...Back there!? Are you nuts!? The muffins are cooking and are about to hit critical mass! You can't be in the same room with them when that's happening!...

I have said many times that I had not listened to the radio in quite sometime due to the lack of content that it played. But after 4 hours of listening to Cal singing ninety nine bottles of booze on the wall, I would have gave my last round of ammunition for the radio on my pipbuck to start working again. Speaking of pipbucks, why is it that this thing never works properly? I must have gotten a Friday afternoon model because everything on it is starting to glitch out. The on-board inventory sorter was misreading their contents, the E.F.S. Still does not work and now the radio is busted!

There were times in the past where I would ponder how in the world the society of ponies from the past would have lost the war. Granted both sides were dealt a considerable blow but, after having the issues that I am with this pipbuck, an item that was built to stand the test of time, I no longer wonder why. If only I could find somepony who could repair these damn things, maybe I could get it working at least to the point where I had E.F.S. again.

The flight from Hope to Fetlock was, overall, pretty boring. Even with Cal taking the occasional shot at random raider groups, our vantage point in the sky meant that we were out of the area by the time they could make ready and fire. Once in Fetlock however, things began to go a bit sideways. We had bedded down for the night on top of an old apartment building and had just settled in when we discovered that the place had already been inhabited. The zombie ponies, one floor below us, took exception to our presence in their home and insisted that we find a new place to sleep for the night.

By insisted I mean, tried to eat Cal and almost push me off the roof with their massive numbers. Luckily, I can fly. Cal however... let just say that we will not be going back to Fetlock for quite some time, even if Cal wants that part of his ear back. We decided it would be best if we flew through the night to Tenpony Tower, rather than take our chances with another “abandoned building”. By the time we had reached the outskirts of town, my wings had decided that they no longer wanted to keep either of us aloft any longer. So despite being exhausted, we were left to finish our journey on hoof, I had taken having wings for granted, walking sucks!

“Cal, stop touching it! You're going to get it infected!”

“It feels weird, I can't help it! You try losing one of your ears and then you can tell me to stop touching it.”

“For the last time, you didn't lose your ear, you lost at most 20% of it.”

“My ears were perfect! They were the one thing that I liked about my looks and now there fucked!”

“Shut up! You look fine, you look more badass this way.”

“You think so?”

“Yes, you look like you took on a horde of zombies all by yourself and won.”

“That's because SOMEPONY decided to fly away without his tail gunner.”

“Hey, you were the one that wanted to stop there if I recall. I said we should have kept going but nooooo, you wanted to stop.”

“Did you really want me to try and 'take a dump' off your back?”

“Wait. What? You made us stop, get attacked by zombies, lose part of your ear, just to crap?”

“Well when you put it like that, no. I didn't know they were there, how could I have known?”

“True. But still the fact remains, if you don't stop fucking with your ear, you are going to lose the rest of it to infection. Then you will be as ugly as you think you are.”

We had been on the move now for over 8 hours total, including the flight over here. The morning sun had still yet to make it's way high enough in the sky to cast any useful light. Finally, after the longest night I had in a long time, the massive building of Tenpony Tower, was just within sight. The destroyed surroundings were all but forgotten from this side of the city with the almost stoic posture of the almost untouched building. Like a memory from the past that showed what once was, Tenpony always had it's own way of inspiring awe when you saw it.

Somehow it had managed to survive the blast from the balefire bombs with little to any damage and maintain an overall clean appearance all these years. Even with the mold from weathering the countless storms, it was still just as grand as the day it was build, at least, that's how I imagine it would have looked. Even the monorail station entrance, the building's one and now only entrance, was seemingly untouched from the blast.

Once through security, we would finally be able to sleep for a while before searching out the book we had come for. Actually, it probably wouldn't hurt to place the order for the muffins while we are at it. No doubt they would be worth their weight in gold after my last outburst here, I can only hope that the spices I procured from the Predator's den would grant me some leeway. But if the she doesn't finish me off, the price to stay for a night will. This place is so far up it's own ass that even sparkle cola cost 15 caps at times. And to think I wanted to retire here one day.

Approaching the guard post, I went through my mental checklist of things I knew they would confiscate before allowing entry. I had been here only a few times in my life, but each time it seemed that the rules would change and become harsher with each visit. No doubt from the tower's wealthy inhabitants wanting to maintain a certain status among the factions. Cal had already started complaining about the rules before he even knew what they were.

“I've got 20 caps that say they give us a full cavity search this time.”

“Why do you have to take things to the extremes that only your brain can produce.”

“I'm just sayin', last time I was here, I had to give up my barding before they would let me in.”

“Could that be because that last time you were here, you were wearing a battle saddle and threatened the guards?”

“Oh yeah... also I don't think that I'm in their good graces after what happened with Lavender.”

“Lavender? Who's that?”

“The spa pony tech I told you about.”

“Cal... What did you do?”

“I may have gotten a little 'freaky' with her and left before she woke up.”

“Damnit Cal you buck whore.”

“What!? She started talking about commitments and life together on our first date.”

“YOU SLEPT WITH HER ON THE FIRST DATE!”

“Dear Luna you are so sheltered.”

“Ugh... There is sheltered and there is being chivalrous and a one night stand with a random spa tech is neither of those things.”

We approached the guard shack in the train station that would lead us into Tenpony in silence thanks to Cal's promiscuous behavior. If nothing else maybe they wouldn't notice him or me and grant us access without too much hassle. Oh who am I kidding at this point, judging by everything that has happened in the last 24 hours, I wouldn't be surprised if Cal decided to shoot one of the guards, and have sex with the other one.

“Name?” The guard asked.

“Joey.”

“Nature of your visit?”

“Trade and sleep until 8 o'clock.”

“You do know that it's 8:30 in morning right?” The guard asked raising a brow.

“You do know that there are two 8 o'clocks right?”

“Touche'.”

Oh thank Goddesses, that was easy enough. I passed along my barding to the guard for him to check into storage and move through the magical scanners to wait for Cal. Even if they had forgotten who I was, or that my actions when I was here were less than anything major, I was still sweating bullets. All Cal had done was a one night stand with a spa tech, surely that wouldn't keep him from coming in.

“Name?”

“Caliber.”

“Full name.” The guard said fixing his eyes on Cal.

“Is that really necessary?”

“Full name, or you don't come in.”

“Ugh... Caliber Sparks”

Wait what? Caliber wasn't his full name? Why had he not told me that! He knew my full name, well then again, my full name was Joey. He even knew that my real name was Kit, so how in the hell did that slip his mind when we met? The guard sat down his clipboard and narrowed his eyes on Cal who was, starting to look very nervous.

“Well, if it isn't Sparky.” The guard said with a almost demonic grin.

“Don't call me that!”

“Hey Steelwater, Sparky's back!” The guard yelled to the control room behind him.

From deep in a room came a much smoother voice than I had anticipated to come from a guard named Steelwater.

“Yeah? I Have been waiting for a long time to see his ugly ass again.” Said the biggest damn buck I had ever seen! He had to be a full head taller than me and judging by his bulging form, he had to be twice my size!

“Hey look, I'm sorry about what happened between me and your sister, honest.”

Oh Caliber... You are so screwed.

“Oh you are sorry alright, you're the sorriest pile of shit in the wasteland.”

“Look, I'll just leave OK. I don't want any trouble. All you had to say was that I wasn't welcome.”

“Heh, let him in.”

“Wait, seriously? You are going to let me in? You're not going to beat me into the ground?” Cal asked, almost in disbelief.

“Now why would I do that when Lavender is just DYING to see you.” Steelwater replied, his grin reaching both of his ears.

“Uhm, thank you?” Cal said meekly.

“That doesn't mean I won't have my eye on you, I see everything that happens in Tenpony... Everything!” Steelwater said, leaning to within an inch of Cal's face.

“I'll be good, I swear!”

“Good, drop your gear here, say hi to sis for me.” Steelwater said, walking back to the control room. Cal did as requested, the whole time his eyes never leaving the control room door.

With our gear now in the safe hooves of Steelwater and Cal through security, the worst part of the trip that I had dreaded was now over.

“What the fuck Cal! You stood up a mare whose brother is the biggest son of a mule I have ever seen!?” I said, trying my best to keep my voice low.

“I didn't know! I swear it! I knew she had a brother but, DAMN! Did you see the hooves on that dude!”

“Cal, one of these days you are going to screw around and get yourself killed just by having sex!”

“Such are the ways of a buck who dares to love every mare he meets.”

"And of all the mares you could have slept with, you slept with one named Lavender? I thought you said the smell of Lavender gave you a headache. So why, in the wide land that is Equestria, would you sleep with a mare whose name literally is something that causes you pain!?"

"And now you know why that smell causes me so much pain." Cal said, again messing with his ear.

“That's it, you are having that thing looked at. I'm almost positive you infected it, not to mention, I think they need to do exploratory surgery to find what little brain you have left!”

“Fine... I'll go to the doctor. I need to go there anyhow since somepony has been into our Med-x stash.” Cal said accusingly.

“Seriously? I got chewed on by somepony with a lawnmower for a mouth and fell off a building and broke my leg. I think I earned to not be in pain.” I said, jobbing a hoof in his side.

“I'm not saying you don't, but you need to watch it Joey, you're going to wind up one of those junkies if you keep at that stuff.”

The insides of Tenpony were just as I remember them, clean, snooty and alive with ponies walking about. In the main lobby, ponies were waiting in lines for the permanent residency reviewers and others walked about freely. I remember waiting in those lines to try and gain my own residency here years ago. The steep price is what turns most ponies away but for me it was the rules. I don't trust a place that does not trust it's populace to properly defend themselves.

Cal had rushed off to take care of our lodging for the night, doing his best to keep his profile low from any would be ex-marefriends. I had decided to use my time wisely and seek out the baker first rather than go on a book hunt alone. Doing my best to get back into a trader mindset, I pointed myself to the area of the building where the small shops were conducting business. Soon I came to the baker's shop I had so long ago been kicked out of, resulting in my expulsion from the Tower. 'Cream's Confectioneries, Where bread's not the only thing in the oven!' was written on the sign in bold letters, the store's sweet smells filling the walkway I was standing in.

Walking through the door I was noticed almost immediately by Cream, still sitting behind the counter. The off white mare with the long, messy yellow mane was just as I remembered as well. Even her hateful look that she had given me 2 years back had yet to seem to fade away.

“You! Why are you here!”

“Look, I'm sorry about last time I was here. I was hoping you might be interested in trading.”

“For the first and only time! If it's more junk, then the answer's no!” Cream said with more malice in her voice then I felt was warranted.

“No, well, at least I hope it's not. I think I have something you might be interested in...” I said digging into my saddlebags.

“Oh great...” Cream said with a less than enthusiastic roll of the eyes.

“I found these in a crate labeled 'spices', I thought of all the ponies I knew of and just figured that you might could use them.” I said, placing a small plastic sack filled with the small bottles of herbs.

“Wait... you mean to tell me you found a bag of mixed herbs in the wasteland...”

“Yes.”

“Whe-” Cream started.

“Please don't ask me that.” I said, looking at my shoulder.

Cream fumbled with the knot I had used to secure the bag for a moment before digging both hooves into it, pulling out bottle after bottle of 'herbs'.

“Rosemary? Cummin? Garlic!? Thyme even? How much did you pay for these!?”

“Suffice to say, I nearly had to give a leg for them... So? Are my caps good here now?”

“Depends, how much do you want for the whole bag.” Cream said, trying her best to look disinterested. Heh, right where I want her.

“Consider them a peace offering, you know, after last time when I... Said all those things.”

“Take a hydraulic suck on my sex muscle.” Cream said calmly.

“WHAT!?”

“Your words. What you said last time...”

“Yeah, those words. I am so sorry.” Honestly, where the hell did I come up with that!? Had I been drinking again?

“Yeah, I guess I could do business with you, for the right price.”

“Ok, what would be the 'right price' for one dozen muffins.”

“Owe Ditzy muffins huh? How bad did you cuss her?” Cream said, leaning in like she was about to learn some juicy gossip.

“Not at all actually. I like her.” I whispered into her ear.

“245 caps.”

My right eye started to twitch uncontrollably. Her sign even said 10 caps per muffin, that's 120 caps! What the hell!? Is 125 caps an asshole tax?

“Wha-” I started.

“Before you start your rant, just know these are for Ditzy, she gets special muffins. Trust me, you want to buy these for her.” Cream said with a stern glare.

“Fine... But you better not poison them. I actually like her, so I'm trusting you won't mix in little bits of spit with them.”

