“This place stinks!” Melody complained as we edged our way around mound after mound of decaying waste and trash that all congregated around the drain hole covers from Freeside residents literally tossing their shit down into the old drainage system.

I, thanks to the quality filtering of my dual-filtered gas mask, didn’t smell a thing but I could only imagine how much the place reeked. I was one of the few residents lucky enough to own a still fully functioning toilet in their home that dumped its contents into the old cistern. The sewer system itself was about as remarkable as you’d expect from a large underground stone tunnel. The bulk of the walls and ceiling were made of dirty tan bricks and numerous smaller tunnels and open-ended pipes that fed into the main tunnel we were traveling down, leading in from other locations around the city. I had to admit it was a genius way to travel undetected (as who in their right mind would want to walk through this place?) but that didn’t stop me from trying not to gag at the rotting garbage and waste lining the entire path. Not to mention the flies and other nasty little bugs come to the ahem...feast. So many it seemed that the path ahead was actually passable with some careful hoofwork from how much was consumed.

I felt bad that I got to walk odor free while she and Gold were forced to endure the stench of our surroundings. Without a second thought, took my helmet off and plopped it right onto Melody’s head, holding my breath against the inevitable. She eeped softly at the sudden helmet but quickly changed her surprise into wonder as she seemed to notice my internal visor and all the information presented on it.
“What is all of this stuff?” She asked, her voice coming out sounding slightly grainy but still beautiful nonetheless. “S.A.T.S...Thermal...whoa! Everything went all rainbow colored! It’s soooo prettyyy!”
My heart ached and flipped around in my chest at yet another one of her joyus outbursts of excitement. It was as if every time she squeed in delight, a little part of the mare I once was returned to life just to remind me once again at just how much I missed Huckleberry. And just how much I wished for this wonderful little filly to become my own little daughter. Not to replace Huckleberry...but maybe to just fill the hole she had so sadly left in me that had yet to fade.
“That’s the thermal vision filter.” I said with a laugh, unfortunately taking in more than a few breaths of our lovely surroundings. “It lets you see heat signatures. It’s really effective when you’re trying to find living things in the dark. Or see heat blooms from above in particular areas potentially launching a missile or something.”
I choked back a wretch and fumbled at my belt for the pouch containing my military issued emergency fume mask which was intended to protect against a short term NecroGas attack when caught without my helmet. Though the smell of shit and piss and other such nasty stuff wasn’t anywhere near as deadly as NecroGas was, in the moment I was inclined to disagree with that. I thankfully found it in the small black pouch on my waist next to my emergency medical kit (which contained just two enchanted bandage rolls, a pair of Medix painkiller syringes and a tiny bottle of an extremely potent healing potion) and soon enough the white dust mask looking device was slipped over my muzzle and letting me breathe normally without wanting to throw up the sweet corn and Sparkle-Cola I had for breakfast. As usual, being a pack rat made up of at least 30% bags, bandoliers and pouches was saving my ass. Or I guess in this case, my stomach.

“That’s so cooolll!” She sang giddily, hopping around yet another pile of assorted nastiness. The helmet was obviously too large for her head but seemed to be doing a well enough job of filtering the air for her without the EVA seal. “What else can this thing do?”

“A l-lot!” Gold said from behind me, his voice strangely muffled to the point I almost didn't even think it was someone speaking but rather a weird gurgle in the pipes around us.

I looked over my shoulder to see him plodding along behind us wearing the old Desert Ranger helmet he had obtained with me at Camp Macintosh. The fit was a bit snugger than Melody’s as he was a little bigger built than she was, but it was obvious it wasn’t a tight seal by the way it wiggled around on his head like a loose ball bearing. He and Melody both amusingly looked like little walking bobbleheads with a military theme and I had to fight the urge to laugh at the ridiculous helmet-to-body size ratio. It was amusing reminder of my promise to get it resized for him and seeing it on him up close was a fun distraction from the labyrinth of shit and garbage we were being forced to navigate in a gloom.

The passage was rather dimly lit aside from the occasional emergency maintenance light still clinging to what was left of Las Pegasus's power grid outside of the Stirrup. The lenses of Gold's helmet were still a dull red and his voice wasn't being amplified by the internal microphone/speaker that the Mrk. I had debuted with. The thing's Spark Pack probably hadn't been changed even before the Balefire so it was good to know that ahead of time, even though Cogs would have found that out himself anyway. If there was one thing I knew he always had a reserved stash of just for me...it was Spark Packs.

