“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

It was getting dark as a crumbling city skyline began coming into view.  My hooves ached, since I had never walked this long in my life.  I also had a strained hoof to attend to.

We walked in silence.  It saddened me to think only a few short hours ago, the filly in front of me was bouncing off the walls with energy.

As we neared the city, I broke the silence, “So, what is the name of this town?”

“That there pippy buck thing on yer forehoof’s a map, use it.” Came the slow, cold response of Knick-Knack.

I turned my attention to my pipbuck.  A tap of my hoof and the display showed a map of the surrounding area.  There was a flashing green marker on the map closest to our location, another hoof tap.  “Detrot,” I read to myself.  How did it know where I was?  As far a I knew no one in stable 13 had been outside the stable since before the war.  I really wished Nicky was in the mood to talk more.

***  ***  ***

“The Chariot Hotel,” read a nearly burnt out neon sign above the door.  I followed Nicky into the lobby.  The carpet that lined the interior of the lobby was so old and dirty, it was solid black and the wallpaper was falling off on the far wall; the only wall that still had wallpaper on it.  The other walls were a dingy brown, with holes here and there revealing rusty pipes.  To the left side of the room were some steps that may have looked fancy in their heyday, but looked barely capable of supporting its own weight, let alone that of a pony.

As we walked in, an older unicorn mare perked up from reading a magazine in a chair near the front desk and galloped over to Nicky.

“Oh my stars in heaven! Little Knick-Knack, is that you!  It has been ages since y’all’s caravan came through here.  Oh you’ve grown so much.  How’s the folks? They around here too?” The mare said to Nicky as she neared.

“Mah’ fam-ly’s’ dead!” Nicky screamed, her voice cracking slightly, clearly trying not to cry.

The mare fell silent.  Honestly, how was she supposed to react to that kind of news?

“O-oh, honey…I’m so sorry.” the mare  finally spoke, “I-I didn’t know…”

The older mare reached down to hug the filly who was failing to hold back her stream of tears, but the filly squirmed free and ran up the stairs.

Huh, I thought, those stairs are sturdier than they look.

I turned my attention back to the unicorn in front of me.  She had a calming dark pink coat and a pale pink wavy mane.  I couldn’t get a good look at her cutie mark since she wore a pale blue dress that was turned slightly grey by time. Her eyes were a deep blue.  They memorized me to the point where I couldn’t look away.  A strange feeling came from my private area.  Wow, she is desirable in more ways than one, I mused.

“Miss?” the mare’s voice cut in snapping me back to my senses, “Did you hear me?  I asked what was your name?”

My face flushed a similar color to her coat, “Uh, Clash,” I ignored the feeling of something, that I knew was not sweat, trickling down my rear leg, “Clash Coat…is uh…my name.”

I took some deep breaths and tried to think of something besides the dirty thoughts penetrating my mind.  Clean thoughts, Clash!

“Umm…” I struggled with the words I wanted to say, “Ni…Nicky, she’ll be ok..hmm...ok wandering by herself?”

“Why, yes miss Coat!  Little Knick-Knack practically grew up in these halls.  She’ll likely be in her folk’s usual room, room 123.”  The dazzling, blue-eyed mare in front of me said as she drew me in for a hug, “Thank y’all for bringing Nicky here, the wasteland can be so cruel and unforgiving, ‘specially for someone as precious as Knick-Knack.”

Her perfume was intoxicating.  My olfactory sensors couldn’t place the magnificent sent because of my life in a stable.  Her sent only made my nethers tingle more.  I never wanted to leave her embrace, but at the same time I had to escape before things got more awkward.

“So sad to hear about Pearl and Junker.  But now She’s safe in the Chariot.  Thank y’all for watching out for her.  Not many folks woulda.” She continued, “I can’t thank you enough for your kindness.  If there is anything you need, let me know.”

“Anything?” I asked allowed unintentionally, swallowing a lungfull of her sweet aroma.

She let go.

“Yes, dear, anything,” she reached into a pocket on the dress, “Here take these caps for your troubles.”

I took the 15 bottle caps from her hoof.  I wasn’t sure how bottle caps were equal to some sort of payment, but my mind was so distracted by her lingering scent and the sensation in my haunches, that I took the caps and put them in my bag without question.

Finally, It was too much.  I needed to get to somewhere private.

“B-bath-r-room?” I inquired.

“Down the hall to the left, Dear.” The beautiful mare responded.

I quickly trotted in the direction she had pointed.