“Like I said, she gets special muffins. I'll have to get the ingredients ready, pay somepony to go get them. I'll have them ready in the morning.”

Special ingredients? What in Equestria would be 125 caps special that Ditzy would want in a damn muffin. I have known her for as long as I can remember and as far as I have seen, she has always been very thrifty with her caps. Granted she had always been very free giving with generosity, but I have never seen her pay too much for anything, let alone muffins of all things. Those better be some damn good muffins! I forked over the 245 caps and made my way back to the lobby to find Cal to see about a room for the night.

Still feeling decidedly ill over the amount of caps that had just left my possession, I did my best to take my mind off of things via pony watching. When I was younger, Boss had taught me to watch other ponies closely to learn their mannerisms and habits. Doing so would show me the 'statues quo' of the ponies around me and how things should look at all times. It would also help to discern possible threats from the normal atmosphere of ponies. It was also good fun sometimes, kinda like eavesdropping on a lewd conversation that I wasn't meant to hear. Sometimes I would even make up funny voices in my head and place them to ponies who were taking together to amuse myself.

So many times ponies would be talking and the whole time have no idea that I was watching them from across the room. Or that the whole time they had actually been talking about covering each other in two century old jam and running from bloatsprites. It was stupid, but it passed the time easy enough. Around me now I could pick out a few conversations that were going on, a lone colt looking like he had just lost his parents and an decidedly angry looking purple mare who was standing right...

“Psssst! Joey! Down here.” Came a whisper from the bush beside me.

“Cal, is that you?” I asked, turning to the bush.

“Don't look! Is she gone?”

“Who!?” I said, averting my gaze.

“Lavender, is she gone?” The talking bush asked.

“How should I kno.... Oh. No, she's still here.” So that's who that angry mare is with the little... Oh for fuck sake.

“Damnit Cal! Please tell me that's not your foal.” I said through my teeth.

“What foal!” Cal said, poking his muzzle from the bush.

“Oh... Oops.”

“Seriously? Oops is your go to word for this situation?”

“Shut up! I have to get out of here!”

“Cal! That could be your kid! You have to go talk to her!” I said, raising my voice.

“Shhhh! Quiet, damnit! Here's the room key!” Cal said, sliding the key across the floor at me, from his original position, deep in the fake shrubbery.

“Go to the room like nothing happened, I will meet you there.” Cal said with a long pause, followed by the bush he was hiding behind slowly beginning to slide away from the walkway.

“You have got to be KID-ing me.” I said just loud enough for the purple mare to hear. Cal froze in his track, the action prompting the leaves to start shaking.

“I just can't believe I dropped my key again! How silly of me!” I said again, loud enough for her to hear. Bending down to pick up the key on the floor, I could hear Cal whisper as loud as he dared.

“Oh you are the worst kind of pony... I'm so kicking your flan-”

“Who would put a shrub here! I almost broke my neck!” I said passing the potted plant, giving it a swift kick as if I were mad at it.

“OK! OK! PLEASE! JUST GO!” Cal said, from his new hiding location, behind the pillar.

Heh, that should teach him to run from his own battles. Cal had ducked out of the way just in time not to be seen as I kicked his camouflage half way into the lobby. I gave a glance over my shoulder to see him working his way to a long-since dead air conditioning vent with the purple mare rounding the corner. Well best of luck Cal, hope she doesn't kill you, not that you don't deserve it. I made my way to the stairs leading to the fourth floor, just in time to still hear the words coming from the purple mare Cal had been hiding from.

“I know that bastard is here somewhere...”

Oh Cal, why...

When I read the name “Goldentail's Luxury Suites”, I expected a few things. Beds, place to scrub the filth out of my coat, maybe even the odd toilet if we were lucky. But never would I have thought that I would have to expect there to be carpet in the room. Of all the things to be missing, why did it have to be the carpet. I mean, sure I don't really mind, but it was very off-putting that I could see the ponies in the room below me through the small cracks in the flooring. Apart from that, the room featured all the amenities that I would have wanted in a room. Bed with little to no love juices, shower (would have preferred a bath but whatever), running water and only two radroaches that were quickly dispatched with a kick of the hoof.

Provided that Caliber would be away while, I decided it was time to address the fact that I reeked of sweat, mud and a metallic smell/taste that I could not place at the time. Moving to the bathroom I found that there were no towels to dry off with, great. Now, I know I'm bitching but, when you have wings, you really appreciate having a towel to dry your wings with. Granted other ponies had it much worse than I did at this moment in life, but still. We are paying, far too much I assume, and I would at least like a damn towel. Oh well, Caliber won't notice his sheets missing from his bed.

I turned the brass knobs of the shower and was met with the glorious feeling of warm water, oh how I had missed that! It almost takes the sting out of the price of paying for a place to sleep when you can just relax and unwind. I set myself to removing my saddlebags and almost stepped in the shower when I remembered that I had forgotten to take off the now 2 day old bandage. As I'm sure that any healing properties it may have had were long gone once we hit Fetlock, I had thought it would be better to leave it on to keep out infection. Now if I could only get Cal to listen to me about not messing with his ear, then maybe I could get him to bathe and not smell like ass.

Slipping the bandage off, I decided not to look at the bald spot on my shoulder. I'm sure the coat will grow back but I would still rather not see the damage that had been done. Call me vain but truth is, something deep inside me didn't want to be reminded of what had happened just the day before. Besides, it didn't even hurt anymore other than the random 'phantom pain' that I'm almost positive is due to the lack of Med-x in my system. Great. I'll have to add detoxing to my list of shit to do this week, despite the pain in my leg feeling worse by the hour.

Having showered and finally feeling pony again, I stepped out of the shower to hearing Caliber walk through the door. Wow was he pissed. He didn't even make it in the door before he started describing, in vivid detail no less, all the painful things he intended on doing to me for what I had done in the lobby. Thank Luna for bathroom locks, one of the few things working in this place. Seriously, did functionality come as an additional extra? I know this is the wasteland and all but... nevermind. Deciding I could no longer evade the inevitable, I opened the bathroom door to face down one very pissed off Caliber.

“Cal, before you start, just know that you legit knocked up a mare and ran from your own child to keep from facing responsibility. It was only right that you got some form of punishment for what you did. Now I know that...”

“Uh... Joey?”

“No let me finish. I know that the last thing anypony wants in the wasteland is to be weighed down but..”

“Joey!”

“What!” I said, mad that he was so wrapped up in his own ego that he wouldn't even listen to reason.

“We need to get you to a doctor. NOW!”

“Don't start with that addiction shit again, I already know that I have an issue, I'm already detoxing.”

“No not that...”

“Then what. Don't try playing this off on me missing a spot cleaning up.”

“Joey! Look at your fucking shoulder! Shit, look at your back!” Caliber said.

Now seeing his look of shock, I feared the worst. Had the wound gotten infected? Had I just gotten used to the pain and inadvertently let it spread to my back? I didn't want to look, but knowing I had to, I squeezed my eyes shut and pointed them to the offending wound. When I opened them once again, initially I didn't see anything wrong but then I noticed the faint black lines.

“What in the hell!?” I said, looking into the mirror. The wound that once reached from my shoulder to my upper leg, had in fact healed very well. My coat was even growing back nicely thanks to the magical healing potion being applied directly, rather than consumed. But ever so slightly, just beneath my coat, dark gray lines were forming, made more pronounced where my coat was growing back over the wound. Strips? Was this blood poisoning? I remember being told that when you get an infection that your veins would carry it and at times, give a striped look.

“Joey, this looks bad. We have to get to the med station. Now!”

“W... What about Lavender?”

“Forget Lavender! Your problem looks worse than any ex-mare ever had!” Cal said, now pushing me out the door.

“But, I'm still wet!” I said, now panicking.

“Stop it! You do this every time you get scared! You start your rambling shit and just make things worse.”

“B...But I'm cold!”

“They have blankets in the infirmary...” Cal said, now guiding me down the hall. What was going on, Why was everything moving in slow motion? It felt like my throat was starting close up and my chest felt so tight that if you were to poke it, that it might deflate like a balloon. I could hear my heart in my ears as if it were beating right between my eyes and my hooves started to feel like they were made of jelly. My head began to feel lighter and lighter with every step that we made. I could hear Cal, if just barely, as we passed a mare who I had presumed to be Lavender, scream out.

“Not now bitch, one crisis at a time!” Cal said, as we passed by.

As he shoved her out of the way and into the open door of a room, I felt my legs give out from under myself.

Darkness.

I felt like I was floating. I was floating! As my senses came back to me, I could feel that Cal was now carrying me, and he was running. My whole right side was now numb to the world around me, even my lips felt heavy. I worked my best to overcome the eminence tingling feeling that was now my right side, just to open my right eye. Finally, I felt it crack open and... nothing. Oh Celestia I couldn't see anything out of my right eye!

Slowly, I began to see fuzzy blobs moving through the vision on my right side that seemed to be rushing by at an alarming rate. As my vision began to clear, an overwhelming sensation of dread was left in it's place. Even though I seemed to be recovering, my head was starting to pound and no matter how hard I tried to convince myself, I couldn't overcome the feeling that I was dying. It was as if a switch had been flicked in my brain from normal to chaos and my body was doing it's best to override it. Finally I made out the fuzzy crosshatch on the door of the clinic, seeming to know I was now going to be in good hooves. My body decided enough was enough and logged off line. A black haze clouded the edges of my vision, exhaustion overwhelmed me and the blackness filled my vision.

Darkness.

Coming to on the clinic room table brought about a flood of thoughts to my brain. What happened? Why is my butt so cold? Am I dead? No, I'm not dead, I can hear Caliber talking to somepony so I guess slipping into the sweet release of death was too much to ask for. Did I pass out at some point? At any rate, at least my body is starting to feel normal again, the feeling of dread being replaced with one akin to a hangover. I can deal with that, I have been hung over loads of times but that depressing feeling of dying is for the birds.

Looking around and taking in my surroundings, I could see that I was in fact in the infirmary and that I was strapped to the table. Why had they strapped me down? If my memory serves me correctly, I had been incapable of moving when I got here. So the fact that they felt the need to tie me down like this is starting to stir up those too familiar feelings of something bad wrong being with me. Raising my head off the table a few inches, I could see caliber talking with somepony who I guessed was either a nurse or a doctor.

“Uh, guys? Why am I tied to a table? Did I miss something fun?” I asked. My response was met with a long pause, followed by the white buck with an spiky red mane coming to my side.

“Oh, you're awake. It's good to see you coming back to your faculties. My name is Life Bloom, Dr. Helpinghoof's assistant.” Life Bloom said.

“What happened to me? I feel like somepony took my brain out and messed with it. I feel confused.” I said, again trying to get up.

“Just lie back and try to relax, the doctor will be in shortly. We think that you had a severe panic attack that may have lead to a stroke, the doctor will have more answers for you once he gets here.” Life Bloom said, walking to the door.

“Joey, how you feeling bud?” A very concerned looking Cal said at my side.

“Bad, but getting better I think. Cal, what happened to me?”

“I don't know, one minute you were fine and the next you were drooling everywhere and talking gibberish.” Cal said, looking down on me.

“Yeah but what could have caused it? Everything's such a blur, did you carry me here?”

“Yeah, I kinda had to, you were completely off your rocker back at the room. One second I was about to kick your flank because how mad I was at you and the next I'm carrying you to the clinic.”

“We have a very complicated relationship, don't we?”

“Heh, yeah. It's good to see you coming back to normal. You scared the shit out of me.”

“Uhuh, you were scared that you would have to walk back to New Appleloosa.”

“Yeah... sure.”

I was just about to ask Cal why he looked so upset when the doctor walked into the room and trotted to my side.

“Hello Joey, I'm doctor Helpinghoof. How are we feeling?” Helpinghoof asked, sitting on a rolly chair.

“Bad but, I think... Better maybe? I can't really remember.” I said, thumping my head back to the table.

“Well that would be normal for a severe panic attack in your state. You are lucky you didn't have a stroke, your blood pressure was all over the place when you came in.”

“My state? What's wrong with me? Am I dying?” I asked, again feeling that panicky feeling creep back over me.

“Well, according to the tests we ran, you had a severe panic attack brought on by shock and complicated by...” the doctor trailed off as he flipped through the pages on his clipboard.

“... Sleep deprivation, dehydration, physical exhaustion, malnutrition, infection in your broken leg and trying to go cold turkey off Med-x. Now where I can appreciate you trying to get clean on your own, you should know that we have procedures to do such things.” The doctor warned.

“Yeah I had heard, I didn't think I could afford to pay for the treatment and I had just figured out that I was using a bit too much of the stuff.”

