“As you can tell by the bruises on her throat,” I said, pointing with my hoof, “the cause of death was ashpyxiation. In other words, she was strangled to death.”

“I know what asphyxiation means,” Black Widow replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Pretending that I didn’t notice it, I continued, trotting around the mattress where the dead body of beige colored mare laid: “There are also bruises and abrasion surrounding her labia, clearly proving that she had been raped. Now, if you still don’t believe me when I say that I was woken up last night by the sounds of Pillory raping and choking her, I can retrieve a semen sample from her vagina and run a DNA test, but-”

“Are you upset, Doctor?” the slaver leader interrupted me with a question, gazing at me calmly through narrowed eyes.

“I think every respectable medical doctor would be at least a little upset after one of their patients were raped and murdered within their clinic,” I replied, almost equally calm; I was justifiably upset after all.

Black Widow’s expression turned into a deadpan. “Didn’t she try to kill you? Twice, technically?”

“I took an oath to help ponies, regardless of how they feel about me,” I said, shrugging.

The dark unicorn rolled her eyes before returning to the original subject. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, Doctor. It’s just that I find it… odd that, in the short time since your return from New Appleloosa, two ponies have died.”

I suppose to her this past week must indeed seem like a short time, I mused, hiding my anxiety. Mindful of the approaching confrontation with Jack, I had kept myself busy, both to occupy my mind and to prepare for what would come next, assuming the griffin mercenary would even join me. Considering that I might die soon, I should probably share her view, but honestly, looking back at everything I had accomplished during this week I find it quite the opposite, I remarked. Resuming my experiments, securing source of additional food for my test subjects… and of course, procuring additional test subjects, I added as I continued to withstand Black Widow’s suspicious gaze.

“Not to mention how many we’ve lost overall since the day you joined us,” Black Widow continued, unaware of my inner musings. “Cutter and that slave that killed him, Butcher and everypony that was with him, Collar, Barrel Roll and Swagger …”

I tried my best not to frown at the last three names. During my absence, a fight had broken out in Salt Block between the slavers, a mere day before our return. Tensions were high since the discovery of Butcher’s group being killed, and from what I could gather it led to ponies resolving the differences of opinion they had about solving this matter through a brawl. It wasn’t such an uncommon occurrence, as Apple Core had assured me, but with a threat of a war with a tribe hanging over them Black Widow had been very displeased that her slavers were wasting their strength (and bullets) fighting each other. Especially when the town’s only medic was away; although I had prepared several healing potions in case of emergency before leaving, two ponies, Barrel Roll and Swagger, were too critically injured and died before they could be administered.

In all fairness, their deaths could be technically blamed on my absence (even though it had been Black Widow who had sent me to New Appleloosa), as I would have probably been able to save them as the post mortem-examination I conducted on their bodies revealed to me (on the plus side, I was finally able to get my hooves on bodies of earth ponies to thoroughly examine, as neither of them had anypony close who’d bother burying them and had been left in my clinic). Collar, though, was another story. He had simply vanished one night. The last time he had been seen was when he had gone to relieve himself after finishing his shift of guard duty by the town’s borders by the pony who came to replace him at midnight; his disappearance was noticed the following day. Naturally, they’ve sent a few ponies to look for him around Appleloosa, but couldn’t find any trace of him.

Some slavers argued that Collar had probably run away for whatever reason. The smarter ones had pointed out that he hadn’t taken anything beside the stuff he had on him on guard duty, and without any supplies he wouldn’t have travelled far. Some blamed one of the Wasteland’s animals, except those had been a rare sight for some time around this area. Besides, if he had been killed by an animal and eaten, there would have probably been the half-eaten remains somewhere nearby. A lot more popular was a theory that Collar had been kidnapped by the tribe’s scouting party; the slavers’ unease at the thought of enemies coming so close to their town, kidnapping one of them and being unseen had partially led to the fight breaking out the following evening.

Myself, I was more intrigued than unnerved about this mysterious disappearance. Though the most popular theory seemed the most logical one to me, I hoped it was the other, that some mutated animal had done it; I would love if I could examine another specimen of the Equestrian Wasteland’s wildlife. That being said, though, I hadn’t tried to search for it or Collar, figuring that this would have ended up with me sharing Collar’s fate. (Also, between his disappearance and the attack on Butcher’s patrol by tribe ponies, Black Widow had explicitly forbid anypony from leaving the town’s borders by themselves.)

“... and now since you have returned, we’ve lost Manacles because of food poisoning and another slave,” Black Widow continued; if I had indeed frowned, she had ignored it. Shaking her head, she added “Honestly, I don’t think we’ve lost this many ponies and merchandise in years.”

“Sweetie, you can’t possibly believe that it’s my fault all of those misfortunes had befallen you,” I replied, my brow now definitely slightly furrowed. “I can understand why you would suspect that I had something to do with Cutter’s death - as much as this suspicion pains me - seeing how I gained his position as a result of it. But what would I gain from the deaths of all the others?”

“Who said I believe that you have anything to do with them?” Black Widow asked, her voice sounding almost innocent. “I merely said that it’s ‘odd’.” She smirked when I gave her a look that bordered on deadpan. “Trust me, if I’d actually believed such a thing, I would be… less pleasant. Besides, I can’t overlook how useful you had been since joining us. Not only you seem to be a better medic than Cutter, but thanks to you we will soon have a Bloodtalon coming to help us; assuming, of course, that he hadn’t lied to you about coming here.”

“I think I would have been able to tell if he had,” I told her; of course, I knew he would come to Appleloosa, for reasons far more important than a potential job. “I’ve also been told that Talon mercenaries have a reputation for completing their contracts… of course, it was only a verbal agreement and not a proper contract per se, but-”

“I get the picture,” Black Widow cut me off, impatiently. “Any Talon would be a valuable asset, but a Bloodtalon - if he really is one of course - should be easily worth the same as twenty fighters.”

