> 1,042:1
>  by MemoryLane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Privileged
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Joy felt anxious. 

        That seemed to be the the only thing she could feel today. It was a feeling that she never really experienced in such a manner before, but at that moment in time, she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Joy’s mind churned with the different paths her future could hold, and even still, she came up short when it came to finally accepting that the future she’d always wanted was in reach.

        Joy stared down at the note; the one that felt like it was burning a hole through her hooves. She made sure not to bend or crease the paper in any way, shape, or form, lest her hopes be shattered right in front of her very eyes. She had waited ever since she turned eighteen to receive it, and nothing was going to ruin this for her. She picked up her pace, being careful to steer clear of the mares who she could just tell were glaring at her with envy in their eyes.

        The air was heavy with the din the ponies around her created. Glancing up, Joy marvelled at how much more beautiful the sky looked today, with boisterous shades of orange and coral reflecting brilliantly off of the large skyscrapers and buildings. All around her, ponies went about their daily business, whether it be flying up high or chatting down low. The air stank of royalties and greed, though she didn’t mind. Joy listened carefully to the sound of her own hooves on the surprisingly clean pavement below her.  

        Joy clutched the letter closer to her body. She could also hear the ponies around her murmur, could almost feel their gazes fall on her and her prize. She gripped it tighter and sped up slightly. She gave the mares a defensive glare, prompting them to stick their noses in the air and continue on their way. They knew that the note was hers, and trying to change that was pointless.

        Joy wanted to shiver. She was not yet used to the vast number of individuals crammed into one place. Compared to the spacious town of Appleoosa, she almost felt like one of the many clowns in an overly small car. She couldn’t complain much, however. Everything was in her favor, and she was so excited that she couldn’t bring herself to cry from sheer happiness anymore.

        She looked to the sky, towards one of Equestria’s tallest buildings. That was her destination, where her dream could potentially come true. It was many blocks away, yet she felt like she could reach out and touch it. The building was bulky and black, not even letting the sun reflect off its ominous features. It was perfectly rectangular, and rose higher than Canterlot Castle itself. A tiny smile graced her lips. She was a child, and that building was her candy store.

        When the mare looked back down to the ground, she brushed a lock of her silver mane out from in front of her nose. Knowing what she needed to do, she took a quick glance at her surroundings and carefully slid the note into her satchel. She made sure to clasp the buckle into place before tending to her business. She tied her mane into a short ponytail with a small rubber band, not willing to let the loose locks become a problem at a later point in time. There was no room for error, not when this was her only chance.

        When she made sure that everything was set, and double checked to make sure the note was still in her possession, she began to trot towards the building. Every step closer she took, her heart beat just a little bit faster.

        Taking a look around, Joy noted that the only ponies she could see were mares. No stallions, no colts, just females. That was how Equestria was nowadays. Joy was not all too caught up on the subject herself simply due to the fact that she despised it. She was never one for science, or even luck for that matter. All she knew was that the odds were 1,042:1. She hoped that even after she entered that building, and the deed was done, that her lucky streak wouldn’t end.

        It took her just a few more minutes to reach the building. There was a long line outside, nearly forty mares long, facing the large metallic doors. Above them was a sign which shone three comforting letters: “ERA”. Below that, were three Canterlot guards. All of them female, of course. That didn’t take away from the fact that you could tell that behind their stoic faces they wished that somepony would get out of line and cause a ruckus. Each guard bore a sharpened spear, which was pointed vertically in the air. They looked like eerie dolls.

        Joy sighed, and trotted to the back of the line, the sunlight radiating off of her snowy white coat. She knew she was early -- judging by the mix of excited, annoyed, and impatient faces among the mares in the line. A few of them were chatting amongst themselves in an effort to pass the time. Joy didn’t even bother. It wouldn’t be that much longer.

        However, the sunflower colored mare in front of her had different plans.

        “Isn’t this the most exciting day of your life?” she squealed to nopony in particular. Joy looked over the mare to see that the pony in front of her was busy writing something in a journal, not paying attention. She took the comment as directed towards herself.

