Jack stared a few moments at my extended hoof, then closed his eyes and snorted. “Yeah, I’ll think about it,” he said, turning around and walking back towards the Stable.

Though I had expected such a reply, I couldn’t help but feel a slight disappointment as I retracted my hoof. Jack had seemed to have genuine interest in my vow and my reply. Then again, what I had asked of him wasn’t a small thing.

I suppose “I’ll think about it” is the best I can hope to get from him for now, I mused, smiling as I noticed the edge of his beak curve up into a smile. I got a feeling that, despite his dismissive tone, he had meant it. Do you think he will decide to help me achieve my goal? I asked Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie as I turned and trotted after Jack.

An alarm shot through me as he swayed a little, but almost immediately he shook and resumed walking almost normally. I made a mental note to make him rest more once we got back to the Overmare’s quarters.

Why wouldn’t he? Pinkie replied enthusiastically to my question. I mean, sure, it’s not a small thing to ask, you know, helping to rebuild the world and all, but friends should always help each other achieve their goals and support their dreams!

More importantly, Fluttershy spoke up, a bit hesitant, what you said about rebuilding Equestria and helping the entire world… this is something everypony- I mean, everybody should aspire to do. Not sure about that “becoming a princess” part, but… she added as she trailed off, blushing and smiling sheepishly.

Yeah, when you dream big you dream big sister, Pinkie added, giggling.

Smiling at hearing their remarks regarding my proclamation, I gazed at the back of giffin’s head, pondering what they said. Friends should always help each other achieve their goals and support their dreams… but were we friends? I would have liked us to be friends, but I had little idea as to what Jack thought of it. He had certainly warmed up to me a bit, true…

Maybe if I were to help him first… I pondered. But I know so little of him, I have no idea what he wants… well, I suppose aside from-

“So how exactly would you even go about it?” Jack asked as he turned his head back, pulling me out of my musing. Stopping to wait for me to catch up by the cellar door, he specified “Becoming the Princess of Equestria, I mean?”

Excitement rushed through me as he asked that question. He’s clearly curious… I wonder, how would he react if I told him of my dream? Would he come to share my vision? I considered in the brief time it took me to reach him whether I should tell him about that as well. Hm, no, I don’t think this would be the right time to share this. He’ll need time to process what I’ve already revealed. Besides… I doubt I could tell anypony about it without touching upon the circumstances that led to me leaving Stable Eight. I don’t think Jack would approve of them…

As my mind began to give birth to new ideas, I felt a surge go down my spine; was I really considering telling somebody about my experiments? I had talked about them with Fluttershy’s apparition, of course (and most likely it wouldn’t be long before Pinkie Pie’s turn would come), and while I found this experience quite… pleasant, so to speak, I hadn’t exactly revealed that to her out of my own volition. Furthermore, there was no risk of two apparitions that I could talk with within my mind telling anybody about my experiments.

If I’m really going to do this, I mused, slowing down beside Jack, I’ll have to handle this carefully…

“I am still putting it all together, sweetie,” I began to answer him as we descended together down the cellar door into the corridor leading to Stable Eleven. “In the ideal scenario, I would have been chosen by Princess Luna to succeed her as her rightful heir… Sweetie, I said ideal scenario,” I said with a frown as Jack snorted and rolled his eyes. “Obviously, I don’t intend on waiting for that to happen. After all I’m not Princess Luna’s rightful heir… and I don’t expect her to descend from the Heavens to chose me as the next Princess of Equestria,” I added quickly as Jack deadpanned at me.

Although, as I discover more and more of the Truth of this world… I thought briefly with wonder, before banishing those thoughts and focused on the present moment.

“A far more realistic scenario would be to be elected by the people of Equestria,” I continued as we walked. “However, as I have already mentioned sweetie, I am sceptical of the ideas of democracy… I trust I don’t have to elaborate as to why,” I added as we passed through the Stable Eleven’s door, nodding at the skeletons. “So the system like the one used in this Stable would be out of the question, especially since the position of the ruling Princess of Equestria isn’t a termed office. Furthermore and more importantly, though, I would have to run against somepony if those were to be true elections, and I won’t risk surrendering the fate of Equestria to a pony who could lead it the same direction Stable Eleven’s fate went.”

I expected Jack to disagree with me at this point, but he merely nodded, although with some reluctance. “So you’d intend to rule until you die?” he asked.

“Oh, don’t be silly sweetie,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “I would abdicate as soon as I would accomplish my goal, when Equestria would be rebuilt and the world would be in peace… probably in favor of my apprentice or possibly even my child, if I happen to have one by then. Though I don’t exclude other possibilities, mind you; the Overmare of my Stable, for example, would make a great Princess of Equestria. There could be others I would in time trust to carry on this role.”

“You still haven’t told me how you plan to acquire said role,” Jack pointed out, his voice almost passing for an amused purr.

“I did say that I am still putting said plan together, sweetie,” I reminded him gently, enjoying this talk. I turned my gaze upwards, pondering over it as I continued “I do not like to formulate a plan when I don’t have all the information… or at least when I don’t have a satisfying amount of information. For now, all I can tell you is that I would strive towards finding something between those two scenarios,” I told him, turning my head as I addressed him. Jack was looking at me thoughtfully, as if he too was trying to figure out how I’d become the Princess of Equestria. “If I could somehow cause ponies to want me to become their princess, out of their own choice…” I continued my musing, then sighed. “Though I suppose it would be a lot harder than just becoming an alicorn, as unimaginable as it might be to most ponies…”

I blinked, surprised, as my musing was interrupted by Jack’s chuckle. The griffin had covered his beak with his paw and was shaking his head; realizing that his amusement must have stem off believing my words to be ridiculous, I smiled at him, in what I realized was almost patronizing fashion, and attempted to correct his viewpoint.

“... and most griffins, apparently,” I resumed. “While I realize that it might seem impossible, sweetie, if my theory is correct, it should be possible for a pony, whether they are a unicorn, earth pony, or a pegasus, to ascend and become an alicorn, but…” I slowly trailed off, losing my focus and confidence as my speech didn’t bring about the desired effect. Instead of stopping him from chuckling, Jack’s chuckle had transformed into an outright laughter. Put off by that, I found it difficult to concentrate on what I was going to say. “... but, um, it is of course rather… unusual, and, well, that’s why there have only been… Alright, sweetie, that's enough!” I exclaimed, stopping and stomping my hoof against the floor. “What exactly is so funny?”

Jack needed several more seconds before he could reply. As his laughter toned down, he looked at me and sighed with amusement. “Well, here’s the thing…”

“Ugh… wha- what happened?” Apple Core moaned as she woke up. “Why do Ah-” she cut off abruptly, her eyes snapping wide open.

I suppose seeing my face hovering right above hers with an annoyed expression wasn’t exactly a comfortable sight.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the alicorns, sweetie?” I asked the slaver mare, forcing myself to speak calmly, mindful of her state.

However, it apparently didn’t bring the desired effect, as as Apple Core continued to stare at me with confusion and slight fear. “Wha- what the hell are ya talkin’ ‘bout?!” she finally asked, her usual strength returning to her voice.

Her expression changed too; now she was glaring at me with annoyance and borderline anger.

I pouted, disappointed with the answer, but when I was about to deliberate on the subject, Jack, who was leaning against the wall of the quarters, spoke: “She probably didn’t know; those things aren’t common around these parts.” I jerked when he uttered the word ‘things’, but didn’t interrupt him. “There isn’t anything of interest for them around the two Appleloosas, as far as I can tell, and the ones serving Red Eye he keeps on a tight leash around Fillydelphia.”

Apple Core blinked at the griffin. “Wait, those things are real?!” she asked, clearly surprised. “Ah thought those guys we’d send t’ Fillydelphia with slaves t’ sell were makin’ those things up!”

I twitched when again the word “things” had been said, but, again, stopped myself from berating anybody. Instead, I sighed, and pressed my forehooves against my face.

Alicorns. There were alicorns in the Wasteland. Not just one, not just two, but multitudes of them, tens at least if not hundreds!

My mind was still reeling from the revelation Jack had bestowed upon me. (Maybe I would have processed it better if he hadn’t been so casual about it!). To learn that there were ponies of the same kind as Goddesses were in their “mortal” life out there in the Wasteland… it was shocking, to say the least. Even more so when Jack had revealed to me that many of them are working together with this Red Eye pony.

“The alicorns serve that megalomaniac?” I had asked, bewildered; how could a pony who ascended into near goddesshood serve a pony who keeps hundreds of ponies as slaves?!

Jack - having had rolled his eyes when I’d called Red Eye megalomaniac, for some reason - replied: “Yeah, though it’s not exactly that they serve him, I think; from what little I have learned it looks more like an alliance. Contrary to what most people think - well, at least out of those who know about them - they were around far longer than Red Eye. Oh, and you’re probably not going to like that,” he had added, shrugging, “but they seem to have a leader… and they address her as Goddess.”

I blinked, trying to process that information. It didn’t help that I could see the shocked expressions of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who were bewildered by the news almost as much as me.

