Chapter 12, Part 1.

I huffed, giving up the futile effort at forced sleep, rolling over to give Token a soft kiss on the cheek before quietly easing out of bed.

I stepped out onto the deck of the ship, into the now unfamiliar damp air of Trottingham, shivering slightly at the morning cold.

Dawn, the crew were all still asleep, the only ponies on the deck were Shaky and Hex, sitting on the bow wrapped in a blanket, looking at Port on the far horizon. Old Equestrian naval base, Stripe said their wasn't much to it, several shacks, some dry docks, a few whore houses he recommended we avoid.

I trotted over, leaning down and nuzzling behind Shaky's ear, "How's best daughter today?"

"Chilly, how's b-best mom?"

I yawned, "Really tired."

"Still haven't slept?"

"Mmm," I mumbled in affirmation, smiling and nuzzling Hex next, "and how's best Hexy?"

"Good," she replied, a hint of a sly smile tugging at her lips, "Shaky's been keeping me nice and warm."

I grinned, "Has she now?"

Shaky just snorted, "Quit trying, your b-bullshit doesn't even ph-phase me anymore."

Hex pouted, "So we can't make you blush?"

"N-nope."

She threw her forelegs around Shaky's neck and pressed her nose to her cheek, "But you're soooo cute when you blush!"

Shaky just snorted again, Hex grinned menacingly and slid one of her hooves down behind the blanket, a moment later Shakes was bright red, wide eyed and mumbling incoherently.

I chuckled and patted Hex on the back, "The old bad touch, good thinking hon."

She smirked triumphantly, giving Shaky a peck on the cheek and nestling closer to her, "Hey Shaky, you're-"

"D-don't even fuckin' say it..." she grumbled, the deep red still prevalent on her face. Hex giggled, Shaky's ears perked and she grinned, her blush fading, "If I m-make you b-blush I get Mom's g-g-goggles right?"

Hex pulled away, rubbing the prized goggles with her hoof, still resting on her forehead after all these months, "Yeah, why?"

Shaky's grin turned mischievous and she grabbed Hex's head, pulling her into a long kiss with a few additions that made even me blush, breaking away with that same wicked grin, licking her lips and wiping a small strand of saliva from Hex's mouth with her hoof.

Hex was red to the point of bursting blood vessels, gaping at Shaky in utter disbelief. Shaky just chuckled and took the goggles from her head, resting them over her own eyes and grinning at me, "How'd I do?"

"Uh, certainly tops anything we've done... damn."

Shaky giggled, tousling Hex's mane, "You alright Hexy?"

Hex just continued to gape, letting out a small squeak, Shaky giggled again and hugged her, "I see why you m-mess with me, it's fun on the g-g-giving side."

"I dunno," I said absently, reminiscing on past bedroom restraint, "the receiving end can be fun too..."

"Gross."

I cocked an eyebrow, "After what you just did to her mouth with your tongue, I don't think you're allowed to call my bedroom antics gross anymore."

She snorted and nuzzled her fillyfriend, who was still catatonic, I chuckled and kissed both their foreheads, then wheeled around and trotted back below deck.

Token stirred as I entered the room, I smiled tiredly and crawled into bed next to her, kissing between her shoulders and up to her neck. She stretched next to me, nestling her back into my frame and yawning.

"Good morning babe."

"Is it morning?" I asked dryly, "I haven't slept solid in three months, things are starting to run together."

She rolled over, a concerned frown on her muzzle, "You're not still feeling guilty are you? I thought we established I wasn't mad anymore a few days ago."

"I know," I whined tiredly, letting her pull my head to her chest comfortingly, "and I'm not, I just, can't, sleep. Maybe I'm just used to staying awake for obscenely large periods or something, which is ludicrous because I'm fucking miserable."

"I wish I could help." she said quietly, rubbing my back with her hooves, "...Babe, you think we should stop by 80 on our way to Tragedy?"

I snorted, "What's the point? Not like we'd get in, I suppose we could make goofy faces at the cameras but I doubt it'd do any good."

"I dunno, just feels like we should go back for some reason, and it's a quick detour."

"Fine, but I'm telling you it's pointless."

"I know," she said fondly, pecking me on the lips, "thanks for humoring me though."

"No problem," I grumbled, burying myself in her chest again, "I'm gonna try to sleep again, come get me when we get to Port 'kay?"

She kissed my forehead, "Okay, try to get some sleep baby."

"Mmhmm..." I grumbled tiredly, the weight of my eyes growing exponentially.

***

Three, long, hours. And that time was spent looking up at the rusted ceiling, my eyes blurring from the exhaustion of keeping them open, even when I was trying so hard to shut them and rest.

Token had to help me out of bed, Beta and the suit doing the work of getting me off the ship.

Hex asked around for her sister, a griffon told her she and her crew had gone to Tragedy a few days ago for some R&R, I promised we'd look for her once we got there. Adze said his goodbyes once he picked up his share, which was greatly increased for all of us due to the high body count of our expedition. To my surprise Rawr decided to stay with us.

Juniper came too, scrambling off the ship with her gear loosely hanging off her as we left the contractor's office, having forgotten to strap it down.

Stripe snorted, stopping her and tightening the straps and buckles of her armor and battle saddle with his teeth, "Fit better now?"

"Yeah," she replied, smiling sheepishly, "my brotter used to help me vit it, tanks."

He smirked and smacked her on the shoulder, making her jump nervously, "Put yer bucket on too, don't want you forgettin' to if we get jumped by raiders."

She nodded, fumbling her helmet in her armored hooves. Roho moved up behind her, making her jump again, he rested his hooves on the helmet and steadied it, gently taking it from her, "May I?"

She nodded nervously, he put her helmet on for her, giving the top plate a gentle tug, "Good?"

"Yeah..." she replied uncertainly through the speaker, "Tanks..."

"No problem."

She watched the armored zebra for a moment as he trotted past her, then snapped out of it and cantered to my side, "So uh, vhere are ve goin'?"

"Tragedy," I replied tiredly, "have Stripe give you the specifics, because I'm bloody exhausted."

"Oh, okay, uh, vhich one is Stripe?"

"The big guy in power armor with the striped mane, silly filly."

"Okay, sorry, not good vit names, I tink I got tis now. Te grey one is Shaky, te vhite one is Hex, te blue one is Token, and te dog is Rawr, right?"

"Yup."

"Um, I don't tink you told me te zebra's name."

"Roho."

"Right, Roho..." she trailed off, staring at his armored flanks as he walked ahead of us.

I smirked tiredly and elbowed her, "Like what you see?"

I could sense the surprised look behind her helmet, chuckling when she started stammering, "You're not in the army anymore, it's okay to check out bucks outside your race."

She was silent for awhile, looking back to the zebra, "I suppose..." she brightened up considerably, holding her head higher, "Yeah, you're right, I'll uh, I'll look at whoever I damn vell please!"

"That's the spirit!" I said brightly before darkening considerably, "Now leave me alone before I squash you."

"Y-yes ma'am!" she squeaked out nervously, scrambling to the front of our minuscule convey with the girls.

Token nudged me, her brows knit together in an admonishing scowl, "I know you're tired, but she's young, and she's new, so be nice."

I grumbled in response, she smirked sympathetically and planted a kiss under my ear.

***

Stable 80, where it all started, just ahead of us now, though we certainly weren't expecting what we found.

There'd been a small decrepit town across the road from the entrance, not even houses, just the pitiful remains of foundations, but now...

Bustling wouldn't be the right word, but there were tents and shacks, with traders moving about, and, and...

Ponies in stable barding, our stable's barding, perusing the stalls. One in particular caught my eye, a caution yellow mare with a short and messy black mane, wearing reinforced Security barding, looking over a brand spanking new combat shotgun from a familiar old discount weapons salespony.

My fatigue faded for a moment and I cantered ahead of everyone, easing my pace when I reached the trade camp, walking up next to her and nudging her shoulder, "Hey beautiful, what brings a gorgeous mare like you to a squalid little outpost like this?"

She smirked and glanced at me sideways, "New to these parts? That's my Stable back there, just cracked the door a few, a few-" She turned to face me, carefully looking me over, I grinned and cocked an eyebrow, she squealed in realization and nearly tackled me with a hug, "BANDAGE!!!"

I chuckled and hugged her back, "Took you long enough Riot."

She pulled away and grinned back at me, "Sorry Band-aid, I hardly recognized you, what happened to that gorgeous mug of yours?"

"Outside happened."

"Yeah, guess it did, flashy suit by the way."

"You should see what it did to my ass."

Her grin shifted to a fond smile, her violet eyes softening and glancing me over, "I definitely need to see that."

I smirked, she blinked, coughing awkwardly and looking around, "Toky with you?"

I drooped, "No."

"Oh, I'm sor-" Token cut her off with a tackle, they both started laughing, catching a lot of looks as they wrestled around in the mud, my grin widened and I leapt in with them, continuing until a certain zony cleared his throat.

We all glanced up at Stripe and Caliber, looking us over with not-so-innocent grins slapped on their faces.

***

Stripe and the rest continued on to Oasis, except for Roho, who insisted on staying at the Stable door for some reason. Riot lead us to our old apartment, catching us up on the changes 80 had seen in the past months.

There’d been a reelection after they’d started listening to the radio, realizing that not everyone on the outside were homicidal assholes. Riot had won by a landslide this time around, and she opened the Stable, using the slaver arsenal we’d left outside to put together some rudimentary weapons. Rector and others had protested, peacefully at first, then they’d tried to sabotage the door. Riot Control had beat them down and arrested everypony involved, Rector was still incarcerated, she’d shot and killed a Security officer in the fray, and was awaiting an execution or banishment decision.

She stopped us outside our door, putting a hoof to her lips and nodding us in.

I stepped in quietly, stopping when I spotted the middle-aged mare with a pale gray-amber coat and a neat grey mane tied into a bun at the top of her head, she was doing the dishes, something she only did when she was stressed. She glanced back at me, her ruby red eyes locking onto me, instantly scowling.

Mum huffed and turned to face me, “What in the hell have you done with yourself? I mean seriously, have you looked in a mirror lately? Your coat is filthy, your chest fur is too long, your fetlocks unshorn, your mane is a mess and you’ve got bags under your eyes, not to mention all those- those damn-”

She sniffed quietly, blinking away tears and approaching me, her determined scowl returning when she was a few feet away, “Those damn scars. First you don’t say goodbye, then you go off and get yourself torn to pieces. I’m bloody ashamed young lady.”

I smiled and pulled my mother into a tight hug, she broke down in my embrace, sobbing into my chest, giving my shoulder a solid punch when she was ready to pull away, “Goddesses I’ve missed you girl.”

“Missed you too Mum.”

“When they stopped talking about you on the radio for so long, I thought, I thought-”

I shushed her, pulling her to my chest again, “Takes a lot more than a stupid canyon to kill me Mum.”

She chuckled, nodding and wiping the tears from her eyes, scowling at the blue mare smiling in the doorway behind me, “Well what are you looking at girl? Get over here.”

Token nodded, trotting over and sharing a long hug with my mother, who patted her on the back fondly, “Good to see you Token.”

“Good to see you too Pura, how’s the hubby?”

Mum smirked, “Old dog’s thrown himself into his work, business as usual. So, you two finally got together hmm?”

We both shared a fond smile and nodded, “Good, the sexual tension in the air when you were younger was thick enough to smother a bull minotaur.”

Mother huffed again as she looked us both over, shaking her head in disappointment, “You two best get washed up right now or I’m going to throw a fit. I’m going to go see your father, tell him the good news, we’ll come see you tomorrow yeah?”

“Yes’m.” we both replied.

She nodded curtly, giving us both a quick hug before trotting out.

***

Token had to help me into the steaming waters of the bathtub, I smiled fondly as she eased in behind me, giggling tiredly when she tenderly kissed my neck. She started scrubbing my chest for me, the custom filter Mum had rigged into the tub (also illegally) quickly whisking away the dirt and grime that had built up in my unkempt coat.

She washed the rest of me, in an unfortunately innocent fashion, I tried to return the favor but was too weak to do so without the suit. I just rested in her embrace when it was done, looking over my gorgeous blue lover, who was looking especially magnificent with the faint cloud of rising steam fogging the room, making her cerulean coat and azure mane shine with dripping perspiration.

“Your mane’s gotten really long.” I commented tiredly.

“Mmm, I believe we’re both due for a haircut.”

I shook my head, fumbling for a scrunchy resting on the sink with my weak magic and pulling her beautiful mane back into a ponytail, “Perfect.”

She smirked, “Thanks babe... You know, I recall owing you a full body massage.”

“Mmmm, sounds lovely.”

“Yeah, might even help you sleep.”

“I’m game.”

She pulled us both out of the bath, holding me steady with her magic to dry me off with a towel before easily walking me to my old bed, laying me down gently on the soft mattress and clean sheets.

Her hooves pressed to my shoulders, applying the perfect amount of pressure to the aching knots twisted into my muscles, working her hooves in small circles to melt away the strain of months in mere moments. She eased down to my lower back, massaging on either side of my spine, then down to my haunches, squeezing and rubbing them between her hooves. I couldn’t help but blush, we hadn’t touched each other in any way that could be considered even remotely sexual in months, and frankly feeling her give my ass a good rubdown felt fantastic.

