Feeling very tired, I finally dragged myself to my room’s door and pulled the knob with my magic, yawning at the thought that I would soon be in my bed…

… the bed that, as I somehow only now had realized, was making an awfully loud squeaking noise, accompanied by moans.

Blinking rapidly and rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn’t seeing things (and to brush off my drowsiness), I stared silently as Aite bounced on Jack, the griffin lying on his back on my bed. His paws rested on her flanks as she moved, squeezing them while the bat pony steadied herself with both her wings and forehooves that she rested on his chest.

Finally beginning to recover, I cleared my throat and tried to get their attention. “E-excuse me…”

Both turned their eyes to me; did they really just now realize that I’d entered the room? My room, to be specific? However, other than being embarrassed about being found in such a compromising position, both of them looked… quite pleased to see me.

Before I could muster another word, Aite jumped off Jack - giving me a brief glance of the griffin member slipping out of her; unfortunately, I was so perplexed that I couldn’t even think about satisfying my scientific curiosity at the moment - and flew towards me. I took a cautious step back as she landed in front of me, but it didn’t matter; she still reached with her foreleg, grabbed me, and pulled me towards her… towards her lips, specifically,

My eyes widened in surprise, I was so shocked that I offered no resistance as the bat pony’s tongue plunged into my mouth. And… as seconds passed, I realized that I did not want to. Even though this would very likely lead to joining them on my bed, therefore breaking my - admittedly somewhat unofficial - rule of not making love to somepony met so recently, I found that I didn’t mind, not at the moment. And so I very eagerly replied to the kiss in kind once I recovered, my tongue wrestling with hers as I slipped it into her mouth, curiously brushing against her fangs as I leaned into her embrace.

The bat pony finally pulled her head back, letting me catch my breath. Aite gazed at me seductively, her eyes almost glowing. “We’ve been waiting for you,” she half-whispered, half-purred, her voice causing a pleasant tremble to go down my spine.

I wasn’t given a chance to reply (or ask questions, which despite how pleased I found myself with those developments I honestly probably should); the older mare’s grip tightened around my body and I was lifted into the air. Before I could react though, the very short flight had ended. Aite had placed me on top of the bed, with Jack lying right beneath me.

I leaned backwards, so that our faces wouldn’t collide (which resulted in, let's say, something very stiff brushing against my flank). To my slight surprise, I found myself… feeling bashful. Which considering how exotic I considered both Jack and Aite and that I would normally enjoy an opportunity to examine their bodies so closely was rather odd of me. Not to mention that I wasn’t exactly a stranger to an act of copulation, to say the least. In fact, I’ve always rather enjoyed physical contact. Was it just because I wasn’t used to somebody being so… forward? Aite had all but forced herself upon me, and then forced me on top of Jack, so to speak.

Or was it because I wasn’t used to Jack staring at me like this, with desire and… affection?

I shivered as he reached to my face with his paw and brushed my cheek with a gentleness I wouldn’t have expected of him. Staring into his red eyes I leaned against it as he slowly moved it upwards, his talons sinking into my mane and moving me back down. Relaxed by his tenderness, I leaned towards him. Just as the worry about how exactly we should continue entered my mind, we began to kiss, with Jack raising his head a little so that parting my lips with his beak with surprising ease.

Distracted by Jack, I had almost forgotten about Aite. The bat pony must have decided that I had enough time to adapt to the situation and rejoined as on the bed, as the wonderful feeling under my tail had indicated. Breaking mine and Jack’s kiss to utter a moan, I looked back at her, arching my back as she ceased her activity and leaned over, pressing her chest to me as she hugged me and nibbled on the neck. I groaned in pleasure as I felt her long right wing wrap around me, her claw reaching between my hind legs, while she slowly licked the side of my face before brushing her muzzle against my ear and whispered seductively: “Make us whole.”

A giggle escaped me hearing such a weird euphemism to describe the physical act of love. “What?” I asked in amusement, leaning away to look at Aite’s face.

The bat pony smirked and opened her mouth to reply, as I assumed.

“Wake up!”

I balked, surprised by the shout that came out of Aite instead, in Apple Core’s voice no less.

Wait, Apple Core’s?

“Wake up!” Apple Core repeated as I opened my eyes, her voice becoming more annoyed.

I looked at the earth pony mare in confusion, the events that I had just been a part of replaying in my mind… and within a few heartbeats I realized that they were a dream. I groaned and propped myself up on my forehoof while with other I brushed my eyes. The real events of what had happened started to come back to me. I had stayed within my laboratory until the early hours of the morning, leaving it just in time to see Jack get ready to leave my clinic (and express his surprise at seeing that I had been up all night) before I went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

Did I just have a nocturnal emission? I shifted slightly under the covers to check in a way that Apple Core wouldn’t notice; yes, vaginal wetness, I definitely had a nocturnal emission. Well, minus an orgasm, thanks to Apple Core. That’s a new one.

“I’m up, sweetie, I’m up,” I told her drowsily, trying not to hold that against her. While the dream was quite pleasant, it was just a dream. And at least thanks to her I woke up before either of the two apparitions made their way into it like back in Stable Eleven-

Yeah… Pinkie Pie slowly said as she appeared in my field of vision; the tiny pony was sitting on a tiny couch, holding… a box of popcorn. We could kinda see the whole thing? the pink pony revealed, somewhat bashfully; at least she had the decency to blush.

Oddly enough, I found myself slightly embarrassed about this. Which was weird because I had no problem with the two of them being involuntary witnesses to me and Ditzy making love. I suppose it's because the dream was sort of more… personal?

Letting the matter go for now, I focused on the guest in my room. “To what do I owe the bliss of waking up to your face, sweetie?” I asked her pleasantly, hoping to hide anything that could be considered off in my behavior, like-

Wait, I stopped, blinking, my attention shifting back to Pinkie. Darling, why are you sitting on a couch and eating popcorn?!

Pinkie’s apparition blinked and stopped in mid-chew, then swallowed. What couch and popcorn? she finally asked.

I frowned at her, but at the same moment I had been reminded of a more corporeal presence near me. “Um, what are ya doin’?” Apple Core asked me; glancing at her, I saw her staring at me with a confused expression.

Embarrassed at my lack of focus (and frustrated at what I assumed was Pinkie’s jocularity… I mean, it must have been), I cleared my throat and smiled sheepishly. “Forgive me, sweetie, it would appear that I haven’t quite woken up yet.”

Apple Core raised an eyebrow, then smirked. “Yeah, ya kinda seem a bit… worn out,” she said, looking at me oddly. “Busy night?”

“‘Busy night’?” I repeated, confused. Of course, it had been a busy night for me, but Apple Core couldn’t possibly know about it. “Whatever do you mean by that, sweetie- Sweetie?” I exclaimed in growing confusion; the earth pony mare had leaned closer to me and sniffed my coat. “Not that I mind your sudden tolerance for such close physical contact with myself, but may I ask what had caused it?”

“Ah’m just checkin’ if ya and Jack have been ruttin’,” Apple Core replied with malicious smirk, leaving me aghast. As I tried to figure out the best way to reply, the slaver mare took another sniff of my scent and her smirk somehow widened; no doubt she had detected the smell of arousal caused by my dream. “When some schmuck asked ‘im at Salt Block ‘bout it, he denied it, but ya do kinda smell like-”

“Jack and I haven’t partaken in the physical act of love,” I cut her off, not amused by her insinuation. “What you are smelling is a little bit of vaginal wetness caused by the nocturnal emission I had before you decided to wake me up. You may know it under the name of ‘wet dream’,” I added quickly, noticing her raised eyebrow. “And for the record, that was a rather enjoyable dream, so thank you so much for waking me.” Frowning with dignity at the other mare as she snickered with laughter, I waited for her to calm down before resuming. “I’m assuming that since Jack didn’t come over to also deny your suggestion this means that he already left?”

