead they just clattered to the ground. Two very furious looking doctors from the medical bay pushed into the room, closing the door behind them. A stallion with a dark purple coat and green tail stood blocking the door as the mare with a black coat and white mane marched forward. “W...what do you want?” I demanded, trying desperately to draw some kind of weapon. “You made us look like idiots.” She hissed, the cattle prod sparking in her magical grip as she shoved it into my chest, ZAP. I screamed in pain as my limbs spasmed and I fell to my knees, my whole body burning in pain. “The boss wants samples...” She held the cattle prod out again. “He,” ZAP “Will,” ZAP “Get,” ZAP “Them!” ZAP ZAP ZAP. The last shock threw me backwards into the desk, the Wild Pegasus bottle falling over, pouring down, running down my muzzle and dripping into my mouth as I lay still, panting hard, trying to control my twitching limbs. “Gauze...relax you don't wanna fry his brain.” The stallion grunted, grabbing the cattle prod in his own magical field and yanking it away from her. “Just get to work so we can get out of here.” He said, moving to Ruby on the bed. “Don't you hurt her...” I groaned as the stallion adjusted her gently to lay down on the bed, a needle floating out of his saddlebag and injecting into her neck. She whimpered and went completely limp. “She's not the one you need to worry about.” The mare in front of me growled. She reached into her own saddlebags and withdrew another needle, the sperm collector, and something that looked like a cross between a muzzle and the filter mask of an environmental suit. She took the muzzle thing in her grip again and forced it over my head, which tugged roughly when it came up against the sticky booze that had soaked it. I didn't have the energy to resist and drawing a breath resulted in my lungs burning as I inhaled some chemical that had been put into the intake filter of the mask, which just made the room spin worse. She took the needle and plunged it into my neck, making me gasp, which just put more of the chemicals from the mask into my system, the world going black at the edges. After a moment I felt the strangest sensation, even as my world was plunging into blackness I could feel myself growing aroused. The mare rolled me on my side and smiled. “Good boy...aw a good BIG boy.” She chuckled darkly. “I'm sure Ruby would have enjoyed a ride with you, and as far as you'll remember she did.” She hissed in my ear. The last thing I felt was the sensation of the collector sliding into place and gripping firmly before my whole world went dark and I fell away from existence. ////////// A loud banging woke me at some point later, my head pounding with a hangover and everything hurt. Ruby groaned and snuggled closer to me. I looked down at her and groaned myself, pieces of the night before coming back to me. Escaping the medical bay, hiding out in the bar, getting drunk with Ruby, ducking out and coming back to her place, drinking more...I vaguely remembered kissing her but everything was a blur. We certainly smelled like we'd enjoyed the previous night...and my head hurt too much to feel guilty just yet. My saddlebags and barding lay in a heap on one of the chairs by the desk. I lurched out of the bed and stumbled to the door. “WHAT?!” I yelled at the the ponies on the other side, only to come face to face with a startled looking Crackshot and Brute Force. It took only a moment for Crackshot's surprise to wear off and she fell back, laughing. “I KNEW IT!” She said, pushing herself up and shaking a hoof at me. “You two got drunk and hooked up! Pay up!” She demanded. I shook my head. “In a bit, my head hurts too much to use magic.” I said, sticking my tongue out at her. “Shut up, shut the door and come back to bed, I'm cold!” Ruby whined, pressing one of her wings down over her face to block out the light from the hallway. Brute Force pushed past me with a smirk, closing the door once Crackshot came in and climbed onto the bed, putting a hoof over Ruby's side and kissing her wing gently. “That's nice Sugar...leave those two idiots to themselves for now, we'll meet up with them later.” “Aw now that's just not nice.” Brute Force said, making Ruby yelp and shove him back with her wing, sending him falling backwards onto the end of the bed. He laughed and pushed himself up, getting off the bed. “You two need to get cleaned up.” Crackshot said, looking between the two of us, or possibly at both of us at once, with those milky white eyes I couldn't tell where she was looking at any given time. “The council wants to meet with Cane to see if he really does have the skills we claim he has...” I cut her off as I smiled. “Locking down the medical bay doesn't count?” I asked. “It actually does count as a point in your favor but it's not enough. Now as I was going to say, they want to see if you really do have the skills we claim you have and you don't want to meet with them smelling like sex and a bar floor.” I grinned sheepishly and Ruby rolled off the bed. “Just get out you two...” She grumbled, moving to the other door, revealing a small simple bathroom with a stand up shower. “Just don't start up a new round of tail grinding in there.” Crackshot said, moving back to the door and heading back into the hallway with Brute Force in tow, closing it again and just leaving us alone. Ruby smiled sheepishly and nuzzled my cheek, which was still sticky with spilled booze. “How the hell did we manage to soak your head in Wild Pegasus anyway?” She asked, moving into the bathroom and turning on the shower. My pipbuck clicked softly as the water started to fall, but it was nothing severe, and I was going to start getting exposed to it constantly soon enough so why not start now. “I honestly have no clue. We obviously had more fun than we realized.” I said, getting under the warm water and sighing, washing the booze from my head first and foremost. Ruby pushed in beside me, cuddling close, she had to, there was barely enough room for the two of us in the small stall. She pressed her head to my neck and just stood there with a contented grin. “Things could have gone worse you know...” She muttered. “We might have decided to leave you back in the warehouse.” “Well I'm glad you didn't.” “Me too Sugar...me too...” Footnote: Level Up. New Perk: Mare Killer-- In combat, you do +10% damage against female opponents. Outside of combat, you'll sometimes have access to unique dialogue options when dealing with the opposite sex.