“Oh really? Like what kind of things?” She asked happily, looking back towards Gold as well only to trip on a piece of rubble headfirst towards a particularly large pile of manure.

I caught her in my web of magic just in time to save her head from being buried up to the neck in shit though I had to admit to myself I did it at least partially to save my helmet from needing a really thorough washing. She hung limply in my grasp, panting heavily at the adrenaline from the moment but quickly calming down when I set her back on her hooves on the cleanest portion of the stone tunnel I could find.

“Heh, thanks!” She giggled loudly as she started to walk again though slowing down just enough for me to take the lead. “That was a close one!”

“Mhm…” I hummed distractedly as I flipped back the magnetic cover of my PipBuck 2000 and tried to access the mapping spell on my helmet remotely.

We had traveled about a half mile from Cogsworth’s Stable and were roughly six blocks away from Junction 16 which had a drain hole leading to the surface. As we walked, I noticed that not all drain holes had a cover let alone an attached ladder to get out. Every now and again we passed one with a ladder but there was always something wrong with them that made me nervous. A few missing rungs, a rickety fastening to the floor and all of them had copious amounts of rust caking them which not only spelled a dangerous climb but also the possibility of tetanus infection for my little unarmored friend. If you asked anyone but a trained doctor what a vaccine was, I guarantee you they would think it was the name of some new mutated beast in the Wasteland and not a little shot you got to keep you from getting sick from the countless risks out in the world alongside the constant threat of radiation. Disease was a common companion to be seen in Freeside since proper medical care was generally out of reach by the common family’s income.

“How far are we from your house?” Melody asked a few minutes later, taking extra careful steps and rarely looking up from the ground before her to keep from tripping again.

“It’s just up here.” I said pointing towards a bend in the mostly straight tunnel. “Hopefully there’s a ladder to help us out or otherwise we’ll have to either keep going or back-track until we find the closest way out of here.”

My PipBuck beeped softly as we approached the warped ladder leading up to Junction 16 and Melody commented on the same from the helmet feed she was privy to. Out of all the ladders we had passed, this one was in slightly better shape which was a breath of relief though only a slight one at best. I wasn’t too worried about it collapsing under Melody or Gold’s weight considering they were both so small but I was an above-average sized mare with over a hundred pounds of armor and weapons. And by above average, I meant that I was an unusual four foot eleven compared to most ponies who were around four foot five.

“W-well...this s-should be i-interesting…” Gold said with a chuckle as he looked at me then at the rust covered ladder. “T-think you can m-make it?”

I rolled my eyes and sighed, looking between them as I thought through how would be best to proceed. With the appearance of Cook Cook, I could only assume Green’s Hitmares were already on the move looking for my head on the streets above. Unfortunately a surprise appearance in the middle of the street from the sewers near my home would be quite noticeable if anypony were around to see it. Since it was barely three o’clock in the afternoon, there were going to be plenty of pedestrians walking up and down the area trying to go about their day. In some ways, it might have been easier to have traveled above ground where at least I could see any potential threats and try to avoid them by taking a back alley or something. Buttt...well, here we were in the shithole. And the only way to go from here is up.

“Alright, Melody? I’m going to need my helmet back for a bit, you can borrow this facemask I have on. I need to try and get ahold of Holes and see if he can find a way to cover our exit from here. If Cook Cook found us, then that means more than likely they found my house and are either trying to break in or are staking it out to wait for me to come back. Either way, I need to call in a huge fuckin' favor to buy us some time. Gonna need every damn second we can squeeze out or we're gonna have a big shootout in Freeside.”

“Staking it out? What does that mean?” She asked just as I removed my mask forcing me to put it back on to respond.

“Basically it means they’re keeping a close eye on my house so they can shoot me when I show up. Much as use the same tactic as a sniper...god I hate campers...” I responded, taking a breath and removing my mask, offering it to her in exchange for my helmet.

It took her a moment to get the thing off her head but I soon enough was encased in the familiar safe comfort of my battle-worn helmet, the pneumatic seal around my neck hissing closed eagerly. As she fumbled with the mask and Gold attempted to help her get it on over her horn and ears, I tried to find the radio frequency Holes used for his 24-hour service hotline that anyone within range could call in on if they needed work done. I had found him replacement parts on several occasions for the device so I was very familiar with tuning into his station. Finding a few of the parts alone for it would equal some hefty favors I might be able to pool together on this one. I saved my favors from grateful neighbors almost entirely, hoping one day if I ever needed, I could have a militia of support around myself if the time needed. This was probably my first bet that I felt confident in cashing-out on in this town.

