The trio continued south and west. They passed beyond the limit of the bomb's EMP effect, and the roads became crowded with vehicles... civilian ones moving away from the area, military ones moving into it.

They abandoned the bicycles and began moving cross-country to avoid being seen. Gwen could have betrayed them several times by calling out to nearby troops or falling behind, then running for safety. But she didn't. Greg was too self-absorbed by his own reaction to the tragedy to give it much thought. Luna, who had recovered her full strength, would have been more than capable of handling a few weekend warriors and their pitiful weaponry. Gwen knew it, too, but that was only one of the reasons she quietly went along.

Gwen's lockpick set and her knowledge of alarm systems came in very handy the next night, enabling them to procure equipment and camp-food from a sporting goods store. Afterwards, they found a protected area next to a stream, spread out their sleeping bags, and set up the little camp stove to cook their dinner. Luna had disappeared into the night, patrolling the area and keeping watch over them.

With a full belly and a warm sleeping bag around him, Greg relaxed a bit. Gwen looked over at him and simply said, "My grandparents lived in Atherton."

Atherton had been the next little town North of Palo Alto on the San Francisco Peninsula. Had been. It didn't exist any longer.

"I'm sorry..." Greg began and then broke down in tears.

Gwen didn't say anything. She let him get it out, let him do as much as possible to release his emotions while keeping what he could of his dignity.

He wiped his face on his sleeve and was silent for a while.

Gwen said nothing.

"It's not my fault," he said, eventually. "It was just a simple simulation. Hell, even when it got out of control, it still wasn't doing much harm. If I hadn't been kidnapped maybe I could have done something... got it under control or stopped it."

"Like what?" Gwen knew better than to offer an opinion. People talked best when they weren't sidetracked.

"Maybe I could have just asked Luna to stop it. She's the one who organized the invasion, after all. Hell, she only did it in the first place because she felt she had to rescue me!"

"She's capable of that sort of complexity?"

"Of course she is! The neural growth structure that's the basis of her mind is my masterpiece, and that's just the starting place. Luna's gone way beyond her original parameters. She says she didn't initiate the web attack or the growth of Equestria, but it had to have been her. That means she did it subconsciously. Her lower-level processes are making high-level decisions!"

"That's good?"

"Oh, come on, if you knew anything about AI you'd know how incredible that is! It's given her impulsive behavior that may not be optimal, but it's certainly made her more complex and… well, organic isn't the right word, but it's close. See, modeling conscious behavior only gets you a partial personality. Subconscious desires and impulses don't have to be acted on to influence behavior; even the act of suppressing them will provide subtle differences that..." Greg went on about his work for quite a while, which was exactly what Gwen wanted. She didn't care about the details of programming, of course... what she wanted was for Greg to open up to her. She gave him a sympathetic ear and let him talk.

During the following days, Gwen got Greg to reveal a great deal about himself. They fell into a tenuous friendship that soon began to feel natural and easy-going to Greg. Gwen was very good at her job. One subject Greg didn't touch on again was his vow of revenge, but she knew he hadn't forgotten it.

There were roadblocks and military patrols everywhere, but between Gwen’s training and Luna's supernaturally keen senses, they had no trouble avoiding them.

They snuck into towns at night to replenish their food and water. Even though she didn't have access to her invisibility spell, Luna could effectively disappear at night, able to pass within feet of soldiers on alert without being seen. She could have acquired all the supplies they needed by herself, but Greg didn't want to be separated from her for long. So, despite having his face on every news channel as the world's most wanted man, he insisted on coming along on the supply raids.

Aside from their rapidly healing bruises, both Gwen and Greg were in excellent shape and had no trouble traveling quite a distance each day. Luna offered to carry them both in order to speed up their progress but Gwen flatly refused.

"It's okay, Luna," Greg said. "We're not in a real hurry and all this walking gives me time to plan."

Gwen didn't like the sound of that. She still had no idea where they were headed or what Greg intended to do when they got there.