I wasn’t prepared for where she went next, massaging between my thighs, careful to keep things therapeutic and avoid stimulating me. Worked down my legs next, then back up my sides to my sore neck. She rolled me over, climbing on top of me and pinning my belly with her hips, using the weight of her whole body to massage my scarred chest, working her hooves through the wispy and unkempt fluff.

She smiled when she finished, leaning down to give me a long and tender kiss, my eyes refused to open when I closed them, too heavy, too relaxed. My precious lover rolled to my side, cradling me to her soft chest and quietly humming the tune of the lullaby my mother would always sing to us when we were young fillies.

Sleep was more than welcome, and came peacefully.

***

I woke to a familiar hoof running through my mane, reluctantly cracking open an eyelid to stare at the buck I owed my looks too, “Morning Daddy.” I managed to rasp out, my throat dry.

“Thank goodness,” he said jokingly, “you’ve been asleep for two whole days, thought you’d gone into a coma.”

“I’m thirsty.” I mumbled.

He nodded, his horn flaring the same gentle orange of his eyes as a cool glass of water was pressed to my lips. I took it in my hooves and tilted it, letting the soothing liquid pour down my irritated throat, finishing off the glass with a comfortable sigh.

My father smiled, the crows feet behind his large framed glasses creasing slightly, “Get woken up and come get some breakfast love, and take your time, don’t need you lumbering into the kitchen like a zombie.”

I closed my eyes and rested my head back onto my pillow, cradling the plush Shaky had given me, which I assumed Token had rested at my side while I slept, “Okay Daddy.”

“Good to have you back love.” he muttered, awkwardly patting my shoulder, Father had never been much for intimate gestures.

The bed shifted again as he got up to leave, he mumbled greetings to somepony as the door opened, and I smiled again when I heard another set of hoofsteps approaching, my dulled mind lighting up as a familiar pair of full lips pressed to mine.

“Morning babe.”

“Good morning love...” I mumbled, sleepily but happily.

A warm rag was pressed to my eyes, gently scrubbing away two days of sleep crust, I yawned my thanks, Token chuckled fondly and kissed me again, the sensation increased by the odd acuteness of my sleep dazed sense of touch, “Sleep well?”

“Mmmhmm, I had a nice dream, you were in it.”

She smirked, “Do tell.”

I opened my eyes, smiling slyly at my lover, “Nothing especially kinky, just you, the girls and I, some sort of park, you and I chatting while they played, what I imagine normal was like back then...”

“Sounds lovely.”

“It was.”

“Well, Pura made us breakfast, and Riot wants to do some sparring after if you’re feeling up to it.”

I grinned, the perverted thoughts of some other dreams I'd had creeping back to the front of my mind. I gently tackled her to the floor and gave her a passionate kiss before nonchalantly breaking away and walking to the door, leaving her lying there with a disappointed pout on her muzzle.

I smiled at Mum as I stepped out of our bedroom, she smiled back and piled the tastiest thing I’d seen in months onto the table. A heap of flapjacks, assorted fresh fruits and vegetables, and a healthy helping of bacon I assumed she’d gotten from the traders, all a more than welcome reprieve from stale MRE’s.

Token brushed against me affectionately, leading me to the table and pulling my chair out for me, I sat down, staring hungrily at the banquet on my plate, but oddly enough waiting for something.

Mother snorted, “Well what are you waiting for silly filly? Dig in.”

I nodded, utterly destroying the meal in mere minutes, the hunger of two days without food combined with 3 months without good food driving me to devour seconds and even thirds. I licked the last of the bacon crumbs and pancake syrup from my plate, setting it down and slumping back in my chair, sighing comfortably and resting a forehoof on my now swollen belly.

“Getting shot build an appetite?” Mother asked with faux-dryness, a joking twinkle lingering in her sharp red eyes.

“No doubt.” I replied with a wink.

She smirked, instantly moving her glass of orange juice up to hide the expression, “Mmm, Token filled us in on everything that happened in that bloody canyon, wish I could meet your crew, especially Shaky.”

“You would’ve, but she wanted to head on up to Oasis with Stripe, play with kids her own age.”

“A shame,” she said, smiling teasingly, “I really want to meet the kid deranged enough to call you her mother.”

“She's a good kid, you'd like her."

"I'm sure... Well, help me clean this up and then go see Riot I suppose."

Token leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, "You go on ahead babe, I'll get this sorted."

I nodded, giving her a quick peck on the lips that made my father wince slightly, "Thanks love."

***

I grinned wide when I entered the sparring room in the Security wing, Riot had her back to me, stretching vigorously, and I had an excellent view of her taut business end.

“Nice and limber?” I asked casually, starting my own warm up.

She bent her back and smirked at me through the gap of her hind legs, “Always, Toky told me about the fancy gene modification bullshit, but I’m doubting it’ll help you beat me.”

“Suppose we’ll see won’t we?”

She straightened up, cracking her neck before turning around and settling into a defensive stance. I popped my shoulders and set my legs, grinning back before sprinting at her head on. She swung, I ducked and leapt for her hind legs, pivoting my body on my forehoof when she jumped over me, pushing up with my right foreleg to jump over her in turn.

She jumped up after me, tackling me out of the air and violently wrestling me for control for several minutes, I had the strength, but she had far more skill. I flexed and slammed her to the mat, both of us already panting and sweaty, she managed to give one last good push and roll me over, pinning my hips with hers.

She chuckled and slumped against me, folding her forelegs on my chest. I laughed along with her and hugged around her hips with my forelegs, panting softly, "Gotta say Band-aid, I'm impressed at how much you've improved."

"And I'm impressed that you can still kick my ass."

She smirked fondly, looking over my face, then frowned slightly, "I want to say something, but I'm not sure if I should..."

I cocked an eyebrow, "Oh?"

She glanced away, "I'm jealous of Toky, always have been, not her fault though, I had plenty of years to make a pass and I didn’t.”

I blinked, “What do you mean?”

She huffed and scowled at me, “For all those brains you've got you’re really naive Band-aid.”

I cocked an eyebrow again, she sighed impatiently and slumped against me, “Token’s always had you, you were best friends, close like I always tried to be but could never pull off. I cried when I got home that night I had to arrest you guys, not just because of what they made me do to my two best friends, but because I knew Toky really had you. My chances were completely blown, even with your memories wiped they were watching you both, closely, to make sure you didn’t do it again, too close for me to finally make a move... I lost you, then the incident happened and, well, guess I completely lost you.”

She let out a long sigh and glanced away again, I smiled sympathetically and leaned up, nipping her ear affectionately, getting a surprised look that widened exponentially when I planted a kiss on her her lips, “What about-”

I shut her up with another kiss, grinning slyly and giving her hips a squeeze, “Token and I have a very open relationship, and I’ve got three painfully long months of itch that needs scratching.”

She stammered for a moment, I glanced behind her at a certain blue pony quietly approaching us. Token clambered onto her back, biting Riot’s mane and giving it a gentle tug, making her gasp, I smirked and shifted my hip, pressing it between her thighs and flexing, getting a small groan out of her. Token gave her ear an aggressive bite, she writhed slightly in response, but I squeezed tighter around her hips and kept her still.

She flexed, bucking Token off and leaping away from me, grinning at the two of us, shifting back into that familiar defensive stance, “It’s not gonna be that easy ladies, you gotta to work for it.”

Token and I shared a glance and nodded. I charged first, slamming into her full force and wrenching her to the mat, wrestling for a moment before pinning her by the shoulders. She fought a bit longer, calming down considerably when I kissed her. I smiled down at her, glancing up at Token running her muzzle between Riot’s thighs.

I pinned her gently by the forelegs, leaning down to kiss her but keeping my eyes open to watch my mare work. She moaned into my mouth as Token started working her tongue, I knew the move, she was licking between Riot’s folds, alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise, one of my favorites, though it was all the more enticing seeing her do it to another pony.

Riot flexed, her back arching, from pleasure this time, not trying to get away. She jerked a foreleg free and reached back between my hind legs, I snorted at her generosity, giving her lip a scolding bite. She clenched again, moaning loudly, the breath from her nostrils buffeting my neck as she panted.

I pulled away from her and smirked, pinning her foreleg again, “I appreciate the gesture, but that’s a no no.”

She pouted, “Why?”

I grinned, wheeling my body around and sitting on her belly. Token shifted behind me, hugging around my waist and resting her head on my shoulder, “Because right now, you’re our plaything...”

She blinked, I leaned down to kiss her before we both slid down her frame, burying our muzzles next to each other between her thighs, our tongues touching as we licked over the lips of her sex, straining to hold Riot’s legs as she writhed and moaned. We pulled away slightly and smiled fondly at each other, sharing a quick, Riot flavored kiss before going back to work.

I gave one of the lips of her labia a gentle nip, making her groan loudly, even louder when I tugged carefully. Token eased her muzzle up slightly, focusing her tongue on Riot's stiff button, forcing her back to arch.

I pressed my muzzle into her now utterly drenched folds, deeply inhaling the sweet reek of her juices before giving them a long lick.

She arched again, close, we pulled away and smirked at her dissatisfied scowl, licking our lips, letting her calm down a bit before diving back in.

We kept it up like that for thirty minutes or so, taking her to the verge of cumming, then pulling away, never completely giving in to our own urges.

The 'torture' act was well worth it though, her final orgasm tremendous, her entire body arching and delicious mare ejaculate flowing freely from her sex.

She slumped, panting, Token and I delicately licked her, cleaning the mess she'd made, then crawled to her sides, holding her in a loving embrace, kissing her cheeks and neck.

"That was- just- thanks."

We both chuckled, nuzzling her fondly, "No problem," Token said quietly, "you're a tasty new treat to sample."

She huffed quietly, giving us an affectionate squeeze. My ears perked and I grinned, a thought hitting me, "Hey Token, do you have your special bag?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Go get it and meet us in Riot's apartment, I think she can handle a few more rounds of fun don't you?"

Token grinned with me, Riot nervously looked us over and gulped.

***

I stirred, snorting comfortably as I woke from my sex induced slumber, giving the two softly snoring mares in my embrace a quick squeeze. I chuckled quietly, untying the blindfold still secured over Riot’s eyes and tossing it back into Token’s bag of ‘goodies’.

I shifted, getting comfortable, smiling fondly when they snuggled against me, frowning sternly when a thought struck me. Something Riot had said a few days ago, Rector was in the jail, with only one guard...

I slid out from between them carefully, smiling again when they snuggled together in their sleep to fill the gap. I didn’t bother sneaking out of Riot’s apartment, my lovers were out cold.

Made my way to the Security wing, almost absently considering all the times I’d been processed. Nopony home, all off for the night, except for the mare reading a magazine outside the jail entrance.

“Hey Bandage,” Latchkey said absently, “what brings you here?”

“Wanted to visit a prisoner.” I replied coolly.

“Sure.” she grumbled, tossing her magazine aside and standing up to open the door.

I approached her quickly and quietly from behind, wrenching her into a sleeper hold, gently sitting back in her chair when she passed out.

I strolled into the jail, perusing the mostly empty cells, stopping when I found my target. The purple mare inside was awake, lying on her cot and staring up at the ceiling. I thumped on the glass, grinning wickedly when Rector gaped at me.

I smacked the button, trotting through the door, clotheslining her with my foreleg and throwing her into the steel wall when she tried to gallop past me, rolling my neck before staring her down again.

“I remembered.” I said solemnly, grinning again when her eyes widened frightfully.

“I was just following the Codex!” she shouted, squirming away from me when I started approaching.

“I know,” I said as I clenched around her neck with my magic, slamming her back into the wall, “but do you know what you took from me?”

She whimpered, I snapped, punching the wall next to her head hard enough to dent the tempered steel, “DO YOU?! My home, my family, my love!"

She composed herself, glaring at me, “Your ‘love’, was an abomination.”

“No,” I said calmly, dropping her, “I’ll show you a fucking abomination.”

Rector was about to say something else, I interrupted her with a right hoof to the face that sent her sprawling across the floor. She gasped, spitting up teeth and blood, shakily rising to her hooves, I pivoted, bucking her hard, cracking ribs and sending her flying again.

She groaned softly in agony, I snorted and approached her, “Get up.”

She shook her head, I glared coldly and pressed a hoof to one of her broken ribs, she screamed when I put my weight on it, “Get, up.”

She nodded, rising unsteadily, I wrapped her foreleg in my magic, snapping it at the elbow, she screamed again and collapsed, holding it to her chest and sobbing.

I snorted again, “Get up Rector.”

“I can’t!”

I sighed, then reared up, she screamed and writhed in agony when my forehooves reached their target, I smirked and picked her shattered horn up with my magic, waving it in her face, “Get up, or I put this somewhere you’re not going to like.”

She curled into a ball, whimpering quietly, a small puddle of yellow trickling from between her legs.

“Here,” I said in mocking reassurance, “let me help.”

