Author's Notes:

Quick info for older readers: I changed a few names. of the story, as you might have noticed, and of a few characters. So, now:
Kore is now Midnight Gaze
Kira is now Hedwig, and her coat and feathers are now white and gray instead of brown
Monkey Wrench is now Guntrotter
Doctor Serano is now Doctor Netics

Sorry for unnecessary confusion.

My eyes traveled from one word to another while I tried to stop myself from yawning, but I couldn’t help myself. Guns and Bullets was. So. Boring! Who in Celestia’s tight anus writes books about guns and shooting!?!

I tried Applied Gemstones instead after we placed our orders, ignoring the surprised stares Midnight and Scrap gave me when I ordered “brahmin en brochette” and “radscorpion en croute”. I decided upon those dishes based on Hedwig’s recommendation, but seeing their reaction I began to me wonder if I had yet again made fool out of myself. They do know I eat meat, right?

There was also another factor that had made me order meat; it was much cheaper than everything else. I suppose that was to be expected, seeing that there were no bat ponies here and only a hooffull of griffins (when compared with the ponies that is). As much as I was pissed at Scrap for… well, most of the shit I had to go through that day, I didn’t want him to be broke after paying for our meals.

But back to the reading! Applied Gemstones was a little better read. After using one (albeit briefly) it did spark my interest how exactly the magical energy weapons worked. The lack of recoil from Magic Gun was easier on my wings that 10mm gun’s. Though when the book went into details about targeting talismans and what not and I became lost.

“Can’t I just slice everything with a knife?” I whined at Midnight from above the book.

Midnight raised an eyebrow, her gaze leaving the magazine she’s been reading, while with one ear she was listening to Scrap’s explanation regarding my state and our guest . “Considering how you fared in the tunnels, I suppose so, though not everything out in the Wasteland will try to kill you with their teeth. Some things like to shoot; a lot,” she shrugged. “You might not always find yourself so close to your opponent.”

I groaned and returned to the exciting lecture.

“Besides,” my unicorn companion continued, and my ears detected the subtle noise of magic, “it would be a waste to have such a good gun and not use it.”

I looked up and saw her levitating my Magic Gun, inspecting it carefully. “I’ve never seen such an odd plasma pistol.”

“That’s a plasma pistol?” Scrap asked sceptically.

In reply Midnight slid out the gem pack as she moved the gun closer to him. Scrap Tech looked at the energy weapon’s ammunition with confusion, then looked back at Magic Gun and he gasped, “Oh, now I get it! This must be a custom made Gak 86 magic plasma pistol. They were quite popular among Equestria’s high ranking officers, nobles, and such. Their shots are about three times more powerful than a regular magic plasma pistol, their firing rate is about twice as fast and their targeting talisman is better calibrated, but their energy consumption is twice as big, and they’re less durable. You will need to maintain it more often,” he finished, passing it to me across the table.

Great, more work to do, why not? As if finding a water talisman alone was going to be easy…

“You know quite a lot about magical weapons,” I noticed as I placed Magic Gun in my saddlebags that rested under the table.

“Pity his eyesight is so shitty,” Midnight interjected before Scrap had a chance to reply. He gave her an offended/annoyed look as she continued, “Ever since he lost about the only pair of glasses in the entire Wasteland that was correct for him he cannot hit anything further than a few meters from him.”

“Good thing I prefer guns that don’t need to hit directly to kill, huh?” he asked the unicorn with a sour smile, before turning back to me, smirking. “But yeah, with a name like ‘Scrap Tech’ you kinda have to know a lot about old technology. Though it helps that I’ve seen a lot of 86s when I was a kid, usually on syncs.”

I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but at that moment the waiter pony brought our food. All thoughts evaporated from my mind as my nostrils were assaulted by the smell of meat. Until then, I haven’t realize how hungry I was.

Now the brochettes and croutes were at my mercy, and I had none!

That meat was the most tasty thing I had eaten. While I had really enjoyed that breakfast I had with Miss Common, there was something about meat that made it more appealing than fruits. Maybe because it was more sating… And don’t get me started on how my Stable’s food compared to that. To put it simply: there is no comparison. The Outside wins this one.

At some point, I noticed that my companions were giving me odd looks again. Well, Midnight and Scrap were; Hedwig, on the other hoof, was looking at me with a mixture of amusement and interest. For some reason, having a griffon merc giving me such look wasn’t making me comfortable…

Nor was the fact that some other of Mom’s Diner’s patrons were giving me curious glances.

“Okay, what?” I finally asked my companions after I swallowed. Despite the deliciousness of the meal, I remembered about manners.

“Nothing, just…” Midnight trailed off, pondering how to say what she had in mind. “Most ponies, when given a choice, would chose a vegetarian meal over meat,” the blue unicorn finished.

“Wait,” I interrupted her, confused. “Ponies eat meat?”

Our griffin guest snickered, while my pony companions exchanged a glance, then looked at the meat on my plate, and then both turned to me and each raised an eyebrow.

Black adoring my cheeks for once again making a fool out of myself, I quickly explained, “I mean, you, um, non-bats.” I waved a hoof. “I thought the other three tribes were herbivorous.”

“Well, we are,” Midnight admitted, “or rather, used to be. Since the end of the world, most ponies began eating meat as well. It’s easier to get.” she added with a shrug. “Though at first its heavy on your stomach.”

“Huh…” I hummed, both impressed and worried at how much ponies had changed to adapt to the Wasteland. “Anyway, we bat ponies are omnivorous, though the ‘meat’ we have back in Thirty-Nine is nothing compared to this.”

“I shudder to think how you got meat there,” Midnight murmured disinterestedly, concentrating on her dish.

Yeah, I kinda didn’t want to explain to them that stinking ‘farm’ level we have there…

“I’m surprised you hadn’t guessed that after seeing my fangs,” I said instead, shrugging. “Heck, I even have claws,” I added, flexing my wings a bit, then patterning the table with my right claw lightly. “Doesn’t that scream ‘predator’?”

For this description of myself, I was rewarded with a snort from Midnight and another snicker from Hedwig. I glared at the unicorn and the griffin, somewhat offended, but then I noticed the look Scrap was giving me.

Let’s just say that I was glad Hedwig was the one sitting next to me.

