I woke up to the sound of my phone going off. I blindly slid my hand along my thigh until I found my pocket and fished it out, "Hmm- hello?"

"Morning baby, was it good for you too- wake the hell up!" my instructors brash voice broke through my haze. "It's nearly noon and you're still asleep!?"

"Nick? The hell is going on?" I brought my other hand to my eyes and tried to clear my vision, but my hand was refusing to come up, leaving me bleary and confused as I was berated over the phone.

"Issac wake up, you ready to come back home yet?"

I shifted slightly, "Already, I thought you said a week."

"Yeah well turns out these pony folk are similar enough to actual horses that cracking their genes was a cake walk, and sooner we get these bunks filled the better. So you ready?"

I gave it a short, fleeting even, thought, "One more day...mares...one more."

Nick gave a single laugh, "Finally lightening up and unwinding? About time. I'm scheduling a pickup for tonight. Nick out." Nick hung up.

I used my phone to shed some light, my arm was pinned under a white mass of pony, "Sweetie Belle, what the hell?" I grumbled as I tried to pry my arm free, she was latched onto it with both her hooves while the rest of her laid across my stomach, "Sweetie Belle...up...awake, need arm now!"

I yanked my arm free as the mare woke up, "What?" She looked around before laying her head back down on my gut, "Sun's not up yet." She closed her eyes before jerking her head up and rolling away from me, "You- why are you awake already!?

"You were asleep on me, why!?" I yelped as I tried to get to my feet.

Sweetie walked back until she bumped her flank into her bed, "It was cold last night, you were shivering and I-"

I managed to scramble to my feet and lean my back against the wall. "What?!"

"I woke up and you were shaking, I didn't want to-"

"Then throw a blanket over me!" I rubbed my face and tried to calm down. "Okay, I'm okay...I think I'm good." I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

Sweetie was drawing circles with her hooves as she tried to back away. "Sorry."

I ran my fingers through my hair as I calmed myself down. "Look it's fine. Just-" I let out a pained sigh. "That was unexpected is all."

We stood across from each other for a while. "So...you're not mad?" Sweetie asked as she walked over.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "No. I'm not mad. I didn't mean to sound mad, but waking up with someone laying across me was a bit startling."

Sweetie nodded. "So, breakfast?"

I looked around the room before shrugging and walking towards the door. "Sure, sounds good." I scratched the back of my head as Sweetie walked me through the house.

I hung lazily between asleep and awake as I stared at the salad in front of me. The two sisters at the table kept talking while I did everything I could to stay awake.

Rarity looked over at me. "Issac, what do you....about...." I was so out of it I only heard half of what she said.

"Yeah sure...." I took my head in my hands and tried to clear away my headache. As I pulled my head up I could see Sweetie blushing and Rarity giggling. "What happened?"

Sweetie was snickering as she held her mouth shut, Rarity was just giggling outright and lowered her head. Her mane nearly fell into her food as the duo laughed at some unseen joke. Trying to ignore it I grabbed an apple and started eating, the apple giving off a crisp snap as I bit into it.

I was finally waking up when my phone started going off. "I'll be outside." I mumbled as I took my leave.

I made it outside and sat on the stoop. "Hello?"

"Issac!? Awesome, hey listen I'll make it quick." Thomas, one of my few friends on the Druid. "Come and see me when you get back, I have some work I need help with and you'll get something too!"

"What the hell are you-" I was cut off by a whirl. "Did he just...fucker!" I pocketed my phone and stretched out on the porch.

I sat there until Sweetie peeked out the door. "Are you okay? We didn't mean to laugh at you-"

I just looked back at her, a look of confusion plastered to my face. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Sweetie gave a single chuckle. "Nothing...so why are you outside?"

"I had a call, did you want to listen in? Because let me tell you...you don't want to talk to Thomas...he's a lunatic."

Sweetie walked onto the porch. "Hmm, he sounds like a weirdo."

"He is a weirdo. But he's my friends so you know...have to put up with him." I scratched my thigh as I stretched my leg out. "So you ready to head up?"

"Up where?" Sweetie plopped her flank down next to me.

I sat the staring at her. "Up there. You know...space."

She realized what I meant and let out a long Oh. "Today?"

"Tonight." I retorted. "In fact...you mind gathering everyone who's going? I think he's gonna land at the school again."

Sweetie looked up before nodding wildly. "Oh...but uh...no ponys seen Scootaloo for a while...."

I tapped the tips of my boots together. "Apple Bloom and Sliver Spoon are at the orchard still...just bring them. I'll find the last- Scootaloo."

