Chapter 11

Token was furious, I was furious, nobody else on the team had any fucking idea what the hell we were talking about.

I explained to her what I had remembered, how Rector had fucked us over and violated our memories. We were ranting, raving, plotting sick schemes of vengeance that would likely never be played out.

We gradually slowed the pace, until it was night and we were both too mentally exhausted to think of anything else.

Everyone woke up bright and early the next day, the local tribe we'd spent the night with was kind enough to replace half the supplies we lost in the flood in exchange for BB's... romantic services.

We'd made it through the Badlands, which hadn't been all that bad really, now we were on our way to Manechester, walking through a narrow pass, stopping dead when Kimba did.

"What's up?" I asked quietly, trotting up beside her.

She nodded ahead, lots of wreckage piled in our way, nothing we couldn't climb over, "What, the scrap?"

She shook her head and pointed up, at the top of the canyon, secured to the walls by 4 chains was a skeleton, taken apart and put back together in a disturbingly intricate design.

I whistled, "What do you figure that's for?"

Stripe snorted, "Keep out sign."

I prepped my pistols, pressing them to my armored forelegs, letting it encase them in makeshift holsters, then walking ahead of my friends, "It almost worked."

***

We walked over, through and around heaps of twisted metal for hours, until finally the pass opened up onto a cliff face overlooking what could quite possibly be hell itself.

Manechester, once the crown jewel of traditional hoofball, had sunk thousands of feet below sea level. We could only see the top, a few scattered, decrepit sky scrapers and massive fallen radio towers, all lying atop mountains that had erupted up through the city and torn it to shreds. There were canyons in between, a long, wide, winding path leading to the ocean that was so far in the distance it may as well have been a puddle of salt water. That was the path we'd be walking, for four long months, a crumbling and lonesome road.

"Well," I said dryly, "I for one am excited to get down there and explore, how about you guys?"

"Shut up pony." Rawr grumbled, brushing past us to walk down the path to the right.

Stripe emerged from the wreckage last, whistling when he saw the expanse before us, "Damn, this must've been the epicenter of the Balefire Quakes."

"It certainly saw the worst of it." Kimba said quietly.

"Ah shoulda stayed in the village with all the horny zebras..." BB grumbled.

Shaky sighed, "We should've stayed with the sea p-ponies."

"Agreed."

"What sea ponies?" Hex asked.

Shaky and I both snorted and followed Rawr, who was working with Adze to pry open a blast grade bulkhead. Stripe and I ran up to help, working our hooves between the several inches they'd managed to pull apart and using all of our considerable combined strength to heave the heavy metal open.

Token helped us the last few inches with her magic, I held it open with mine so everyone could get through before diving in myself, the bulkhead slamming shut with a resounding boom behind me, disturbing the layers of dust that had settled in the room.

It was a large room, several doors leading to several different corridors, the most interesting aspect was the window on the far side, showcasing a massive rocket, tipped with a leaking balefire warhead, blue fire arching here and there, licking at and slowly melting away the thick metal walls of the silo.

"How not good is this Stripe?"

"Really not good."

"Scale of one to ten?"

"Ten being the worst?"

"Yeah."

"Twenty two and a half." he said dryly, "Judging from the scorching on the walls this thing just recently went to shit, but it's eating through the fuel tanks on that rocket pretty fuckin' quick."

"Meaning?"

"The fuel itself ain't enough to even destroy that silo, but if the rocket is destroyed it could send the warhead flying to the floor and crack the case more, which would basically unleash a balefire storm."

"A what?"

"Big blue swirling ball of unholy fuckness that would fill this entire facility and send us to hell."

"Damn."

"Yeah, I'd recommend we find an exit, like now."

"Good thinking, everyone split up, take a different corridor and see if we can't find an ex-" A big floating orb hit me in the face, knocking me on my ass, then it hovered just above me, a fucking robot.

Everyone's guns clicked at once, the safeties switching off, the energy weapons humming to life, then a tinny mare's voice from inside started pleading, "Vait don't shoot! I've only got a few of tese tings and te message is important!"

I nodded, everyone lowered their weapons apprehensively, except for me of course, who still had both pistols pressed to its undercarriage.

"Explain."

"I need you to destroy tis facility."

I blinked, "Say again?"

"You need to crumble te support, bury tis facility, ottervise te blast vill take down tis whole mountain and bury myself and my troops in te location ve're hunkered down in."

Adze snorted, "Sounds like your problem."

"If it's any incentive, you won't be able to get off te mountain in time to escape."

"Three of us have wings."

There was a long pause before he responded, then the facility's alarms started blaring, "I've just activated te missile defence systems and have my team monitoring and controlling tem, if you try and fly avay before te job is done, ve vill blast you out of te sky."

"...Well shit."

"I'd hoped to remain civil, but you left me no choice, te lives of my team are paramount to your own. Knock out tis facility and you'll be free to leave. I'll be monitoring you if you have any questions... or try anyting funny. Good day."

"Well..." I muttered, "Thoughts, ideas, comments?"

Stripe tapped his head for a moment and clicked his tongue, "BB could fly Hex outside and they could lace the cliff face with C4 while the rest of us move to a safe distance, kid knows explosives and I can walk BB through where to place 'em."

"Hex?"

"I'm game."

BB nodded, "Me too."

"Okay, let's get that door open and you two can get to work."

The robot clicked and the bulkhead grinded open, "See?" the tinny voice said, "Cooperation."

"Whatever... Alright, the rest of us need to haul ass through this place to the other side and get to the minimum safe distance."

"I should warn you that automated security has been activated and I have no way of shutting it down."

"Great, Beta?"

"Apologies ma'am, the time it would take me to hack into this facility's defences remotely is far greater than the time it will take the warhead leak to destroy the rocket. You're better off fighting your way through."

"Lovely, what're we looking at?"

"Standard megaspell protection outfit, mark three sentry bots and mark four turrets."

"Well then, shall we get to work then folks?"

"Stop wastin' time tryin' t' be cliche asshole pony," Rawr growled, prying open a door like a tin can and stepping through, "we got shit t' do."

***

"How's it going Hex?"

"It's uh, really high..."

"She's doin' fine boss, just needs t' listen when Ah tell 'er not t' look down."

"It's hard not to, we're a long way up."

"Psh, Ah'll show ya a long way up when we're done with this business."

"Be nice, she's never flown before."

"Ah'm bein' perfectly nice, ain't Ah Hex?"

"Please stop talking, this is delicate work and I need to focus. I'll call you when I'm done Bandage."

"Okay, be safe."

Token nudged me, "Didn't feel like telling them eh?"

"Yeah..." I muttered, staring at the gaping, melted hole in the hallway ahead of us, more specifically the huge radioactive spouts of blue fire pouring in. Thankfully it had completely destroyed all the sentries when they came out to greet us.

"Could we j-just run through really quick or somethin'?"

"Bad idea," Stripe said, "you'd basically just be incinerated, and if you survived you'd probably go ghouly from the fuck load of radiation."

"Any other ideas?"

He sighed and looked around the hallway, "We could find an alternate route."

"But?"

"But, that would take a awhile, and judgin' from how much that leak's progressed, we ain't got that kind of time."

"Other ideas?"

"We could go through the wall into the next hallway, the radiation would still be there but not intense enough to, ya know, torch us."

"So, blow the wall, pop some Rad-X and run like hell?"

"In theory it could work."

"Better than nothing."

Rawr grunted and stepped over to the wall, clawing through it easily and prying it open with Adze's help. I passed out the Rad-X pills and stepped through the hole first, wincing at the sound of crunching bone under my hooves. The hallway was full of skeletons, pony and zebra, wrecked chunks of robots, a few destroyed turrets, and lots of ruined armor from both sides.

"It's clear."

My friends followed me in, stepping lively, Shaky would occasionally stop to pull scraps of armor from the pile, other than that we were moving as quickly as possible. Token's PipBuck came to life, the gieger counter clicking wildly.

"Nine rads per second, we should probably move."

We all nodded, sprinting the rest of the way, slowing to a run when the ticking subsided, stopping completely when the building lurched and slammed us all into the far wall.

"Um, Bandage? You guys might want to get out of there, one of the charges just went off prematurely."

"Fuck." I groaned loudly, planting my hooves awkwardly on the wall that was now the floor, making my way to the exit. We moved quickly, hopping over supply closet doors and emergency lights, then climbed up through the exit out onto the crumbling cliffs on the far side of the building.

"Okay Hex we're clear, blow the rest of the charges."

No response, but we spotted BB and Hex flying off just before the cliff face under the building exploded out into massive chunks of splintered stone, sending the silo falling into a seemingly infinite gorge at the bottom of the canyon.

Several seconds later there was an explosion, even at this distance it was the loudest I'd ever heard, a huge gout of blue flame followed it, billowing out of the gorge, reaching about 500 feet in the air before subsiding back into the depths.

The sprite bot with us hummed again, "Excellent vork, te defenses have been shut down, I'd ask tat you follow tis contraption to my location so I can tank you in person."

***

We followed the little round robot for hours, weaving down a path in the cliff face and squeezing through tight passages, emerging down below, in Manechester. There was an intact facility amidst the wreckage of old world buildings, with a large black banner draped over the face, a dozen or so very well armed earth ponies guarding the entrance behind sandbags and deployable cover, and a few pegasi on the roof looking down on us. All of them wore full black riot armor, perfectly uniform, and they all had weapons that looked brand new, factory made brand new.

Assault carbine battle saddles for all the earth ponies, the pegasi were all sporting sniper rifle battle saddles and flare guns strapped to their forelegs, and the unicorn buck looking over the troops had a magical energy shotgun slung over his back and a rapier sheathed on his flank loop.

"Paragons," Stripe grumbled, "it had to be fucking Paragons..."

"Who?"

"Assholes from the Blasted Lands, they're unicorn supremacists, but they use other pony races and zebras as soldiers and workers. They 'assimilated' hundreds of tribes up north, have a force that could crush the Union and the Trinity and still probably have enough to go stomp Red Eye into the dust over in Fillydelphia when they're done with those two."

"What do you think they're doing here?"

"Hell if I know, they've got more military factories under their control on their own turf than we could ever hope for down here, lot better condition too. Could be scrounging old tech, they do that like the Steel Rangers, 'cept they actually use it."

"Right... Any thoughts?"

"Yeah, be ready for a fight if shit hits the fan, these guys don't mess around."

"We better hang back Stripe," Adze said, "don't want 'em recognizing us as Walkers, could get nasty."

"Good point, call me if things go south boss."

"Will do, let's go guys."

We all moved up, minus our power armored gunners. The girls stuck close to Rawr, BB and Kimba flanked Token and I. One of the soldiers called something out to the unicorn as we approached, who nodded and stepped forward to meet us.

He took his helmet off, revealing a neatly cropped mane, "Te Marquise is expecting you," he said, his voice gruff and his accent thick and strange, "follow me, and please keep your veapons holstered, you're being vatched."

I nodded, he snorted and led us to the doorway, opening it and waving us through. The inside was oddly clean, very large, lots of terminals with ponies in lightly armored jumpsuits working diligently. In the center of the room looking over a central terminal was a unicorn mare, incredibly beautiful, tall and slender frame, pearly white coat, long and expertly styled fuchsia mane.

She was wearing riot armor, like the ponies outside, but hers was white, with ornate gold trim, and white robes stitched on in certain places.

"Marquise," the unicorn leading us said respectfully, "your guests are here."

She looked back at us, her green eyes glancing us over quickly, then smiled, "Excellent, tank you Defender, you may return to your men."

The soldier bowed politely and went back outside.

"Excellent to meet you in person," she said with that same odd accent, still smiling, "my apologies for te... forced tone of our previous engagement."

"You mean when you took us hostage?"

She winced at the word, "Hostage is such an uncout vay to put it, I merely used leverage to convince you to do te right ting."

"Right." I said dryly.

"You know," she said as she approached us, "you're a velcome sight in tese hostile lands, a strong, pure unicorn mare, leading a united collection of our fellow equines."

She swayed off and looked at Hex in particular, "Hello little one." she extended a hoof, Rawr growled and put a protective claw in front of Hex.

"Touch her and die pony."

She recoiled, even taking a few steps back, "Hell Hounds, always so ferocious, no civility, I see why Sentinel Aegis has you mutts executed on sight."

Rawr's growl deepened, I rested a hoof on his side, shaking my head when he glanced at me, he nodded and backed down, the offending unicorn gave me an impressed smile, "Keep your mongrel on a short chain eh? I like tat."

"You really ought to stop insulting him." I warned, though secretly hoping she'd keep it up.

She continued to smile and strolled away from us, "I'd like to speak vit you in private miss."

I glanced at Token, she shrugged, I sighed and nodded, reluctantly following Marquise.

She led me up several flights of stairs on the far side of the large room, stopping to return salutes from various soldiers along the way.

"My apologies for te long climb, te Specialists still haven't got te elevator in vorking order."

"I don't mind."

She snorted, "Tis sort of vorkout hardly befits te highest race, don't you agree?"

I didn't answer, just kept climbing the steps, I'd failed to realize the sheer size of the facility, and the amount of troops they'd brought with them. Three floors, just as large as the first, were dedicated to barracks, earth ponies on the lowest, pegasi on the next, and the last a sort of officer's quarters where the unicorns slept. We went further up, reaching a smaller, but much more organized and tidy room, with a comfortable queen sized bed instead of a basic cot, and a desk on the far side with a black banner hanging on the wall behind it. It was a penthouse, looking out over Manechester.

"It's not much," she sighed, "but it's home, for te time being."

"So Marquise, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

She chuckled and trotted to the fridge, pulling out a couple Sparkle Colas with her white magical field, "Please, call me Deacon."

I cocked an eyebrow, "That soldier called you Marquise."

She chuckled again and passed me a beverage, I took it hesitantly and cracked it open, tossing the bottle cap in my saddlebags.

"Marquise is my title," she explained, "I'm a member of my nation's aristocracy."

I snorted and took a sip, "I'd bow, but I'm a free agent, loyalty to the highest bidder and all that shit."

"Ah, a mercenary. I have a great deal of respect for your profession."

"Do tell."

"Being a part of a nation comes wit rules of course, but a citizen sacrifices a modicum of teir free vill in exchange for a great deal of protection. A free agent such as yourself has no one to back tem up."

I nodded, taking another sip, "So can we get down to business? I don't like dealing with slavers."

She recoiled at the word, looking utterly offended, "Miss, we are not slavers, we do not force our fellow equines into anyting, tey choose to give up teir freedom, to become a part of someting far greater tan temselves."

I rolled my eyes, "And now you're going to tell me about your people's plan to revive Equestria right?"

She scoffed, "Revive? Please, Equestria is dead and gone, and for good reason. Do you know te story of how Equestria vas founded? Peasants, warriors and nobles squabbling over vhat belonged to who, my country never had tis problem. Te pegasi and te eart ponies knew teir place, and ve vere unified by our roles, not torn apart. Ve carved a prosperous empire out of the far Nort vhile Equestria vas still shitting its diapers, long before tose abominations you call princesses came into being. And even during te Great Var ve trived, ve stayed neutral, trading to bote sides, and ve vere revarded vit terrible veapons raining down on our innocents, turning our empire into a frozen, decrepit land. And still, ve succeed!"

She approached me, her eyes angry, "Ve emerged from our bunkers, twenty-four tousand ponies packed into six stables, each keeping its races' genetics pure and its ponies avare of teir roles. And one hundred tousand strong ve retook our homeland from filty squatters, forging a new empire from te soiled lands of fire eaters and snake charmers, turning two hundred and twelve squabbling tribes into a unified and powerful army te likes of vhich te new vorld has ever seen before! Ve have built cities, an air force, a navy, and enough veapon factories to supply and protect tem all, vhile te most Equestrians have done is erect a few pitiful hovels, mere shadows of vhat teir 'nation' used to be vhile half of your numbers fled to te clouds. Revive Equestria? No, crush te maggots crawling on its corpse, give it a proper burial, build a nation far more powerful tan te old vorld could've ever hoped for on te clear foundation left after var and rebuild the vorld te right vay, te unicorn vay, te Paragon vay!!!"

She was panting now, small beads of sweat on her forehead, I sat unimpressed, taking another sip of cola, "Nice outburst," I said dryly, "really drove your philosophy home, mind getting to the point though? I've only got a few months to reach the coast before my boat leaves and you're holding me up."