“Well, I heard what you’ve told Hedwig, but I wasn’t sure if you weren’t bluffing,” he said, giving me a look that was probably supposed to be seductive. Oddly, it wasn’t working the way he hoped; instead, it was creeping me out. Quickly, I returned to eating to distract myself. “And with my poor eyesight I hadn’t noticed such details of your appearance, to be honest.” Oh, Sweet Merciful Luna, he was smiling now! “I bet those fangs of yours are quite sharp…”

That last comment made me almost choke. I coughed while both him and the griffin giggled. Midnight, on the other hoof, gave a tired sigh and looked up from the plate.

“Scrap, leave him alone,” she said, looking at him sternly. My heart fluttered in my chest, at the sight on her coming to my defense… “He’s been staring at my flank the whole day.” Why, hello, ebony face of embarrassment, why don’t you come over here? “Spare yourself the time and him the grief.”

“Oh, and stop messing with him?” Scrap replied teasingly, amused. “I mean, look how cute he looks, with his face turning all red.”

Thankfully, after that last tidbit, we ate in silence. For a while. My sensitive ears picked up conversations from around us; almost everypony was talking about the same. Raiders. Each pair or group complained, either about being chased out of their homes, or about the surge of refugees. Or about the prices of food. Or about the 303 Company. The increase in crime. The last raider attack.

Everything seemed to concentrate around the raiders. I thought back to what I heard on the radio earlier; DJ Pon3 had said that the reason for them taking over the major settlements in the Capital Wasteland was that they were chased out from Canterlot Ruins by… something. Something that had also now taken out those alicorns… I shuddered to think what that could be. Another group of raiders, but with better weapons maybe?

Just as some ponies sitting two tables away from us began discussing the various raider groups that had taken the surrounding area, my attention was brought back to my immediate surroundings. Hedwig and I had both finished our meals already, while the other two still toiled with theirs. Maybe it was a meat-eater thing, to eat fastly… anyway, the griffin started up a conversation.

“So, Freak,” she started, glancing at me with her big, icy blue eye, “where are you off to next?”

I opened my mouth to give her a reply, though I wasn’t exactly sure what to say, when a sharp pinch to my side and a touch on my hind leg had stopped me. I glanced at Midnight, barely managing to catch the sight of her horn flashing before it disappeared. The unicorn had turned to Hedwig and answered for me; “Why would a 303 be interested were a stable dweller would go?”

Weird... Her horn is no longer flashing. How is she still touching my leg… I thought, glancing down as the feeling not only remained, but began moving upwards.

There was a thin, white tail that ended with a tuft brushing my hind leg’s inner side.

I tried my best to keep my face composed (as opposed to goggling at Hedwig while murmuring something barely comprehensible). By some miracle, I began flexing my wings after having them folded for so long just right before Hedwig started talking, so nopony realized that I had a wingboner. But somehow, I doubted Midnight and Scrap’s obliviousness would last long. I glanced at Hedwig. She was keeping a straight face as she looked at the other female, as if her tail wasn’t…. going higher...

By the way, as my previous interactions with the opposite sex were practically non-existent, a certain part of me began replying immediately. So… yeah, as much as my body was appreciating the attention it was receiving, (oh, who am I kidding, all of me was excited, not just my dick), I really would have wished Hedwig would have waited until some other time. Like when we wouldn’t be in a public place, with the closest thing I have for friends sitting right next to me.

And before you ask, no, I couldn’t just move away, I was already leaning against the wall of the diner when she started. The only way for me to move away from her (which I’ll admit, didn’t really came to my mind) would be getting up. The fear of getting arrested for showing my junk in public aside, I would have most likely killed myself from the embarrassment.

As I tried to not explode (unfortunately, literally), my mind becoming blank, the griffin replied to Midnight. “I’m sure such revered mercenary such as yourself knows that we griffins - well, most of us, anyway,” she amended, rolling her eyes “- really value honor, right?”

Midnight nodded, though even to somepony as dense as me it was clear that she did so reluctantly, even in my current situation.

“Thanks to him helping me and the twins back in the tunnels, we were able to uphold to our contract with the Capital Station today,” Hedwig continued, her tail continuing to brush up and down my leg… and constantly going a little bit higher each time. “Given how many ghouls there were in the tunnels, we probably wouldn’t have make it in time to save most of those workers… if any. So I owe him. I thought I could repay the favor by tagging along with you lot for a while.”

If I wasn’t concentrating on keeping my face neutral (which was becoming harder, sorry for the pun) I would have probably blinked with surprise at the griffin. Her offer was really unexpected. After all, we hadn’t exactly started our acquaintanceship good; with me beating up her teammates and her pointing a gun to my head. Hardly a way to befriend somebody (Then again, her tail is getting closer to my-), even if she was acting as if all of that was a fun joke to her. Not only that, both Common and Midnight didn’t have too big of an opinion regarding the 303 Company. And while I personally hadn’t seen any reason why that was the case, I still trusted them, which made Hedwig’s offer that much more surprising.

Oh, and wanna know why I stopped that thought earlier? Well, the tuft of her tail just then had brushed my crotch.

While I whimpered quietly, the discussion between the two females went on. “I also helped,” Midnight reminded her, though there was no pretense in her voice. Instead, it was borderline cold, and she narrowed her eyes. “Wanna repay me a favor?”

My mind couldn’t help itself from: Phrasing!

“You only helped us out because he came,” Hedwig retorted… and seemed to want to make those two last words be adequate for something else, as the tuft of her tail was now moving exclusively around my… various parts under there… Anyway, I somehow managed to notice her smiling at Midnight coldly. “So sorry, but you’re gonna need somebody else to pull out that stick out of your ass.”

Somehow, that comment made me forget about my erection and her tail. My jaw dropped as I stared at the griffin. She was still smiling at Midnight, who, in turn, was keeping her face neutral… if you can call the subtle ‘I can murder you anytime I want, you feathery bitch!’ look in her eyes neutral.

Hedwig wasn’t done yet, however.

“Or push it deeper, not sure which you’d like more,” she added, and the smile turned into a smirk.

The silence that followed was more terrifying than the one in the tunnels. When two seconds after Hedwig’s comment Scrap raised from his seat and moved a step away from the table, it seemed as loud as a stable’s reactor.

“Nightkin, I think we should leave them alone,” he said, looking at me meaningfully.

He didn’t even finished that sentence when the griffin’s tails wrapped around my dick and squeezed.