“Try 6 syringes a day Joey.” Caliber interjected.

“What! I don't remember that! I thought I was only using like, three at the most!” I said in shock.

“No, You have been blowing through Med-x faster than...” Cal stopped to think of a appropriate example.

“Like you bang through mares?” I asked with a sarcastic grin.

“Worse I'm afraid. According to your blood work, you show to have a high dependency to Med-x, your blood work also shown that you had a mild case of taint. After talking to your promiscuous friend here, I would say it was from where your were bitten.” The doctor said looking at his charts.

“... The predator. That explains him acting like a loony.” I said, looking back up to the ceiling.

“It's possible that he had been exposed to taint and that it had a significant effect to his thought processes. Taint effects everypony differently, it can kill you slowly, causing tumors throughout the lymphatic system and brain. It can also trigger minor to severe mutations ranging from completely benign to completely changing your appearance. Going off of what your partner here said, chances are slim that you were exposed more than three days ago, so that would put your exposure in the same time frame as being bitten.”

“So how bad is it? Am I...” I trailed off, feeling that sense of dread returning.

“We were able to purge your body of the taint, your case was less severe than others that I have seen in my time. But I'm afraid that there will the permanent effects that will be non-reversible.” The doctor said, motioning for his assistant to come over.

“Doc, what's non-reversible?” I said looking up to Life Bloom. My gaze was met with a soft smile and a syringe being held in his magic.

“What's that?” I asked.

“A sedative, just in case.” Life bloom said, looking down at me.

“I swear if I grew a horn and turned all purple, just kill me now...” I said, thumping my head back down to the table.

“Caliber, can you help me remove his restraints? I think it's time Joey looked in a mirror.” Helpinghoof said, unbuckling my leg restraints.

Once free, I was guided to my hoofs by both the doctor and Caliber, under the ever watchful eye of Life Bloom and his needle filled with knockout drugs. The two guided me to the mirror in the corner of the room and what I saw... was me. Just me, the same as I had always seen in fact. What did they want me to see that was so special.

“Uh doc? Help me out here, what am I looking for?” I asked.

“Turn to your side Joey.” The doctor said, giving a guiding hoof to turn me to my right and... what are those....

“Stripes!? What the hell? Is this blood poisoning?” I asked turning back and forth. Just beneath my coat were the faint impressions of dark gray stripes akin to that of a zebra except that they did not reach to my legs. Instead they reserved themselves to my back, lower neck, shoulders and top of my flank. The strongest lines coming from the area that the Predator had taken a bite out of my shoulder.

“It would appear as though the taint triggered a mutation in your genes, bringing about the stripes you are seeing. At first we initially thought that you had been in contact with killing joke after Caliber mentioned that you had been to the Everfree Forest. But once the tests came back negative, you later tested positive for taint and then we found this.” The doctor said holding up my necklace.

“My necklace did this to me?” I said, unable to pull myself from the mirror.

“No, I highly doubt it. Chances are that you may have some zebra DNA somewhere in your bloodline and the taint brought about the mutation of your stripes. Though I have never seen it myself, I have read about this sort of thing happening to the offspring of a mare and a zebra buck. But their stripes would occur naturally over time, yours would have come in by now according to what I have studied.” The doctor said, looking closer to my coat.

“My mother was a zebra, my dad was a pony.” I said, still in shock. This was going to make being accepted a lot harder in life. Ponies already avoided me because I was depressing to be around, now they had a actual, physical reason to steer clear of me.

“Hmmm. It is possible that you favored your father's genes and that suppressed the appearance of your stripes. The taint would have acted like a catalyst, bringing out any mutations that would not have appeared naturally.”

Taking in a deep, shaky breath, I braced myself for the question I didn't want to hear the answer to.

“Is it permanent? Is there anything that's going to kill me?”

“Like I said, we were able to purge your body of taint, but it's effects are non-reversible. But other than that, none of the scans we performed revealed anything that would be life altering or threatening, let alone life ending. So, other than your stripes, you are a healthy pony. Though you could use a good trip to the cafeteria, all of the extra work you have been doing flying, especially carrying a load, burns calories at a alarming rate. You need to keep yourself well fed and steer clear of the pain killers, you have already made yourself susceptible to addiction. We performed a detox on you but I would like to go over the implications of Med-x addiction.” The doctor said, nudging me back to the table.

An exhausting hour later, I now knew everything there was to know about being a junky, in fact, I feel like I had been force fed the information. After listening to him drone on about addiction and the dangers of the overuse of painkillers, I doubt I would ever touch the stuff again. Not because what all he said scared the hell out of me, but more so because I didn't want to listen to his lecture again. The whole time he was talking I found myself squirming in my seat like I had when I was a colt. For a moment I was back to being a 12 year old colt who stole a bottle of bosses booze and was being given the “this is for adults” speech.

Not saying it wasn't well deserved, but I had no clue that I was going through as much Med-x as I was. I had thought that I was using the usual amount needed to stave off pain, but Caliber was quick to inform me that once I had take one syringe, I would take another not even a hour later. It was like an involuntary action that I had become immune to noticing once it was established and I was oblivious to it. I had came dangerously too close to becoming a junky, maybe even crossed the line in fact, in less than three days. Luna only knows how many caps worth of the stuff I had consumed, caps that I desperately needed for this venture nonetheless.

Cal and I walked from the clinic, significantly broker than when we got here, into the main lobby of the hotel. If this keeps up, we would have to start looking for work just to get back home, let alone to find Zu. Even though the new stripes on my body were faint, it still felt like all eyes were on me everywhere we went. Few ponies seemed to notice, but those that did, shied away from me in the hallways. I didn't like this, I felt self conscious and embarrassed to be out in public with ponies acting this way towards me. If my E.F.S. Had been working at the time, I'm sure I would be surrounded by red ba...

“WHERE'S MY PIPBUCK!?” I screamed to Caliber, reaching to the now bare spot on my leg.

“Woh! Calm down, I mentioned to Life Bloom that it was glitching out and he took it to see if he could get it working again for you.”

“Great! That will cost me I'm sure, why did you let him do that?”

“Hey, had it been working, you never would have been caught by that weirdo and you wouldn't have those stripes. Also, I might still have the rest of my ear.” Cal said, rubbing at the now bandaged ear.

“Bu... But. Caps!?” I said weakly.

“Dude, you have got to start loosening up those purse strings. I can understand saving money but not at the cost of your own safety.”

“I will take that under advisement... did you have any luck with the book?” I asked, trotting towards the lobby once more.

“Nope! I checked all over too, there weren't many place to go. I even put in a request with Dj Pony's receptionist. Nothing!”

“Lavender...” I said, stopping in my tracks.

“Seriously? What would my ex be able to help us with at this point.”

“Uh, Cal?”

“No Joey, I'm trying to avoid that crazy mare. Why would I ask her for help.”

“Crazy mare!? I'M NOT THE ONE WHO CLAIMED TO BE A EX-STEELRANGER WHO WAS TRYING TO GET HIS LIFE BACK TOGETHER!” Said the now very angry, purple mare.

“Hehey! Lavender! Long time, no see! How's it going?” Caliber asked, inching away at Lavenders advancement.

“How's it going? HOW'S IT GOING!? I was promised commitment by a buck who just wanted to get me into bed! Then he left in the middle of the night, pregnant!”

Called it! That little buck looked way too much like Cal, no way it wasn't his kid. Across the lobby, the small colt sat reading a book, stealing glances at his two arguing parents.

“Oops?” Cal said, now cowering from Lavender.

“OOPS!? Three years and all you have to say is oops!?”

“I'm sorry?”

“You had better have a damn good reason to leave me to bring a kid into this world without a father!”

“I uh... shit.”

Cal had all day, and the whole time in the clinic, to come up with something to say to Lavender about why he stood her up like he did and the best he could manage was 'shit'? As mad as she looked to be, I could see more hurt than anything in her eyes. This was about to turn ugly fast, I think it would be best if I left Cal to sort out his own family issues. I looked to the little colt across the room and found my way out.

“What's his name?” I asked, trying to break her pace of anger towards caliber.

“What?” Lavender said as she wheeled on me.

“Your little colt. What's his name?”

“Fetch! Why!?” Lavender asked, clearly angered by my intrusion. Now would be a great time to go say hi to 'Fetch' I think.

“Sorry, I'll leave you two alone.” I said, walking to where Fetch was now watching curiously.

“Joey! Wait! Don't Leave me!” I could hear Cal say through the barrage of words coming from the mare.

Fetch, the little colt that had caused so much controversy between Lavender and Cal, sat alone reading his book near the lobby's water fountain. Curious as I was that he was reading at such a young age, what really peaked my interest was his almost shocking resemblance to Cal. Same blue and cyan mane, albeit in contrast to Cal's, light purple coat and the same eyes as his father. He even squinted like Caliber does when he's trying to read something he doesn't understand. My heart went out to the kid. No father, mother jaded by anger and guilt, and here the kid was trying to make a go at reading.

It was almost surreal thinking about it. He didn't know Cal, yet life moved on for him. The pain that his mother was displaying was no doubt lost on him, colts this young are still trying to figure life out. It's sad to think that he would have to grow up like this, but then again, isn't that how I was raised myself? School of hard knocks, Boss used to call it. Even still, something deep inside me felt for his struggling to read a simple kids book. Boss had taught me to read when I was not much older than he was, I even still have the book. 'A Swan's Song', a book he had found when he too was young in a old stable when he was still hiding out in the bushes.

It was a kids book about a young pony named Spring Melody who had been teased and tormented by bullies at his school for not having his cutiemark yet. One day, he went for a walk in the woods after the ponies from his school had teased him to the point of tears. There he found a pond with three swans that swam to the shoreline where he stood. Spring Melody sat on the shoreline and cried to the swans for what the others had said to him, telling them everything that they had said. The swans listened patiently to the young colts story, sitting by his side all the while. Once the colt had finished his story, the swans began to sing to him.

I can still remember the words as if I had read them just the other day, even though I had not opened that book in years. I always kept it with me, it was the first gift I had ever gotten in fact. Boss had passed it down to me in the same manner he had given me the pistols I still carried to this day. I had help growing up, I was taught by a family, even if it was a assembled one rather than one brought together. Would Fetch have anything close to that in his life? I steeled myself from the thoughts and approached Fetch who was now looking at me quizzically. He wasn't even my kid but for some unknown reason, I felt an odd connection to him.

"Hey there, little guy. whatcha reading?" I tried to say in the friendliest way I could. Fetch studied me for a moment, seeming to try and decide whether or not I was a threat. Finally after a few tense moments, Fetch decided that I wasn't trying to foalnap him and spoke.

"My book. I got it for my birthday!" Fetch said with a wide eyed grin.

"Yeah? When was your birthday?"

"Tomorrowday!"

"Wait, do you mean 'yesterday'?"

"Ya! Thats it!" Fetch said, seeming to realize he had made a mistake. Sometimes kids can be so cute, even though he knew that he had messed up, he was excited to be corrected.

"Oh! OK, well congratulations buddy! How old are you?"

"This many..." He paused and began to tap his hoof on the tile floor four times. Wow, what kind of genes does Cal have that allow him to pass on character traits like that. Nevertheless, the actions were adorable and they made the pain I was once feeling for him begin to melt away. I don't know why but, kids have always hit a soft spot with me, they have always hit that button deep inside me that would key up my instincts to protect them.

"Really? Well then, I'm very happy for you! You really seem to be loving that book, what's it about?"

"I don't know. But the pictures are really pretty!" Fetch said with a smile.

"Pictures? Wow! You are a lucky boy, when I was little, I never got a book that awesome. Your mommy must love you a whole lot." I said, trying to build on his happiness. The smile faded from his little face and he looked back to his book.

"... Mommy didn't buy it for me. Ms. Cream gave it to me." Fetch said at an almost whisper volume. Cream? Did something nice? Every time I had any interaction with her, from a young colt all the way up to present day, she had been more than her fair share of rude to me. So hearing that she had done something nice for somepony all but put me beside myself, then again if it was for this little guy, I'm happy she had done it.

"She didn't? Well I bet that whatever your mommy got you was just as cool." I said, hoping that she actually had.

"Mommy didn't get me anything... " Fetch said with a broken voice, looking away.

"What? She didn't get you anything?" I said, almost involuntarily.

"Mommy, never gives me presents. Mommy doesn't even play with me..." Fetch said, trying to cover the sound of a sniff.