I carefully kept the same expression on my face as the slaver’s leader mentioned her doubts about regarding the identity of Jack. She had brought them up the first time Apple Core and I had told her about it, along with (almost) everything that had happened during our journey. Although the Bloodtalons were easy to recognize by the fact that they apparently all traditionally carried a sword, even if they prefered to use other weapons, Black Widow had pointed out that any griffin could find himself a random sword and pretend to be a Bloodtalon. The fact that his mercenary friend had confirmed Apple Core’s guess hadn’t reassured her that this wasn’t a lie, though our description of the way he had quickly dealt with the five raiders had. In the end, Black Widow had said that if he was really that good, it didn’t matter to her if he was or wasn’t a Bloodtalon.

Of course, I had far better proof that Jack was indeed a Bloodtalon. The testimony of a covert agent of a mysterious organization. However, I hardly could have brought it up, considering that I was certain Black Widow was a member of that organization before joining the slavers. I couldn’t even reveal that Scope was behind the deaths of Burst and Blast, out of fear that she would connect the dots and realize that I know about her more than she would like.

There had been, however, something interesting that I had been able to glean from that conversation. Black Widow hadn’t reacted to Scope’s name, but when Apple Core had in passing described how he had looked… it happened so briefly that I couldn’t be completely sure I hadn’t imagined it (although Pinkie Pie’s apparition had spotted it as well), but for split second Black Widow’s eyes widened. She had resumed her earlier expression within the next heartbeat, though, and hadn’t asked more about Scope, but I could swear that for the rest of the day she had seemed… bothered. Distracted.

She definitely knew him… or at least, she thought she did. It would seem my suspicion was correct, I had thought back then. But how exactly did Cutter learn about her and Scope?

I could have easily learned that since then. Cutter was chained in the clinic’s basement, ready to be interrogated. I had little doubt that I would be able to get from him the information I wanted, but I decided it would be better to wait for Jack. Not only did I want to learn about Black Widow’s connection to Scope together with him, but also I suspected that it wouldn't appear good if I already knew what Cutter was about to say; I feared that Jack would suspect that I had prepared the slavers’ former medic to say what I’d want him to hear.

Oh, that reminds me, I thought in the middle of my musings about Cutter, I better go down the basement and check if there are any changes; it would be really bad if he were to die before Jack gets here. Sure, there are no signs of rejection yet, but-

“And don’t think that I forgot about those raiders,” Black Widow continued, interrupting my train of thoughts. “You really impressed me, and considering our current problems, it’s almost life-saving that we got eleven slaves so easily; well, ten,” she amended, lightly kicking the dead body on the mattress.

Eleven ponies; that’s how many raiders from the eighteen that I had locked within Stable Eleven had survived. When I told Black Widow about them back when we got back, she had decided that it was too good an opportunity to pass on, and sent a group under Apple Core’s command comprising of almost one third of the slavers there were in Appleloosa (currently; the group escorting slaves to Fillydelphia had yet to return) over to the Rock Farms, with the holotape to open the Stable door and orders to capture the raiders. They were three days of travel away, so they’ve only returned the previous day, brining eleven exhausted and malnourished raiders. Apple Core had reported that two of them had died on the way.

Meaning that the other five had died within the Stable before Apple Core and the slavers arrived there.

It was easy enough to figure out what had happened to them. Apple Core had of course sent a few slavers to check the Stable and see if the others weren’t just hiding somewhere, but was a little… squeamish when describing what exactly they had found. Which was something very odd for her. Most of the other slavers had also seemed unsettled by it.

I on the other hoof felt tempted to try and write down the raider’s testimony as to what had happened in between the time I had closed the Stable Eleven’s door and Apple Core had retrieved them; I felt like it would be an interesting study on the subject of cannibalism.

Not that any of them would want to give me any testimony to write down (Well, not willingly at least.), as they made it clear upon seeing me. Several of the raiders who were in better condition than the others had growled and cursed at me angrily, and two even tried to lunge at me. Apparently, they’ve clearly remembered who had locked them in Stable Eleven. Fortunately for myself, the slavers had quickly stopped and subdued them, although one of them (a beige earth pony mare named Thorny Locust) had been shot in order to do so. I had her brought to my clinic after I stopped the bleeding, and after examining the other raiders (thanks to their slaver guards pointing guns at them and making them sit still) three more had joined her (with a few guards assigned to them), as they were in worst condition due to malnourishment. The rest could have been safely locked up in the cages, just giving them food and water and letting them rest would be enough for them to get better.

None of them was in critical condition, fortunately, it was merely the matter of assuring they would eat more nutritious food than the slavers usually give to their captors, and checking if they start to improve. Thorny Locust had been a worse case, as the bullet had remained within her chest, so I needed to operate. Nothing complicated for me of course, but afterwards she needed to stay in my clinic overnight along with the others.

As the night fell, only one slaver, named Pillory remained in my clinic to watch the raiders (as they had their hooves chained, so everypony felt that more than one guard would be unnecessary) and sometime after midnight when I had finally finished making my preparations in the clinic’s spare room, I had heard rattling noises. (Which in itself hadn’t been that strange, Thorny Locust had occasionally been making a ruckus trying to break from her chains, but what alerted me wast that this time the sounds weren’t accompanied by her curses.) I came out of the room to see the sight that I had described to Black Widow, and used my anesthetic spell on Pillory, but I’ve been too late to stop him.

“You’ve really proven to be a valuable member of this town, Doctor,” Black Widow carried on. “Valuable enough that I feel being unpleasant with you just because of things seeming weird would be a waste of everypony’s time and disrespectful.”

“I’m glad to hear that, sweetie,” I replied, smiling. “I am fortunate that this town’s leader is so reasonable and wise.”

A brief smirk crossed Black Widow’s muzzle. “Oh, you have no idea. That being said, though,” she added unexpectedly, rising from the floor and walking away, motioning for me to follow, “I do feel that it is a good opportunity to show you what exactly I can mean by ‘unpleasant’. After all, I do happen to have a pony that needs punishment. Don’t you agree?” she asked me sweetly, looking back over her shoulder.