“‘Already’?” Apple Core, still taking great delight in what I revealed to her, asked. “It’s almost noon.”

My eyes widened in surprise at that. I quickly glanced away to check the time and indeed, my PipBuck’s clock showed that it was already past ten in the morning. “I must have slept through my alarm,” I mused out loud, dismayed. Pulling two practically all-nighters in a row must have been more exhausting than I had expected too. I took a mental note to plan out a better sleeping schedule for myself and stick to it, even if I find another amazing critter to examine… “Oh dear, I hope nopony needed my help?”

Apple Core snorted. “Yeah, Ah kinda doubt that if anypony needed anything they would ‘ave just let ya sleep. But anyway, Jack left in the morning t’ track down that tribe, only stopped by Salt Block t’ ‘ave some breakfast. Guys there were curious about ‘im spendin’ the night with ya,” she added, smirking again. “Jack did say though that it was only because he got stuck ‘ere because of the storm. That was when one of ‘em asked if you two banged.”

“You’d think that ponies in this town would have better conversation topics,” I couldn’t help but cut in, shaking my head disapprovingly. Sighing, I added “If Jack had already said that we hadn’t… banged, as you had so romantically put it, why would you doubt him? After all,” I said with a small smirk as I slowly rose from under the covers, arching my body alluringly, “I’d think that most males of any species would rather lie that they and I had enjoyed carnal activities rather than not, wouldn’t you agree?”

I took her gaze briefly travelling down the curves of my body as a yes. However, as soon as I finished talking, the other mare snickered. “Yeah, well, probably. But aren’t ya curious why didn’t this one try anythin’ and why almost everypony believed ‘im when he said so?”

Well, I knew, of course, Jack had been very clear on this matter last night. But what sort of excuse did he present to the slavers that amused Apple Core so much? I nodded to her to finish her thought, not wanting to reveal anything by saying too much.

The earth pony grinned. “He said that he’d never stick his dick in crazy.”

I felt my mouth drop in shock after hearing that Jack had uttered such a vulgar remark. Hearing Apple Core chuckling at my reaction though had helped me to recover enough to say: “I’m… honestly not sure if I should take a greater offense at his very vulgar choice of words or that he continues to make those false remarks regarding my mental health. Although I should probably be relieved that he doesn’t harbor any fantasies about engaging in coitus with me,” I added with a snort as I crossed my forelegs on my chest, still a little mad about the way he behaved when I refused to divulge information about Apple Core. “I would certainly not make love to such a… vulgar, uncouth brute.”

“Oh yeah?” Apple Core said, sounding amused; glancing at her I noticed that she was once again looking at me with one eyebrow raised. “Who was yar wet dream ‘bout, then?”

I furrowed my brow, but otherwise kept a neutral expression, hiding the pang of embarrassment I felt upon hearing her remark. “If you must know, sweetie, I was about to make love to a rather very sensual mare when you’ve woken me up.”

And the very griffin in question, I added in my mind. I didn’t see any point in admitting to Apple Core that she was right; it would certainly make my stance on the matter seem dubious. And besides, I wasn’t lying to her, I really was about to make love to Aite in that dream. Which admittedly was something that I should analyze, the fact that I had such a dream about a mare that I’ve just met, but one thing at a time.

In any case, regardless of whether Apple Core believed me or not, she seemed satisfied with my answer. “Sure, whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, Ah brought ya somethin’ to eat.” My eyes lifted at the sight of her patting a small paper bag on the desk next to her; I didn’t even realize how hungry I was! Before I could as much grab the bag with my magic, though, I noticed Apple Core’s expression becoming troubled. “So, um… ‘bout what we talked yesterday…”

I nodded at once, forgetting about the food and our earlier discussion. “Close the door, sweetie,” I told her, getting up from my bed. “I’d hate if somebody would walk in like yesterday… or if somepony was listening in,” I added, reminding myself about Aite.

Apple Core didn’t appear to notice anything odd about my comment, as she turned to close the door without as much as giving me a weird look. I quickly glanced around my bedroom, wondering if Aite was here. I hoped that the bat pony remembered that she agreed to not listen in when I’m treating my patients and, if she had been in my room, had already left.

“Alright,” I began once Apple Core closed the door joined me. “First things first; when do you believe the possible impregnation had occurred?”

The earth pony grimaced. “What does it… ugh, Ah guess it was ‘bout a week ago? Or… week and a half?” she added, sounding a little bashful and not meeting my eyes.

It would appear that Jack’s guess had been correct, I noted; of course, I had already agreed that if Apple Core was pregnant then it was most likely that Blast had impregnated her. What did surprise and confuse me though was her reluctance to just say it. Is she simply embarrassed? Well, considering that I had previously pointed out to her just how ineffective her ‘contraceptive method’ is, it wouldn’t be surprising if she was...

Keeping those thoughts to myself for now, outwardly, I released a troubled sigh. “That complicates this matter a bit. I won’t be able to use my magic to detect an embryo at such an early stage of development, not without any proper medical equipment. I’ve checked both the storage room and the basement, but there weren’t even any calibrating talismans or arcanewave gel. Nor were there any pregnancy tests, but they would be out of date anyway. Fortunately, I can break the chemicals I have stored down to their base components and prepare the potion that can detect even the tiniest presence of equine chorionic gonadotropin within blood or urine-”

“Ponish please,” Apple Core interjected, sounding a touch annoyed.

“Of course, sweetie,” I immediately replied, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. Clearing my throat, I resumed: “I can prepare a potion that, after adding it to a sample of your blood or urine, will change the sample’s color if it contains a hormone that is only present in the fluids of pregnant mares.”

“Wouldn’t it be simpler t’ say: it will change the color if the mare is pregnant?” Apple Core asked, deadpanning at me.

“I suppose it would,” I replied, sighing. “In any case, sweetie, I’ve already started to prepare this potion, but it will take me a couple of days to finish it.”

“Oh, Ah see,” the other mare replied, clearly disappointed. “How long?”

“I believe three to five days,” I said, frowning. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but that’s the best I can do with what I have to work with.”

“That’s okay, it’s not as long as Ah would ’ave thought. Ah can deal with not knowin’ for sure ‘til then.” She opened her mouth as if to add something else, but she hesitated, then shook his head. “Okay, well, Ah guess that’s it for now then. Um… ya got chems for me to sell to those schmucks?”

“Yes, of course, sweetie” I replied, a little dismayed that she wanted to change the subject so quickly. I reached with my magic to a drawer, opened it, and took a satchel from it containing the chems that I had prepared. “If you don’t mind though,” I added as I gave the bag to her, “I was hoping we could talk a bit more about-”

“Yeah, Ah bet,” Apple Core interrupted me with a snort, then covered her face with a hoof. “Look, Ah… don’t really wanna talk ‘bout it yet, okay? Or think for that matter. Hopefully yar test will show that Ah won’t ‘ave t’. Ah’ll see ya later,” she said, and with those words and the satchel placed in her saddle bag she trotted towards the door.

“Of course, sweetie,” I quickly said, then added: “In case you are pregnant, though, I have to remind you that you can’t drink any alcohol or partake in any chems, at least until we find out for sure if you are pregnant or not.”

Apple Core, who had stopped to listen to me, appeared to grow more annoyed with each word, but when I finished she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Well, since ya’d probably make a scene if ya caught me drinkin’, Ah won’t. Regardless of what Ah decide,” she muttered under her nose, probably not expecting me to have caught that; she sounded angry.

I bit my lip; I wanted to talk with her in greater detail about her plans, but I couldn’t press her. I’d have to wait until we can conduct our little pregnancy test to discuss this matter with her. And so instead I quietly followed after her out of my bedroom, musing over what to say next.

Well, Jack did want me to check if she would be open to the idea of running the town...