        “I’d say so,” Joy uttered. She looked towards the sky, not entirely wanting to continue talking. The mare turned around, and gave Joy an impossibly wide smile. 

        “Are you kidding? We’re the lucky ones, don’t be humble, girl!” she remarked. The mare only said a few words, and already Joy wasn’t a big fan of her. “I’ve been waiting my entire life for this moment!”

        Joy felt a tinge of familiarity directed towards the mare. “So have I.”

        “I mean, didn’t you just feel like fainting when you first got that letter?” The mare’s eyes glimmered with pure sincerity and kindness, and Joy could almost see her own reflection in the wide orbs. Truthfully, Joy had not fainted upon ripping open the letter. However, she had spent the following days crying happy tears into her pillow. Joy kept that little fact to herself.

        “I was ecstatic, that was for sure,” she spoke quickly, yet purposefully. Joy was always told that she had a voice just made for a mother, despite being from an area that has its own particular slang and accent. Perhaps those ponies were correct. As much as she wanted to let her childish giddiness free, she could not helped but wonder why this mare was even talking to her in the first place.

        Much to Joy’s embarrassment, the mare frowned as she picked up on the body language that Joy was giving off. She turned around, back towards the doors with a small “humph”.

        Joy opened her mouth to explain herself, but deemed it useless. She would most certainly never see the mare again, although it hurt her inside to know that she had not met one of the well known standards when it came to being a mother. She definitely cared, but she knew that her heart felt otherwise.

        It was around ten o’clock when a light brown unicorn exited from the building, holding a few pages in her magical grasp. Joy felt her heart flutter upon seeing the line slowly begin to move. 

        Mares disappeared. Some of them held their heads high as they were directed inside of the building, while others held their heads low as they were denied entrance. It wasn’t uncommon that some mares would try to find a way to sneak in. Females were desperate to have children. This was why the procedure was necessary in the first place.

        The time Joy spent in that line was agonizing.

        The line was moving at a snail’s pace, and Joy’s excitement died upon the realization. She was a full grown mare, but deep inside she wanted to throw a hissy fit. She shifted her weight back and forth, desperately trying to ease her aching mind, and find a way to pass the time. It was as if she was swaying to a song that only she could hear, and a few mares around her gave strange looks.

        After what seemed to be forever, Joy was at the front of the line. The sunny pony in front of her had just disappeared inside with that same smile on her face. Horrid thoughts of her being turned away filled her mind. What would she tell her friends, or mother? She’d be shunned by those around her. She had to come home pregnant, or risk losing everything she hoped to have, and keep. Joy fluttered her wings nervously.
        
        The light brown unicorn adjusted her oval glasses upon the sight of Joy, and looked down to the bottom of the list. “Name?” she asked monotonously.

        “Uhm, it should just say ‘Joy’. I specifically sent in my application with--”

        The unicorn rudely cut her off. “Name?” she asked again.

        “Joybird,” she sighed. She hated her name. No matter how hard she tried, a simple nickname was just too much for other ponies to understand. The unicorn scanned the list with a floating pencil, and nodded a half second later.

        “You may enter,” the mare said with no real conviction. She spoke boredly. “The Equestrian Repopulation Agency welcomes you.” Joy smiled, though, she could have done without the unicorn’s attitude. However it wasn’t like she was going to call her out or anything. That pony’s life was probably no easier or better than Joy’s, anyway. Although, she was sure that she saw the mare roll her eyes before covering it up by fixing her glasses.

        Joy blew a hot breath from her mouth. She had not realized that she had been holding her breath for the last few minutes. The guards on both sides of the doors shifted their grips on their spears, and opened the metallic doors with a simple push. Not wasting a single moment, Joy skipped inside of the building.

        For the second time in the last few minutes, Joy took a large inhale and held it. Her heart almost stopped in her chest as she felt her insides turn upside down in her belly. The room was an eerie, shining white. The walls and floor beamed like they were made of diamond, making her wonder if the floor could have possibly been cleaned with horseshoe polish. The walls were streakless and polished. The frequent frames containing relaxing artwork was the only source of color in the entire room. All they did was remind Joy of some sort of hospital. 