“There are few things that upset me as much as somepony murdering or raping my patients, let alone both. By all means, sweetie, do punish Pillory,” I said, then brought my hoof to my chin as I joined her, pondering thoughtfully what Black Widow had said. “And I would be lying if I’d say that I’m not curious to see how exactly you intend to punish him, and what you mean by ‘unpleasant’, as you’ve phrased it.”

“Hmph. That morbid curiosity of yours is probably the reason why you fit so well around here,” Black Widow mused out loud, her gaze shifting to the remaining raiders, which were still chained up in the beds in my clinic. “What about those three? Are they well enough to be put together with the others?” she asked as we were about to leave, stopping.

“Well, I have been checking on them through the rest of the night - since I’ve found it hard to fall asleep after witnessing that - and their condition seems to be improving,” I said, glancing at the closest one. “I will check on them again after feeding them and if everything turns alright, they can be moved.”

“Good, I hate posting guards in two separate places,” Black Widow murmured. Looking at the two slavers who were standing guard by the clinic walls, she added: “You two are going to miss how I make an example of Pillory; I trust that you know better and won’t try anything funny with those three?”

“No boss,” one quickly said, while the other shook his head.

Smiling with satisfaction, Black Widow opened the door and trotted outside, with me following. I looked up at the clouded sky, surprised by how dark grey they were today; the only other time I had seen the cloud cover take on such color was back when Jack and I were burying Burst and Blast, and it was raining drizzle then.

Do you think it’s going to rain today as well? I asked in my thoughts.

The two apparitions floated beside my head, staring up in the skies. Dark clouds don’t necessarily mean bad weather, Fluttershy murmured, sounding a bit uncertain.

Even those over there? Pinkie Pie asked, pointing with her hoof into the far distance.

Looking over there, I noticed barely visible line of very dark clouds just over the horizon.

I would imagine that weather works a bit differently with this constant cloud cover above Equestria, I spoke up when Fluttershy didn’t reply, just continued to stare uncertainty at the clouds. Especially since it doesn’t seem like the pegasi control it anymore for their ground-bound brethren. I wish I could have talked with those Enclave ponies a bit longer...

I trailed off, noticing that Fluttershy’s apparition was no longer looking up at the clouds, but down at the ground, her expression sullen. Realizing that it must have saddened her to talk about how the pegasi had apparently completely abandoned other ponies (and seeing the glare Pinkie was giving me, urging me to do something), I was about to try and cheer her up, but at that moment Black Widow spoke up without breaking her stride:

“I assume you’d like to keep her body to examine - or whatever it is you do with them - like Manacles’ and the other two?”

I hummed thoughtfully as I caught up with her again, considering her question. “Yes, I think I would. I’ve learned a lot about earth ponies’ physiology and the physiology of wasteland ponies in general after conducting the autopsy on their bodies, but I believe I could learn some interesting things from examining the body of a raider.”

“I really don’t care why you want those bodies,” Black Widow replied, rolling her eyes up to the clouded sky. “Although come to think about it, if you’re done with them, how come you hadn’t asked anybody to bury them yet?”

If I hadn’t been expecting this question to come up sooner or later, I would have probably felt a cold shiver go through my body. “I’ve already taken care of bodies of Barrel Roll and Swagger,” I replied calmly; I was certain that my tone of voice wasn’t different from the ‘tone’ of thoughts’ I had when discussing weather moments ago with Pinkie and Fluttershy. Noticing the disbelieving stare Black Widow was giving me, I explained “It’s easy to bury bodies when they’ve been examined so thoroughly, it was basically the matter of taking a few bags-”

“I’m sorry I asked,” Black Widow cut off my explanation, seemingly annoyed and a little disturbed.

“As for Manacles, I still have to finish working on him,” I finished my explanation, undeterred.

“Whatever; if you want to keep that slave’s body, it’s going to cost you a hundred caps again; I don’t run a charity here,” she said as we’ve reached our destination; the edge of the crowd of slavers gathered before her house.

The slavers immediately stepped aside to let us pass. You’d think she would be grateful to get ten percent of the usual price for a slave for a dead mare, I noted as we’ve made our way through the crowd.

You do remember that you’re the reason why she won’t be getting the full price for her, right? Pinkie Pie pointed out.

I suppose that’s true…

Wait, Pinkie exclaimed, blinking in confusion, selling ponies is wrong, why am I even discussing this?!

Considering that this particular pony was a raider, I’d argue whether we should call her a pony, but… I replied halfheartedly, my interest quickly fading as I noticed Pillory. The slaver who had raped one of my patients during the night while on “guard duty” was standing before the crowd, flanked by two other slavers and Khan, Black Widow’s obedient zebra guard. The stallion, not much older than me, wasn’t looking too happy about his situation; he was nervous and scared ever since the effects of my spells had worn off and he found himself locked away in one of the cages. Now that he was about to receive punishment from Black Widow, he looked even more scared. The leader of slavers trotted slowly towards him, as if wanting to prolong his terror. This will be interesting, I thought, honestly curious to see how exactly she was intending to punish Pillory for causing the death of one of their slaves.

Not the word I would have used, Pinkie’s apparition commented as I trotted over to stand beside Apple Core, sounding a little dismayed.

Fluttershy in turn looked at me with pretense. Don’t you feel even a bit responsible for what is about to happen to him?

Why should I be? He raped one of my patients; considering that she’s a raider suggests to me that he had likewise raped less dangerous mares in the past, so you cannot even use my own logic of “ponies who gave up the right to be considering sapient being” against me. The fact that his actions happened to be convenient for me is of little consequence. Besides, I added before Fluttershy could raise another argument, I doubt she’s going to have him killed. Or do to him anything else permanent. Not with the threat of this tribe looming over everypony, she needs every gun she can use, I told her as I stopped beside Apple Core and turned to watch Black Widow address everypony.