“I can see why you’d think I wouldn’t like that… but honestly, as blasphemous as it is, I can understand why a leader capable of commanding a host of alicorns would take such a name,” I’d managed to mutter. “But it cannot be either of the Goddesses… right? How do you know that?” I asked, turning to Jack. “Have you seen her?”

“Of course not. We bumped into a wing - that is, a group of three - of those alicorns a few months back, me and… and Burst and Blast,” he had explained, trailing off briefly as he had mentioned his deceased friends. He had also swayed again, but with a grunt he and a quick shake he quickly evened up his walk and continued, as if nothing had happened. “They happened to be one of each; they come in three ‘breeds’ you see,” he had been quick to explain as he noticed my expression shift from the ‘shocked’ part of the confusion to the ‘interested’ part. “Purple, blue and green. The purple ones tend to rely on teleportation, and the blue can make themselves invisible, though both know a few other spells as the wounds we got that day could have attested to. I have no idea what the green ones exactly do, I took her out first.”

I’d nodded, absorbing greedily all the informations he had been revealing to me.

“I think they have some sort of… telepathy,” he had continued, causing my eyes to briefly widen. “I killed the green one out of the other two’s view and without making any sound, and yet they immediately turned on me. Their attacks were also far more coordinated than I’d expected. Oh, and the best was when, after Blast managed to get them with a couple of grenades that caused the purple one to drop out of the building we were fighting on down to a very radiated area below, leaving half of her wing with us, she had teleported soon between us, with all her wounds healed. She even regrew that wing back.”

“Really?” I’d asked, astonished. “Does this mean that they get healed by radiation?! To the point that they can regenerate entire limbs?!”

I need to see one of them… I’d thought to myself as Jack nodded, either just meet it or get one for study…

“Not just heals, it also makes them stronger; the magic beam she fired after getting back broke through the wall. Anyway, after we finally got her again - and made sure that no part of her fell down again - with her last breath she screeched at us that the ‘Goddess will have your entrails!’, or something along those lines,” Jack had said, dropping his tone to match the alicorn’s, apparently. He then shook his head and continued “After that we did our best to stay clear of alicorns; which was a hard thing to do, as around that time they began poking around Manehattan Ruins.”

“I don’t suppose you had brought their corpses to any scientist for an examination?” I’d asked, but soon the little hope I had dispersed as Jack had shook his head.

“I actually had considered it,” he had admitted, “but we were too battered after that to carry any of them; they are bigger than you normal ponies.”

I nodded with understanding; as precious as an alicorn corpse was, it was more important that they got back to a safe place… especially since apparently there were so many more of them for me to examine…

Finding comfort in that thought again back in the present moment, I dropped my hooves off my face as I listened to Jack continue. “And that’s besides the fact that they became widely known to the Wasteland around ten years ago, if not less,” he said, ignoring Apple Core’s earlier question. “Also, DJ Pon3 doesn’t bring them up too often on his broadcast either, as the alicorns rarely run into anybody and he tries to warn about more imminent threats.”

Although I nodded at his explanation, my annoyance at Apple Core for omitting such a crucial piece of information about the Wasteland already having ebbed away, a certain thing he had said caused me to perk my ears. However, before I could question him about it, the mare in question shook. “Wait, why the ‘ell are we talkin’ ‘bout some blasted alicorns? What the fuck happened? Why am Ah in bed, why can’t Ah remember anythin’ an’ why do Ah feel so… woozy?” she asked, bring a forehoof to the side of her head and closing her eyes.

Jack and I exchanged a glance. “There was… an explosion, and you lost consciousness, which is why you don’t remember anything sweetie,” I quietly explained, leaning closer to her. Dropping my ears, I added “Burst and Blast are dead… as well as Scope.”

As Apple Core uttered something that sounded like a mixture of cursing and sighing, I gave Jack a quick glance. I was wondering if he wanted to tell her about the exact circumstances that had led to those three deaths. To my slight surprise, though, I found myself on the receiving end of the same glance; from what I could gather from Jack’s expression, he too wondered if I wanted to tell her.

Neither of us wants to say it, but won’t stop the other if they want to, I realized. I wonder, are his reasons the same as mine…

I was about to ask the two apparitions for their opinion, but Apple Core uttered at that moment a sentence that contained the name of Goddess Celestia, a verb, and genitals. Scowling, I immediately berated her, which only caused her to roll her eyes at me.

Taking a deep breath in order to calm myself and forget about my companion’s profane words, I resumed bringing her up to speed: “You’re feeling ‘woozy’, as you have put it, because you lost a lot of blood; don’t worry, you’re not in any danger anymore,” I added as she looked at me with alarm. “How is your left foreleg? Can you lift it?”

“Um, yeah, sure,” she replied, a little confused. As she lifted her foreleg, I trotted over to the left side of the bed to take a better look at it. Apple Core frowned in the meantime. “It… sorta feels like Ah ‘ave slept on it, or somethin’,” Apple Core added, bending it an waving her hoof a little.

Such sensation was within my expectations, so I wasn’t too worried, especially considering the movement capability she had displayed. “Can you feel this?” I still asked, just to be sure, and poked her foreleg with the tip of my horn. As I felt her foreleg jerk and Apple Core uttered a short grunt of surprise, I knew she did, even before she said so. “Everything is alright then; the nerves have been reconnected properly. You will regain the full feeling in your leg soon, won’t be longer than a couple of days.”

“... okay, seriously, what the fuck happened?” Apple Core asked after a few seconds, looking from me to Jack and back. “What'd ya mean by nerves being ‘reconnected properly’? Why were they not connected?!”

“The explosion tore your leg off, sweetie” I explained calmly; as Apple Core stared at me in shock, her jaw dropping, I quickly added “Don’t worry, I reattached it, perfectly I might add, but that was the reason why you have lost so much blood, which is why you need to rest now.”

“Oh, yeah sure, rest…” Apple Core stammered, her gaze switching from me to her leg, looking over it as she felt it up with her other foreleg, as if wanting to make sure it was really there, or looking for stitches.

“If you are looking for stitches or scars, sweetie, you won’t find any. I used magic to reattach your leg,” I informed her, feeling slightly insulted that she had such little faith in my abilities. As Apple Core turned to me, I gave her what I hoped was reassuring smile. “Sweetie, believe me, you - and your leg - are going to be fine. What’s important right now is that you rest, alright?”

I felt heartened at the sight of Apple Core nodding, and calming down, but Jack had decided that at that moment he had to make us realize our situation.

“There might be a slight problem with that,” Jack spoke up, causing both of us to turn back to him. “You two do realize our situation, right?” When I exchanged a confused look with Apple Core, the griffin sighed. “Doctor, you might have healed us all, but between you two being low on blood and me still recuperating, none of us are in any condition to travel yet. We are half a day away from New Appleloosa, which is the closest town. Our supplies, if rationed, would last for about three days, maybe four; about half of what we had got destroyed in the explosion. I already checked the cafeteria while you were sleeping,” he added, glancing at me. “Overlooking the blown up refrigerator and other signs of somebody’s last stand, whatever is left there has long since gone bad, so all we have are what little we took with us for this maximally two-day long expedition we had planned. Not to mention that the two of you brought less provisions,” he added, rolling his eyes and sighing; despite his remark, he seemed more tired than annoyed.

“That… sounds troubling,” I commented, frowning.

“Wait, why are ya low on blood?” Apple Core asked, interrupting me as I analyzed what Jack had said.

“Hm? Oh, that’s because I had transfused my blood to you, sweetie,” I replied calmly. As her eyes widened again, I added: “You’d lost a lot of it by the time I got to you, if I hadn’t given you mine you would have died.”

“Oh…” Apple Core explained, looking at me oddly… and the actually appeared to be embarrassed. “Um, thanks Angel.”

“Think nothing of it, sweetie,” I told her, smiling at her, but as Jack cleared his throat rather loudly, I turned my attention back to him.

“And of course, there is always a risk that something finds this Stable, a monster or a bunch of raiders; I don’t think I have to point out that we’re in no condition to fight, either. Which is why I don’t find the idea of staying here too entertaining, even if we were to close the entrance; with the luck this expedition had, I wouldn’t be surprised if the raiders would just wait outside until we die of hunger,” he muttered, more to himself than to us as he sighed. “Doctor, how long do you think we should rest before we’d be fit enough to travel?”

A little surprised that he was asking for my opinion, it took me a moment to start thinking it over. I hummed to myself while I did, weighing the distance, the environmental conditions, and possible threats we could encounter, against our state.

“I would be well enough to travel tomorrow, I think, assuming I drink enough liquids and eat properly,” I began, already knowing that if we were to ration our supplies I would probably not eat properly. “As for Apple Core…” I paused as I looked her over, then after a brief hesitation cast a Diagnosis Spell on her, to make sure I was right. “Even under my care, she should stay in bed for three more days at least,” I finally said.

If only I could have reattached her leg immediately, I thought with annoyance, then she could’ve recovered by tomorrow… or at least have been well enough to travel...

