Chapter 2

Our first night outside, it sucked, to say the least. The only thing keeping Token and I warm was the fire our armored companion, Stripe, had started for us with some scrap wood from a rotting house, and each other's body heat. Stripe sat across from us, his gun laying in front of him, manually turning the barrels with his hooves.

“What is that thing anyway?” Token asked.

“Minigun,” he replied absently, “IF-57 Avenger, to be exact.”

I wrapped his explosive launcher in my magic and levitated it in front of him, “And this?” I asked.

“Red Glare, it’s a prototype rocket launcher, 13 round rocket canister, fully automatic and a 2.86 times magnification scope with lock-on capabilities.”

“Where do you get these things?”

“Looting military bases in the Divide, it’s fuckin’ dangerous but it generally pays off.”

“What’s the Divide?” Token and I asked simultaneously.

“Massive canyon running through the middle of Trottingham, apparently some balefire bombs blew up underground. Thing's a good 20 miles across and stretches the entire length of Trottingham.”

"What makes it so dangerous?"

He looked up from his weapon, his visor seeming to glare at us, "You two ask a lot of questions," he said, the frustration in his voice obvious.

We muttered apologies and he let out a long sigh, "An easier question to answer would be what doesn't make it dangerous, it's basically a fuckin' death-trap. Unstable canyon walls, undetonated balefire warheads, and wind storms that will peel flesh off of bone. And that's just the environmental hazards. Place is filled with Marked Ones."

"Marked Ones?" Token asked.

"Basically, Ghouls who's skin was torn off by the storms."

"Ghouls?" I asked.

"Try to imagine a dead, rotting pony that's not all the way dead.”

I blinked a few times and laughed, “That’s not physically possible!”

He just shrugged. “Think what ya want, you’ll see a few in the next town, if they haven’t moved on that is.”

Token was mumbling something, her eyes wide, “What’s wrong?” I whispered.

“That sounds horrifying,” she said with a shudder.

“Nah,” Stripe said with a dismissive wave of his hoof, “most sentient Ghouls are just regular folks tryin’ to make it by, just a bit overcooked is all. Ferals though, ugh, ferals piss me off.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Ferals are bat shit insane and try to take chunks out of anything that ain’t a Ghoul.”

I was laughing again, this guy had to be screwing with us! Storms that could peel off flesh was in itself a little unbelievable, but zombie ponies?

“Anyway,” he continued, unphased by my laughter, “the only safe places to hide from the Marked Ones is in the tunnels, and let’s just say they have a damn good reason for avoiding ‘em.”

“Why’s that?” Token asked, moving closer to me and hiding her eyes behind her mane. I swear, it was like an old buck telling a bad ghost story to a filly.

“Tunnellers.”

“Tunnellers?”

He nodded once, “Tunnellers.”

I snickered a bit, “So, what big bad monsters are these ‘Tunnellers’?”

His tone dropped to an incredibly serious one, “You know Diamond Dogs?”

I nodded, “From Splendid Valley right? The ones that captured the Ministry Mare?”

He nodded, “Imagine that, but twisted by radiation and adapted to life underground. Big teeth, glowing eyes, bullet-proof hide, and claws that can shred through damn near anything.”

“You’re kidding, right?” I said, a small smile creeping up my face as Token shrank into me.

He took off his helmet and stared right at me, his eyes piercing, his expression stony and unwavering, “It ain’t a fuckin’ joke, this isn’t a fuckin’ ghost story, and I ain’t a liar.”

I shrank back a bit too, I swear I heard Token whimpering, “So, how do you know about these things?”

“My first time in the Divide was about four years ago. I was stupid, young buck in his prime, fresh outta the Hoof, lookin’ to kick ass, take names, and make money. I signed up as a guard for a scavenging expedition. We went in with twenty ponies, armed to the teeth with the best gear we could get our hooves on,” his expression was almost frighteningly grim at this point, “by the end of day one, we were down to fourteen ponies. Marked Ones were stomping us into the dirt, and the wind was tearing at us. Night was coming, Ghouls can see in the dark and we couldn’t, so we figured it’d be a good idea to bunker up in one of the old tunnels. By morning, we were down to nine ponies, something had crept in during the night and taken five of us, the guard didn’t see or hear a Goddess damned thing, but there were blood trails goin’ from the camp to some weird mounds on the far end of the cave.”