Apple Core muttered greetings, and then Black Widow began “I’m glad that all of you fine ladies and gentlecolts could have gathered here.” A brief snicker of laughter went through the crowd when they heard her sarcastically call them ‘fine ladies and gentlecolts’. Black Widow smirked and waited a few seconds for the amusement to quiet down. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about what happened; Pillory here,” she nodded at the slaver buck in question, “decided to help himself to one of our newest goods. Which in itself isn’t a crime… but of course that’s only true when said goods aren’t too damaged as a result,” Black Widow said, her voice becoming cold; she narrowed her eyes, losing any pretense of amusement. “When you get too brutal with slaves, our customers might not buy them; why would they pay for somepony that looks like they’re about to drop dead? And that is assuming they’d survive that long; the road to our best customer Red Eye is rather long, and not all the slaves make it at the best of conditions. Which is why I am curious, Pillory,” she turned to address the slaver, “why did you think it would be a good idea to choke that slave?”

Pillory hadn’t replied at once, perhaps finding that stare of everypony gathered focusing on him to be intimidating - he had cringed when the slavers turned their eyes to him - but the slaver guard shoved his shoulder, prompting him to speak. “I, um…” he stammered; his eyes traveled through the crowd, most likely trying to search for some friendly face as he swallowed and tried again, “I was just... trying to make her stop squirming, boss. She, she made it difficult to, you know-”

“Understandable, I suppose,” Black Widow cut him off, quietly, and yet she was heard by everypony. “Though I would question how a chained up mare could have ‘made it difficult’ for a stallion… in the end, though, it doesn’t matter why you choked her,” she said, her cold tone stopping anypony from laughing because of her mockering. “What matters is that you went a bit too far while having fun. Our good Doctor,” Black Widow added, giving me a nod with something that looked akin to respect, “tried to save her - after she knocked Pillory out and got him off the mare - but it was too late. I’ve just been to the clinic to see the body for myself; you don’t need to be a doctor to see what had been the cause of death. She was choked to death. And clearly raped; I applaud you for not trying to deny it, Pillory.” There was absolutely no warmth or respect in her voice when she turned back to him. She resumed addressing the crowd after a second, “She was a healthy mare. With a lot of stamina; even after getting shot yesterday she could still stand, and our Doctor had assured me that she would make a full recovery. She was strong. A little too feisty, but they know how to deal with that in Fillydelphia. She would have fetched a nice price, maybe even two thousand caps. But thanks to Pillory, she’s dead.”

For a brief moment, it looked as if Pillory was about to try and defend himself. He let his opened mouth hang open, though, without any sound coming through it, the instant Black Widow glared at him. It was as if he was paralyzed by fear; it took him several seconds to even close back his mouth. Once he did, Black Widow turned back to the slavers, her expression slightly relaxing.

“Everypony has their needs, I understand that. This is why we are in this business, after all. Ponies have needs that they need other ponies to satisfy, so we provide them with said ponies. I would never try to deny any of you from satisfying your needs or punishing you for it, far from it. To seek satisfaction and pleasure is our Goddesses given right… so long as you don’t cross certain line. A Preacher we’ve caught about two years ago would say that this line begins with another pony, or some shit like that, it was pretty difficult to understand him after we cut off his tongue,” she trailed off a little nonchalantly. The very next heartbeat, though, her cold tone and gaze returned. “However, around here, the line begins with my income, and killing my merchandise crosses that line.”

A sudden chill went through my spine the moment she had said “my”, and I was far from the only one to experience that. She’s certainly a good speaker, I remarked, glancing at the surrounding slavers and noticing how many of them had visibly cringed. She’s able to make all those hardened Wasteland ponies fear her by just talking… though I would assume that they’ve seen her do things that would warrant this fear.

“Of course, this isn’t the first time we had somepony cause a slave’s death around here,” Black Widow continued, her voice becoming almost gentle again. “It happens. Usually, I let ponies get away with a proverbial slap on the hoof. They have the pay full price for the slave they killed, or they get lashed, maybe they get something cut off in worst cases. But we have special circumstances to consider now, don’t we?” Her eyes moved from one slaver to another, as if expecting one of them to answer. When nopony spoke after a few seconds, she answered her question herself, “You all know that some ponies had taken up residence somewhere close by and killed an entire patrol. We don’t know where they are or how many there are, which means we have to send more ponies on our patrols if we want them to return safely while keeping enough here to guard Appleloosa, in case our new neighbors happen to decide to pay us a visit. Even those of you who aren’t aces in math know that this means we can’t send out as many patrols as we usually do and we can’t capture as many slaves as we usually do. Those raiders our Doctor got us practically served on a platter were the first we’ve caught since we sent our last batch to Fillydelphia. Until their chaperones return, we don’t have the numbers to organize more than maybe two patrols at the same time. Which means that right now every single slave matters to us, and Pillory killed one of them.” She paused to glance at the slaver in question and to gather her breath. “Due to those circumstances, I believe a harsher punishment is in order. This also serves as a warning to any idiot who thinks they can get away with being careless with my merchandise like he was. For starters,” Black Widow began, glancing at Pillory again, “in order to ensure I won't lose any more merchandise, until further notice sampling said merchandise is strictly forbidden. That’s right,” she added, no doubt noticing more than a few confused stares she received from the slavers, “until the matter of our neighbors is solved, there will be no more raping our slaves.”

Several unhappy groans escaped from the crowd, all who were cut off the moment Black Widow’s eyes narrowed. A part of me wondered if the reason why such a small amount of slavers who had voiced their displeasure - even if so briefly - was that they feared their leader that much, or was it simply because not all of them raped the ponies they captured and this wasn’t affecting them.

“Those of you who feel wronged by that order can voice their complaints to Pillory,” Black Widow continued after her glare silenced the groans of discontent. “After he's recovered from the punishment he’s about to receive, of course. Just make sure not to kill him,” she added as she trotted towards Pillory. The earth pony looked as if he was about to start shaking as she drew closer to him. “With those problems we’ve been having it would be an idiocy to kill somepony who can fight,” she said as she stood before Pillory, facing him, then turned to glance over her shoulder. “Wouldn’t you agree? So you can relax a bit, Pillory,” Black Widow told him, turning back to him once the slavers around her nodded and murmured in agreement; some semblance of warmth had crept into her voice, “I’m not going to have you killed. Tell me, what do you think I’m going to do to you?”