“Can ya just heal me up with your magic?” Apple Core asked.

“Sweetie, the body needs time after suffering a great trauma to recover, and there is little magic can do to aid in that, especially magic of a magically exhausted unicorn,” I informed her. “Having your limb torn off for… hm, I think it was ten, twenty minutes? I would have to check… anyway, sweetie, your severed limb had began to deteriorate, even if only so little, so this qualifies as such a trauma. Also, there currently isn’t any spell that just replenishes pony’s lost blood.”

Apple Core rolled her eyes at me. “Ah was just askin’...”

“And you, sweetie,” I added, turning back to Jack and not even bothering to cast the spell on him, “you should rest for a week.”

“Yeah, maybe later,” he replied, rolling his eyes. Ignoring my frown, he continued: “If we wait three days for Apple Core to be fit to travel - not to mention that I doubt she would stand a chance if something would attack us on our way back - we will be out of food and weakened from having to ration them. I would hunt, but as we’ve seen on our way here, there is eerily little wildlife here. Which leaves us with one option: I will go back to New Appleloosa by myself and get help.”

“Oh, that’s absolutely out of the question!” I immediately exclaimed, jumping down from the bed and trotting up to him. “You might be in exceptionally good condition given the injury you received, but you need to recuperate! Don’t think I hadn’t noticed you swaying a little on our way back here, or how you’d grunt-”

Apparently, despite his state, he was still perfectly capable of grabbing my muzzle before I would notice. A fact which caused the apparition of Pinkie Pie to giggle.

“Contrary to what you might think, I am not thrilled with this idea either,” Jack said as he glared at me. “But it’s better than staying here, hoping nothing stumbles upon the Stable, and then make our way through the Wasteland weakened. If I go by myself, that is fly,” he added, spreading his wings to emphasize his point, “I will be able to avoid raiders and wild animals with ease.”

Except if you just pass out in the middle of the flight, I thought, unable to voice this point due to the talons around my muzzle. And then, if the fall doesn’t kill you, literally anything that would be in the area could.

Jack narrowed his eyes at me, as if knowing what I had thought. “After I get to New Appleloosa,” he continued, clearly ignoring my doubts, “I will talk with Ditzy Doo, ask her if she can fly over here with her delivery wagon and pick you two up.”

My ears perked at the mention of Ditzy Doo; I recalled that she “does deliveries”, and even flies as far away as Hoofington, but it hadn’t occurred to me that she would travel together with a wagon, most likely to carry all of the said deliveries. I had to admit, as reluctant as I was to allow Jack to travel by himself already, a big part of me was happy at the prospect of seeing her so soon, and excited at the idea of flying all the way back to New Appleloosa.

“Now, I assume she likes you enough to rush over to save you,” Jack added, releasing my muzzle. I massaged it, wondering whether that was true, but then I remembered how nice and kind she had been throughout the short time we’ve spent together, even before Jack brought it up the next second, “I don’t know her very well, but everybody always tells me how great a pony she is. But even if that wasn't the case, she could scavenge the Stable for whatever she wants, I’m sure there are tons of things here she could use.”

That was actually a very good idea. “I’m happy to hear she would be able to make a profit out of this situation; I would hate to bother her without any compensation for her time,” I said, relieved.

“Ya know,” Apple Core spoke up, looking at me with a raised eyebrow, “some would say ‘at after two hundred years ‘f nopony touchin’ her cooch, she owes ya, like, favors like those for the rest of yar life.”

“Apple Core!” I exclaimed, upset, and glared at her. “That was a very rude thing to say, especially considering she will be saving you too! Assuming we will go along with this plan,” I added, turning back to Jack and ignoring the slaver as she rolled her eyes. However, I couldn’t help myself from glancing back and adding “And we’ve only kissed and cuddled!”

As Apple Core shook with what I assumed was disgust, I grew even more upset. If it wasn’t for Jack staring at me impatiently I would have continued to berete her.

“‘Assuming we will go along with this plan’?” he repeated my words once he had back my full attention. “I already stressed that it’s the best plan we have, what more do you want?”

“Sweetie, what I want is for you to recover,” I replied, frowning. “As you are now, I fear that you will collapse during the flight back to New Appleloosa.”

“I will take it easy, and if I feel like I’m getting weak I'll land and take a breather,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. “I would rest up on the clouds, but I’m sure you’d say that flying so high up would be dangerous, as I might pass out, right?”

I nodded, as I indeed prefered for him to fly closer to the ground, just in case he would fall, but then realized what he had said. “You can stand on clouds?” I asked, surprised and curious.

Jack gave me a stern gaze. “Can we not get off-topic?”

“You’re right, sweetie, forgive me,” I replied immediately, though not without a little disappointment.

Afterwards I fell silent for a few seconds, trying to think if there truly was no better plan for us to get back to New Appleloosa, but I failed to come up with any alternative. We couldn’t count on anypony, even Mousetrap and Nice Catch, to come after us if we were gone for too long, as they didn’t know where we went. (I decided to not point that out to Jack, on account of him being the one who wanted to keep this expedition’s goal a secret.) And as much as I preferred to stay in the Stable until we recovered, Jack was right; even if we were in a condition to travel, we wouldn’t move fast enough to elude anything that could attack us, especially if we were weakened by hunger. And if we were to be attacked…

Burst’s and Blast’s headless corpses flashed before my eyes, making both Fluttershy and Pinkie gasp. Sorry, I thought, not having intended to shock them with those images.

I-It’s okay, Fluttershy whispered, looking at me sadly. She then smiled and added I know you won’t let that happen again.

A brief, small smile appeared on my muzzle hearing that and seeing Pinkie nod in agreement. I then dropped it and looked firmly at Jack.

“Very well, but I have conditions,” I told him. The griffin lifted an eyebrow, as if saying ‘are you serious right now’, but didn’t interrupted me as I continued “You will promise me that you will stay close to the ground and take a break everytime you feel weak or dizzy. After reaching New Appleloosa, informing Ditzy of what happened and asking her to come help us, you will go see Candi, the New Appleloosa’s medic. And lastly…” I trailed off, hesitating. “And lastly… you will allow me to cast the Recovery Acceleration Spell on you.”

This time I managed to get Jack to lift both of his eyebrows. “What kind of spell is that?” he asked (while at the same time Apple Core asked “Cast What's-It-Spell?”).

“It’s a spell that amplifies your body’s natural recovery rate,” I began to explain. “It’s perfect for aiding with post surgery recuperation, but-”

“Then why the fuck hadn’t ya cast this damn spell on all of us already?” Apple Core interrupted me, frowning.

I slightly flinched hearing the accusation in her voice; I was thankful that Jack didn’t seem to be angry with me, as well, only patiently waited for me to explain.

“I haven’t done that for two reasons, sweetie,” I told her, then glanced at Jack as I continued. “The first is the amount of magical energy this spell requires, which, as it provides the energy for your body to recover on top of speeding up said recovery, is a lot. In my current state, I won’t even be able to have you make a complete recovery before I’d burn out,” I confessed, annoyed at my limits.

“I’ve been told that burnout isn’t a pleasant experience for a unicorn, even when overlooking being unable to use magic for some time afterwards” Jack said, crossing his forelegs on his chest. “You’d be willing to go through it?”

I smiled at him. “I don’t mind suffering a magical burnout if it means helping my patient, sweetie. Especially when said patient is set on ignoring his doctor’s recommendation and plans to travel so many miles,” I added, giving him a little pout. Jack rolled his eyes, but in the corner of his beak I noted a slight curve. Heartened a little, I found myself even more regretful of what I had to add. “It is because of the second reason that I am hesitant to cast this spell.”

“Ugh, figures there has to be another catch,” Jack sighed, raising his forepaw to his face and rubbing his eyes. “What is is? It better not make me impotent or anything of that sort,” he added as I opened my mouth.

“Um, well…” I spoke at first, put off by his comment.

It clearly was the wrong way to proceed, as while I hesitated, Jack stared at me with eyes wide with alarm. “Oh for fuck sake,” he exclaimed before I could finish my thought, facepawing. Apple Core snorted with laughter, which she then immediately stifled as the annoyed and angry griffin shot her a glare. “You really should stop making noises near me,” he told in a low growl before turning to me, still with the same glare.

Fortunately, by then I had recovered. “No! Um, well, that is…” Okay, maybe not completely. I shook my head, took a deep breath, and started again: “Nothing of that sort will happen to you now, sweetie. The repeated casting of the Recovery Acceleration Spell, however, causes the body’s natural healing processes to decline. For an average adult pony, the limit of times this spell can be cast is two; anything beyond that… after that, it takes longer for the body to create new cells and scar tissue, white blood cell count drops, so does platelets count, and even worse, eventually such a pony would develop acquired haemophilia, which impairs the body’s ability to make blood clots, required to stop the bleeding. It also disrupts both the heart rate and body’s circulatory system, which could cause-”

Talons once again grabbed my muzzle as I was about to explain why was I hesitant when the subject of impotence was brought up. “Okay, I got it,” Jack told me, his eyes rolled up to the back of his head.