He took a deep breath and shook himself a bit, “By the end of day two, we were down to four ponies. Marked Ones are smart, real smart, they hide up in the wreckage of old buildings and snipe you out, and when you run for cover? Well shit, turns out they were just choking you into a trap. Land mines, satchel charges, cloaked Ghouls waiting in ambush positions. The worst traps they sent you into though? The false security of those tunnels. I was on guard that night, me and some pony, he watched the door while I watched the camp.” He paused to take another long breath, the fear visible in his expression, “I didn’t notice it at first, thought I was seeing shit, it was just a bunch of glowing dots moving through the dark, by the time I figured out what it was, one of the sleeping ponies had his throat torn out and was dragged into one of those mounds, and another had just popped out as he went in. I freaked, screamed, shot everything I had at it, but the fuck was just sponging the hollow points I was using. By the time he woke up, the other sleeper was having his guts torn out. The other guard and I bolted for the door, but some snipers were watching the exit, they blew his back legs off.” He shuddered violently, “I kept running, turned just in time to see that *thing* drag him back into it’s hole, his screaming was just echoing through the canyon.”

Token was holding on to me with near bone-crunching force, her eyes wide with terror. I was holding her right back, I didn’t want to hear anymore, but this story needed an ending, I was too enthralled now.

“Then what happened?” I asked, almost wanting to reach out and force the words back into my mouth.

He sighed, “I ran, ran as fast as I could, ran until my legs gave out and my lungs were burning, and when I wasn’t able to run anymore, I crawled. Managed to make my way to the place we came in from, hunkered down in an old army barracks, hid under a bed and kept my battle saddle trained on the door. Lasted there about a week, livin’ on two hundred year old MRE’s and hour long periods of incredibly light sleep. When my legs were ready to work again, I made my way back to Hoofington and spent the next six months gettin’ scolded by my momma in Flank for being such a fuckin’ dumbass.”

“That place sound like something the stable clergy would say when describing Hell,” Token said with a whimper.

He just nodded, “Pretty similar I reckon. But I’d take seven months in the Divide over an hour in Hoofington any day.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“The Divide is bad, don’t get me wrong, but the monsters is what you worry about. In Hoofington, it seems like the damn city just wants you to die. Hell, that’s why I moved to Trottingham, monsters and raiders may be thicker over here but they’re a cake walk compared to Enervation.”

“Enervation?”

He grimaced at the word, “Bad shit, real, real bad shit. Don’t know exactly what it is, nopony does, but it basically just actively works to make ponies dead. Weakens you, fucks up your healing potions, makes small injuries turn into internal bleeding, hell, I saw a pony with a broken leg walk through some Enervation on the way to Flank, the damn thing fuckin’ fell off.”

“Goddesses.” I muttered.

“That ain’t the half of it, if a pony has some taint in their system, Enervation slowly takes ‘em apart, shredded muscles, melting eyes, and sometimes it breaks down their bones so much that they’re more rubbery than solid.”

“How does anypony survive in a place like that?”

He snorted, “They don’t, usually, best thing you can do is settle in a place with as little Enervation as possible, Chapel supposedly has none, same with the Arena, but I ain’t been to either so I couldn’t tell ya. Flank wasn’t too bad when you stayed in the town proper, but the road in is thick with the shit.”

I was going to ask more, but Token was literally having a breakdown and I doubted he wanted to answer any more questions.

"Are you okay?" I whispered to her.

"I want to go home," she sobbed quietly, "this world is fucking terrible."

I spent most of the night stroking Token’s mane to calm her down until she finally fell into a whimpering sleep. I couldn’t sleep though, too much to process, that and every time I tried to close my eyes my mind flooded with the images of exploding ponies and shredded body parts. Stripe stayed up with me, but glared every time I tried to make small talk.

***

The short trip to the next town was relatively uneventful, Token badgered Stripe for more information on Trottingham, I was just glad she wasn't freaking out anymore. I spent my time taking practice shots at these disgusting, over-sized insects that Stripe had identified as bloatsprites.

I was surprised to find that the next town was actually named The Next Town, they had a sign propped up and everything. It was actually rather large from my perspective, but then, I’d never seen a town before. Most of it was a collection of thrown together shacks but there was an old world building that Stripe told us served as a mayor’s office.

“All right ladies, this is where we part ways.” He pointed a hoof towards the meeting hall structure, “If you find yourselves in need of caps, there ought to be bounties posted on a board in Dirge’s office.”

“Bounties?” Token asked.