“Thanks, I’m fine over here!” I squeaked through the ecstasy and embarrassment, perhaps a bit too quick.

Now even if I wanted to leave (which I kinda wasn’t sure I did anymore, as Hedwig’s tail began… doing things, while the tuft brushed against my balls) I couldn’t. Which made this next part soo much more uncomfortable…

Scrap looked at me weirdly, probably surprised by both my reply and the strange tone of voice I uttered it with, but before he could ask me what was wrong, Midnight turned to me. “Nightkin? A word.”

She tilted her head in the direction to the corridor leading from the main room into the two toilets.

“Um, now?” I mumbled.

Once again, I was experiencing the greatest pleasure I ever felt up to that point, And I really didn’t want to stand up…

Unfortunately, Midnight was already getting up. “Yes, now. I want to speak with you in private,” she replied as she looked at me emotionlessly. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Yes! I wanted to scream, I’m getting a tailjob! For Celestia’s burning tits’ sake, how I was supposed to get out of this? I quickly shoot Hedwig a pleading look, but she just grinned at me. Her tail actually hastened in its efforts, Dear Luna how was she even doing that? Midnight continued to wait for me, while Scrap was looking at me puzzled. Thank the goddesses that neither of them stood far away enough from the table to see what was going on under it, but I doubted they wouldn’t figure out this soon.

I need to get into that corridor, I need to get into that corridor, I repeated mindlessly in my head… with the occasional Oh merciful Luna, this feels sooooooo amazing…

I doubted I could just fly there, in hopes of masking my erection by turning against the wall. For one thing, I wasn’t fast enough to turn around before they would see my dick. For other, Hedwig’s tail’s hold on my was strong, trust me.

I turned my eye away from the griffin to Midnight, then past her to the edge of corridor. I concentrated, trying to think how in Celestia’s dripping marehood I was supposed to get there…

… and then, after a brief dark flash, I was right there.

Only because my desire to hide my erection from everybody did I not stayed there staring stupidly around. Instead, I just bolted into the dark corner of the corridor, shouting over my shoulder: “Yeah, I can teleport!”

I sit down there waiting for Midnight, after wrapping my tail under myself to hide my member. The missing feeling of Hedwig’s tail bobbing up and down it was annoyingly distracting, but I somehow managed to stay focused enough to figure out just what in Tartarus had happened.

I’ve recalled seeing some other bat ponies back in Thirty-Nine doing the same thing. It was an ability called Shadow Flight. It allowed a bat pony to “teleport”, so to speak, over a short distance. I’ve never done it before; which, to be fair, wasn’t that much of a surprise. I was, after all, still rather young (further proved by the lack of my cutie mark), and not every bat pony could learn how to do all our abilities.

My inner pondering was interrupted by Midnight appearing from around the corner and walking towards me. “Teleporting?” she asked, glancing at me with mild annoyance.

I risked a quick glance down to make sure my shame was covered before turning to her. “Yeah, um… it’s actually called ‘Shadow Flight’.” I told her and added that I can only do it over a short distance.

“And you didn’t mention it earlier because…” she trailed off, obviously meaning for me to finish.

“It… skipped my mind,” I replied, blushing. I didn’t want to go into how I couldn’t do it before now, because then she would inquire what had caused me to do that then.

“Any more surprises I should know of?”

“Um…” You know, that was a good question. Was there more? I vaguely recalled some of what I heard back in school about bat ponies powers… Crap, maybe I shouldn’t have slept through most of them? Or… all of them? “I don’t think so?” I offered weakly. Midnight glared at me. “What?!” I exclaimed. “Do you know every spell a unicorn can learn?!”

She rolled her eyes, “Whatever,” the blue unicorn sighed. “Lets get back to business. You aren’t exactly going to let that griffin tag along with us, aren’t you?”

Seeing how she was the first living being ever that touched my dick, you can probably guess how this will go.

… Okay, the first living being that touched my dick other than me, are you happy now?

“Why wouldn’t I?!” I asked, a bit too hastily. I cursed mentally as Midnight raised an eyebrow at my sudden defensiveness. “I mean, she just wants to repay the favor, right? You yourself admitted that griffins value honor.”

“That most griffins value honor,” she corrected me. “But it’s not the matter of honor I have issue with, it’s the fact that she’s a 303.”

“Celestia’s tits, that again,” I sighed irritably as I facehoofed. Granted, I somewhat expected this to be the reason, but I was getting tired of her attitude. “Look, what is your deal with those 303 guys?! All I know that they are a big mercenary group that will take any kind of contract. I don’t get why you have to distrust Hedwig just because of that!”

Midnight stared at me for a while with narrow eyes, and despite myself I shrunk back a little in fear. I forgot how scary she could be.

On the plus side, I no longer had an erection. Yay…

The blue unicorn had finally opened her mouth to reply. The cold look didn’t change, though. “A few years back, there was this big caravan leaving Friendship City. It’s town off the coast near Manehattan’s ruins. I was heading back for Palamino anyway, so I joined them as a guard. There were sixteen guards in total with me, and ten of them were from 303 Company.”

She paused to snarl and swish her tail in irritation. Something must have really pissed her about that memory, I thought. She quickly calmed down and resumed her tale: “Between the bloodwings, the raiders, the few alicorns and some other shit that track hadn’t been easy. We often had to fight, and groups of mercs that had just met aren’t exactly good at cooperating. So soon it was only me left with nine from 303. And believe it or not, I had actually grown quite fond of them. Especially of their group leader, who coincidentally happened to be a griffin.”

“Why would I not believe that?” I asked; yeah, she was kinda… cold, but she didn’t seem like a bad pony. She was looking out for me because she Miss Common asked her to, but she did seem genuinely sad for those brief seconds when she thought I was dead.

I think.

And besides, Miss Common called her a friend and trusted her, which probably meant a lot more than my observation of her.

Midnight ignored my question and continued: “Anyway, like I said, she and I become friends during those weeks. One night, we were just outside of Canterlot; we made a camp for the night after fighting off some raiders. We were all - guards and merchants - talking, eating, laughing, and all that good shit.” Her voice became warm for a moment, but then both it and her expression became darker than before. “Then one of the 303 gets a message through his radio. It was an update on their ‘bounty list’. One of the merchants, a father of three kids on that note, was on them.”