I picked her up carefully, then squeezed, feeling her broken ribs shifting before slamming her back to the floor. She coughed, a small burst of blood spattering the floor. I tsked, pressing a hoof to her chest and moving it around, smiling sickly at the pained groan she let out, “Oh goodness, one of your ribs is missing, must’ve found its way into your lung.”

“Please.” she begged quietly, blood mixing with the tears running down her face.

I snorted, giving her a solid punch in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her, “Politeness will get you nowhere bitch.”

She sobbed again, blood gushing from her nostrils and mouth, I laughed, tapping the jagged stump on her forehead, “Any idea how fucking pathetic you look right now?”

“Bandage,” she sobbed, “just stop, please, I'm sorry, so sorry.”

Something snapped again, I grabbed her horn and cocked her head to the side, placing the tip in her ear and resting a hoof on it, prepared to put enough pressure on it to kill her.

Somepony shouted from the doorway, “Stop!”

I glared up at the offending party, softening slightly at Token’s horrified look.

“What the fuck is this Bandage?!”

I wavered for a moment, then collected myself, staring back firmly, “Payback, what’s it look like?”

“Like you’ve been beating the shit out of her.”

“We both want her dead, you said so yourself.”

“I was venting Bandage! What you’re doing is fucking sick, you broke her horn off!”

“So... You don’t want me to kill her?”

“Goddesses no!”

I huffed, impatiently working Rector’s horn in a circle with my hoof, hissing at her when she whimpered.

“Babe, don’t.”

I glared at her, gritting my teeth, “I, want, justice.”

“This is justice? Is it really?”

“She took so much... Our memories, our home...”

“Who cares?”

I recoiled, “How could you- I care Token.”

“Why? Whatever she took we got back, and better. We don’t have to be secretive outside, we have wonderful friends, you have Shaky. So stop this, heal her, let it go.”

I teared up, scowling and wiping my eyes, “But-”

“No dammit!” she yelled sternly, “No fucking buts. You fix her up, now, or you and I are done.”

Her words hit me like a train, literally knocking me back a few steps, “Token-”

She shook her head curtly, “It’s not a matter of negotiation Bandage."

I tried to say something else, but the blue mare glaring daggers at me had left me utterly speechless. I nodded, like a filly who had just been scolded, focusing all my magic on a dozen different spells to patch Rector up, it took several minutes, and keeping her still while she was going through the pain was proving difficult. She lived, a part of me hated it, screaming for vengeance, sweet vengeance. The rest grudgingly accepted it, for Token's sake, forcing me to reach out a foreleg and gently help her up.

Token nodded curtly and stormed out of the cell, talking down the Security officers gathering just outside. I gritted my teeth and pressed my mouth to Rector's ear, "That mare, is the only reason you're alive right now, think about that next time you think about referring to two mares in love as an abomination."

She nodded, still crying. I sighed and planted a kiss on her cheek, making her jump, "She forgives you, guess that means I do by default, and sorry about the attempted murder thing, I've got some psychopathic urges I'm still trying to keep in check... But, you better hope they execute you, or keep you in this cell for life, because if I see you outside, I will kill you, slowly, got it?"

She nodded, I patted her on the back and stood up, “Good girl.”

I left her there, sitting in a puddle of her own blood and urine, I chuckled coldly before I stepped out, glancing back at her, "Sorry about the mess."

***

Token didn't speak to me the rest of the night, neither did Riot. I understood, I'd flipped, the remnant of Gallows' homicidal tendencies getting the better of me even after months of absence. I took the cold shoulder treatment as an opportunity to visit an old friend on the Lower Deck.

Hops greeted me with a warm grin, I smiled back, waving him over to my table.

"You look like you've been through hell." he commented as he sat down.

I shrugged, "More or less."

"Gotta say I dig the whole natural look you got goin' though, wish more mares would let their fur grow out."

I smirked, absently looking him over, "How've you been Hops?"

"Decent, Riot made some changes, Lower Deck is still a party zone but we're not forced to lay anymore, lot more rights too, oh, and unorthodox relationships aren't banned anymore."

"Anypony exercising that right?"

"A few, I was shocked when Zest came out, he and another chef."

I blinked, "You're kidding."

"Nope, lot happier now too, guess he just needed to be allowed to be himself."

I chuckled, "Yeah, sex with your preferred gender will certainly brighten moods."

"Heard about you and Token, guess all those years of sex were for naught eh?"

"Bah, ya still got me off mate, and you were a good friend."

He smirked, "How 'bout some scotch?"

"Pointless," I grumbled, "stupid gene enhancements made me immune to the effects of alcohol."

"That's a bummer."

"You've no idea..."

***

We talked most of the night until my besties came to fetch me for some forgiveness sex.

They 'punished' me, I loved every minute of it, though explaining the marks on my flanks from the riding crop to my mother in the morning proved rather difficult.

We said our goodbyes that afternoon, promising to come visit. Riot gave us each an incredibly sloppy farewell kiss, said she loved us both and told us to be safe and come home soon.

Roho was geared up and waiting for us by the time we left, “You could’ve come inside with us kid, didn’t have to wait out here for four days.”

“I did not want to make your people nervous.”

“Considerate of you, eaten yet?”

“Yes.”

“Good boy, let’s get movin’ eh?”

“Sure.”

***

Took about a day to reach Oasis, Shaky and Hex ran to meet us, eagerly leaping into a hug.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Momma, you look a lot b-better."

"Mmm, I slept, and bathed, where's the gang?"

"Sparring ring, D-dad and Rawr are watching Juni get her ass k-kicked."

"Sounds fun."

She snickered quietly, "She's really b-bad."

"Not surprising," Roho commented, "she is a field Specialist, assists a squad with repairs and tech issues."

I cocked an eyebrow, "How do you know she's a Specialist?"

"I read her dog tags."

"Oh, didn't notice her wearing them."

"Because she is not, they are in her saddlebags."

"Then how-"

"I rummaged through her things."

"...Why?"

"To check for recording devices and long wave communicators, make sure she was not a spy."

"Oh... Guess that's not weird, find anything?"

"Repair tools, computer hacking equipment, standard gear for a field Specialist."

"Nothing dirty?"

He smiled humorlessly, "No."

"Bummer... so, have you looked through my stuff?"

His mouth scrunched slightly, "Yes."

I smirked teasingly, "And why's that?"

"No reason." he said a little too quickly.

Token nudged me, "He's eighteen, bet he wanted to sniff your panties."

Roho's blushed, I grinned and elbowed him, "If you want to get a whiff of the goods you could just ask, I'm not much for stallions but I like zebras," I looked him over, making a show out of staring at his flanks, "think it's the stripes..."

The usually reserved young zebra was now bright red and mumbling, I chuckled and trotted past him, brushing against his side and tickling his nose with my tail, "Bucks, no stomach for a little flirting."

Token followed me, shaking her head, "It's downright pitiful babe."

We made our way through the outskirts of the fort, greeting familiar ponies as we went. The closer we got to the White-Legs' sparring ring, the louder the shouting voice of my stallion got.

Juni certainly was getting her ass kicked, the little white mare was currently being thrown clear out of the ring and landing face first in the mud.

Stripe sighed and helped her up, "The trick is t' duck when she swings."

She nodded, shaking mud off herself, Stripe stopped her before she could step back in, "I think yer done for the day."

"Awe come on!" she whined, "I'm just starting to vear her down!"

The White-Leg sparring with her just smirked and shook her head.

Roho set his gear aside, stepping into the circle and stretching, the rest of us sat on a log to watch. Juni looked us over hesitantly, trying to decide where to sit, I put on a friendly smile and patted the seat next to mine. She smiled back a bit sheepishly and trotted over, “Tanks.”

"What was that about?"

"Didn't have too many friends in my unit, tey all tought I vas just shy and nerdy, heh, guess I sort of am. Usually had to sit next to my brotter in te mess tent, got awkvard vhen he vasn't around."

"Miss him?"

She shrugged, "Not really, he vasn't my friend, vasn't varm, or loving, only reason he stayed close is he promised our ma he'd take care of me vhen she died a few years back."

"He was better than nothing though?"

"Oh I didn't have notting, I had Holly, she vas my best friend." She chuckled fondly, brushing her messy frost blue mane out of her face, "Basically my polar opposite, very gung ho, very confident. Met in basic, she promised to alvays vatch my back... her I miss, a lot, not my bro- my brott- oh my..."

She trailed off, staring intently at the well toned flanks of the zebra stretching in front of us, I smirked and nudged her, "What's your favorite thing about zebras, hmmm? For me it's how the stripes on their flanks really highlight their asses."

"Yeah..." she replied absently, almost drooling at this point, quickly collecting herself when she realized what I'd said, "I mean-"

"Sweetheart," I interrupted, patting her shoulder reassuringly, "he's a buck, you're a mare, you're both eighteen, attraction is healthy."

She flushed slightly, "I guess..."

"Hey, you're going to look at whoever you damn well please, remember?"

"Yeah," she replied, perking up considerably, "I am... Actually, fuck looking."

She stood, I cocked an eyebrow as she trotted quickly into the ring. She tapped Roho on the shoulder, grabbing both sides of his head when he turned around and pulling him into a long kiss, grinning back at me and throwing both forelegs into the air triumphantly when she broke away.

"Woo!" the three of us sitting on the log cheered awkwardly. Rawr just snorted behind me.

"Jumpy pony's a bit frisky."

"No kidding..." I muttered.

She trotted back to me, leaving a very confused Roho sitting in the circle with his head cocked slightly, "How vas tat?"

"Smokin' kiddo, but I think you broke our zebra."

She blinked, "Oh gods, tat really just happened didn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry!" she called to him.

He nodded awkwardly and went back to his stretching, I smirked at the embarrassed pony next to me and threw a foreleg over her shoulder, "I wouldn't worry about it Juni, in fact I think he liked it."

Her ears perked and she glanced at me sideways, "You tink?"

"Yeah, don't see why he wouldn't, you're a cute little number."

She frowned slightly, "Are you hitting on me? Shaky varned me you might do tat."

I laughed and shook my head, then gasped as huge pair of red forelegs wrapped around my chest and squeezed the crap out of me, "Bandage!" Salt-Upon-Wounds said brightly, "It is good to see you again!"

"You too Salty, put me down please."

She dropped me, patting my shoulder apologetically, "How are you?"

"Good, you?"

Celery limped up behind her, brushing against her side affectionately, "Very good..."

"How's the leg Cel?"

She shrugged, "Hurts like hell some days, but at least I can get around without Salt's help now."

Salt nipped her ear, Cel smiled up at her and nuzzled her partner's cheek.

Token smirked at them, “You two are like, painfully cute.”

Salt scowled, “I suggest you take that back, I am a war chieftain, I am not ‘cute’.”

Celery chuckled and nipped at her neck playfully, “I beg to differ.”

Salt huffed and glanced at her, “You are not helping darling.”

Cel was about to say something, cut off by a White-Leg flying clear over their heads, we all looked back at Roho, who was sporting an uncharacteristically sheepish grin, scratching behind his head, “Sorry.”

“Makers... that boy is strong.”

I nodded, “Can take a beating too, should’ve seen him in Manechester.”

“That reminds me, how was your journey?”

I snorted, showing my forelegs, “How do you think?”

***

The rest of the night was spent filling in the details of our trip, followed by everyone but me getting utterly smashed around the campfire. We headed out in the morning, making good time and arriving in Tragedy by early afternoon, greeted with friendly bear hugs from Nyx, who effectively terrified Juniper Berry by complete accident.

We skipped greeting Razor, all of us heading straight for the bath house. Shaky had accumulated a ridiculous amount of filth, even for three months without a wash, Hex on the other hoof was unnaturally clean.

Rawr, in an ultimate show of dickery, shook himself off when he finished bathing, drenching the whole room with the reek of wet dog.

The girls left to play, Token left to go shopping for 'specialty items'. I was sitting on Stripe's lap, trying in vain to shrug him off as he nipped at my shoulders playfully. Juniper was next to us, watching Roho bathing himself across the pool.

I nudged her, grinning when she jumped, "You really like what you see eh?"

She huffed quietly, "I vant him to rut me and tell me I've been a bad pony."

Stripe and I blinked, she glanced at us sideways and shrugged, "I've got needs tat Holly, rest her soul, couldn't quite satisfy."

"Ooh you didn't tell me about this part, dish."

She snorted, "Not a big deal, homosexual relations are encouraged as stress relief in te infantry, sex vittout te chance of unvanted pregnancies. I vas a virgin and had... urges, Holly offered to help me relieve tem. It vas good, just vasn't super enjoyable for eitter of us, ve bott preferred stallions, just a vay for us to blow off steam, ya know?"

"Not really, prefer the mares myself, only reason I tolerate Stripe's nonsense is because I love the big bastard."

He bit my ear, I smirked and elbowed him, "Just teasing you big guy."

"I know," he said jokingly, nipping me again, "but yer words sting."

I nestled into him, smiling back at him in the most seductive way I could manage, "I'll make it up to you later sugar."

Juni whimpered quietly as Roho rose out of the water, wet flanks in full view, "I vant to take a bite out of tat ass..."