“This matter aside, how have you been, sweetie?” I asked. As the slaver mare glanced at me with an eyebrow raised, I elaborated: “We hadn’t had time to catch up since you’ve returned from your little outing to Stable Eleven. Perhaps we should meet at Salt Block later today?”

“Sorry, Ah’ll be busy tonight,” Apple Core replied. “Black Widow wants to discuss new slave raids and once that griffin returns we’ll start makin’ plans ‘bout this damned tribe.”

“Well, of course she wants to discuss them with you, sweetie, you’re easily the most discerning pony here,” I replied with a little smile, my praise making Apple Core chuckle warmly. “I dare say, she should probably leave planning slave raids to you entirely.”

“Right, make me do all the work,” Apple Core snorted in a good-spirited amusement. “Ah mean, Ah could do it, but the whole point of bein’ second in command is that Ah’m not responsible for everythin’.”

“I would have thought you’d have enjoyed such power,” I countered, acting a little surprised. “When I was the chief of medicine in Stable Eight, I had quickly found that being in charge is quite… satisfying,” I added, dragging the word alluringly.

Apple Core chuckled. “Yeah, Ah guess so… still,” she added briskly, her voice becoming firm, “Black Widow is the boss and she likes havin’ the final say-so in everythin’, so those are just conjectures.”

“But of course,” I replied with a calm smile; it wouldn’t do our task any good if I’d push this subject any further right now. I decided that it would be best to change the subject immediately, as if we were still having a simple conversation and not plotting to take over the town; well, one of us was at least. “Oh, but if you could, sweetie, perhaps you could ask Black Widow if the slavers could be on a lookout for any medical equipment from now on? The underequipped state of this clinic is becoming a real bother,” I said with honest dismay as we reached the door.

“Ah somewhat doubt they would find anythin’ that ‘adn’t been picked by scavengers centuries ago, but Ah can run that by her,” Apple Core replied with an eyeroll. “She would probably want some compensation for an extra effort, though.”

“She is my employer, it should be in her interest for me to have the best equipment possible,” I replied with a frown, then sighed. “But I suppose I can’t really blame her, seeing how rare such finds must be in the Wasteland.”

“Rare is probably the right word,” Apple Core said with a snort. “Anyway, Ah’ll see ya later- Fuckin’ hell!” she cursed angrily as the door which she had just tried to open fell out of one of its hinges, tilting sideways. “Ah’ll tell Forty t’ come over and get this stupid thing fixed for ya.”

“Oh, thank you sweetie, it would be great to have it repaired as soon as possible,” I told her, smiling, as the annoyed mare waved back and left, still cursing at my door under her nose as I carefully closed it.

“You know,” a familiar voice came from behind me suddenly, startling me, “some ponies say that a foal is a blessing and stuff. I don’t think your slaver friend would agree with that stupid old saying,” Aite said from the mattress she laid on, nodding with her head in the direction of the door. Unlike how she was when I had seen her last time - and in my dream - she was once again fully clothed, with her Invisibility Cloak covering practically all of her body besides her head. “She didn’t seem exactly pleased when you left your room.”

Calming down, I turned to the bat pony. “It is her body and life that are being affected,” I pointed out, trotting closer to her. “She is entitled to having a different opinion on this matter. Also, good morning, sweetie,” I told her with a smile.

Aite rolled her yellow eyes. “Morning.”

“I hope you hadn’t been listening when I gave Apple Core medical consultation?” I asked with a slight frown. “You promised that-”

“That I would leave you alone when you are with patients, yes, I remember,” Aite interjected, sounding a touch exasperated. “I did, but I can make a pretty good guess how it went down regardless. Think that when you do a pregnancy test on her and it turns out positive she’ll ask for abortion?” she asked, propping her head on a forehoof.

I ignored the unpleasant shiver that went down my spine. “Sweetie, I don’t feel comfortable discussing my patients,” I told her pointedly, turning away and trotting back towards my bedroom, where Apple Core had left the breakfast she had brought for me. “What she will ask of me as her medical doctor is her business.”

I was aware that as I walked away Aite continued to stare at me with an odd intensity. Maybe it was a bounty hunter thing, or ‘assassin’, as she called herself, thing? Was she studying me or something of the kind? I mean, I could respect that, after all, I would love to study her…

Whatever the reason for it was, she very quickly must have stopped staring at me and took to the air. I say ‘must have’ because with my back turned towards her I hadn’t noticed when she noiselessly flew over until she passed me, landing within my bedroom.

When I entered it myself, I found her sitting on my desk beside the aquarium where Snuggles and Wigglebutt were, chewing on a bit of cram. The bat pony was giving my radroaches a curious glance and after a second she extended her wing and tapped the glass next to them with her claw.

As Snuggles turned its head towards it and examined the aquarium wall around the spot Aite had tapped with its antennae, I observed her wing, measuring it as I recalled my dream, specifically the part where she had hugged me from behind and reached down towards my marehood. Huh, I would have thought my subconsciousness to be more accurate…

“So anyway,” Aite spoke up, breaking me out of my train of thoughts, “while you were sleeping and Jack was out eating breakfast and chatting with the slavers before going out into the Wasteland, I snuck into Black Widow’s house.” Oh now she had my full attention. “Sadly, didn’t find anything interesting, besides an old Steel Ranger’s scribe barding in a safe in her bedroom, confirming Cutter’s story. On a side note, she had quite a number of bottle caps hidden in that safe, too,” she added. “Of course, since she strikes me as a type of pony who counts their caps every night, I didn’t take any, but as soon as Jack gives a green light to take her down I’ll be taking them. I am doing this whole thing pro bono after all,” Aite said just as I was about to ask if it wouldn’t have been more fair to split the caps between the three of us. “There isn’t even any bounty on Black Widow. So those caps will be a bonus.”

I could only shrug in response. True, additional resources would be nice, but that meant less to me than finding out the information about Scope’s organization and taking over Appleloosa from Black Widow.

“As far as I am concerned, sweetie, those bottle caps are already yours,” I replied pleasantly. “Be sure to clear this up with Jack, though I’m sure he’ll agree.”

“Already asked when I reported all of this,” Aite said, then shrugged and added: “He seemed annoyed and said he doesn’t care. In any case,” she added, her attention shifting back to my radroaches as she tapped the glass again, “I didn’t find anything, no notes or diaries. I even looked into her ledgers, but there was nothing besides standard slaver business stuff. She does have a terminal in her bedroom though,” the bat pony said, glancing at me just as my ears perked up. “Of course, it’s password protected, and hacking into those things isn’t exactly my forte, and neither Jack’s. How about you, Cray-cray?”

“Oh, I would say I am quite skilled in this particular area, sweetie,” I replied, ignoring the nickname (even though I found it a more charming one that the plain ‘Crazy’ she also used to call me with). I was too busy considering the possibilities of this discovery. “Do you think she’d have some information we’re searching for?”

“It is possible. But it is also possible that there wouldn’t be anything in there. Which is why Jack is still against the idea of my just slitting her throat and smuggling you into her house to hack the terminal,” Aite said, annoyed, forgetting about Snuggles and Wigglebutt as she turned back to me. “Seriously, we could have already be done… I also found a hatch in her basement, similar to yours,” she added, but at almost at the same time she rolled her eyes and continued, “but it doesn’t do us much good at this point, considering that ponies would notice that you’re absent if we snuck in that way, and at night she’s there with that zebra. So no chance of checking the terminal’s contents without dealing with Black Widow, and we’ll continue with the plan. Meaning I’ll be bored to death,” Aite finished with a loud sigh, laying on the desk and placing her face in her forehooves.

“It would appear so,” I said sympathetically. “I have some books I can let you borrow if you need to find a way to pass the time,” I offered, but the bat pony waved her wing in what I interpreted as dismissive.