Oh that cunt. His very words broke me in two like I had been made of glass. This was her colt, sure the situation wasn't ideal but still, that's no reason to not get him a simple birthday present. And not playing with him? I know kids never really give you the full story about anything, so taking into account that he was saying this, it wasn't that far of a leap to conclude that she wasn't spending very much time being a mother at all. It dawned on me that she had even named him after a mistake, the name Fetch even had a ring to it that brought to mind thoughts of being far flung. Any pity I had been harboring for her vanished, she deserved to feel pain for what she was doing to this poor foal.

Then again, another part of me held a genuine hatred for Caliber for causing all of this. Granted, what was done was done, but due to his actions, he had not only brought a colt into this world, but he had brought a colt into this world that was being neglected. Even if he did not know any of this was going on, it would be his duty to at least try and reach out to the poor colt. But instead he was running away, casting aside the young colt that bore his very own striking resemblance, all to avoid being tied down. Even if Lavender was a total bitch face, he should be trying to help the kid at least. I had only spent a few moments with him and already I wanted to hug him. Nevertheless, I had upset him by hitting a landmine in our conversation, but I think I can turn this around.

"I'm so sorry to hear that buddy, hey, you said you didn't know what the book was about?"

"I know my ABC's but I can't read yet. But the pictures are fun to look at!" Fetch said, starting to show the shadows of a smile.

"Would you like for me to read it to you? I wouldn't mind seeing the fun pictures too." I said with a genuine smile.

"You want to read to me? My book?" Fetch said, almost shocked that a stranger would offer to do such a thing.

"Sure! I would love to in fact. I mean, if you want me too."

"OK!" Fetch said, Beaming with excitement.

I trotted to his side and lay on my belly next to the young colt, Fetch, pushed the open book between us and I eagerly but gently, guided my hooves to turn to the first page. The last thing I wanted to do was tear a page in a book that might be this colt's only present, forget conversational landmines, that would be a balefire bomb. The first page was adorned with the images of ponies on a beach, playing in the sand and waters of the ocean.

"Wow, this is really pretty. I don't think I have seen a book this nice in a long time." I said, smiling to a very proud Fetch.

"Uhem, page one... The Sea Ponies of Sapphire Shore..." I stopped. There is absolutely no freaking way this just happened. All this time, all those miles, and the book I was after was in the hooves of Fetch. I can't believe this, a simple act of kindness had granted me the access I needed to the book that would help me find Zu. Obviously I couldn't take it with me, but now I could read it... scratch that.

"Fetch, what do you say instead of me reading this to you, I teach you to read it instead."

"Really!? You can teach me how!?" Fetch said, almost levitating with excitement.

"Sure, Why not. There is a whole other world in this book that you are missing out on, and I don't want you to not be able to see it for yourself." I said, patting him on the head with a wing.

"OK! Show me, show me, show me." Fetch said, trying to become one with the book with his face.

A half hour later, across the room Cal had almost melted into the tile work from the fiery words the mare had been screaming at him. In that time, we had managed to read through the short book four times, each time, the little colt would try and sound out more and more words. Fetch and I had made quite a bit of progress, granted, this form of teaching was more memorization than actual reading. but nevertheless, it was a seed that he could nurture and hopefully grow into a skill for reading books. With a life that he would undoubtedly be living, having the skill to read would help him immensely in this world. Fetch had been so eager to learn that he was hanging on my every word, doing his best to sound out the words in the book like I had taught him. I was having so much fun in fact, that I had forgotten my reason for even reading the book entirely and had instead become a teacher.

There was just something about seeing his face light up when the words that before had just been scribbles on the page, came to life and told him a story. It was refreshing to see a young pony learning rather than fighting to survive in this cruel place, and it was nice to do something good for the sake of helping, rather than being paid to do so. Fetch was very bright for a colt his age, taking to the task of reading like a duck to water as Boss used to say to me. In some way I felt that helping him was like repaying a debt that had been charged to me when I myself had been taught to read. It felt, good. After our fourth reading of the book, I decided that if I was going to play the part of a teacher, I might as well grade my student.

"Ok Fetch, I have read this to you four times now. What do you say that you try and read it to me now."

"I don't think I can."

"Nonsense, you are a quick learner and I have confidence that you can do it. I'll help you when you get stuck."

"But, I still don't know all the words yet."

"It's ok, just go slow, take your time and sound them out like I showed you."

Fetch shifted back and forth in his sitting position, crinkling his nose as he did his best to focus on the words on the page.

"It was a... su... sunny fun day on the b... beach of... " He paused.

"Sapphire" I filled in.

"Sapphire sh...shore. Everypony played in the s... soft sands of the b-beach."

Fetch struggled his way through each word in the story, but rather than becoming frustrated like I would have, he instead began to swell with confidence with every triumph over a difficult word. By the end of the book, Fetch had found a rhythm, apart from the odd word that would trip him up from time to time. I'm sure that much of what he was doing was just repetition of what I had said the word was, but he was actually reading on a fundamental level.

I had also discovered the likely whereabouts of a certain zebra that I had been pursuing all over the wastelands. According to this book, Sapphire Shore carried a striking resemblance to another place I had been to a few times myself. White Saddle Shores in fact. it was a place farther south than most ponies were willing to travel seeing as much of the trip would be in an area of Equestria that had few to no ponies to start with. Just getting there was nearly impossible unless you had a burning desire to do so. Miles of desert, radscorpions and scorching hot sand separated it from the nearest town. The only means to get there being from the Ponyville train station that had been closed for 200 years for obvious technical difficulties.

Knowing the task at hoof would be much more than a quick trip south began to weigh down on my mind. If Zu had gone there, she would have no doubt gained the isolation she was looking for and more than likely would be safe. But the journey there would be dangerous at the best of times, not to mention life there being near inhospitable due to it's lack of water and food. Sure a pony could make a life there, but it would be harder to survive than in Hoofington for completely different reasons. Nevertheless, had she gone, then I was destined to walk the same path she had in order to find her. I could only hope that I would find her alive and well and not dead on a trail somewhere along the way. The thought of her making the trip alone scared me to no end and brought an all too real dread to mind that was now plastered across my face. Fetch seeing this, took it as a sign that he had done a poor job of reading.

"I stink, don't I."

"What? No! You did awesome considering we have been at this less than an hour now. In fact, as your teacher, I think I should grade my student."

"Grade me?"

"Yup! I feel like giving you an A for how well you have done. And I feel that such a good job deserves a reward."

"A reward!?" Fetch said, jumping to his hooves.

"Yes a reward. I think you have earned it for being such a good student."

I opened my saddlebags and began to search for the book that I had learned to read for the very first time. There, buried under countless pieces of food and medical supplies, was the book that had been given to me for my birthday so long ago. It only felt right that it would be passed along to Fetch as it was given to me, even if his birthday was 'tomorrowday'.

"I think that this should do nicely, seeing as you have a newfound skill for reading and all." I said as I gave him the tattered old book with the words 'A Swan's Song' on the cover.

"This is for me!? You're giving this... To me!?" Fetch said, in shock that somepony he barely knew would give him anything.

"Yes sir, this is for you. I think now that if you try really hard, and practice every chance you get, you will be reading this book in no time flat!"

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Fetch screamed as he wrapped himself around my right leg. Even though I was doing my best to keep calm, on the inside I, was just as excited as he was. I had a feeling that I had never felt before inside me, like I had given a gift to somepony that nopony else could have given. That feeling was complicated by the others that I had towards Cal and Lavender, how could they be willing to miss out on something like this? It was simple and pure, something that I think only a parent could feel towards a child when they had done them proud. For some reason that just made me even more mad towards the both of them, speaking of those two, how long had they been standing there.

Lavender and Cal had taken notice to mine and Fetch's time together and came to see what we could be doing that seemed like so much fun. Lavender wore a face of almost agitation that I'm sure she was holding back, due to it's very display at such an activity being completely socially unacceptable. Given her status in the Tower, it would be unfitting for her to slip into such a social pitfall. Cal on the other hoof looked like he was both relieved that the heat was now off of him and confused that the young colt was so happy to be around me.

"Mommy, mommy! This buck just taught me how to read my book!" Fetch said, jumping back and forth between me and Lavender.

"Uhuh, thats nice." Lavender said, glancing down to him, The very gesture pissing me off even more.

"He even gave me this book as a reward for doing so good!" Fetch said again, trying to get his mother's attention.

"Yeah, that's nice. Go show Cream your new book. Mommy's busy." Lavender said, nudging the colt away.

"Mister? What's your name?" Fetch asked, looking more forlorn than when I originally met him.

"Coyote Joe, but you can call me Joey." I said giving him a pat on the head. Seeing his smile return once again did little to hide the anger that was now growing towards his two parents. Fetch promptly ran off to the direction of the Tower's shops, presumably to find the hateful, yet kind, confectionist. I would just have to deal with those confused feelings later, I needed to have a heart to heart with Cal.

"Wow Joey, you have a way with kids!" Cal said, being cut off by Lavender.

"You have no right to speak to my child!" Lavender belted out.

That's it, I can't take this anymore, Tower policy be damned. With all my strength, I spun and planted both off my hind hooves into Caliber's chest and lower jaw, sending him flying across the lobby's floor. The impact had the desired effect of getting him as far from me as I wanted and knocking him out cold. I then turned to Lavender, who was now backing away from me with a look of shock.

"Don't you dare hit me..." She managed to squeak out as I advanced on her.

"How dare you! How could you be such a worthless cunt towards Fetch like that! He was genuinely happy about learning to read and wanted to show you the book he earned. What did you do? You pushed him away! When I first met you, I felt sorry for you. Now? I hope you take a long walk off a short roof." I said with all the hate that had been building inside of me. I also somehow managed to keep my voice low enough not to rouse the security guards, but threatening enough to have the desired effect of scaring the purple mare.

"I DON'T DESERVE THIS SHI..." Lavender started, but was quickly cut off.

"You don't deserve HIM. Not this, HIM! FETCH! That little colt is the sweetest kid I have ever met, how he turned out so well with a bitch of a mother like you is a mystery."

"THIS IS ALL CALIBER'S FAULT!" Lavender said, hoping to push the blame on the still unconscious buck.

"You have no room to talk, it takes two ponies to make a baby. Even if you didn't mean to, Fetch is your responsibility now and as a mother, you should... oh I don't know... BE A MOTHER!" I shouted in her face, despite my best efforts to try and remain calm. Lavender no longer held a look of anger, but instead, now wore one of regret.

"I'm trying my best! It's hard to raise a kid and pay to live here!" Lavender said now cowering as if she expected anything that she said would set me off. I lowered my gaze to her's until I was inches from her face.

"TRY. HARDER." I said putting as much emphasis on the word 'harder' as I could.

"But I'm..." Lavender started.

"Not trying hard enough. I don't want your excuses for the way you treat him. Oh yeah, he told me that you won't even play with him, so don't think I have no clue what a massive pile of shit you are." I said. Lavender had figured out that nothing she could say would please me. Even though I could not see myself, I would venture a guess that my eyes had turned blood red with anger. I was shaking, gritting my teeth and doing my very best to maintain my composure. The fact that doing anything more than I already was would get me kicked out of the Tower was not lost on me. Just the same, I'm pissed. And right now, I'm forcing everything that's in my brain through my internal filter at an alarming rate. If I keep this up, I might actually snap and buck the purple bitch through a wall.

"I.. I'm sorry..." Lavender said, tears beginning to bead up in the corners of her eyes.

"You're sorry alright. I will be back here one day, and when I do, you had better be treating Fetch the way he deserves to be treated. He's too good for you." I said, walking past her and the guards that had now started moving closer to the commotion.

"What about Caliber?" I heard Lavender say as I trotted past the guards.

"Oh trust me, He's not going to get off as easy as you did."

I made my way to the edge of the lobby to where Cal was just coming back to the world of the living from his surprise nap.

"Joey? What the hell happened to me... " Cal started, but was quickly cut off when I grabbed his tail in my teeth and began dragging him behind me.

"OW OW OW OW! JOEY STOP IT! WHAT THE HELL." Caliber shouted at me.

"Shut up! I'm not done with you by a DAMN sight boy!" I roared back to him. Oh wow, where did that come from. Did I just channel my inner Boss? Wow, talk about imprinting.

I continued to drag Cal behind me, despite his continued bellowing that he was in pain and that he did in fact have four legs and could walk for himself. I paid neither him nor the shocked stares of the other ponies around us any mind, I'm still pissed off and Cal will be my punching bag for everything hateful I have left. Starting up the stairs, Cal's words became more choppy as his head bounced off each step during our accent. About halfway up our 4th flight, we passed a dark gray mare with a messy mane who, taking in the I'm sure bizarre display before her, looked to me, then to Cal, then back to me and gave me a wink.