‘Hope to hell you’ve got your radio on you Holes…’ I thought as I tuned into his channel and said, “Hey, Holes! I need a huge favor right about now! I know it's short notice but I really need a fuckin hoof here. Or like...sixty. I dunno.”

There was silence for a moment before he responded in a hushed whisper, “Quiet down, Crete! Green’s goons are all over the fucking place looking for you! Where the hell you at?”

“I’m in the sewer below Junction 16.” I responded, looking up at the dull brown drain hole cover at the top of the ladder. “I decided to take a more subtle route to get home. Not exactly the cleanest of choices but it got us this far without getting shot at so it's not totally fucked.”

“Well kudos to you for thinking that far ahead but there’s Hitmares and mercenaries all over that area looking for you right now! Saw that one whacko Black Velvet trotting into town last night with her psychobitch sister Red, some fuckin yokel named Filly Sixshooter this mornin' and I can see six Talons not even ten feet from that damn drain hole.”

Well fuck, if the Talons were on my ass already then shit was going to get really interesting. Sure the Velvet twins were a concern but Freeside was a big place and there were only two of em after all. The Talons though...they had a small army to themselves of the baddest, meanest asses of the Westcoast. Of all the merc groups in Equestria, the Talons were the Death Squads of the War given new life by taking in almost exclusively big, mean Griffins and throwing them beak-first into the most dangerous Contracts. If Green paid them well (and he had the money to do so) then these fuckers weren’t going to stop until I was dead or they were dead. Or, if I paid them off but...that was unlikely, especially with the caps on my person. Talons were loyal to the Contract they signed regardless of the owner and I doubted I could pay them all enough to make them turn a blind eye. Thankfully what I had in my favor was a lot of firepower and rather extensive experience with Griffin combat methods. Fighting alongside Buck Beak and the other Griffins in the War had given me more than a little insight into their preferred battle tactics which hadn’t changed much as the years dragged on. And I thanked fuck that the Inland Gryphons were so few and far between on the Continent...if the Talons got their claws on those giants, they could shatter mountains if they wished.

“Only six?” I laughed half-heartedly. “Fair enough...any way you or somepony else could distract them enough for us to slip out and into my apartment? They haven’t found my place yet have they?”

“No, thank Celestia. They seem to have an idea as to its general location but have yet to find it and ain't nopony round here saying a damn thing to these fucks. I doubt they’ll make it through that door of yours though.” He responded with a soft chuckle.

“Well regardless, I need to get back in there to snag the rest of my stuff.” I said, envisioning the six Griffins who stood above me on the street dressed in their signature black armor. “I only got about half of it on the first trip and I didn't want to chance another street level excursion with my head in such high demand today. Any chance I can get some help? You and anyone else you get to help can consider their favors paid in fold after this and you won't have to deal with my issues for much longer.”

“Well…” He said, trailing off into thought. “These shitheads can’t do anything more than rattle our cages unless Green wants the Queens all over his ass which I doubt he wants. Started to see em patrolling Freeside recently so if it comes to it they'll give em the what for. I’ll see if I can rile up the neighbors to do something stupid. Gonna hold ya to that 'paid in full' bit!”

I wondered what he meant by ‘stupid’ but only paused to comment, “Well whatever you end up doing, don’t toss an oil bomb on them. Griffins hate singing their feathers and might just open fire regardless of the Contract. Don't want anyone getting hurt alright Holes?”

“Right, I’ll try to remember that...” He replied, his tone indicating I had just given him an idea. “I’ll be right back. Think you can wait?”

I looked at the piles of shit all around me and said, “I can though I’d rather not stay down here. For all I know there’s some of you down here with me. Got an ETA with an answer?”

“Didn’t need to hear that but point taken…” He said with audible disgust. “Dunno, uhh...least a few minutes. Hold tight, I’ll go see if I can spark something up.”

Again that hint of something involving fire but I didn’t respond, muting the radio so I didn’t have to listen to white noise and setting it to unmute when he called back. Again...it was just so weird to finally be leaving Freeside for real. It was home for all its dilapidated glory. I wondered if they would miss me after I left for...wherever the hell we were off to next after this.

“So what’s the plan?” Melody asked, looking at me curiously and looking somewhat like a battlefield nurse with the facemask (which I noticed was slowly starting to turn from white to brown).