Unsure what else could be said at this point, I turned my attention to my breakfast. Inside the small paper bag was a can of beans; ever since I learned about brahmin, I refused to eat any meat until I was certain that it didn’t come from any sapient creature. With how little chance I had to interact on a personal level with the Wasteland’s fauna, though, this meant that I was pretty much resigned to two hundred year old food from cans and such. Not that I actually ate much different before, considering my failed attempts at eating meat…

“Do you want something sweetie?” I asked Aite, showing her the can.

The bat pony raised her head a little to look at me with one eye. “Nah, thanks, already ate.”

I nodded, then looked around the paper bag. Aside from a bottle of water, there was nothing left in it. Sighing, I lamented inwardly about the lack of plates and cutlery, then grabbed a knife from my drawer, opened the can, and proceeded to eat breakfast with just my magic.

As I took the first mouthful of beans, I was acutely aware of Aite watching me, but aside from feeling a little anxious about another pony watching me eat while she wasn’t I couldn’t do much about it. I had offered to share with her and she declined, so I’d best ignore her.

“So,” she unexpectedly spoke up; I glanced at her just as I swallowed, and noticed that she was smirking, “a sensual mare, huh?”

Startled, I turned to her, embarrassed, and struggled to explain… except I was suddenly unable to breathe, let alone speak- GODDESSES I WAS CHOKING!

I attempted to cough onto the floor, hoping to remove the beans that fell into - as I realized in alarm - my trachea, but to no avail. Panic seized me. I tried to reach with my magic, but in my current state of mind I couldn’t remember what was the best way of clearing a pony’s windpipe.

“Oh for crying out loud,” I heard Aite exclaim.

About the last thing I had registered before I realized that I was choking was the bat pony’s amusement turning into confusion. Now though Aite’s remark sounded to me as annoyed; I could be wrong though, I was about to be asphyxiated.

Regardless of how she felt, the bat pony had swiftly jumped down from the desk and swooped down to sit right behind my back. Faster than I could cough, she wrapped her forelegs around my torso and clasped them together right by my diaphragm. Recognizing the Abdominal thrusts, I leaned back slightly and tried to relax as Aite applied pressure with her hooves, compressing my lungs and in the process artificially inducing cough. The bits of beans fell out onto the floor, and I was finally able to breathe.

Taking in air and waiting for my heartbeat to subside down to normal levels, I tried to think of a way to properly thank Aite for saving me from possibly the most ridiculous manner of death that could happen in the Wasteland. However, the bat pony didn’t wait for me to gather my thoughts.

“So,” she spoke up; I turned my head a little to glance back at her, and saw that she was smirking again, “choking aside, is this a good reenactment of your dream?”

I was suddenly made aware that she still had her forelegs wrapped around my torso.

“Um…” I stammered in a un-ladylike manner, feeling my colorless cheeks gaining color and heat. “W-well, sweetie, I, um, suppose it is,” I confessed, then did a double take. “I mean, minus the fact that we’re on the floor and not my bed, and there’s no griffin underneath us…”

Aite blinked, then burst with laughter, falling backwards onto the floor after releasing me. “Damn girl, nice dream,” she managed to say as I slowly recovered.

Still blushing, I cleared my throat (and used magic to heal the damage those beans and the Abdominal thrusts had done). “I hope that you’re not offended sweetie,” I said, trying to be as dignified as I usually was.

“For what?” Aite asked, sitting back up. “For your subconsciousness taking advantage of my looks and charms?”

A pony can appear dignified only for so long.

“Um, w-well, yes,” I admitted, embarrassed.

Aite giggled in response, and leaned over, placing her hoof on my mane and ruffling it. “Geez, relax, Cray-cray, I’m just pulling your tail. I’m gonna take that as a compliment.”

I sighed in relief. “Thank you, sweetie. For that, and saving my life darling,” I added, smiling warmly; even if still a bit sheepishly.

“Meh, don’t sweat it; it was kinda my fault anyway,” she replied, rolling her eyes. Before I could protest - I mean, how could she be at fault for me swallowing food and trying to reply to her remark at the same time - she smirked again and said: “So, that dream? I wanna hear details!”

“Jack’s running late.”

I looked up from Wasteland Survival Guide that I had been reading by the reception desk (for about the fifth time). Aite had just became visible again beside the nearest window. Throughout this rather uneventful day I had grown somewhat accustomed to her habit of suddenly appearing without a warning, which is why this time I wasn’t even startled.

And it really had been an uneventful day. Aside from Forty coming over to fix my door, the only visitors I had were three ponies seeking medical attention for some minor problems. Besides that, all I had to do today was checking up on the enslaved raiders and meet with Apple Core at Salt Block for dinner. During it she had mentioned in a hushed voice that since we can’t exactly go out drinking later she’d hook up with some buck, leaving my evening free. Which was fine with me, as I had three test subjects and a radscorpion to check upon.

I had just been waiting for the usual time I’d go down to my lab when Aite spoke up. It was the first serious thing I had heard her say all day; all the times she’d appear when nopony was around before, was to offer some sort of amused remark or a joke. Despite that, though, as I looked at her she didn’t seem too alarmed.

“Jack said he’d be back before night,” Aite continued, noticing she had my attention now. “He figured he’d track down this tribe in a few hours, but would pretend to be still searching for them so we’d have a few more days for preparations.”

“Do you think anything bad happened to him, sweetie?” I asked, confused by the lack of worry in her voice.

“Nah, he probably just couldn’t find them,” Aite replied, shrugging. “Which admittedly is a bit alarming, he’s quite good at this sort of thing. Anyway, he said that we don’t have to worry unless he isn’t back before midnight; if that happens it will mean he ran into trouble and I’d have to fly and save his feathered ass.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have feathers around his posterior, sweetie,” I corrected her, confused. “I’d think that out of the two of us you’d be the one to know this.”

“I’m beginning to understand why he calls you ‘Wasteland’s dumbest genius,” Aite said as she glanced at me, then ignoring my pout she turned her attention back to the window. “Jack’s probably fine, though, so that’s redundant. Unfortunately, he insisted that we meet up every night - which I would be all up for if it wasn’t just for work - so we can stay in touch with him and he with you, so I gotta wait and see when he arrives.”

“I see… well, I would keep you company, sweetie, but I’m afraid I’ll have to go check on my test subjects and Pinchy in a moment,” I said, glancing in the direction of the basement door.

“Pinchy?” Aite asked, confused. “What the- oh, you named the radscorpion,” the bat pony said, then snorted with good-humored amusement. “Well, got to give it to you, it fits… not as much as ‘Stabby’ would, though.”

“Oh, I thought about it, sweetie, but that name sounds too… violent,” I replied, grimacing in dismay.

“Meh, fair point. See you later then,” she said with a wave of her hoof, turning back to the window. “Have fun.”

I was about to thank her and head to my laboratory, but I paused, an idea occurring to me. “You know, darling,” I began warmly, “on second thought, since you’ll be stuck looking through this window, perhaps you’d allow me to conduct a physical examination on you in the meantime?”

I was at just the right angle from Aite to see her roll her eyes. “And why do you wanna do that?” she asked in a disinterested tone, without as much as turning to me.

Undaunted by her attitude, I began to explain, excited, “Why, darling, I think that’s obvious! To learn more about bat pony’s biology, to be able to better heal you if you ever get hurt or if you fell ill, not to mention all the other bat ponies I might meet in the future.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you have to worry about that last one,” Aite snorted. “Even I haven’t met another bat pony yet.”

I was fairly certain that my jaw had ‘dropped’. “W-wha- really?” I managed to stammer, bewildered. Regaining some of my composure, I said: “Forgive me, sweetie, but I had assumed that you came from some sort of bat ponies’ hidden enclave that had been established after Nightmare Moon’s banishment?”

