//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: A Blow to the Chest // Story: The Last of My Kind // by Immortan Joe //------------------------------// My eyes widened with tears of joy, anger, and a multitude of other emotions. First off, the most notable thing I felt was the utter happiness of knowing that I may truly not be the last human on Earth. Secondly, that mother fucker has the audacity—the fucking audacity—to call me lazy. That old geezer couldn’t even begin to comprehend the shit I’ve been going through! Yet, at the same time I felt relieved he was alive It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, it’s as if I’d woken up from some hideous nightmare. Who would’ve known it’d be Reynolds who reached out to me, and not me stumbling upon him. Then again, seeing that the letter I had gotten from him came with the same note Princess Twilight received from... What was her name? Celest–something... That must mean Reynolds is with the other princesses. ‘Just like in my dream, Luna hinted that he was with them.’ “My God, so it really wasn’t a dream...” I muttered under my breath. Crystal stepped over to me. “Say what again?” “M-my dream with that Luna pony.” I looked at the three of them. “It wasn’t a dream, I actually met her!” A large smile plastered onto my face, and for once since the beginning of this, I felt genuine happiness. “It really wasn’t a dream!” I beamed. The ponies lit up immediately at my reaction, the three of them crowded around me all talking at once. “That’s amazing!” Twilight cheered. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” My mood changed and pushed the three of them back. “A little too close.” I smiled again when they stepped back. “So, when do we get going?” I asked. Twilight flashed her horn and a clipboard appeared by her head. Pulling a quill out of seemingly nowhere, she started writing in it. “If we head out now, we can catch the afternoon train and we’ll be there before sunset.” Crystal jumped into the air and extended her wings out. “What are we waiting for?!” She hovered in her spot. “Yeah, we should get going!” Quartz leapt off the bed and landed beside Twilight. The three ponies each turned to look at me. My body was frozen, my eyes staring at the paper, the edges of my eyes were moist with tears. A stupid-happy smile was stuck on my face and I couldn’t begin to believe what was happening. ‘He’s really alive... He really is alive!’ My hands began to shake and I clenched the paper between my fingers. Closing my eyes, a few tears streaked down my cheeks. Taking a deep breath, I looked at the ponies and stood up from my spot on the bed. “Exactly...” I chuckled. “Let’s get moving.” :[-]: The wooden wolf drawn carriage came to a halt just on the border of town. “Alright, Chloe.” Quartz turned and hopped into the back with us as the wooden wolves howled one last time before crumbling to pieces. “I know you hate it but—” She levitated out the thick, black cloak from the other day and handed it to me. “—You’re going to have to wear this.” I shook my head and grabbed it. “To be honest, I don’t care.” I wrapped the cloak over my shoulders and pulled the hooded part over my hair. Surprisingly, it was actually pretty heavy. Purposefully, I brushed my bangs in front of my eyes to help conceal them, though it made it slightly harder to see. Within seconds the daunting heat was already starting to make me sweat. “If it wasn’t so hot, I wouldn’t mind pretending to be like an assassin or something.” “Assassin?” Crystal raised an eyebrow. “Yeah,” I smiled then frowned when I noticed the pony was looking at me strangely. “Y’know like a person who’s hired to kill someone?” “Why would you ever do that?!” Twilight blurted from behind me. I cringed and spun around to look at the princess. “Well I never said I would do it, just pretend...” I grumbled the last half. Twilight looked at me for a few seconds with disgust before shaking her head. “Anyways, Chloe, I had Spike pick me up something a while ago when you were sleeping. I think it’ll help improve your disguise so that we don’t draw too much attention.” Her horn lit up and she opened her saddle bag. I hopped off the wagon and stretched my legs a bit, but immediately regretted it when I made contact with ground. “Ah-ouch!” I gripped the stitches on my right thigh. “Dammit, I forgot!” “Well, slow down there, tiger,” Quartz laughed. My heart skipped a beat and I looked at Quartz. “Sorry, what?” “I said, ‘slow down’. We’ll get moving soon.” Quartz opened her own saddle bag and began taking any necessities out of the wagon and storing them away. “After that, what did you call me?” “She just called you a tiger,” Crystal said with a raised eyebrow. “What’s