“A friend of mine is going to go distract the Griffins topside so we can book it into my house and hopefully grab the rest of my shit without getting spotted. If there’s not enough time then we’ll have to bunker down there and wait until nightfall to move out.” I replied, looking up at the ceiling wondering what Holes had planned for our Talon friends.

“Wow...that bad huh?” Melody said softly, glancing at the rifle on her back. “Do...do you think we’ll have to fight?”

Her apprehension was clearly apparent from the timid look in her eyes and her tone of voice and I reluctantly admitted, “I hope not but...I have the feeling we won’t get so lucky. I kinda put a big price on my head for what I did in Old Loosa.”

My words added an extra measure of fear to her countenance and she looked back at her rifle again before saying, “O-okay...i-if I have to…”

We didn’t have to wait long before the tunnel shook a bit and sounds of angry screaming echoed down from above signaling that Holes had hopefully done his job. Sounded bigger than I had hoped but I also hoped that it was big enough to get their attention for a long period of time.

“Alright, get your asses moving!” He half-shouted into the radio. “Their backs are turned and they’re headed my way but I don’t know how long their curiosity is going to last.”

With a hurried nod to the other two I leapt as far as I could over the large pile of waste at the base of the ladder and came to a sickeningly squishy landing near the ladder getting a thick blackish brown muck all over my combat boots that I was eternally grateful I couldn’t smell. Yet.

“Okay, I’m going to go up first and check to see if it’s clear to go, I’ll try and levitate you two along with me so you don’t have to walk through this shit.” I said as I began to climb up and towards the drain hole cover, silently thanking Chocolate for being willing to stay behind leaving me free to do this without her adding to my list of worries.

The cover was heavy enough to warrant using a hoof to shove it up and to the side rather than using my head as I had been planning to do and I poked my head out of the hole just enough so I could see over the rim and down the street in either direction. To my right smoke billowed from within an abandoned building far down the street and I squinted to zoom in on a pair of six tall, black armored Griffins with large battle-saddles plodding towards it. Other than them and the occasional running and screaming bystander, the street was empty and I descended back down the ladder just enough to see both Melody and Gold standing at the ready. It was now or never.

I focused all my energy into my horn trying to spark as much power into my telekinesis as possible as I enveloped both of them in a misty baby blue aura of sparkling magic, lifting them several inches off the ground and floating them towards the ladder. Their combined weight was more or less equal to that of a single adult but I had to feign my confidence in my telekinetic abilities. Multiple weapons or bags I could handle but lifting living beings was a whole different game. While the weight of the object is negated thus allowing it to float along like a balloon, it required a lot of focus and energy on the part of the lifter to float something with that much mass through the air in a controlled manner with any amount of swiftness.

My magic wavered slightly towards the end and the tip of Gold’s hoof dragged through the muck for a moment but I managed to get them to the ladder. The next challenge was going to be getting them up and out of the hole behind me. I climbed the rest of the way out of the sewer and laid prone on the street trying to make myself as small and inconspicuous a target as possible in the bright desert sun, my underbarding noticeably cooling down at the change in ambient temperature. I sent them up one at a time, the amount of concentration required to keep one floating above the ground while lifting the other fifteen feet vertically was in my opinion on par with trying to hit a target a mile and a half away with a strong crosswind to contend with. Immensely stressful, frustratingly tricky...but not impossible.

“T-this feels w-weird…” Gold whined as he emerged from the hole and landed on his hooves beside me. “It’s not n-normal to f-fly…”

I didn’t comment but focused on bringing Melody up right behind him as quickly as I could. I felt an invisible, silent clock ticking down the amount of time we had left until we were found. Even an explosion wouldn't keep them busy for long when I was nowhere in sight nearby and soon enough the featherheads would be pecking the streets for me.

“Wheeeeee!” Melody giggled loudly as she floated up and out of the sewer. “That was fun!”

“I-if you s-say s-so…” Gold mumbled, shaking a bit as if trying to throw off a weird tingle in his spine.

I stood up with them, wincing slightly at the small hornache that was starting to form in my head from the amount of effort went into lifting those two. Stumbling a bit from the light-headedness, I pushed the two of them urgently towards the alleyway nearby. Freeside's inherently chaotic and expansive layout from the heyday of Las Pegasus was a useful defense for keeping my front door hidden from scouting parties. Naturally, the StableTec branded security bulkhead was a dead giveaway in this part of town devoid of anything important enough to warrant such a door. Coming up to it though, I was relieved to see that it was sealed as tight as I had left it and my visual scan of the area showed no immediate hostiles. Judging by the noticeable bloodstain of the concrete, Tomato had unfortunately more than likely survived...ah well, just another worry to leave behind soon enough.