Now the buck was definitely shaking. His mouth opened, but it took a few seconds for words to come from it. It probably didn’t help him that a few snickers went through the crowd. “I… y-you’re gonna… c-cut something?” he finally asked in terrified voice, clearly recalling what Black Widow had said moments ago.

The leader of Appleloosa looked as if considering his words. “That would seem like the obvious punishment, wouldn’t it? To cut… something,” she said, tilting her head as her her eyes briefly travelled down, suggestively enough for Pillory to raise his hind leg protectively. “Oh relax,” Black Widow snorted, turning around and walking away a bit. “We’re not raiders.”

Pillory sighed with relief, his shaking stopped. “Thank you, boss-”

Black Widow’s sat down on her haunches and clapped her forehooves together.

At once, the two slaver guards that stood on each side of Pillory had swiped his forelegs from under him, causing him to fall down on his face. Before he could as much as grunt in surprise, they placed their hooves on his withers, pinning the front half of his body to the ground.

“W-what the-” Pillory began to say, looking from one to the other and to Black Widow, who still had her back turned to him, while Khan trotted around to get behind him, his-

Why does he have an erection? I wondered, perplexed, as I noticed his clearly erect penis hanging between his hind legs as he stopped behind Pillory. Even as the zebra mounted the slaver I continued to ponder this in confusion: He was just standing over there doing nothing… I don’t think he could have been sexually aroused in any way…

“Hey what the- FUUUUCKGHHHRHRR!!!” Pillory began to say when Khan positioned himself only for his protest to turn into scream as the zebra shoved forward.

And yet the moment Black Widow signaled him to,I continued, lost in my thoughts, he was ready to-

Angel! Pinkie’s mental shout interrupted me. Do you mind?! she asked once she got my attention, the apparition holding a hoof before her eyes and trying to look away from the scene before me. Fluttershy was also trying to block her sight, as pointless as it would be, by covering her face with both of her forehooves.

Oh, right, I thought, remembering that the two see what I am seeing, and turned my head away so that the zebra, the slaver who he was raping and the two holding him down were outside of my field of vision. Sorry, got lost in thoughts… what a disgusting punishment. Though I suppose some would call it a just one.

Turning my eyes away couldn’t stop me from hearing the noises they were making (especially Pillory’s curses and screams), but they were almost drowned by the laughter and jeers other slavers were making watching them.

“Look at that zebra cockslut!”

“Didn’t know your barn door swing that way, Pillory!”

“Take that dick, bitch!”

I really couldn’t tell whether I found the rape or slaver’s commentary on it to be more disgusting right now. Though I absolutely felt no sympathy for Pillory, I found this whole ordeal to be unnecessary. A part of me wondered if a pony in his situation would consider becoming my test subject a preferable option to this violation and humiliation.

“Not a fan of anal, Doctor?”

I almost staggered, taken by surprise by Black Widow’s question. Turning my head to address her (and trying to focus on her and not on the carnal abuse behind her) I realized that sometime after ordering the punishment of Pillory to begin she had trotted up to me. The slaver’s leader was looking me in the eyes, utterly ignoring everypony else; her expression was neutral, she was neither amused nor angry.

“I’m not a ‘fan’, as you have phrased it, of rape in general,” I replied, frowning a little. “Especially since I will be the one who will have to treat Pillory if the skin and lining of his rectum gets torn as a result of this.”

“Really?” Apple Core chimed in with a question, lifting an eyebrow. “Ya would really treat ‘im?”

I shrugged. “Untreated, the wounds in his rectum will most certainly become infected, and he would die.”

A smile crossed Black Widow’s muzzle. “How thoughtful, Doctor. I’m sure Pillory will appreciate your medical care… afterwards, of course. For now,” she added, leaning closer, “I want you to look. I did tell you that I want to show you what I mean by ‘unpleasant’,” she continued when I looked at her with confusion. She then reached to my chin and moved my head slightly to the side, so that I was now looking straight at the rape of Pillory. “I want you to remember what I can do to ponies who wrong me,” Black Widow added before turning around.

Sorry, darlings, I apologised to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, forcing myself to look upon the disgusting scene. I don’t think it would be wise to disobey her.

Apple Core leaned in to whisper to my ear: “Boss likes t’ make such demonstrations from time t’ time, remind other’s who’s on top and what not. Don’t worry ‘bout it, just stay on ‘er good side and she will leave ya alone.”

Though it didn’t surprise me to learn that, I had my doubts whether Apple Core’s assessment was correct. I knew Black Widow had her suspicions, and I expected that they wouldn’t alleviate any time soon, if ever.

So, Pinkie spoke up, having second thoughts about those experiments of yours? While saying that, the apparition meaningfully nodded at Khan and Pillory

Second thoughts? Hardly, I replied, mentally snorting. I’ve already gone too far, stopping now would be pointless… but I will consider stopping taking any new test subjects for now, I amended. Not that I had any room in the basement for anypony else. No point risking ponies finding out about me.

Resigned, I continued to watch Black Widow’s “justice”, as it was, for quite a while. Khan continued to rape Pillory’s asshole for at least ten minutes - enough for Apple Core murmur something about “needing to reevaluate some things” - slamming his hips against his which he held in his strong forelegs, not letting his hind legs to give in. Pillory had long since stopped trying to resist, and now continued to lay on his chest and staring emptily in front of him, probably doing his best to ignore the jeers of other slavers.

Do you think he wonders if this is how his victim had felt? I couldn’t help but wonder at one point.

It’s not the way to go about to reform somepony, Fluttershy immediately responded, her dismay clear on her muzzle. Not wanting to argue, we fell to silence afterwards, but soon Fluttershy, having a hard time bearing through this, spoke up, Can’t you think of any way of stopping this?

I’m rather certain that interrupting Black Widow’s sentence from being carried out will result in the pony who interrupted it sharing the accused’s fate, I replied. And I don’t really feel like rescuing somepony who had taken advantage of another in the first place.

Fluttershy, though reluctantly, fell silent afterwards, and both she and Pinkie Pie winked out of my vision soon.