        She didn’t like it.

        The only other thing in the room was a dull door in front of her. Joy looked left and right, awkwardly. “Hello?” she called. “Is anypony there?” She felt a small tinge of loneliness envelop her thoughts, only to let out a tiny sigh of relief when the door peeked open.

        She was greeted by a grand smile as bright as the room itself. It belonged to an aqua-colored earth pony with overeager purple eyes. The mare held a clipboard in her hoof, almost uncomfortably close to her face. She wore a white lab suit, and her chestnut colored mane was tied up into a professional bun. “I’m so sorry!” she said apologetically. Her face was genuine, yet open-ended. “I thought we were all done for this afternoon!”

        “Excuse me?” Joy replied, with a small cock of her head. 

        “Ahem, please forgive me.” The mare trotted across the room, and held out a hoof to the hesitant Joy. “I’m Tinker, I’ll be your aid today,” she said, her original smile lessening to that of a more formal one. Joy lifted up a hoof and grasp the other one outreached to her.

        “Joybird.” Joy stated her full name just to prevent some sort of issue in the future. Obviously, that was what everypony here knew her as. Joy gave a small, yet unsure, smile of her own. She broke off the hoofshake quickly. “But please, just call me Joy.” 

        Tinker looked Joy up and down for a prolonged and unnecessary amount of time, causing her to become increasingly self aware. She was used to it, but she wasn’t okay with it. Tinker just simply… stared at her. It wasn’t sexual or curious, Tinker was simply trying to act kind. The aid broke her gaze and turned to her clipboard, flipping through some papers until she found Joy’s. “So, ‘Joy’, aren’t we lucky today?” she chuckled. “Are you excited?”

        Joy wasn’t too sure anymore, and responded accordingly. “Y-Yes. It’s just… I have no idea how this all works. My friends kind of left me in the dark about everything,” she replied truthfully. Tinker nodded, and turned tail toward the door.

        “I see. Well, there’s no need to fret!” she cheered with an overbearing grin. “Follow me, and I’ll explain how everything works!” Without another word, Tinker trotted for the door, pushing it open and disappearing inside. Joy was reluctant to go inside, however her body continued to barrel forwards.

        She blinked and opened her eyes to an unending hallway that seemed to go on for miles. Much like the room before, it shone and sparkled, however it was littered with doors. They were boring, and numbered counting upwards starting from one.

        “It’s a simple process really. You must be excited. We only pick the most suited applicants for the repopulation process,” Tinker explained. Joy tried to tune out the sound of their hooves clopping noisily on the slippery looking floor. “Less than a hundred mares are chosen each day out of the thousands and thousands of applications we receive daily.” Tinker looked over her shoulder. “Any reason why they chose you?”

        Joy shook her head, though Tinker was not able to see it properly. “Not that I know of, no.”

        “Well, remember the DNA sample you sent us?” Joy could feel the tiny pain in her scalp where she was forced to rip out a piece of her mane. “We take it and compare it to the males that we have on standby. It appears that your genes match up perfectly with one of the stallions. How lucky is that?”

        Joy didn’t say anything. She never really viewed herself as anything special.

        “It’s very intricate. Did you know that out of Equestria’s population of around one million, and less than a thousand of them are males?” Joy opened her mouth to ask a question, but closed it after a brief moment of thinking. “It’s horrible that the amount of estrogen inside a mare can determine those types of things. To think, a few generations ago, it was fifty-fifty!”

        Joy counted the rooms as they whizzed by. They were only at number nine. She almost wished that Tinker would walk a little faster, however the aid refused to quit talking.

        “Have you ever realized what the lack of sex and pregnancies can do to a nation? Mares who cannot find stallions resort to force, and stallions who are out and about get… uhm… unwished sexual advances from mares who wish to bear children. It’s truly horrible.” Joy understood. It had been a while since she saw a stallion herself. She actually read in it some scientist’s logs that the reason why this precaution had been taken was because there was a scandalous amount of rape and sexual assaults. Mares wanted children, and because of that, crime was skyrocketing. “This is exactly why we give the stallions here the proper living arrangements, so they can live in peace as well as help repopulate Equestria, one foal at a time.”