When the three of us were safely inside, I noticed even more strikingly the depressing state of my now empty home of fifty plus years. I wasn’t particularly fond of Freeside given it’s ghetto status but it had been a pretty good home for half a century. As sad as it was to move, I was also excited for a change in scenery to something bigger than what I had lived with for so damn long. At least now I was going to have roommates to share my space with, something I hadn’t experienced since the barracks back at Macintosh. Sure, it was a Ghoul and a formally enslaved young mare but...least they liked me for me. I wasn't in the habit of being picky where I got my validation from.

The last eight duffle bags were ready and waiting by the door, these ones particularly heavy because they either contained ammunition or disassembled weapons of varying size. Either way it was really just bags full of lead and machined steel and were going to need something special to get them out the door.

“How are we going to get all these out of here?” Melody asked as she tried for two seconds to lift one of the bags with her magic then gave up. “They’re really heavy…”

“H-hey, I t-think you f-forgot a few m-magazines.” Gold said from the floor near an empty set of shelves.

“The kind you read or the kind you slap into a gun and shoot with?” I asked as I tried to concentrate enough to try and lift even two of them at once but coming up short with my hornache.

“The o-ones you shoot w-with.” He replied as he stood up with one of the mags to my AMR in his mouth.

“How do you even carry these things?” Melody asked, floating the magazine over to herself and staring at the eight-inch long block of black metal loaded with five black-tipped armor piercing rounds. “They’re huge!”

“Well believe it or not back in the day ponies just had to carry these things in big ol' bags but the Ministry of Arcane Science came up with a nifty little spell that makes carrying shit like that way easier for solo operatives.” I said before I groaned and slapped myself a bit on the cheek for being a fucking idiot. Sometimes muscle memory becomes a little too hyperfocused on a particular set of motions and forgets there's more to learn and adapt to.

“Umm...does the explanation of the spell require a slapping ceremony in order to tell it or something…?” Melody asked with a small giggle.

“No…” I sighed, checking the filter with my helmet’s diagnostic system for any damage from my impulsive slap and making note I should clean the filters soon. “I just remembered the spell could’ve saved us the hassle of making two trips to begin with... I only use it for weapons and even then only out of habit so I didn’t even think of it as a possibility. Duhhh! I swear I hate my brain more than I should...”

“W-well what does it d-do?” Gold asked, peering at the four other magazines he had retrieved from the floor.

“It’s called the Mass Displacement Spell or MDS for short.” I explained, taking all five magazines in my magic and setting them before me in a line on the industrial desk bolted to the wall. “Basically what it does is it takes something, something heavy for example, and displaces it in Time. By doing so the mass of the object is removed from where we are now and the object is replaced with a small placeholder of sorts called a Sigil Stone. This makes carrying heavy things or lots of objects much easier because these Stones weigh next to nothing and can be carried in bulk. When you need the object, you just zap it with a bit of magic and it returns back to this timeline ready for use. The PipBuck 3000s have a portable version of the spell built-in, the lucky bastards...”

“I don’t get it…” Melody said cocking her head in confusion.

“Just watch then and you’ll see what I’m talking about.” I said as I focused my concentration on the relatively simple spell, even for an amateur like myself.

The spell itself was surprisingly simple in contrast to most Time spells I heard about in school. Of course, that was probably because all I was doing was displacing an object just a split second out of sync with the rest of Time rather than trying to reverse or advance my place in Time itself. Plenty of shit they taught me in college and EastPoint was in one ear and out the other as far as my interest level cared to remember things. Decades of practice reduced the process to a second’s long ordeal and within a moment there were five small Stones lying on the floor. Melody and Gold both snatched one up with fervent fascination and turned them over and over in their hooves with wide eyes.

The Stones were small puck-like discs a half an inch wide each and glowed in the center with a small blue rune that I was roughly the shape of an hourglass. Under infrared, the Stones also featured more runes which lined the circumference, each character representing something about the object being displaced like some sort of log of the item being exchanged. The name of the language used had eluded me since five minutes after I took the final exam regarding it in EastPoint and I didn't care to relearn it. Remembering incantations and other arcane shit was never much my thing anyway. I preferred for the most part to blow the magic user off the face of Terra Firma before they even had a chance to spark their horn up.