We both just looked at her, "You're a bit of a kink hon."

She snorted again, "Coming from te mare tat likes to be chained up and rutted vit toys."

I shrugged, "What can I say, I'm a sub at heart."

Stripe snorted this time, "Since when? You're an animal in the sack."

I elbowed him again, "Because you don't do it right and I've got to make up for it with a healthy helping of aggression."

Roho stretched, showing off something special that had likely reacted to the hot water, Juni shuddered next to us, I looked at her and rolled my eyes, "Roho, get over here and give this poor girl a good dicking before she makes a mess."

He looked back at me, an eyebrow cocked, Juni glared at me, bright red, then submerged herself.

Roho waded over, pulling her head back above water and looking her over, "You are very attractive, I would enjoy spending the evening with you, if you like."

She just gaped, I smirked and grabbed her head with my magic, making her nod. She snapped out of it, nodding on her own, "Yeah, sounds good."

He smiled slightly and pecked her on the cheek before walking back to the far side of the pool, leaving her a blushing and mumbling mess.

I snorted and nudged Stripe, "Was he being smooth or forward?"

"Uhh, both I guess, hard to tell."

***

I laughed as Stripe threw me onto the bed, stifling my giggles when he prowled up after me, moaning freely when he assaulted my sex with his tongue. I bit my lip as he kissed up my belly, smiling when he reached my chest and glanced up at me, chuckling quietly when he bit my shoulder.

He licked up my neck, giving my ear a tug with his teeth, turning my head and giving me a long kiss with a healthy portion of tongue thrown in before easing back down my body.

He rolled me over, gently biting my flanks and haunches, then leaned his head down and nipped at my thighs, teasing me. I shuddered slightly as he prepared to go back to work, his hot breath tickling at my sex. He gripped my ass and picked me up slightly, kissing my clitoris, pressing his muzzle between my folds. I let out a soft squeak when he licked it, sheepishly smiling back at him when he glanced up over my ass with an eyebrow cocked.

I nodded him back to his work, he shrugged and went to it, wrapping his strong lips around my button and sucking, gripping me tighter when I started writhing involuntarily.

It went on for awhile, kiss, lick, suck, repeat. Felt great, though I was getting bored, whining impatiently between a moan, "Just mount me already!"

He didn't give me any sign of recognition, just rolled me over again and clambered up, pushing his way in and silencing a loud groan with a kiss.

He didn't sugar coat it, just railed me, colt had finally figured out I preferred it this way, hard enough to break a good sweat and give me just a modicum of discomfort, but gentle enough to avoid physical injury.

I clenched and rolled us over, sitting up on his lap and bracing my forelegs on his chest before gyrating my hips up and down to match pace with his thrusts. Drooling at this point, a stupid euphoric grin slapped on my face, straining to hold in a long string of obscenities, both of us close, him a bit closer apparently.

He squirted, faltering for a brief moment before pushing through it and taking me to the finish. I leaned back and moaned loudly as I finished, slumping against my stallion and panting with him. He pulled out, I smirked and swung myself around, giving his member the customary cleaning, jumping slightly when he moved to return the favor, "Stripe, you don't have to-"

"And you don't have to either, but ya do."

I shrugged and went back to work, smiling to myself when his tongue started moving deeper, leaning to the left and licking up his shaft, winking back at him when he looked down at me, "Surely you've got more than just one round in you?"

He just grinned, tonight would be a good one...

***

Someone was pounding on the door, rousing us both from our sleep, I checked the clock next to the bed, midnight, "The fuck..." I muttered to myself, "We're sleeping, go away!"

"Bandage!" Juni called, "It's an emergency, open up!"

I grumbled, wriggling away from Stripe and trotting to the door, glaring at the disheveled young earth pony bouncing impatiently in the hallway, "What?"

"Um, Roho and I are uh, in te moment, ve need uh, you know..." she glanced around, leaning in to whisper, "Condoms."

I cocked an eyebrow, "You're in a suite, in a town centered around a brothel, they keep contraceptives in the nightstand drawers."

"I know, ve used tem all already."

I blinked, "But they keep like, ten per room?"

"I know," she whined impatiently, "but ve need more now, how are you not getting tis?"

I blinked again, "Uh, wow, good on ya Roho... Stripe?"

"Mmhmm?" he grumbled.

"Rubbers."

He huffed, banging a hoof on the top drawer of the nightstand. I pulled it out with my magic and held it out for her, she threw it on her back and sprinted down the hall to her room, "Tanks! I'll give you te drawer back tomorrow!"

I blinked yet again, shaking my head and shutting the door before promptly collapsing back onto Stripe's comfy mattress.

***

I was delighted to find out that many of the books in Stripe's collection were magical in nature, giving me an excellent basis to start strengthening my magical field, not to mention pick up some party tricks.

Shaky and Hex made excellent assistants, helping me find specific books and materials, letting me test light cosmetic spells on them, though occasionally they'd share a mischievous smile and leave to go 'play' for ten minutes or so, a quick glance out the window told me they were sneaking out behind the bath house to kiss. Innocent stuff, quick pecks on the lips followed by hugs, painfully cute, though basically normal for a couple of kids their age.

Juni stumbled in at around 5, a satisfied grin slapped on her face, I smirked and went back to practicing a sterilization spell, straining to heat up the blade of my knife, "How'd it go last night?"

She chuckled wanly, "Sixteen times."

I blinked, looking back at her in disbelief, "You're kidding?"

"Nope, he vas a bit uh, blue, if you catch my meaning."

"I can imagine... is he alright?"

"Yeah, little dehydrated vhen he voke up, had him drink a gallon of juice before he passed out again. Don't know vhy he vas tirsty, had plenty to drink last night..."

I smirked, she just kept grinning tiredly, "Like a camel in te desert Bandage... damn."

"Right... got Stripe's drawer?"

"Yeah, already put it back in its place, only four left, might vant to have him restock."

"You're an animal Juni."

"Damn right." she said smugly, giving her thin hips a quick bob before trotting out of the room.

Token trotted in next, carrying a black bag, humming happily.

"What's up Toky?"

She giggled, fishing something out and securing it around my neck, "Something I custom ordered months ago finally came in," she dragged me over to the mirror, "you like?"

It was a collar, nice leather, polished metal name tag with 'Token' spelled out in cursive lettering, and a little dog tag in the shape of a rabbit foot, "Uhhh."

She smirked, taking it off and tossing it back in the bag, "Only for our kinkier nights in the bedroom. Picked up a few other things too, spread bar, tail strap, a couple plus sized vibrators..." she pressed her mouth to my ear, purring softly, "Can't wait to try them out."

I gulped, she giggled and hugged around my neck, "Don't worry babe, I'll be gentle, at first anyways..."

"Such a freak..." I mumbled.

She bit my ear, hard, licking up the scar on my cheek when she let go, "You know it. Now c'mon, you've been up here for hours, let's go get some supper."

"Not hungry." I muttered, trotting back up to the loft to continue practicing.

She bit my tail, pulling me back to her, "Don't care, I am, and you're buying," she kissed my cheek, giving my flank a quick swat with her tail, "so step to it babe."

I smirked, wheeling us both around and walking with her to the elevator. The streets were dead, for the most part, typical for Tragedy during the day. A few guards, some traders bringing in carts of produce from Oasis.

We collected the girls from behind the bath house and made our way to the diner, stopping abruptly when Hex did. She was staring at a unicorn looking over an armor stall, pale grey with a dark grey mane, dual knives with skulls on the handles for cutie marks.

"Vex?" she called out uncertainly.

The mare cocked her ear, turning to face us, her green eyes widening, "Hex?"

They both let out a happy squeal and ran into each others embrace, the waterworks firing up in an instant.

***

Things were a bit awkward after they'd calmed down, the conversation was tentative, mostly questions with short answers, "So I stopped by the place, house was razed."

"Yeah, I did that."

"What happened?"

Hex answered almost casually, like she'd already grown bored of telling the story, "Dad killed Mom, then raped me, then I killed Dad, got kinda pissed and burned it down, some bad stuff happened after that, these guys saved me, been with them for about four months now... What about you?"

"I'm a captain," Vex answered proudly, "small ship, good crew, been smuggling goods to the Blasted lands, raiding small Paragon vessels that stray out of their waters, decent payoff for both."

"That's good..."

Vex frowned uncertainly, scratching the back of her head, "Do you- do you wanna come with?"

"No," Hex replied, quickly but politely, "I want to stay with my friends, thanks for offering though."

Vex drooped slightly, but her voice carried the slightest hint of relief, "Oh, yeah I get that, you be safe, and stuff..."

"You too." Hex said, leaning over the table and hugging her older sister.

She smiled as they broke away, pulling Hex's hood back and tousling her long mane, "I gotta go, I'm already late and my men aren't renowned for their patience."

"Good luck." Hex whispered as her sister walked out, throwing her hood back over her head and leaning against Shaky.

Shaky rested a comforting hoof on her shoulder, "You okay?"

"I'm fine, just, expected something different after all this time I guess..."

***

I actually partook in a cigarette when Razor offered, yearning for some kind of buzz after my long dry stint, pointless, "So, what's the work?"

"Another long contract," she replied absently, perusing files with her claws, finding one in particular and tossing a rather long spoken bounty slip on the desk, "couple months maybe, out East for the Trinity. Need the Fiends cleared out of some important areas on their southern half."

"Fiends?"

Stripe snorted, "Raider clan, nasty bunch, five times as many per gang as those lot we fought back when you were green, but ten times meaner."

Razor nodded, ashing her cigarette, "Not to mention hyped up on enough chems to kill an average pony, makes 'em fucking crazy."

"And fightin' Fiends wouldn't be our biggest issue, there's a slaver colony on the southern point, the Hold, old prison, decked out like a fuckin' fortress. Do a lot of trade with the Paragons, gives 'em access to high grade weaponry."

"How much pay are we talking?"

"Fifty."

I cocked an eyebrow, "Thousand?"

The young griffon smirked, exhaling two long streams of smoke from her nostrils, "Yep."

I sighed, leaning back in my seat and scratching my head, "Stripe?"

"Shit, sounds good to me."

I sighed again, "I dunno, we just got back from a three month pull."

"I understand if you need to take a breather, can probably hold this for you about a month if you think you'll be ready then."

I nodded, "Month sounds about right, gives us time to get Kimba and BB collected, think Adze would want in?"

"Nah, said somethin' about headin' to the Hoof for awhile when we split."

"Bummer, we could use him..."

"So," Razor interrupted before we could continue, "I take it you're in?"

"Yeah, just give us a month."

She smiled, an oddly menacing gesture, "Sounds good."

***

I stopped myself before trotting back to the loft for more study, taking more time to look myself over in the mirror. I looked good, damn good, my mane was longer than it'd ever been, down to my shoulders, coat was long too, bit fluffy all over, the best part though was the scars, still visible, but faded enough to look attractive instead of ugly.

I smiled at myself, doing a quick turn, checking myself out, finding that I was unsettlingly attracted to my own ass. I spotted Token in the reflection of the doorway, grinning at me, "Finally realizing how good you look my darling?"

I nodded, smirking back at her. She trotted over and sat down, pulling me into a hug that I happily returned, "Took you long enough... I love you, Bandage."

I chuckled, "I know, and I love you too, but you don't have to say it so often."

"I know," she said quietly, "I just- I just felt like I should say it for some reason..."

I kissed her shoulder, nuzzling her neck affectionately, "I'm not going anywhere love."

"You don't know that..." she said sullenly, pulling away slightly and glancing to the side, "You've been hurt, badly, multiple times, and the only reason you survived is because we were close enough to someplace that could put you back together, what if next time, you know, we can't?"

"You wanna know how I pulled through?" She looked back at me questioningly and nodded, I smiled and pecked her on the lips, "I have you to come back to."

She snorted, smiling to herself and shaking her head, "You're so corny babe."

I grinned and pressed my nose to hers, "You love it."

She nodded, pressing back and locking eyes with me, "I really do..."

I blinked, then kissed her, just as passionately as that night in our apartment that felt so long ago, not breaking away as I walked us both to the bed. She grabbed me aggressively and pulled me onto the bed with her, rolling over on top of me, kissing and biting at my neck. I held her to me, biting down on her shoulder, then licking up her neck, planting a long, sloppy, impassioned kiss on her lips, smiling to myself as our tongues locked, moaning down her throat when she pressed a knee somewhere special.

She pulled away, grinning teasingly, "Sensitive today are we?"

I grinned back, licking her nose affectionately, "You know just where to touch me love."

"Mmm," she mumbled, looking me over hungrily, "roll over..."

I nodded obediently, she kissed down my back, squeezing my flanks and giving one of my haunches an aggressive bite. I let her have her fun, smiling to myself as she affectionately kissed and licked my haunches, gasping quietly when her muzzle was suddenly pressed between my thighs. I felt her inhale, then bit down on the comforter when she gave my sex a very gentle nip, "Harder, softer?" she asked quietly.

"Little harder." I whispered back.

She nudged my sex with her nose before nipping it again, harder this time, sending slight, yet wonderfully enticing pain shooting through my nethers, "Good?"