She coughed, collecting herself and trotting around to sit at her desk, "I vould like to offer you a position in our army, ve have many informants, and all of tem have told us you have a great deal of skill, Bandage, and ve can use tat." I stared at her flatly, she coughed again before continuing, "You'd be a valuable asset, and tat value vould be vell revarded, you could be a Sentinel, with time Her Highness may even grant you a lesser lordship, and believe me, nobility has many, many, perks."

"I can tell, out here in the ass end of nowhere, real great perk."

"I'm here to cull te undead filt from Manechester, salvage te ancient technologies buried here and turn tis city into a functioning naval outpost, it is a great honor to be te emissary of Her Highness Queen Essence, an honor tat vill most likely result in a generous promotion."

I snorted, she shook her head impatiently and trotting around behind me, resting her hooves on my shoulders and whispering in my ear, "You could command your own regiment, lead tem into battle against our enemies and crush tem into te dust. Earn a title like I did, you'd have power, wealt..." she paused for a moment, kissing my neck, sending an uncomfortable shiver down my spine, "mares. Your heart's desire vell vitin your reach, and all for agreeing to serve your fellow equines, not a bad deal, eh?"

"All for the price of betraying my friends..."

"Not te unicorns, not your lover, and te little one, Token vould be taken care of as te bride of a noblemare, and Hex vould go into officer's training, emerge in several years as a Defender, in time and vith both of our good vord follow in your hoofsteps as an accomplished Sentinel, even a noble. And you could formally adopt your 'daughter', your fellow nobles may find it amusing, a powerful aristocrat caring for a peasant eart pony, very droll indeed. Not to mention I could use you... vork my vay up in status, become Duchess Deacon, who brought Marquise Bandage up into nobility, and after tat..."

She kissed me again, that same unsettling feeling shooting through me, "Te trone, ve vork togetter, overtrow te Queen, I'd be te new monarch and you'd be my right hoof mare, power beyond te likes of vhich you vill ever know, High Commander Bandage, leader of all te Paragon's armies... Has a nice ring to it, does it not?"

I paused, thinking of how ridiculous this all was... and at the same time, about how good it all sounded.

"...Token would be taken care of?"

"Yes."

"And Hex, and Shaky?"

She kissed my neck again, it felt... better, "Of course."

"And in time, I'd lead all of your armies?"

"Te unparalleled and undisputed varlord, second only to me."

"And we'd be helping ponies?"

"Building cities, farms, schools, bringing our vorld into a new golden age, togetter."

"...And my other friends? Rawr and Adze, Kimba, Blood Bolt, Stripe?"

She snorted between gentle nibbles on my neck, "Te dog? Collared if you vish, seems loyal, could be a decent bodyguard. Te pegasus vould be an excellent addition to our special forces division. Te zebra can return to her tribe. Te hybrid and te bird can go back to te Valkers. I know you vouldn't be asking tese tings if you veren't at least considering my offer..."

I sighed as she bit my neck, smiling and leaning my head against hers, letting her put her hooves around my waist, "It's... tempting."

"Perhaps tere's someting I could do to sveeten te deal? Svay you completely?"

"You're doing a damn good job of it right now... it just- it seems wrong, pushing the other races down."

"It's vhat makes society vork, true harmony, by vay of keeping everypony in tere rightful place."

I paused at that, brushing away the cloud in my judgement, everypony. "What about zebras?"

She scoffed, "Lesser tan eart ponies, but tey serve all te same."

Slavers, I'd formed a natural dislike of slavers since I emerged from my stable and nearly been made a 'fuck puppet'.

"...So, you enslave zebras?"

"Of course not, te only slaves ve have are tose equines vit defects or tose tat are deemed too rebellious for armed service."

I paused longer, thinking, I didn't like slavery, but honestly I could live with it, all that power for me was well worth sacrificing the freedoms of some ponies and zebras I didn't know. Then I thought of Token, and what she'd think... Token was good, and if I sided with tyrants like this, she'd hate me, or worse, she'd be ashamed of me...

I grunted and shrugged her off, trotting past her to the stairwell, "No deal."

"Vhy not?!"

"Because it's wrong."

"Wrong?! To put te defects of society to vork in te name of te progression of all equine kind?!"

"Yes."

She stopped me and turned me around, "You're trowing avay an opportunity at nigh infinite power, because it disagrees vit your moral code?"

I frowned, shrugging her hooves off me, "Not mine, but somepony's who opinion of me matters more than all the power in the universe."

"You're an enemy now Bandage, tis place is neutral, ve'll let you leave, but encounter any of our platoons in Manechester..." she glared, her tone dropping, "tey'll not hesitate to kill you."

"Good for them." I said snidely, turning to leave.

She stopped me again, pulling me into a kiss that was really, really nice, carnal and angry, breaking away with a much softer glare possessing her eyes, "Should you ever reconsider my offer, tis facility vill remain neutral to you and your party, you can come and negotiate vit me."

"Come and negotiate?" I said with a super deadly 5x shit eating grin combo, "My my, the Paragons certainly treat their guests well."

She snorted, I turned around again, she stopped me one last time, wrapping a foreleg around my neck and whispering in my ear, "I vould have ravaged you."

I chuckled and kissed her on the cheek, "I'm sure, unfortunately we're going to be at each others throats until one of us kicks the bucket."

"...Tat doesn't mean ve can't be, partners."

I laughed, smacking her hoof away and descending the stairs, "Now I know I have to go, you're way too naughty for me."

"How'd it go?" Token asked when I finally got back downstairs.

"I turned down a very powerful spot in the glorious Paragon army and sex with a crazy chick, and on that note I'd really like to leave now."

"Is sex with an angry chick good or?"

"You tell me," I said, brushing past her, "I was fucking for two for awhile there remember?"

"Oh yeah, I didn't really notice too much of a difference, afterwards though..." she trailed off, smiling to herself, "Damn..."

***

I scanned the area again, looking for silhouettes in the darkness, whether they be Marked Ones, a Paragon hit squad, or the Marquise herself, wearing lacey white lingerie, coming to subjugate me to the justice of her warm, moist- focus Bandage, no drifting off into wet dreams while you're on watch.

A hoof poked me, I jumped, pressing my knife to the neck of- Hex, just Hex, looking at me with her head cocked. I sighed and sheathed my knife back in my shoulder armor, "Shouldn't sneak up on me like that kiddo."

"Sorry, thought you could use some company since you took all night watch."

"Yeah, being the only one with a night vision visor kinda blows sometimes."

She nodded and crawled up into my lap, "See anything?"

I nodded when I spotted a ghoul patrolling an old roof in the distance and shouldered Victory, then stopped myself and pulled away from the scope.

"Hey, wanna learn how to snipe?"

"Sure."

I picked her up, cradling her in my foreleg and setting the rifle in the right position for her, "Okay, flip that switch on the scope to activate the night vision, then find him in the sights."

She nodded, flipping the switch and peering through the scope, frowning immediately, "I can't see anything."

I chuckled and brushed her mane out of her eye, making her blush awkwardly, "Oh..."

She paused, peering through the scope again, "Okay I see him."

"Alright, the range finder on my E.F.S says he's one kilometer away, which is a little over a thousand yards, so you need to center him in the scope and then aim up one hash mark."

"O-kay... got it."

"Wait for him to stand still, take a deep breath and hold it in, then gently squeeze the trigger with your magic, and then you can breathe out."

She nodded and moved the rifle slightly, taking a nearly silent deep breath and wrapping the trigger in her magic.

A suppressed percussion and an exploded ghoul head later she exhaled, smiling at me brightly. I grinned back and tousled her mane, "Nice shooting Hex."

"Thanks... Can I shoot something else?"

"Sure. Go on back to bed, if something comes around I'll let you know."

"Nah, I'll sit up here with you."

"But what if some sniper starts taking pot shots and you get hit?"

She turned around and grinned up at me, pressing her nose to my visor, fogging it up with her breath, "Then you can revive me, mouth to mouth maybe?"

I laughed and pushed her away gently, taking my goggles out of my bag and resting them on her head, "I didn't blush, but you're getting an a for effort on that one my young friend."

She nodded smugly and sat back down in my lap, and there we stayed, like that, for hours. Finally she started shivering, throwing her hood up and nestling closer to me. I let my armor form back into a pack, then held her to my chest and wrapped us both in a blanket.

"Thanks." she said quietly.

"No problem, try and get fresh with those wondering hooves though and we're gonna have a problem."

"No promises... that's a pretty necklace by the way, where'd you get it?"

"A uh- a very dear friend gave it too me."

"When?"

"Um, about a week ago."

"...was she a sea pony?"

"Uh-"

"I heard you and Shaky talking about them, and I've read about them before. I thought they only gave those to their special someponies?"

"They uh- they do."

"Oh... guess that's why you haven't told Token yet huh?"

I sighed and rested my chin on her head, "I don't know how she'll take it, and I couldn't stand it if it breaks her heart."

"She's open minded, and she loves you, explain it to her and she'll understand."

"Yeah."

"...so, what's her name?"

"Shimmer," I replied, smiling slightly at her mention, "her name's Shimmer."

"Is she hot?"

"Totally," I chuckled, "and there's the great thing she can do with her tail..."

I couldn't see her blush but I felt her get warm almost immediately, "Oh my..."

"Yeah, it's fantastic, all long and thick and flexible..."

"I think I'm gonna go to bed." she said very nervously and hastily, getting up and climbing down the scrap tower I was posted on.

I chuckled again and wrapped the blanket tighter around myself, slowly drifting off.

~~~

I was getting overwhelmed, I may have been stronger and better at fighting than all of them, but 5 older colts were proving a bit too much for me.

Zest's big hoof hit me square in the nose, slamming me into the far wall and knocking the wind out of me. The rest trotted over and pummeled the hell out of me while I was down, forcing me into the fetal position.

I couldn't even defend myself, just lay there and let the hooves rain down while my bruised face got progressively bloodier. Token, the reason for the fight, was trying to pull Zest away, yelling at him to stop while tears spilled down her face.

Somepony else was shouting, but they continued, and suddenly Token was pulled away and Zest was thrown clear down the hall.

Yellow hooves started flying, smashing into the colts's faces, sending them sprawling across the floor. I was barely conscious, but I still had the energy and coherence to grin at Riot, the black maned filly that had taught me fight.

She was 15, only a couple years older than me, but she was good, elite Security training combined with a natural urge to beat up on ponies made her uniquely formidable. Her namesake was obvious, it fit her future job, Riot Control, the guys that got to beat down angry crowds, more of a threat than anything, hadn't been an actual riot in half a century.

She grinned back and helped me to my hooves, "What have I told you about fighting Band-aid?"

"Only do it if I've got a good reason to."

"I also told you not to bite off more than you can chew."

Token ran up and hugged me, then punched me in the shoulder, "The fuck's wrong with you?! Taking on five boys twice your size, you insane?!"

"They were picking on you." I mumbled dumbly, trying my best to shake off a concussion. Riot shook her head and hefted me onto her back.

"C'mon, let's get you to the infirmary."

I grumbled quietly, Token scowled at me as we went along, I just smiled, making her frown more, "You're missing a tooth, we're not going to be able to hide this from your mum."

"Bah," Riot said dismissively, levitating out a cigarette and lighting it, "I've had my horn broken off before, Syringe has spells to make bone grow back."

"You got beat up so bad..." Token said quietly when we reached the elevator.

"Good thing I came when I did, could've gotten a lot worse."

"How?"

"Five colts ganging up on a filly that's too beaten to defend herself, what do you think?"

Token gasped, "They wouldn't! They're assholes but they're not rapists."

"Not on their own, but I got taught about this thing called mob mentality, when you're in a group you do things differently. A mare got raped twenty years ago in basically the same circumstance."

"Goddesses..."

Syringe sighed when we entered the clinic, "Set her down over there, and put out that cigarette young lady."

Riot nodded, extinguishing her cigarette with her tongue and easing me onto a bed, Syringe trotted over with a ophthalmoscope and started examining my eyes while he gave me the standard 'concussion quiz', "What's your name?"

"Bandage."

"What day of the week is it?"

"Tuesday."

"Who's the current Overmare?"

"Topaz."

"Okay, done, your eyes look fine and you answered all the stupid questions right, I don't think you're concussed but you ought to take it easy. Now open up so I can fix that tooth."

I nodded and opened my mouth wide, Syringe just sighed again, "Make that teeth..."

~~~

Riot chuckled drunkly and leaned against me. She, Token and a few other Security mares had been getting progressively smashed during Token's 18th birthday, impressive considering Riot was notorious for her ability to hold liquor.

Token was the one making her chuckle, dancing in the middle of the bar in the most ridiculous way anypony had ever seen, doing her best not to fall over into her other friends.

"She's so bad." Riot snickered.

"Go easy on her, she's never been drunk before." Token laughed, falling over and taking three other mares with her, I snorted, "She is pretty bad though."

Somepony slid into the booth next to me and kissed my cheek, I grinned at Hops and gave him one back, missing my mark completely and planting it on his lips.

"Sorry," I muttered quietly, "drunk."

He smiled and pressed his nose to mine, "I noticed."

Riot wrapped a foreleg around my neck and pulled me to her, licking me on the cheek, "Back off Casanova, this one's mine."

He laughed and got up, refilling my scotch and giving Riot another bottle of beer before walking back to the bar.

"I think he likes you."

"Duh," I said between sips, "not like it matters though, he's infertile and I'm banned from the brothel."

She giggled softly and nibbled on my ear, "I like you too Band-aid."

"Shut up," I chuckled, shrugging her off, "I get enough gay jokes from Token."

"...who's joking?"

I blinked, turning to face her, met by Riot falling forward drunkly and accidentally pressing her lips to mine, making both our eyes shoot wide open, "Sorry," she muttered, pulling back and wiping her lips, "drunk..."

I opened my mouth to say something but Token collapsed into the booth beside me, "Partying hard over here eh?"

"You could say that..."

"Do it again."

"Huh?"

"I'm the birthday girl, and I want to see you kiss again, so do it."

"Token-"

"Okay!" Riot said eagerly, turning me around and grinning mischievously before repeating her mistake, though with a lot more gumption.

I made a show of gagging and belting down my scotch when she broke away, she laughed and shoved me, "Wasn't that bad, big baby."

"You taste like shitty booze."

"Hey!" Hops shouted from the bar.

"Sorry!"

"Insult her, not my hooch dammit!"

"Um, your kissing lacks finesse."

"Oh wow," she said, laying her ears back and pretending to look hurt, "too mean Band-aid."

I stuck my tongue out, she leaned forward and licked it, legitimately making me gag, which made my two friends laugh uncontrollably.