I was a little unhappy that I wasn’t allowed to further explain all the drawbacks the repeated usage of this spell would cause, even though it had probably spared me from answering just why did I know them so well. I’d guessed that even just mentioning the fact that I had invented it would lead them to some unpleasant realizations.

“So it is safe to cast it this once, right?” Jack asked me. As he still held my muzzle, I was reduced to nodding in response. “So seeing how I doubt we would ever find ourselves in a situation when I would have to be back to my top form right away - especially if from the next day forward I’ll be living on the opposite side of the Wasteland from you Doctor, which I am seriously considering at this point - none of those side effects will affect me, and you’ve been basically just wasting our time?”

Despite his last words, he spoke in a calm manner, so when he released my snout I knew it was safe for me to frown at him with annoyance. “I was trying to explain all of the spell’s risks, sweetie, there’s no reason to be borderline rude. But basically, yes,” I added reluctantly. “I am still unfamiliar with the griffins’ physiology - in general; I’m finding myself more curious about your physiology in particular, though - but based on what I’ve observed so far… I would say that you would be fine even after the third time I’d use the Recovery Acceleration Spell on you,” I concluded, recalling how quickly he woke up after I healed his brain and the extent of his mobility afterwards.

“Yeah, hopefully we’ll never know,” Jack remarked, grimacing a little with belittlement, then shook himself. “Okay, let’s do this. Even if I am confident I could make it to New Appleloosa, this way I should make it faster.”

“You’ll still take your time sweetie,” I told him sternly, in a voice that invited no argument.

While indeed Jack hadn’t argued with me, my short experience with dealing with him as my patient - and the eyeroll he had just done - told me that he was quite possibly going to ignore my words. Despite that, I merely sighed and prepared myself to cast the Recovery Acceleration Spell on him, knowing that he was set on flying to New Appleloosa regardless.

“It would help me if you wouldn’t move,” I told him as my horn began to glow with red light, which enveloped him.

Jack accommodated my request, staying perfectly still, save for slowly breathing, as my magic began to sip into his body. I closed my eyes, concentrating; during this first stage, both the spell and I adjusted to the patient’s body. Knowing I couldn’t afford to waste energy, I aided the process. Stepping closer to Jack, I lifted one forehoof to his chest and placed it on his heart, while the other I pressed against his temple. Now physically feeling his heartbeat caused me to complete this stage within seconds. Then, as I felt it “learn” the body’s healing process, I poured more magic into it, accelerating the natural regeneration and providing Jack with the energy to do so. I barely heard Jack’s soft gasp that he quickly stifled; the pressure and heat in my horn from yesterday returned, and it quickly magnified. I clenched my teeth and continued, ignoring the pulsing pain that would only grow worse. Slowly, as I continued to channel the spell, I felt my head lower ever so slightly, inch by inch, and my forehooves grinded against Jack while I poured more energy through my horn… until it was all gone.

The pressure and the heat were gone, and so was the spell. A short jolt of terrible pain passed over me in that instant as my horn stopped working, as if a great amount of accumulated energy had burst all at once and then was gone. It didn’t last longer than a second, but it still made me yelp in pain as - having lost my balance due to the unexpected loss of strain - I staggered backwards, falling.

I didn’t hit the floor, though; Jack reached out faster and held me by my shoulders, stopping me. “You okay?” he asked with worry, holding me gently.

I breathed heavily, exhausted. “Yes, I… I’ll be fine in a moment, sweetie,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “As soon as the room stops spinning,” I added, hoping that a little humor would dispatch whatever worries he might have.

What humor? Pinkie Pie asked, spinning around along with the room while Fluttershy, who managed to stay in relatively same spot, looked at me with worry.

The pain emanating from my horn wasn’t helping, either. “H-how about you, sweetie?” I asked Jack to help distract myself.

As Jack carefully let go of me and began to examine himself, I slowly raised a hoof to my horn and touched it delicately. Immediately, I drew it back; my horn was unpleasantly warm.

Turning my attention back to the griffin, I saw him looking at his forepaws, bending his talons and then stretching them, then throwing a quick punch through the air. “Great Egg, you weren’t kidding,” he finally said, looking at me, both surprised and impressed. “I feel way better than before.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” I told him. My breathing had began to slow down finally, and although my horn still ached terribly, I found myself capable of standing up. I tried to shake my head, but the immediate new wave of pain discouraged me from it. “And how’s your head?”

He lifted a paw to it, pressing it right at the spot where a bullet had entered. “Better, too; only aches a little now,” he confessed.

I frowned; I had hoped that I would have been able to at least make that pain to go away completely. “You’ll be taking a few healing potions with you in case you run into problems, right sweetie? Take one if the pain starts to bother you again,” I instructed him after he nodded. “They should relieve some of it for a time.”

“Alright then,” Jack nodded again, then looked briefly at Apple Core, then back at me. “I think I should make it to New Appleloosa in three hours. I will be taking it slow,” he added with an eye roll as my brow began to furrow.

At the same time, he began to unstrap some of his bags and remove other items he was carrying and laying them on the still intact table, most likely to make the flight even easier for himself by removing excess weight. There were already plenty of items on that table; as I took a better look at them, I realized, with a pang of sadness, that those had belonged to Burst and Blast. Most notable were their weapons, but their saddlebags were there too.

“Ditzy will probably be here two hours after that, I think,” Jack’s voice pulled my attention away from them, “dunno how fast she flies. You two should be fine until then.” By then he had removed most of his equipment, aside from his armor, his weapons, and one pack that was strapped by his waist. Nodding one last time in farewell, he rose, and began to head towards the door when he glanced at me. “Doctor, you mind walking me out?”

Although my horn was still hurting and I felt exhausted, the pain had subsided, the exhaustion was mostly only magical in nature, and nothing was spinning anymore (even Pinkie), so I didn’t mind walking Jack back past the Stable Eleven’s entrance. With some amusement, I realized that the roles were now reversed; it was I who was swaying a little, while Jack walked normally.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked me again; I was pleased to detect worry in his voice.

“Sweetie, this isn’t the first time I’ve suffered magical burnout,” I told him, hoping to calm his worries. “I will be back to my normal physical condition shortly.”

Jack narrowed his eyes, as if wondering whether I spoke the truth or not, but he seemed to accept my words. “Good. Now, here, take this,” he began, reaching for something in the pack he hadn’t unstrapped earlier, “and I don’t want to hear any of your-”

But by then he had already took out the item out and I saw what it was. “No,” I told him firmly as he held out the gun before me.

He sighed and looked up, as if praying for patience. “I understand and can even respect your reluctance to use firearms - as idiotic as it is - but just take it, in case something happens. It’s one of Burst’s spares, so you can hold it in your mouth.”

Glancing briefly at it, I noted that it indeed had the mouth-held grip with tongue operated trigger, like almost all of the small firearms I’ve seen; the gun belonging to Jack was of different design, allowing him to hold it comfortably in his paws.

“If something happens, then I will deal with it in my own way,” I told him, declining his offer with as much politeness as I could muster when this topic was brought up. “I will not carry a gun.”

Jack stopped. Upset that we had to have this conversation, I stopped too and faced him.

“You would put both yours and Apple Core’s life at risk because of your morals?” he asked me, glaring at me with annoyance bordering on anger. “I could maybe understand just putting yours, but your patient's too?”

I stared back into his eyes, unflinching. “I happen to put great value in my morality,” I told him.

It was true, of course, but at the same time, caring and protecting my patients and friends to the best of my abilities was also a part of my morality. Gazing into Jack’s eyes, I realized that I had no choice but to admit the truth, not if I hoped to retain whatever respect and maybe friendship he had for me.

“But… I never said that my absolute refusal to carry guns was caused solely by my morals,” I confessed.

As Jack narrowed his eyes, I found myself hoping that he would understand. I didn’t want to explain further.

After a few moments of agonizing silence, Jack finally spoke “So… no matter what would happen, you wouldn’t pick up a gun?” he asked.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No,” I said, my voice as calm as ever.

Jack stared into my eyes a few more seconds, as if trying to read my thoughts; I hoped he could read from them that I was speaking truly. Finally, he closed his eyes and facepawed, sighing. “I’m gonna go on a limb here and guess that you aren’t exactly skilled in hoof-to-hoof fighting, either, nor with melee weapons, right?” he asked, his voice sounding very tired and annoyed. Actually, it didn’t even sound like a question with that tone, more like he just said it for the sake of saying it. When I replied regardless, with an affirmation to his guess of course, he dropped his paw and looked at me sternly. “So all you can do to defend yourself is magic, and you purposely made yourself unable to use it?!”

Well, when he says it like that, it does sound rather silly of me to do so…

Not wanting to admit to that - even thought I felt my cheeks burn ever so slightly out of embarrassment - I said “I can also talk my way out of problematic situations! That’s how I bested Scope,” I pointed out, feeling a little pride at that.