My eyes widened. “So what happened?” I asked her, wondering if I really wanted to know the rest of this story.

“What do you think, genius?” Midnight snorted. “They all reached for their guns.”

My jaw began quivering. “But… but they were supposed to protect them!” I shouted, and I noticed that in the parlor the older mare that sat behind the counter resting looked at me. Lowering my voice, I turned back to Midnight. “Miss Common told me they don’t go against their contracts.”

“Their contract, like mine, said that they had to protect the caravan,” the unicorn replied. “It said nothing about individual members of it.”

Miss Common’s words came back to me: “They will stay loyal to the contract, but they’re bad news. They would have gladly destroyed the town if somepony had paid them.”

“What happened next?” I asked weakly.

“I pointed my gun at them and asked them what was this about. They explained, and Hestra told me that if I want, I can get a share. I told them no and to drop their guns, and... that bitch…”

I almost jumped into the air when she stomped, her face converted into a snarl.

“That bitch looked at me with pity, said ‘Sorry, then,’ and fucking shot me!” Midnight exclaimed, taking a step towards me, and then another. “ If I hadn’t kept a few secrets of my trade from her, I would have been dead! That’s what 303 are; a bunch of greedy mercs who have no morals! Do you understand now!?”

We were now standing inches away from each other, and while a few hours ago I might have liked an idea of that, now I was beyond scared. And yet, as I looked into the beautiful unicorns’ scorching eyes, I somehow managed to stay my ground.

“Midnight, I…” I stuttered, wondering what exactly I wanted to say. “I’m sorry about that, but… you can’t judge Hedwig just because what that Hestra had done-”

The brief disbelief in her eyes, followed up by anger, told me to shut up. For a moment I was sure she was going to strike me, and I desperately wondered just how I had used the Shadow Flight earlier.

After five seconds that seemed to last forever, Midnight had finally turned away from me. “Fine then,” she said without looking back as she trotted towards the ladies room, “do as you please. But if she turns on you, I won’t lift a hoof to help you.”

I stared after her. Words of defense of Hedwig were on the tip of my tongue, but something was stopping me from uttering them. And that something was not fear, but… sadness. I felt sad for Midnight. She had been betrayed by somebody she had thought a friend, and still bore a wound from what had happened that day.

She paused to look back at me as her hoof pushed against the door. “We’ll leaving within the next hour, and we probably won’t be back until tomorrow. So take this chance and wash yourself.”

With this words, she entered the lady’s room, leaving me in the small hallway.

As I rubbed my coat with some detergent I had found in the toilet, trying to clean it off the blood, I kept going over in my head what Midnight had told me. As there were no showers in there, only sinks, the task of cleaning was taking a while, so I had a lot of time to think about it. Suddenly, some patterns of her behaviour began to make sense to me; she had been shot by somebody that she had considered a friend, and now she… well, wasn’t too friendly.

I wondered if Scrap knew about that. No, I decided. I recalled the comment he made, about offending somebody that Midnight considered a friend. If he knew about Hestra, he wouldn’t have made such remark. Midnight is rather intimidating, it wouldn’t be smart from him to do so. He knows only that she doesn’t have a lot of friends.

Miss Common had asked her to accompany me until I return to Desert Station. That meant we were going to spend at least the next few weeks together. Even if I would find the water talisman in this stable Scrap and I had discovered, I still planned to go to Ponyville. Miss Common wanted something from there, and I was going to get it for her… right after I’d figure out how to deal with the slavers… and how to pass through the raider controlled territory…

I shook my head, deciding to think about that later. Right now I had to try and figure out how to deal with Midnight… and Hedwig.

The thoughts of her and what she was doing to me made me feel a bit hotter, despite cleaning myself with cold water. Were all griffins like her? So… agressive? And for that matter, why was she interested in me? I didn’t do anything particularly impressive when she was near… unless getting buried alive and almost bleed to death after getting mugged counted as impressive…

Now that I began thinking about her, she was certainly attractive, in this exotic kinda way. While I had doubts how she could kiss anybody with that beak, it seemed cute to me; her talons and paws would certainly feel interesting if she would press them against my coat; when recalling her big feathery wings, I had a sudden urge to bury my muzzle into them and preen her feathers. The look of her blue eyes, circled by a patch of purple fur, her white coat and feathers with black spots on her neck…

I stopped myself when I noticed what affect those kind of thought had on my body. Down boy! I thought in panic as I splashed some cold water on it.

I really needed to get my barding back on quickly.

Once my penis pulled back to its sheath I finished cleaning myself. I looked into the mirror with satisfaction, seeing my grayish fur once again clean. Well, as much as clean went in the Wasteland; I suppose I should start getting used to the thought of being dirty most of the time, I thought as I began to dry myself with a towel… which wasn’t exactly dry, but whatever.

My efforts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. I glanced, wondering if that was Scrap, but instead I saw… probably the most odd looking pony in the entire Wasteland.

It was a buck, and earth pony to be specific. What made him so odd, you ask? Well... while his coat was dark yellow, his mane was… in the colors of the rainbow. No, I’m not kidding. He really have a seven-colored mane, which was cut short, adding to the ridiculousness of how it looked. And that’s not all! He also wore not some rugged clothes, a protective barding or a jumpsuit, which was all that I saw ponies wear so far, but a suit. A black pre-war suit, with white shirt underneath it and a necktie.

I don’t think there ever was a pony more contrasting with the environment he was in.

The strange pony glanced at me while I stared at him as he trotted towards the urinals. “What? he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Do I have something on my suit?”

“No, just…” I stuttered momentarily, thinking how to best explain why I was staring. “I’ve never seen a pony wearing such fine clothes.”

“Well, that’s understandable,” he replied as he rose on his hind legs to do his business. Politely, I turned around. “Guess you’ve never been in Applewood, huh?”

“Can’t say I was,” I shrugged, forgetting he couldn’t see me. “I just left my Stable the other day.”

“So what are you, exactly?” the rainbow-maned asked over the sound of a small stream of liquid falling into the urinal.

“A bat pony.”

“Oh right, I heard about you on the radio… Dark Crusader, right?”

I facehoofed. “I prefer Nightkin. So what are you doing in the Capitat Station?” I asked out of curiosity. “Applewood is rather far from here.”

“Running errands for the casino,” he replied as my ears reached a rather unpleasant for another guy flapping sound. “Normally the we send couriers, but since Boss went missing, we had to send them looking for him.”