Sweetie nodded. "So...you gonna finish your breakfast?" She gave me an excessively wide grin after asking.

"No, go ahead and take it. I need some meat or...I don't know. Something substantial." she darted off inside, leaving me alone once again. "Well, better get going." I pushed off the porch and started off down the road. How hard would it be to find one person in this town.

I let out a sharp whistle. The rainbow tailed girl snapped her head to me, poking it through a cloud. "What's up human?"

"Great that saves some time. I'm looking for someone named Scootaloo!" I shouted up to the half hidden mare in the clouds. She leaned farther out of the clouds until she fell out and landed in front of me. I didn't like how much taller she was than me, it was a bit unnerving.

She cocked her head at me. "You're short...."

"I know...look do you know who I'm talking about or not?"

She looked behind her. "Scoots...she uh...she's locked up in her house. Why do you want to know, who are you!?" She snapped into a defensive pose. "Did you do it to her!?"

I threw my arms up and took a step back. "Do what!?"

The mare stared me down, taking a few steps towards me and staring down at me. "She's been like this all week, ever since that thing showed up!" She thrust a hoof into the air.

I thought about it for a moment. "Oh...oooh...yeah, that might have been my fault." I muttered defeatedly. "She signed up to go to classes up there a few days ago, maybe she's having second thoughts."

The rainbow mare slowly folded her wings and eased her stance. "So...she's leaving?" I nodded. "With you?" another nod. She took her time and looked me up and down. "Come on...you humans are usually harmless-" Her back leg kicked out as she shuddered. "U-usually...."

I took a step away from her. Something about her movements was rather...deviant. Getting a bit brave I asked, "Did you uh...with a-"

Rainbow girl grew flustered. "No, I mean...maybe- I- let's just go."

I let out a single stifled laugh, getting an angry glare in return. "I'm not judging you...it's just funny is all." my words did nothing to turn her glare away, instead only causing it to intensify.

"You're the one walking behind me short stop. Be careful, I stop abruptly and I might just make a new friend." she jeered with a chuckle.

I snapped to attention before walking next to her. "Wow...that was-"

"Awesome, I know."

"I was going to say pedophiliac but what ever."

The mare stopped dead. "Oh my gosh...you're not an- oh..." her ears plastered themselves down as a blush grew on her face. "I'm so sorry."

I started smiling wryly. "Can't believe that worked." I laughed hard. "No but really, even if I wasn't underage...you'd uh...you'd crush me." I added a smile at the end to seem non-confrontational.

Rainbow girl let out a weak laugh. "Sure- wait a second! Are you calling me fat!?"

I found myself eye to eye with the larger creature. "No? I think you're calling yourself fat."

"Don't you put words in my mouth!"

"No, you want something else in your mouth!" I shouted at her. A long silence ensued between us as we both simmered down. I eeked out a laugh. "Something else...heh."

Rainbow girl just snorted. "Just shut up and follow me. You're almost as bad as the last one."

"You'd know better than me." I muttered to myself as I followed the flamboyant mare.

"There. The one with the wind chime." Rainbow pointed out a small house.

"Thank you. Oh and sorry for the dirty jokes."

Dash waved her hoof. "It's cool." with that she took to her wings and flew off.

It was amazing to me that such a large animal could fly, but I suppose it did just happen right in front of me. It made me wonder about the girl I was about to meet, something was rather dour about her, something I couldn't put my finger on.

I pushed it all aside and walked over to the building. I knocked a few times and waited for a response. "Scootaloo? It's Issac Harding, from the academy. Hello?" No response. I waited for a long time before deciding to do something a little drastic.

I pulled a few tools out of my backpack and went to work on the lock. Truly a lost art, but useful non the less. It took about ten minutes for me to finally jimmy the lock open and get into the house. "I'm coming inside." I yelled as I stepped into the darkened house.

The place was a bit of a wreck, empty bottles everywhere, clothes strewn about, it reminded me of my room before joining the academy. "Why are you here?" a soft voice broke the silence.

I hurried off to find it. Scootaloo was sitting alone at her dining table. "We're leaving ahead of scheduled, tonight." I put my hands on the table and looked around. "So...you live alone?" she nodded. "Why's it dark?" she shrugged. "Are you alright?" she shook her head.

"I'll be fine when we leave." A long pause fell over us. "You can leave you know."

I lowered my head. "Not really...where am I supposed to go-"

"Anywhere but here!" Scootaloo snapped. "Just get out!"