“No, I ‘bested’ that bastard,” Jack countered. “You distracted him until you healed me; with magic,” he added pointedly.

“Well, sweetie, I still outwitted him,” I replied, a little defensively. “Me, a pony barely out of her Stable, outsmarted a seasoned Wastelander.”

“I know!” he exclaimed, turning to me with exasperated expression; his beak hang open and his eyes were comically widened. I wasn’t sure if he was mocking me, or if he was so bewildered by that. “Honestly, no joke, if there is an Afterlife, first thing I do after I die is to go find that bastard and ridicule him for getting outsmarted by the Wasteland’s dumbest genius!”

I frowned, my mood souring and not because of the very high possibility of being mocked right now. “Sweetie, speaking about your death in the presence of your doctor is rather insensitive, to be honest, even while jesting.”

My griffin patient rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Everybody dies, Doctor, sooner or later,” he said, his eyes rolling up to the back of his head.

I snorted hearing that accursed statement. Not if I have something to say about that…

Keeping those thoughts to myself, I instead added “Furthermore, while I don’t know what kind of Afterlife you believe in or don’t, I assure you, you wouldn’t end up in the same place where Scope’s soul must be now.”

Now it was Jack’s turn to snort, almost exactly the same as I had. I glanced at him curiously, but he quickly shook whatever he thought about off and changed the subject back to our previous topic.

“After we get over this shit, I’m going to teach you some melee combat tricks,” he declared, looking at me in a manner that almost bothered on contempt. “You can’t live in this world if you don’t have some fighting skills, miss ‘I’m gonna be the next Princess of Equestria’. For now take this,” he said, taking out his combat knife out of its sheath, flipping it around in the air and grabbing it by its blade, then leaned it towards me.

Far more comfortable with such weapons - it was basically a bigger, more clumsy version of a scalpel, after all - I grabbed the grip with my mouth and tried a few swings. Judging by Jack’s disappointed stare, I was doing it wrong.

“Adjust your grip,” he told me, and before I could comply to his request - or rather, try to while looking at him questioningly to see if I was doing it right - he reached to my muzzle and maneuvered both my jaw and the knife slightly. “There, hold it like this. And don’t swing it so wildly. Try to aim, best for the throat-”

“Throat, artery, eyes, temple, sutura coronalis, spine, heart, solar plexus?” I cut in after spitting out the knife, smirking a little. “I happen to know vital areas of a pony, sweetie.”

“And have you ever cut or hit such a vital point of a pony who wasn’t on a surgical table?” he asked, smirking in turn. I almost let it slip that yes I had, but considering my test subjects were always strapped to something I figured it wouldn’t count anyway. “Also, forget about trying to stab anybody in the heart or spine, you clearly don’t have enough strength to push it through the barding anybody who could wander in here would wear. And don’t aim at the eyes, you will get only one and just get them pissed,” he snorted as he rose and resumed walking towards the Stable’s entrance; picking up the combat knife I followed after him.

Jack gave me a few more pointers on our way, telling me at which angle I should move my head if I’d want to slash or stab somebody effectively. I did my best to memorize his advice, while at the same time hoping I wouldn’t have to use them. Jack had also, after some thought, given me some leathery straps along with the knife’s sheath that he had combined quickly.

“It will be easier this way for you to take the knife out if you can’t do it with magic,” he explained as I removed my lab coat, so that the straps (and the knife, of course) would be hidden from everybody’s sight. “Although I really hope it won’t come to this; you kinda suck.”

“Well, sweetie,” I began, blushing from the slight offense, “I’m sure if our roles were reversed - though I don't know why I would be teaching you how to perform a surgery - you wouldn’t be exactly…” I slowly trailed off as I noticed Jack’s amusement, realizing that his earlier remark was meant, while truthful, was also playful. Rolling my eyes, I couldn’t help but huff, “Very funny sweetie.”

Jack didn’t say much to that, other than uttering a short chuckle.

“Come to think about it,” he said after we walked for a bit without speaking, “Burst had a ripper in one of his saddlebags; hardly ever used that thing. Still, it is more deadly than a combat knife, so you might wanna grab it. I left it along with most of their stuff back at the Overmare’s quarters. Just try to not kill yourself by turning it on,” he added, looking at me sternly. “If it seems too dangerous for you to use then don’t bother with it at all.”

Nodding, I made a mental note about this ‘ripper’; if it wasn’t a weapon, I might have felt a bit curious and ask what did Jack mean by ‘turning it on’. As it was, however, I had far more interesting thoughts already in my head to bother with rather than another weapon.

We walked in silence for a bit after that, but when we were about to reach the door leading to the cellar and Outside, Jack finally broke it.

“Why didn’t you tell your slaver friend about Scope?” he asked, glancing at me with his eyebrow raised.

I turned to glance as him as well. “I would have thought that it’s quite obvious, sweetie. I’ve told you about what Scope had revealed to me, that he got some holotape from Cutter concerning Black Widow. I don’t think she would have liked to know that I know that there is something she was hiding, something that - as Cutter had believed - could undermine her position and even endanger her life. And If I had told Apple Core the whole truth of what had happened… well, as much as I like her and enjoy her company, she tends to drink a lot,” I said, shaking my head. “I’d prefer not to risk her letting something like this slip.”

“Hmh,” Jack grunted, nodding with approval. “I’ll give you that, you really are clever… which makes the whole ‘getting magical burnout without having other means of defense’ thing even more ridiculous, but I’ll ignore that.”

“Um, thank you sweetie. I think...” I added, unsure if I should treat that as a compliment after all. Curious, I asked: “What about you? You didn’t intervene when I was telling Apple Core.”

The griffin shrugged. “It’s not her business.”

“That… that’s it?” I asked, blinking in surprise; I had expected a bigger reason from him.

Jack glared at me. “Yes, that’s it. I also thought maybe it would be better for you. Maybe I didn’t want to correct you until you explained to me why you kept quiet about that, maybe I wondered what to do about this organization you told me about, maybe I wondered if you spoke the truth, or maybe I don’t want to think about it now!” he finished, his voice becoming more of a growl.

Despite myself, I shook as I became the target for his wrath, however briefly; it didn’t help that there was a slight echo to his growl vibrating through the Stable Entrance.

I lowered my head apologetically, ears dropping. “Forgive me sweetie, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Jack snorted and headed past the door; I quickly fell in step beside him, trying to think of something to say to disperse the foul mood I had brought upon us.

Maybe it would be best to change the subject, I thought as we walked through the tunnel.

“When you were talking about alicorns…” I began hesitantly; when Jack didn’t show any signs of annoyance, I continued “Back when you had explained to me how come Apple Core could not know about them, I mean; you had said that they became known to the Wasteland about ten years ago?”

“Apparently,” he replied, shrugging, not looking at me. “I wasn’t here, as you said Scope had mentioned. But I asked around after coming to Equestria, learning about the biggest factions, raiders’ nests, and wildlife,” I smiled briefly, remembering how I had done pretty much the same after leaving Stable Eight, “and eventually heard about them, too, from a reliable source at that. Also, they started showing up more like nine years ago, I think,” he added in an afterthought.

“Yes, I figure that must have been how you learned about them,” I said, nodding. “However… when you talked about alicorns, sweetie, I… couldn’t help but get the impression that you knew about them.” An unpleasant shiver went down my spine as Jack glanced at me, not saying a word. “I mean, you’ve said how few know of them and how they’ve became known less than a decade ago, but when we talked before, you said that the alicorns had been around for far longer than Red Eye. And also… based on what little I know of your character, sweetie,” I added, turning to look him in the eye, “I don’t believe you would be so quick to kill one of them, without a chance for peaceful resolution, if you hadn’t thought of them as an unreasonable threat.”

Jack snorted and looked away. We reached the cellar door at that moment, and we passed through it in silence, my griffin companion not answering my question.

Guess I’ll have to get him to warm up to me… I thought, a little disappointed.

“What exactly did that bastard tell you about the Bloodtalons?”

I turned to look at him, slightly surprised; I’d began to think that he was going to ignore my question. Instead, I found him having turned towards me, looking at me with both eyes and expecting a reply.

“W-well, sweetie,” I began, slightly unnerved by the intensity of his state, “Scope said that the Bloodtalons are the deadliest mercenary company, that they have completed every job they’ve been hired for, and that they’ve been gone from Equestria for over forty years.”

And that you’re the son of the Bloodtalons’ leader, I mentally added; I wasn’t sure if he would get annoyed if he learned that I knew that.

Jack snorted. “Sounds about right. Indeed, Bloodtalons have completed every task they’ve been hired for, took down every marked target and so on, past those near three hundreds years since their company was founded… at least, that’s how everybody sees it,” he added, making me blink in surprise. “Their… our seniors, however, when they taught me and the rest of our rookery about our history, they’d always say that there was one job we hadn’t completed. One particular target we hadn’t taken down, not personally. All because a few of those alicorns had meddled with our hunt,” he said in a low voice. As I leaned closer, engrossed by the tale, Jack cut it short. “Still, we had chased that bitch all the way into Splendid Valley, so even if those alicorns hadn’t killed her after my great-great-grandfather’s group had retreated, then either one of the other nasty things living there or Taint exposure must have done the job, as she was gone afterwards. So the Bloodtalons still got paid.” He shrugged and added “ And that’s the story of the - most likely - first sighting of those alicorns.”