Not wanting to focus on the carnal movements he was making, I instead turned my gaze to Khan’s face. I could see the undamaged half of his face from where I was standing; strangely, despite of what he was doing, the expression he bore was the same as always. Empty. Uninterested.

“Walking vegetable”, Black Widow had called him, I recalled the conversation I had with the slaver leader when I first saw Khan. She said that all she has to do was point at something and give an order, and he would attack… and do other things, apparently. But… does he want to? Does this head injury he suffered really made him unable to think for himself? Would he have wanted to rape Pillory if his injury hadn’t left him catatonic?

…

Am I watching the rape of two people?

Finally (as I came to a decision that I was indeed watching rape of two people - from technical, legal point of view at least - as in his state Khan couldn’t very well give his consent to this act), a shudder went over Khan, and shoved with his hips for one final time, ejaculating inside of Pillory’s rectum. As the zebra pulled away - causing his sperm to leak out of the slaver’s asshole - he let go of his hips, letting the hind half of his body to drop down to the ground.

“Well, that was entertaining,” Black Widow spoke up as Pillory had collapsed, not gracing him with as much as a look. Her eyes scanned through the crowd instead, stopping briefly on myself as she continued, “I’m glad that so many of you had taken such joy in it… so much so that you had seemingly forgotten that the same thing will happen to you if you break our new rules,” she added in a cold voice. At once, the few remaining giggles had cased. “Except that you will also be required of cleaning my dear pet zebra afterwards.”

Cleaning? I thought confused. Why would they have to clean him? And with what? There’s no soap or running water anywhere in town… I trailed off as my gaze followed where some of the slavers were looking; at the flaccid penis between Khan’s hind legs. Oh, that’s what she means, I realized after a moment.

“Since Pillory here is our first offender, he won’t have to; only those who had been warned will be additionally punished as such,” Black Widow explained, shrugging. “Anyway, now that we have these unpleasantries out of the way, it’s about time you all returned to your duties.”

And with those words, she turned away and walked towards her house, with Khan obediently following after her. The two slavers who were keeping Pillory still also followed her; Black Widow stopped to exchange a few words with them that I couldn’t overhear, after which the two left and headed towards the tavern.

“Probably told ‘em to order somethin’ on ‘er tab,” Apple Core told me. As I turned to her, I saw her looking at the dispersing crowd. “Geez, talk ‘bout a mood change…”

“I was actually surprised to see how much they enjoyed this display,” I replied; even though I knew that this had served as a warning to me as well (if not especially me), I couldn’t help but be glad that Black Widow had reigned them in.

But Apple Core just shrugged. “Ponies are trash. Anyway, Ah’ve gotta see t’ the guard rotation and shit, Ah’ll see ya later.”

Nodding to her in goodbye, I saw that Pillory, having been left by his guards, had already rose from the ground, and was currently walking away towards one of the the slaver’s common house on shaking legs. “Remind him to see me when he’s ready for medical examination, sweetie,” I told Apple Core.

“Hm?” Following my gaze, the slaver mare quickly rolled her eyes and sighed. “Sure.”

“Preferably sometime in the afternoon,” I added in an afterthought. “I will be taking a nap after I discharge the other raiders from my care.”

Apple Core, who was already leaving, nodded in a sign that she heard me. Hopefully he will come to the clinic in late afternoon, I mused as I began to head towards my clinic, a yawn escaping me. And that that there won’t be any emergencies today.

Though I needed to catch some sleep, I also needed to check on my test subjects.

I wonder if there is some changes in Cutter and Manacles’ state? It’s been over twenty four hours since the operation, there should be some symptoms… also, our-

“What the hell?”

I stopped as the words of the nearby slaver startled me. Looking at him, I realized that he was looking up at the clouds. Following his gaze in confusion, I wondered what could have surprised him so, only to find a strange shape that drew closer.

After a few seconds of staring at it I’d realized that the whole commotion earlier made me forget that I’d been expecting somebody.

A smile spread on my muzzle as the figure I saw against the gray cloud cover became more familiar as it drew closer, only to quickly disappear as I recalled why Jack was coming here. Apprehension filled me; here he was, one who could become either my first real ally, or my executioner.

I was both terrified and excited at the same time.

By then a lot more ponies had noticed the incoming griffin; as I looked about I saw that one or two were reaching for their weapons. Realizing that I needed to act before some idiot shot him, I pushed down my worries and turned to the closest slaver.

“Sweetie, please inform Black Widow that the Bloodtalon I had promised her is about to arrive,” I told him, loud enough for everypony to hear me.

Silence fell around me. Though I wasn’t sure how many had known that a Bloodtalon would be coming to Appleloosa (even if Black Widow hadn’t made this a public knowledge I was certain that Apple Core must have told at least a few while drinking; the entire town would certainly know if Black Widow hadn’t send her to Stable Eleven), they all thought better than to start shooting at him.

The slaver I addressed looked at me with hesitation, then back at the approaching griffin, before nodding and running to Black Widow’s house. The other slavers continued to observe Jack, some keeping their weapons ready. He in turn must have noticed me - my coat was very easy to spot after all - as with the next few seconds he changed his course slightly and was now flying directly towards me.

The slavers - those that were standing close to me - backed away and Jack landed before me. The griffin looked almost exactly the same as when I’ve last saw him, except maybe for some pieces of equipment (there was a rifle now strapped to his back, beside his sword). He regarded me calmly, without either warmth of cold in his gaze.

I smiled in greeting. “Hello sweetie. It is such a pleasure to see you again.”

My greeting broke the mask of indifference Jack decided to wear… but not exactly in the way I hoped for. Instead he looked upwards and sighed, seemingly annoyed. “Hello Doctor. Been well I hope?” he asked in a resigned voice.

“Why yes, sweetie, you could say that. You’re probably-” I began, only to stop mid-sentence.

I wasn’t sure when she appeared, but I’ve just noticed Pinkie’s apparition beside me. She appeared… confused. She was looking from right to left, her ears twitching as if she was looking for something.