I took a moment before pulling back a chair and sitting down. "No."

Scootaloo just stared at me. "Fine, just sit there then."

"Why the hell are you so hostile!?"

"Why are you still here!?"

I wanted to shake her hard, I had put up with angst before but this was just rude. "What's wrong with you?" I asked quietly.

Scootaloo got angry fast, fast and far more than was warranted. "What's wrong with me!? You know, even if I tried to tell you, you wouldn't get it. You wouldn't understand! Even Dash doesn't get it, Dash never had to go through this!"

I slammed my hands on the table and stood up. "Try me, I've lived a pretty fucked up life too so calm the fuck down!"

Scootaloo shrank back in her seat. "You know...Ryan was alright...but you...you're just a jerk like everypony else." She looked up at me. "You don't even care about me, you just care about getting that paper thingy."

I ran my tongue along my lips. "Shut up. Unless you're going to tell me why you're so uppity just shut the fuck up!" I screamed at her.

Scootaloo's glare intensified. "You really want to know? I don't think you do...I don-"

"Shut up and tell me damn it!" I kicked my chair backwards and slammed my palms against the table again. "I'm starting to think you just like to bitch for no good reason!"

"Eight." she stated coldly. "Eight years without them. Fifteen years without my cutiemark. Fifteen years without flying!" she pushed backwards from the table. "Is that enough for you!?" with that final shriek she ran off.

"Hey!" I ran after her, catching her in the hall. I shook her hard. "Listen to me, and listen very closely. It's my job to make sure I get healthy recruit, mentally and physically. Your trauma is no different than anyone else's so get over it!" I shook her hard once again. "I know what it's like, losing your family, being different, I know better than you could ever imagine!" I stared Scootaloo in the eyes. "I know it hurts...I know exactly what it feels like." I slowly pulled her into a hug. "The emptiness, the hollow feeling in your gut, the constant churn and quake in your body, I know it all!"

"You don't know me, you don't know what I've been through!" she screamed into my chest.

"I watched my parents burn to death in front of me!" I shouted as I pushed her back, staring into her eyes. "Don't you ever tell me I don't understand what pain is." I let Scootaloo go and sat back down. "I watched them burn to death...but you don't see me being an asshole to everyone. I'm shorter than everyone else, but you don't see me getting a complex."

Scootaloo sat back down across from me. She stared at me before letting her head fall to the table. "What were they like?"

I ran my hand across my face before propping up my chin. "They weren't good people, but they...they tried. In the end I think it's what got them killed." I rubbed my mouth. "Once they died my uncle sent me to the academy, been there six years now. What about you...your parents some end all savior?"

Scootaloo rested her head on the table and looked at me. "They were just normal ponies. Just normal ponies like everypony else. But normal ponies get sick...too sick to move." she closed her eyes as she rolled herself face first with the table. "They got sick and just...just went away."

Things got quiet between us. Two people just sitting in a dark room, waiting for the other to say something profound, but it never came. Hours went by as we just sat at that table, hanging in limbo until the time came. My phone started going off, I didn't bother answering. "Scootaloo it's time to go."

She just stared blankly as her head rested on the table. I scooped her up and put her onto my shoulder as I hurried out. The walk was quiet save one quick chat between us. "Issac."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." Scootaloo mumbled into my back. "About...you know."

"Aye. Me too, a bit out of line and all." I rubbed her back as I walked. "Listen, you're probably going to be put in the same barrack as me...so...if you ever want to talk about anything...I'll uh...you know...be there."

"Yeah...sure." Scootaloo finally settled in and let me carry her without argument. The walk through town was quick, even quicker when I saw the ship they had sent. Not the same shuttle but a small frigate.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Silver Spoon, and...who the hell was that. Pink...pink!? "Oh shit." I groaned to myself.

The pink one was arguing with my instructor. "I'm sure it will be fine...oh...Issac, hey. This everyone?"

I set Scootaloo down and let her lean into my side. "Yeah, except for the pink one. The hell she doing here?" I asked the small herd to my left.

Apple Bloom stepped forward. "We came over like ya said, then Tiara just showed up and started yellin for ya."

The pink one ran over to me. "You, you think you can just take my friend away!? And these nerds...they think their so much better than me just cause they get to go to school. Well I can go too!" She yanked a document out and held it for me. Everything was signed and looked clean.

I let my mind conjure up as many swears as I could while I lead everyone into the ship with Nick. Nick stopped me as the airlock opened. "When we get back I want you to set up their bunks, you'll be in charge of about six of em so get the rooms ready."