the big deal?” A feeling of butterflies made itself known in my stomach and my memories of Eva slowly drifted into my conscious. “Slow down there, Tiger, just give me a few minutes okay?” The last time we made love revealed itself to me and I closed my eyes and shook my head. “It’s nothing... Just had a nostalgic moment.” I took a deep breath and tugged at my collar. It was really starting to heat up under the cloak. Gazing up at the sun, I took a deep breath and pulled the hood off and started undoing the cloak just as an idea came to mind. “Ah-ha!” Twilight cheered. “I found the piece—what are you doing?” The princess gawked when she caught me pulling my tank top off, and looking back at the ponies I was in nothing but my jeans and bra. “What?” I asked them. I rolled up my shirt and tossed it on the wagon. Looking down at my pants, I briefly thought about throwing them off too, but decided against it. ‘I don’t mind the shirt, but I’d rather not go commando around town.’ I jammed my thumb back at the cloak, which I threw in the dirt. “It’s like over a hundred degrees with that thing on; I’ll die of heat exhaustion by the time I get to Can–whatever it’s called.” I fixed the straps on my bra and snatched the cloak up off the ground and threw it over my shoulders. “Besides why are you shocked by me throwing off my clothes? You’re naked yourselves.” Crystal hopped out of the wagon and walked up beside me. She stretched her legs out along with her wings and began to pace around. “Well, after seeing and hearing you these past four days, wearing and complaining about clothing.” She stopped in front of me and shrugged her wings. “We just sort of got use to you having them.” She smiled. I rolled my eyes and patted her on the head. “Yeah... I get it. Sorry...” I pursed my lips as I tried to think of a follow up. “Take it as me warming up to you guys.” I smiled and looked at Twilight. “So, what do you got for me?” Twilight shook her head and grinned. “I got these for you, surely they’ll make the disguise fool proof.” The princess levitated out of her bag what looked to be fuzzy gloves. I raised an eyebrow and gave her a small frown as I plucked the gloves out of the air. Turning them around in my hands, I nearly choked and laughed when I realized what they were. ‘Paws, seriously?!’ “Are you trying to make me cosplay as some kind of anime cat girl?” I held the black, fuzzy gloves up. “What’s next, cat ears?” Twilight took a small step back and blushed. “Well... Spike and I did get you these...” She pulled out a headband that had a set of fuzzy, pointy ears. My jaw fell open. “You...” I closed my mouth and blushed lightly. I walked towards Twilight and took the ears. “They’re adorable!” I giggled and placed the band right on top of my head. Twilight’s face lit up at my reaction and she straightened herself out. “I know, right!” she said giddily. “I chose those ones along with paws because of how well they match with your mane.” She closed her mouth. “I think Rarity is rubbing off on me a bit,” she giggled. I adjusted the headband a bit, trying to find a suitable spot where it wouldn’t slide around. It was a little big seeing that it was made for ponies, but moving it a little behind the center part of my head seemed to do the trick. Even when I went to put the paws on I noticed that they were oddly shaped and my hands had trouble slipping them on comfortably. “Huh, probably should’ve told you my size,” I mumbled. “Yeah, sorry about that.” Twilight rubbed her right foreleg with her left hoof. “I was in the gryphon section of the store when grabbing these for you. Of course most pony attire is going to fit differently on you. If not at all.” “It’s alright,” I said shoving my hand awkwardly into a fitting position. “There we go.” I moved to work on the other. Getting my hand in the final glove I wiggled my fingers inside each paw, in order to get them to fit I had to pair at least two fingers up in each sub section inside. It was cramped, but worked, and that’s all that really counted, I reached back and tried to grasp onto my hood. Trying to get a grip on the damn fabric was a pain, but when I did, I pulled it over my head and brushed my bangs back in front of my eyes. However, something didn’t feel right, the ears had no place in making themselves noticeable. “Hold on,” Quartz said finally hopping down from the wagon. “I got this.” Her horn sparked to life and I felt her magic get ahold of the hood. “There are little slits for our ears in these things if we want to use them.” She positioned the cutouts over the headband ears and slid them through. “There ya go—and why don’t you look at that!” Quartz stepped in front of me and smiled, she sat down next to Twilight. “You really do look like a diamond dog now.” “Ah...” I nodded my head. “So we’re going back to doing that again.” My hands were starting to warm up inside the gloves and despite losing the shirt the cloak was starting to stick to my skin again. ‘At least my shirt isn’t going to get filthy.’ “Well, with this settled,” Twilight closed her saddlebag and pulled it onto her back. “We can walk to the station from here, it shouldn’t take long.” “What about the wagon?” Crystal raised an eyebrow. “We can’t just leave it here!” “Don’t worry about that,” Quartz said, adjusting the straps on her bag. “I sent Topaz a letter asking if she could pick it up.” We began to head in the direction of the town, as I past the wagon I snatched my tank top before forgetting. “And did she write back yet?” Quartz nodded her head. “She did about ten minutes ago, so she’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.” “We’ll be long gone by then,” Twilight added, looking over her shoulder. “Not to sound rude, Miss Quartz, but do you have a reason for coming with us to Canterlot? Because there is really no purpose for you to come.” Despite it not being directed at me I cringed. “Oh... wow.” Quartz frowned. “Well excuse me, Princess, but yes I do have a reason for tagging along.” “Me too!” Crystal came flying up behind us. “We’re the ones who found Chloe, therefore we have all right to tag along!” Twilight nodded her head. “S-sorry, I’m just bringing it up because I have already explained the entirety of the situation to the princesses.” Quartz nodded her head. “Understandable, but besides.” the cream mare looked back at me and smiled. “We’re her friends, who knows if she’s going to need us or not when we get there?” “And who knows!” Crystal zipped past Quartz and Twilight and hovered in front of them. “What if we get famous because of her!” “Crystal!” Quartz scowled. “How dare you say that? I’d never take advantage of Chloe like that!” I couldn’t help but laugh at that; there was no way I could take the pegasus seriously. “What am I, King Kong, the eighth wonder of the world?” “What?” All three of them turned and looked at me. My face fell to a flat line and I sighed. “Nevermind, I should’ve known you wouldn’t get it.” “YO, TWILIGHT!” Our eyes shot up towards the sky just in time to see a brief streak of color zip by. “WAAH!” Twilight cried out before ducking out of the way and next thing I knew a cyan blob collided into me. :[-]: I woke to an immense pain in my chest as my lungs forced out air and warm globs of what was most likely blood. Gagging and heaving for air I groaned as I tried to push myself into a sitting position. “Sh-she’s awake!” I slowly opened my eyes, my vision was dizzy and the occasional splotch of color flashed before me. For some reason I had an aching migraine, ‘What the hell happened?’ “Chloe, are you alright?” I heard the sound of quick hoof steps before coming to a stop beside me. Groggily, I turned my head to see Quartz standing over me with a worried look on her face. “Please tell me you’re alright.” I flopped back on the grass and gave Quartz a small smile, a bit of drool and blood seeped out of the corner of my mouth. The mare gasped and suddenly I felt a rag pressed against my cheek. “Oh that idiot of a pegasus!” she growled as she cleaned my face. “Wh...wha hapin’?” I mumbled out. “One of the Princess’s friends happened,” Quartz snarled. “Lets try and get you off the ground.” She wrapped her magic around me and gently lifted my back off the ground and propped me into a seated position. I gagged into my fist, pulling it away I noticed a few droplets of blood. The sight of the droplets made me cringe and I looked towards Quartz. “What... happened?” I nearly growled. Quartz closed her eyes and she frowned. “You see that blue mare over there by Twilight?” She leaned a little towards me and pointed out towards the road. ‘What the hell, why am I way over here?’ I thought looking back at the grass. “That blue mare Twilight is talking to is her friend, she’s also the same mare who threw you ten feet.” I nodded my head lightly and looked at the two mares. Twilight seemed to be scorning the mare more than she was talking to her. I placed a hand over the space of skin between my collar bone and breasts, the skin there felt sore and bruised. “Sh-she flew... into me?” I breathed out. Quartz nodded her head. “At a speed that could’ve killed you, yeah.” I gagged painfully into my fist and groaned. Shifting my weight over, I applied most the pressure onto my left knee as I tried to push myself up. “Whoa now!” The unicorn caught me with her magic and forced me to stand still. “You can’t be moving right now.” “What about... Reynolds...?” I mumbled out. I shifted my shoulder slightly and winced. “Your friend’s going to have to wait for now, Chloe,” Quartz shook her head. “You’re in no position to move.” My heart nearly skipped a beat and I looked at her with wide eyes. “Bu-but we need to get moving... the train Twilight mentioned...” Quartz lowered her head and sighed. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to wait till tomorrow’s pick up,” she said disappointingly. I broke eye contact with Quartz, gritting my teeth, my hands clenched tightly. I glared at the cyan pegasus beside Twilight. My eyes locked on her rainbow hair, I snarled and blew hot air out my nose. “Ch-chloe?” Quartz stepped in front of me. “I know it sucks, but what she did was an accident.” “She’s going to make u—” My stomach lurched and my breath caught in my windpipe. Lurching forward with a hand over my throat, I gagged fiercely. Quartz lunged forward and wrapped a hoof over my back. Her horn flashing, a glass of water appeared from thin air. “Take this,” she said, levitating the water to me. Taking it in my hand, I quickly gulped it down. “Gah!” Setting the glass down in the grass I could breathe again, coughing a few more times, I took a deep breath. “Who would’ve guessed... my day starts off relatively well and now I feel like shit.” “Chloe?” Twilight’s voice brought my attention over to her. Looking over, I saw her and the cyan pegasus walking over. The pegasus’ head was hung low and her tail was tucked between her legs, almost like a scared dog. “My friend, Rainbow Dash, would like to apologize to you.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and looked at me with a concerned face. “I’m sorry for crashing into you.” She broke eye contact. “I didn’t mean to hurt you...” She actually sounded like she was truly sorry, especially with how her ears were flat and her tale was tucked between her legs. The butch voice of hers even wavered slightly as she spoke. The anger I had for this mare moments ago had completely vanished. Matter of fact, I felt a little sorry for her. I cleared my throat.”I-it’s alright.” I smiled lightly at her. She raised her head. “Re-really?” I cringed when I shifted in my spot in order to get more comfortable. “Ye-yeah... j-just watch where you're going...” “That’s exactly what I was telling her,” Twilight added. “Rainbow, you could’ve seriously hurt her. Not only that, now we’re going to miss the train.” The rainbow maned pegasus nodded her head. “S-sorry.” Twilight unfolded her wing and wrapped it around the mare. “It’s alright.” I sighed and gritted my teeth as I attempted to climb onto my feet. Coming to my side, Quartz and Crystal acted as my support. “Th-thanks...” I muttered through clenched teeth. Straightening myself out, I reached back and grabbed a hold of my hood and pulled it over my head before fixing my hair. “Say,” I said, looking at the mare who rammed me. “What’s your name again?” The pegasus looked at me with a stupid smile on her face. “Me?” She jumped into the air with her wings spread wide. “Well I’m the one and only Rainbow Dash!” She placed her forehooves on her hips and posed with her chest out wide. I snorted at the mare. “Well, Rainbow Dash—ahem!—you sure pack one hell of a kick.” I coughed into my fist and groaned. Twilight walked over to me. “C’mon, I’ll take you back to the castle to get cleaned up.” She forced her head under my right arm so that I could hold onto her as support. “Y-Y’know I can w-ah-walk on my own,” I said with a wince as we started to walk towards the castle. Crystal clicked her tongue as she and Quartz followed behind us. “I’m starting to think it was a bad idea to leave the wagon behind.” Quartz sighed. “Y’know what? I think you may be right this time.” “WOW! Really? I’m right for once?” Crystal asked, flabbergasted. “Hey, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash called and flew up beside us. “What do you need, Rainbow?” Twilight looked over with a smile. “I remembered why I came to get you. Applejack sent me to get you because she said you’d come by to check up on som—” “OH NO!” Twilight suddenly stopped and I nearly fell flat on my face. “I can’t believe I forgot!” She began to look around frantically. “Miss Gem, Stone; could you please take Chloe back to my castle? I’ll write Spike a quick letter telling him you’re coming.” “Eh...” Quartz and Crystal shared an uneasy look. “We-we could,” Quartz said, “if you don’t mind me askin’, Princess, but why?” Twilight took a deep breath. “A few weeks ago I started testing out new types of fertilizer to increase the fertility of AJ’s trees. However, I’ve been needing to take tabs on their growth but I’ve missed a few days due to...” She motioned a hoof towards me. “Chloe’s predicament.” For some reason this made me feel a little bad. “Oh... eh, sorry Twilight.” I apologized. Twilight waved a hoof to the side and shook her head. “There’s no need for you to feel bad, Chloe. You guys go on ahead, Rainbow and I will be back in a few hours.