“I can’t help but feel like you’ve omitted several details of this story, sweetie,” I told him, pouting a little.

Jack chuckled and actually smiled. “Sorry Doctor, but it’s a rather long tale, one I like, so I would prefer to do it justice; I’ll tell it to you later, when we aren't in such a shitty situation.” He glanced at the endless gray of the cloud cover above, then in the direction of New Appleloosa. “At least it stopped raining… stay safe until I get back, okay Doctor?” he asked, turning back to me, and extend his open forepaw to me.

I smiled at the gesture and reached out with my forehoof. “Of course, sweetie- wait,” I said, stopping my hoof and frowning. “Sweetie, you’re supposed to stay in New Appleloosa.” Jack rolled his eyes but didn’t say nothing or moved at all otherwise, which only irritated me further. Stomping, I took a step closer to him. “You’re staying at Candi’s clinic, you’re not in a condition to-”

I stopped abruptly as a talon flicked my nose. Baffled, I stepped back instinctively, while at the same time Jack soared into the air. “See you,” he called back and waved as his wings swiftly carried him away.

Massaging my nose, I watched him fly away, slowly recovering from the shock. I was a little sour that he had brushed me off in such a manner; the tiny pink pony giggling inside my head wasn’t helping.

I’m going to stitch that griffin’s talons together someday.

Returning to the Overmare’s quarters did not improve my mood.

“What in the name of the Goddesses are you doing, sweetie?” I asked Apple Core, crossed, as she gulped down a bottle of whiskey.

“Drinkin’?” she asked, raising her eyebrow as she made a brief break from the bottle.

“Didn’t it occur to you that consuming alcohol while recovering and being low on blood is a very bad idea?” I asked, frowning.

“Don’chya doctors use alcohol t’ sterilize stuff?” she asked me in turn, making another break.

“What does that even…” I began to argue, but I realized that it was pointless; there was no way I’d get that bottle away from her. Truly, becoming the Princess of Equestria seemed at least plausible in comparison. Sighing, I gave up. “Very well, sweetie, but promise me you won’t drink more than this bottle today.”

Apple Core looked at me with her ‘are ya kiddin’?’ look, but rolled her eyes when she met my stern gaze. “Fine,” she nickered, laying the half-empty bottle at the bedside locker, saving it for later. “As if there’s much else t’ do…”

“Where did you even get that bottle?” I asked, curious, as I walked over to look at it. The label on it read ‘Wild Pegasus’; ironic name, considering that ‘wild’ wasn’t a name that came to my mind regarding the single pegasus I had met so far. “I thought that the bottle you were drinking back before the explosion was destroyed.”

“Yeah, took it from the mini-bar over ‘ere,” Apple Core replied, nodding at the big cabinet under the wall.

I trotted over; most of the furniture had collapsed in time, but there was one closed drawer that seemed to have survived. I reached over and opened, revealing two more bottles of Wild Pegasus (with the free place for the two that Apple Core must had already taken out), a bottle of wine and… drugs. I blinked, surprised at the sight of an almost empty tin of Party-Time Mint-als, a small stash of Dash and even some Buck (and several empty containers of both chems).

Weird, I wouldn’t have assumed that a pony like Strict Frame would use any other drugs than Mint-als, I mused. Guess one shouldn’t judge a pony based on her looks and position… though really, what use did she have for the others? Unless that Moon Scrounger got her addicted to all of them on purpose to control her… or maybe she became addicted before coming to live in Stable Eleven? She was working on a rock farm… And where did she get those from? Did she make them and keep reusing the same bottles and inhalers? And why did she hang herself if she could just overdose?!

Sighing (and a little frustrated at Strict Frame) I closed the mini-bar, deciding whatever that pony, and by extension everypony from Adherents of the Royal Sisters party, had done and why, it was not worth thinking over. Informing Apple Core to not use any of the drugs, just in case (as far as I knew she didn’t even use them on normal days, but better safe than sorry), I trotted over to the table where Jack had dropped most of his (and Burst and Blast’s) equipment, including our food supplies. After looking it over, I picked up some dried up jerky, some potato mash and two cans of beans, then brought the jerky and half of the rest to Apple Core, telling her to eat it.

“Bossy much?” she asked as she dug into the meat.

“They have nutrients that will help you produce new blood cells; I’d prefer, sweetie, if you wouldn’t develop anemia,” I told her as I began to eat my share (not wanting to risk vomiting, I decided to skip the meat this time).

After our meal and a few gulps of water (after which Apple Core had promptly taken another swig out of the Wild Pegasus bottle), I turned my attention to the stuff Jack left on a table. Feeling a little better (my horn didn’t even ache too badly at that point), I decided I needed to find something to do to pass the time, and I remembered Jack mentioning something called a ‘ripper’ to me.

I trotted over to the table and picked the saddlebag that belonged to Blast. His scent was still on it, and I found myself growing sadder. I took a few seconds to take a deep breath and calm down, then continued. Not wanting to rummage inside the bag that could contain guns, I flipped it over and let the contents spill on the table, carefully and slowly. It contained mostly grenades, but after several seconds from within fell out what had to be the ripper Jack had mentioned.

I looked over the knife with a weird mechanism attached to it curiously, specifically the small iron teeth on the edge of the blade and what seemed to be a wire between them. Noticing the lever by the mouth grip, I picked it up with the intention of turning it on, wondering if it would do what I assumed it would (and really, what the name alone implied it would do).

Whoa, heavy! I realized as almost immediately upon picking it up my head swayed to the side. With an effort, I brought my head back, regaining my balance. If Jack were here, he would probably tell me to not bother using this in a fight if I find just lifting it to be this difficult, I noted, rolling my eyes inwardly. Still curious about the weapon’s function, I carefully adjusted the weapon in my mouth so that the lever would be pressed against my teeth, and bit a little harder.

The ripper immediately came to life, activating its mechanism and causing the little teeth to travel along the blade. I gazed at this saw in knife’s form, feeling somewhat fascinated by the simple lethality of this device. And excited about what I could use it for, despite being probably too weak to use it in combat.

“The hell was ‘at?” Apple Core asked me after I turned it off. Putting the ripper into my saddlebag and beginning to remove it, my lab coat and stable barding, I heard her snicker “Was it one of ‘em fancy vibrator thingies?”

I cast my slaver companion a reproachful stare, but being so excited as I was I quickly dropped it. “No, sweetie. Though it does vibrates a little,” I added with a giggle. “Anyway, do you mind if I leave you alone for some time? I will be over at the Overmare’s office, so if you’d need anything you can just shout.”

“Um, sure,” Apple Core replied, watching me in confusion as I finished taking off my clothes, then grabbed the saddlebag and started to trot away. “What the heck are ya goin’ t’ do over ‘er?”

Turning to her by the door, I smiled and said: “Let’s just say I’ll be getting to know somepony a little closer.”

Well, that was rather uneventful, I noted about an hour later while wiping sweat from my brow, looking over Scope’s remains and turning off my PipBuck’s recording.

It turned out that performing a post-mortem examination without the help of magic - completely - was more difficult than I had anticipated. Suffice to say that my respect for Candi and every other earth pony (as well as pegasus) doctor had grown considerably. Thanks to the ripper I managed to open Scope up relatively easy, true, but the entire procedure proved… messy.

It’s a good thing the water talismans are still working, I noted, taking off the goggles I found in the Maintenance before I started and looking over my bloodied coat. Frowning, I then took off the the provisional mask made of some cloth from my muzzle and left it beside Scope’s corpse, and checked if the samples I took of him were secured. Alright, that would be all. You can open your eyes now Fluttershy, I added with a touch of humor as I began to pack the samples, ripper, and some smaller surgical equipment back to my saddlebags.

The tiny apparition, who was covering her eyes, brought one down to take a peek around. When she realized that I was no longer looking at the remains - which I’d began to believe meant that they couldn’t see it either - she relaxed and dropped both of them.

Forgive me, sweetie, I usually manage to be far more… clean, I told her as Pinkie floated next to her and patted her on the back as she recovered. This ripper can’t exactly cut flesh evenly.

Y-yes, I’ve noticed, Fluttershy said meekly,

Yeah, it was pretty gruesome how all that blood splashed on your face! Pinkie exclaimed, her description causing Fluttershy’s face to become a touch greener and to shake slightly.

Sweetie, I would appreciate if you’d refrain from such comments for the time being, I scolded Pinkie Pie, nodded meaningfully at the tiny pegasus. The obvious concern for Fluttershy aside… I am not sure if I wouldn’t feel if either of you’d vomit inside of my head.