Now it was Aite’s turn to be surprised, though clearly to lesser effect than I had been. The bat pony merely turned to me sharply, frown on her face, and stared at me for a second before she shook off her bewilderment. “Um, no, I was born to a normal Wasteland family. My parents were earth ponies,” she explained as I listened attentively, intrigued. Snorting with amusement, she continued: “They thought I was a mutant until a doctor explained to them how genetics worked and they both must have had some ‘bat pony recessive genes’ for me to be born as a bat pony.”

“Interesting…” I mused out loud, nodding.

“If you say so,” Aite replied with a shrug. “Honestly, the fact that both of my parents had some bat pony ancestors a long-ass time ago and that by chance I just got both sets of those genes or whatever from them caused me more annoyance than anything else growing up.”

Oh, I could imagine that. I knew only too well just how a foalhood could be affected by the whims of genetics.

“Also,” Aite adder sharply as I opened my mouth, words of sympathy almost ready on my tongue, “assuming that I come from some ‘bat pony colony’ just because I’m a bat pony? Pretty sure that’s racist.”

I balked at the statement, and it took me a good few seconds to realize that Aite was smirking at me. Realizing that I had just been a victim of a jest, I shook and turned to her with a frown. “Oh, don’t be silly sweetie, that’s not why I had made that assumption. First off,” I began, ignoring her sigh, “considering how there is no mention of bat ponies appearing in the history of Equestria between Nightmare Moon’s banishment and Princess Luna’s return, it makes sense to assume that they’d live in some hidden enclave. Admittedly,” I amended thoughtfully, “there is very little mention of bat ponies afterwards… and second off,” I resumed, shaking off that train of thought before I could lose track of the conversation at hoof, “that pugio you carry all but indicated that-”

“The what that I’m carrying?” Aite interrupted me, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Pugio? Your dagger?” I added, a little surprised that she didn’t know what it was called. “A close-quarters weapon used by the Royal Legion and then later by the Royal Guard? They fell out of use of Equestrian military shortly after the great Celestia/Luna rift, and the variant with the blade narrowing in the third of its length like yours appeared only a century before. That, and the fact that pugiones with silver-lined handles - as well as handles of most weapons, actually - were part of Princess Luna’s personal guards equipment, made me hypothesize that the only way that such an old weapon would not only survive, but be in usable condition too was if it had been maintained by the remains of Nightmare Moon army during their self-imposed - I assume; I have little information about this subject of course - exile, until one among their descendants - you, sweetie - had taken it for themselves. But, um,” I amended sheepishly, noticing Aite’s expression, “clearly, I overthought this.”

The bat pony was staring at me, agape, with her eyebrow still raised as it had been a moment ago. No, actually, it rose higher by a few inches. “How the fuck do you know all that shit?” she finally asked, shaking her head a little in bewilderment.

“I read it in a book?” I replied cautiously, surprised at her reaction.

The bat pony facepalm after hearing my reply, then brought her other forehoof to her face and began to rub her temples. “Okay, against better judgment…” she muttered under her breath before turning back to me, “let’s try that again; how a pony like you, obsessed with medicine and stuff, comes about a book - in a Stable no less - about ancient Equestria weaponry and decides to read it?”

“Oh,” I exclaimed, now understanding her confusion. “Well, sweetie, it’s quite simple. Indeed, you could say that I am ‘obsessed with medicine’, as I had told Jack the previous night I’ve studied all of my father’s medical books. But I had also enjoyed reading in general, and having learned to read very early I’ve read through all of the books my parents and grandmother would allow me to read. Since I was still too young to borrow books from the library, I asked my friend instead if I could read some of his parents' books, and they had a book called Weapons Through History. Now, even back then I, hm, hadn’t been a big fan of firearms, but I do find that there is certain beauty to white arms, wouldn’t you agree?” I asked, turning to Aite as I had closed my eyes as I recalled my foalhood. To my dismay, she had resumed covering her face with her forehooves, as if regretting having asked me to explain. Clearing my throat, I quickly wrapped up, “As for why such a book found its way to my Stable, among the original residents of Stable Eight was quite a number of war veterans, soldiers who were on leave and-”

“I’m sorry I asked,” Aite interrupted me, apparently having learned enough. Ignoring my dismayed pout, she said: “Well, congrats, you know more about my dagger that I do, I didn’t know all that stuff.”

“Really?” I asked, a little surprised. “If I may ask, sweetie, how did you come about it?”

“A bounty… ugh, was it nine years ago?” she paused for a moment, frowning. “Or maybe it was the other one… I dunno, I would have to check with Bottlecap about this. The point is, there was this bounty, one buck stole a lot of shit from Society ponies and they put a bounty on him. Since they didn’t insist on recovering what he stole I assume he probably also slept with somepony important, but that doesn’t matter. Anyway, I found him, killed him, and found some interesting items on him, this dagger among them. I thought it was pretty, so I kept it, end of the story,” she finished, shrugging.

“Huh, I see,” I mused thoughtfully. I noticed Aite raised an eyebrow at me again, but she quickly rolled her eyes and resumed a neutral expression; whatever had bothered her again mustn’t have been important. “And you were never curious about where this dagger came from? I mean… it belonged to Princess Luna’s personal guard! Historical and, quite possibly, even religious worth aside, for all you know, it could have actually belonged to one of your distant bat pony ancestors!”

“Yeah, what an amazing stroke of luck,” Aite snorted in an odd tone, then shrugged and added “What can I say, I’m more of practical pony I guess. I said that I took it because it’s pretty, but actually it’s far better suited for me than any other dagger I had used.”

“Those, Society ponies, you called them? They really didn’t ask about it? I’d imagine that a pugio of Princess Luna’s personal guard would be quite valuable.”

“Ironically, you’d imagine wrong in usual cases,” the bat pony replied confusingly. “Sure, before the war that thing would probably be priceless, but in the Wasteland ponies hardly can afford things more essential for survival. That being said, those snobs in Society do like to surround themselves with pretty and useless stuff; hence why I said ‘ironically’ earlier. But no, as far as I know, they didn’t ask about it. Maybe that guy stole it from somewhere else… you know, now I am a little pissed that I didn’t know what this dagger was,” she added with an annoyed frown. “I would have sold it to Society or maybe Eggheads and would have been able to retire a year or years earlier. Just my luck,” Aite said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Before I could ask her who exactly were those ‘eggheads’ she mentioned, she turned to me, changing the subject. “Whatever. That physical examination you asked about; what exactly would that be about?”

“Oh! I’m glad you’ve asked, darling!” I replied, beaming up and completely forgetting about the pugio. “To put it simply, I would merely examine and record your anatomical features, as well as ask you a few questions regarding your biology and medical history. I would also like if I could take a sample of your blood for further examination in my laboratory. Aside from that it would be completely non-invasive, I assure you.”

Aite had been deadpanning at me since I started talking, and now that I stopped she lifted an eyebrow and asked: “You do know that sounds awfully like an excuse to molest me, right?”

I balked. “Wha- no it doesn’t!” I argued, frowning. “As I had explained to Jack last night, sweetie, what had happened with Ditzy was an accident!”

The bat pony chuckled in response. “Riiiight. So by accident you mean that you fell tongue-first into her mouth, huh?” she asked teasingly. Chuckling again as I struggled to find an appropriate reply, she added “Honestly, Cray-cray, trying to get frisky with a mare my age? Aren’t I a little too old for you?”

“Again, that is not my intention, sweetie,” I repeated, growing both embarrassed and annoyed. “Also, on a side note, I don’t see why exactly the fact that you’re older than me would mean that you and I couldn’t become lovers. My last lover was over two hundred years older than me.”

“One, thanks for proving my point,” Aite countered playfully, As I rolled my eyes, she continued “And two, having a ghoul for a lover is a whole other thing so your argument in this case is redundant.”