"DJ, Ow, Pony's asis, Ow, assistant! Please, Ow. HELP ME!" Cal said between the each step's assault on his lower jaw.

"Oh my, Have fun you two." The gray mare said as we passed her by.

Now what was that all about. Cal is not going to be having any fun tonight, he's going to get a worse cussing than the baker did. That reminds me, I need to find a way to thank her for being so nice to Fetch...

"Of all the low, dirty, horrible things you could do Cal, running from your own child is at the top of the list of shitty things you have managed to do in your sad fucking life." I yelled across the room. Cal was now lying on his sheet-less bed, nursing a bruised chest and I'm sure, an extremely sore jaw.

"Joey, where the hell are my sheets? They didn't give me any?" Cal said, trying for the fifth time now to change the topic.

"Don't try to avoid this Cal, do you have any idea what this is doing to Fetch? Did you ever think about that? The poor kid has a cunt for a mother, has to grow up alone and has a father that wants nothing to do with him!"

"Joey, I grew up without a dad and I turned out just..."

"Don't you even say it! No buck that runs from responsibility, fucks anything with a pulse and could be this big of an asshole, turned out just fine! You are unbelievable sometimes, this isn't just something that will go away Cal, Fetch will always be here, you saw to that your-damn-self."

"Exactly, he will always be here, whether I'm here or not, so why does it matter?"

"It matters because this isn't just some dog you found, this is a life you created! Fetch is a pony, YOUR son and you are dismissing him like he's some stray animal that somehow has inconvenienced you."

"Look, I know how this must look to you, but you don't know what it's like in the REAL WORLD. You stay buried in your work and never even talk to other ponies, you don't know how things work around here."

"I know that everything you just said was bullshit. I know that you have no clue what your are doing. I know you are the problem here, not the solution."

"Oh, I'm the problem? What about Lavender, If I recall, she could have kicked me to the curb at anytime. But she was just as willing to bang as I was, where does the blame fall for her?" Cal, despite my best efforts, remained on the defensive.

We had been at this for hours now and my voice was beginning to fade out from all the yelling. Twice now, Tower Security had been called to our room for multiple noise complaints and had warned that the 3rd time would result in an additional charge being placed on the room. Cal had held his position that he was blame free of the situation, casting all the fault to Lavender's eagerness to get him into bed. It was a false wall that he put up between him and the rest of the world to validate his own mistakes and absolve him of his actions.

"She is irrelevant, she's a fucking cunt that doesn't deserve to have that colt and honestly, the way you are acting, neither do you."

"Oh so now I'm the bad parent? Tell me, is he being beaten everyday? Is he being forced to go out and hunt for food for his mother? Does he have to sleep outside like a dog just because his mother can't stand the thought of him being near her? Does Fetch have to deal with any of the things that I had too?" Cal said, his anger growing with every word that left his mouth.

"Cal, don't bring up your own past and try to compare it to him."

"No Joey, you want to really talk about this? You will never know the pain I had to deal with, but let me give you a little taste of what things are really like outside of that safe little caravan you came from." Cal said, jumping from his bed to the floor near me.

"When I was his age, my mother tried to sell me off to slavers just so she could make a few caps to pay for drugs. I had to run away for weeks at a time when she was using, so that she wouldnt try to beat me to death in my sleep because she thought I was a radroach. When I was 7, she broke my fucking hind legs so that I couldn't leave her when she got sick. I had to kill my own mother just to survive! So don't you dare tell me who the bad parent here is, you hopeless fuck!" Cal said turning from me.

It was no use talking to him, I already knew his past. I also know that it's the place he goes to when he wants to end a fight. He looks at arguments about his own faults like a competition of whose life is more fucked up and will try to use the heaviest of his memories to shut them down, just to win the fight. But the past is the past and regardless of what happened to him when he was like a colt himself, he was doing the very thing that caused him so much pain to somepony else now. I guess it's true what they say, hate breeds hate, pain breeds pain and self pity keeps the cycle moving.

"So your mother caused you so much pain that you have to hurt others just to hide it from yourself? You have to fuck up everypony else's life to justify your own existence? You are running from the one kid that you know for a fact you have, because you think that he deserves to feel the same pain you did?"

"Don't you put that on me! I'm nothing like my mother! I wouldn't hurt anypony who hasn't earned it!"

"Really Cal? Because that's exactly what you are doing to Fetch. It's a different form of pain that hurts just as bad. He's just a kid, he doesn't know about the fucked up way you look at the world or how you think things should be. He just wants to be loved and for somepony to care about him. He might not know you, but not knowing your own father because he's so wrapped up in his own self-pity that he had to have a fucking kid and ignore it to justify his own past is just as fucking bad."

"Fuck you! You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me saving your simple ass."

"No Caliber. Fuck you. Fuck you for being the worst of anypony I have ever met. Just because you have done some good in your life, doesn't mean you can cast your sins aside. And now, you are making brand new ones. Life isn't a scale where you can just out-weight everything you did wrong with a few good action to atone for them. No, you have to carry them with you everywhere you go, you have to try to be a better pony even after you have done something so horrible that you can't bare to live with yourself. The only way you can overcome them, is to accept them for what they are and let them make you better for it. Not pretend to throw them away and let on with a false bravado to hide your pain."

"I really am starting to regret saving you now."

"I wish you had not, I never would have seen the pony you have become. I don't want to live knowing ponies like you exist if that's the way you look at the world."

Cal said nothing, instead he trotted back to the bed, climbed in and reserved himself to staring at the ceiling. He had shut down and refused to acknowledge his own actions for what he had done. Sure he had done bad things in the past but, this was a mistake that could be fixed and he was walking away from it like it was as simple as a spilled drink. He saw Lavender and Fetch as yet another inconvenience that he had to deal with on some minimal level to move on to his next mistake. It was infuriating that it made me feel pity for him, but then again, that's exactly what he wanted. Even if all this pushed him over the edge and ended our friendship, I would be OK with carrying that with me for the rest of my days if he were to change even in the slightest for it.

Not just for the sake of Fetch, but for him too. How could a pony go on living with the way he does and not feel the weight of everything that he had done. Such a thing would weigh me down to the point of crawling through life, barely surviving anything that was thrown at me. But all Cal had to do was open another bottle of booze, find another mare, kill another raider and he would have the strength to keep moving forward. It's insanity, some deep seated parasitic pain that festers into something far worse over time, numbness to the pain you cause from your own actions just to keep it fed so that it will let you keep moving. Ignoring it would weigh you down with its eminence bulk until you either collapse under it's pressure or find a way to deal with it. I guess that's why drinking, chasing mares and killing are all called crutches, because for somepony like Cal, they are the only thing holding him up.

I turned to walk out of the room, nothing I could say would get through to him, only he could unlock the door to the room he was hiding in. A long silence fell between us as my hoof found the brass door handle, I looked back to Caliber, who was still staring into space.

"I guess that's why they call you Sparky. Everything good you are near, you set it on fire."

The comment prompted a glance in my direction as I turned to ornate handle and left the room and Cal to work through their own demons alone. Closing the door behind me felt almost like I had closed the cover of a book, the feeling was melancholy, happy that the fight was over, but still upset that nothing was gained. I wanted him to see what he was doing to the world around him, not just keep moving forward for the sake of survival. But Cal was having none of that, he was fine with perpetuating his very own hell that he had placed himself in, even if it scorched the lives of everypony that dared come near him. He had even done the same with me, burning that part of my memory that he had invaded like a wildfire would the forest. Every perception I had of him now was tainted by his actions and scared by the pony he had shown me that he could be.

I wanted the old Caliber back, the funny guy that I had come to know and love through his own reckless stupidity and bravery. Not this monster that consumed the lives of everypony around him, bring them pain and suffering. I miss the times when I could hang on his every word he would say without it having to come into question for the lives he hurt along the way. Before I could laugh when he would tell me about the fights he had gotten into or the crazy mares that he would have to hide from after a wild night of drinking. But becoming friends with him meant that now I had to see the other side of him, the real Caliber that hurts other ponies with his own selfish need to cope. Everything that he would do or say from now on would be stained with the sins that he threw on them to avoid his own guilt. I just don't know if I could be friends with somepony like that.

Then again, was I any better for casting him to the side like something foul that I had stepped in? Wouldn't a true friend try to help him get past this? Yes, they would and that's exactly what I was trying to do now. The only way for Caliber to get any better would be for me to help him through this, even if it meant me leaving him on his own for a while to think about what he had done for the last few years of his life. Part of me felt that I was right in doing what I did, saying the things that I knew would hurt him to try and shock him back into reality, for him to face these problems head on. After all, he had done the same for me when he told the doctors about my Med-x addiction. I didn't like it then, but now, I felt better than I had in weeks despite the fear of coming so close to going down a dark road. Cal had cared for me enough to keep an eye on me then and now I was doing the same for him, I just hope he can see that through all the hurtful things that I screamed at him. But for now, he just wanted to be left alone, and I just want my friend back.

Looks like we will be staying the night here, probably for the best seeing as Cal was still sulking in the room and I was still waiting for the muffins I had paid for. What could be taking her so long that I would have to wait until morning before I could pick them up, also, where the hell is Life Bloom? I have been trying since I left the room 4 hours ago to get my pipbuck back and despite my best efforts and going to the clinic three times now, I have managed to miss him all three times. I have walked all over this place now twice, I even got kicked out of the restricted section of the Tower's staff quarters when I happened along them by mistake. The level of boredom I was being subjected to was now at a monumental level, and I was starting to go stir crazy.

I sat down on a bench in the wares section of the Tower, just opposite of Cream's Confectionery and stared into the plate glass window. At this point the most exciting thing in the whole damn place was my own reflection, albeit still a bit unsettling to say the least. The stripes that had begun to appear across my body were still very faint, but visible nonetheless. Gazing into my own reflection I could see that they were much more pronounced on my right side and seemed to be getting darker. Granted much of their darkening color was in my imagination, still shocked from their appearance, but I couldn't help but notice the dark grey lines every time I saw myself. I don't look like me anymore, I feel the same but now it's like I have this dark cloud hanging over me everywhere I go.

Part of me doesn't mind in the slightest that my body is starting to look more and more like a zebra with each passing hour, but another part of me wishes it would all go away, back to the way I used to look. Sure I was boring to look at, but at least other ponies paid me no mind, now however, the few that did notice them, would curl their lips up in disgust. Had this been New Appleloosa, I would be devastated by this form of mistreatment, but here? They can all kiss my ass. Sure it was awkward, but I honestly couldn't care less what these ponies think about me, after all, it's hard to value the opinion of anypony whose biggest fear is the restaurant running out of wine. Scratch that remark about not caring what anypony here thinks of me.

I sat and watched as Fetch made his way into the baker's shop, he had not noticed me as he bounced his way down the hall past me and through the open doors. He was greeted by Cream who, walking around the counter, guided the young colt around it to a bench where he promptly sat down and began to start talking. Judging by the Cream's facial expression, Fetch was packing ten pounds of information into a one pound bag. Well I could sit here and feel sorry for myself, or I could go see how Fetch is doing, maybe even grab something to eat while I was at it. After all, the doctor did say that I needed to start eating better. I wonder If bread counts, maybe even muffins.

I trotted through the open doors of Cream's Shop and made my way to the counter where Cream was being, as best as I could tell, held hostage by her own kindness.

"Hey Cream, what do you have that's ready to eat, like now?" I asked while Fetch was taking a deep breath.

"Oh! Yes, I have some cookies left and I think that I've got half a loaf of bread back there. everything else is still baking." Cream said, kinder than I'm used to being talked to. I can't tell if she being genuinely kind or just happy to break away from the colt's verbal assault.

"Cookies and bread, eh? What the hell, I'll have a cookie sandwich!" I said jokingly.

"You got it!" Cream said, running through the doors to her back room. Ah, happy to get away it was then.

I looked over the counter to where Fetch was sitting and saw nothing but an empty bench with a few odd books lying on it. It was at that moment I became aware of a large mass attached to my hind leg, either I have grown a tumor in the last five minutes or...

"HI JOEY!" Came the squeaky voice of the young colt now squeezing my leg for attention.

"Woah, hey kid! What are you doing up this late? Don't you have a bed time?" I asked, giving my leg a shake, hoping to get it back.

"NOPE! Mommy works late a lot, so I come here and talk to Ms. Cream until she get's off." Fetch said, still refusing to release my leg.

"Well then, I bet she loves having you around to talk to! Have you been reading your book?" I asked, again shaking my leg in hopes of freedom.