        “So, stallions… live here?” Joy asked, quizzically.

        “Eeyep!” Tinker replied, informally. Unable to start up another conversation about the subject itself, she turned her attention back to Joy. “So, how long have you wanted children?”

        Joy felt an uncomfortable amount of blood stain her cheeks. “Uhm, well, ever since I’ve been able to.” Joy looked at the room numbers again. Only 16. She sighed.

        “I know that feeling. I’ve wanted a kid for a while now, also.” Tinker turned to the ground. “I just never get lucky enough.” she said, with a slight frown. Before Joy could do anything to cheer her up, Tinker’s lips did a one-eighty “Anyways, let me tell you how it works. It’s fairly simple-”

        Joy presumed it to be uncomfortable.

        “-once you’re with the stallion. The stallion we paired you up with is waiting and willing in his room. You enter and are allowed sexual intercourse with him with the intent to pregnate.” Joy gulped. “You may take as long as you need, as stallions tend to differ with their ejaculatory time. When you are done, you knock on the door three times, and an official will be there to escort you out, and you’ll be free to go. Understand?” 

        “I… uh… yes…” Joy was at a loss for words. She knew what she wanted, but wasn’t sure if she was ready for all of this.

        “Good!” Tinker exclaimed, and came to a brief halt. Joy accidentally ran into Tinker’s rump, and blushed as she regained her composure. Tinker didn’t seem to either notice or care. Joy looked to the door on her left, which was number 31. “Here we are. Your stallion awaits inside.” From seemingly nowhere, Tinker pulled out a set of small keys, and undid the lock on the door. Joy, once again, was going to ask a question. This time, it was Tinker who kept her from doing so. 

        “I shall wait right outside. Do you need any special items to aid you, or speed up the process? We have various different kinds of lubricants and such for your us-”

        “Uhm, no thanks.” Joy replied, sharply and with a familiar heat rising in her cheeks. Tinker gave her a nervous smile.

        “Hehe, alright then. In you go!” Tinker said, pushing the door open. Joy turned from the door, to Tinker, and then back again. She was afraid. She had never had sex before. She did not know what to expect, whether the pain would come and go quickly, or if her body was ready. However, this was exactly what she had signed up for. It was her only chance to become a mother. 

        Joy walked inside.

        She was instantly hit with the putrid stench of what she believed to be urine. She wasn’t entirely sure, and brought a hoof to her nose in response. The air inside of the room was cold and heavy, making it hard for her to breath. It was as if she stuck her head inside of a plastic bag. She eyed up the rest of the room, even though it really wasn’t much. The walls were dark and freezing, like that of a cooler, and were splattered with dried substances of varying colors. The floor felt cold under her hooves, making it unbearable to stand after just a few moments. In the righthand corner, was a single white bed. It was stripped bare save for a multicolored mattress with a shivering pony on it.

        She was in a jail cell.

        The door closed behind her, loudly, and the pony on the bed jumped. In a moments notice, the stallion was on his hooves and at attention. Joy and the stallion simply stared at each other with frightful eyes.

        He was dirty and sweat covered, glistening off of the single flickering light in the room. He looked as if he hadn’t bathed in weeks, and he gave off a musty scent that reminded her of a cigar. He had coat the color of a pine tree, and a smoky mane similar to hers. Upon further investigation, the stallion appeared to be shorter than Joy had expected. The tip of his head only came up to her nose. 

        “M-Miss?” He stuttered. “You are in need of pregnancy, yes?” he asked. His voice shook like a leaf, much to her surprise. Joy involuntarily hesitated.

        “Yes...” Joy brought a hoof to her chest, and batted her eyes. “I’m Joy. It’s nice to meet you.”