I got up, dragging Token behind me, "C'mon, let's go home."

~~~

Riot ducked my punch and pivoted on her front legs, sweeping mine out from under me, knocking me to the floor, then leapt backwards on top of me, pinning my head to the mat with a foreleg.

"Twenty six moves," she complimented, helping me to my hooves, "you're getting better."

"Still getting my ass kicked." I grumbled.

"You're a doctor, I'm chief of Security and head Riot Control officer, bound to be some ass kicking taken on your part."

I sighed, "At least I'm good enough to throw Zest and his friends all up and down 80."

"Yeah... hey it's three o'clock, shouldn't you get back to Toky?"

"I came down here to get away from Token, all the crying is stressing me out."

"Her mom died last month, she's supposed to be crying, and you're supposed to be giving her lots of support and hugs and gallon jugs of ice cream."

I snorted, "A month of mourning is a bit excessive considering her relationship with her mother, I guarantee in the last thirteen years my mum did more of the raising than either of her parents ever did."

"Not the point Band-aid, she's your besty, she's upset, and she needs you, so get your happy ass down to your apartment."

I sighed and nodded, "One more match?"

She smirked, "Still not tired of getting your ass kicked?"

I just smiled back and shrugged my shoulders.

***

I snapped awake, throwing myself backwards down the slope when a rifle round whizzed past my head, my armor encasing me while I rolled into camp.

Everyone else jumped awake when I crashed through the campfire, grabbing their weapons and diving behind cover.

"What's with the rude awakening boss?"

"Sniper."

Stripe grumbled, his armor loading fresh magazines into his machine guns, "It's too early for this shit."

I snorted and clambered back up the scrap heap, "Stay low guys, I need to grab my rifle."

"Careful babe."

I reached the top and pulled my bags and weapons to me, yelping when something hit me square in the visor, popping my shields and throwing me back down.

I screwed my eyes up, looking at the red hot .50 calibre AM round lodged a few millimeters from my nose directly in the center of my cracked visor, which was working to repair itself and push the offending object out.

The glass flexed, popping the metal out and sending it to the fractured concrete with a ping. Stripe ran up and yanked me to my hooves, then tackled us both away from the blast of an explosive round that impacted the ground only a few feet from us.

BB flew high overhead in the direction of the shots, "Where are you going?"

"Ah saw the muzzle flash, gonna go hit 'em."

"Be safe."

No response, probably out of shortwave range, but several minutes later a flare arched through the sky over the Manechester municipal building.

"Think that's Sparky?" Stripe asked.

"Maybe, don't know why she wouldn't just fly back though..."

"What's the plan?"

"Kill the fire and move up I guess, keep our heads on a swivel."

"Okay, I'll get the gang rounded up, you just watch our asses 'til we're ready to move yeah?"

"Gotcha mate."

***

An uneventful slog to the municipal building, a few ghouls up on the surrounding rooftops, watching us, not engaging, just scouts.

I stepped into the decrepit structure first, met with a riot shotgun stuck in my face. I snorted when I saw the wielder, an emaciated unicorn filly, fifteen years old or so, very dirty, lots of small cuts dotting her army green fur, wearing pieced together gear in the likeness of Marked One armor, scraps of Union and Trinity armor, held together with license plates and street signs.

"Stow it or I'm taking it kid."

She didn't seem to acknowledge me, just looked us over cautiously and slung the shotgun across her back, then trotted to the stairs across the room, waving us over.

More children on the next 2 floors, various ages and races, sitting around with their weapons. I spotted a teenage unicorn across the room with an anti-material rifle laying on his lap. My helmet retracted and I winked at him, he snorted and took off his breathing mask for a moment spitting off to his left.

The silent filly poked me and pointed at the stairs, I nodded and ascended, perking my ears when I heard BB's giggling.

She was sitting on a dirty mattress, a teenage pegasus, 17 or 18, was laying over her back, preening her wings with his mouth.

I smirked and cleared my throat, BB glanced at me and grinned, her young charge immediately blushing and hiding behind her to conceal his rather impressive shame.

"Gone for an hour and you're already seducing the locals? Shame on you BB."

"Sorry boss, can't help it."

"Who's your friend?"

She smirked and leaned over, kissing him on the cheek, making him blush bright and let out a near inaudible squeak, "This is Fringe, he'd introduce himself but he's pretty shy, an' Ah reckon mosta his brain blood is occupied elsewhere."

"I'm sure, we'll give you guys a few minutes to finish up or whatever, meet us downstairs."

"Gotcha boss. You heard 'er kid, foreplay's over."

I heard another desperate squeak as I walked back down the stairs, "Be gentle BB!"

***

It'd been an hour or so of waiting, Shaky and Hex were in the corner with some kids their age, Stripe was talking to a large teenager, helping her repair her minigun, Kimba was making some kind of shady looking trade with a couple of zebra kids, Token was passing out some MRE's we'd found in a crate near our camp, Rawr and Adze were playing poker with a small group of earth ponies.

I was sitting away from everyone with Victory across my lap, cleaning her, the quiet unicorn from before trotted up with a chalkboard in her mouth, setting it down in front of me and writing "Hi." on the surface.

"Hey." I said absently. She frowned and erased the board, then wrote something else and tapped it to get my attention.

"Deaf, hard to read lips at night, use board please."

I nodded and took a piece of chalk from her chest pocket, "Better?"

"Yes, thank you."

"What's your name?"

"Don't have one, other kids call me Radar, but that's just a nickname."

I smirked, "Why Radar?"

"Can feel things moving around with my hooves, how I knew you were about to walk in the door, how I know when bad guys are coming before everyone else."

"Where'd all you guys come from anyways?"

"Slaves, Paragons brought us here on the boat, used us for pass clearing and stuff like that, Fringe and Trigger helped us all escape, stole a bunch of weapons for us too, we've been hitting the Paragon camps ever since."

"Trigger?"

"The grumpy prick sitting by the window with his rifle, he's my big brother."

"Seems like a sweet kid."

"He's okay once you get to know him, doesn't trust grown-ups, that's why he shot at you guys."

"Why'd the Paragons enslave you if you're unicorns?"

"Defects, not officer material, I'm deaf, Trigger's got breathing problems."

"Bummer, I hear they've got great benefits."

She just smirked wanly in response, then glanced over at the stairs. BB walked down, an amused smile on her face.

"Where's Fringe?"

"Poor kid passed out, fuckin' trooper though, kept goin 'til Ah popped." She chuckled, "Musta creamed six times or so 'fore he actually got the job done."

I snorted, "In all your years of slutting around, how in the hell have you not gotten pregnant yet?"

The scars on her backside sparked and she flicked her tail, a small red lightning bolt arching into a piece of rebar in the wall, "Electricity makes fer an excellent spermicide, fries the little fuckers before they git where they're goin'."

"Right... guess we're not talking to him until morning."

"Probably not."

"Well, shoo, private conversation going on here."

She snorted and trotted back up the steps, I turned back to the board, "Sorry about that, just discussing the details of Fringe's molestation at the hooves of my dear electric friend."

Radar rolled her burgandy eyes and erased the board, "So what brings you guys to Manechester? Pretty obvious that you're not Paragons and I can't think of anyone else with reasons to be here but them."

"Mapping it out for a Union contractor, they want to know what's here."

"Union?"

"You don't know?"

"I'm from the Ice Lands, don't know anything about Trottingham."

"Ice Lands?"

"Old World name for Blasted Lands, it's what the Paragons always had us call it. Hey it was nice talking to you but I'm really sleepy, gonna go rest for awhile."

"Okay, goodnight."

She smiled and picked up her board, then trotted off into the next room. Trigger shifted from his spot and approached me, his violet eyes fuming, "How's it going?"

He took a deep breath, his respirator whining, "Stay... the fuck... away... from my sister... hear me?"

"Why the hostility? If anything I should be pissed at you, you shot me."

"Fringe... may trust... you assholes... because that pegasus whore... threw him some pussy... but I... know better. Remember this... I'm always watching... pull any shit... and I'll fucking kill you."

I smirked when I heard the distinct click of a hammer being cocked, winking at him when I felt the cold tubing of a revolver barrel pressed under my chin, "I don't doubt that you've got the guts to blow my brains out, but you wouldn't really kill a pretty thing like me would you?"

"You're not... that pretty."

His eyes went wide when he heard it, I just grinned, Token was behind him, her rifle pressed to his head, "I disagree. Put the gun down or I'll fucking paste you."

He nodded, holstering his pistol, I smiled at Token and nodded her away, she snorted and trotted back over to Stripe.

"Sorry about my marefriend, she can be a tad overprotective. Now, I'm not your enemy, but I'm not your friend either, and frankly I don't care to be either. I just want to talk to Fringe, see if we can get some directions or if there's anything we can do to help you kids out, and then I'm gonna be on my merry way, savvy?"

His glare softened and he nodded, his respirator whining loudly as he sighed, "Sorry... for being an asshole... it's just that... the last unicorn that... talked to us... ended up killing our parents... and forcing us... into slavery."

"I understand. You ought to hit the hay, growing boys need their rest."

He chuckled, his respirator gasping irregularly, "Fuck... you."

***

BB had to force Fringe up, eventually just smacking his ass with an electric tail whip when every other tactic failed.

He jolted awake, a familiar squeak escaping his mouth, BB chuckled and hugged around his neck, pulling up his beanie and giving his ear a lightning charged lick, "Yer kinda cute when yer startled."

The dark orange colt blushed bright red and pressed himself to her neck, at first I thought he was trying to hide his face, then I realized he was rubbing against her affectionately. BB chuckled again and squeezed him tighter, "Daw, romantic little guy ain'cha? Can Ah keep 'im boss?"

"We'll see, mind going downstairs for a minute so he can focus?"

She frowned slightly but nodded, "Sure."

Fringe frowned as well when she stood up, she smiled and leaned down, pecking him on the cheek and making the shy pegasus beam before walking downstairs.

He sighed, standing up and walking to the other side of the room to turn on a hot plate, "We just met, she's at least five years older than me, and I know she's gonna be moving on pretty soon, but I really like that mare... I'm putting some coffee on, want any?"

"Nah."

"I didn't catch your name, unless it's Boss."

"No, infinitely more stupid than that, Bandage."

"Not so bad, better than some of the nicknames we come up with."

"I dunno, Radar's a pretty good one."

He snorted, "It fits, girl can literally sense trouble."

I chuckled and trotted to the edge, looking at the eastern route we'd be taking, "Any major activity through here?"

"Not much, sorta why we picked it, enough traffic for us to pick off lone squads without getting noticed, Paragons don't care if they lose a few grunts, we keep the supplies, working well so far. Marked Ones are the only consistent attackers, and it's usually just a few scouts."

"Anything you lot need while we're here?"

"Actually yeah, we've got two other outposts in Manechester, if you could steal a few radio nodes from that big Paragon base we could keep in touch with each other without risking couriers."

I nodded thoughtfully, "I'll see what we can do."

"Thanks, we'd do it ourselves, but if we get caught it's back to the slave pens."

"I get ya, want me to send BB up?"

"Nah, I've got some messages to deliver to deliver to Vermin's outpost, gonna be gone for a few hours."

"Good luck."

BB was waiting for me downstairs, smiling nervously, "Hey."

"Hey."

"So... what d'ya think o' Fringe?"

"Nice kid I guess, why?"

She blushed slightly and glanced away, a little smile tugging at her mouth.

"Oh... you're serious?"

"Yeah, n-no... hell Ah don't know. Ah know he's younger than me but, he's different."

I cocked an eyebrow and sighed, nodding her upstairs, Fringe had already flown off, "Okay, explain."

"He's the only guy what's ever, ya know, romanced me. It wasn't sex right away for once, we talked for a long time, neither of us brought it up either it just sorta... happened. And he's the only guy that actually worked to please me after he already popped, most fellas'd just be done with it and tell me too bad, but Fringe..."

"He cares?"

She smiled, "Yeah."

I sighed and patted her on the shoulder, "He's a good kid, and he likes you, so if you want to try I'd say go for it."

"Thanks boss... So, got any wildly violent shenanigans for us t' git into today?"

"Yeah actually, still figuring out a plan though... Hey Beta, does the suit have some kind of parachute?"

"Yes, something along those lines."

"Good... Beebs, get your gear, I'm gonna need a ride."

***

It wasn't true flight, but it was close enough for me. BB had taken me up high above the Paragon base and dropped me, in response the suit sprouted wings, four of them, in the shape of bee wings, filled in the middle with my red magical field.

I was gliding down slowly, enjoying the odd sensation of freedom the open air was giving me. Meanwhile Beta was picking targets, locking onto the three pegasi patrolling the roof.

I landed on the first one, snapping his neck with my forehooves once I'd pinned him to the ground, I dispatched the other two with my pistols, sending one .45 each into their visors, dropping them instantly.

I smirked when I heard the other guards below mobilizing and fished the five grenade belts out of my bags, pulling the pins with my magic and tossing them over the edge. A loud boom, a few body parts flying just high enough to clear the roof, all the bars on my eyes forward sparkle disappearing.

I chuckled and turned around, walking over to the radio nodes on the roof, "This was easier than expected Beebs."

She chuckled over the comm line and touched down next to me, "Eeya, reckon the hard part is gonna be gettin' three o' these heavy motherfuckers back t' the outposts."

Kimba and Adze landed next to us, the latter rolling his neck before hefting two nodes onto his back, "Don't know why you're bitchin', not that heavy."

BB snorted and picked hers up, both of them pumping their wings to get airborne. Kimba wrapped her forelegs around my chest and ascended with them.

***

Rawr was fighting off the pegasi trying to land on the roof with a few kids, Stripe was out in front of the municipal building trying to keep the hoof soldiers from moving up, Token and others were pouring fire out of the second and third story windows.

BB and Adze dropped their loads and flew up with Kimba to fight the large group of Paragon flyers circling the outpost.

I just sighed and prepped my weapons before sprinting headlong into the fray.

Thankfully Stripe had all of their attention, the first earth pony I attacked didn't notice me until I leapt on her back.

She yelped as I wrenched her around to face her comrades, manipulating her weapons with my magic and hosing them with dual assault carbine fire, their armor was thick though, sponging most of the rounds.

I grunted when she started trying to buck me off, resolving to wrap my forelegs around her head and snap her neck.

I rolled to the side behind a large heap of scrap when the rest turned to return fire, pulling the weapons from her battle saddle and fixing them to my sides before leaping to the top of the cover.

Stripe and I had them cornered now, I forced a few to run out of their foxholes while Stripe mowed them down, taking out 5 before the carbines ran out of ammo.

My shields flared, I ducked the next clustered blast of pink beams, rolling out of the way of a third.

I sprinted at the Defender, leaping over his head to avoid another magical shotgun blast, knocking his helmet off with a glancing blow from my forehoof and ripping his shotgun away with my own magic when he staggered.

He unsheathed his rapier and charged, I just laughed when it scraped uselessly against the surface of my armor.

"Careful buddy, swing that any harder and you might scratch the paint job."

"Bandage, the armor is not painted, the grey color is due to the hue the collective nanites are-"

"I'm toying with him Beta, I don't need the facts."

"Apologies."

He swung again, I sighed and dodged it, then pulled out Tolerance and shot just above his forehead. The rapier clattered to the concrete, its owner followed, curling into the fetal position and clutching the jagged bony stump where his horn had been a moment before.

I tsked, slinging his shotgun onto my back and picking the blade up as I approached him. I sat down on his midsection and wiped the dust from my new sword off on his fur, making him cringe.

"The fuck's wrong with you guys eh? Attacking a bunch of kids, fucking despicable." I hummed softly, pulling out Tolerance again and pressing the barrel to his head, "Be glad I'm in a good mood, otherwise I'd do something sick like torture to death or make you sing jaunty show tunes."

He tried to say something, but I fired before he got it out, chuckling quietly when he jolted, humming again while I wiped the blood and brain from my pistol.

I glanced up when I noticed the red bars on my compass moving closer, depolarizing my visor and grinning at the Paragon hoof soldiers moving up on me cautiously. There were only 20 or so, but if they all fired at once I could be in trouble.

One moved ahead of the group, I whipped the magical shotgun off my back and aimed it right at her, "Ah ah, let's not be hasty, I'm willing to find a diplomatic solution to this little skirmish."

They all jumped as the burnt body of a dead pegasus hit the ground next to me with a dull thump. I chuckled sheepishly, grabbing it with my magic and dragging it behind me, "Uh, don't let that detour from what I said, diplomacy and shit."

All of their weapons cocked, the leader of the group moved closer, "Surrender yourself and face judicial execution at te hooves of Sentinel Aegis, or fight and face summary execution, it matters little."

I sighed and fired, peppering her with pink beams, turning her into a pile of crackling white ash.