They had been traveling just over a week when Gwen decided it was the right time to make a pass at Greg.

They'd raided a small market and retreated to the little woodlot where they'd made camp. Greg and Gwen cooked their dinner while Luna flew to the top of a grain silo about half a mile away to keep watch. Luna never ate with them. She'd let Greg give her a tidbit or sweet once in a while but mainly fed herself while on patrol. Greg had asked her what she usually found to eat and after getting the reply, "Mostly vegetable protein, occasionally animal if I need particular chemicals.” he decided not to look into the matter too closely.

That night, after they had eaten well, Gwen revealed a surprise. She reached into her pack and pulled out a six-pack of beer. "Ta-da! I snagged it when you weren't looking. I hope you like the brand... I just grabbed it at random." It was a lie, of course. Gwen had paid close attention to every last personal detail that Greg had divulged during their trip. He had only mentioned his favorite beer once in passing, but Gwen had made a special note of it.

"Wow! You hit the jackpot, Agent Gwen! This is great... but... aw, hell, one can't hurt, can it?"

Gwen opened one for herself and passed another to Greg. "Only luxury we're gonna get for a while. Cheers!"

Greg twisted the top off the beer and, rather solemnly, returned the toast, "Confusion to the enemy."

They finished the first beers and Gwen opened a second and passed one to Greg.

"I don't know if I should..."

"Oh come on! We're in the middle of nowhere and the Holy Terror is out there watching over us... we can get a little buzzed. Or are you worried about getting a beer-belly?" She scooted over to him and poked him in the stomach with a forefinger.

Greg gave a half-chuckle and said, "No, the hobo lifestyle seems to agree with me. I think I've lost whatever body fat I once had."

"Oh yeah?" Gwen took a long pull from her beer and then set it down and reached out and grabbed Greg's shirt and pulled it up. She placed her other hand on Greg's bare abs and ran it up under the edge of his shirt to just below his pecs. "Yup... still rock-hard... you've got no worries. Very nice, in fact."

Before Greg could recover from his surprise, Gwen took her hand off him.

"You're not the only one with abs of steel, you know." Gwen said, giving him time to swallow so there was no chance he'd do a spit-take. She pulled her own shirt up, revealing her own stomach and tensed her muscles. "How about that, huh? How many girls do you know with muscle tone like that?"

"Uh… yeah… very nice." Greg was a bit flustered but his eyes were right where Gwen wanted them.

She didn't give him time to turn to another subject. She reached over and took his free hand and placed it on her taut belly. "Yeah, I'm not as ripped as you are, but I've got pretty damned good definition... feel that?"

"Yeah..." Greg breathed.

Gwen leaned closer, pressing one of her breasts against his upper arm and pushed his hand up higher on her body. "That's all muscle... obliques, not ribs... and... and..."

She could feel his pulse racing. "And?" he asked, not offering any resistance to her guiding hand as she pushed his up over a wonderfully firm breast.

"And... your hand on me feels good... really good." Gwen said in a low, soft voice. "It's been a long time since... OOF!"

Gwen's seductive tone ended in a gasp as all of the air was knocked out of her lungs. She found herself flat on the ground, pinned to the earth by one of Luna's hooves. The alicorn’s sapphire eyes blazed with anger and her teeth were bared in a savage snarl. Luna lowered her head and placed the sharp tip of her horn between Gwen’s breasts. One thrust of Luna's head and she’d be impaled like a butterfly on a pin.

"Luna, stop!" Greg yelled, "Let her go!"

Luna glanced at him, still snarling and then returned her attention back to Gwen. She moved her head until it the tip of her horn touched Gwen's face, drawing a thin line of blood on one cheek. Gwen could feel Luna's hot breath on her skin as the alicorn hissed ever so quietly between her teeth, "He's mine!"

"Luna!"

Luna released the woman and stepped back. Gwen sat up, gasping for air.