        The stallion nodded with those same fearful eyes. “Uh, right,” he said. “I’m 31. Is there any special way you’d like to do this?” he asked. Joy furrowed her brow, and the stallion took a reluctant step forward.

        “31? That’s your name?” The stallion paused, and shrugged.

        “Y-yeah… I-I mean yes!” his voice cracked. He seemed young, but it was hard for Joy to tell in the lighting. The frequently flickering lights wanted to give her a headache. “I’m sorry to sound rude, b-but names do not matter. I-I’m tasked with impregnating you, miss.” He looked from Joy, to the floor, with a bright blush on his face.

        “‘Doesn’t matter?’” Joy wanted to smile, but the situation didn’t seem to call for it. “I’d like to know the name of my potential child’s father, whether or not it… goes down like this.” The stallion looked around in a vain attempt to appease the mare in front of him. 

        “Uhm… just... just call me 31, okay? I call you miss, after all,” the stallion croaked. His exasperated sigh echoed off the concrete walls.

        “31? Why don’t you just tell me your real name…?”

        “I don’t have a real name, miss,” he replied. A small hint of irritation was growing inside of him. He wanted to get this over with. He held his emotions back easily. “P-Please, is there any certain way of which you’d like to do this?”

        Joy was dumbfounded. She had so many questions inside of her that she just had to get out. A shiver swept through her spine, and the stench inside of the room was bringing her close to tears. She was going to have intercourse in this room, with a stallion of whom was probably underage? She felt like she was in some kind of surreal dream, and she desperately pleaded to wake up. Joy opened her mouth, and panicked when nothing came out at first.

        “If you don’t mind my asking… how old are you?” Joy asked. She was beginning to feel skeptical, as if there was a small voice inside of her head telling her to run. Something else was telling her not to listen.

        The stallion sighed, and Joy saw his knees wobble. He looked upwards, as if her question was some kind of riddle. “I’m… uhm… I think... fifteen?” Joy tried her best to hide her look of shock and horror. But she couldn’t help but grimace as she realized that she was to have sex with a child in order to have one of her own.

        “You’re… what!?” she exclaimed, taking a hollow step back. “You think? What does that mean? ” She gave him the benefit of the doubt. It didn’t work in her favor, as the child was beginning to get visibly frustrated. She could tell he wanted to get it over with just as much as she did.

        “Yea—I mean yes,” he stated, shortly. “Now will you please answer my question?” The stallion realized his error, and fixed it immediately. “P-Please?” he sunk a little lower to the ground, pathetically.

        Joy’s mind was a flurry of thoughts and scenarios. The blush that was eternally plastered on her face refused to dim. She was disgusted and tempted to vomit, and the smell wasn’t helping her. “I… I just can’t. This is sick!” All of a sudden, Joy turned around for the door, and grasped for the handle. A hoof on her shoulder stopped her, and prompted a frightened scream.

        “Miss, wait!” shouted the stallion. “You must wait!”

        Joy tried her best not to jump, but she failed horribly. Her neck tingled, and she attempted not to shiver, though that was also in vain. She turned her head, only to slightly shrink back, closer to the door. The stallion was so close to her face that she could smell his surprisingly minty breath. 31 realized her discomfort, and took a few awkward steps back. “I thought you wanted a child?” Joy felt her heart drop. “I thought you wanted someone to keep the family name?”

        “How do you know that?” Joy replied. She raised up her heart from the depths of her stomach and thrust it back its proper place in her chest.

        “Doesn’t every mare?” he shrugged. Joy opened her mouth, but closed it after a second. "It's the case of everypony who meets with me."

        There was a long silence that bore itself between the two ponies, and it was a few minutes before 31 opened his mouth again. “Look, this is your only shot to become a mother. You will never get another chance. I understand that you pity me, but you need to realize--”

        Joy grimaced, reeling back the corners of her mouth. “Of course I realize!”

        “Yet you’re still on this side of the door.”