I charged at the rest, or rather through the rest, bolting to the municipal building and jumping over their entrenched comrades while their combined fire chipped away at my armor.

A round punched through the armor on my ass just as I launched through the door, sending me sprawling, "My perfect ass!!"

I squealed when I felt the sharp pinch and pressure of the bullet being dug out of my left cheek, glaring behind me at a sheepishly smiling Radar, who dropped the bloody hunk of led in a dented metal bowl.

"You'd better kiss it or you're in trouble."

She cringed, I chuckled and rose to my hooves, casting a healing spell on my own sore rump.

Token came screaming around the corner and down the stairs, tackling me to the floor and looking me over, "Oh thank goodness!"

"Yeah love I'm fine."

"I don't think it's going to scar."

"Uh-"

She rubbed her head against my butt affectionately, "My poor baby, I can't stand to see a blemish on such a perfect thing." she scowled back at me, whipping my face with her tail, "Be more careful with my eye candy, reckless idiot."

Stripe stepped in, bullet holes in his armor steaming while the repair spells went to work, kicking the improvised metal door shut and throwing us both to our hooves, "Small war goin' on outside ladies, no time for goofy bullshit."

"Right, you stay down here, mow them down if they breach the door, Token you're on the second floor laying down fire, I'm gonna pop up to the roof and help Rawr out."

"Got it babe."

"Gotcha boss."

I turned to the stairs, stopping when somepony poked me, Radar was standing with her board in her mouth, "Me?"

"Umm, stay down here and let Stripe know if they start moving up I guess."

She nodded, stashing the chalkboard in her satchel.

***

The roof was... well, Fringe's impromptu office was completely fucked. Charred and mangled corpses of Paragon flyers lying everywhere, quite a few more bullet holes than before too.

A pegasus landed on Rawr's back just as I emerged from the stairs, promptly being thrown to the concrete roof with back breaking force.

He panted and sat down under a metal awning with a few of the kids that were reloading their weapons, clutching a pair of bullet holes in his gut, waving me over when he saw me.

I nodded, dodging enemy fire and friendly lightning bolts as I ran to him, sliding to a stop on the concrete when I reached safety.

"Making a mess are we?" I said with a joking smile as I went to work on his wounds.

He grunted, lighting himself a cigarette and letting out a strained sigh after taking a long drag, "No thanks t' you pony."

"My apologies for our late arrival to the party, had to pick up a few things from the grocery."

He chuckled, banging the back of his head on the wall, "Better late than never- gah fuck! Careful pony!"

"Aww, is da wittle puppy sensitive?"

He snorted, "Be glad you have hold of Rawr's guts, otherwise Rawr would crush your stupid pony skull."

"I'm sure..." I said absently as I finished up, "There, all done, wasn't so bad now was it?"

He grunted again, propping himself up with his rifle and rising to his feet, "Rawr needs new physician."

"Bollocks to ya."

BB touched down in front of us, holding a pegasus in a head lock and electrocuting her to death. Kimba landed next to her, immediately belching a tiny puff of flame, BB smacked her on the back, "Ya'lright? Drinkin' 'at many fire potions can't be good fer ya."

"I'm fine, just won't be tasting my meals for a week or so."

BB chuckled, "Lucky bitch."

"Where's Adze?"

"Big bird? Judgin' from the steep ascents an' the screamin' Ah'd imagine he's pickin' them poor dirt kickers up an' droppin' 'em."

I chuckled, stopping when I faint beeping went off in my ear, growing progressively louder, "Beta?"

"Friendly tracking beacon, the IFF reads it as agent Chryses'."

"Meaning?"

"Agent Chryses is inbound."

The beep formed a solid tone, and suddenly the shooting stopped.

I cocked an eyebrow and went to the edge of the roof, the Paragons were occupied, staring down a hooded figure standing in the middle of them, covered in filthy and ragged robes.

One approached, tentatively, my ears perked involuntarily, and suddenly I could hear the soft crunch of her hoofsteps on the scorched earth, and the faint gasping of her frightened breathing, "You're impeding a property retrieval operation, leave now or we'll be forced to-"

She stopped, choking, a dark red glow forming around her neck, matching the glow of the hooded pony's exposed horn, "Rudeness," a polite but impatient voice said, "I, hate, rudeness."

Her neck snapped to the side and she went limp, slumping to the ground in a heap, he cleared his throat, composing himself, "Now, is their anypony here that can address me with the respect a stallion of my stature deserves?"

They all remained silent, he sighed, shaking his head. All dead, in an instant, if I would have blinked I'd have missed it. He picked all 30 some soldiers up simultaneously, and twisted, snapping their backs, then just dropping them.

He looked up, locking onto me, "I know you're listening, so would you kindly come down here and greet me properly?"

I nodded, hopping off the roof, and sliding down the slanted face of the building, "Keep everyone inside Beebs."

"'Kay boss, be careful."

Chryses laughed when I approached him, throwing his hood back, unleashing his long and messy streaked mane, "So you're the one that picked up Eclipse's old suit, not very impressive are you?"

My helmet retracted and I smirked at him, "The hundred or so ponies I've killed in my lifetime might beg to differ."

He snorted, taking off his glasses and boring into me with the ominous red glow of his cybornetic eyes, "You've killed peasants and wastrels, easy prey. In fact the one time you went up against a uniform military group you were pushed back into deep cover, you're pitiful child, simply pitiful, not fit to wear that suit."

"Not fit to wear it? Think awfully high of yourself don't you?"

"Do you know who Sleipnir is? The Fell god of the North, gifted with super equine strength and speed. That's the reason the program was given that name, ponies with the power of a god at their hooves. We were trained before we got to use the suits, unlike you, who I'm guessing stumbled upon it and got assimilated into the system. Now, the scum out here may think you're some kind of badass, but me?"

He chuckled and narrowed his eyes, "To me you're just a foal playing with a bomb. Now, you're going to take off the suit and give it to me, or I'm going to kill you and tear it from your corpse."

I snorted, my helmet encasing me, he sighed and shook his head, "A damn shame."

I moved first, deciding to cheat, reaching for Whisper and firing the instant the targeting locked in on him.

The round had fired but it hadn't done anything significant, or anything at all really, he didn't even bleed. The rifle hadn't fired with any of the power it had before, so basically I'd just shot a bulk 5.56 round at somepony with metal grafted to his skeleton.

He rubbed his head while the flesh reformed itself, blinking away the disorientation of the impact, "Sorry to steal the luster from your weapon dear, just a simple dispell on the magnetic rails, can't let you kill me that easy now can I?"

I tossed my weapons aside and charged him, leaping forward to punch him, he ducked, spinning under me and kicking me in the gut, sending me flying off behind him.

"Direct approach, not bad, but let me tell you a zebra warrior is significantly more impressive at close quarters."

I huffed, climbing to my hooves and focusing my magic into arrows, 20 of them, firing them all at once.

In an instant he had 20 individual spells up to block them, perfect placement. Wards, spells specifically for blocking spells, Security was trained to use them, Token and Riot always bitched about not being to use them properly, came back from practice with a few singes on their fur too.

He laughed, wrapping my chest with his magic and lifting me up, "Please, I've had two centuries to develop my arcane skills, trained a trio of young Alicorns to master their own unique magic, your spells are nothing, you are nothing, an insect, and do you know what I do with insects?"

He smirked, I screamed as he crushed my chest plate, breaking all my ribs before dropping me to the ground in a gasping heap.

"Now, before I kill you I might as well give you a lecture on-" the beeping from before interrupted him, he grumbled, donning his sunglasses and looking to the rapidly darkening sky. The beeps went solid, and soft thunder started echoing, "Bollocks..."

I lightning bolt hit him directly, sending him flying hundreds of metres away in a fireball and crashing into an iron beam, tearing it in half and collapsing the building on top of him.

A pegasus in Sleipnir armor touched down next to me, sparks jumping across his suit and his cybornetic wing. He approached, instinctively I tried scooting myself away, failing miserably.

"Easy kid," that familiar gruff voice said, "Ah ain't gonna hurt'cha."

I cried out as the suit started popping my ribs back into place. He walked over and gently rolled me onto my back, "Rest up fer a bit, Ah got an old friend t' catch up with."

"A fucking sky scraper just fell on him," I said weakly, "he's gotta be dead."

"Nah, probably just pissed 'im off."

The huge pile of rubble erupted and Chryses emerged, fully armored, his cybornetic wings outstretched, tossing the remains of his burned robes aside.

Thunder Crash moved forward, his metallic wing stretched upward and gathering electricity, Chryses charged, rapidly flying forward. Crash's wing was struck by lightning, he didn't flinch, just flapped it, directing a huge bolt of red energy at his opponent, cracking through his shield and melting away the armor underneath, literally stopping him dead.

Chryses was just standing there, his metallic skull exposed and smoking, all the flesh from his face burnt away. His armor lurched, moving in place of his skin and shifting color to match his red coat before restoring his helmet.

The cyberpony smiled politely behind his visor, "Have to try harder than that, old man."

"Way Ah figure it yer a lot older than Ah am, stasis keeps ya remarkably fresh."

"As does being mostly machine. You were old even when we were young stallions Crash."

"Yeah, got even older when they popped mah case twenty five years ago, but Ah got an upgrade since then, restored some o' mah youthful vigor. Don't imagine it applied to ya, you bein' mechanical an' all."

"Mmm, is there a reason you're stalling? I imagine you've got something wicked cooked up."

Crash took off, the force cracking the concrete at his hooves, he formed a bubble, remarkably similar to BB's, then slammed into Chryses full force, the percussion from the impact enough to knock loose precariously hanging chunks of building lodged in the canyon walls. Then he flew up, far up, into the cloud cover he'd brought in, lightning striking the both of them as he rose, each bolt expanding his bubble and making it grow brighter.

Then everything went white, rendering me blind for a few moments, like a massive electric flash bang in the sky, instantly disintegrating the cloud cover not just over the Divide, but over a huge portion of Trottingham, giving us all a glimpse of the Enclave city hanging over our heads.

The sound hit us next, shaking the dust off everything, loosening rubble, displacing cracked chunks of roadway and making my entire body vibrate for several seconds.

Crash landed amidst several bubbling masses of sparking molten plasma that melted and boiled the concrete, his armor was white hot, distorting the air around him and putting off the unbearably strong scent of burning ozone.

He looked up, sighing, "Enclave ain't gonna be happy 'bout this one lemme tell ya."

I rose to my hooves unsteadily, my newly mended rib cage shifting uncomfortably in a few places, "Please tell me that killed him."

"Nope, fucked 'im up pretty bad an' launched him into the ocean though, he'll lay low for a couple months, lick 'is wounds. Probably get bored of the idea o' huntin' ya an' leave you be by that time."

"Guy's fucking ridiculous!"

"Keep in mind he an' 'is suit're basically an integrated machine now, nothing left of him that's actually pony, hasn't been for centuries, suits slowly been converting his organic parts to inorganic parts. Hell, just before the bombs fell Lore said that even his brain was replaced with a nanite colony."

"So he's just a robot then?"

"A mass collection of nanites with his soul trapped inside, forming a sophisticated synthetic body with it's own organs and bodily functions, least that's what the professors told me."

"Wait... nanites are robots?"

"Yeah?"

I screamed, frantically trying to peel my suit off, "Beta what the fuck why didn't you tell me the suit was fucking robots?!?!"

"Your irrational fear of robotic machines foreshadowed this exact response, I did not wish to evoke such a reaction."

"I'm covered with millions of microscopic death bots! THIS REACTION SHOULD BE FUCKING EXPECTED YOU ARTIFICIAL BITCH!!!!"

"My apologies, would you like a sedative? You're causing a scene."

"FUCK YOU!!!"

"Goodnight."

"I-"

***

I woke up a few hours later, groggy as hell, "Beta, if you had an ass I'd be kicking it right about now."

"My apologies ma'am, but you were becoming hysterical."

"Yeah, sorry, robots just... they freak me out."

"I understand, if it helps, you could think of the nanites as only components of the suit, instead of a grouping of machines forming the suit."

"It's whatever, I don't really mind that much now. Where is everypony anyways?"

"The roof."

I stood up, shaking myself awake before walking onto the roof into the cool night air.

The team was gathered around a small bonfire, Radar smiled and waved me over.

"Hey guys."

Everyone muttered hellos. I stood next to Fringe, gently extending his bandaged wing with my magic and looking it over, "What happened?"

"Vermin's outpost was under attack too, lost almost everypony by the time I got there, took a round to the wing just before BB and that other pegasus swooped in and mopped up the Paragons."

"And where are they?"

"Left to go ferry the survivors over to Rawhide's place an hour ago, should be back any minute."

Wing beats overhead, sure enough, BB and Crash touched down on the roof, the former trotting over to Fringe and snuggling up to him, planting a kiss under his ear, "Yer wing okay?"

He nodded, glumly resting his head on her forelegs.

Crash trotted over, his armor in pack form. He looked younger than he had in the memory orbs, a lot younger, like early twenties, guess the genetic upgrade I'd gotten affected him too, regenerating his old cells back to their prime.

He looked like a male version of BB actually, stunning similarities, "Ah'm gonna go downstairs an' catch a nap, Ah'll trade watch with the griffon in an hour or so."

"'Kay Daddy," BB replied, "sleep tight."

He nodded and descended the steps, I blinked and turned to look at BB, "Uh-"

"He married mah momma couple years after he got outta stasis," she explained, "didn't know he had a suit like yers though, never wore it when Ah was a kid, the wing neither."

"Right, guess that's summed up." I muttered as I trotted over to the mattress to look the girls over. Sound asleep, somepony had even tucked them in, Radar poked me and held up her board.

"Kept shivering in their sleep, gave them my blanket."

I smiled, nodding my thanks, then leaned down to kiss the tops of their heads.

***

Everyone had gone to sleep, except for a few of us. I was staying up to help Rawr on watch duty, BB and Fringe were occasionally conversing with us, Radar was just up enjoying the company.

She started shivering after midnight, flinching when I sat down next to her and threw a foreleg around her shoulders. I smirked, taking a piece of chalk from her, "Easy, just keeping you warm, not trying to steal a kiss or anything."

She smiled back nervously, "Yeah, thanks."

BB was giggling, Fringe was whispering in her ear with a mischievous smile on his face. She cleared her throat and they both stood, "Mah young stallion an' Ah are gonna retire fer the night."

I smirked, "Have fun."

She pressed her mouth to his ear, hugging him with a wing and sliding her tail between his legs, "Oh he will, won'tcha Fringy?"

Fringe just squeaked in response, getting a laugh out of her while she walked him downstairs.

Crash landed a few minutes later, trotting over and sitting hard in front of the fire, "How's yer ribs kid?"

"Sore, though considering your track record with disfiguring injuries I suppose it doesn't do me much good to bitch."

He chuckled, "Reckon so."

Rawr snorted, the pegasus glanced him over warily, "Ya know, Ah've seen what you dogs do t' folks in Filly, surprised ya travel with ponies."

"Rawr tolerates ponies, reason dogs kick Rawr out." The scarred Hell Hound smiled, baring his large razor sharp teeth, looking especially menacing with the shadows of the fire dancing on his face, "Rawr's too friendly."

Crash snorted, "Friend, Ah've stared down entire legions o' pissed off zebras, the whole intimidation thing yer tryin' t' pull off ain't gonna work fer shit."

Rawr shrugged, leaning back against some rubble and lighting himself a cigarette, "Worth a try."

"So, spot anything while you were out?"

"Not really, few ghouls pickin' around, nothin' to worry about. Real trouble's gonna start when we get everyone movin' east tomorrow."

I cocked an eyebrow, "Move?"

He nodded, "Talked about it while ya was knocked out, ain't safe for the kids t' stay here now that the Paragons know they're here, movin' 'em all t' Rawhide's place."

"Sounds lovely, how much you wanna bet we stumble across the motherload of Marked Ones?"

"A lot." he said dryly. "You can head downstairs an' catch some shut eye, Ah got things covered up here."

"You sure? You've been flying all day."

His mood darkened, "Ah stopped sleepin' a long time ago kid."

I shrugged, nudging Radar and motioning for the stairs. She collapsed next to Trigger on his mattress as soon as we walked downstairs, snoring quietly in just a few seconds.

I crept up quietly and climbed onto Stripe, snuggling against his frame, he stirred, hugging me tightly and kissing my forehead, "Hey boss."

"Shhhh, sleepy..."

"So am I, but you woke my ass up, so let's talk for a bit."

I whined quietly, "C'mon, I've been pulling all night watch the last two days and only slept six hours in between."

He chuckled, patting my back gently, "Fine lazy bones, but ya owe me a kiss first."

I smiled up at him and we shared a sleepy kiss, smiling again when we broke away and settling into the grooves of each others bodies.

Despite all his muscle mass, my stallion made an incredibly comfortable cushion, and the ever present scent of cordite in his fur was oddly comforting.

"Night Stripe." I mumbled tiredly.

"Night boss."

***

"We've been walking for hours!" one of the younger children whined, "My hooves are sore!"