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “We will? I mean, I just didn’t know I’d be tagging along.” “Of course you are, Rainbow.” Twilight started making her way in the opposite direction of the town with the cyan pegasus; the two of them seemed to be chatting happily with one another. I took a pain-filled breath, ‘That kick is going to make one hell of a bruise.’ I winced and both Quartz and Crystal came by my side. “C’mon, girl, let’s get you into a bed.” Quartz smiled up at me, I nodded my head and smiled. :[-]: “I got Twilight’s letter,” Spike, the little purple dragon said as he opened the front door for us. “Holy moly, what happened to you?” His eyes widened when he saw me hobble in with Quartz keeping me up with her side. Spike and the other two guided me over to a chair over by the far wall. “One of Twilight’s friends happened...” I cringed as I sat down in the silver framed chair, it had a very soft purple cushion on its back and seat. “Rainbow Dash?” Spike asked, his voice monotoned. I nodded my head and went to shift in my seat. “It was... an accident though—ouch!” I clutched my chest. ‘Okay, no shifting, just sitting... just sitting.’ “We’re supposed to be on a train right now,” Crystal told Spike. “But that stupid pegasus ended up ruining everything.” “So, she made you miss the train?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “What, did she knock her unconscious?” Crystal rolled her eyes and pointed at me with a hoof. “Look at her, she looks like she just got out of a fight with a Ursa Major!” I raised an eyebrow of my own . “D-do I really l-look that bad?” I grunted and coughed. ‘What the hell is an Ursa Major?’ Quartz tried to give me a smile but it faltered. “Y-yeah it looks pretty bad. Twilight checked though, nothing too hard to recover from... but that’s implying if you were a pony.” I tried to sigh but cringed. “ Great, I could be dying and not know it.” Quartz shook her head. “It’s not that bad, Chlo—” “S-sorry to cu-cut you off.” I released a painful cough into my fist. “What is it?” Quartz tilted her head. “Could y-you not call me Chlo anymore?” I asked making my heart twinge. Quartz ears flattened. “Wha-what, why?” she asked, sounding a bit hurt. I closed my eyes, I couldn’t look at her face, and I lowered my head. “I-I don’t know... the name brings back too many memories.” Quartz took a deep breath and stepped towards me. Gently nuzzling my leg, she nodded. “I-if it makes you feel any better, Chloe.” I gently placed my hand on Quartz’s head and ruffled her mane. I don’t know why, but whenever I placed a hand on these ponies I always found it painful to pull away. I couldn’t say this enough but every inch of them was soft like velvet, almost like a newborn puppy or kitten. It was nearly impossible not to pet them! Spike took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head with a claw. “Well, I’ll get a bath set up. I can probably get a washer ready for your clothes.” My heart lurched. “Please tell me you guys have my tank top!” I pulled my hand off of Quartz and allowed her to straighten herself out, the mare nodded. “Yeah, we got it.” She opened her saddlebag and levitated it out. “I can wash that for you,” Spike offered. “Ye-yeah, b-but what about what I’m wearing now?” I asked, “If you’re washing my clothes what will I have to wear?” Crystal snorted and laughed. “What happened to you, ‘warming up to us’?” My heart nearly stopped. “Th-that was before I got hit by little-miss Nyan Cat!” Crystal laughed. “C’mon, you’re the only one that’s not naked here!” “Crystal!” Quartz snarled. “Leave her be.” She looked back at me. “We can probably scrounge some towels up for you. Now, how about we get you in a hot bath.” Crystal yawned. “Yeah, I could do with getting clean.” “Wait what?” I looked at her. “What?” She cocked her head to the side. “Quartz and I had a little chat and we’ve decided that we should all take a bath.” My head turned to look at the unicorn, her blush burning through her cream cheeks. “I-it was just a suggestion! If Chloe doesn’t feel up to it then we’ll just leave her be!” A small blush reached my cheeks and I tapped my chin with a finger. ‘Moving now is pretty much a pain as it is, and... we are going to be in a bath, so...’ “It won’t bother me,” I said, “Crystal did make a point, you’re already naked so... I wouldn’t be seeing anything new.” Spike smacked his claws together. “So I take it it’s settled then?” We nodded our heads. “Okay then, I’ll let you ladies get settled while I get the bath ready. Chloe, if you could take off those clothes, I’d appreciate it.” I recoiled and regretted doing so as a bit of pain made me cringe. “Ow-y-you want me to strip right now?” Spike rolled his eyes. “Is it going to cause any major problems?” I pursed my lips as I tried to think up a response. “It’d help me get things moving if you just hand me what you got.” “Spike, how about you just get the bath ready?” Quartz said as she came up beside him. “Crystal and I can get Chloe undressed.” My cheeks burned an even darker red. ‘Great, I’m going to have two mares rip my clothes off.’ “Eh, that won’t be necessary,” I said already pulling the cloak off my shoulders, revealing the dark black and blue bruises directly above my breasts. The marks were perfect outlines of Rainbow’s fore-hooves. Around them, the flesh was a purplish red. “I-I’m a big girl, I know how to undress myself.” Spike smiled and nodded his head. “Thank you, Miss Quartz, I’ll see you mares in a bit.” He turned on his heels and made his way up the center stairwell. Quartz turned to me and gave me a creepy as hell smile. “Alright, Chloe.” Crystal came up beside her wearing a similar face. “You think you can do it all by yourself?” I could already feel a bit of sweat forming above my brow. Closing my eyes, I tried not to look at them, but their voices... ‘Oh my god, am I really getting turned on? Bad plan, open your eyes!’ Looking back at them I nodded my head vigorously. “O-of course I can!” Both ponies started to laugh. “Oi, you’re really troubled by this aren’t you?” Quartz giggled. ‘More like finding this oddly kinky—’ I quickly shot down that thought. My cheeks flushed and I broke eye contact with them. The cloak slumped back behind me and my skin was exposed to the cold, still air. “I don’t have an issue undressing in front of people... I did it all the time back when I was being experimented on.” I took a deep breath. “It’s just that...” My face felt as if it was burning. “It’s just I think I really like you guys—as friends!” I quickly added. Crystal nudged Quartz. “She’s still warming up, she can take her shirt off, but nothing else.” “What, you think I’m treating this like some game?” I asked her sternly. Crystal shrugged her wings. “Nope, I just couldn’t help but make that brief connection.” Quartz rubbed one leg with her other hoof. “Crystal, could you leave me and Chloe alone for a few minutes?” Crystal smirked. “Oh?” She looked at me then back at her. “Alright, fine.” She winked at Quartz before turning away and heading off in the direction Spike went. “What was that?” I asked having noticed the obvious wink. Quartz rolled her eyes and sighed. She then walked up and sat down next to me. “The idiot mare thinks there’s something between us... When you were busy talking with Twilight on the trip here, she couldn’t help but chat about what happened in the room.” “When I kissed you on the nose?” Quartz nodded slowly. I bit my lower lip. “I’m sorry if that was a little too mu—” “Why did you do that?” She asked. “Kiss your nose? Eh... it’s uh...” I brushed my bangs out from in front of my eyes. “I remind you of her, don’t I?” My heart nearly stopped. “Wha-? Remind me of who?” ‘Where the hell did that come from?!’ Quartz turned her head and looked up at me. “Your friend, Eva? You mentioned her back when you injured your leg, you said I remind you of her. Was she your special somepony?” My heart rate kicked up a few notches and for a few moments all I could hear was “Ba-dump, ba-dump.” I swallowed a lump in my throat, ‘What do I say, what do I say, what do I say?’ I tore my eyes off of her. ‘It’s true! Everything about Quartz is true, for a pony she looks sounds, and talks exactly like Eva!’ “I take that as a yes?” Quartz asked. I placed my face in the palms of my hands and took a deep breath. “Yes...” I barely muttered, “you’re completely correct...” The pony beside me took a deep breath and she stood up. From the right, I felt her press her muzzle against my shoulder and she nuzzled it. “I didn’t mean to get personal there,” she said, “It’s just that since this morning, it’s been bothering me—EH!” Quartz yelped when I wrapped my arms around her neck and pulled her into a hug. The pony stiffened in my grasp, her hind legs weren’t even touching the floor, instead I held her in my arms. I don’t have a clue as to what came over me, those words she said to me, all I could hear was Eva’s voice. As horrific as that sounded it was true. After about a minute, Quartz relaxed and she rested her hoof on my shoulder and tried to hug back. “It’s okay, Chloe...” “I know...” I mumbled into her coat, “I just