I recalled DJ Pon3’s announcement that I’ve listened to just a few hours earlier, about the chairmen of a casino there had been gone for the last two weeks and nobody had seen him alive. This buck must be working for him… or used to, at least.

Since I figured it would be rather unwise to inquire about his missing boss, I asked instead “What do you do normally then?”

To my surprise, he snorted briefly. “Heh, please,” he replied, furthering confusion, as he began washing his hooves. “So, how’s the Wasteland treating you?”

“You mean between getting blown to bits and having tunnels collapse with me inside while fighting a horde of feral ghouls?” I asked, and despite still slightly shaking at the memory of those things, I smirked seeing the other pony’s glancing at me with surprise. “Not so bad.”

He chuckled. “I like you,” he said, drying his hooves. “You’ve got a good sense of humor for a stable bumpkin.” I rolled my eyes at that; by this point, those jokes about stable ponies were getting old for me. We both turned to leave the toilet; I hold the door for him as he followed. “Tell you what, boy; as a welcoming gift to the Wasteland, I will give you a quick lesson how to live.”

I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant by that, but he quickly added: “Oh, and by the way, my name is Suit Up.”

Fitting, I thought, shaking his hoof. The next second he grabbed and pulled me to himself, his other hoof seizing my shoulders in patronizing manner. “Lesson one: cut down your mane,” Suit Up said, pointing at it. “A longer mane doesn’t go with your suit.”

“Um…” I looked at him as if he was crazy. “I’m not wearing a suit.”

Without missing a beat, he continued: “Lesson two: get a suit.”

Is this guy some kind of a salespony?

The odd pony continued: “Suit’s are cool. Exhibit A” he added, pointing at himself.

“Where would I even get a suit?!”

Suit Up rolled his eyes and reached to his side with his mouth, and pulled out a calling card out of a pocket. “Here’,” he said as I took it why my wing, The card had a bit CAESAR'S GRAVE CASINO written on it. “Pop in when you get to Applewood and my people will get you one. Now, where was I… right! Lesson three: don’t even think about getting married till you're thirty.”

I blinked and looked away. Is this guy for real?

We continued to trot slowly back to the dinner’s main hall as he talked. “Lesson four: never sleep with a girl who is more crazy than hot.”

I was officially beyond confused. “I… what?”

“Stable ponies know nothing…” Suit Up murmured as he stopped. “Okay, it’s like this: every girl - doesn’t matter if a pony, griffin, or whatever - is crazy, but it’s okay, as long she’s equally hot.”

I began regretting that I talked to the guy when he entered the toilet. Suit Up lifted a hoof and began drawing lines in the air to illustrate what he was talking about.

“Thus, if the girl is this crazy,” he pointed, then his hoof rose higher, “she has to be this hot. If she’s this crazy,” he pointed further on the imaginary line, “she has to be that hot. You want to keep the girl above this line,” Suit Up said, his hoof sliding from one point to another, “, also knowns as the Milk Way Diagonal.”

Despite feeling that I will regret it, I shot him a questioning look.

“This mare I dated,” he grimaced. “She played jump rope with that line. She shaved her head; then lost ten pounds. She stabbed me with a fork; then get a nipple job…” I glanced at him as he unexpectedly trailed off. He was pondering something- “I should give her a call…”

And that’s my cue to leave. I tried to get away from his foreleg, but he gripped my tighter and continued trotting. Resigned, I followed him.

“Lesson five: don’t be afraid to talk to a girl, even though you will probably fail to pick her up.” What kind of lesson was that?! “Let me pick a target for you…”

He began to scan the ponies sitting in the diner, while I wondered if I could use Shadow Flight to get away from him… when I suddenly felt him freeze. I glanced at him surprised and saw a pure terror on his face. Faster than I could react, he turned around and high-tailed back into the corridor, jumping out of the window.

Confused, I turned to see what he was looking at… and found myself staring at Midnight’s furrowed muzzle.

My head was buzzing with questions. I gave her a weak smile and shrugged, then flew after Suit Up. I wanted to know how those two had met; I know Midnight well enough to know that there was no way that she would have slept with him, so that ruled out the first possible explanation as to was that about.

I flew out the window, searching for the rainbow-maned buck… and saw him digging himself out of the dumpster that was right below the window.

Stifling a laugh, I landed next to him. “Are you okay?”

“Sure, I’m awesome,” he replied nonchalantly as he shook slightly.

Amazingly, his suit was practically untouched.

“What was that about?” I asked him. “Did something happen between you and Midnight.”

“Oh, you know her?” I nodded, while he chuckled. “Heh, I wish there was… but nah, never nailed her. Got my ass kicked plenty of times, though. Speaking of, I’d better get out town before she decides to follow me.”

I was about to ask him how he planned to do that - the train had already left back to the Desert Station - as he reached for something in his suit. The small black device he pulled out was recognizable even to me: a short-wave radio.

“Top Gun, this is Suit Up,” he said to it once he turned it on and pressed to his ear. “I’m in front of Mom’s Diner. Pick me up, over.”

“Already?” from the radio came a surprised sounding reply, then a sight. “Okay, I’ll be there in a moment, over.”

“Good, over and out,” Suit Up said, turning off the device.

As he hid the radio back into the inner packet of his suit, he spotted me giving him an inquiring look. “What, you didn’t think I’ve walked all the way from Applewood, did you?”

“Kinda,” I admitted. How else was he supposed to get here other than by hooves and train?

“Well, my friend, prepare to be amazed,” Suit Up said, and just as he had finished that sentance, a very loud noise sounded unexpectedly nearby.

I looked around, trying to locate the source of the noise… and then my jaw dropped. A giant, red-and-gold painted machine was raising from behind some buildings, propelled by a giant rotors mounted on rotating engine. I watched astonished as it gradually got higher and closer.

Suit Up didn’t even bother to try and hide smugness from his voice. “This, my fresh-out-of-a-stable friend, is a CV-02 Vertibuck that belongs to Caesar’s Grave Casino, the Danger Zone!” he called over the noise the machine was making. “You have no idea how much pain it was to get this out of Las Pegasus’ ruins into Applewood before the Brotherhood got their hooves on it and then make it work again, but damn it was worth it!”