I glanced back at her, blinking away a few tears and nodding, she smiled lovingly, leaning her head back down to lick over my folds, rolling me onto my back and hoofcuffing me to the bed, levitating out my collar and securing it around my neck.

She hugged me, leaning in and kissing my ear, "The safeword is teacup, and until the collar comes off you will refer to me as ma'am or mistress, understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

She kissed my cheek, tying a blindfold over my eyes, "Good girl. You'll love it, I promise."

***

I yawned, stretching my sore shoulders, smiling at Token as she stepped out of the bathroom, "You wore me out love."

"Ah ah," she scolded jokingly, "that's mistress to you, I haven't removed your collar yet."

I rolled my eyes, tugging on the leather around my neck, "Sorry mistress."

She nodded curtly, then chuckled, strolling over and kissing me tenderly, taking off my collar and tossing it on the nightstand before crawling into bed with me, "How's your bum?"

"Little bit sore, it's fine."

"So, did you like?"

I smirked, "Did I yell teacup?"

She smiled back tiredly, running a hoof over my chest, "No."

"Meaning that?"

"You liked it?"

"Ahem, loved it, I adore being dominated by my gorgeous blue mistress."

She giggled quietly, licking my cheek, "Such a dweeb."

I nodded, pulling her closer to me and snuggling into a comfortable spot, "Night love."

She nestled her head on my chest, sighing happily, "Goodnight babe."

***

Shaky's birthday passed the next week, nothing as sentimental as the present she made me, but she appreciated the battle saddle I had her fitted for. Combat shotguns, brand new from Caliber's caravan, only a couple hundred caps a piece. Stripe rigged out the basics, Juni added an auto loader and fiddled around with the weaponry until the combined recoil was next to nothing.

The rest of the month was spent training, relaxing, partying, love making, the usual. My magic practice had already paid off, with a 10% increase in combat efficiency, by Beta's reckoning anyways.

Things were relatively uneventful until the Pearl flew into town, though I was a bit disappointed to see only Kimba step out of the SkyNaut.

"Where's Beebs?"

She snorted, smirking at me, "Good to see you too mate."

I smirked back and trotted over, giving her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, "It is good to see you, just wondering why BB isn't with you."

"She's got a certain affliction that's going to keep her indisposed for another ten months or so."

I blinked, "What?"

"She's got a bun in the oven."

"...What?"

She facehoofed, "She's expecting, eating for two, with foal, ringing any bells here?"

I gaped, "You're kidding."

"Nope, started feeling puky in the mornings, the professors checked her out, she's just about one month pregnant."

"How'd she react?"

She smirked, "She and Fringe are both really excited."

"Bit fast isn't it?"

She shrugged, "In most of the Badland tribes you marry at thirteen after a week of getting to know each other and are expected to consummate it that night, so it doesn't seem all that fast to me."

"Right... wish we could visit them."

"We can swing by the facility, it's on the way and the Pearl flies pretty damn quick."

"We should... we leave tomorrow by the way."

She cocked an eyebrow, "Thought you said today over the radio?"

Token hugged her from behind, grinning mischievously, "No, we've got plans for the pilot tonight."

***

I blinked awake early the next morning, before the sun, pressed to Kimba's back. She had Token pressed to her frame, wrapped in her wings, both of them snoring softly.

I gently eased away from the two mares snuggled together on my bed, Kimba stirred as I tried to get up, tiredly throwing a wing over my shoulder, "Don't," she whined sleepily, "you're warm."

I smiled and gently rested the wing back over Token, leaning down to kiss them both on the cheek before covering them with a blanket.

The zebra pouted slightly, but nodded, closing her eyes and falling back asleep. I chuckled to myself and trotted out, nodding at Roho as I stepped into the hallway.

"Morning, Juni still asleep?"

"Yes," he said fondly, glancing back at the door to their room, "what is the plan for this morning?"

"Just need to get all the gear we'll need rigged out on the Pearl, be ready to leave by the time everyone wakes up."

He nodded, humming quietly as we descended in the elevator, I smirked and nudged him, "You're awfully chipper this morning."

He smiled slightly, "I had a very good night last night, it brightened my mood considerably."

"Beat your record?"

He chuckled, shaking his head, "No, Juni and I just spent the evening together, in a far less sexual sense, it was... nice."

"So what, you guys just hung out?"

"Yes. It is rare to feel comfortable enough with someone these days to just spend time together. I enjoyed it."

Rawr and Stripe greeted us in the lobby, both of them grumpy this early in the morning. They had all the gear packed up, I distributed it with my magic and trotted outside with Token and the girls' equipment hefted over my back.

We had it loaded in no time, Rawr grumbled impatiently, "Could've got this done yesterday, but ponies had t' waste whole night fucking."

I snorted, punching him in the leg, "Don't hate just cuz you're not getting any."

He rolled his eye, easing onto all fours and lazily sauntering back inside.

Stripe bumped me playfully as he walked past, I smirked and trotted alongside him, tugging his ear with my magic to piss him off. He just grunted, pulling me into a headlock and continuing his languid stride through the lobby while I squirmed.

"Lemme go dammit."

"You started it."

"Bullshit, now let go!"

He stopped, looking up like he was thinking, then shaking his head, "Nah."

I huffed and went limp, he just snorted and dragged me along, dropping me abruptly when he reached the elevator.

"You're such a dick in the mornings!" I whined.

"Yup." he grunted, yanking me to my hooves and tapping the button.

***

It took about 6 hours to reach the facility, cramped together in the quick drop hold of the military sky carriage.

BB trotted into the hanger to meet us, leaning weakly against Fringe, "Hey boss, what brings ya to our neck o' the canyon?"

"Visiting," I said absently, concernedly looking her over, "you alright sugar?"

"Yeah, just got outta surgery."

"Surgery for what?"

"We had to disable her cybornetics," Data explained, stepping away from the hanger terminal, "for the fetus' sake."

Beebs grumbled, "Ah feel heavy..."

"You had an implant similar to the one in your armor that lightened you up considerably, probably feeling the extra weight of those bone grafts."

"Wanna go lay down?" Fringe asked tentatively.

She nodded, letting him wheel her around and trudging alongside him as he left the hanger.

"Poor thing," Data said quietly, "she's really going to feel that weight when the baby starts growing."

I nodded sympathetically, trotting after them out of the hanger, stopping abruptly when a tiny zebra hit me in the face.

Shadis scrambled around on my head, adjusting himself to look me in the eyes upside-down, his oddly feline blue eyes curiously glancing me over, his good ear twitching.

"Hi." I said, smiling. The 6 month old snorted, hopping off my head and spreading his tiny wings to glide a few feet over to Shaky, pausing in front of her to sniff at her jacket.

She shifted away slightly, looking at him with a cocked eyebrow, "He's k-kinda weird."

"Am not," he growled, managing to look adorable instead of ferocious, "you're weird, your voice is broke."

Shaky narrowed her eyes, puffing up slightly. Hex chuckled quietly, pulling her back, "He's a baby, he doesn't know any better."

"Maybe I should b-b-beat some manners into him..." she grumbled.

Shadis stuck his tongue out at her, Kimba snorted, tossing him onto her back, "Maybe I should tell your mother you're being rude hmm?"

His ear went flat and he pouted, bouncing frantically, "No don't tell Mommy, I'll be nice, promise."

She nodded curtly, I nudged her a bit, "How is he speaking so well this early?"

She smirked teasingly, "Cuz zebra babies are way smarter than ponies, duh."

"Mommy says I'm recessive." he said proudly.

"Receptive." Data corrected.

He scowled, "That's what I said."

She snorted, "Sure it is."

He mimicked her gesture, hopping onto my shoulders, "Mommy said you saved me from monsters."

I shook my head, nodding at Shaky, "She did, ran you out of that cave by herself."

"Oh..."

"Go apologize," Data said sternly, "now."

"Yes Auntie..." he mumbled sullenly, hopping off my back again and tentatively trotting over to Shaky, "Sorry."

She just shrugged, tossing him onto her back, "It's f-fine."

"What's wrong with your voice?"

Her eye twitched slightly, but she answered him calmly, "I have a st-st-stutter."

"What's that?"

She chuckled, "It m-means my voice is b-b-broken."

"Oh."

I smirked to myself and veered off towards BB's room, frowning sympathetically when I entered. She was lying on the bed with Fringe, looking completely miserable, "Hey." she said weakly.

"Hey." I replied, trotting over and planting a kiss on her forehead.

Fringe cleared his throat, getting up and kissing her on the cheek affectionately, "I'll let you two talk, lemme know if you need anything Beebs."

"Thanks hon."

He smiled and trotted out, the door closing behind him. I crawled into bed next to BB, giving her cheek a friendly nuzzle, "So, pregnant huh?"

"Eeya."

"Other than the obvious reasons, how?"

She shrugged, "Been a lot less stressed lately, guess it's been keepin' mah current low, let a swimmer through an', well, yer a doctor, fill in the gaps."

I smirked, nuzzling her again, "You're going to make a great mum."

"Ah hope so, shit, guess if Ah'm half the mother mah momma was Ah'll be decent."

"Hey, you will be dammit, you may be a sex crazed killing machine, but you're a good pony, and you've got Fringe, and us, to help you, you'll do great."

She smiled, giving my lips a quick peck, "Thanks sugar... Yer mah best friend, ya know that right?"

I smiled back and pressed my nose to hers, "I know sweetheart. Oh, and if you have a girl I'm prepared to teach her how to be a lesbian when she gets old enough."

She smirked tiredly, shoving me with her wing, "Good t' know boss."

"Know what sucks? You basically have to go a whole year without sex."

She shook her head, "Not true, Lore says Fringy an' Ah can have sex as long as we don't do anything especially crazy."

"Ah, lucky you eh?"

"Mmhmm," she mumbled, pouting slightly, "Ah'm gonna get sooo fat though."

I grinned, rolling her over gently and rubbing my head on her tummy, "Just your belly, and big bellies on pretty mares are sexy."

She giggled, pushing me away, "Knock it off."

"No I'm serious, I'm probably just gonna stop by every month or so to see how big your belly's gotten. Come kiss it and rub it, amongst other things..."

She giggled again, hugging me tight and giving me a long kiss, "Sounds great sugar."

I gave her one last nuzzle before getting up and leaving the room, "I'll let you get some rest, want me to send Fringe in?"

"Yeah, thanks Bandage."

***

I had Kimba fly me to the cave entrance of the Mire, then strolled through the long passage, reaching the settlement in no time.

I crept into Shimmer's hut, she was submerged, absently swimming around the bottom of her pool, I shucked my gear and dove in, wrestling with her for a moment underwater before locking in a kiss.

She propelled us up to the surface, gasping happily and throwing her forelegs around me. I hugged her back, nestling against the smooth skin of her neck, "Told you I'd come visit."

She nuzzled me lovingly, kissing at my shoulder, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, I have lots of time before I need to leave, I can stay the night if you want."

She nodded, then pulled away, locking eyes with me and grinning mischievously, "I'm afraid we won't be getting much sleep."

***

I held my supple lover to my chest, her tail was wrapped firmly around my left thigh, the tip gently caressing just next to my sex, "I love you so much Bandage..."

I smiled down into those stunningly beautiful orange eyes of hers, leaning down to reach her succulent lips, whispering a soft "I love you." to her as I broke away.

She snuggled into me, affectionately rubbing her head on my scarred chest, I ran a hoof through her perpetually wet mane, planting a few quick pecks on her forehead, she huffed quietly, "Why do you have to be a land pony dammit..."

I smirked, giving her a soft squeeze, "Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you being a sea pony."

"Mmm, damn it all eh?"

"Bah, let's just love each other the way we are."

"Mmm, I just- I wish you didn't have to go, months feel like ages when you're gone."

I chuckled, "Maybe I can have the Twins build some sort of land rig for you, you could come adventuring with me."

She pouted, gently thumping my chest, "Don't tease me."

"I may be teasing, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they could build something like that for you, they're bloody geniuses."

She smirked, "Don't bother, just keep visiting, alright?"

"Sure... So, ready for round thirteen?"

***

Shaky huffed impatiently, trying to shrug the sleeping baby zebra off her shoulders without waking him. Lore chuckled and trotted over, gently gripping the scruff of his neck in her mouth and carrying the snoring colt off to her room, trotting out a few minutes later with a pleased smile, "I give him about three hours before he's ravenous again."

Data snorted, knocking over her King in surrender and poking Hex in the nose when she smiled smugly, "We should just stick a feeding tube in him while he's sleeping so he makes it through the night."

"Try and die sister dearest," she said brightly, "anyone tries to hurt my baby and I'll gut them."

"It wouldn't hurt, you and I both know a feeding tube is relatively painless, and that little bugger took his vaccination shots like a champ, he'll be fine."

"End it darling, or I will, and I won't be nice about it."

"Both of ya shut the hell up." Crash grumbled, wincing as he stretched his mechanical wing, Lore looked him over and sighed, trotting to him and disconnecting it from the coupling embedded in his back.

"Phantom limb pains?"