I had my doubts whether her statement could be considered true, but then again, this whole argument was weird. So instead I shrugged. “Very well then, sweetie, then how about my former marefriend being ten years older than me? Would you say that she was ‘too old for me’?”

“More like you had been too young for her,” she replied, eyebrow raised. As I frowned, ready to argue, she shrugged. “But meh, it’s not that bad, and it’s not my business. Besides your Stable had clearly some more bizarre things going on in it anyway.”

She was probably referring to our discussion from last night about how incest is viewed in my Stable. Understanding that it was a rather controversial issue to her, I decided against continuing our argument. I was glad that at least she had stopped jesting about me using physical examination as an excuse to molest her. Also-

“So out of curiosity,” Aite piped up unexpectedly, turning back to the window to watch the dark alley of Appleloosa, “how did things end up with your marefriend? I can’t imagine she was thrilled when your Stable discovered your past time activity.”

“She…” I began, only to stammer and hesitate. A familiar coldness swelled within me. Swallowing, I spoke again, “W-why would you want to know that?”

No doubt noticing the change in my demeanor, Aite glanced at me. “Just making small talk to pass the time. Also, I wanted to change the subject from that physical examination stuff.”

Hardly listening, I nodded and replied to her question, “She never learned about… my ‘pastime activities’. About six months before my Stable learned about it…” I trailed off and glanced away, “she died.”

LIAR!!!

The thought exploded in my mind like a thunder, causing both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy’s apparitions to cover their ears, just like the previous time this had happened. As they looked at me with surprise and concern, I wondered if I’d ever be able to say that without…

“Oh,” I heard Aite exclaim awkwardly; I pulled myself out of my mind’s dark musings into the present moment. “Sorry to hear that. Wouldn’t have pressed if I knew.”

“It’s alright,” I said, smiling sadly. “I had time to… process it. Thank you for your words of sympathy, though, sweetie.”

Aite hummed, then looked through the window again. I was relieved that her attention had left me. Suddenly, I had lost interest in conducting a physical examination. I wanted… needed to leave.

“Since you don’t seem to relish the thought of me conducting a non-invasive research on you right now, sweetie, I’ll return to this issue at a later date. For now I’d better focus on my experiments down in the laboratory,” I said, turning to leave.

The bat pony glanced at me, and after a second shrugged and said: “Sure, will stop by after Jack finally shows himself. See you later.”

I replied in kind as I headed towards my basement. Despite saying that I intended to focus on my experiments, which I had originally planned to, I found my mind blank, unable to focus on any actual thought. The two apparitions had no doubt noticed that, as they exchanged an uneasy look.

Um, Angel? Fluttershy spoke, hesitantly. Are you… alright?

Yeah, you seem really super sad right now, Pinkie Pie added, frowning unhappily.

Maybe you’d wanna talk about-

Not really, I interrupted Fluttershy. I’ve discussed this matter extensively, talking about it more isn’t going to change anything other than making me feel differently, which I don’t even see that happening. Right now, nothing I can actually do can change anything about it…

I trailed off as I looked around. I was now down in my laboratory. My eyes travelled across it, from the beakers in which I was preparing potions and medicines to the three cell doors with three test subjects and a radscorpion. I had experiments to run on them, had to continue examining Pinchy and resume trying to tame him…

I looked down. My right forehoof was resting on the PipBuck on my left foreleg.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. I was about to press a button to play the recording, but I stopped as I glanced at the cell doors. Biting my lip, I instead rose and trotted over to the hatch.

Um, Angel? What are you doing? Pinkie asked, concerned.

Nothing, just… I began, then hesitated; how to actually describe what I was doing? I opened the hatch, and started descending down the ladder, closing the hatch back with my magic. I just… need to listen to a recording…

The two apparitions exchanged yet another worried glance, but I hardly paid them attention. Nor did I pay much attention to the dark cave that I found myself in again. All I cared about was my PipBuck, and as I sat down below the ladder, I extended my foreleg before me and pressed the play button on it.

Coughing.

“I… don’t look too good now, huh?”

I snapped hearing the hatch opening above me. Almost immediately my hoof shot to the PipBuck, stopping the recording.

Oh thank goodness!

“Angel?” I heard Aite call out at the same time Fluttershy’s apparition had exclaimed her relieve; a little disoriented, I looked up, which did not help my situation as the light from my laboratory hurt my eyes after being down in the darkness. I could still make out the silhouette of the bat pony leaning down from the hatch. “Ah, there you are.”

She jumped down. I scrambled to my hooves, backing away to make room for her (unnecessarily, as she flew down to land next to where I had been sitting), and turned on my PipBuck’s light.

Of course, she asked the obvious question first, “What were you doing down here? Without a light turned on?” Aite added, her eyebrow raised.

I managed a smile while thinking fast about what sort of reason I could have for- Ah, of course! “Why, sweetie, I wanted to explore the Stable of course! As for not turning the light on,” I paused, looking away, in the direction of the closest cluster of glowing fungus, “I just came down a moment ago, and wanted to admire the bioluminescent glow those mushrooms emit before I’d gather some samples from them.”

I took advantage of those few seconds when my face was turned away from Aite while I stared at the glowing fungus to calm down, regain my usual composure, and make sure that my face and demeanor didn’t betray me. Only then did I look back at the bat pony. She was still staring at me with that troubled, bordering on concerned expression, but it was quickly replaced with the unreadable face she usually bore.

“Figures. Was looking for you to tell you that Jack finally crawled back into town.” With a snort of annoyance, she added, “About five minutes before his deadline…”

Jack’s “deadline” was midnight. Have I been down here that long? I wondered while Aite complained about having to stare through the window for so long.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, both apparitions looking at me with deep worry, nodded. We- we’ve been trying to… to get you to stop… Fluttershy said, while Aite continued to talk about how she had snuck into the toilet at Salt Block to talk with Jack without being spotted (and mentioned having made some mildly lewd suggestions at the time). The tiny pegasus’ eyelids were swollen and bleary, and Pinkie’s weren’t in much better shape; had they been crying this whole time? As if I wasn’t feeling awful already… But you kept just playing the recording back over and over… I don’t think you even heard us...

I… hoped that this wouldn’t happen, I confessed awkwardly. I had to be careful to maintain a normal expression while listening to Aite and politely nodding. I… I used to listen to that recording for hours without stopping, only snapping out of it once I heard a loud noise nearby, and sometimes only after somepony would prod me. I guess voices of ponies that are in my head don’t exactly have the same effect, unfortunately…

“At first he couldn’t find any traces of the tribe at all,” Aite finally began to repeat what Jack had told her. “Which is not surprising, considering the weather last night. Eventually he did find some tracks, though, and began to follow them, but then they broke off at some point. Jack had flown around within a mile radius of where he lost them, but couldn’t find any sign of any settlements.” The bat pony shrugged and added: “He’s gonna try again tomorrow. Until then we have to carry on as planned.”

“You don’t seem too concerned that he cannot find the tribe, sweetie,” I pointed out.

She once again shrugged. “Jack’s going to find them eventually. He said that they might have hidden their settlement, make houses or tents or whatever resemble rocks from afar and stuff. It was getting dark when he started searching the area where the tracks disappeared, if he tries again during daytime he should spot them, and if not, he’s gonna widen his search are. He is good at this sort of thing. Although,” Aite added, frowning a little, “something did seem… off about him, when we’ve discussed it. Probably because of his pride as a professional, though, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“If you say so, sweetie,” I said, already losing interest in this matter. I had more on my head right now to think about without worrying about Jack’s part of the plan. I cleared my throat and took a step in the direction of the Stable. “Will you accompany me?” I asked as I paused in mid-step. “Or will you return back to my clinic?”

Truth be told, I would have preferred if she would go back. I wanted to talk with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in peace, without being constantly mindful of another pony’s presence-

NO!