He groaned and smacked an armored hoof to his face, “Goddesses you ask a lot of questions. Bounties are ponies that need killin’ or jobs that ponies need done, talk to the Ghoul at the desk inside, she should be able to sort you out.”

“Thanks Stripe,” I said, “wouldn’t have made it this far without you.”

“Nope, probably not,” he said dryly, “well, bye. I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure, but frankly you two annoy the hell outta me.”

Token extended a hoof, but Stripe just turned and started trotting out of town.

“This is going to sound odd,” she whispered, “but I hope that’s not going to be the last we see of that bloke.”

I looked at her with a cocked eyebrow, “You’re joking, right?”

She shook her head, “No, he may have been a curmudgeonly ass, but he was damned knowledgeable.”

I sighed, “Whatever, let’s head in, I want to see one of these ‘Ghouls’ up close.”

I trotted towards the structure, but stopped when I realized Token wasn’t following, I turned to see her biting her lip nervously, “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, “I don’t think I could stand seeing one of those things, I was having nightmares about them all night long.”

I rolled my eyes, “Come on, don’t be chicken, and remember what Stripe said? Most of them are friendly.”

She stood there for a bit, fidgeting her hooves, then finally nodded and trotted after me.

When I saw it, I froze. Sitting at the front desk was a fucking zombie pony, her skin, what was left of it anyway, looked like it’d been thrown in an oven, and was covered with open sores where you could see the muscle moving underneath. Her eyes were giving off an unsettling yellow glow, and when she stared at me I almost messed myself.

“Hello dearie,” she said with a cheerful, if not slightly gravelly voice, “what can I help you with?”

“Y-you, your a, a-”

“Ghoul?” she asked sweetly, “Yes dear, for about a century now.”

“H-h-how?” I stammered.

“Oh the basic way, from what others have told me is basic anyway, took in quite the hefty dose of radiation and after a few weeks my mane was all but fallen out and my skin was in dire need of a good moisturizing.”

While I was contemplating the medical impossibilities this creature was pulling off, Token was dangerously close to biting completely through her bottom lip.

"Oh dear, you're hurt!"

The Ghoul trotted up to Token from around her desk and wiped off a small trickle of blood going down Token's face with a dirty rag she had pulled from her pocket.

"All better?" she asked in that same sweet tone.

"Y-yes," Token stammered, "thank you ma'am."

The Ghoul beamed at Token, her teeth were grotesque, and her gums had the same burnt look of her flesh, but she somehow managed to look adorable.

"Please dear, call me Sunshine."

“Okay... Sunshine.”

“Anyway dears, what can I help you with?”

“Oh,” I said, shaking off my stupor, “our friend told us to ask you about the bounty board outside.”

“Oh yes!” she said brightly, “We have several small jobs that need doing, should help a couple stable ponies like yourselves learn the ropes out here.”

I nodded my head, looking over the long list of jobs on the chalkboard, “What would you recommend?”

“Hmm,” she mumbled, “I’d say clearing out the mole-rat nest to the east of town sounds like something you should be able to handle quite well. It pays decent, hundred caps and a couple of healing potions.”

“What are mole-rats?”

“Oversized bald rodents, big teeth, but not too much of a challenge. Really I think the only reason Dirge posted it was because it’s a rather tedious task.”

“I guess we’re in.”

“Excellent!” she said, eagerly trotting back behind her desk and pulling out a form, “I’ll need you to sign this bounty slip please.”

She slid the form and a rather ancient looking pencil across the desk, it looked incredibly pointless, just a line for me to sign and some information about the job.

“Why?” I asked.

“It’s something Dirge started up about a decade ago, he says it helps him keep track of things, but really it's just so he has something else to sort through, keeps him busy.”

I magically grabbed the pencil and scribbled my name on the line. Sunshine dragged the form and the pencil back across the desk and looked it over.

“Bandage,” she mumbled, “that’s a... pretty name.”

Token was snickering softly behind me and I felt my cheeks heating up. I hated my name, it wasn’t mine or my parent’s choice. The Overmare gets to name all the colts and fillies when we get our cutie marks. Medicine was my special talent so I got that roll of bandages slapped on my flank, and the Overmare, with all her creative and imaginative wisdom, named me Bandage.