"Yeah, how can ya tell?"

She snorted, "Because you were bitching about the same things two centuries ago. Happening even without the prosthetic?"

"Yeah."

I trotted over, massaging around the metallic joint carefully, "Your body probably did some shifting when it regenerated, this joint could be hitting nerves that haven't been active for awhile, might need to be refitted."

"Excellent diagnosis..." Lore commented absently, "We'll set up the cybornetics room for you tomorrow."

He nodded grudgingly, I smirked and smacked his shoulder, "Sorry I won't be here to make sure they don't experiment on ya old timer."

He snorted, "Oh Ah'm all fuckin' distraught kid."

***

I slept most of the flight, until Kimba started shouting for me. I grumbled and stepped over everyone, blinking away temporary blindness when I entered the cockpit, curiously looking over the odd rig that Kimba was hooked up to, "What's up tight flanks?"

"Comin' up on what I think our destination is, supposed to be someplace called Bookfort."

"What kinda fuckin' name is Bookfort?"

"Ramshackle fort built out of a library, supposedly, I don't fucking know."

"Well then what makes you think this is it?"

"Well, there's about a gajillion raiders closing in on this piece of shit collection of scrap propped up an a hill and a guy screaming something about may days and Bookfort over the radio."

I glanced out the windshield at the raiding army, and unfortunately gajillion was a roughly accurate estimate.

"Makes sense... Beta, get the suit prepped for a drop, we're gonna do something stupid."

***

My vision was blurring, my lungs hardly taking in the air my respirator was feeding me, my organs shifting from the sheer velocity of my rapid descent.

Beta was crunching numbers, assuring me that the suit's 'wings' were rated for HALO jumps. The targeting spells were going nuts, adjusting for every little change in wind and pressure. My target wasn't a Fiend, it was a large collection of Trinity troopers hunkered down in the decrepit remains of a bunker just outside the main gate, completely surrounded by the crazy fuckers, fighting like ponies possessed.

My wings popped, sending me to the ground at just the right velocity, clearing a huge plume of dust that shocked both sides enough to stop the shooting for a few moments.

"You were right B," I said casually, looking around at the soldiers, "I didn't die."

"Told you."

One of the troopers was gaping at me, I smirked and yanked her down just as a rocket whizzed past, "If you think this is impressive, you should take a peek under the gear."

She just blinked and stood back up, firing wildly over the barricade they were all crouched behind. A hoof smacked my shoulder, I glanced at the surly unicorn next to me as I prepped Whisper, "Sorry mate, this a private party?"

"Shit," he laughed, hefting two grenade launchers with his green magical field, "at this point we'll take all the fucking help we can get."

"Good to hear, I'm gonna fire this now, then we need to make a move to clear a way to the gate."

"Copy that ma'am, Nightmare Company! Fresh mags, we are pushing!"

"Yes sir!" they all shouted in reply. Their commander nodded at me, I nodded back and leapt over cover, firing one round aimlessly into the endless mob of Fiends, propelled backwards into a concrete wall by the recoil as the super powered round tore through hundreds of them in an instant, severely crippling hundreds more.

Nightmare Company let out a bellow, following their leader, who was either fearless or batshit insane,firing randomly, but in a way that looked beautifully calculated and uniform.

They cut a swath, 20 ponies wide, using gunfire, grenades, even rifle butts when the ammo ran short, nopony wearing that distinct crimson combat armor dropping. I was close behind, taking out stragglers with my shotgun and covering their asses as more chem-crazed and mutilated ponies surged to fill the gaps their dead comrades left, not batting an eye as they trampled the dying, not showing the slightest hint of faltering as thousands of 10mm rounds tore into them from Stripe's twin machineguns. He made a dent from his perch atop the fort wall, microscopic in proportion, but just enough to buy us time to escape, and let the gate close shut.

A buck made it through, his furious and bloodshot eyes glaring through the sockets of the ram skull mask covering his face. I drew my knife as he sprinted at me, smirking when his right foreleg was blown off, frowning when he immediately stood. More shotgun fire, quick succession, shattering his bone helmet, shredding his face, pulping his left eye, tearing away most of his throat and neck.

He gurgled sickly as he lumbered closer, blood gushing from his exposed tracea, futilely extending a hoof with nails and jagged metal bolted into it to attack me, only managing to fall flat on his face into the mud, his body trembling for a moment before finally laying still.

I glanced back at Shaky, who snorted and spat to her left as her twin shotguns reloaded.

"Hell of a rescue miss," the buck said, gratefully smacking my shoulder, "guess you're the mercs we hired?"

"Yeah, Bandage, nice to meet you."

"Commander Rampart, likewise, first time fighting Fiends?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you do it well enough for a beginner, glad you came when you did, we've been under siege for days."

"One week and three days dearest husband." the charming voice of a mare corrected.

I glanced over at the owner, gaping at the drop dead sexy Alicorn standing in the wrecked doorway of the library. Blackish blue, with white wing tips, a white mane tied back into a ponytail with a few black and grey streaks thrown in, two beautiful purple eyes behind a pair of thick framed reading glasses, and a white star slapped on her choice ass for a cutie mark. My heart sank slightly when my brain registered that she'd said husband, because Bandage really wanted some of that, but hey, can still look at the straight mares, right?

She wasn't wearing the ornate armor Gehenna had sported, just an old Fillydelphia S.W.A.T vest, and instead of swords she had a very well put together tactical shotgun slung over her back. A few of the troopers stopped to bow but she waved them off, trotting to Rampart and giving him a long hug, "No more suicide runs please? Your daughter's been terrified."

"No promises love," the army green stallion said jokingly, looking back at us, "well, let's get you lot inside, fill you in on this month's first shitstorm."

***

I absently watched the 7 month old Alicorn, Nocte, as she randomly teleported around the room a few feet at a time, barely listening to her father as he explained to us the situation. Umbra had told us that they’d come to visit Rampart just before the Fiends had invaded, and had been staying in the bomb shelter buried under the library for the entirety of the siege.

Stripe elbowed me, I snapped back to attention, barely catching the last of his explanation, “So, do you think you can pull that off?”

“Oh totally,” I replied, smiling like an idiot and leaning back in my chair, waving a dismissive hoof, “won’t be a problem.”

“Excellent, get back as soon as you can.”

“Don’t worry about it, let’s go guys.”

Everyone nodded, trotting out with me, Stripe smirked, giving me a friendly shove, “You have no idea what they asked us to do, do ya?”

“Not a clue.”

“We’re gonna head east, deep Fiend territory, pick up something that can thin out the army waiting outside.”

“Is it a special kind of something?”

He smirked, “We’re goin’ to a balefire egg factory.”

“Which would be?”

“Miniature balefire bombs, hopefully a lot of ‘em.”

“Isn’t that like, hellishly fucking dangerous?”

“Nah, they don’t blow up anywhere near as big, and the magical radiation dissipates in a few minutes at the most.”

“Alright, let’s get moving I guess.”

***

I glanced around again, wincing when the body armor on my belly scraped against a chunk of rebar, thankfully the 30 or so Fiends patrolling the road around the crumbling factory didn’t seem notice. I kept crawling through the rubble of what I imagined was a workers’ barracks back in the day, only a few meters from the drugged up raiders, listening to them whining about needing a ‘fix’ soon, or how they were starting to get the ‘shakes’.

They were nearly past, I gave the street another quick check, preparing to sprint across the road to the next cluster of concrete structures, my eyes going wide when I knocked over a glass bottle I hadn’t spotted.

One in the rear stopped, her ears poking out from under her ram skull and twitching wildly. She turned around, her strung out eyes locking onto me, unslinging her shotgun- Dropping to the pavement silently, chem-ravaged brain oozing from a hole in her head.

I gulped, scanning the buildings in the distance for any trace of glint from a rifle scope, nervously clearing my throat before whispering into my radio piece, “I’ve got shots fired, please tell me it was one of you guys.”

“Negative,” Kimba answered, “we haven’t even set down yet.”

I cursed under my breath, “Right, I’m going to move up on the factory, stay in cloud cover.”

“Will do.”

I took a deep breath and made my move, sprinting across the street, stopping abruptly when a bolt of blue magic slammed into my chest. My armor locked up, sending me sprawling flat on my face, my e.f.s went dark, and I could feel every individual nanite on my body pulsating.

“Beta,” I whispered, frantically looking through the narrow window of my muddied visor, “Beta, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” she said, sounding pained, and oddly animated instead of her usual monotone voice, “I’ve been jerked from the systems, I’m fighting to speak right now, I- I’m trying to get the suit rebooted, but it’s not cooperating.”

“Are you okay?”

“No!” she yelled, “Every V.I, from every nanite, they’re all SCREAMING Bandage, I don’t- I just don’t- I can’t hear myself THINK!!!”

I grunted, forcing myself to stand, heavy wasn’t the right word to describe it, the suit was light, it was just fighting every move I made, like trying to walk whilst covered in hardening concrete. I made it a few feet, stopping again when a pegasus touched down in front of me, a dust mask sewn into a filthy grey scarf covering his face and an old pair of darkened flight goggles covering his eyes, the right lense matching the digital red of his rifle scope. He was wearing scraps of combat armor, painted grey and light blue to blend with the urban environment. He was gaunt, the fur showing through the gaps in his gear was pale white, mottled with spots of grey, his mane and tail short, messy, and very dark blue, the tail tied at the base with a piece of black cloth. The skin on his wings was tight, like that of a malnourished pony, I could see every complicated bone underneath shifting as he stretched them in anticipation.

I locked onto the weapon clipped to the leather pauldron on his left shoulder, an odd looking energy pistol with a barrel ending in a satellite dish, back up to the customized sniper rifle fixed to his battle saddle, a thick wire connecting the 12x zoom scope to his goggle lense, a suppressor the size of my foreleg fitted into the barrel, a custom furnished 15 round drum magazine sporting a yellow band of paint and marked .308, with several more waiting in the auto-loader strapped to his right flank.

“Most power armor get’s hit by a magic pulse and the pony inside gets fucking fried along with it,” he said quietly, his voice muffled further by his dust mask, “should’ve guessed that flashy shit’d be special.”

I tried to focus my magic on a weapon, failing completely, “Beta?”

“Without the amplifiers active the suit will inhibit magic use, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, progress on fixing this?”

“I’m still fighting my way in, but I’ve got control over some of the minor systems now, should have motor functions active shortly.”

“Good work.”

“Don’t patronize me bitch!” she shouted.

I blinked, “You okay?”

“I’m sorry, the V.I’s are... stressing me. I’m having to repurpose functions to get them back in line, it’s forcing me to uncouple things that I’m used to keeping restrained. I’ll fix it, don’t worry.”

The pegasus cocked his head, I snorted, “Sorry, making sure my friend was alright.”

“Sure,” he said dryly, pushing up his goggles and looking me over with his grayish blue eyes, “so, what are you? Soldier, merc?”

“Merc.”

“A very well armed merc.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled, “so, what are you?”

He snorted, “A survivor. Tell your team to land when and where they see green smoke, and follow me, close.”

“How did you know I came with a team?”

He tapped the device hooked into his ear, “Radio interceptor, let’s us know when the more organized Fiends start trying to pull shit.”

“Right, hey Beta, we got radio?”

“Yes, but try to keep it brief.”

“Will do.”

***

Walking through a minefield was... unsettling, to say the least. Walking through a minefield with a stallion who could easily fly off if he wanted to lead me into a trap was just borderline fucking insane, even by my standards. Storm Shot was friendly enough, not very talkative, and maybe a tad sociopathic, but still, friendly.

“Stick close up here,” he said, “don’t want the turrets or the holograms taking you out.”

“Holograms?”

“Yeah, sorta like mobile turrets, fuckin’ invincible as long as their emitters stay intact, damn things nearly killed us when we moved in.”

“We?”

“Me, my brother Star Punch, and a few dozen other scavs. Took this place over a few years ago, took weeks to get all the fuckin’ defenses working for us, months to get the metal foundry up and running again, worth it though, Fiends give this place a wide berth, unless they decide to be dipshits.”

I looked up at the imposing structure ahead of us, the factory, for obvious reasons, was built like a small fortress, with several dozen heavy turrets mounted atop the 30 foot metal walls, “Why would anyone try to attack this place?”

“We’ve got a good supply of chems inside, not to mention our own ammunition press in the foundry, Motor Runner likes to send the crazies our way every once in awhile, test us for weaknesses so his more organized lieutenants can muscle their way in.” He chuckled to himself, “They never find any.”

We trotted to the only entrance, a large steel garage door, he tapped the button of the intercom mounted next to it, "Two comin' in."

No reply, but the door screeched open. We were met by a couple of well armed scavengers, there to watch our backs while we walked into the loading area of the factory.

The huge room had been repurposed into a market of sorts, several ponies haggling over the heaps of assorted scrap metal and spare parts they'd brought in.

"Fair warning," Storm Shot whispered, "this lot doesn't see new customers too often, they may try to sell you shit you neither want nor need."

"Thanks for the heads up."

He shrugged his wings.

"So, who do you usually trade with?"