***  ***  ***

The bathroom reminded me of the undesirables bathroom back in stable 13. Instead of  just white tiles, they were white and grey, arranged in an alternating pattern.  However, most of the tiles were broken.  Most were so cracked they were just little squares of dust, packed into the floor by the influence of heavy hooves..  I was very thankful that the yellowish brown pool of water I’d seen in the undesirable’s bathroom the night I left the stable, was not in this bathroom.  

There was one noticeable difference in this bathroom to that of the undesirable bathroom of stable 13.  Near the door there was a yellow box emblazoned with 3 butterflies mounted on the wall at head height.  In the undesirable’s bathroom all there were 4 holes where the box had been removed long before I was born.

“Ok, calm down miss hot and bothered.” I said out loud to myself splashing water on my burning face.

I ignored the soft click from the geiger counter on my pipbuck.

Finally, feeling the sensation between my rear legs begin to dissipate, but not disappear entirely, I was able to think clearly.

“KNICK-KNACK!” I shrieked in a sudden bout of panic as I realized I let her run off on her own.

It was amazing how much of a motherly instinct I had when I wasn’t hot for the first four-legged creature I saw – It was amazing I had motherly instincts at all on account of how bad my mother was at being motherly.

I was distracted from my sudden care for Nicky by a faint beeping from my pipbuck.  It had never done anything like that before.  I looked down at the device; the screen read “new message.”  I tapped the read option and the message opened, it read:

“As the fruits of eden did incur, a curiosity that is most forbidden be indicted within, once plucked gave the sordid answers twas sought.”

Great, even my pipbuck wants me to have sex.

***  ***  ***

“Nicky, you wanna talk?” I asked knocking on the door to room 123.

No answer.

“Knick-Knack, you shouldn’t keep your feeling bottled up.  It will help to talk about the death of your parents.  Speaking of bottles, the se..silly mare we met when we arrived gave me some caps as a thanks for keeping you safe, caps isn’t that funny?”

No answer.

“I’m not going to go away.”

The door opened.

“Keep’m, the caps.  The’e the crency of the wastes.” Came the filly’s voice, horse from crying.

I looked up at her tear soaked face.  It may have just been the dim lighting in the room, but her once curly mane looked perfectly straight.

I walked inside and sat on the edge of the bed, it creaked under my weight.  The room was excessively dusty, though unlike the lobby, all the walls had wallpaper; a blue floral patturn that had faded slightly over time.  Though there was a place for a light on the ceiling, no bulbs were present.  The only light in the room came from the hall, the setting greyness outside, and a lantern on a desk by the door.

“Partta’ me wants to blame ya for ma’ an pa’s death,” Nicky spoke after a long scilence, “we’da been her earlier had pa not driven are car-EE-van cert slower as ta not wake y’all.  Hadda we jus left ya, or drove are normal speed weeda been here long bafore dem raders camin’.”

“I’m sorry.” I said instinctively.

“But it ain’t yer fault, Marker’s crew been terrorezen’ that rode for weeks.” She assured me.

I smiled sheepishly, “There is a silver lining: I was there.  I regret not saving your parents, but at least I was able to save you and now you’re not on your own.”

“I recon’ I was the one who saved you.”  She replied with a grin, some curliness returning to her mane, “Can we go to the market, the one in the lobby?”

“Tell you what, I have 15 caps, I’ll buy you something to cheer you up.”

“15 won’t buy nothin’,” she darted over to her saddle bags and returned with a wooden box and dumped it out on the bed next to me, “now-ya got 415.”

“Good, you pick an item, I have to see sompony about forbidden fruits.” I said without thinking.

“Silly, fruits ain’t forbiddin’.” Nicky teased and darted out the door and down the hall.

Oh, but this one is, I thought with a smile, focusing on keeping the dirty images at bay.

***  ***  ***

Footnotes:

Clash Coat: Level up

New Perk added: 100 Problems – You had 99 problems, but recent events gave you one more. +6 speech when talking to somepony of the opposite gender.  -6 speech when talking to somepony of the same gender.  Special dialogue options may occur with select individuals.

Nicky: 50% to next level

Companion Perk: Familial Bond – Companions in your party are so close nit you're practically family.  +1 Medicine, +2 agility, +3 Strength, +5 Charisma.

Quest Completed:

The Orphan Filly

New Quest:

The Mysterious Messenger – Figure out who is sending you messages on your pipbuck.

Marking Marker – Find and kill the raider Marker.

Quest Updated:

Ballad of a Crystal Pony – √ Look for any information in the wasteland on the mysterious glowing ability you have.

                               Find out what that pink mare knows about your mysterious glowing power.

Faction Status:

Stable 13 – Vilified

Marker’s Gang – Disliked

The Chariot Hotel – Neutral

Finders (West Branch) – Neutral