What is it darling? I asked her, surprised.

“What are you doing?”

Hearing Jack’s question made me realize that without realizing it I’ve unwittingly copied Pinkie Pie; I’ve looked around while my ears twitched, trying to spot and hear… whatever it is Pinkie had tried to.

Clearing my throat to hide my embarrassment over doing something so strange for seemingly no reason (an embarrassment made even worse under Jack’s questioning, one-eyebrow raised stare), I replied. “Forgive me, sweetie, I thought I’ve heard something. You must be tired after your journey,” I continued, managing to sound natural as I began to turn around. “Why won’t I show you to Black Widow, so you can discuss with her the nature of your employment?”

“No need for that my good doctor,” a familiar voice came from behind me, the last three words dipped with a bit of amusement.

The voice belonged to Black Widow of course; she was coming towards us as I turned to her, accompanied by Khan hastily joined by Apple Core who had run up from the direction of one of the slavers common houses. I backed away respectfully so that she could stand right before Jack, and was about to introduced them when the griffin spoke up:

“You’re the infamous leader of Appleloosa’s slavers, I take?” he asked, not disrespectfully.

“Indeed I am,” the black unicorn replied courtly. “And you’re the griffin mercenary I’ve been hearing about from Apple Core and our doctor, who claims to be a Bloodtalon?”

Jack’s gaze hardened as he glared, first at Apple Core then at myself; while Apple Core slightly cowered under his gaze, I merely tilted my head in mild confusion. “Yes,” he replied after a heartbeat, turning back to Black Widow. “Doesn’t really matter to you if the latter is true or not as long as I’m good at my job, am I right?”

Black Widow smirked. “Indeed it does not. Don’t you ponies have jobs to do?” she asked unexpectedly, her question directed to the small crowd that had began to gather around us.

As if she had given a direct order, the slavers had began to disperse; I took note how some of them were staring at Jack with fear, others with suspicion, and almost all with curiosity.

“Speaking of jobs,” Black Widow continued, “I’ve heard that you’ve agreed to help us with a little problem with been having?”

“More or less,” Jack replied, shrugging. “We hadn’t discussed details as to what exact form my help will take, but I will help you. For a price of course.”

“Then let us discuss those details and the price,” Black Widow said, unfazed. “I’m more or less familiar with standard Talons’ prices… though do they still apply to a griffin unaffiliated with any Talons company?”

Jack once again shrugged. “If you want the job done right, you will consider me a non-union Talon.”

Black Widow chuckled at that. “I think I’m starting to like you. Come with me, we can talk more comfortably within my office,” she said, turning around. “Oh, and Doctor, don’t you have patients waiting for you?” Black Widow asked, glancing at me.

Understanding the not-so-subtle dismissal, I nodded and turned around, walking away towards my clinic. I didn’t look at Jack; I didn’t need to. I knew he and I would soon meet face to face. Probably at night, away from prying eyes.

I wonder if we’ll be able to talk tonight? I mused as I walked. Black Widow will most likely put him to work immediately so he can find this tribe… though I’d imagine Jack will find some excuse to seek me. And he’d figure out that it would be best to conclude our business at night; it would look weird to everypony if I were to disappear from my clinic.

Taking comfort in knowing that I was dealing with somebody quite intelligent, I opened the door to my clinic. The slavers that were guarding the raiders glanced at me. “What was Pillory punishment?” one of them asked curiously.

“Black Widow had Khan rape him in front of everypony,” I told him as I entered.

I was about to add how she had also forbid raping slaves until further notice and how the same fate as Pillory’s would await anypony who ignores the order, but just then I noticed Pinkie’s apparition beside me, her ears twitching again as she looked about.

Darling, what is it? I asked her as the guards commented between themselves about Pillory’s punishment. You’re starting to worry me.

Hmm… Pinkie hummed slowly, looking from left to right again before frowning. Nothing, I guess. Sorry, she added apologetically.

Frowning at the apparition, I closed the door to the clinic… only to jump up, startled by the loud Crack! behind me. Turning around I located the source of it; the upper hinge of the door had broken, causing the door to lean diagonally against its frame.

“What?” I asked out loud, looking at the broken hinge in surprise.

“This shit happens all the time,” one of the guards told me, sounding disinterested. He shrugged as I looked at him questioningly and added: “All those pre-end of the world buildings are half ruined and rotted out. Half a year ago the entire upper floor at one of the common houses collapsed.”

“Oh, I see,” I replied, frowning.

“Forty should be able to repair this,” the other slaver added.

Guess I’d better have a talk with Forty later then, I thought sighing, as I closed the broken door gently as best as it was possible.

It didn’t take too long to feed the three raider slaves and assess their condition; after a whole day under my care, their condition had improved enough that I was satisfied that they would make a full recovery. Within the next half an hour they’ve been “discharged”, and their guards were taking them to where they were keeping the others.

“Make sure to tell whoever will be guarding them to keep an eye if any of them faints or shows any other signs of growing weak,” I told them as they left my clinic. Pausing to cover my muzzle with a hoof to hide a yawn, I added: “And please ask around to not disturb me for a few hours, unless some emergency comes up.”

“Sure thing doc, have a good nap,” one of them replied, waving back.

“Thank you sweetie,” I replied, moving back to the clinic and carefully closing the door, mindful of the broken hinge.

Shaking my head to stave off my sleepiness, I trotted over to the entrance to the basement. Having been warned by the slavers about the state of the most of the buildings in the Wasteland (Which would have been nice to be informed about earlier.), I opened the door carefully, then examined the hinges; Goddesses know what could happen if those would break.

They look alright, as far as I can tell, I mused, looking at the closely. Don’t you agree? I asked the two apparitions.

I guess, Fluttershy replied, uncertainly; apparently, her expertise regarding door hinges wasn’t better than mine.

Pinkie Pie in turn nodded in reply, clearly not paying attention; the apparition had her forelegs crossed on her chest and her ears were perked up, as if she was looking for something. Again.

What is it this time? I asked her, closing the door and descending down to the basement.