        Joy’s ears flattened against her head, and she searched through the deep recesses of her mind for anything that she could say, but then she remembered that this was not even an argument in the first place. “Yeah… well…” she bit her lip nervously. Her morals and her future desires were fighting each other, and she didn’t know what to do. 31, realizing his tone once again, dropped his voice back to down to a meaningless whisper, and resumed shaking involuntarily.

        “W-Would you at least mind sitting with me?” he asked. Joy wasn’t sure of the stallion’s sidings. She wasn’t sure if he was okay with this either, and if that was the case than her answer to all of this is obvious. With a tired sigh, she turned towards the ground, and trotted over to the single mattress in the corner of the room. She felt something wet on the fabric of the bed and held back a disgusted groan.

        31 mosied on over to her, and softly plopped down right next to her. Joy rubbed her thighs together nervously, while the stallion simply cocked his head and stared at her with bright blue eyes. “So…”

        “What is all of this…?” Joy asked, bluntly. 31 did a double take, and the mare saw his eyes falter for a place to look.

        “What are you talking about?” he said. His shaking worsened, though Joy tried her best to ignore it. It made her a little uncomfortable, and she knew that it was no better for him either.

        “You live in this… jail cell. You have sexual intercourse with mares almost every day. You’re fifteen years old, or so you say.” Joy sighed. “Just what is all of this?”

        “Well, impregnating mare’s isn’t all bad.” 31 gave her a weak smile. She didn’t find that the least bit funny, and his smile very quickly turned into a frown. He adjusted his position so that he could properly face her, and talk to her eye to eye. “You know what this all is, miss Joy?”

        Joy shook her head.

        “It’s life,” he replied. Joy felt sick to her stomach. “It’s my life, it’s Equestria’s life, and it’s my gender’s life.” 31 seemed confident, however his voice said otherwise.

        “Why are you formal and stuttering like that?”

        “It’s cold in here.” Once again, Joy didn’t laugh. Frankly, she wanted to up and leave, but something about him seemed to keep her from doing so. 31 sighed. “I’ve kind of been told that I need to speak a certain way when I talk to the mares who walk into here. Regulations, and appearance, however the latter’s pretty difficult to pull off,” he chuckled, and wistfully gazed at the ceiling with hopeful eyes. “My life is like that of a caged bird, yet it’s somepony else who ends up singing.”

        Joy said nothing, she just continued to look at the dirty ground. Her consciousness felt like stepping out for a brief breather, although there was no way that she could let that happen. She forced herself to comment on his last statement. “That was… poetic?” she asked more than said. 31 shrugged.

        “I guess so. When you’re in here with nothing to do besides satisfy the needs of others, then you tend to spend a lot of time in your head.” 31 refused to stare at her, and spoke in a practically subconscious state.

        Something about the stallion intrigued her. Maybe it was just because this was her first ever conversation with someone of a different sex. Perhaps the circumstances made everything awkward and strained, but she liked it. Or it could just be the fact that she was a highly curious pony, and 31 reeked of unanswered questions.

        “How long have you been doing this?” she asked, her voice squeaky in quiet. At first, 31 hadn’t seemed to hear her, but that was before running her vocals through his head again, and putting the pieces together.

        “Oh. Well… a while. I’ve spent my whole life in this very room.” he said, indifferently. Joy felt her heart skip a nervous beat.

        “Really? Your whole life?” she asked. She was surprised when she saw the stallion look around, like a paranoiac, and lean in close to her ear. Joy didn’t appreciate his breath hitting her neck. She continued to rub her thighs together in a nervous manner.

        “I’m going to tell you something, and you can’t tell anypony else, okay?” he whispered, soothingly. His voice was like maple syrup. 31 noticed Joy’s incessant rubbing, and scooted away from her a bit. “You seem nice, and frankly you’re the first mare who hadn’t attacked me the moment they stepped into my room,” he said. A brief vision passed through Joy’s mind. She imagined a sultry mare slam open the door with lustful eyes, and tackling poor 31 onto the bed with a gleeful yell. She could even hear his cries.

        “S-Sounds good.”

        Once again, 31 looked around, and lowered his voice. “They take colts away, miss Joy, to become like me.” Joy’s eyes went wide. “Colts never leave the hospital with their mothers, they leave with ERA members, who prep them and educate them on repopulation and their future duties.”