"YUP! Mommy says I'm getting faster! She even read it with me at the spa!" Fetch said, refusing once more to loosen his death grip.

"She did? How do you like that, I bet that was fun for the both you two." I said, now conceding that I was not allowed to have my leg back.

"She says she's going to take tomorrow off and spend the day with me! I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun!" Fetch said, seeming to vibrate with enthusiasm. Lavender? Spending time with Fetch? Well, I guess a good cussing is all that's needed sometimes. Even if it was founded in fear, I don't see how that could be a bad thing.

"No way! I'm happy for you buddy!" No sooner than the words had left my mouth, Cream shouted from the confines of the back room.

"Joey! Would you mind giving me a hoof? Ask fetch to wait outside, It's too dangerous for him back here right now." Cream yelled. Too dangerous? It's a kitchen, what could be so dangerous back there.

"Ok Fetch, I need my leg back. You heard Ms. Cream." I said, finally feeling the blood return to my hind hoof.

"Yeah, yeah... rads are bad for little colts, I know..." Fetch said, trotting back to the bench behind the counter.

Wait, rads? Why would there be radiation in the kitchen? Walking behind the counter to the double doors that lead to the kitchen in the back room, I took notice to Fetch who was reading the book I had given him earlier. Well, trying to read anyhow. It was good to see him making such a strong effort to learn, even if he could just barely produce any real results. Approaching the doors to the kitchen, I was met with a green glow that was overcoming the ambient light around me. It was almost eerie in it's glow that bathed me once I passed through the doors.

"Put that suit on in the corner and take one of those Rad-X tablets!" Came the muffled voice of Cream who was also wearing a yellow suit.

I trotted to the corner to retrieve the similar looking suit that, once I had put it on, covered my head, front legs, chest, half of my back and wings. This thing had to be made for a mare, judging by how tight it was around my mid section and chest, a young mare at that. The Stable-Tec logo was adorned on the back of the suit, and by the looks of it, the suit would do little to protect me from anything if it were to be behind me.

"Ok, give me a hoof with this Joey." Cream said, holding a long pair of forceps with a small vial of green glowing powder in it.

"What in the sweet fuck is that stuff!?" I asked, looking to Cream for guidance.

"Ground up stone from a balefire crater that I made. I call it 'Rad Powder'. I need you to stir the batter as I pour the powder in, you think you can handle that?" Cream asked in a stern parenting tone.

"Yeah, yeah. One question, why are you putting radioactive powder in this... stuff?" I asked.

"Ditzy's Muffins. Remember? Ditzy's a ghoul if that fact has managed to slip past you, Rad Muffins are her favorite." Cream said, as she let the powder begin to trickle out of the vial into the smooth contents of the bowl.

"You do know you are contaminating everything in this kitchen right?" I said, mixing the glowing green powder into the contents of the bowl.

"Radiation doesn't work like that dumbass! It's the material that causes contamination, not the radiation itself! The rads you absorb into your body come from the the decay of the radioactive material, in fact the rads that this stuff gives off will kill any germs within a ten foot distance! Now focus, this stuff is so fine that it goes everywhere when you spill it." Cream said, still dribbling the contents into the bowl.

"Uhuh, you said you made this stuff right? Here in this kitchen?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Just... just mix the fucking bowl." Cream said, clearly flustered.

Rad Muffins... I should have known. Granted I had never heard of them before but it stands to reason that Ditzy, a well loved ghoul across the wasteland, would have muffins fortified with radiation. I now understand why they had cost so much to buy, Cream would have had to pay a ghoul to go and get the stones from a balefire crater, grind them up, make them into a powder and bake them. The very thought of what she was doing back here unnerved me to no end, NO WONDER EVERYTHING I ATE FROM HERE MADE MY PIPBUCK CLICK!

"Cream, is this even safe?" I asked, holding the whisk in my fetlock.

"Oh you poor little colt, it's no more dangerous than walking near a crater. Besides, you are in a suit, you'll be fine."

"Cream these suits are for contamination, not exposure."

"All the more reason for you to shut up and stir, the sooner this stuff is in the oven, the sooner we can get out of here." Cream said, emptying the remaining contents into the bowl.

Once we had completed the dangerous task of mixing the muffin mix, Cream then set both of us to the task of pouring the contents into the muffin trays. I had asked how I was supposed to carry these things back to Ditzy without dying of radiation sickness, but was met with a hoof pointing to a box in the corner. It was a dark gray box that seemed to be made of metal with a bio hazard symbol on the front of it with a locking lid that, once closed according to Cream, would keep things within the daily allowance of radiation dosage. Still, I think Caliber will be carrying the box of doom muffins... doomuffins... dooffins? Whatever.

Walking back to the front of the shop once more, Cream threw me a small juice box of Rad-Away and told me to "start sucking" and went to sit near Fetch. I turned the box over in my hooves to read the front of it to see the foal-like writing. Huh, Rad-Away for foals, I had never seen these before, berry flavored at that. I poked the small straw through in the hole in the top and began to sip the contents out and turned to look at the window. Outside I could see Cal and Lavender talking to each other, oh hell, this can't be good. Cream had taken up teaching Fetch to read his new book, the two studying it intently as I passed them by to trot out of the store.

"Look Joey! Cream is helping me read the book you gave me, we are already on the 4th page!" Fetch said, beaming with pride.

"Awesome, little guy! Keep at it, I'll be back in just a second, I need to talk to somepony really quick. I'm sure Cream won't mind helping you out for a while. " I said, making eye contact with Cream and motioning my head towards Cal and Lavender in hopes that she would keep him distracted from the fight that was about to happen. There was no need to see his mother and father going at it, he was too young to need to deal with that level of confusion just yet.

Cream, seeing my intentions, promptly shifted in her seat to put herself in the way of his two arguing parents and began to focus on teaching the colt to read. I started making my way to the door, but froze in my tracks when I heard Caliber's almost pleading voice echoing down the hallway. He sounded almost desperate, like he was begging even, in his tone towards the mare, something I had never heard from Cal before. Lavender however, held a tone in her voice I had heard before, It was one of resolve and not backing down that she was aiming towards Cal.

"I'm sorry, but I think things might be better if you just left the Tower, me and Fetch are trying to make it by and don't need your help." Lavender said.

"But, I could help! I know this place is expensive and all, I could help pay for somethings for you guys!" Cal said, again in that pleading tone.

"No Cal, you have done enough. I can appreciate you wanting to be a part of his life and even mine but, I think it would be better if he didn't know you."

"How can you say that!? He's my son too, sure I was a bit shocked when you told me, it's not something you can start a conversation with! If you would just let me talk to him..." Cal was cut of by a wave of Lavender's hoof.

"No Cal, too little, too late. You had your chance but you ran from it, you even had a second chance when you came back but you ran again. I don't want Fetch growing up around somepony like you. You should listen to your friend rather than fight with him, in the one hour he has spent with Fetch, he has been more of a father than you will ever be. He even taught him to read! That's more than I can say even." Lavender said. I couldn't help but cringe at that statement, feeling like I had walked on hollowed ground that I was never meant to tread on.

"I know, I just needed to hear it from him. He can be a right asshole sometimes but I know he's right, it's just so hard not to argue with him when I'm on trial. Look, please, I'm begging you... Can I please just meet him?" Cal said with a hitch in his voice.

"I'm sorry, the answer's no." Lavender said as she turned and walked away.

Caliber sat down hard and watched as the purple mare trotted away from him, leaving him to sulk in the mess they both had created. Even though she was making an effort to be a part of Fetch's life, she was using him to get back at Cal the only way she knew how, by denying him to meet his only son. The thought of her using Fetch like a bargaining chip was infuriating, but watching her do it to Cal brought about a lot of conflicting thoughts to mind. Sure Cal deserved to have his flank served up on a silver platter for acting the way he did, but at least he was making an effort. Honestly that's the only thing I wanted from him from the start, to make an effort, to acknowledge that he had done wrong and face the problem head on.

Cal had taken my advice and been beaten even more for his very trying to do right. I had thought that by him trying to make amends with Lavender that he would be doing the right thing, maybe even bring about some closure to this whole ordeal. But now I feel like I was used as a bat to hurt him even more by my very actions of helping Fetch learn to read. I guess the saying 'the path to hell is paved with good intentions' is true after all. My good intentions paved a road for Caliber to try and make things right by Lavender, now he was at her mercy to see his own son and in turn, placed him in his own hell. This isn't fair! He's trying to do the right thing but everypony just sees him for the ass he once was, not the pony he is trying to be. I guess in Tenpony when your name is mud, it stays mud.

Finally walking to his side, I couldn't tell if he was crying or shaking with anger, nevertheless, I was prepared for him to hit me, or hug me.

"Caliber? What are you doing down here?" I asked, deciding to let him tell me the details for himself.

"Oh. Hey Joey. I just came down to get some cheese. Fighting always makes me hungry for cheese. "Caliber said, looking to the closed-up cheese shop. "I guess they are closed..." Cal trailed off.

"Yeah, Cream said the guy who runs this joint is out with his wife somewhere in the wasteland or something." I said, trying to fill the dead space between us.

"It's not fair... All I wanted to do was try to make things right and she pulls this shit on me? Why do I even try!?" Cal said, more angry than upset.

"Because trying is the right thing to do. You made a mistake, sure you ran from it at first, but the point is you tried to make things right. It's not that you fell down, it's how you fell down that matters."

"Then why do I feel like shit for trying? I thought I would feel better after asking to meet him but now... it just hurts."

"Let me ask you something... Why did you talk to her about this?"

"I was sitting there, thinking of ways to get back at you for cussing me, then I guess I started thinking about it and I wanted to meet him."

"So you did this because you wanted to meet your son... Why?" I asked seeing him looking off into the distance.

"I don't want him to be like me." Is all Cal said, leaving much to be desired in the way of insight. But from what I could gather, I don't think that he was doing this for him. Maybe he had thought things through and decided that he didn't want the little colt growing up not knowing who his father was. Maybe it was because he wanted to feel better about himself after everything I had put him through back in the room. But it could also be that he wanted better for Fetch, maybe for him to know that there was somepony else out there that was just like him. Either way, Cal was moving in the right direction, just at a snail's pace thanks to Lavender. If she didn't want Fetch to know who Cal was because he was an asshole, that's fair enough in it's thinking, but I feel like she might be doing this more out of malice than love for her son. Nopony turns around in one day, this holds true for both Lavender and Caliber, but I still have this feeling that she's doing this to spite him.

"Hey, Do you want to meet him?"

"She said no Joey, how could I-"

"He's in the bakery, right behind you. He's reading a book with Cream." I said, pointing to the shop behind us.

"She said no, that's her decision to make not mine." Cal said, standing.

"Screw her, you should at least get to see him before we head out, if nothing else to know he's a good kid."

"What would I even say to him? Hi, I'm Caliber, your dead beat dad that didn't know you existed and ran away from you. Sounds like a great ice breaker!" Cal said, looking at me completely lost.

"How about hello to start with, you will figure it out from there." I said guiding him into Cream's.

"I don't know about this Joey, what if I fuck it up?"

"You'll be fine, trust me, he's a sweet kid." I said, looking over to Cream.

"Hey Cream, do you think you and I could have a word in the kitchen?" I asked, trying to make it obvious that we needed to leave the room.

"Back there!? Are you nuts!? The muffins are cooking and are about to hit critical mass! You can't be in the same room with them when that's happening!" Cream said with a look of 'are you stupid' across her face.

"Outside, whatever! I need to talk to you, you mad scientist!" I said, nodding my head to Cal.

"Fine... Fetch, we will pick this back up in a moment." Cream said with a huff, standing to walk to the door.

"Ok Cal, just play it cool." I said, walking past Cal.

"Heh, no pressure, right?"

Cream and I walked to the front of the store and sat down in the hallway, just within earshot of the two's conversation. Through the window I no longer saw my reflection, but instead saw Cal shaking in his hooves, standing next to Fetch.

"Ok Joey, what's so important..." Cream said, lighting a cigarette.

"That's Caliber, Fetch's dad."

"Wait, Fetch has a father!?" Cream asked almost in shock.

"Everypony has a father, Cream..."

"And you just so happen to find him."

"It's... complicated but yes, Caliber is Fetche's father. Now shush, I'm trying to spy." I said, leaning my ear to the crack between the door and windowed store front. Inside I could hear Cal fumbling through his words. It was actually kind of cute to watch, I was used to the wild and crazy Caliber, not this quivering mass of fear all stemming from a little colt. It was as if he had regressed to a young colt who was about to talk to the first mare he had ever met.

"Hi, Fetch is it?" Caliber said in a meek voice.