"Quit... your bitching," Trigger wheezed, "we're almost... there."

"Yeah," I said, "plus you've got nothing to whine about, Rawr's the one hauling most of your gear."

The dog snorted, a small puff of smoke shooting from his nostrils, "Rawr just don't want t' hear ponies whining, complaining neither, in fact, best if ponies just shut the hell up."

I trotted up beside him, taking half the gear from his back with my magic and placing it on my own. He looked at me suspiciously, I just gave a friendly smile and winked.

He snorted again, adjusting the cigarette cocked in his mouth, "Thanks pony."

"No problem dog."

The convoy stopped, I frowned and looked ahead, Radar was standing completely still at the front, her ears twitching wildly.

She started sprinting away, everyone quickly following.

"What do you think it is?" I asked Rawr as we ran.

"Who cares pony?! When you see Radar pony running you run!"

Somepony screamed behind us, a Tunneler had torn through the ground and attacked Trigger. I stopped and spun around, tossing the gear from my back and charging, barreling into the scaly beast and knocking it away.

It got back to its feet and paced in front of me, scraping its claws on the road. I charged first, ducking its swing and leaping up between its arms, headbutting it and sending a few jagged teeth flying.

It staggered, throwing a wild swing that I ducked easily before riddling its body with magical arrows. It let out a pained roar and slumped over, I stepped onto its chest and drew my rapier, stabbing downward through its eye and twisting.

I whisked the blood from my sword and ran to Trigger's side, pushing his head back down when he tried to sit up.

"Lay still kid."

"I- I can't... feel my legs."

I lifted his shredded barding and winced, a huge hunk of his abdomen was missing.

"How... bad is it?"

"You'll be fine," I lied, smiling with false reassurance, "I'll get you patched up right away."

He scowled, roughly jerking the back of my head with his magic, "Don't bullshit me."

I sighed, "Your intestines, liver, and one of your kidneys are pulp, I'm guessing you can't feel your legs because your spinal cord is severed."

He nodded, his respirator whining sharply as he took a deep breath, his magic fumbled at the clasp, the weak field dispersing after a few moments, "Can you... undo my mask... please?"

"But you won't be able to breath."

"I know... but I'm dead anyways... in a lot... of pain... and I'm guessing... you don't want to kill me... so just... undo it. Not to mention... it's damned uncomfortable."

I nodded and unclasped his mask, pulling it off and gently trailing the breathing tube out of his trachea. He smiled tiredly and rested his head back, letting out a long, weak sigh, his eyes glazing over.

I shook my head, shutting his eyes with my hoof and placing the respirator rig in my saddlebags.

My EFS started lighting up, and the ground started shifting, I sighed and opened Trigger's bag, taking out the satchel charges and arming them, placing them on his body.

"Take a few with you kid..." I grabbed his rifle before running after the convey, which had made considerable ground.

***

I didn't catch up with the group for an hour, I winced when I saw Radar frantically looking around the small camp they'd set up. Her ears twitched and she looked in my direction, a hopeful smile on her face, instantly dashed when she spotted me alone.

She paused for a moment to write on her board before running up to meet me.

"Trigger?"

My ears drooped, her eyes went wide when I pulled out his respirator. She sat hard, snatching it from me and holding it to her chest, tearing up, gasping sobs escaping her.

I wanted to say something soothing, useless since she couldn't hear it, and writing it didn't hold the same sincerity. I settled for pulling her into a hug and letting her cry on my shoulder.

It went on like that for hours, until finally she just cried herself to sleep. I stayed there with her until morning, gently stroking her mane while she slept, left me exhausted by the time everyone was ready to move, but Rawr was nice enough to carry me so I could sleep, for whatever reason.

***

"We here pony, wake up."

I grumbled and blinked my eyes open, rolling off Rawr's back to give him some relief. He'd been walking on all fours for several hours, the instant I dismounted he stood up straight and cracked his back.

"Didn't have to carry me more than an hour Rawr, told you I just needed a power nap."

Rawr just snorted in response and lit himself a smoke.

Radar nearly tackled me when I started walking to the front of the convoy, burying her face in my chest and whimpering softly.

I sighed and patted her back, then propped her head up and smiled, "You gonna be okay?"

She nodded, then shook her head, then just scrunched her face up.

I nodded sympathetically, but still pushed her away, "We'll have your pity party when we get you lot settled, where are we anyways?"

She scribbled something on her board and held it up, "The stadium."

I blinked, "The stadium... like the stadium? The Manechester United hoofball grounds?"

She nodded, in an instant an excited scream escaped me and I bolted through the crowd to the front, eager to get a view of- of... the huge pile of rubble erected in front of us.

"It's destroyed." I mumbled quietly, "It's all bloody destroyed..."

"No it's not," Fringe said, "this is a fallen sky scraper, the stadium's behind all this."

I squeed and grabbed hold of him, giving him a bone shattering hug and a very sloppy kiss on the cheek before tearing through the pony made opening in the wall of rubble, stopping dead when I saw it.

Old Trotford, the Manechester United hoofball team's prize grounds, standing in front of me in near pristine condition, aside from a few broken windows in the entrance building and some cracked concrete here and there, it was exactly what I'd seen in pictures.

I couldn't keep myself from sprinting towards the entrance building, though the squad of well armed Marked Ones emerging from the doorway stopped me in my tracks.

I snorted and prepped my weapons, ready to purge these bastards from every hoofball hooligan's holy ground.

Fringe tackled me from behind, "Easy Bandage they're with us."

"What?!"

A ghoul with a cowpony hat cocked on his head approached, smiling brightly with those rancid teeth, all the muscles contorting in his face clearly visible.

"Howdy Fringe," he said with a cheery but gravely voice, "get your bunch moved did ya?"

Fringe was about to reply but I bucked him off my back and eagerly galloped up to the ghoul, "You live here?!"

He recoiled slightly, "Yeah?"

I melted, "Can I have a tour?"

***

I'd had a mare boner the entire time Rawhide was leading me through the different facilities of the stadium. The Red Cafe, the Manechester United museum, the trophy room, the still functioning souvenir stand, where I had bought myself a pristine condition red hoody. But I have to say, the stadium itself easily took the cake.

Massive, with the roof mostly intact, the spells mimicking a beautiful sunny sky still active, all the stands relatively clean, though most of the suites were occupied.

The field though, the field was absolute perfection, green and healthy grass, perfect length for a match, two goal nets set up and the lines all painted.

I stepped out onto it gingerly, then smiled and laid down on the comfortable green cushion, rolling onto my back, folding my forelegs behind my head and staring up at the "sky".

"Enjoying yourself babe?" Token asked, smiling and laying down next to me, resting her head on my chest.

"Paradise my love, simply paradise."

"I remember when Security and Maintenance and the Lower Deck and the cooks all had a hoofball league, then we started getting rowdy and Rector made us split it up."

"Mmm, one more reason to kill that bitch..."

She chuckled quietly, "You were our biggest fan, always cheering us on at those piss ant games we held on the Ag deck."

"Hey, you and Riot were pretty good. That's compared to ponies that were utter rubbish, but still, pretty good."

"Bollocks to ya... Actually, I recall you thinking Hops was pretty amazing too."

"Oh shut it."

"Yes that's right, you'd sit on the sidelines with him while he was on bench, hanging on his neck like a cheap piece of jewellery."

"Token seriously-"

"Better than how Riot was with you though, couldn't get her off you once she was on."

"Hey! Riot was a friend."

"Oh I know, very good friends."

"What're you getting at?"

She scoffed, "Please Bandage, not even you are blind enough not to see what was going on there."

"What? So Riot and I were close friends, you and I were best friends before that incident."

"Yeah, and look how it ended."

I cocked an eyebrow, "So you think Riot had a crush on me?"

"Babe, I don't think, I know. It was painfully obvious."

I frowned slightly, thinking back on all my memories of Riot, and other than Token's birthday where she'd basically been too drunk to stand, I couldn't think of any signs of more than platonic feelings, "I'm not seein' it."

"Seriously?" I nodded, she sighed, "You really never noticed how she'd constantly throw a foreleg over your shoulder? Or how she'd always laugh at your jokes, even if they were pitiful. Or-"

I put a hoof over her mouth, "I get the point Toky, I was completely oblivious to the subtle come ons of my dear friend, no need to continue."

"Why did you think she was always so affectionate?"

I shrugged, "Same reasons you were I guess, just some sisterly love."

She snorted, "Definitely some sort of love..."

I stuck my tongue out, she leaned forward and kissed me, "I'm just glad we got the opportunity to take a match of gay chicken too far before you and she did."

"Aww, that's romantic, I think..."

"You know, I find it kinda funny how hot and heavy you and I got the original first time we kissed as opposed to the first time we kissed outside."

I smirked and pulled her closer to me, "It's because inside 80 it was prohibited, made it lusty and sinful, plus I masturbated that morning, was still in the mood I guess."

"Hmmm, you know, I think I've got an idea of how to bring back some of that lustful sin..."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Well..." she grinned wide and pulled a leather crop from her bags, giving my flank a quick smack with it, "Somepony in the municipal building had naughty tastes, Hex found this in a locked desk lodged in a pile of rubble."

"Nice find, but how's that gonna spice things up?"

"Mmm, there's this lovely fetish called bondage, mixes pleasure with restraint and just a hint of pain. You've had a taste already, that night in Old Trottingham remember? Figure I just need to keep adding to my collection and I'll have enough, um, equipment, to keep us both superbly stimulated."

I just blinked, "You may not be aggressive, but as I said once before, you're a freak."

Her ears laid back, "Is that bad?"

I chuckled and shook my head, squeezing her tightly, "No, it's excellent."

***

I leaned down and kissed Shaky on the forehead, she grimaced, I smirked and dropped a pillow over her face, "Night love."

"Night Momma."

I fluffed her pillow and put it back under her head, then eased out of the suite, careful to step over Hex and her mattress, gently closing the door behind me.

I smiled to myself and trotted down the hallway, taking a step back when I passed Crash's suite and peeking my head in.

He was watching the artificial moonlit night through his window, a familiar photo cradled in his hooves.

I rapped my hoof on the door frame, he glanced back at me, stashing the picture under his pillow before nodding me over, "Come on in kid."

I trotted over and sat down next to him, "How's it going Crash?"

"Decent Ah reckon, just gittin' used t' bein' young again. Ah mean, Ah'm younger now than when Ah got the suit, younger than when Ah was put under. Ah grew old after Ah got outta cryo, raised three kids, loved a good mare... guess Ah got used t' it, middle age, achin' joints, stiff muscles, prostate the size of a grapefruit, and now Ah just feel... outta place."

I nodded absently, "Well, you've got pretty much forever to get used to being young, cellular regeneration and all that."

He snorted, "Yeah... funny, mah whole life Ah bitched about bein' a young stallion in a used up buck's body, now Ah'm bitchin' about bein' a used up old buck in a young stallion's body."

"Think of the bright side, you're back in your prime, a force to be reckoned with."

"Kid, the point is, Ah lived mah life, lived through mah prime, those years, they was hell, an' Ah don't wanna relive 'em, make sense?"

"Yeah... Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"Chryses, how was his magic so strong?"

"Practice, he was good before the bombs dropped, now he's had a couple centuries t' master 'is craft."

"...How do propose I match him?"

His eyes widened and he stared at me, "Come again?"

"That much power," I said decisively, "how would I match it?"

"Uh, well, yer magic field determines how much ass you can kick in that suit. Learnin' an' practicin' new spells oughta strengthen that field but Ah don't think-"

I smiled and stood up, smacking him on the shoulder and walking away before he could continue, "Thanks for the tip, I'll get on that sometime."

"Kid-"

I closed his door behind me continuing down the hall towards the far side of the stadium, there was somepony I needed to see.

***

It'd been over an hour, and my coat was soaked, but Radar still hadn't stopped crying.

I just kept rubbing her back, trying to be a comfort. I understood of course, she lost her brother, the only family she had left in the world.

She started slowing down, letting out a broken whimper and pulling away from me, wiping her nose with the back of her foreleg.

I smiled reassuringly and patted her shoulder, she smiled back half heartedly and reached for her chalkboard, "Thanks Bandage."

I tousled her mane, "No problem kiddo."

For some reason she blushed, then picked her board back up, "You can go, or stay... you know, whichever you want..."

I cocked an eyebrow and smirked, "Did you actually go through the trouble of writing a bashful sentence? That's bloody adorable."

She smiled sheepishly, her blush deepening slightly, I blinked and stood up, "Actually I think I should go, I'm in courtesy box fifteen with Token if you need anything."

Her mood depressed slightly, but she nodded, setting her board on the nightstand and flopping back onto her bed.

"You sure you're okay?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes, "Come on," she said, her words clumsy and labored, "I just put the board up and now you want to talk again."

I smirked, levitating her board and a piece of chalk to her, she sighed again and took them, "So, if you can talk, why use the board?"

She glanced away, scribbling absently and turning the board to face me, "My voice makes me sound dumb."

"Not exactly your fault, you can't hear."

She shrugged.

"So, what's with all the blushy coyness?"

She frowned, "You ask this after you decided to get up and leave?"

I just smiled, nodding once, she sighed, "I'm lonely, Trigger was my only friend, and even then we never talked, he had to keep his mask on to breath, so I couldn't read his lips, and he didn't no how to read or write so I couldn't use the board. Everypony else just ignores me until my ears start twitching, you're the first pony to ever really want to talk to me, and I guess-"

She pouted, her board filled up, quickly erasing it, "I guess I like you, or whatever."

I chuckled and shook my had, "Darling, you are the sweetest little deaf girl I have ever met, but you're about three years too young and not really my type."

She frowned again, "I thought you liked mares?"

"I do, key word being mare, you're still a filly."

She huffed, I leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, "Do me a favor, save your affections for someone your own age that's actually going to stick around, okay?"

She pouted, but nodded, picking up her board, turning away before showing me what she wrote, "Kiss?"

I turned her head and gave her a quick peck on the lips. She shot me a dissatisfied scowl, I chuckled and pulled her in for the real thing.

She smiled slightly when I pulled away, I smiled back and tousled her mane, "Sweetheart like you ought to find somepony in no time."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm serious, just go have a conversation with someone, they'll like you."

She sighed, "There's this zebra girl, Chain, I could go talk to her or whatever, I guess."

"Good, what suite's she in?"

She cocked an eyebrow, "26, why?"

I pushed her off the bed, dragging her behind me, "We're gonna go talk to her."

Her eyes widened, and she frantically scribbled on the board, "Like right now?!"

"Yep."

She was resisting slightly but it didn't matter, I made my way to suite 26 with Radar in tow, knocking on the door softly.

"Come in." a young but exotic voice said, what I imagined the traditional zebra accent sounded like as opposed to Kimba's blended one.

"Hey!" I said, smiling brightly at the two zebras in the room, "Which one of you is Chain?"

The one with several piercings in both ears, two above her right eye, and one in her left nostril raised her hoof, glancing the two of us over questioningly with her exotic purple eyes.

"Hi there, you know Radar right?"

"Of course." she replied, smiling politely at Radar, who squeaked quietly and shuffled behind me.

"Well, she thinks your really cute and shit and she's told me how much she'd love to get to know you better."

The board was crammed in my face, "I can't read your lips at this angle, what are you saying?!"

I smacked the board aside and smiled, "So, if you're not busy tonight, she's wondering if you'd like to hang out."

Chain shrugged, "Sure."

I smiled wide and pushed Radar forward, she shook slightly, letting out a meek, "Hi."

Chain just smiled again, "Hi. Sis, you mind giving us some privacy?"

The zebra with her stood and walked out with me, "So what's your name?"

"Knick Knack," she replied, "I deal in basic supplies and... shady goods."

I smirked slightly, "Shady goods huh?"

"Chems mostly, weapons we steal from Paragon camps, things the bosses don't want around base."

"Why no chems or stolen weapons?"

"Fringe didn't want a bunch of addicts with us, and Vermin doesn't like us sneaking into Paragon camps and stealing their shit, says it's a good way to get captured. Kid wants a fix or some firepower they can trade with me for stuff my sister and I need. Spare ammo, rations, those sorts of things."

"There's food and ammunition everywhere, why do you need them to trade it?"

"We don't, but it's what we use as currency around here, helps to have a good stockpile."

I nodded, "So you're a merchant, what's Chain do?"

"She's a good thief, good at making chems too, mixes this stuff called Rushing Water, gives kids the Dash fix they want without getting them addicted, keeps Fringe off our ass and our customers happy, win win situation."