I almost shook as both apparitions had suddenly appeared right before my face.

You are not staying alone again! Pinkie added sternly.

That’s right! Fluttershy said, then her expression softened and immediately she stammered: I, um, I mean, if you don’t mind that is… we don’t want to sound pushy, it’s just…

“Are you okay?” Aite asked, giving me an odd look.

Clearing my throat, I turned back to her and smiled with embarrassment. “Forgive me, sweetie, I just… realized what a silly thing I was about to do,” I said, giggling. “I was just about to enter an abandoned, ruined Stable! Me, a pony fresh out of her own Stable! Even assuming I could deal with the critters that could possibly live in there, there is also a risk of me trotting into some sort of trap, like I had in Stable Eleven.”

Wow, nice save, Pinkie commented; despite her words, she was still giving me a stern look.

Aite raised her eyebrow at me. “Ooookay…”

“So instead, what I should have said is: would you please accompany me, sweetie? I really want to take a look at the remains you had mentioned, and I would like to learn what had happened to this Stable and its denizens,” I finished, looking at her pleadingly.

The bat pony rolled her eyes. “Well it’s not like I have much to do around here,” she exclaimed, standing up and beginning to trot down the tunnel. “But we’re not going too deep into it. Who knows if that thing won’t just collapse.”

“Very well, sweetie, thank you so much for your company,” I chirped as I began to slowly walk after her. At the same time, I turned to look at the apparitions. Satisfied?

Not really, Pinkie replied, pouting.

Before she could continue the thought, I quickly began to assure them, I’m not going to listen to this recording again. Well, at least not for some time, I amended; I would definitely want to listen to it again at some point later in my life. Stopping by another cluster of glowing fungus and turning away so Aite wouldn’t be able to see my face, I began to collect a sample, buying myself more time in the process. I’ve agreed to your demand because I’m sorry that I had put you two through that. I… I just wanted to hear that again, and I thought that I would be strong enough to stop by myself this time…

I noticed the two exchanging a worried glance as I looked away from them. We understand, Angel, Fluttershy spoke up, floating closer to brush my muzzle reassuringly. But, um… I don’t think you should listen to that recording again… it’s not healthy to do that to yourself.

No, it wasn’t. But Fluttershy was wrong. She and Pinkie didn’t… I would need to listen to that recording again eventually.

I needed to remember.

The entrance to the Stable was indeed left wide open. The massive steel door had been so rusted over that it was impossible to read the Stable’s number. It was curly at the bottom… maybe it was number six? Or it could be a two-digit number…

I quickly lost interest in trying to figure it out; after all, knowing the Stable’s number wouldn’t tell me much. The broken skeletons by the entrance, though, were much more interesting.

As Aite had described them, they all bore various fractures. A lot were broken, with parts of them either scattered around the Stable’s entrance or simply missing. One remains looked like they had been cut in half- no, not cut. There were no signs of cuts on any bone (on it or any other skeleton, nor were there any bullet holes or any other signs of damage other than blunt force). It looked like… it had been ripped apart?

“Do you think a hellhound could have done it?” I mused out loud to Aite; so far, that had been the only creature I had seen with physical strength required for such a feat.

“Not really my profession to be able to tell such a thing,” she replied, shrugging.

“Hm… but if that would have been a hellhound, then surely there would be claw marks left on at least some of the bones…” I continued the thought, examining another skeleton; there were twelve in total by the entrance. Or, well, what remained of twelve ponies, not all the skeletons were complete so it would be more precise to say nine and three quarters I suppose. “And I would wager that this Stable had met its horrific fate within the first few decades after the Last Day, I’m not sure if the hellhounds had already developed from diamond dogs by then…”

“Oh right, Jack had mentioned that you met a friendly hellhound,” Aite spoke up; if I didn’t know better, I would have assumed that she found my examination to be boring, and wanted to talk about something else. “Did you jump on him too, or were Jack and I special cases?”

“I probably would have, if I hadn’t just been beaten up by raiders,” I admitted. “It was understandably less energetic after what I had been through… and besides, he was wearing a cloak, I didn’t realize he was a hellhound at first.” My gaze travelled from one skeleton to another as I talked, then finally I got up. “I won’t be able to deduce anything more by examining those. Let’s go further, sweetie; perhaps we’ll find something illuminating inside the Overmare’s Office.”

“Fine, but we won’t go anywhere else; I don’t really like this place,” Aite said, glancing around at the rusted and, in some places, dented walls.

As we began to move, I spared a glance at the control panel used for opening the Stable’s door. Or rather, what was left of it. Whatever had killed those ponies had destroyed it, too, right after using it to open the Stable.

“Or maybe the ponies opened it,” I said out loud. “It would appear those twelve ponies were trying to run away right before they were murdered… but that would mean that whatever had done this to them had been with them in the Stable already.”

“Told you it looks like they’d fought with each other,” Aite replied, shrugging.

I hurried over to walk beside her. “I don’t think ponies possess physical strength necessary to cause most of the injuries that would leave such marks on their bones,” I said as I matched her stride.

Aite nodded absentmindedly. “Hm, I know of maybe five that could, but they are rather… how would you say, ‘extraordinary specimens of ponykind’?” she asked with a glance, to which I nodded. While I didn’t exactly know what prompted her to describe those ponies as such, that did sound like something I would say. “So chances of similar ponies being down here were rather low.”

“I think a more plausible cause is that something had either been with them in this Stable all along, or it had dug its way into it from some point. Hellhounds sounds like a perfect suspect based on what I’ve heard about them, but, as I said, there are no claw marks on the bones we’ve seen so far,” I said, pointing with my PipBuck’s light illuminated hoof at another skeleton we were passing; her head had been crushed.

Aite didn’t reply to that, apparently considering the conversation spent. I noticed that while I had focused on the skeletons, she had kept her eyes and ears peeled at any sign of danger, despite occasionally replying to me. I checked my E.F.S.; there weren’t any red bars nearby. the radroaches Aite had mentioned earlier must have moved somewhere deeper into the Stable.

We passed through maintenance wing briefly on our way. A few more skeletons, and what was left of a terminal. Aite hadn’t made it up, only the lower part of the frame, few shards of glass and a bunch of cables were all that had remained of it.

What kind of creature possessed such strength to cause such damage?

“So did you meet those ‘maybe five’ ponies In Hoofington?” I spoke up after a moment of silence; I needed to distract myself from trying to figure out what had done this to those ponies with so little information I had.

Also, I was curious.

“‘Meet’ isn’t the right word,” Aite replied. “I tend to stay hidden from most people, I wouldn’t want to exchange pleasantries with ponies that look like they could kill you with a hug. I mostly learned about them hearing stuff here and there, and occasionally by spying around out of boredom. But yeah, it was in Hoofington, during my bounty hunter days.”

My ears perked at the mention of her profession. “Ah yes, Jack had mentioned briefly how secretive you were during that time.”

The bat pony shrugged. “You survive longer that way.”

“But you were quite a successful bounty hunter, right sweetie?”

“I was able to retire to live in the most luxurious place in the Wasteland before hitting forty, what do you think?” she replied with a smirk. “Oh yes, I was ‘quite successful’. When my early targets were found with cut throats with no trace of their assassin, folks started saying they were being killed by ‘the Hoofington’s Shadow’; you can thank DJ Pon3 for that tacky name,” Aite added with an eyeroll. “Later, when they realized that a bounty hunter was killing them, they just started referring to me as such; most likely because only a few knew my real name. I had both the Reapers and the Zodiacs attempting to recruit me to their stupid clubs. Oh, and I had a twenty five thousand cap bounty placed on my own head, too. It was quite a commercial, I have to admit,” she added nonchalantly as I stared at her.