"Trinity sometimes, if they need somethin' custom made, and there's a few local settlements that pay well for ammo to fight off the Fiends and scrap metal to patch up their barricades. Those slavers operating outta the prison down south are our best customers, though it pains me to admit that. Ammunition, weapon mods, armor, scrap, not to mention the constant flow of repair jobs they have for us."

"You have a foundry right?"

"Yeah."

"I thought this was a balefire egg factory."

"That's one part of it, the part that's too fuckin' irradiated to make it more than a few meters without dropping dead. Rest of it's a regular weapon factory, though we brought in some machines from back home to build our custom mods."

I swore under my breath, the whole reason we'd come was for balefire eggs, and they were inaccessible. Storm Shot cocked an eyebrow, I coughed and changed the subject, "Where's home for you lot? You're packing gear I've never seen before."

"For now, here's home, but we're all originally from a piss ant stretch of desert out in the ass end of nowhere. Me an' Star were born in a weapon prototyping facility our parents had ducked into to take shelter from a sand storm, our father laid claim to it when he figured out it's usefulness, got some of his prospector buddies organized an' built a scav community around it. Things were good for awhile, made a shit load of caps, and we never went hungry, or ran out of ammo for that matter."

He stopped me, nodding at a green line painted on the floor and motioning for me to follow before continuing, "After about twenty years though, all the fucking wells in a thirty mile radius went dry simultaneously, business moved with the townsfolk, scavs moved with the business. Sand worms got our father, left us in charge, decided to move on to some new prospective business, caught wind of this honey hole and made our way to Trottingham on a Walker boat with a small herd of pack Brahmin and cart loads of machinery."

"Why didn't anyone try to take over this place first?"

He snorted, "Fuckin' savages, thought the minefield was 'cursed' an' the holograms were 'ghosts'. Me an' a few other pegasi flew over the walls and went to work hacking the automated systems, found the mine pattern so the rest of the crew could camp out in the field until we got things rigged out where everything mechanical wasn't trying to kill us."

"Sounds like quite the task."

"Helps when you've got a bunch of guys who do that kinda thing for a living."

"Amateurs," Beta hissed into my ear, "I could've cracked this facility wide open in little more than an hour."

"You feeling alright?"

"No."

"Talking to yourself?" the scavenger asked, a bemused smirk on his face.

"No, my suit's artificial intelligence, that magical pea shooter of yours fucked her up pretty badly."

"I'll be fine," she said through the helmet's speaker, "just having trouble reigning in some of my... messier subroutines."

"Need me to take off the suit, give you a break?"

"No, in fact I think staying focused on a task would be the best thing right now."

"Okay."

I veered slightly when we turned into the next hallway, giving a blue hologram depicting a stallion in security barding a wide berth. It locked onto me, its gaze following me down the hall, "Well, that was unsettling."

"You get used to it after a year or so."

The suit jerked me to a halt as we passed a glowing blue orb embedded in the wall, cocking my head to the side and scanning over it with the targeting spells.

"Interesting..." Beta murmured, "This hard light emitter is of a much more primitive design than the ones in the VR chamber back home, the suit might be able to replicate it..."

"Meaning?"

"One moment." she said absently. The suit started humming, my chest vibrating. I glanced down at the soft blue glow overtaking the nanites of my chest piece, glancing back up at the holographic mare standing in front of me, looking herself over, "Interesting..."

"Beta?"

She looked up at me, smiling, "Yes. This technology is fascinating, I'm not in the suit right now, my essence is in this holographic avatar."

The armor on my forehoof retracted and I reached out to touch her, a tingling sensation tickling at it when I pressed it to her oddly solid surface, "Can you, you know, feel that?"

"In a sense, touch receptors programmed into the hard light send signals to my essence that tell me something is making contact. It isn't feeling as you'd understand it, but it's much the same concept."

She closed her 'eyes' for a moment, her appearance shifting, her mane changing from long to bobbed, framing her face, the back tying itself into a ponytail that nearly touched the floor. Her body became more slender, though her flanks thickened slightly, a cutie mark emerged on them, an ornate uppercase B with a curved descender.

She opened her eyes again, the irises were now highlighted with constantly shifting binary code. She smirked at my cocked eyebrow, "This body is... malleable."

"Right..." I mumbled, checking out her new, very attractive 'body'.

She giggled, Storm snorted, sauntering down the hallway. Beta winked, flickering for a moment before disappearing back into the suit.

I walked with Storm through several more corridors until we reached the mainframe room, a large rotunda housing several terminals and a computing tower the size of three ponies.

A white earth pony with a messy brown mane trotted in from a corridor labeled Landing Pad, apathetically looking me over behind his eyeglasses. He wasn't wearing armor, just a striped scarf, but his weaponry more than made up for it. Two displacer hooves on his forelegs, two customized ballistic hooves on his hind legs.

"So Storm," he said casually, "this is what you dragged in?"

"Yeah, spotted her tryin' to sneak around a Fiend patrol moving through the ruins."

Star nodded backwards at my team, following him out of the corridor, "I assume these assholes are the reason we wasted a green flare?"

Storm just snorted, punching his brother in the shoulder and brushing past Stripe, "I'm gonna get back to work, trade this lot what they need, 10% markup from standard price."

I blinked, "Why the markup?"

Star Punch smirked, "You've all got above average gear, meaning you've got an above average amount of caps, we're running a business here, not a charity. And speaking of business, what do you need?"

"Balefire eggs."

"Rare item, not cheap, hell, we're in a factory that produces the damn things and we only have five on hoof."

"Five should do."

"Not for sale, we need them."

"You've got a self sustaining fortress, what could you possibly need them for?"

A red light started flashing, a droning alarm blaring through the halls of the factory. Star sighed, shaking his head, "Situations like this."

Storm flew in from the landing pad, trotting to a corridor labelled "Kitchen", "Get the defences fired up, I'm gonna go prep the fridge."

Star nodded, cantering to the main console, I trotted to his side, "What's the fridge?"

"A refrigeration unit," he said snidely, "used for storing food goods prone to spoiling."

I cocked an eyebrow, "Then why-"

Storm interrupted us, tearing through the rotunda and back out to the roof with an oddly pristine refrigerator dragging behind him.

I blinked, "Uhhh-"

"Don't ask."

Beta manifested her hologram, pushing Star aside and looking over the mainframe, touching a hoof to a jack port and disappearing into the console, her face appearing on the monitor, "Automated turret and hologram systems operating at sixty percent efficiency... Rectified, sixty percent efficiency increase, systems operating at one hundred and twenty percent efficiency, you're welcome."

Star snorted, "Thanks, now get out of my computer."

She smirked, "No, I can manage things better from in here. Go assist your brother, I'll handle the defense dispatch."

"What makes you think you can get my men organised better than me?"

"I can partition myself into several cooperative routines and communicate with several teams at once, whereas you can only talk to one at a time. Make sense?"

"Yeah, point taken." He glanced at me sideways, "Care to join me on the roof?"

I shrugged casually, fixing Victory to my side, "Sure, why not. Be good Beta."

She winked at me playfully, "No promises Bandage, have fun."

***

I snorted, "That's a lot of raiders."

"No kidding." Storm mumbled, still fiddling with the combination lock on his fridge.

The western horizon, where we'd come from, was populated by a small army, a thousand at least.

Somepony trotted out behind us, a purple unicorn with an AM rifle slung over her back and a cigarette cocked in her mouth, "Storm," she said with a thick Prench accent, "some program told me to grab my shit and come up here. Fiend troubles?"

"Yeah." Storm said absently.

She sighed, spitting her cigarette and unslinging her rifle, "Good thing you assholes pay me so much, because I fucking hate this job."

"Why's that?" I asked casually, checking out her ass briefly as I trotted to her side.

She glanced me over for a moment as well, smirking, "Some junkie bitch, so fucked up she doesn't know she's the bad guy, and I have to cap her. Could just be sex though, I see a cute little number and I'd rather get between her flanks, so maybe I'm a stone-cold bitch after all."

I extended a hoof, "Bandage."

She bumped it, using her magic to load a magazine into her rifle, "Saule, when this is done would you care to join me for a toss in the sheets?"

I smirked, looking her over, "Sure, how's Prance this time of year?"

She snorted, leaning on a pipe and shouldering her rifle, "Shitty, like everywhere else."

My armor encased me and I hopped up onto a rusted awning, scanning over the advancing fiends with my targeting spells, though they were much more sluggish without Beta running them. I glanced back down at the Prench mare crouched below me, "Care for some friendly competition?"

She chuckled, "They're three kilometers out, call your shots?"

"Sure... Uhhh, second to last line, about twenty ponies to the right, left horn on his helmet broken off and a little green flag tied to the other."

She hummed for a few moments as she scanned with her rifle, "O-kay, spotted him."

I fired, zooming out when the raider's skull exploded in my scope.

"Solid shot..." she muttered, "Middle line, five ponies from the left, orange mane, not wearing a helmet."

"Got him."

She fired, smirking at me, "No, I got him."

We kept our game going for half an hour, neither of us missing once, finally getting serious when they started charging through the minefield.

The turrets went nuts, wildly firing lasers into the fray. Star started shouting at Storm, who was still having trouble with the lock, pushing him aside and obliterating it with a kick from his ballistic hoof.

Storm Shot grumbled, cracking the fridge and hefting the massive weapon inside onto his shoulder, carefully picking up a glowing green egg with his wing and loading it into the back, smirking at the cash register like ring that came from the launcher, "Bandage, this fine piece of ass is Esther, and as you can see, she's a whole lotta mare."

"What the hell is it?" I asked as he peeked through the blast shield towards the Fiends, biting down on the firing handle fixed to the side.

"Just watch." Saule said, a bemused little smirk tugging at her mouth.

A click, the egg went flying, a trail of dark green mist following it to its destination, exploding outward into a small balefire cloud upon impact, vaporising some, setting others ablaze, and sending every pony within 60 feet of the blast flying.

My radio crackled, my helmet filling with Stripe's laughter, "Boss, you see that?"

"Ohh yeah."

"That was fuckin' beautiful!"

"Keep it in your pants big guy."

"Whatever, we're gonna mop up anything the turrets missed down here, but tell Storm Shot to keep firin', there's a lot more t-"

Another blast cut him off, quickly followed by another, and another as Storm pulverised their forces with ease. Between the eggs and the mines, their numbers were thinned exponentially, leaving very slim pickings for the turrets.

Storm snorted, kissing Esther and loading her back into the fridge while Star Punch sounded the all clear over the radio. Scavengers poured out of the factory, collecting intact weapons and scraps of armor.

Saule sighed, lighting herself a cigarette, "Now we get to lay down new mines, that's always fun."

I chuckled and trotted past her, tickling her face with my tail, "You're indisposed for the rest of the evening, so don't worry about the mines."

***

My first foursome had been, to put things bluntly, fucking awesome. We were laying together in a heap now, Token, Kimba, Saule and I, stretching and groaning on the dirty mattress, "Damn," Saule muttered as she popped her shoulders, "wasn't expecting that when I woke up this morning."

I giggled, sitting up with her and nibbling her ear. Token pulled us both back down with her magic, promptly letting go when Kimba mauled her with an aggressive kiss.

An unusual pang of jealously struck me as I watched them making out, coming to a head when Token groaned quietly. I tossed Kimba aside, pulling my mare in tight and kissing her hard, gasping when the zebra barrelled into me and planted a very tender kiss of her own on my lips, breaking away with a soft "Mwah." and a playful wink.

Saule was at Kimba next, licking her neck and forcing a forehoof between her thighs, giggling at the zebra's pleased gasp.

Someone cleared their throat awkwardly and we all looked to Roho nervously shifting in the doorway, trying his best not to look at us, "I came to see if you needed anything, sorry if I interrup-"

Kimba was suddenly at his side, a wing thrown over his shoulder while she grinned at him seductively and scratched under his chin with a hoof, "Nonsense, you weren't interrupting anything you're not welcomed to join in on."

He gulped, his back legs clenching slightly, she giggled and kissed his cheek, running her striped tail between his flanks, "Come to bed sexy, let us show you a good time."

He shook his head, the three of us on the bed snuggled closer and pouted at him, "Please Roho?" I asked.

"C'mon," Kimba urged, "how's four mares sound?"

Poor thing was a trooper, still shaking his head, though his anatomy was betraying his good intentions, getting an impressed whistle out of me that made him go bright red.

"Sounds good to me," a familiar young mare said, "but make it five." She trotted up next to him, kissing her embarrassed boyfriend on the cheek, rubbing against him playfully as she stepped past and making my eyes go wide when she fell into bed next to me and gave me a very long and very pleasant kiss on the lips.

"Vell," Juni said expectantly, looking back to Roho as she broke away from me, "vhat are you vaiting for?"

He looked us over hesitantly, squeaking when Kimba shoved him towards us. Juni got up, holding his head in her hooves and pulling him into a kiss, leading him to the bed, pressing something tasty of her own to my lips as she backed up and gasping into his mouth when I gave it a gentle nip.