"Yeah! Who are you?" Came the enthusiastic voice of Fetch.

"Oh! Yeah! My name's Caliber. I'm Joey's friend."

"I know Joey! He gave me this book and showed me how to read it!"

"Yeah, he's a good guy, stubborn, but a good guy."

"I saw him talking to mommy earlier, do you think he would be my dad if I asked him?" Fetch said hopefully. Ouch, I didn't see that coming. Granted, Cal had expressed that he wasn't father material, but still, that had to hurt just the same.

"I don't know buddy, he's a busy guy. But I'm sure that given the chance he would do it in a heartbeat." Cal said, much more nonchalant than I had expected.

"Hey, what's it like hanging out with him? I bet you guys get to go on all kinds of adventures together! DJ Pon3 is always talking about how he shoot's up the slavers on the radio."

"It's fun, painful sometimes but we have fun together." Cal said, rubbing his half bitten-off ear. What do I have to do to get him to stop messing with that damn thing! It's going to fall off!

"I knew it! Tell me a story! Um... Please?" Fetch said, bouncing from floor to bench with excitement.

"A story? Like a story about me and Joey working together?" Cal said, taking in Fetch's rambunctious addicted with wide eyed amusement.

"Yeah, yeah! Tell me a story! Please, please, please!" Fetch said, almost vibrating with excitement. Wow, he even says "yeah, yeah" in rapid succession like Cal does.

"Ok!" Cal said, sitting down on the floor. "Joey and I were working on a job, trying to find a young colt who had been taken by slavers..."
Cal started, but I wasn't able to catch the rest of his, I'm sure embellished story, due to Life Bloom scaring me half to death when he tapped my shoulder.

"Sorry Joey, I didn't mean to frighten you." Life Bloom said.

"I'm going to check on the muffins, you two have fun..." Cream said with an odd inflection in her voice.

"There you are, how did you sneak up on me like that?" I said, looking around. There was no place that he could have come from, that I would not have seen or heard him coming.

"Oh, I get around quietly. I have your pipbuck ready."

"Oh thank goddesses, tell me you go that damn thing working again."

"It was pretty beat up, but I managed to save the poor thing. You really should be nicer to your toys, they work better when you are nicer to them."

"I'll be nicer to them when they work!"

"Ugh... Ok, it seems the problem was that the video board had a hairline crack in it, that's why it went dark on you. But Caliber told me that you had been having problems more and more out of it since you two started working together."

"Yeah, it would just stop working at times for no reason. The inventory sorter would die out and the thing that tells me how messed up I am would go blank."

"Hold your hoof out for me, please." Life Bloom asked, holding the open pipbuck in his out-stretched legs. With a firm click, the small computer locked itself to my leg.

"Ah, just as I thought."

"What?" I asked, turning the pipbuck over on my leg.

"It's loose, chances are that since you have started flying more, you have lost a significant amount of weight." He said, poking at one of my exposed ribs. The gesture was met with a giggle from the odd sensation of being touched.

"Yeah, I know. I don't like things to be tight on me so I asked the mare to leave it a little loose." I said, guarding my side from his poking.

"There lies the problem. Pipbucks work off of the galvanic response from the wearer. They gather data from the sensor pad under the main screen of the unit and intemperate it into readable data for the user to address as needed. It also uses the wearer's body as a sort of an antenna to read local threats and items or locations that you have come in contact with. When it is loose, it will work intermittently, but ultimately stop working entirely from lack of inheritable data, or in your case, being hit too hard. The spell it casts gathers energy from the user to power its on-board functions, including its durability spell." Life Bloom said. Seeing my face of 'what the hay are you even talking about', he let out a grunt of frustration.

"Ugh! Too losie, no worky! No foody means no fitty..." He said, rubbing his temples.

"OH! Ok! I understand now."

It all made sense. Every time my pipbuck had stopped working had been after a long flight or weeks in the wasteland. The fact that during those times I had burned a lot of calories and lost weight, making it not work properly. Life Bloom then removed a few tools from his bags and set to tightening the elastic straps on the offending pipbuck.

"Usually, these straps are tightened to just be snug enough to keep it in place, but loose enough to allow for the wearer's comfort. I would imagine that whoever installed yours had no clue about these things. But this doesn't mean that you can slack off on keeping yourself fed. We don't see pegasi very often, but from the few I have met, your race has shown to burn calories at an alarming rate. So even with them adjusted correctly now, you may need them adjusted again once you start eating better." Life Bloom said, finishing up the final adjustments.

"So doc, are you saying the remedy is cake?" I said with a smirk.

"Ugh... Just, be more careful." Life Bloom said, gathering his tools and walking away from me.

"Wait! Don't I owe you anything for this?" I yelled after him.

"No charge... Why do the cute one's always have to be so dumb." Life Bloom muttered.

"I'm not dumb! I'm just... Wait? Cute?" I said, sitting down hard.

Life Bloom disappeared around the corner by the time I had comprehended what he had said. Cute? He thought I was cute? What was that all about. I'm not cute! I'm the baddest pegasi I know! Well... considering that I'm the only pegasi I know, doesn't exactly give me much to go on here, but still. I turned from where Life Bloom had trotted off too and seemingly disappeared to look back in on Caliber and Fetch talking only to find that very little talking was actually happening.

Fetch had resorted back to bouncing from wall to wall with excitement while Caliber, looking very overwhelmed by the young colt's enthusiasm, did his best to keep his eyes on him and tell his story at the same time. I had stood from my seated position and pointed myself towards the door when I made eye contact with Lavender and Steel Water who were making their way towards me, both of them wearing looks of anger. Doing my best not to look shocked by what I knew was about to happen, I continued my advancement towards the door as calmly as I could, as not to draw attention to myself.

No sooner than my tail had cleared the door, I bucked the wedge shaped door jam out of its place and slammed the door closed behind me. Looking up to a very confused Caliber and Fetch and a very unhappy Cream, I shouted as loud as i dared.

"IT'S FETCH'S MOM AND STEEL WATER! HIDE!"

The comment was meet with a melody of emotions. Anger from Caliber, mild annoyance from Cream, but the most shocking look came from Fetch. Fear, pure hoof-shaking, clenched jaw fear permeated from the young colt. This was surprising considering that he knew nothing about Caliber being his father or that he would be murdered to death by Steel Water if they were seen together.

"YOU HAVE TO HIDE! IF MOMMY FINDS OUT I'M TALKING TO YOU, UNCLE STEEL WILL POUND YOU INTO LITTLE PONY PIECES!" Squeaked out a very excited Fetch.

"Oh hell..." Mumbled Cream

"If you two get my store destroyed over a father-son reunion, those muffins won't be the only thing in the damn oven!"

"CREAM! WHERE'S THE NEAREST A/C VENT!?" Caliber said glancing around the store in desperation.

"In the kitchen, between the ovens. Why?"

"No time! Goodbye Fetch, be a good boy and remember what I told you, ok?"

"Yup!" Chirped Fetch.

"Wait, what?!" I asked, looking to both of them with confusion.

"Later, I'll meet you in the room, I was never here!" Caliber said as he crouched under double doors of the kitchen and faded into the green glowing room.

"Stupid colt, I hope his nuts rot off from the rads back there." Cream said under her breath.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT MY DAD THAT WAY!" Fetch screeched.

"What!? Never mind, both of you shush!" I said, turning to see Lavender and Steel rounding the corner to the bakery's door. Doing my best nonchalant impression, I greeted them both as they walked through the door.

"Well if it isn't Lavender and Steel Water."

"Where is he!" Bellowed Lavender.

"I saw him! He just came in here." Said Steel Water.

"Who? Fetch? He's right over there! What are you? Blind?" I said as sarcastically as I dared.

"YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT! WHERE. IS. HE!" Screamed the now very, very angry purple mare.

"Seriously, I have no clue who you are talking about." I said, again putting on my best nonchalant face.

Lavender then looked to Cream who was doing her best to look busy, narrowing her eyes towards her in hopes of provoking the answer that would satiate her suspicions. A deep sinking feeling took hold of me, leading me to only hope that what little camaraderie we have would somehow be enough to allow her to lie for us. Cream, to her credit, did her best to evade the question.

"What are you talking about, I have only seen Fetch and Joey in here in the last 2 hours." Cream said while opening the register and counting down the till.

"Where is that prick Caliber hiding at Cream? I saw him come in here on the cameras." Steel Water said with a far too calm demeanor.

"What? On those two century old black and white cameras? I have seen the monitors. It's a wonder you can make out anything on those things. Are you sure you didn't just see Joey?" Cream said.

"I know what I saw. I saw him talking to sis over by the Cheese shop and then saw Joey lead him in here." Said Steel Water.

"Uhuh... Did you rewind it and look twice, or are you going off what you think you saw? Oh that's right, you can't rewind them can you? As I recall, you couldn't do that last week when somepony broke in here after hours and took all of the sweet rolls." Cream said arcing a brow. I had to admit, she made a very convincing argument, or at the very least, it sounded like she might have some dirt on Steel Water. Looking to him confirmed my suspicions. Steel Water wore a guilty look that he was trying to cover with an uneasy smile.

"No I can't sadly, the recorder has been broken for some time now."

"So you have no way of proving Caliber was even here? In my book that would be a blind accusation towards somepony whom you have a vendetta towards." I said accusingly.

"It is hardly blind! Because of him I'm a single mom!" Lavender belted back at me.

"Oh boohoo, a single mother in the safest place in the damn wasteland. Others should be so lucky! Besides, wasn't Caliber just talking to you, trying to make amends and help out in some way? If things are SO hard on you, why wouldn't you take his help?" I asked narrowing my eyes at the two of them. The constant shifting of blame was taking it's toll on Lavender's patience, the anger that she was starting to display was almost palatable. Having no dog in this fight meant that I had little to nothing to lose by arguing a lie and even less to be judged on. This also meant that while Lavender was busy getting mad, I was left calm and collected. She lost the fight before she even walked through the door.

"What do you know about me and my struggles? What business is any of this to you?" Lavender said, now being held back by Steel Water.

"You made it my business when you decided to call out one of my friends for being a bad parent when you yourself are not much better. What's that old saying? Don't throw stones in glass stables?" I said, turning my back to her.

"Com'on sis, there is no sense getting mad over this, didn't you say that Fetch had already figured out that Caliber is his father? What harm could come from it anyhow?" Steel Water said, trying to guide the irate mare out the door.

"Next time I see him anywhere near Fetch, I'm going to string him up by his hedge apples! You got that?" Lavender said, poking a hoof to my chest.

"And the next time I hear about you taking your frustrations out on Fetch, there will be little left of you to string up." I said with a deadly stillness in my voice. It was an idle threat, but it had the desired effect on Lavender to not only make her stern glare falter, but also prove to her that I wasn't Caliber and that she couldn't dissolve her own guilt with me.

Steel Water, who I had figured would have several things to say about my comment, seemed more insistent on putting as much distance between himself and Cream, whose glare had yet to leave the security buck. Once they had gone, I decided to make good on my promise to eat better by purchasing some food from Cream and took my leave shortly there after, leaving Cream to whatever mad science she was up to in her green glowing laboratory of a kitchen. On the way back up to the room, I paused only briefly to take note of my now working pipbuck. Life Bloom had worked wonders on the thing, making it not only work better than it ever had, but somehow changing the color of everything to very light blue. My only thought being that he must have had to use parts from other pipbucks that he had laying around at the time, somehow cobbling together a working unit for me to use.

A small frown crossed my muzzle when the sudden realization hit me that I had been so ignorant of what this little computer is capable of all these years. This was made worse by my own knowing of my lack of knowledge of technology, so much so that it actually had a depressive feel to it. I sat down with my back to the old walls of the hallway and stared at the cyan blue glowing screen of my pipbuck. I didn't even know how to work this thing properly! I should have asked Life Bloom for a manual or lesson's on how to work the damn thing.

"Ugh! I hate feeling inadequate!" I said aloud to myself, thumping my head against the hallway's wall.

"Lover's quarrel?" Came a voice to my right, near the elevators.

I looked to my side to see a dark grey mare with a messy blue mane trotting my way. I think she was the same mare that I had passed in the hallway before when I had been dragging Cal back to the room.

"What? No! Just having a moment of inadequacy towards technology." I said with a half-hearted grin.

"Uhuh. Well then. I don't believe I have seen you around the Tower before, are you a new resident?"

"Me? No, I'm just passing through the area. My partner and I needed a breather before we started out towards Hoofington." I said, standing back to all fours.

"Oh well, I suspect that you will be needing all the rest that you two can get before going there."