“You had such a high bounty placed on your head? Why? And what became of it? Obviously nopony collected it,” I noted.

“Well, it did help that almost nopony knew me,” Aite replied with a smirk. “There’s pretty much only one way to get such a high bounty on your head around the Hoof, and it’s to piss off Usury, the leader of slavers in Paradise. Few others would have been able to afford it too, but they either wouldn’t care so much or would send their own after me,” she amended, then continued: “Anyway, a few years ago there was a bounty on one of her slavers. So I’ve tracked him down, found him with few other slavers bringing in ponies to Paradise. I could have waited for them to get there and then kill him when he’d be alone, but I had decided to do ‘my good deed for the month’ then, so that ‘the Goddesses would take me to Everafter after death’ and whatnot.”

My ears twitched; I detected a little scorn in her voice. Apparently, she wasn’t exactly a religious sort.

“I killed all the slavers before they got to Paradise, and released the would-be slaves. Turned out that Usury took it as a declaration of war and put a bounty on my head. Now, ponies knew that the Hoofington’s Shadow was a bounty hunter by then, but very few knew how to find me, so I was relatively safe. But I didn’t want to wait until somepony would get wiser or more talkative, so instead I sneaked to Usury’s bedroom in the middle of the night, woke her up, then calmly explained to her why this bounty was a very bad idea,” Aite said, smirking. “She withdrew it the next day.”

“I see,” I replied, intrigued. “I must say, sweetie, I’m happy that for once a problem was solved through conversation rather than murder. Although I’d imagine it wasn’t exactly a pleasant conversation you had with this Usury,” I noted with a smirk.

“It was pleasant for me.”

“Oh, I have no doubt,” I remarked, giggling. “It must have been interesting for those ponies you freed to be saved by ‘the Hoofington’s Shadow’,” I remarked. “A famous yet very secretive bounty hunter coming to their rescue… and all because a bounty had recently been placed on one of their captors. Truly, you must have been like a Goddesses’ blessing to them.”

Aite snorted.

“I am no one’s ‘blessing’,” she said, wry amusement in her voice. “I later learned that all but one of them had been killed the same day I rescued them.”

“Oh,” I exclaimed, saddened. Now I understood why there was scorn in her voice at her earlier remark. Dismayed that I hadn’t thought better of her, I said all I could say at this point: “May the Goddesses watch over their souls.”

Aite snorted again, though in a lighter tone. “You sound like Priest. You two would get along… well, until he found out about the things you do in your basement.”

“Priest?” I asked, immediately intrigued.

“A stallion from Hoofington, I guess you could say he’s a friend, although we didn’t really hang out much. He’s a fine guy, probably the most decent pony I’ve ever met, but, well, he’s a bit too religious for my liking,” she explained, somewhat awkwardly. Looking away, she added: “He did talk me out of doing something extremely stupid once, though, so I’d check in on him every now and again, asked him if anypony has been bothering them, that sort of stuff.”

“It would be interesting to meet such a pony,” I admitted, curious how he had managed to leave such an impression on Aite. “I’m afraid that my only real experience with deeply religious ponies outside of my Stable was by learning about them in the terminal notes in Stable Eleven,” I remarked, my mood souring. “And that’s if we’d use the term ‘religious’ very loosely, in my opinion.”

“Ah right, Jack told me about it. Think the same thing happened here?” Aite said, pointing before us.

We had entered the Atrium; wanting to take a better look, I lid up my horn and slowly increased its glow.

Just like in Stable Eleven, a fight had clearly broken out here, although there were far less pony remains in this Stable. Which made sense, since they had been holding a celebration in Stable Eleven when Limestone’s revolution had started. And when in Stable Eleven ponies had tried to run away deeper into the Stable, here it seemed that they were running away from the living quarters before they met their end. Their skeletons (the ones that were mostly complete at least) laid with their heads directed in the opposite direction from the door leading to lower levels.

Chairs, benches, lockers, all had been thrown around the Atrium, making it hard to navigate towards the remains or to the entrance to the Overmare’s wing. I trotted carefully to the closest skeleton, but examining it didn’t yield much information; the injuries it sustained matched those on the bones I’ve checked before.

“It’s hard to say, sweetie,” I replied to Aite’s question, cancelling my spell. “This Stable is in much worse shape than Stable Eleven was. It was easy to piece together what had happened with all the terminal entries and posters that were there. But here… all the clues we had so far are just the signs of physical trauma visible on the skeletons and damages to the Stable itself. I believe Jack would be more qualified to deduce what had transpired here.”

Aite opened her mouth to reply, but whatever she had planned to say was drowned out by a horribly loud noise that suddenly came from above us. Instinctively I looked up, and to my numb terror I caught a glimpse of a ceiling light falling down right at me. The very next heartbeat though something collided with me, pushing me out of harm’s way (as well as the air out of my lungs). As an even louder crashing sound momentarily deafened and disoriented me as the ceiling light fell down, I tried to get up from the floor while struggling for breath.

Shaking my head, I looked around, and in the light of my PipBuck’s lamp I saw Aite standing beside me. “So, ready to check the Overmare’s office and go already?” she asked, almost casually, as if she hadn’t just saved my life again. “I would rather get out of here soon.”

“Um... yes, quite understandable, darling,” I stammered a little in reply, raising up and carefully making sure that I wasn’t hurt. “Thank you for saving me again,” I added with a grateful smile.

“Don’t mention it,” the bat pony replied calmly, already turning away.

I hurried after her. This recent brush with death had made me very reluctant to the idea of standing too far from Aite. In fact, if she had decided to leave already, I’d probably follow her without much argument. My interest in learning this Stable’s fate had just been severely diminished.

Fortunately, we hadn’t had any more unlucky accidents on our way to the Overmare’s office. During the short trot we’ve passed a few more skeletons, as expected, as well as several dents and odd scratches along the walls. I gave them a half-curious glances, but paid them little mind; I was certain that the answer to what had transpired in this Stable almost two centuries ago laid in the office before us.

The office that was closed.

“Well, that’s disappointing,” Aite exclaimed while I struggled to not utter a much less polite remark. The bat pony of course didn’t seem as bothered as me, though; she almost sounded bored. “I guess we should have figured that with the power out the door wouldn’t open. Oh well.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep, calming breath, and slowly released it. Yes, we should have. I suppose I subconsciously expected that the door would be left open, but it was a poor excuse for my misjudgment that would have cost me my life if it hadn’t been for Aite. But berating myself wouldn’t lead anywhere.

I looked around the door, wondering what could be done. Nothing tonight obviously, or even in the foreseeable future, but someday. It always bothered me to have a question left unanswered. To get my answer, I would need to get to this office. Fortunately, the fact that it was closed meant that there was a very high chance that it wasn’t damaged as the rest of the Stable. But how to open it… I would have to restore power to the Stable. That would mean a trip down to the reactor level to fix the spark generator, which in turn would mean that I’d have to learn how to repair a spark generator- Wait what?

As my gaze had traveled around the door while I thought, I noticed something strange. The tag above the door. It should read “OVERMARE’S OFFICE”, of course, just like in my own Stable and in Stable Eleven. Even in the state that it currently was in; with all the rust and corrosion covering it, that should be what it said underneath it all.

So why then the only eligible part on the tag read “-VERC--’S --FICE”?

Footnote: 75% to next level!

Author's Notes:

Well, finally the chapter is out^^ Sadly this will be the last chapter for this year, as I had mentioned on my blog, so breaking my "four-chapters-per-year" streak. But I hope you won't mind, since the last chapter had been so ridiculously long.

Anyway, thanks to TimePrincess, Zaleros Sage Probo and guardianxela for their great work on proofreading/editing^^ And special thanks to Kkat for creating Fallout: Equestria of course, to Somber for Project Horizons and Homelands, and to Heartshine for Speak, which are as canon as the original story here^^