can’t help but think about her... You, Crystal, even Twilight remind me so much of them.” I squeezed her a little harder. “Is that so?” Quartz wheezed, “Would you... like to talk about it?” I finally released the pony and she stumbled back on the marble floor, a hoof held to her chest she took a deep breath. I couldn’t help but giggle a little at the sight of the struggling pony. “Y-yeah...” I sighed. “But first, let me get undressed.” I reached back and unclasped my bra, pulling the straps off I carefully pulled the undergarment off and tossed it back on my cloak. Next, I began to undo my belt and jeans, however, the pain of leaning forward or back proved to make things difficult. “Need help?” Quartz asked me. I bit my lower lip and tried a few more times. “I-I think I almooo—oooh-ouch-no, no I don’t!” I sighed with defeat, my cheeks flushing out of embarrassment. “G-go ahead...” I crossed my arms over my bare chest and looked away. Quartz smiled and stepped out in front of me. “It’ll only take a few seconds, raise your hips please.” As painful as it was I did I was told and lifted my hips. In complete unison, Quartz was able to undo my belt and jeans at the exact same time. Raising my legs, I allowed her to pull the sleeves off each limb, she then somehow folded them properly and laid them off to the side. Looking back at me, her eyes fell on my panties and she smiled. “Nice choice of color, girl.” When I thought my cheeks couldn’t burn any brighter, they now felt like they were on fire. Like before, I raised myself off the chair and allowed her to pull them off of me. “Huh...” She giggled lightly, I looked over and saw her cheeks burning as bright as mine. Her eyes locked on the spot between my legs. “It’s a little small, but... looks almost like mi—” I slammed my legs closed. “TALK AND DIE!” I pointed at her and snarled. Quartz’s ears fell flat. “Ehh... s-sorry...” Her voice was quiet and soft, eyes wide as saucers, her tail was tucked between her legs she stepped back. My heart ached at the awfully cute, yet sad sight. “Oh... s-sorry,” I said equally as quiet. “You’re the first person—I mean pony I let see that...” I looked at her with worried eyes. “Please don’t tell Crystal!” Quartz cleared her throat and nodded her head. “Of course I won’t say anything, Chlo—I mean Chloe.” She smiled despite her cheeks still glowing a bright pink. “Spike should have the bath ready, how about I help you go get washed up?” “Help me?” I asked her as she helped pull me out of the chair, standing on my two feet. I instinctively covered up my privates and shivered due to the cold air. “Well, in your condition.” Quartz got beside me and slowly guided me towards the steps. “How else are you going to reach certain parts of your body?” My eyes widened and I kept myself looking forward. “And I thought Spike watching me was awkward enough.” I gulped. “You mean that little dude watched you take a bath?” Quartz asked as we reached the base of the stairs. She then carefully began to guide me up each individual step, it was a painful process at first, but after we developed a system, things got easier. “Yeah,” I sighed as we finally reached the top. Quartz resumed her position beside me and we began walk/hobble to the bath. “He wasn’t as creepy as I initially thought he would be.” “Thought he was just there to see you naked?” Quartz giggled. I frowned a little. “Yeah, so... anyways, he just ended up reading a comic the whole time—OH SHIT!” “What!?” Quartz stopped and looked at me. “I forgot to get him a copy of the Avengers! FUCK!” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Aveng—what? Nevermind, we can always go back later and get him one.” Quartz and I continued our walk to the shower. “Yeah...” I took a deep breath. “Just so much has been happening... I can’t seem to think straight.” We rounded a corner, down the hall I could see the large bath doors. “You’ll be fine, Chloe.” Quartz assured me. “Once we get to Canterlot and you reunite with your friend, we can sort everything out.” We stopped in front of the door, already I noticed steam coming out from under the cracks. “Well, you ready to get wet?” Quartz smiled with a shit-eating grin. I looked down at her. “Please... for the love of God, rephrase that.” I giggled. This seemed to please the unicorn. “C’mon, let’s go get clean before I end up dragging your naked butt in there and washing it myself.” I walked up to the door and grabbed the handle. “You implying I’m filthy?” “Well... we were all in the mud yesterday,” Quartz reminded me, “and you also got some blood specks just above your teats.” I rolled my eyes. “No need to be so blunt.” I pushed the door open and stepped into the bath. “Let’s get cleaned up.”