I nodded again, looking out over the field, my ears perking when an idea hit me, "Hey Knick Knack, know how to play hoofball?"

***

Apparently, pegasi and zebras are both really good at hoofball, and when you combine those two, you get the best player ever.

Even with her wings bound, Kimba was capable of kicking the ball fifteen feet over Token and Knick Knack's heads and leaping after it.

I smirked and caught it between my forehooves, tossing it up and giving it a good double buck, Kimba leapt forward and headbutted it back at me, landing it between my legs and into the net behind me.

She landed gracefully, a smug grin slapped on her face, "What's the score now Bandage? Ten to two? We said first to ten wins right?"

"Shove it," I grumbled, "no one on my team can pull off that fancy midair bullshit."

"Aww quit whinin' boss!" BB shouted, "We beat ya fair."

I huffed, kicking the ball away, Stripe trotted over and patted me on the back, "Think on the bright side boss, this wasn't a league match."

I scowled at him, "Hilarious."

He grinned, wheeling me around, "I thought so too, now c'mon, let's go get shit faced before we all die grizzly deaths tomorrow."

"Have I ever told you how much I love your optimism?" I asked dryly.

"Most do, it's one of my finer qualities."

I chuckled and bumped against him, "I also love that subtle tone of narcissism you throw into your sentences."

Knick Knack galloped over to catch up, "Hey! Sorry I didn't play very well."

"It's fine kid, wouldn't have won anyways, too far outmatched."

"That was really fun though, if you ever come back we need to play again."

"Sounds good."

Token galloped up next, tackling me and pinning me to the ground, "You can't goal keep for shit babe."

I grinned at her, easily flipping her onto her back and pinning her with my hips, "And you couldn't cover a kick if your life depended on it Toky."

Kimba barrelled into both of us, getting us in headlocks, "And as per our arrangement, both of you are buying the drinks."

"Mmm hmm, think I might get you drunk enough to fulfill that other arrangement we have?"

She pulled my head up and kissed me on the cheek, then let us both drop and stepped over us, "Not a chance mate."

***

I slumped against Stripe, huffing impatiently. He glanced at me sideways, finishing off his fifth bottle of Wild Pegasus before propping me back up, "Maybe ya oughta slow down boss?"

"I'm not drunk, I'm pissed off."

"Why?"

"I'm on my tenth glass of vodka, I should be piss drunk by now, but I don't even have a light fucking buzz."

"Maybe it's watered down?"

Rawhide cleared his throat from the bar, "It ain't watered down an' it damn sure ain't vodka, that's moonshine, mah own brew, little lady oughta have alcohol poisonin' by now at the rate she's going."

I huffed again, "Well what the fuck?!"

"Your cellular regeneration is causing your blood to rapidly metabolise alcohol, I'm afraid you're incapable of becoming intoxicated."

I pouted, slamming my head on the table. Though my ears definitely perked when they picked up the drunken giggling of two mares.

I glanced up, scowling instantly when I spotted Token leading Kimba out of the room with her tail. I kicked the table forward, tearing the floor bolts free and sending it crashing into the bar.

Rawhide called after me as I ran down the hallway but I didn't pay him any mind. I caught up with the pair just before they entered Token and I's suite, "Hey!"

They both looked at me quizzically, "What's wrong babe?"

"Mind if I ask what's going on here?"

"Oh we were just gonna fool around a little, that a problem?"

I snorted, "Considering what you let me get away with, no, not really a problem, it's just, how'd you get Kimba to agree?"

She chuckled, "Babe, you went the straight forward and raunchy path, unsettled the poor thing. I took the gentler approach, explained to her what it's like and what we'd be doing and she said she's open to it."

Kimba leaned her head out of the room and tugged Token's tail impatiently, "C'mon already."

I smiled at Kimba, she just chuckled, "Still no chance."

I pouted, Kimba stuck her tongue out at me and ducked back inside, Token giggled quietly and kissed me on the cheek, "I win, ha ha."

I frowned, my ears drooping, "You're awful."

"I know." she said brightly, entering the room and kicking the door shut behind her.

I sighed and made my way to the girl's room, quietly peeking my head in, instantly frowning.

Shaky was crying, Hex was hugging her, rocking her back and forth.

"What's wrong?"

"She had a nightmare, said she doesn't want to talk about it."

I trotted over and sat down, pulling them both onto my lap, "You okay sweetheart?"

Shaky shook her head, pressing her face to my chest and letting out a muffled sob. I kissed her forehead and rubbed her back, doing my best to calm her down.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it sweetheart?"

"I'm sure d-d-dammit." She wiped her nose, pushing away from both of us and trotting out of the room, "I'm g-gonna go t-t-take a walk."

"Okay." I said quietly, wrapping my forelegs around Hex's tummy and resting my chin on her head, "So, what do you think it was?"

"I dunno, must've been bad though, haven't seen her this broken up in awhile."

"Yeah... my date skimped out on me, wanna make out?"

She murmured something, I glanced down and grinned, holding out a hoof, "You're bright red hon, goggles please."

Her blush faded as she pouted in defeat, tearing off my goggles and hanging the strap on my hoof, "Thanks hon... so we gonna make out or what?"

"My gut tells me to say eww and no, but I can't tell if you're joking or not..."

I laughed and shoved her off my lap, sending her tumbling onto her own mattress, "Of course I'm joking, fucking perv."

"Oh okay then. Eww, no! Kissing's icky and stuff."

I pouted and stood up, lowering my head to her level and approaching, getting my face only a few inches from hers, "You think I'm icky?"

She smirked, instantly seeing through my bullshit, "Yup."

I smirked back and tousled her mane, "Bollocks to ya then."

She chuckled quietly, then frowned, "Think we should go check on Shaky?"

I sighed and flopped down onto the mattress with her, "No, she wants to be alone, and it's been my experience that we should let her have her space... Ya know, we've both got nothing better to do, let's just have a girls night in, chat it up."

"Sure. What do you wanna talk about?"

I put on an exaggerated expression, trying my best to pull off the look of a giddy teenager, "Boys!"

She looked at me flatly, her visible eyebrow cocked, "You're an idiot."

"Fine, mares, slutty mares with great big round haunches."

"...So, we're gonna talk about you?"

"Oh ha!" I exclaimed dryly, "You're a fucking riot Hex."

"It's true though, you have tons of sex and a huge ass."

I gasped, "I do not have a huge ass!"

"Yes huh, it's the good kind of huge though, all big and sexy."

I smirked, pressing my nose to hers, "Oh Hexy, you wily enchantress, you know just how to compliment a mare."

She pressed back, grinning wide, I chuckled and pulled her hood over her head, pushing her backwards and laying down on her back. Her ears poked through the holes, I grinned and bit down on one gently.

"Stop!" she giggled.

"No, you're delicious."

"But it tickles!"

"It does?" I stopped, then started tickling her ribs with my hooves, "How about this?"

"Bandage!" she managed to squeal through her laughter, "St-stop!"

I gave up, hugging around her neck and kissing the top of her head, "You're really ticklish Hexy, good to know if I ever have to extract some information."

She giggled quietly, "You wouldn't need to tickle torture me, sexual favors would get you just as much information, maybe more."

I chuckled and pulled her hood down to cover her eyes, "Bet there'd be just as much squealing."

"Oh totally." she said, rolling over in my embrace to smile at me, "You remind me of my big sister."

I smirked and cocked an eyebrow, "You and your sister exchanged sexual innuendo?"

"No," she giggled, "but we talked all the time just like this, and your personalities are similar."

"Where is she?"

"Port, I think, she left when I was ten to go join the Walkers."

"Why'd she leave?"

"Said our dad was molesting her, Mom didn't believe her, or didn't want to, so she left, wanted to take me with but I didn't really understand what she meant so I stayed."

"...Ever wish you would've gone with her?"

"A lot when I was in that place, not anymore after I met you guys."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, that experience was awful, and it scarred me, but if I'd have left I would've never met Shaky, or you. Shaky's the first filly I've ever liked this much and you're basically the best friend I've ever had, so it was all worth it."

"Aww hon," I smiled and pressed my nose to hers again, "you're such a sweetheart."

"What're you g-g-guys d-doin'?"

We both glanced over at Shaky in the doorway, "Well, up until you interrupted us we were having a pretty righteous dry hump session."

She rolled her eyes and trotted over, laying down and nuzzling Hex on the cheek, "What have you actually b-b-been doing?"

Hex just grinned, "What Bandage said was pretty much accurate."

Shaky sighed and rested her head on my foreleg, I leaned down and nuzzled behind her ear sympathetically, "We've just been talking, had a tickle fight a little bit ago. How was your walk?"

"Fine," she mumbled tiredly, "D-dad is really drunk b-by the way."

"Mmm, did he at least collapse somewhere reasonable?"

"Yeah, Rawr and Adze walked him b-b-back to his room."

I nodded, rolling onto my side and pulling them both to my chest, "You guys ready for bed?"

Shaky huffed and slumped against me, "G-g-goddesses yes."

Hex nodded in agreement, I kissed them both on the forehead and nestled us all closer, "Night babies."

No response, just quiet breathing, I smiled to myself and rested against the pillow.

***

I knocked on the door for the fifth time, finally answered by a yawning Kimba, "Morning Bandage."

"Morning, my intrepid young lover up yet?"

She smirked tiredly, "Nah, we wore each other out pretty well last night."

I huffed, "Keep rubbing it in..."

She grabbed my head and kissed me, a thoroughly surprising gesture, opening her mouth to swap spit. It was odd, running my tongue over her sharp teeth, and aside from the morning breath, it was a very pleasant kiss.

She broke away, licking her lips and grinning behind the veil of her disheveled mane. A series of familiar cracks from behind her, Token approached, hugging around her neck and leaning forward to kiss me, "Mmm, always better in the morning isn't it Kim? Feels... sharper."

Kimba cocked her head to the side and shared a kiss with Token as well, smiling even wider when she pulled away, "Last night was great mate."

"Mmhmm, you picked up the right techniques pretty quick."

Kimba chuckled, hugging around her waist and pressing her against the door frame, "I had a good teacher."

Token giggled, glancing sideways at me gaping at the both of them, "Don't sit there looking all shocked darling, it was one kiss."

I smirked again and piled into both of them, knocking them to the floor and engaging in a painfully awkward three mouth kiss. They broke away, pulling me between them and nibbling at my neck and ears.

"Oh please let this be turning into a threesome..."

"As much as I hate to break this up," Stripe said from the doorway, "and believe me, I really hate it, we gotta get movin', no more time to waste."

"Aww come on Stripe!" I whined, "I've been waiting weeks for some zebra ass, you can't split this up now."

"Any other day and I'd be crackin' open a beer and pullin' up a chair to watch the spectacle, but we're on a schedule."

I huffed and pressed my face between their chests, "You're a bastard."

Stripe pulled me away, though it was more like prying me off with his teeth by the hood of my Manechester hoody, the two mares under me pouted and snuggled closer to each other.

I sighed, scowling at Stripe as we trotted through the halls to BB's room, though the scene inside brightened my mood a bit.

Fringe and BB were snuggled close, the former wrapped in BB's wings with his beanie pulled over his eyes, snoring softly. BB was absently rubbing her head on his neck in her sleep, stopping and winking an eye open when I started approaching.

She whined quietly, "Please don't make me get up boss, he's so sweet, Ah don't wanna leave."

I smiled sympathetically, "Sorry Beebs, we've got to get moving."

She sighed, then started nibbling on his neck to wake him. He smiled tiredly, Stripe and I smiled as well as a certain piece of his anatomy started waking up.

BB smirked at us, throwing a blanket over his waist to hide her young stallion's endowment, "Perverts... wake up Fringy, Ah wanna give ya a proper goodbye."

His ear perked and he pulled up his beanie, glancing back at her, "Goodbye?"

She frowned slightly, kissing his cheek, "Yeah sugar, Ah'm sorry but Ah gotta go."

"Oh... yeah guess you've got stuff to do, don't know why I thought you'd-" She silenced him with a long kiss, squeezing him tighter as she broke away.

"Ah'm comin' back when Ah get the chance Fringe, just gotta put a three month hiatus on you an' me, okay?"

He frowned and rolled over, hugging her tight, "Okay..."

"Oh sugar..." She hugged him back, the two of them embracing each other with their wings.

I smiled and stepped out of the room, "We'll give you awhile, meet up in the cafe."

"'Kay boss." she said quietly, nestling against his neck.

***

I sipped my coffee, doing my best to warm up next to the campfire, absently looking over the map of the new Manchester Fringe had drawn up for us, "What's this square up here?"

"Vermin's place," BB replied, pointing ahead to the completely trashed collection of buildings collapsed in on each other a few hundred yards away, "it's just ahead there, not much good t' have in on there though."

I nodded, "And this mound looking thing with the skull and crossbones?"

"It's a dragon roost, 'round the bend a ways, pretty obvious when ya see it, Ah'd highly recommend avoidin' it."

"Right, and if there's no way around?"

"Move low an' quiet and as fast as we can."

"Right... let's get moving."

"'Kay." she muttered, flying off ahead of the group and touching down just before reaching the outpost.

I sighed and cantered after her, "You alright Beebs?"

"Yeah," she mumbled absently, picking over a partially melted piece of riot armor, "why d'ya ask?"

"I dunno, you seem off."

She shrugged her wings, "Just a little down in the dumps... Ya know, Ah've never come back to a place Ah've torched before, looks a lot different, metal warps pretty wildly once it cools."

"Sure... so?"

She sighed, drooping slightly, "Fringe uh, he- never mind."

I nudged her, smiling when she looked up, "What's up?"

She huffed and smacked me in the face with her wing before trotting past me, "It's nothin', let's just keep movin'."

I grumbled and walked after her, "So, I don't see a way around here, this is a pretty narrow pass."

"Eeya, kinda a weird setup they got goin', we move up the stairs over there, then move up and down the stairs inside to move from buildin' t' buildin' 'til we reach the other side."

We all trotted up the first set of stairs together, except for Stripe, stopping when the metal works groaned in protest at the addition of his considerable armor bound weight.

The interior was wrecked, more so than the other buildings we'd seen in Manechester, the walls scorched and melted from magical energy weapons, blasted apart from explosives and gunfire.

The whole building shifted as Stripe approached our position, he sighed and sat down, "Guess I'll move through when yer all out, building's kinda unstable."

"Good idea."

We ascended the first ten story building, gingerly stepping across a fallen concrete column into the next structure, their were bodies in this one, mostly burned, indistinguishable. BB stopped me, guardedly looking around the room.

"This ain't right," she whispered, "we didn't burn any of the bodies."

I caught something in the corner of my eye, a burnt piece of paper, swirling like it'd been blown by a breeze, though the bowl canyon we were in was blocking any and all wind.

My ears perked involuntarily again, still nothing, actually there was unsettling lack of noise. A bent can near the stairs shifted slightly, I squinted my eyes, noticing the faintest trace of air distortion for a brief moment.

"Stay here guys." I said quietly, tentatively moving to the stairs, drawing my magical shotgun as I went.

I reached the top floor, stopping when blue pair of lights in the shape of eyes flashed, I lowered my weapon slightly and cocked an eyebrow. Blue sparks formed around a faint zebra shaped shimmer, unveiling a stripped down suit of black riot armor with wires all over it connecting to a blue glyphed gem embedded in the chest piece. The helmet was different too, blue, softly glowing eye pieces, and the top plate was gone, letting loose the zebra's short striped mohawk.

The zebra moved around me, its steps tentative but resolute. I smiled through my visor, slinging my shotgun and shifting into a defensive stance.

It lurched suddenly, gracefully bounding at me, I dodged, just barely, its hoof clipping my head hard enough to crack my visor. I spun underneath it, bucking its underside, slamming it into the ceiling hard enough to crack the weak concrete and knock loose a few small chunks.

It hit the floor, rising to its hooves and shaking the dust off, going invisible in an instant as I leapt forward. I twisted as I landed again, the crack in my visor sealing as I carefully scanned the room.

A hoof smashed my helmet, denting the right side and completely shattering my visor, I recoiled and rear bucked at air, impacting something, blue shards of gemstone shattering on the floor as the uncloaked zebra went flying across the room, hitting the wall hard enough to embed itself.

It fell from the wall, clutching its crumpled chest plate as foamy pink blood oozed from the dust filter on its helmet.

I trotted over, the remains of my helmet retracting, reaching out a hoof. It smacked it away weakly, I smirked and leaned down, gently lifting its head with my forehoof and removing its helmet with my magic.

It was a buck, surprisingly young considering he had the strength to crush my armor, 18 maybe.

"Speak Equestrian?" I asked casually as I popped his chest plate off, tossing the advanced equipment aside and going to work on his rib cage.

He nodded in response, tapping his chest weakly and letting out a pained gasp.

"Easy, almost done."

A pair of hooves impacted my side, hard, cracking a few ribs and slamming me through the wall outside onto a weak mesh of rusted rebar.

Another armored zebra was standing over the injured one, picking him up and throwing him over the ledge. I reached up with my magic and caught him, laying him on my back and leaping onto the roof of the adjacent building, setting him down gently.