I nodded. "So they're going for vaccination?"

Nick's right eye twitched at the word. "Yep...they're gonna be out of it for a while so make sure they have a place to crash." We sat quietly in a waiting area while a few medical teams filtered in. The ponies seemed a bit shook up as the doctors slowly lead them deeper into the ship. Nick and I just sat in the waiting room and watched as they were given a number of shots in their flanks. "Damn...that's gonna hurt. Hey Issac."

"Huh?"

"You like freckles? One of the other recruiters found a girl like the red head in there, gonna put her in your block okay?"

I scratched my head as I waited. "Not like I have much of a choice."

"Nope." Nick laughed. "Six beds...three rooms...and you surrounded by females. I have to be honest, if you manage to not get laid, I'm going to be horribly disappointment in you."

I felt my face start to burn as I stared at my feet. "You did this on purpose didn't you."

Nick laughed. "A little." I shook my head and waited quietly.

We were docked on the Druid in minutes, letting me get back to my room and set my stuff down. I found my credits and immediately found a vending machine. "Come on damn it...come on!" I kicked the machine as my jerky slowly fell. Once it was free I lunged for it and tore the bag open. I relished in it as my desire for flesh was sated.

I enjoyed my food as I walked lazily to the empty rooms on my block. I pressed into each one and laid out the beds. There wasn't much to do so I ended up sitting in the last one just eating my jerky.

"Issac!?" a familiarly scratchy voice came bursting through the door. Thomas jumped into the room, still dressed in scrubs, and tossed me a vial. "Been looking all over for you, I need your cum!"

I just sat there, mouth full of jerky, hands busy with a vial and a bag. I took my time and bit through the jerky. "Okay...so: What. The. Fuck?"

Thomas shook his head. "Level with me here, I cracked their gene code open and I think I can do something awesome." Thomas pointed to the vial. "I'm gonna make a little pony clone, but I need some Cale- human- Miran- it doesn't matter, I need some male DNA."

I just sat there and stared blankly. "Why do you need me to do anything?"

Thomas crossed his arms. "They said not to...if I did it they'd find out it was me through a blood test, and I figured you'd love the prospect of having a little pony clone of yourself...was I wrong?"

I stopped mid chew, that did sound...kinda cool, maybe I could even jump bodies at some point. The prospect of jumping into a body of a magic using horse was surprisingly appealing. I took another piece of jerky in my mouth. "Gud dam it." I mumbled as I stood up. "You sure I won't get in trouble if you fuck up?"

"One hundred percent mostly. They'll think I uh...did something lewd for a cadet to get it."

I shook my head as I looked at the vial. "You're risking your heterosexuality for cloning? You're either brave or stupid."

"Why can't I be both?" Thomas asked with a laugh. "Anyways you gonna do it or not?"

I stood up and walked out of the room, Thomas tailing me as I walked back into my own room. "I'll get it back to you later."

Thomas shook his head. "Now dude...I've got about three hours to start this and everyone else is busy with the new students."

I closed the door. "Just...wait in the hall then...god damn the things I do for science." I joked to myself. What ensued was a rather pressured donation to gene splicing. "....Here." I held the vial by the top and handed it to him. "I want it to be noted that you're a creepy mother fucker."

"Everyone already knows." He pressed his goggles against the vial. "Hmm...you need to drink more water."

"By the Mother dude...get the hell out of here. But let me know when I can come and check it out!"

Thomas gave a quick salute as he ran off, bumping into the recruits as he ran off. They all looked completely haggard. "Hello everyone." I said cheerily as I shook out my leg. "Two to a room, beds are already made and-"

They were completely ignoring me, shuffling lethargically into the nearby doors. Scootaloo and Sweetie. Pink and Silver. Apple Bloom and some brown pony. All tucked away rather quickly.

I hurried to check on them, or rather one of them. "Apple Bloom...you okay."

She let out a guttural moan as she laid her chin on her bed, the rest of her body too out of it to climb into it. "My flank hurts...."

The other pony wasn't faring much better, half on and half off her bed. I hurried over and lifted the dazed duo into their respective beds and went to the others. Sweetie had managed to make it to the doorway before knocking out, Scootaloo was asleep on the desk chair, Pink one had curled up next to the bed, and Silver was asleep while leaned against a wall.

"Yep...gotta love vaccination time." I rubbed my arm to kill off any sympathy pains and went into my room. I laid back on my bed and curled up for what might finally be a good nights sleep.