Token was lucky with her name, probably because she was damn lucky with everything else. Luck was her special talent, which I really don’t understand, it’s why she has that silly little rabbit’s foot charm as a cutie mark. The previous Overmare also happened to be her mom, so she put some actual thought into the naming process and named her Token because she was ‘a symbol of the luck she brought to the stable’ or somet cheesy shit like that.

“Trust me ma’am, I despise that name.”

She smiled brightly again, “It’s a perfectly fine name, and you know, if you don’t care for it you could just change it.”

I cocked an eyebrow at this, “What do you mean change it?”

“Please dear, you don’t think my mother gave me the name Sunshine do you? My mother had never even seen the sun before, nor have I. I just change it up every few decades to keep from getting bored with it.”

Wait... what? “What was that you said about neither you or your mother seeing the sun?”

“I’ve never seen the sun and my mother never saw it. It’s quite common actually, with the cloud cover and all.”

“How old are you exactly?”

“Hmm,” she mumbled, running a hoof through what was left of her mane, “let’s see, I was only eighteen when I was afflicted with my current condition, and it’s been roughly ninety two years since then, so about one hundred and twenty years old, if my math is correct.”

“And how old was your mother when she had you?”

“Twelve.”

“So that means the sun hasn’t shone in at least a hundred and thirty three years?!”

“Oh no, there have been rare occurrences where it pokes its head out for brief moments, I’ve never experienced one though,” she said with a touch of sadness, “a shame too, I hear Celestia’s sun is a sight to behold.”

‘Shocked’ and ‘confused’ would not describe what I was feeling at the moment. This made no sense, cloud cover that could last for over a hundred years?

“How?” Token asked, the same dumbfounded look as my own on her face.

“The pegasus Enclave keeps the sky sealed up rather tightly dears.”

Sunshine then spent the better part of an hour explaining to us the details of this ‘Enclave’ and how they’d kept the sky closed ever since the bombs dropped, and how they only ever came down on rare occasions to scout out the surface. It seemed horrible and selfish to me, shutting away the sky for protection but making it so that nopony on the ground would ever feel the warmth of the sun again.

Though, I suppose nopony born after the bombs would really miss all that much if they’ve never seen it. The closest thing I’d experienced to sunlight was the extra-bright surgery lamp that Syringe had in the clinic. But still, one of the big reasons I’d wanted to go outside was the sun.

Things on the outside really weren’t working out as I expected. I anticipated sunlight, only to find that Equestria was permanently shaded by clouds. I anticipated civilized ponies, and the first ones we met killed and ate Cookie and tried to enslave us. We’d only met two helpful ponies so far, one was a murderous psychopath and the other was a very sweet zombie pony.

Frankly, the outside was hell, and we’d only been out for one day.

As we trotted out of the office building, Token let out a long sigh, “It’s official, this place sucks.”

I stopped and stared at her, she stopped as well and stared back, “What’s wrong?”

“You should have stayed in the stable,” I said, choking back tears, “you shouldn’t have to go through this with me.”

She hit me square in the face. Not enough to hurt, but definitely enough to get my attention, “You’re an idiot,” she said through gritted teeth, “I came with you because life inside 80 would have been a living hell without you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re my best friend stupid, you were the only good thing about Stable 80,” she was blinking back tears of her own now, “you were the only thing the matchmaker ever got right, and if I lost you, I probably would have just gone into the clinic and asked to be euthanized.”

“But this place-” she interrupted me with an incredibly tight hug.

“This place is a cakewalk compared to the emotional strain of knowing that you were out here alone,” she whispered, “as bad as this may be, at least I know that I have you at my side, and that we’re going to face it all together.”

After a minute or two of us standing in the middle of the street, hugging like idiots, we finally started making our way to the mole-rat nest that was marked as an objective on my PipBuck.

It didn’t take us very long to reach it, 20 minutes or so at a trotting pace, and it definitely didn’t look all that impressive, really it was just a large hole dug out of a hill.

My PipBuck let out a small beep. I looked at the map and a little square with the words ‘Mole-Rat Nest’ had appeared, a small gear shape off to the south a ways where Stable 80 was, and to the west was ‘The Next Town.’

I never understood how PipBucks worked, and being out here was just making me more confused about them. This device managed to tell me the names of towns and locations that didn’t exist when it was created. It could tell me the value of something in my inventory in a form of currency that certainly hadn’t existed back then. Just by resting on my leg, this device could somehow tell me everything wrong with my physical being.