Kimba bit one of his flanks, urging him the rest of the way, we all piled onto him, kissing, licking, and playfully biting at his toned body. Juni rolled him over, rubbing his member between her haunches. Kimba and I leaned down, licking over his throbbing shaft, only stopping every few rotations to share a quick kiss.

Saule sat on his face, pulling his young blue lover into a kiss, occasionally groaning into her mouth. Token tended to me, though I cracked an eye open when Kimba gasped. Stripe had joined in, pushing his way into Kimba and rubbing the sensitive bridges of her wings with his hooves. My eyes shot wide when he leaned in next to me, running his powerful tongue alongside mine up Roho's member, snorting and licking his lips when the zebra squirted onto his muzzle.

I pulled away for a moment, cleaning the salty mess of his face for him and giving him an affectionate kiss before going back to work, sucking the young zebra's tip, giggling around it when Stripe playfully nipped at my ear.

He brushed past Roho's junk, working his muzzle between Juni's thighs and giving her sex a good lick, making her tremble and moan into Saule's mouth. She was dripping wet in mere moments, and Stripe was greedily lapping it up.

Kimba leaned down, panting from the solid dicking Stripe was giving her. She carefully engulfed Roho's testicles, sucking them gently, I smirked around his member, pulling away for a moment to swallow the tasty load he'd just squirted into my mouth before brushing past his cock to help Stripe pleasure Juni.

She clenched when my tongue slid in next to his, groaning loudly down Saule's throat as we took her through an orgasm. We both pulled away, kissing briefly before picking her ass up and easing her onto her boyfriend's dick. I clambered away from Token, pushing Saule aside and giving the panting young stallion a kiss, "Take a breather kiddo, then it's my turn."

He nodded, wiping his sweat matted mane out of his face, "Who's tongue was that?"

I smirked, "Stripe's, you like?"

His eyes widened and he wriggled a bit, stopping when Juni pinned his chest, "Don't you fu- fuck- fucking dare Roho, I- I need tis right n-now."

I glanced back at Kimba, who was currently moaning and leaking all over the floor, snorting when Token had Stripe pull out so she could lick at her sex, laughing when he pushed his way into Token next and she squealed in surprise. Saule surprised me with a kiss, I pushed her away for a moment, sitting on Roho's face then pulling her to me, touching horns and railing her with my euphoria spell, cramming my tongue down her throat to silence her loud moans.

Juni draped herself around my shoulders, panting loudly, "Roho, baby, I'm close again, just hold- unnh, hold it in a bit longer."

He nodded between my thighs, his lover clenched around my neck, biting down on my ear and moaning around it before collapsing off to his side. Roho grunted again, I turned around just in time to see him squirt again, snorting when the sticky mess hit me in the face.

Stripe smirked, pulling out of Token and crawling onto the mattress to lick my face clean, then leaned down, licking Roho's member aggressively. The zebra groaned into my sex, I smirked, shifting to let him breathe, "Want me to make him stop?"

"N-oh ooh!" he moaned, blushing furiously when Juni hugged around my neck and grinned down at him.

"I tink he likes it."

"I think he loves it."

He groaned again, Stripe snorted and stood, licking fresh cum from his lips, pushing me aside and pulling the blushing zebra into a kiss. Roho's eyes went wide, relaxing after a moment and closing, his forehooves absently resting around Stripe's tummy. Juni and I giggled, trading stallions, me sucking Roho's throbbing mass and she practically swallowing Stripe's.

The mares moved in behind us, Token and Kimba working on Juni, nipping at her folds and sucking her clit respectively. Saule worked on me, teasingly licking around my stimulated button. We broke away as the bucks climaxed, leaning in to kiss each other, worming our tongues over one another, swapping spit and jizz, smiling when we were finished and sharing a quick peck on the lips.

I threw a foreleg around Roho, who was panting and sweaty, pressed to Stripe's chest, "You do good work kid, that wasn't a bad start."

His eyes shot wide open and he looked at me sideways, "Start?"

Every mare in the room grinned at him wickedly, he just gulped in response and pressed his face back into Stripe's thick fur. The older stallion chuckled, making Roho's eyes shoot wide open again when he pulled him to his lap, their junk colliding.

I pressed myself to Roho's back, wrapping my forelegs around both their necks and licking the zebra's cheek, "Don't worry kiddo, we'll be gentle."

Juniper pressed to his other side, smirking, "At first anyvays..."

Roho gulped, Striped kissed him and nuzzled his snout reassuringly, he relaxed, settling against his frame, smirking briefly, even doing a bit of playful grinding downstairs.

I wrapped around his midsection, pulling him down with me, carefully gripping his shaft with my magic and tugging while Juni locked into a kiss with him. She rolled over to my side as they broke away, nudging my flank with her muzzle, prompting me to mount up.

I clambered over Roho, sliding myself over his throbbing erection, smirking slightly at his somewhat surprised expression, leaning down to kiss him, shifting to my right to whisper in his ear, "I've still got a contraceptive implant, feel free to climax inside if you want."

He nodded briefly, gyrating his hips, I giggled a bit, sitting up and biting my lip as I bobbed on his lap, "Impressive buck you've got here Juni."

She smirked, pecking his lips affectionately before sitting on his muzzle and wrapping her forelegs around my neck, "Tought you might enjoy a ride."

Roho groaned loudly between her legs, and suddenly Stripe was pressed to my back. I glanced back at him with an eyebrow cocked, "Are you?"

"Yeah." he replied casually. I was going to comment, cut off by my own loud groan as Roho thrusted up into me with a surprising amount of force.

He kept it up, I smiled dumbly, leaning back against Stripe and moaning, frowning angrily when he let out another loud groan and stopped completely. I pushed Juni off and she scampered away skittishly, then glared down at the panting zebra, "Not cool Roho."

"Sorry." he groaned out quietly. I pouted, looking around for Juni, smirking when I saw her fate.

The mares had her upside-down by the hind legs, their muzzles buried between her thighs, a gag stuffed in her mouth, a smile wrapped around it and her eyes on the verge of rolling to the back of her head.

I sat up and trotted to her, pulling the gag free, stifling her loud moans of pleasure with a kiss, then my thighs as I sat on her face carefully and joined the mares in licking at her succulent folds. She squirted almost immediately when my tongue pressed to her clit, spraying us all with a light mist of mare juice as her folds overflowed.

We all giggled wickedly, lapping up the small feast, again I was stifled by my own moan as Juni bit down somewhere special with just the right amount of pressure. They smirked at me, I gasped for a moment, collecting myself before returning the favor, sending the sensitive young mare into yet another orgasm.

I sat her upright, pulling her to my chest, the others pressing to her back and kissing at her shoulders and neck affectionately. She glanced up and pecked me on the lips before tiredly slumping against me, "I tink I'm done."

I nodded, planting a kiss on her muzzle and snuggling up to her. The mares left us, tending to Roho, by which I mean gagging him and viciously attacking Kimba's folds while she practically swallowed his member and Stripe carefully plowed his ass..

I sighed, propping Juni's chin up and giving her a long and affectionate kiss, smirking at her confused expression, "What? Not every thing I do has to be super naughty."

She blinked, snorting, "Fuck tis."

I cocked an eyebrow, she tackled me, getting a laugh out of me before cramming her tongue down my throat for silence. I smirked around the kiss, gripping her ass and pulling her up a bit, grabbing one of the plus sized vibrators we'd used before and sliding it somewhere special, grinning wickedly when she pulled away half lidded and drooling, "Don't start something you can't finish Juni baby."

***

Roho stirred slightly, I hushed him, kissing behind his ear, he blinked awake anyways, pulling Juni closer to his chest and licking up the bridge of her nose affectionately.

"How ya feeling kiddo?" I whispered to him.

He just mumbled something about his bum being sore, I smirked and kissed his cheek, giggling quietly when Stripe leaned over me and nipped at his ear, making him blush.

"Don't be ashamed for liking it," Juni mumbled tiredly, "it's sexy."

Stripe just chuckled, easing away and standing. I grumbled, giving Juniper a quick peck on the lips before following him, smirking slightly at Token, Kimba and Saule, all curled together and snoring quietly.

"So," I said as we left the room, "seeing you work last night was pretty sweet."

He snorted, bumping me playfully, "Don't get used to it, last night was a once in a blue moon type o' thing."

"Hey, no need to be defensive about it big guy, Roho's a sexy beast, if I was a stallion I wouldn't have hesitated to get a piece."

He glanced at me sideways, unamused, I just smirked, "Don't try to act like you didn't love it, and don't think I didn't notice you paying special attention to our young buck. You were fucking and sucking all night, not necessarily in that order. By the way," I muttered, pointing towards his crotch, "you're cleaning that off really well today, I'm sure anal sex was great and all, but it's damned messy."

He cracked, chuckling quietly, "Yes ma'am."

"So, how tight was he anyways? I mean seriously, you used tons of lu-" He cut me off, shoving me into the wall and trotting past me.

***

I shifted uncomfortably under Star's apathetic gaze, negotiations weren't my strong point, "Like I said before, they're not for sale, and we've got even fewer now, what made you think I'd change my mind?"

I tried to say something, coming up blank. Beta manifested next to me, clearing her throat, "While I was cleaning up your systems I noticed some things in your supply manifest. You've got four hologram emitters that you're not using, they run on their own constant power supply, can cut down entire platoons in moments, they would adequately serve the needs of our client, should you be willing to part with them."

"I would be, damn things don't break down, we won't need replacements, but that's specialized equipment, it'll be pricy."

"How much?"

"Twenty five hundred a piece, even ten thousand caps."

"Sounds fair."

"No it doesn't, we won't pay any more than eight thousand caps."

"Tough shit for you then."

"I improved your defenses, my services will cost you two thousand caps, cut that from your demand and eight thousand is the deal."

He snorted, looking the hologram over, "Eighty five hundred."

She smirked, "We pay you eight, or you pay me two, we take our business elsewhere, and you squander an opportunity to make money."

He shifted in his seat slightly, glaring at her, "Fine, eight thousand it is. I'll head down to the store room and get them for you, have our payment ready when I get back."

We both nodded, I grinned at Beta as he left the room, throwing a foreleg over her shoulder and planting a kiss on her cheek, my lips tingling, "That was fantastic mate."

She smiled sheepishly, shifting slightly as her hue changed from blue to pink, "It was nothing."

"Bollocks, it was bloody impressive."

She giggled quietly, I smirked, cocking her head and planting a kiss on her lips. She was bright pink when I pulled away, I giggled this time, tousling her holographic mane, "So, what's that feel like?"

She smirked, shifting back to blue, "You're wondering if this body can register sexual excitement? Because it can't, and neither can I, an amusing gesture though, I admit I'm a bit embarrassed."

"Aww, that's a bummer, I'll have to have Data tweak your programming so we can have some fun together."

She rolled her eyes, still smiling, "She probably would too, bloody pervert."

I chuckled, smacking her on the shoulder, "I gotta say I'm liking the new you quite a bit Beta."

She flickered slightly, frowning, her hue darkening, "Right now I'm technically dysfunctional, unstable, I was written with locks on certain aspects of my personality, so that I could manage things more efficiently... I haven't bothered putting those locks back in place, or maybe I just don't want to, or maybe-"

I put a hoof to her lips and smiled reassuringly, "Beta, you're fine, you're not unstable, you just need time to learn how to keep your emotions in check, just like any other pony."

"But what if you're in combat and-"

"Hey, we've been partners for five months now, you've been watching my back the whole time, I trust you to keep it together, alright?"

Her hue went back to bright blue, and she smiled, nodding slightly, "Okay Bandage."

***

I rolled the blue half-sphere around in my armored forehooves, looking it over, "So, how do I work this thing?"

Beta manifested in the seat across from me, extending a hoof, I nodded and passed it to her. She turned it around, pointing out a black metallic button on the back, "Press this and set the unit down, the V.I will handle the rest."

"Right," I muttered, taking it back from her just before she returned to my armor, looking back at my friends, "everyone know the plan?"

Rawr snorted, "Place blue orbs, lay down fire, what hard t' remember about that pony?"

"Just checking Rawr."

He snorted again, tapping the side of his head with a claw, "Boss pony been fuckin’ too much, makin' her head soft."

I stuck my tongue out at him, he clenched a fist, raising his middle finger, a gesture I still didn't understand.

"Coming up on Bookfort," Kimba shouted back at us, "get ready to drop."

Rawr, Stripe, Token and I all prepped our weapons, the former adjusting the thick metal plates we'd loosely strapped to him for armor.

The hold door cracked open, filling the Pearl with fresh air, the rear gun descended from the ceiling, Hex wrapped the triggers in her magic, firing wildly into the crowd below, mulching Fiends here and their. I took a deep breath, extending my suit's wings and leaping from the SkyNaut, gliding 40 feet to the ground just in front of the gate.

End of Part 1.

Author’s Note: Ugh, really hate having to split this into parts, but I’m leaving for Basic Training soon and I want to get something out before I leave. Won’t be back until February, so the fic is on hiatus til then, hopefully it’ll be a short 6 weeks so I can get back to writing. To anyone that actually enjoys reading this I apologize for the wait and thank you for your patience.

Bomber Ted, out until further notice.