I knew that, whatever exactly they were, they were within those statuettes, of course, but seeing how they’d been able to talk to me in my head… well, I plainly didn’t know how this spell worked! Which was somewhat frustrating, but on the off chance that the spell that had originally bonded them to the statuettes caused them to bond to me now and actually be inside of my head, I’d preferred to avoid having them vomit around my mind.

Oh, right, sorry! Pinkie Pie quickly said, smiling sheepishly at Fluttershy, who smiled in return and waved to show that everything was okay (while still holding her other hoof against her mouth). So, did you find anything interesting? the pink apparition turned to me as I began to make my way out of the office.

Not really, I replied, pouting unhappily. I mean, finding out that his organs were in excellent condition had confirmed my guess, yes, but I’ve already gotten enough proof of that by simply examining his teeth. Rolling my eyes, I added But it’s not like I have anything to do right now, so it’s not like I lost time doing that… Anyway, I will be certain after I’ll examine those samples I took. I wonder what shall Jack think of my hypothesis…

Sighing, I put those thoughts aside for later. Right now I needed to wash away the blood on my coat… and after that take a long, warm bath. I deserved that much at least.

I expected my blood-soaked coat would cause Apple Core a rather panicked reaction, or at least a raised eyebrow and a question. So I was surprised when upon entering the Overmare’s quarters - intending to use the bathroom connected to it - I was met with silence. That is, until two seconds later when said silence was shattered by a snore.

Well, at least she’s resting, I thought, looking at the sleeping mare. I trotted over to quickly check on her. Wish she didn’t rest together with an empty bottle of whiskey under her foreleg, but still...

Sighing after examination, I hung back from the bed, then looked around the room. Different, smaller and abandoned for almost two centuries, yet… still feels familiar, I thought as a wave of nostalgia washed over me, turning my gaze back the sleeping mare. I bit my lip. No wonder I had that dream…

Slowly, my gaze travelled from Apple Core to my PipBuck. The PipBuck that was filled with many recordings I had made over the years. Including ones that recorded events that transpired in a similar room in my Stable. And in others, with the same pony.

Including the one that had began to play by accident two days ago when the train stopped near New Appleloosa.

Angel? Fluttershy question snapped me out of my reminiscing.

As I shook my head slightly, I realized that I had moved my other hoof above my PipBuck and was about to hit play, turning on that recording again. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then placed my shaking hoof above it, trying to calm down.

That recording… Fluttershy began as I gradually stopped shaking, with Pinkie’s gaze travelling between the two of us in worry. Angel, that voice, wasn’t it the same as…

Since Apple Core is alright and currently very heavily sleeping, I think I can allow myself to take a long warm bath, won’t you agree? I interrupted her, rising up and headed towards the bathroom. I ignored the two apparitions as they exchanged a look between them. Maybe I will even take a short nap… Waking up to find Ditzy leaning over me would make up a bit for the awful things that had transpired since we left New Appleloosa...

I giggled, imagining that scene. Of course, the water would have probably turned cold by then, but surely, I could convince Ditzy to take another warm bath after refilling the water, right?

The bathroom was, as it was to be expected after near two hundred years of negligence, a mess. Full of dirt and rust. However, a quick search allowed me to find a few treasures in the cabinet beside the wide bathtub that more than made up for the bathroom’s state. First was a relatively well-preserved towel (which honestly didn’t account for much, but it was still dry and clean-ish, so I could use it after my bath) and second… was a collection of bath oils!

Finally, some luxury in this Wasteland! I thought, excited at the prospect. Hastily, I removed my saddlebags and left it in the bathroom’s corner, then looked around for some detergents to clean the bathtub so that I could take bath in it… then spotted my blood covered coat. Hm, lying in a bathtub in the water mixed together with Scope’s blood doesn’t seem… Yeah, I’m just not gonna do it, that’s gross even by my standards, I stated flatly, deadpanning at my blood covered leg. I’ll shower quickly first, then clean the bathtub, then take a bath.

A long, pleasure-filled moan escaped me as I slowly submerged in the hot bubble bath. Ooooh, how I missed this, I thought as I breathed in the aroma of the bath oils I had mixed in to make bubbles.

Closing my eyes, I lay comfortably in the bathtub, listening to the relaxing music I had recorded on my PipBuck back in Stable Eight. I had considered going over to Maintenance again to look for some PipBuck technician’s tools in order to remove it from my leg for the duration of the bath, but ultimately decided against it in favor of listening to some pleasant tunes (and not wanting to bother with it).

Only thing I’m missing right now is some incense, I though, then giggled and added Well, I suppose some company would also be nice…

Company, huh? Pinkie Pie asked, raising an eyebrow. And what are we exactly?

I glanced at the two statuettes, which I had placed in the bathtub’s corner, then back at the two apparitions. Forgive me, sweetie, I should have specified that I meant the kind of company that can offer cuddles, massage or to wash my back, I told her with a smile.

Oh yeah? Pinkie exclaimed, giggling and floating closer with a smirk on her face. I’ll have you know, Missy, that I am great in all of those! Fluttershy, come here for a moment, she turned around as she called the other apparition.

Oh, um, I would rather not… Fluttershy stammered as she backed away from Pinkie Pie, blushing.

C’mon, it will be like one of your spa trips with Rarity!

I giggled as I washed my mane, heartened and amused by the two apparitions’ antics… and a little jealous. As much as I enjoyed their company, I found myself missing a more physical presence. There was Apple Core, of course, but aside from her sleeping very heavily (and loudly; her snoring was part of the reason why I had turned the music up), I doubted I could convince her into taking a bath together, even if I’d have promised it would be purely… what’s the word, platonic?

And this bathtub is easily big enough for one more pony to fit here, too, I thought, saddened, as I submerged my head under the water for several seconds. Hopefully I’ll convince Ditzy into taking a bath with me… But seriously, it is just my luck that I would be stuck here with the one pony who wouldn’t want to take bath together with me, I added with a little bit of annoyance after emerging and shaking my head, then I grabbed a sponge (found an unopened package of them in another cabinet) and began to brush it gently along my body.

After several seconds of washing myself, I noticed that both apparitions were… well, blushing, and trying to look away. I blinked, a bit surprised. Um, sweeties, are you embarrassed? I asked uncertainty. Forgive my confusion, but we are all mares here, there shouldn’t be any reason for anypony to be embarrassed.

Pinkie Pie scratched the back of her head, looking at Fluttershy, who hid her face behind her mane. Well… you are kinda washing yourself in an, um, erotic way... Pinkie explained, giggling sheepishly.

I am? I thought, surprised. I turned my attention to my left hind leg, that I had raised above the water as I washed it. Oh, forgive me, it hasn’t been brought up to my attention… although that would explain… I trailed off before my memories had traveled too far down the memory lane again. Um, how about this then? I asked as I closed my eyes. You can’t see now, right?

Yeah, that’s a bit better. Sorry, Pinkie said sheepishly as I resumed washing myself, now with my eyes closed. I guess we kinda invade on your privacy, huh?

Hm, I suppose so, although it doesn’t really bother me that much. I am more concerned with your comfort… You should have seen how Fluttershy was when Ditzy and I were kissing, I added, giggling softly. As the tiny pegasus blushed and tapped her forehooves together in embarrassment, I frowned slightly and continued I hope you two will at least give me the courtesy of, hm, disappearing when I’m showing affection to others; it can be a bit distracting.

Oh, absolutely-tutely! Pinkie replied immediately, nodding. Then, slightly blushing and looking away, she added Although, we might get, um, curious, from time to time. In a totally respectful way, she added, grinning nervously as her eyes looked everywhere but at me.

Fluttershy’s entire face in turn was covered by a wall of pink mane.

I would have blinked at her in confusion if I weren’t keeping my eyes closed, but I quickly brushed her comment off. I really did not mind the two of them intruding on my private life, as long as they didn’t disrupt it.

However, all those thoughts on the subject, coupled with my earlier longing after physical company and the sponge occasionally brushing along my groin caused certain… ideas to appear in my mind. Ideas that I considered entertaining…

As I raised my right foreleg above the water and began to slowly wash it, I found myself thinking back to how I stumbled upon Blast and Apple Core in the middle of the coitus, and how the sadly deceased stallion had asked both myself and Burst if we wanted to join in. Although it was a bitter memory, it had made me think about what would have happened if I had said yes… (As well as, if knowing that the two of them would be dead within the next hour would actually cause me to say yes? A rather difficult thought to properly muse over...). A smile crossed my muzzle as I brought the sponge lower down the inner side of my thigh…

“Angel, you’ve gotta-”

I blinked as the metallic voice - that had stopped so abruptly - resonated through the bathroom. Turning my head towards the open doorway, I saw a sprite-bot hovering there.

“Watcher?” I asked, surprised by the intrusion, then smiled in greeting as I lowered my hind leg back into the water. “What a pleasant surprise, sweetie.”