He tried to stand, I shook my head and pushed him back down, "Rest, I'll be back in a sec."

I turned back to face the other zebra, met with three more standing in front of me.

"How many of you fuckers are there?"

One lunged forward, I swung Victory around and shot him in the face, dropping him in an instant.

"Sorry, I'm done with the fancy martial arts bullshit for now."

The two looked at each other, then back at me and nodded, stepping back. I nodded curtly, then lurched backwards involuntarily as the concrete in front of me was pulvarized with a massive barrage of green magical plasma.

I glanced up, there was a unicorn in a suit that was an odd fusion of riot gear and power armor, two heavy casters sparking with green energy strapped to his sides.

He leapt down to my rooftop, the building creaking under his weight.

I cocked an eyebrow, unfolding Whisper and fixing it to my side, "And who the hell are you?"

"Sentinel Aegis," he replied calmly, with the same odd northern accent Deacon spoke with, "and you're Bandage yes?"

"Yeah, nice to meet you, so who are these invisible assholes?"

"Te Black Ghosts, one of our special forces groups, tis of course is a squad of novices, in her visdom te High Commander did not grant our expedition more experienced soldiers. Up until now tey've been a more tan adequate asset, but it vould appear tat a mare of your caliber is a bit too much for tem."

"I dunno, this bloke here behind me put up a decent show."

"Oh? Vell, Roho is one of our most promising recruits."

"Yeah, makes me wonder why his buddies there tried to kill him."

"Bah, te tribes in our region have tis odd rule, if you're alive and not fighting your opponent it counts as surrender, really conflicts vit our army's policy of killing anyone tat surrenders and ve haven't been able to beat it out of tem so it stays."

"Interesting, well I'm going to shoot you with this really big gun now."

"Ah, a magnetic rail rifle yes? Beautiful veapon, but vouldn't te percussion shake tese flimsy buildings apart? And I believe your companions are all still downstairs, te rubble vould crush tem."

I snorted and folded Whisper back up, tossing her into my saddlebags and drawing the rest of my weapons, "That's fine, I've got plenty of guns."

He was silent for a time before turning back to his 'Black Ghosts', "Disperse." he ordered.

The two nodded and leapt down the side of the building. His weapons hummed to life, I dodged to the left, yelping as my shields popped and my side heated up, looking back at the bubbling remains of the armor on my right flank as it dripped to the ground, hissing and steaming as it melted through the concrete.

"Hey! Watch the ass alright? My marefriend loves it."

"Marefriend? Ah, tat vould explain vhy te Marquise asked me not to kill you, it vould appear she's smitten."

"Yeah... I wouldn't worry about it, she kinda gives me the creeps."

He chuckled quietly through the speaker in his helmet, "Yeah, me too, and don't vorry, I don't plan on taking her orders to heart..."

I dropped all my gear and charged the instant my shields recharged, bobbing and weaving his onslaught, my sides heating up and my shield's integrity slowly dropping.

I got up in his face, using my forehooves to crush the long barrels of his casters, he head butted me in response, smashing my visor yet again. I ducked a punch, then hopped backwards away from a powerful stomp, falling with him through the roof into the building below when his hooves demolished the flimsy concrete.

We both smashed through the next two floors, only managing to splinter the hardwood on the sixth story. We rose to our hooves, shaking the dust off. His broken weapons fell to his side, sparking and hissing wildly.

He kicked them at me, I brought up my forelegs to defend myself, getting thrown backwards by the explosion of the unstable spark batterys, stopping abruptly when I hit a steel beam, slumping against the bent metal, sighing when my opponent charged me again.

I planted my hooves and rushed forward, crashing into his chest and using his own momentum to lift him up and slam him down behind me, splintering wood and cracking the concrete beneath it.

He grunted, bucking me hard with his rear legs, bouncing me off the ceiling and back to the ground while he pulled himself from the wood I'd embedded him in.

I swept my legs to stand quickly, cracking my neck. He did the same, the servos in his armor whining.

He charged, I shifted my body, bringing my forehooves together and swinging, hitting his head hard enough to tear off his helmet and lodge it in the ceiling.

The blue buck behind the armor stumbled past me, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

He rose unsteadily as I approached, but I rested my hoof on the back of his head and slammed him back down face first.

I trotted past him, he rose back up behind me, spitting blood and glaring at me. I smirked, he bellowed and tore into me, smashing us both through the far wall and out, down two stories into a window. We rolled as we hit the floor and I kicked him away, he
landed on his hooves and twisted, tearing up a slab of rebar enforced concrete beam and chucking it at me.

I caught it, the weight forcing me to roll on my back and kick it off behind me. In an instant he was standing above me, rearing back in preparation of a blow that would likely crush me.

Then a familiar zebra was on his back, his forelegs wrapped around Aegis' neck and my rapier gripped tight in his teeth.

With a quick jerk of his neck the blade slashed deep into the Sentinel's throat, opening it wide, wet crimson raining over me while his exposed windpipe desperately sucked air.

The zebra rested his forelegs under Aegis' chin and jerked his whole body backwards, tearing the head free from the neck and sending it rolling across the floor, wide eyed as it trailed blood along the warped concrete.

The zebra, Roho, approached me slowly, cleaning the blood from my blade off, laying it and the rest of my gear down at my hooves.

"Thanks." I muttered, cautiously looking him over.

"You spared my life," he said quietly, his amber eyes looking me over in return, "I owe it to you."

He turned and trotted back up the stairs, "I need to collect the gear from the Ghost you killed, my current armor is useless. I will meet you at the southern end of this compound should you allow me to travel with you."

"Sure." I muttered, he nodded.

***

We were all warily watching Roho as we went, except for Hex, who had for some reason taken a liking to him.

"So, any family?" she asked.

"Dead." he replied, almost casually, "You?"

"Same, mostly anyways, I think my sister is still alive."

"Miss them?"

"My mom, not my father though, you?"

"When I was young, but they beat the pains of loss out of you early in the army."

"What's it like?"

"The army? Ups and downs I suppose, three hot meals a day and a clean bed versus following orders I did not agree with on a moral level, though I suppose they beat morality out of you early too."

"Sounds rough."

"It was, I am glad to be rid of it... What about you, do you enjoy traveling in dangerous lands with dangerous people?"

"Yeah, these guys are cool."

Stripe nudged me, I glanced at him and nodded, stepping up pace until we were both out of earshot, "What's up?"

"We really trustin' this guy?" he asked quietly.

I shrugged, "He saved my ass, I've got no reason not to."

"He's a fuckin' Paragon, and a Black Ghost at that, you know what kind of atrocities they've committed up North?"

"Hey, if you don't trust him, that's fine, don't trust him and waste your time watching him like a hawk, but I do trust him, and until he does something to change that, I'll keep trusting him, savvy?"

"Yes'm." he grumbled, glancing back at our new companion.

I nudged him, nodding ahead at the huge crest of rubble in the distance, strewn with sun bleached bones of all shapes and sizes.

"Seems like a nice place," I commented brightly, "think they've got room and board for ten?"

"Ha ha." Stripe said dryly, throwing on his helmet, his armor loading different magazines into his machine guns.

"What's with the ammo change?"

He snorted, "Armor piercing in the left, explosive in the right, I ain't goin' up against a dragon with anything less."

"Think we can take it if it jumps us?"

"Depends on the age, anything older than seventy five and I'd say we'd be fucked without some sorta anti ship arsenal."

"Recommendations?"

"Get that mag rifle prepped and try to aim for the eyes."

"Right."

"Ma'am," Roho said, walking up from behind and clasping his helmet, "allow me to do some reconnaissance before we charge in blindly."

I cocked an eyebrow, "And how do you plan to sneak in?"

His armor became completely transparent, only the glow of his eyes remaining.

"Oh yeah," I muttered, grinning sheepishly and scratching the back of my head, "well, go on ahead then."

The eyes flickered, then disappeared, the only trace of the zebra were tiny plumes of dust rising from the ground as he trotted up the path.

Several minutes passed, with no trace of Roho, Stripe snorted, "Bet the fucker ditched us."

"Maybe..."

A shimmer in front of us, wispy trails of ether spilling off Roho's armor, "My apologies for the wait ma'am, I wanted to be thorough. The dragon is asleep, if we move quietly we should be able to pass without conflict."

I snickered and nudged Stripe, "Think you can pull off quiet movement big guy?"

He snorted and shoved me playfully, "Think you can boss?"

I gaped at him, "You saying I'm not sneaky?"

"You sayin' ya are?"

"I'll bet I'm sneakier than you!"

"How much?"

"500 caps."

"Deal, you move through without raisin' hell an' I'll pay ya, don't pull it off and you'll pay me, if we both pull it off we call it even."

"Deal!" I shouted, punching him in the chest before trudging up the mound.

I slowed down as I reached the first heap of assorted bones. Pony, brahmin, zebra, griffon, even some dragon.

I reached the summit, glancing around, spotting a hulking black figure lying on a pile of bones slowly breathing in its sleep.

I approached it cautiously, unable to resist the chance to examine such a magnificent creature up close.

It was young, for a dragon, by my reckoning anyways, its body only twice the size of the Pearl, with a long tail that was currently wrapped around a pillar of stone. Its perfect black scales blemished by three long battle scars on its side. Though huge, it was slender, curvy, oddly... feminine.

I moved closer, looking at the half pony long razor sharp claws it sported on its hands that would put Rawr's impressive weaponry to shame.

Even closer, to examine the alabaster spines adorning its head and dotting its neck, back, and tail. My eyes moved down the elegant contours of its face to the polished fangs protruding from its mouth.

A crunch, painfully loud, I winced and looked down at the two halves of a broken femur under my forehoof, glancing back up at the fierce cream colored eyes of my host.

It snorted soot, fogging over my visor, then rolled onto its side, scratching the pearly white scales of its soft underbelly and yawning, smacking its gums then staring at me with an expectant look.

I cleared my throat, sporting a winning smile as my helmet retracted, so winning in fact that I could feel the taught flesh of the scars on my face flexing, "Morning sexy, sleep well?"

She laughed, a faint glimmer of fire flashing at the back of her throat, then rolled back onto her belly, propping her chin up with a hand, stretching her massive wings while she tiptoed a pair of fingers past me before resting the other hand on her elbow, "Breakfast in bed? How quaint."

I snickered quietly, sitting back on my haunches, "Unfortunately not, but I'm happy to be a friendly wake up call."

She smirked, bearing her fangs in an oddly unmenacing fashion, "Really now? What a delightful change of pace from my usual prey."

"I'm probably also much sexier than your usual prey." I pointed out casually, stretching languidly as my armor returned to pack form, turning around and shaking my butt for joking emphasis.

"Mmm definitely..." she chuckled quietly. I jumped as a wide and forked tongue licked between my legs, looking back frightfully at the grinning dragon, "Tasty morsel too..."

I smiled sheepishly and turned to face her again, "Remind me not to turn my back to you again."

She narrowed her eyes, managing to look strangely seductive, reaching out to gently scratch a claw under my chin, "Why not lamb chop? Your haunches look positively delicious, so round and plump."

I glanced to the side a bit, looking down to the scales of her own thick hips glinting softly in the sunlight, they were, like the rest of her, oddly attractive, "Mmm, you're not looking too shabby back there either, Miss?"

"Manasa," she replied politely, extending a lone claw, "pleasure to meet you, Miss?"

I extended a hoof to meet it, "Bandage, likewise."

She giggled, the low sound reverberating from her throat, "Rare to find a pony in this place, rarer still to find one with the stupidity to exchange pleasantries with a dragon."

"Mmm, I'm certainly stupid, but that's not quite the reason I approached you, usually I would've stepped on by."

"Oh, well what's your reason then?"

"Well, seeing such a beautiful and powerful predator up close is just not an opportunity I can afford to miss."

Her smile widened and she leaned down, the bridge of her snout touching to my face while her gorgeous eyes locked onto mine, "Beautiful eh? Not many ponies would compliment a dragon like that."

"Well," I said softly, pressing my frame to her long snout and resting my forehooves on the sides of her face, "I'm not an average pony, and you're certainly not an average she dragon, you're a sleek and elegant creature, polite yet teasing, powerful yet gentle, fearsome yet..." I kissed her smooth scales, her eyes widened slightly and I smiled, "Seductive."

She nudged between my legs, levelling her head and lifting me onto her snout, staring at me with a bemused look, "I surely hope you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting."

"If I am?" I asked quietly, licking up the bridge of her snout.

She craned her head forward, letting me fall to the ground and then pinning my belly with her nose. I shuddered as her powerful tongue ran between my thighs, arching my back as the tips of the forks tickled around my sex, "It- oooh! I-it feels, like you've d- ah, done this before."

Manasa pulled away and smirked, playfully rubbing a smooth scaled knuckle on my tummy, "I had an adventurous adolescence, lots of cross species relationships." She sighed, propping her chin up with her fist again, "Then around my early forties I had a substantial growth spurt and the smaller species just couldn't quite satisfy, not to mention the whole 'run in terror it's a dragon' thing starts at that stage... Sweet of you to offer though lamb chop."

I huffed disappointedly at her denial and rolled forward onto my belly, propping my chin up with a hoof in a similar fashion, "So, how old are you exactly?"

"Young," she replied casually, picking a shard of bone from her teeth and flicking it away, "only in my late sixties, what about you?"

"Twenty one, twenty two in..." I paused, thinking back on past birthdays and blinking, "Huh, a couple of months actually."

She gently ran a claw over the scar on my cheek, "Odd for such a young pony to have so many scars."

"Yeah," I grumbled, "still working on the whole dodging thing."

"All battle scars eh? Odd, the only ones I have are from love wounds."

"Even those three on the side there?"

"Mmm, from my mate, he can be a tad aggressive."

I glanced around nervously, "And uh, where is he?"

She chuckled quietly, "Don't worry lamb chop, he lives with the Trinity, a guard dog of sorts, only stops by for a few weeks every couple of years."

I smirked, "What's dragon sex like anyways?"

"Rough... honestly I miss ponies."

"Really now?"

"Mmm, soft flanks, supple flesh, sweet lips... certainly preferable to hard scales and razor-toothed maws."

"I dunno, you really pull off the hard scales and razor teeth, look downright sexy in fact."

She smiled wanly, her predatory eyes looking me over, "And you certainly pull off the thick haunches and scarred coat."

"Thanks," I said brightly, "so, I've got some friends waiting down the hill and we need to move through, mind if I tell them you're friendly so we can get out of your turf?"

"Sure," she said as she lowered her head to my level, "and do come visit sometime, civil conversation is a welcome commodity in these parts."

I smiled, leaning forward and planting a kiss on her nose, "Will do hon, stay sexy."

She smirked and leaned behind me, licking one of my flanks, "Will do lamb chop, you watch yourself out here."

***

"I can't believe you actually made friends with it..." Stripe muttered disbelievingly for the third time.

"Hey," I scolded, "she's not an 'it', she's a lady, a very sexy lady, and she was the most polite host I've encountered out here. Poor thing was probably lonely, someone that well spoken having to live away from other sapient creatures simply because they're ignorant of her personality and afraid of her glorious looks."

"Uh, 'glorious' ain't exactly the word I'd use, ferocious sounds more like it."

"Ferocity can be sexy Stripe, those smooth scales, the long, powerful claws, razor sharp fangs, and all that dynamic muscle, strong enough to rip you apart without a thought, but delicate enough to be completely controllable... I'll tell you Stripe, she is ferocious, but she can carry that with a degree of elegance that I for one find incredibly attractive."

"Should I be jealous of the dragon babe?" Token asked jokingly.

"No my love, just admiring her is all." It's Shimmer you should be jealous of...

I still hadn't told her, I'd meant to much earlier at the stadium but got caught up in planning, not to mention I was terrified of her reaction...

***

It was like that for months, too worried about her reaction to tell her about my other love, so racked with guilt that I eventually started losing sleep over it, letting Beta and the suit do the work my exhausted mind and body couldn't.

My birthday came and went, Shaky was the only one that had a gift for me, a surprise since I hadn't told her about it.

"Token told me." she explained when she passed it to me.

I actually cried, of all the gifts I'd gotten in my life, this one was special, made for me by my daughter.

It was a plushie, a plain grey pony stuffed with pillow fluff with a coat made from expertly stitched together velvet. It had shredded pieces of dirty yellow cloth for a mane and tail, two bottle caps painted gold for eyes, and neat black stitching on the face for two nostrils and a smiling mouth. 80 was stitched onto both flanks in bold yellow.

I held it tight to my chest with one foreleg, running my other hoof through Shaky's messy mane, smiling around my tears at her beaming grin, "It's you." I managed to blubber out.