I was left speechless as I gazed at the giant pile of metal that flew towards. Some part of my brain made a note of a rope ladder being dropped from the side doors.

“Well,” Suit Up spoke up as the ladder stopped in front of him. “it was nice meeting you kid. Pop up in the casino when you have some time, we could go on a pickup hunt together, It’s will be LEGEND-wait for it…” he trailed off as he grabbed the ladder. Almost immediately, the Vertibuck began rising, pulling Suit up with him. “-DARY!” he shouted back and gave me a small salute.

I just continued to stare after him for the next few seconds. Finally, I regained some sense, and asked out loud: “What the fuck just happened?”

“Where you’ve been?” Scrap asked as I trotted back to the table.

“Didn’t you hear the freaking Vertibuck outside?” I answered with a question as I made unnecessarily large circle around Hedwig to get to my saddlebags under the table.

The snow-colored griffin had such a fake innocent smile that even if that tail thing had happened to somebody else, I would have still known something was up. I forced myself to look away from her and dove for my barding.

“What Vertibuck?” Scrap asked, confused.

I looked up from under the table and gazed at him sharply with shock, which faded away and was replaced by irritation and amusement as I saw Midnight hitting him with a rolled up magazine.

“Geez, cannot even make a joke around you,” he pouted as he rubbed the place she hit.

Midnight didn’t even respond to him. Instead, she turned to me. “So that WAS Suit Up I saw with you,” she said, looking annoyed. “What did he want from you?”

“We made some small talk, and he, well…” I paused to think how to best describe what he was exactly talking about. “... um, began giving me some advice…” The look on Midnight’s face told me she had figured out what sort of advice he tried to give me. “I didn’t ask for it!” I quickly added. “But then he saw you and just ran away.”

That last part made the blue unicorn crack a smile. “Good to know he still remembers me. By any chance, he didn’t say anything about his missing boss, did he?”

“Well, he did mention that because of him being gone he had a lot more things to do than normally.”

Midnight sighed and hid her face in her fore hooves. “And you of course didn’t think to pry him for more information, right?” Despite asking, she didn’t wait for my answer (which, considering how stupid she just made me feel, was probably a good thing). The unicorn threw her leg into the air and leaned against the wall. “For Goddesses’ sake, it’s like traveling with a kid!”

“Oh, give me a break!” I snorted, embarrassed and annoyed at her comment. As I pulled my new barding from the saddlebags, I added. “And besides, I am only sixteen anyway, so-”

“WHAT?!”

I looked up at the sound of three surprised voices. All of them said the same thing at the same time, and all had a matching expression of utter shock.

“What?” I asked in return. “How old did you think I was?”

“Well, I figured you were at least couple years younger,” Midnight began, being the first to recover, “but sixteen… and they send you to find the water talisman? Seriously?”

“If you really must know,” I said, somewhat offended by her words, “the Overmare gathered a bunch of us and made us draw to decide who would get send.”

Tired already of this topic, I turned to look at my barding instead. I smiled as I sawd the proud 39 on the blue suit, now protected by the armor plates from the executive Magic Gun’s combat armor. I wondered how this would look on me, and I didn’t waste more time to check it out.

“When this is all over,” I hear Midnight mutter as I put my barding on, “I think I will tag along with you back to your Stable so I can slap that bitch for sending a kid into the Wasteland.”

I pulled my head through the barding and looked at her. “Um… thanks?” What else was I supposed to say? I finished dressing and looked around my body. I looked badass! I rose into air and made a barrel to get a better look at some parts, as well as test my movements, which weren’t hindered at all. “Thanks for getting my barding fixed, too.”

Midnight waved a hoof, dismissively. I paused to see if she at least smiled, but no such luck. Guess she’s still pissed…

Speaking of…

“So,” Hedwig began, “how about my offer?”

I looked at her. She was smiling as if she knew what my answer was going to be. Did she did that just to convince me? I wondered, and a suspicion that maybe Midnight was on to something aroused in my head.

“Won’t your boss have something against it?” I asked her to gain some time to make my decision.

She blinked, surprised by the question, but she quickly shrugged. “Capital Station has a contract for protection with the 303 Company entirely. So it’s up to our boss, Sky’ree, who guards the city. If I mention that it’s a debt of honor thing, he won’t have anything against it, as long as whatever you’re up to won’t go against any of our other contracts.” She glanced at me and added: “On that note, what are you up to? I don’t believe you told me before somebody interrupted us.”

Midnight was avoiding my gaze, and Scrap just shrugged. Very helpful guys…

“Well,” I sighed, turning back to the griffin, “as Midnight had mentioned, I was sent by the Overmare of my Stable to find a water talisman.” Hedwig nodded. “On our way here, we kinda came upon the knowledge of unexplored Stable, a few hours trot from Capital Station. I hoped to get into and find a water talisman; provided their inhabitants won’t have anything against it.”

“Considering they’re most likely dead, I don’t think they will,” Hedwin commented, taking a sip from her drink.

“Hey! My Stable is working perfectly!” I exclaimed, taking the offense on the remark.

“Yeah, and that’s why you’re here,” she smiled drily.

I groaned and facehoofed. She had me there.

“Even if this Stable's dwellers are alive,” Scrap interjected, “there will be still a chance that they will have a spare one, or maybe locations of the nearby stables in their databanks. Stable-Tech’s standard safety protocol,” he added when I looked at him surprised. “When Stable-Tech had buil them, they expected that some things might go wrong, or that people in panic will try to go to wrong stable. With the locations of the nearby stables, the stable dwellers could go for help, and the security could redirect ponies to the stable they had a pass for.” He stopped his lecture and looked at me oddly. “Come to think of it, I’m kinda surprised that your Overmare hadn’t given you the location of the stables near yours. Surely they must have them in their databanks…”

“Well, she didn’t give me anything,” I said, glancing at my PipBuck. My PipBuck which, for some reason, had an outdated spell matrix.

“Another reason to slap that bitch,” Midnight snorted, then looked at me sharply. “I don’t think you’re that kind of stupid to forget if she had given you those locations… right?”

I somehow suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and snort, and just nodded. I turned back to Hedwig. “So, we’re going there now. Does your Company’s contract have anything against it?”

“Not that I can think off,” she shrugged. “So, what’s your decision?”

She looked at me intensively and smirked. “Well…” I mumbled, feeling unsure under her gaze. “The more the merrier, I always say.”