For whatever reason, the mysterious hacker of sprite-bots didn’t seem to share my enthusiasm. “Um, I, um… I’m so sorry!” he suddenly exclaimed after he stammered for a while, very loudly. I tiled my head in confusion as a series of loud banging noises erupted from the speaker. Guessing by the sprite-bots erratic movement that followed them - the robot did a half turn and began to fly forward at a higher speed that I had witnessed it moving before, which resulted at it bouncing against the bathroom wall, several times - Watcher must have slammed against whatever controls he was using for steering it. “I didn’t mean to… w-walk in you… y-you know, having a bath!”

Leaning against the bathtub’s edge and supporting myself with my forehooves, I spoke “It’s alright, sweetie, it could have happened to anyypony. Honestly, I probably shouldn’t have left the door open…” I added, blushing from embarrassment, then blinked. “Wait, did I leave the door to Stable Eleven open?!”

“Um, yeah. About that-”

I groaned, facehoofing. How could I forget to close it?! I suppose my frustration with Jack had played a part there… and overall exhaustion and unfamiliarity with this type of situation… Why didn’t the two of you remind me?! I asked, turning to Pinkie and Fluttershy.

I, um, told Pinkie about them… Fluttershy offered meekly.

Yeah, and, um, I thought about pointing it out, but… Pinkie added, smiling sheepishly.

However, I was already not listening to their explanations. Instead, I was pointing my hoof at the sprite-bot. “Sweetie, you are not…” I trailed off as I noticed that at some point Watcher had the robot turn its back from me, meaning that he couldn’t see me through its camera. “Watcher, sweetie, can you turn the sprite-bot around? I can’t talk to you properly this way,” I said, and then waited patiently.

“Um, yeah, sure…” Watcher replied, his metallic voice - on that note, why did I assume it was male voice? I had originally thought so when I first met him, true, but that was because I had at first mistook him for Jack, wasn’t it? - sounding almost abashed. As abashed as a robot’s emotionless voice could be, I suppose…

I waited for the robot to finish turning around before smiling at him. “Thank you sweetie. Now, you are not telling Jack about me leaving the Stable door open,” I told him, pointing my hoof at him. “He already has an opinion of me being the ‘Wasteland’s dumbest genius’, though I hope it was a joke. Whether it was or was not, I do not want to consolidate that opinion!”

“Yeah, no problem, but listen!” Watcher said, floating a bit closer to the bathtub; now that I listened in better, something in the manner of speech made me think of a male rather than female. “I didn’t send this sprite-bot over here to play catch up! A group of almost twenty raiders is coming here!”

“What?!” I exclaimed, shocked, “Here here?!”

“Yes, here here,” Watcher replied. “They were from the same group as those five your group had run into. They didn’t take kindly to finding their friends’ corpses.”

Oh, this cannot be good… I thought, noticing in the corner of my mind’s eye the panicked looks Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were exchanging.

“B-but… it was raining last night, right?” I asked, beyond confused right now. “Surely, the rain must have washed away tracks and all that stuff, right?”

“Well, yes, probably,” Watcher agreed, sounding a little impatient. “But guessing by the leader saying something along the lines of ‘they must have gone to that closed up Stable by the Rock Farms’ they’ve figured where you must have gone. (I skipped several curses he threw in that sentence.) Anyway, you’d better gather the rest of your group and let them know; say that you overheard about them on DJ Pon3 broadcast or something.”

“Why would I need to lie to them?” I asked, confused. But immediately I decided that I had more important things to worry about now. “More importantly, I’m afraid that what you can see is all of my group at the moment.”

“... you’re joking, right?” Watcher asked. When I shook my head, he pressed “You’re telling me that you and that sleeping mare are the only ones here? What happened to the griffin and the other three?”

“Jack flew back to New Appleloosa to get Ditzy to come pick us up in her delivery wagon,” I replied, then my ears dropped. “Burst and Blast are buried outside the Stable. Scope’s remains are decomposing in the Overmare’s office.”

“... oh.” That was all Watcher had to say at first. “I… I’m sorry to hear that. Look, let's focus on keeping you alive until help arrives, then. Go close the door to the Stable; I left it open so that your friends wouldn’t get suspicious…”

But I was already not listening. “Sweetie, wait; if I close the door, won’t it cause the raiders to hang around trying to get in? I mean, they’ll notice the freshly dug ground where we buried Burst and Blast, so they’ll know we’re here.”

Watcher stayed silent for a few seconds. “Yeah, it’s very possible. But don’t worry, there’s no way they’ll get in if you close the door-”

“That’s now what I am concerned about!” I exclaimed, raising above the bathtub and jumping down. Water leaked down from my wet mane, but I ignored it. “Ditzy will be here in… I don’t know, an hour or two! What if those raiders shoot at her!? Jack will probably be with her, but I doubt he could fight off over twenty raiders alone even if he was in peak condition, which he isn’t!”

I was breathing rapidly, panic rising within me. How could I find myself in another crisis so soon?! If I wouldn’t think of something, I would either die or lose several friends, or most likely both! But I couldn’t-

This won’t happen again. Ever. The next time I’ll find myself in such situation, I will stay calm, analyze everything and take the best course of action.

Don’t make promises you might not keep, Doctor.

I’m not.

I blinked, remembering the exchange from last night. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, counted to four, then exhaled.

Just like triage.

As I calmed down, Watcher had continued to speak “I dunno what to do for them, it’s not like I could send a message to a flying wagon, these things weren’t exactly made for high-altitude flight-”

“Watcher?” I interrupted him, gently but decisively. “I need you to tell me…” I paused briefly, thinking of what I’d need to know, “... how much time I have before they’ll arrive, their exact numbers… and how they’re armed.”

I suppose it would be a stretch to ask for their medical history too, I thought, turning around and leaning over the bathtub to grab the statuettes in my mouth, then trotted over to where I left my saddlebags and the towel I had found.

“Wait, do you intend to fight them?” Watcher asked as I began to dry myself, having placed the statuettes of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie safely back inside my saddlebags; somehow, Watcher managed to make the mechanical voice sound bewildered. “You heard that there’s over twenty of them, right?”

“Yes, I did hear you sweetie, but I am left with no choice. I must confront them; I will not put Ditzy’s life at risk,” I told him, firmly.

Watcher fell silent. “They were about an hour by hoof from here last time I checked on them, which was about ten minutes ago,” he finally said as I vigorously brushed my mane. “I’ll check again for the other stuff. Do you know any offensive spells?”

“Doesn’t really matter, sweetie, I can’t use magic at all currently. Magical burnout,” I specified.

I could almost feel his eyes growing wider from behind his controllers. “Weapons?”

“Only melee, and I’m not very experienced with using them. I won’t carry a gun, much less use one,” I told him truthfully.

“You’re… what about your sleeping friend?” Watcher asked, his mechanical voice hiding his panic, if he felt it, rather well.

“I doubt I’ll have managed to wake her up before they arrive, and even if I could, she is in no condition for a fight. She lost her leg, and although I reattached it, she lost a lot of blood; I had to transfuse her some of mine so she wouldn’t die.”

Again, Watcher fell silent. “Okay, let me get this straight,” he finally said several seconds later. “You want to face twenty raiders, alone, with no magic, no weapons and low on blood after a transfusion.” I nodded. “Your griffin friend’s opinion of you being the Wasteland’s dumbest genius seems well earned. You’re going to die.”

I snorted. “Do you know what the symbol on my flank is?” I asked him, leaning a little so he could better see my cutie mark. “It’s the Ouroboros, the symbol of infinity and wholeness, of the infinite cycle of life and death, the creation and destruction. Ever since it appeared on my flank, I’ve known that my destiny is to understand that cycle, to find out the real and absolute Truth of this world.” I trotted closer to the sprite-bot, so that I would stand right before it, staring straight into where I assume its camera was hidden. “I will not die, not here, not today, not ever. Now,” I added, turning around, my still partially wet tail swishing before the sprite-bot, “are you going to help me prepare, sweetie?”

Footnote: 75% to next level!

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Zaleros, guardianxela and Sage Probo for their editing/proofreading, and to TimePrincess for the last check-ups (thanks sweetie ). Also, special thanks for Kkat for creating this wonderful universe of Fallout Equestria^^ And to Somber for creating Project Horizons, which is considered here as much canon as the original FoE^^

Ah, also, I might have already mentioned that I decided that I consider Homelands, Project Horizons' sequel also by Somber to be about as canon, too, but recently I decided to include into the "canon" category Speak (another PH's sequel) by Heartshine as well; was a bit hesitant to do so, but only because it's an on-going story (same with Homelands, was also hesitant because of this), so there could some inconsistencies between our stories further along the line. Buuut I think it will work out... plus I enjoy those stories too much to let that bother me (seriously, look those up, they're great^^) So thanks to Heartshine for Speak too^^

On that note, though, I do intend to acknowledge as many FoE stories as canon, as much as ones is capable off. It's just that those mentioned above are sort of "absolute canon" thing... and I didn't read the others as many times... (still have to finish Murky Number Seven and catch up with Heroes I really need to find the time to sat down to those...)

PS: That scene with Watcher walking in on Angel taking a bath? Fanart artists, do your worst