She nodded anxiously, "So if you're ever away from me and you feel homesick. You like it?"

"I love it." I gasped happily, scooping her up and nuzzling her affectionately, "Thank you so much sweetheart."

She hugged around my neck and nuzzled me back, "Happy b-birthday Momma, I love you."

I sniffed and pressed my face to her mane, "I love you too Shaky."

***

A month later, nearly to the ocean, hunkered down in an old bunker to get out of a dust storm, playing with my Shaky plush as an alternative to sleep, the real thing curled up with Hex in the corner snoozing soundly.

She'd grown considerably the last few months, I hadn't noticed until early that morning when she was standing at my side, but she had all the same. A few inches taller and longer than Hex now, her forehead just up to my shoulder, and all the fifteen hours a day marching had turned her into a fairly muscular filly, forcing her to retailor the new barding she'd made. A beautiful black jacket with a red lining, made from mere scraps of Zebra and Equestria combat gear.

Token had actually bitched about it after Shaky had quickly beat her at wrestling, Stripe and I had just exchanged a proud glance...

I sighed, setting the prized gift down next to Token and picking myself up, donning my gear and quietly making my way to the exit.

Roho was on watch, Roho was always on watch, guy slept less than I did, but this time Stripe was actually sleeping instead of warily keeping an eye on him. None of us except for Hex had necessarily warmed up to our new companion, but after three months we'd learned to trust him.

"Can't sleep again ma'am?" he asked quietly, the glowing blue eyes of his helmet staring at me through the darkness.

"Not a wink, gonna step out for awhile, you got things covered here?"

"Yes ma'am."

***

Anticlimactic stroll out into the scorched rock planes of the far south of the Divide, we hadn't seen any ghouls in a week, Token figured it was because of the peculiar lack of magical radiation. Farther north in Manechester we could stumble upon pockets of it, down here we hadn't found any, even when searching deliberately.

Really our only problem down here was the occasional manticore, one or two small Paragon patrols too, we made short work of either. It was unsettling really, months of fighting back against relentless Marked One ambushes, giving Paragon encampments a wide birth, sending the flyers to do an overhead sweep of areas we'd be walking into for traps and then sending Roho in to stealthily disarm them. Three months of, well, utter hell really, and now nothing.

Something darted across my field of vision, barely noticeable through the dust, and my e.f.s hadn't picked anything up.

I snorted, drawing my pistols in preparation, "You see that too Beta, or am I starting to hallucinate?"

"Odd, I picked it up on visuals but the tracking systems detected nothing."

"Okay, keep the targeting spells fired up in case whatever that was tries to make a move on us."

"Affirmative."

I moved forward, cautiously scanning from left to right, glancing up at my compass at a friendly tic mark to the southeast.

I adjusted my path, moving towards it, my ears perking, homing in on a faint whimpering amidst the howling winds of the storm, the targeting spell picking out the outline of a friendly through the swirling cloud of dust.

A Paragon, earth pony, holding a bloody field bandage over her gut with one hoof, cradling a flare gun with the other.

"Hey," I said quietly, just load enough for her to hear me, "you alright?"

She looked up and shook her head slowly, peeling back the bandage. Her armor was torn open at the belly, her intestines hanging out of a large gash.

I tsked quietly to myself and approached her setting her foreleg aside and illuminating the wound with my horn, "Okay, I'm a medic, and I'm gonna patch you up but you need to tell me what happened while I work okay."

She nodded, I took her helmet off and smiled reassuringly behind my visor at the scared blue eyes underneath, "What's your name hon?"

"J-juniper Berry," she stammered nervously, her eyes darting from left to right, "but my friends just call me Juni. I don't vanna die."

"Hey Juni I'm Bandage, I'm gonna give you a little shot of Med X so you won't feel a thing okay?"

She nodded, my expression softened sympathetically, and I reached out with a hoof to brush her sweat matted frost blue mane out of her face.

"Where's your squad Juni?"

"Dead, ve vere all going to leave tomorrow, surrender to tat Walker ship while te navy vessel was back home getting reinforcements for Manechester, my brotter's idea, sneak out in te night, didn't expect..."

"Didn't expect what?" I asked firmly as I placed all her entrails back in the right place.

"Gods," she gasped quietly, tears started to roll down her cheeks, "tey tore tem apart..."

"What tore them apart?" she was silent, murmuring to herself in a language I couldn't understand, "Juni?"

"I don't know," she answered, her eyes wide and terrified, "tey vere fast, powerful, ve didn't see tem 'til it was too late. Our bullets didn't do shit, teir skin vas just, rock, and it vas sharp too, sharp enough to penetrate our armor, veren't many, I don't tink anyvay."

"Did you manage to kill any?"

She nodded, "One, Holly did anyvay, shot it in te mout wit her grenade machine gun and blew its fucking head off before tey ripped her to pieces, her gun's over to te east a vays, left it vhen tey drug everypony off, heh, vould've dragged me off too if I hadn't scared te bastards off wit a flare."

I finished patching her wound and picked her flare gun up in my magic, cracking the chamber open, "Scared of flares huh? How many you got left?"

"Just one."

I nodded, passing it back to her and glancing around, spotting the grenade machine gun not too far off in the distance.

"Hey Juni, I'm gonna go grab that gun, you stay put okay?"

She nodded nervously, picking up her flare gun and putting the handle in her mouth.

I approached the weapon tentatively, stopping dead when something rose from behind it. Reptilian looking, large plates of sharp onyx for skin, clacking together as is sauntered in front of me, its glowing red draconic eyes staring at me, its thick armored tail swaying in anticipation.

I reached out with my magic and picked up the weapon, firing wildly at the beast. It shrieked as the 25mm grenades tore across its side, shattering a few pieces of plating, scampering away with its rock hide smoking.

A scream from behind and a flare shooting past me and spiraling up through the dust with the wind.

I fixed the grenade machine gun to my side and spun around, my targeting spell sighting in the beast with Juni clamped in its jaws, glaring at me.

She was helpless, whimpering quietly, "Just shoot dammit."

"Beta, can we get a shot anywhere that keeps her out of the blast radius?"

"Negative."

I cursed under my breath, adjusting my stance as more red eyes started emerging from the dust.

"Just, shoot." the trapped earth pony whined.

I shook my head, firing a few rounds behind her in a failed attempt the scare off the advancing creatures.

Suddenly the dust was cleared, and the wind was disrupted, and a huge black claw had crushed the creature attacking Juniper, sending her flying at me.

Manasa's black hide looked almost fluid in the dark as she swept around, her tail knocking away several of the rocky beasts, a huge gout of fire from her maw illuminating the seven onyx covered lizards now fleeing in terror from the imposing she dragon.

They scattered into the storm, Manasa snorted and craned her head to look at me, "Fancy meeting you here lamb chop."

"Likewise."

"I spotted the flare on my way to fish the ocean, thought it a meal ticket, instead I find you and a damn pack of saurians."

"Saurians huh?"

"Vile things, hardly edible, and they upset the livestock."

"Livestock?" Juni asked, "We haven't seen any brahmin."

I chuckled and sat down with her, patting her back, "You're the livestock hon."

She gulped, Manasa grinned and leaned in, "Mmm, you tin cans have been like an all you can eat buffet of late... So lamb chop, may I walk you home? Wouldn't want you getting mauled and eaten by a pack of filthy lizards."

"Sounds lovely hon."

***

The glowing blue eyes of Roho's helmet locked onto Juniper Berry as we approached. I waved a dismissive hoof at him, "Easy, she defected."

He stared at her a moment longer, then nodded. I looked back at Manasa and smiled, "Thanks for the escort hon, see you around."

"I certainly hope so lamb chop, take care of yourself."

"You too Manasa."

She smiled fondly, leaning down to lick my face before pumping her wings, launching into the air and flying into the distance.

***

Stripe had a new pony to warily look over, much to Juni's discomfort. We left early in the morning, reaching the coast in mere hours, spotting an old Equestrian frigate with more than its fair share of hull patches drifting lazily in the dark waters just offshore.

"Well I'll be damned," Stripe muttered, "that's my momma's ship."

"Dot right?"

"Eeya, damn, hope Zig ain't still with her..."

"Zig Zag's your twin brother right?"

"Yeah," he grumbled, "he and I don't exactly see eye t' eye."

"Sibling rivalry?"

"Deep, seething sibling hatred more like it, can thank our father for beating it into us..."

"Really now?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." he said with a hint of aggravation in his voice, "Really don't wanna talk about it."

"Okay."

A smaller boat rowed out to meet us when we reached the shore, a unicorn with jagged black stripes on his legs and mane sitting at the front, "Brother." he greeted coldly as Stripe shoved past him.

"Mom got our caps?"

"No, you are to be paid by a contractor at Port."

"Good to know."

BB nudged me before I climbed aboard, pulling me into a quick hug, "This is where we part ways fer a spell boss, Ah'ma go back t' Fringe, try t' keep in touch yeah?"

"Yeah," I replied, hugging her back, "you take care alright?"

"Will do, Kimmy can have mah share."

Kimba shook her head, "Nah mate, figure I'll fly back with you, wanna check on things at home, see how Shadis is doing."

I pouted and pulled her into the hug as well, "I'll hit up a longwave radio in Tragedy, get in contact when we can."

"Sounds good."

I smiled sadly and broke away from my friends, about to help Shaky onto the boat, pouting slightly when I realized she was now tall enough to do it herself.

Rawr climbed on last, I smirked and punched his shoulder softly, "At least my faithful hound isn't leaving my side."

He snorted and elbowed me playfully, "Rawr stayin' cuz Rawr can't miss the chance t' see boss pony bleeding out face down in mud."

I smirked, snatching the lighter from his hand and lighting the cigarette in his mouth for him, "You love me and you know it Rawr."

He snorted again, his good eye looking at me sideways, "Keep tellin' yourself that boss pony."

***

Stripe's mother was... well, a very large unicorn. Tall, gaunt, a torn pirate hat cocked on her head, an eyepatch over her left eye, 20 ornately designed pistols holstered all over her barding and a double barrel shotgun slung over her back.

She smiled when Stripe approached her, showing off a few gold capped teeth, "If it ain't my low rent, good for nothin' son, now what the hell have ya done to yer face?"

"I made the mistake o' lettin' that silly white bitch over there lead me through the underground."

Dot looked behind him at me, flipping up her eyepatch and squinting, "Pretty thing, see why ya like 'er, have t' talk to her later but right now I gotta do some maintenance downstairs."

Stripe nodded, giving her a quick hug before she walked down into the depths of the ship. I trotted over, bumping armored flanks with him, "Your mum seems nice."

"Don't be mistaken, bitch has killed ponies just for lookin' at her wrong."

"Definitely your mum then?"

"Yeah," he said fondly, "love the old gal."

***

"So," I asked Dot in her cabin after another sip of the aged scotch she'd offered me, "what was Stripe like as a kid."

She shrugged, "Ask Nyx, I weren't around much, and his father only stopped by once they'd turned ten to train 'em both and beat the shit outta them. I really only got to know my boys after they turned fifteen, by then Stripe was a bookworm with a boyfriend and Zig was a bitter asshole."

I cocked an eyebrow, "Boyfriend hmm? He mentioned shacking up with a Scribe for a week."

She scoffed, "A week? Shit girl, they were together for three years, Stripe still fucked every mare that would give it but he an' Prosper were thick, broke it off when the Trottingham chapter relocated, reason Stripe did that stupid ass caravan pull in the Divide, got depressed as shit."

"Really? Huh, wonder why he didn't tell me about it..."

"Don't take it personal hon, Stripe don't talk about Prosper much at all, not ashamed or nothin', just makes him sad is all."

"What were they like together?"

She chuckled fondly, "Perfect, loved each other a whole lot, both of 'em real smart. Zig gave 'em shit a lot, ended in more than a few fights."

I chuckled too, imagining Stripe as a carefree youngster, seemed nearly impossible.

Dot snorted, "So what's you two's deal anyways?"

"Uh, I guess the easiest way to explain it would be he's in love with me and I return some of the sentiment, and we sorta adopted a kid together."

She paused for a moment, then flipped up her eyepatch and looked me over with both her steely emerald eyes, "Run that last part by me again."

"That grey filly outside, Shaky, her birth parents are dead and we took her in, and after awhile she called me Mum and Stripe Dad."

She chuckled quietly, "And how'd my boy react?"

"Surprised at first, but he's grown into the role pretty well."

She nodded, "Surprised probably don't begin t' describe it, he's spent most of his life comin' t' terms with the impossibility of bein' a father."

"Must've been rough, I know how much he loves kids."

"It crushed him," she said glumly, "I think a little part o' him died the day I told him..."

I nodded, cocking my ears and grabbing my weapons when I heard a racket from put on the deck.

The crew had caught something in the water and dragged it onto the deck, writhing and screaming, I snapped when I recognized it, drawing Whisper and firing it into the air, rocking the entire boat and scattering the crew.

I drew my knife and approached the net, cutting it away from the sea pony inside, who leapt into my embrace.

"You alright Shimmer?" I asked quietly.

She nodded, wrapping her tail around me and nestling her face against my neck, "You're really dirty."

I laughed and pulled away, smiling at my lover, who warmly smiled right back, "I've missed you."

"I missed you too..." she said quietly, leaning forward and giving me a long kiss, smiling sadly when she broke away, "Three months without seeing you felt so long..."

"Who's this?" Token asked behind me.

My heart stopped, I turned around reluctantly to face her, a nervous smile highlighting the guilty look in my eyes, "Uh, Shimmer, this is my marefriend Token, Token this is my, uh, other marefriend, Shimmer."

"Hi," Shimmer said sheepishly, "nice to meet you."

"Hi," Token replied absently, her gaze not leaving my face, "we'll talk about this later."

I nodded apologetically, she snorted and trotted back down below deck, Shaky and Hex stayed, both trying to smile reassuringly.

"You didn't tell her?" Shimmer asked.

"No," I replied, drooping all over when I turned back to face her, "I meant too, but I was afraid of, well, that reaction."

She nodded, then smiled again, caressing my cheek with a seahoof, "I need to get going, promise you'll come visit the Mire sometime?"

I nodded, smiling fondly and pulling her into another long kiss before reluctantly breaking away and letting her slide to the railing and hop gracefully into the ocean.

A gun cocked behind me, "Give me that weapon."

I sighed and turned around, met with a revolver stuck in my face. Zig Zag was standing behind it, glaring coldly.

I snorted and pressed my visor to the barrel as my helmet encased me. He didn't even flinch, redirecting the gun and jerking Shaky to him with his magic. She yelped as he squeezed her throat, he just kept glaring, "Give me that weapon, or she di-"

He didn't get to finish, a huge striped hoof hit him in the face like a brick, knocking out teeth and sending him sprawling. In and instant Stripe was on him, choking him with a foreleg, "This is where I'd usually tell ya that I'll kill you if you ever threaten my family again, but," he jerked, a dull crunch and his brother went limp, "I'm not gonna give you the chance to do it twice."

He grunted, tossing his brother's corpse over the side and trotting downstairs, tousling Shaky's mane as he walked past her.

Dot just snorted and turned to her shocked crew, "Mister Bilge you're now first mate, get yer crew back t' work."

"Yes cap'n." a vomit green pony replied, instantly barking orders at the rest of the crew.

I sighed, letting my armor return to pack form and trotting to Shaky while she rubbed her neck, "You okay baby?"

"I'm fine." she grumbled.

Hex hugged her from behind, nuzzling her cheek, "You sure?"

"Yeah." she answered, nuzzling her back affectionately, her eyes shooting wide when she realized I was still watching.

I chuckled and trotted past her, "Don't worry, I didn't see anything."

***

I checked on Stripe first, surprisingly he was in a great mood, and assured me he was fine. Token on the other hoof was glaring daggers at me when I stepped into her room.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I laid my ears back and sunk my head, "I thought you'd be angry, I was kinda right..."

"I'm angry because you didn't tell me you fucking dolt!"

"I'm sorry." I said quietly.

"You should be! I'm fucking offended that you'd think, after everything I've let you get away with, that you loving another mare would make me angry! It's bullshit!"

"I just thought that you'd think I don't love you when-"

She kissed me, hugging me tight and propping my head up, "Babe, I know you love me, and I know nothing is going to change that, just like you should know nothing is going to change that for me. You fell in love with another mare, that's fine, I can share you, because I know you love me most."

"But-"

"Did I get mad about you loving Stripe?"

"...No but-"

"Then why would I get mad about you loving Shimmer?"

"I... okay, point taken."

She pecked me on the cheek and pushed me out the door, "You're grounded, stay with Stripe or the girls but not in here, I'm still mad that you didn't tell me."

I huffed and pressed my head to her chest, "Can't you just punish me?"

"No," she answered brightly, shoving me away, "you'd enjoy that, night night."

"Night..." I muttered as she shut the door in my face, glumly trudging down the hall.

Footnote:Level Up!
Skill note:Unarmed (80)
New perk:
The Hooligan:Intense rounds of hoofball with your friends has spurred something deep inside, giving you bonuses to unarmed combat. Unarmed damage increased by 15%