"Yeah, that was the plan, but it seems like my partner's past transgressions are coming back to haunt him."

"Who is your partner again and where are you two from?"

"Oh, sorry. Caliber, and my names Joey. We are from down south."

"You wouldn't be the same Joey that tracks down ponies would you? Coyote Joe?"

"That would be me, but friends call me Joey." I said with a bit more pride than I had expected to leave my mouth.

"Nice to meet you Joey, I'm Homage, Dj-Pon3's assistant. I believe that I met Caliber earlier. You two were looking for a book from Sapphire Shores, correct?"

"Yeah, he said he spoke with you about it but the two of you came up empty-hooved. We ended up finding a copy just the same though."

"Oh? And here I though that I had found the only copy in the Tower. I was just on my way to Caliber's room to give it to him, but I suspect that neither of you will be needing it now."

"Actually, having a copy we could take with us would be amazing, if you are still willing to part with it that is." I said, putting on my best 'please give joey the book' face.

"Of course." She said, rifling through her bags for the old, stained book and passing it over to me. My pipbuck gave off a small flash, showing it to now be in my inventory.

"Thank you for this, you have no idea what this means to me." I said, tucking the book safely into my saddle bags.

"I have to ask, why in the world would you need a foal's book?"

"It's a long story..."

"I have time."

In the room, Caliber had yet to make his reappearance after the bake shop fiasco and I had decided to use my time wisely by trying to settle in for a nap. Despite needing to learn more about my now fully functioning pipbuck, my body had betrayed me into nearly falling over on the way back to the room. I was exhausted, but thanks to Caliber taking so long to get back here, I was no longer hungry. In fact,
I was nearing the point of nausea from how much I had eaten, though I can't tell if it was from the amount of food or the amount of rads. I had taken the time to stock up on food before I left the bakery and now, I was paying the price of excess.

I have no clue how long I was out for. An hour? Two? Maybe three? When I awoke to the loud crash of a ceiling vent smashing to the ground atop the dresser drawers. Caliber had made his triumphant return, scaring me out of the bed and onto the ground. I looked up to where he laid in a pile of what was once the dresser just in time to see him start flailing in every direction, sending bits of it across the room. In one hoof he held our possessions from the guard shack and in his mouth was a burlap sack. He shook his head back and forth to try and rid himself of the daze he was in from the fall, then with his eyes growing wide, he rose from the pile and started shouting.

"PACK YOUR SHIT! PACK YOUR SHIT! WE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Cal, what the fuck, I was sleeping!"

"WAKE THE FUCK UP! WE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Caliber shouted, throwing our various items into the sack and running into the bathroom.

"CALIBER! IT'S FINE! I TOOK CARE OF IT! CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"

"Wait. What? What did you take care of?"

"I ran into Hom- Dj-Pon3's assistant in the hallway. She gave me a copy of the book and agreed to get the guards off your back."

"What!? She can do that?" Caliber said, poking his head out of the bathroom.

"She said she had dirt on the guards and that as long as we are out of here by the morning we would be fine."

"Oh! OK. Whats for dinner?" Caliber said, dropping the bag and fording his way through the rubble to his sheet-less bed. Sometimes I wish I could turn on an emotional dime like he could.

"There are some day old muffins and a few cookies on the..." I trailed off, looking to the dresser where the food had just been.

"Good! Where are they?" Caliber asked, looking around for the sweet provisions.

"They WERE on the dresser... that you landed on... you moron." I said through long pauses, rubbing my temples with my hooves.

"Oops..." Caliber said with a sheepish grin.

"I guess I should go get more then?"

"What time is it?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"It is..." Caliber trailed off and started digging through the remains of the dresser. Soon he held up a clock that had been nearly smashed in his entrance. The speaker crackled and dangled off to the side of the unit as he turned it over in his magic.

"5 A.M. The bakery should be opening up soon, I could go get more food." Caliber said, throwing the broken clock back to the bathroom.

"5 A.M.!? Celestia! I HAVE been asleep! What the hell took you so long?"

"Oh! I took a nap for a few hours. When I woke up, I forgot where I was and had to find my way back. You wouldn't believe how big this place is. I found this one room just off the library that had these dudes dressed up in cloaks, talking all cryptic and shit. It was intense!"

"Cal, what the hell are you talking about?"

"It was nuts! They kept going on about that LightBringer chick and something about "The Twilight Society". The whole thing was straight out of a kid's ghost story book." Caliber said while searching his bag for caps.

"Caliber, did you hit your head when you fell or something? Secret rooms? Creepy cult within the tower called 'The Twilight Society'?" I said, tying to keep a straight face. Obviously, he had gone loony on me.

"I don't know, maybe I dreamed it. Hey! Shouldn't we get a move on? Its going to be a long flight to Hoofington if you are wanting to see that sister of yours." Cal said, slipping on his gear.

"Cal, why do you have our things? Aren't those supposed to be in the guard shack?"

"Well... I thought that we were going to have to make a getaway after the run-in at Cream's place."

"Damn it Cal..."

"Just... get your things, lets get out of here before Steel 'Twater' goes on duty. The other guards are not all there mentally, but he will notice our things missing."

We set ourselves to gathering what little things we had both come with and bought while we were here. I had insisted that Cal try and mend the broken dresser the best he could, but he instead threw one of the sheet from my bed over it and insisted they would never notice. Soon, we departed what was left of the room and made our way to the Towers bakery to retrieve the nuclear muffins that Cream had prepared for Ditzy. As luck would have it, Cream was already in the kitchen, packaging them up for the ride back to New Appleloosa. When I asked how I was supposed to transport them without my flank rotting off, she waved her hoof and pointed to a metal box with a biohazard logo on the front of it. We were instructed not to open the box under any circumstances during the journey, less for our own safety and more to ensure freshness.

Despite Caliber's mischievous behavior, the guards were none the wiser of him taking not only our gear, but also a few weapons from their stock pile. As upset as it made me that Caliber had stolen them, I had to admit, I was curious as to what all he had taken. Maybe there was something useful that would tickle my fancy, maybe it was a load of garbage confiscated pipe rifles, at any rate, I had mixed emotions about stealing. Thankfully, the way out of the Tower had little to no security measures meaning that we didn't have to pass through any of the Tower's scanners. Had it been the way we came in... better to not think about it.

Soon we were back outside, in the dim light of morning. Without any hesitation, Cal climbed onto my back and together, we pushed off the ground. I set the pipbuck's on-board map function with a waypoint for New Appleloosa with a few pokes of a hoof. It was then that I saw the button on the side of the unit that had embossed lettering that read E.F.S. Wasting no time, I pressed the button and was greeted with a cyan blue overlay in my vision once more. If nothing else good could come from this trip, at least now I had the means to keep us from getting killed. I set myself towards the direction of New Appleloosa and began to ascend parallel to the Tower.

In one of the windows, on the third floor, I could make out a small colt waving his hooves. Hovering closer to the building confirmed my suspicions that it was Fetch, book in one hoof, waving to Caliber and I, wearing a sad expression on his face. I bucked my head back to get Cal's attention and pointed to the forlorn looking colt. Cal, taking the hint, looked to the window and gave a long pause.

"Joey, can you fly me a little closer?"

Without hesitation, I moved to the edge of the window sill and did my best to keep us both steady in the updraft of wind from the Tower's walls. Fetch, wasting no time, tried to open the window, but it was no use. The Tower's windows had long since rusted shut from the constant exposure to radioactive wind and rain. Seeing that his efforts were in vain, Fetch fell back to his haunches and instead pressed a hoof to the wavy glass of his apartment window. Caliber, who was being oddly silent, returned the favor by pressing his hoof over Fetch's. Seconds seemed to pass, all the while the young colt's expression growing more and more sad looking through the window. Finally, after nearly a minute of looking at one another, and Fetch nearing the point of crying, Caliber broke the silence.

"I WILL come back for you! I promise!" Caliber said with a hidden, broken voice.

Fetch's face grew less upset following his words, seeming to once again become the bubbly, happy colt that I had always seen in the past. I slowly began to rise in the air, waving to Fetch as I passed him by and tapping the glass with a hoof. Before long we were full airborne and in route to New Appleloosa.

"Joey, can you turn on the radio? You know... flying music?" Cal said, sounding almost lost in his own thoughts.

"Yeah, no problem Cal."

I flicked-on the radio function on my pipbuck to listen to the one and only station that it had ever been on since the day I took possession of it. Soon the crackly voice of Dj-Pon3 came through the speaker, filling the air with his dulcet tone's.

"... and that children, is the weather. The same as it was yesterday and the day before... and now a special message for two bucks who are on a mission to find a missing pony. Yesterday, my assistant came across a buck in the hallways of Tenpony. Well, turns out that buck was none other than Coyote Joe, our favorite missing pony tracker I have talked about in the past. Now, I know what you all are saying. 'Dj-Pon3, why would this make it on your show? What about the Lightbringer? What about Security?' Well Children, I'll tell you. Coyote Joe, or Joey as he likes to be called, has his own missing pony problem. In fact, he has been hunting this particular mare for over 10 years now. Who is that mare you might ask? Well children that mare would be the love of his life that went missing long, long ago. Now my assistant had a nice long chat with our tracker and she says that even though he has traveled the wasteland in search of her, yet he has still come up empty hooved. Nevertheless, he remains hopeful that he will one day find her. It just goes to show, every hero has their own struggle, even though they may seem larger than life at times, deep down, they are the same as the rest of us. This next song goes out to Joey and Caliber, I hope you both find what you are looking for..."

The radio popped and crackled, soon the air was no longer filled with the sound of Dj-Pon3's voice, but was instead replaced by the singing of Sapphire Shores.

"Wow, we made it on the radio." Caliber said flatly, still looking off to the Tower window where Fetch once was.

"Are you ok?" I asked, looking up to Cal.

"I'll be fine... Well... If these muffins don't rot my junk off that is."

"Heh, that would almost be a good thing considering everything that happened back there."

"Joey?"

"What? That was funny!" I said, feeling like I had failed at my own humor.

"Do you think I could be a dad?"

"Maybe? Why would you ask that?"

"Just thinking about the future..." Cal trailed off, finally pulling his eyes from the Tower.

Soon we had ascended to a cruising altitude, just below the cloud layer. Cal had fallen silent, no doubt lost in thought. The universe had thrown him a proverbial curve ball, forcing him to deal with the cause of his own actions and face them head on. Whether it was a good thing or bad, Cal had discovered that he was not alone in this world anymore as long as Fetch was in the Tower. In a way, Fetch also could take comfort in knowing that he had two parents out there, even if one of them was a bitch and the other a moron. Cal seemed to be entertaining the idea of being a father, and while that was a good thing, it would be complicated by the situation with Lavender to the bitter end. She was unwilling to let go of what Cal had done in the past to let him move forward with being a parent to Fetch. Parents are protective, that's what they do, but Lavender was no parent in my book. Then again, how many fillies and colts are out there that don't have parents? How many are out there that have never even met their parents? Celestia knows I never had.

We had also found the book that held the key to finding Zuri and with it, another long flight to find her. It's only been a few days into this journey but it feels like weeks now since I found the rock she had carved. Soon we would deliver the muffins to Ditzy in New Appleloosa. From there it would be two long days of flying to Hoofington, then back to Ponyville to pick up the trail to White Saddle Shores. With miles and miles of flying ahead of us, one thought rang out above all the others in my head. I wonder if my mother is still alive.

Fetch and Joey art!

Link to artist!:http://machstyle.deviantart.com/

Fun fact, the artist to this is who Caliber is based off of!

Author's Notes:

Thank you all for reading this chapter of Wildest Dreams. I know that I had originally planned on this chapter to be out January 23rd for my birthday, but sadly it had to be delayed. For the last 2.5 years now, I have been helping out with my mother (grandmother who raised me) who has had dementia. For the last few years I have watched my mother slowly degrade in health, forgetting who both me and my farther (grandfather who raised me) are to her. It has been the most horrific time in my life, facing responsibility that I have never had to deal with in the past and seeing her like this.

At 4:13 A.M. on January 21st, I lost my mother. On January 23rd, we layed her to rest next to her sister and my father (biological father who I lost when I was 15). Usually January 23rd is the day that me and my dad share both of our birthdays (we were both born on the 23rd, me in 1987 him in 1945). But from now on, the 23rd will always be marked as the day that we buried my mom.

Because of that, this chapter had to be delayed so that i could recover from the loss and spend time with my family and friends. Thank you for baring with me through these tough times. I would also like to thank Mike for all of his tireless work, helping with editing the chapters of this story. without him, this story would have burned out at chapter 2.