Hm? Oh, nothing, Pinkie replied, sighing. Again. Ugh, it’s stopped being funny! She fumed and disappeared.

Do you know what’s bothering her? I asked Fluttershy, but the tiny pegasus was shaking her head.

I, um, I don’t think even Pinkie knows what’s bothering her, she replied before disappearing as well.

Shaking my head, I pushed my worries regarding the weird behaviour of the apparition to the back of my head. I had more important things to deal with. The Mister Handy robot Janitor was already turning to me, it’s three eyes aligning themselves so that it could see me better.

“Ah, Doctor Angel,” he greeted me.

“Hello Janitor-” I began, but a loud shout interrupted me.

“Is that that bitch!?” a mare screamed from behind one of the closed doors. “You fucker! Get over here you fucking slut!”

“I see our newest patient has regained consciousness?” I asked Janitor, ignoring the shouts; while the basement wasn’t exactly soundproof, it was impossible to hear what was happening inside unless one had their ear pressed against the door, and even then it was difficult to make out.

“Yes, and she’s been very violent since,” the robot replied. “Perhaps she should be sedated?”

“In a moment, first I would like to talk with her. You can go into sleep mode for now, sweetie,” I told him as I trotted around him to reach the door.

“Of course, Ma’am,” Janitor replied, before landing on the floor and becoming silent.

I opened the door to what once was a small storage before I’ve turned it into a cell, like the other two. Now free of any unnecessary objects and furniture, the only thing within was a beige colored mare, chained to the wall.

“Hello, sweetie,” I greeted Thorny Locust. “I’d imagine-”

The chains clinked as the mare tried to lunge at me, without much effect.

“Come over here, you little bitch!” she sneered, trying to force her forelegs free.

“I’m good where I am, thank you,” I replied coldly. “Now, I-”

“I’m gonna use your horn as a dildo when I get my hooves on you, you sneaky pathetic little-”

Fed up, I cast the Anesthetic Spell on her, causing her to drop to the floor in mid-sentence.

“I was hoping we could have a civilized talk, but I guess that was a little too optimistic of me,” I told Thorny Locust, walking over to turn her head so she could see me. “I don’t mind my test subjects voicing their opinion, but interrupting me is just rude, and I have a feeling that you would never let me get a word in edgeways. So until you learn some manners, I’m afraid our conversations will have to look like this, with your immobile body laying on the floor.”

The raider mare couldn’t reply, but her hatred was plain in her eyes.

“Now, as you’ve probably realized, you’re no longer a slave of Appleloosa’s slavers,” I began, taking a step back. “Instead, you’re my test subject now. In case you’re wondering how this came about, I inform you that you are believed to be dead. I happened to have a corpse of similar body build of yours in my clinic, you see, for research purposes; it’s amazing how a few hours of surgery and dye can make somepony look so alike,” I mused, smirking. “It’s especially easy to operate on a corpse, it’s way quicker when I have so little to worry about. Of course, somepony close to you could probably pick up on a difference here and there, but fooling somepony who had seen you once - and you were covered in blood for most of that time, thanks to being shot after attacking me - was very easy. And of course, considering what had happened last night, it was very easy to convince everypony that you were murdered, just had to add few bruises on the corpse of Barrel.” I hesitated, still feeling uneasy about those events. “I… I would like to apologize to you for what happened. It wasn’t my intention for you to be raped, and I hadn’t accounted for such a possibility,” I said, feeling a bit awkward.

The mare continued to stare at me, silently.

I sighed, frustrated with myself. Cases like these make me wish I’d have studied psychology properly, I complained. I’m not trained to deal with traumas like these!

Didn’t you say that you had more… useful fields to study? Fluttershy’s apparition asked, appearing next to me.

Well, yes, medicine, arcane bioengineering, biological hippology and genetics - which was the next degree I had been studying to get - were all more useful to me when I was living in a Stable with four other active doctors, three of which had degrees in psychology and counseling, I replied, frowning at her; her question sounded a bit smarty to me. I could have always directed any patients in need of therapy or counseling to them for proper care. But now I’m here, with all these patients…

I shook my head, sighing again. Even knowing that I wasn’t dealing with a patient anymore but a test subject, one who would be traumatized even more soon, did little to ease my frustration.

“I suppose you don’t really care for my apologies,” I resumed talking to Thorny Locust. “Once you become more familiar with the purpose of you being here, you will probably care even less. But you might take some solace in knowing that the stallion who had raped you had just been raped himself, as well as humiliated in front of every slaver in Appleloosa. If things play out well for me, you might even get to see him again when he becomes another test subject of mine; who knows, maybe I’ll even allow you to get even with him. We’ll have to see,” I said, shrugging. “In the meantime, I suggest you start getting used to your situation, sweetie. For now, I don’t have any sessions scheduled with you, so you can relax; I first need to learn the results of the experiment I conducted on my other two test subjects. This means the soonest we start working together will be tomorrow; try to learn some manners in the meantime,” I told her, walking out of her cell. “Oh,” I exclaimed, looking over my shoulder, “and from now on, you will address me as ‘Mistress’, not ‘little bitch’, or any other colorful name.”

Strangely, as I looked into her eyes while saying that, I could have swore that her rage had given way to amusement; she looked at me as if wanting to mock me. Disinterested in prolonging this “discussion”, though, I closed the door.

Alright, I thought, perking up a little, now to check up on Cutter and Manacles…

Footnote: 25% to next level!

Author's Notes:

Got the chapter ready before the end of the year, as promised^^ Thanks to Zaleros, TimePrincess and Sage Probo for their editing/proofreading and their suggestions, and special thanks to Kkat for creating Fallout: Equestria of course, to Somber for Project Horizons, and to Homelands and Heartshine for Speak, which are as canon as the original story here^^

(Question, should I thank Somber and Heartshine for their stories even if the particular chapters don't have anything referencing their stories? I mean, I don't mind thanking them for their stories everytime, I do enjoy them that much, but I'm not sure if it's not annoying to the readers )

Also, hope you had a Happy Heart's Warming, and I wish you all a happy New Year^^