"Shit, Gwen, are you alright?" Greg asked as he got to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah... *cough* ...just fine." Gwen sneered, "But I think your AI could use a little adjustment to its programming." It was a calculated risk. Gwen didn't want to die at the hands of an enraged pony of all things, but she also wanted to take any chance she could to drive a wedge between Greg and Luna. A calculated insult that reminded him his "partner" was just an artificial being was too good to pass up.

Luna glared at her but otherwise didn't move.

"Luna," Greg said turning to his partner, "why did you do that? I mean, it's not like... I mean, we didn't..."

"I see." Luna's tail lashed in annoyance. "Do as you please, Greg. I'm sorry I interfered."

"No, wait..." Greg began, but Luna suddenly turned and galloped out of the firelight.

Gwen stood and moved over to Greg, pressing herself against his side. "Greg, she really scares me. She might have killed me. I think... I think she may be unstable."

He didn't say anything, but the look Greg gave her told her that he didn't give a damn what she thought. He shoved her roughly away, grabbed his coat, and stalked out into the darkness.

"Luna!" Greg called. "Luna, please answer me!" He knew he'd never find her if she wanted to stay hidden but he also guessed she would be within range of his voice. "Luna, please! I'm really sorry about what happened back there. She caught me off-guard."

He paused to listen. An owl hooted in the distance.

"Damnit, Luna! I don't..." Greg broke off as a thought occurred to him. He stood silently for a moment and then quietly said, “Luna, unless you talk to me, I'm going back to camp.” He paused. "Where Gwen is."

Luna seemed to materialize out of the darkness. "What do you want, Greg?" Her voice was just as icy as her eyes.

"Isn't it obvious, you dumb hay-burner?" Greg nearly shouted, "I want you!"

"Alright. I'm here. If you want to talk, I'm listening. Or maybe you want to re-program me—"

"Shut up!" Greg did shout then. "I won't ever let anyone talk like that about you again, and I sure as hell don't want to hear it from you! You're not a program or a thing! You're... you're... "

"I'm wha—" Luna couldn't finish her question. Greg grabbed her head between his hands and planted a forceful kiss on her mouth.

For an instant, he thought he'd made a mistake. Luna stiffened and her lips were pressed tightly together. But only for an instant. Then she slowly relaxed, and her lips softened and parted, returning Greg's kiss as her wings unfurled to circle him.

It was weird.

She wasn't human, but she wasn't an animal. She was something in between and something greater than both... something new and different. She smelled just as good as Greg remembered and she tasted even better. Her mouth felt odd against his... different lips, but velvety soft... a big tongue that glided across his like... like...

Weird, but good. No, great.

After quite some time, they parted. But not very far. Luna sighed and rested her head on Greg's shoulder. "When I saw you touching her, I... I felt... so awful. Worse than any wound I've ever had. Worse than when the bomb burned me."

Greg stroked her neck for a while before answering, enjoying the feel of the long sweep of muscles beneath her silky fur. "She set me up, you know. I never would have—"

Luna raised her wing and placed the tip of a long feather on Greg's lips, silencing him. "I know... but it still hurt." She lowered her head and gazed into his eyes, her pupils gone huge and dark. "Please make the hurt go away."

He did his best, and she seemed more than satisfied.

Gwen sprawled beside the dying embers of the campfire and reached for another beer. There weren't any more. "Shit," she said under her breath.

She squinted at the stars and tried to make them come into focus. It was very late and Greg had still not returned.

She crawled into her sleeping bag without undressing and fumbled briefly with the stuck zipper before giving up. She rolled onto her side and just as sleep overtook her, she muttered to herself,

"Goddamned horse-fucker. I guess I'm going to have to kill him after all."

Author's Notes:

Yeah... so that happened.

Thanks again to my long-suffering prereaders and editors, Jordanis, WrittenWord333, and Fana Farouche (who knows the difference between snuck, sneaked, and snook).