Eyes Forward Sparkle was a miracle in itself, somehow being able to tell friends from enemies and give me a compass with objective and location updates. S.A.T.S made no sense to me whatsoever, the targeting assist I could understand but the slowed down time was a bloody mystery.

I’d once asked a technician about it, but he’d simply waved a hoof and said something about how it was magic and that he didn’t have to explain it. Though that wasn’t a satisfactory answer, I’d learned to live with it, considering everyone from the company that invented the damn things was long dead.

“You ready?” Token asked.

“Yeah,” I said with a smile, “this’ll be a piece of cake.”

***

It wasn’t as easy as expected. The mole-rats weren’t exactly tough, or smart, but they were ferocious little bastards. One had rushed Token while we were both reloading and managed to give her a nasty bite on her left front leg. Our aim was rather poor as well, and S.A.T.S took a while to recharge, so ammo was practically being wasted.

“We really need to work on our aim!” Token yelled as she bashed in the head of a mole-rat with the butt of her rifle.

“I concur!” I yelled back as I reloaded.

We were almost done, my PipBuck only listed 2 more mole-rats in the nest. The nest itself had been rather misleading on the outside, what had looked like a hole dug out of a hill was actually an entrance to a rather extensive series of cramped tunnels. The mole-rats had an advantage the entire time, my rifle was meant for long range, and Token’s rifle kept jamming.

The last two charged around the corner, I dispatched them easily enough with my rifle, but my rifle ammo was dangerously low with only about 6 shots on backup and 9 shots in total.

“Looks like we’re going to be spending our reward on ammunition,” I sighed.

Token nodded and tossed her assault rifle away, “I’ll need to find another weapon, this rifle is rubbish.”

“You could always use it as a club,” I said with a smile.

“Hmm,” she mumbled, picking it back up with her magic and giving it a few practice swings.

I rolled my eyes and started back towards the entrance, “It was a joke, Token.”

She shrugged, “Eh, at least I saved ammo, still got ten magazines left.”

“I suppose that’s the one advantage of rifle jams.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled, “I suppose so.”

***

“Excellent work dears!” Sunshine said pulling out a pouch of caps and a couple of healing potions. “Here’s your payment.”

“Thanks,” I said, levitating the pouch into my saddlebags, Token sucked down one of the healing potions for the bite, “know anywhere we can get some more ammo?”

“Oh yes dear! There’s a trading outpost up the road, and if I’m not mistaken there’s a hundred cap bounty to deliver supplies to one of the stands there.”

“We’ll take it.”

“Excellent!” Sunshine pulled one of the bounty slips out and I signed it, “Put that in your saddlebags and give it to the client along with the supplies.”

I nodded and she dragged a crate out of a closet behind her desk.

“It’s going to a Mr. Caliber, he should pay you when he gets it.”

The walk to the outpost only took about an hour, I was going to take shots at some bloatsprites we spotted along the way but decided against it considering our ammo situation.

I kept catching Token staring at me, actually, it was more like checking me out. Whenever I asked her what she was doing she just blushed and looked away. I was beginning to think the fresh air was getting to her.

The trading outpost looked similar to Shackle’s camp, but it was filled with store-stands and merchants instead of cages and slavers. We browsed through the stands, and eventually came to ‘Caliber’s Discount Ordinance’. The old earth pony working the stand, Mr. Caliber I presumed, whistled when we walked up.

“What can I do for you fine lookin’ ladies today?” he asked with a sly smile.

“Uh, we have some supplies from Next Town.” I said, passing him the bounty slip as Token gave him the supply crate.

“Thank you ladies.” The gray pony passed us another pouch of caps. “Anything else I can get for ya?”

“Yeah, we could use some ammo and Token needs a weapon.”

He nodded, “I can sort ya out, what’s your price range?”

“Three hundred and twenty seven caps.”

“Good thing I sell discount eh? What kinda weapon ya lookin’ for?”

“An assault rifle would be best,” Token said, “5.56 millimeter.”

He got a rifle from behind the counter, “Seventy five caps.”

She picked it up with her magic and looked it over, “What’s wrong with it.”

Caliber chuckled, “Not a damn thing madam, it’s in fine working order.”

“Why the low price?”

“I sell things at discount prices,” he leaned closer, “and I knocked off another twenty five caps cause I think yer pretty,” he said with a wry smile.

“Oh,” she blushed, “thanks.”

“Now, what kind of ammo do ya’ll need?”

“I should be fine on assault rifle ammo for now, but Bandage needs some .308 rounds.”