        Joy’s face was locked in an expression of pure terror. She held her hooves to her chest, like a child, and bared her teeth fearfully. However, nothing came out of her mouth. 31 continued. “The chances of giving birth to a male is 1042:1, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.” 31 couldn’t help but groan. “I… can’t help but wonder how many mares whose lives I’ve ruined by helping them bear a child that’ll only be born to become like me.”

        But that was when 31 smiled, and it made Joy want to vomit. “But I still have hope. You see this?” he pointed to his rump, and Joy followed his hoof before she thought about where exactly it was pointing to. Her eyes landed upon his bare flank.

        The stallion lacked a cutie mark.

        “You’re… that young?” Joy asked. It almost hurt her to speak. Her voice felt like it had been welded shut. She desperately craved some water, yet she kept that little wish to herself.

        31 scoffed. “No! This is my proof,” he said.

        “Proof?”

        “Yes, my proof.” 31’s smile grew just a tad bit larger. “It gives me hope to know that this isn’t what I was born for! You know?” His eyes trailed down to Joy’s rather toned flank, prompting a self conscious blush from the mare. “What does your cutie mark mean?”

        Joy’s cutie mark was strange, and it always had been. He felt like her cutie mark resembled her name more so than her special talent. It was of a bright blue bird that rested on top of a shimmering lily. “Not all too sure myself.”

        31 looked like she was going to say something, but frowned instead. He decided to change the subject. “So… have you always wanted a child?” he asked. Joy’s blush deepened, and it was beginning to look like she had begun to bleed through her cheeks. Joy could only handle so much. With a grunt, she stood up, causing 31 to do the exact same.

        “Well, this has been nice, but I think this has been enough.” she said, bluntly. She wiped off some of the gunk on her coat after sitting on that less than sanitary mattress. 31 actually frowned.

        “But… you’re just going to leave?” he asked. Joy had already let her sympathy fly out of the window. "You... please don't leave!"

        “Yes. I’m sorry, you’re a nice stallion… kid… whatever.” 31 glared at her. “But this isn’t supposed to be a date.”

        “I understand, miss Joy,” said 31. “Shall we begin the repopulation process?” he asked, his tone returning back to its passive self. Joy felt an inner rage inside of her chest. 

        “No way!” she shouted. “Look, I came in here for a future, okay? I did not come in here to rape a child in an effort to bear one myself.” 31’s eyes hardened yet again. It took a few moments for Joy to catch on that he did not enjoy being called a child. “I don’t want to have to look at my child when he gets of your age, and have to look back to this moment.”

        “You don’t have to. I understand your anger and morals, miss Joy. However, what is this really about?” Joy cocked her head, but managed to keep the exasperated look on her visage. “Is this about your willingness to have a child, or your unwillingness to have intercourse with me so you can have a child?”

        Joy was seething. Her heart was racing as the anger rose up inside of her. She dug her hooves into the ground, and bore a menacing scowl. “Both! I mean… I’m not willing… ugh!” she stamped her hooves on the ground.

        “Calm down, miss Joy...” 31 said, calmly. His voice was so soothing, so careful and mesmerizing. He grabbed Joy’s shoulders, and gently shook her. There is no way that he could actually shake her roughly. He’d get in trouble for that. After a few moments, he let go when Joy’s growling faded.

        “You have two options, right now,” he said. Joy stared at him, her eyes like pitchforks and stakes. “You can accept me, take me as I am and let me do my job. I am here for no other reason than to help you. Or, you can knock on that door, and toss away everything that you’ve ever wanted.” Joy looked at the ground, and sighed.
        
        She didn’t know what she wanted. She wanted out. She wanted a family. She didn’t want to have sex with a child. Her mind was in a stupor, desperate for any sort of idea as to which direction to go. With a disgusted sigh, she tossed herself upon 31, who flew back with a surprised yelp back onto the mattress. 

        He was hushed when Joy’s lips met his.