“Great,” Hedwig replied, smiling. “I hate have unpaid debts.” She extended one of legs with open talons. I have her my hoof and we shook on it. “I will get you to that Stable and then back, and we will be even.”

Her grip on my hoof tightened for a brief moment and she winked. With her right at that, so the others didn’t see it.

“A-awesome,” I managed to reply. “It’s a deal.”

The smile on her beak became wider, giving her a rather scary look, but she quickly let go of my hoof and began to stand up, so I might have imagined it.

“I need to tell my boss about it. I’ll meet you guys at the gates.” She waved without turning back. “Later.”

We all replied with something along those lines. My eyes stayed for a few moments on her flank and tail wondering what was that wing supposed to mean, before I turned around… and saw Midnight and Scrap looking at me with a matching expression of accusation.

“Please tell me you’re not bringing her along on a slim hope that she will let you bone her,” Midnight asked, more annoyed than angry.

“What?!” I exclaimed, terrified that they knew what was happening under the table. “N-no, why would you think that!?” I asked, feeling very hot.

I didn’t need to see their sceptical faces to know that they didn’t believe me. Midnight and Scrap exchanged a look. “We’re heading into a raiders’ territory with a freaking horny teenager,” the unicorn summed up, once more burying her face in her hooves. “I’m getting so drunk after we get back…”

Scrap chuckled as he rose from his seat. “Well, that will be a sight worth surviving this trip. Besides, aren’t you overdramatizing?”

“Maybe a bit,” she admitted. “Where are you going?”

“I figure I’d better get some heavier equipment,” the earth pony buck replied, smirking. “I’ll catch up with you at the gates.”

With those words, he nodded to Midnight and winked at me. Too stressed out by everything I just waved as he turned around and left.

Midnight was still covering her face. Against my better judgement, I asked: “Are you okay?”

She looked at me sharply. “Yeah, just dandy,” she growled. The unicorn shook her head and stood up. “Let’s just go.”

I followed her out of the diner, worried. I didn’t mean to cause her that much of distress… But what could I do about it? Compared to her, I was weak and helpless.

Once we were outside, the blue unicorn turned to me: “I need to deliver something to someone. Can I trust you to go by yourself to the gate and possibly not get into any trouble?”

I quailed under her gaze. I could try to tell her that she didn’t need to treat me like a little kid, but… I had this feeling that in such discussion she would be proven right. So instead, I just sighed. “Yes, I will go to the gate and wait for everybody.”

“I mean it,” Midnight said, narrowing her eyes. “No wandering in and out of the city, no-”

“Yes, I got it,” I stopped her, then something hit me. “Wait, why aren’t I coming with you?”

She sighed. “Because that somebody I have a package for is Smitten Hammer, the town’s mechanic. He’s… kinda paranoid. It’s best to not overwhelm him, trust me.”

“Okay then… see you later,” I said as I unfolded my wings and soared a foot or two above the ground.

Midnight nodded and turned in another direction, but she quickly glanced back for one last barb. “If I find that in the meantime you took a cyberdragon as a pet I will shoot you in few places.”

With those words she began to trot away. I, on the other hoof, stared at her dumbfoundedly.

“A cyber what?”

I looked through the scope of my hunting rifle at the surrounding Wasteland, bored out of my mind. According to my PipBuck, it’s been only fifteen minutes since I parted with Midnight. To me, it seemed much longer.

Finding an exit from the town is surprisingly easy when one can fly. Even if the said one is too afraid to fly to high. I reached the gate and sat atop of the wall, conscious of the curious gazes from both the 303 mercs and the city’s guards. I soon moved a bit further away, out of their vision, even though they soon lost their interest in me.

The area surrounding us was… well, not similar to what I saw on the other side of the mountains. After all, Palamino was a desert. This part of Equestria was lush green before the Last Day, and further north and east were forests. However, the balefire had poisoned the land, A dried up patches of grass and shriveled black husks of trees were all that remained from those days.

I decided to look around through my scope, while at the same time I practiced some things I had read about in Guns and Bullets, namely about how one should hold their weapon. As I tried it now, I had realized what was giving me so much problems with shooting it; it was too heavy. My grip on it wasn’t strong enough to hold the gun steadily, which let me to missing so many times back in those Luna damned tunnels.

On the plus side, though, I hadn’t spotted any raider-looking pony. There also weren’t any strange creatures, for which I was grateful. I might have taken down that manticore, but it was a stroke of luck I shouldn’t count too often.

From this boring task of mine pulled me the sound of large feathery wings beating nearby. My ears twitched as the sound got closer. I looked at back, guessing who I was going to see.

“Hi Hedwig,” I said awkwardly, managing a smile. “So what did your boss say?”

“He gave me a go,” she grinned predatorily.

I was prepared to try to use Shadow Flight again if she gave me a reason.

“See anything interesting?” she asked nonchalantly, looking around.

Keeping my ears on her, I turned back to the Wasteland. “Nah, nothing as far as I can tell-”

She was fast. Way faster than I expected. Even with my ears detecting that she moved. I was still in the process of my brain telling my body what to do when I heard my rifle fall on the wall with a clank! and felt her talons clasps gently around my throat. As gently as having sharp griffin talons grab you by the throat could be.

I was so shocked that I even forgot to use Shadow Flight.

“How about we talk a bit more honestly for a while,” she whispered to my ear as her free foreleg wrapped around me. “Oh, and before you try that teleportation thing again…” she trailed off while I mentally facehoofed. I was about to try just that when I noticed something.

Her right foreleg was going lower, slipping under my barding…

“... here’s something to entertain you.” Hedwig said sultry as her talons grabbed my HELLO!

For the second time in like an hour I felt a piece of her body touch a rather sensitive part of my body. This time it was bigger, though, even if covered in golden scales and sharp. But she wasn’t hurting me; in fact, she was almost gentle as he played with my-

“So, let’s cut to the chase, shall we,” Hedwig asked, still holding me by my throat, although her greep grew more loose. “What’s that unicorn’s problem with me?”

“Midnight?” I asked stupidly.

“Yes. You see, I would prefer to not have to constantly watch over my shoulder” she said, then paused. “My, somebody is eager here!” she giggled.

You know, mentioning another girl when something is playing with your junk has a surprising effect of speeding up something that is already happening rapidly.