“All right, how much you lookin’ to buy?”

“How much you got?” I asked.

“‘Bout fifty rounds, one cap a piece.”

“I’ll take all of it.”

He nodded and we exchanged caps and ammo. Then he threw a book on the counter.

I leaned forward and read the cover, “Guns and Bullets?”

“Mmhmm,” he said with a nod, “read up on that, it’ll teach you how to better use and maintain yer weapons.”

“How much?”

He shrugged, “Free of charge, ya done me a solid bringin’ those supplies.”

“Thanks Caliber.”

He waved a hoof and smiled again, “No problem, do me another solid and stay gorgeous won’t ya?”

Token was blushing and I rolled my eyes.

***

We were back in town. Upon return, Sunshine had been nice enough to rent us out a shack at the discount price of 10 caps a night. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was clean, and the bed was surprisingly cozy.

Token had been asleep for a couple of hours, I’d stayed up to read ‘Guns and Bullets’ and clean our rifles. When I finally collapsed into bed, Token stirred and snuggled closer to me. I had trouble sleeping that night, as tired as I was. I was missing the small comforts like showers and clean clothes, and I felt incredibly dirty.

I buried my face in Token's mane, she smelled clean. I probably wasn't as dirty as I felt, but what can I say, I'm spoiled.

Then I started crying, I'd been doing that a lot recently, this time I didn't really know why though.

Token stirred and rolled over to face me. "You okay?" she asked with a yawn.

"I'm fine, just tired I think."

"All right," she yawned, "night mate."

Then she pecked me softly on the lips, and both our eyes shot wide open.

"What th-"

"Sorry!" she exclaimed nervously. "Chalk that up under tired mistake, yeah?"

She rolled over again, but I'd have none of it, this conversation wasn't over, not by a long shot.

"Hey," I said, poking her in the back with a hoof.

She pretended to snore, so I started blowing on her ear, an old trick I'd used to piss her off for years.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing!" she snapped. "Sod off."

"If it was nothing you wouldn't be pissy about it."

She sighed and rolled over to face me, she was going to say something, but I interrupted her with a kiss. At first her eyes were wide with surprise, but then she kissed me back, her eyes relaxing.

The stable’s matchmaker had always talked about something that good couples had. Chemistry. The natural ability to connect with another pony. About how when they were together, there was a sense of zen, and when they kissed, each would feel sparks.

I felt those sparks at this moment, with my best friend. I’d never thought of Token in that way, relationships outside what was chosen for you were forbidden, and they were always heterosexual. It seemed cruel, keeping ponies from what I was feeling. Before, matchmaking was always an inconvenience, now, it seemed monstrous.

I broke away from her and smiled, she smiled back and nuzzled my cheek.

“How long have you felt this way?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug, “a long time I guess.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“It was forbidden, I guess I just subconsciously pushed those emotions to the back of my mind. And when we were out, and those rules no longer applied-”

“They came to the surface?”

“Yeah.”

She kissed me again, that same tingly sensation going through me.

We spent the rest of the night cuddling and nuzzling and kissing. The shittiest two days I'd ever experienced had culminated in the best night of my life so far.

***

I didn't want to get out of bed the next morning, I wanted to stay there, holding Token, with my face buried in her mane to take in her scent. She unfortunately had other plans, prompting me to get up with a very long, very nice kiss, peppered with a hint of tongue.

"Why can't we kiss in bed?" I grumbled tiredly when she paused.

"Because," she replied brightly, squeezing into her barding, "we've got work to do, money to make, that sort of thing."

I shook my head and wrapped my forelegs around her neck from behind, pulling her back to bed, "Not today we don't, let's just stay in."

"Hmm, but what could two ponies do in bed?" she asked with a sly, shit eating grin.

I grinned right back and pressed my face to hers, "I'm sure we could think of something..."

She pulled away, just slightly, "I want to take this- us, slow, is that alright?"

I nodded and hugged her tight, "Totally fine, even though I think we've been besties long enough to skip the getting to know each other period."

She chuckled and nestled her head against my neck, "More of a get used to kissing my best friend period."

"Well..." I muttered, pecking her lips, "Let's help that along shall we?"

She giggled, "You're bad."

I let loose, replying between quick kisses, "And you're... so... so... good."

Footnote: Level up

New perk: Cherchez La Filly - +10% damage to the same sex and unique dialogue options with certain ponies.

Skill Note: Guns (25)