As if to make this more as much uncomfortable for me as possible, Hedwig continued to giggle. “Nice,” she whispered as her talons grabbed my thing, making me whimper. “Not the biggest I had, but still nice… oh, don’t pretend that you don’t enjoy it.”

Then came movement. OH SWEET PUSSYJUICE OF CELESTIA!

I gasped and whimpered. “Sixteen, right?” Hedwig chuckled. “Guessing by that and your reactions, so far only you had played with that, huh?”

I could feel her pressing her body to my back. Some part of my mind that was somehow still working noticed that I wasn’t the one getting excited with this situation.

“Maybe I will introduce you to an adult life all the way… but first business,” she whispered and her talons slowed their work. “What’s her problem?”

Of course, I spilled the beans almost at once. Pressure in my dick aside, what she said earlier made my brain implode. “She had a friend from 303 that tried to kill her over some bounty!” I exclaimed as my body tried to hump into her palm by reflex. The pressure was building up…

“Great, so because some asshole tried to off her she might want to kill me,” Hedwig snorted. She let go of my throat and moved her talons down my chest, “What a stupid -Whoa!”

One of the glorious perks of being a virgin; something touches your dick, and you’ll explode almost immediately. I had my eyes closed, so I didn’t see it happen, but I imagine that the sight of my cum shooting from atop of the wall must have been funny looking.

“And here I thought about taking it a bit further,” Hedwig giggled with disappointment as my muscle started becoming limp in her palm. “Oh, well, guess you will have something to hope for when we get back.”

“W-wait!” I gasped. I was already beyond embarrassment, but I didn’t want my first sexual experience to end just like that. “Um… shouldn’t I at least… r-return the favor?” I asked sheepishly turning around positive that my face looked as if I dove through charcoal.

“Oh?” she asked, cocking her head in amusement. “You think you can get me off with your hooves?”

“I… I thought more along the lines of... tongue?” I asked hopefully and ashamed.

Hedwig’s glared at me alluringly. “Hm… that is a tempting offer…” she whispered as she used one of her talons to scratch my chin. I all but melted. “I like you. You’re a pony… but at the same time, you’re a predator,” she grinned her her talon moved to my face and stopped at my fangs. “And yet you’re as timid as a prey… You’re really interesting,” Hedwig’s said, after which she laid on her back, and taking off the lower pieces of her armor. When she was done, she held her legs wide with her front paws. I could already see the tuft of fur between her legs dripping and ready for attention as her tail swished from left to right.

Not waiting for any clearer invitation, I dove in, eager to get a close look… except I didn’t use my eyes but my tongue. I already had a hard time controlling myself from where I stood, but when I was just inches away, the scent of her juices overwhelmed me.

I began licking the moist area, finding the taste of the griffin to be nothing but delicious. Soon I slipped my tongue in the warm flesh inside… and then it happened.

“Oh, fuck!” Hedwig, who have been purring quietly until now, gasped. “What did you… ughhhh!”

She took one of her fore paws from her hind leg to cover her beak and mask the loud moan that rose in her throat. You see, there is a little bit about bat pony that I hadn’t mentioned yet. Our tongues, while identical in muscle structure to other ponies, could stretch much further than theirs, about twice as long. I dimly recalled some scientist using that fact as a prove that in ancient times we must have used those tongues of ours for drinking… something…

Well, whatever it was, I was now using mine to please a griffin. Evolution.

I must admit, I took great satisfaction as Hedwig began to arch her back and trash around, all because of a little virgin me. The gasp that she was masking to not alert the guards to what was happening just around the corner from their post were a music to my ears. And when she came I let it all stick to my face, bathing myself in her scent.

I rose from between her legs to look at the gasping griffin. Hedwig lifted her head to ask; “H-how… what did you do?” while gazing at my covered in her juices face

I reply, I once again stretched out my tongue as far as possible and licked her off my face.

Hedwig’s eyes grew widen when she saw that. “Oh, I’m definitely keeping that…” I heard her murmur.

As I finished cleaning myself, I noticed there was another part of my body that needed attention. My interaction with Hedwig were enough to reawaken the one that had shamed me by his lack of restraint and now it sought a chance for redemption.

“Hey, Hedwig…” I said sheepishly turning to her.

The grin on her face was almost heartbreaking.

“Sorry. As tempting as it is, I don’t think we have the time.” she replied, getting up and reattaching her armor. “That unicorn friend of yours is in bitchy mood as it is.”

“We can do it quickly…” I tried pathetically, not wanting things to end so soon.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” she smirked, making me blush. “But, you see, there is a problem.” Hedwig added, coming closer to whisper something to my ear. “You don’t make a griffin female moan and whimper if you do not have the muscle to back it up. Next time… I’m going to ride you until you won’t be able to walk, Prey.”

I had the weirdest boner right then.

She giggled as she pulled back, seeing my mixed terrified-aroused expression. “Lets go,” she said, turning around and brushing my nose with her tail. “My place is not far away, we can clean ourselves up quickly.

Hedwig spread her wings and flew off, and I, reluctantly, followed, barely remembering to pick up my rifle. I caught up with her quickly, and since something just hit me regarding what she had said, I asked her: “Hey, you do know that without me my tongue is just a blob of meat, right?”

The gates of Capital station closed behind Midnight and Scrap as swiftly as they had opened. Hedwig and I just flew over them, though I had quickly rejoined our earth-bound companions, still not used to flying too high.

“What took you two so long?” Midnight asked me as soon as I landed.

By the time Hedwig and I returned to the gate, Midnignt and Scrap - who now had a battle-saddle on with a rocket launcher strapped into it - were already waiting at the gate, and only crossed it when they saw us.

“Oh, um,” I stattered. “You guys were taking so long that I asked Hedwig to show me some flying moves. You couldn’t get a good practice back in a crampy Stable, you know? Anyway, let’s go!” I exclaimed, smiling widely as I flew just above the ground in the direction of the Stable.

Behind me, I heard Midnight call out to Hedwig: “Couldn’t you wait to fuck him until we would got back?”

Footnote: 20% to next level.
Quest Perk Added: Pony Sutra – You are experienced in the art of giving and receiving physical pleasure. You are more likely to have sexual encounters with specific characters.
Racial Trait Unlocked: Shadow Flight - You are able to instantly teleport over a distance of a few yards, as long as it’s within your eyesight.