“Did the magazines go inside these things?” Melody asked, which I considered to be a rather astute question.

“In a way…” I said slowly, trying to dumb down the specifics of the spell to fit more with her level of understanding. “It’s more like that Stone takes the place of the magazine in Time until we need the magazine. Think of it like an exchange. We give Time the magazine and it gives us back the Stone to show we made a deal and when we need the magazine, we give the Stone back and Time gives us the mag. That make more sense?”

She nodded and sang her acknowledgement before giving me her Stone, which I deposited with the other four in the single AMR mag pouch I had attached to the main bandolier across my chest. Myself and every other Anti-Machine operator had so much to thank the MDS for as it made carrying vast quantities of heavy ammunition a breeze. Since every one of my loaded mags weighed about five pounds each and were eight-inches long, this made carrying more than five or six at a time impractical, if not impossible, for the standard sniper. With only five rounds a mag, carrying only six mags, or thirty rounds, was just not good enough for the daily demands we saw in the Badlands. At the end of some days, we would be up to our knees in empty casings as we were asked to switch on the fly from Anti-Machine to general infantry support on the fly.

As a rule, snipers were supposed to carry about a hundred rounds of their rifle’s caliber and about half as much for their sidearm in the event they got caught too close for comfort with the enemy. With the introduction of the MDS, I could carry several thousand rounds of 25x102mm without adding even half a pound to my overall weight; all contained in a single pouch on my bandolier. This ease of transport meant the rest of my tactical rig was wide open for modularity leaving me capable of hauling around ammunition for weapons I didn't even own in the event I needed one and came across something I could use. With options like Armor Piercing, High Explosive, Dragons Spit, my APEI ‘All-Equestrian-Special’, as well as the boring old lead rounds, I had lots of options for wreaking havoc on any who opposed me. Body armor, including the hardy T-45 and even the T-51 was nearly futile against the might of AP or APEI rounds and the HE rounds could decimate lightly armored targets in droves. Best part? I was really the only pony around who carried this bitch of a portable cannon around the Wastes as only 500 were ever produced by Barnette for the EAF and the vast majority of them were lost in the Badlands or in whatever became of the Empire. There were still a decent number of surviving .50s in the Wastes though and the APR-S2 in particular shared the same design elements of my AMR-25. Enough so that on the rare occasion I came across someone with the S2 I would double-take just to make sure the bore size was just half rather than a full inch. To face another with my rifle would be at once terrifying and exciting.

“So...how many of those can you carry?” Melody asked, looking at the rifle on her back with a thoughtful expression.

“Carrying all the magazines I own, I have about three-hundred rounds on me at any given time with this bandolier here.” I said before I stopped to do my mental math one more time. “Right? Sixty mags times five-rounds a piece...yeah, three-hundred rounds. Not exactly a plethora but enough to get me by for a couple average weeks in the Wastes.”

“Wowie…” Melody hummed, glancing at the rifle on my back with interest. "I didn't even know they made guns that big here in Equestria!"

"They don't! This here was made in Mareseilles! Don't worry if you've never heard that name before, they liked to keep to themselves before the Great War anyway so it doesn't surprise me the name is forgotten. Smaller country to the Southeast, East and a little South of Old Appleloosa. Outside of Canterlot, it was the fashion capital of Terra Firma, known for fine dining, expensive wines and a cheese industry to rival Trottingham's. Had a hell of a Navy and Special Defense Corps commandos too but didn't like to use 'em all that often, especially not for Equestria's sake."

"Well why the hell not?" Melody huffed indignantly. "That's fucking rude ain't it?"

"If only it were as simple as that..." I sighed sadly, thinking about how complicated the shitshow of a web the old world was. "They refused to help because it wasn't their War. Equestria tried to bully them into joining in like they had the rest of NEATO and when that didn't work we fucking invaded them back in 2056. Long story short: we were in the wrong, got our asses kicked by their commandos and ended up signing a pride crushing peace treaty in '58. After that...they didn't really want anything to do with us and only used their military forces when the War came into their territories. Past that...not a whole lotta love between us and relations never improved before the Great War. I wonder sometimes what its like there...especially now since they were the only neutral country on the Continent which means no one had a reason to Megaspell them off the face of the map. Who knows how far ahead of us they might be right now if they escaped the Great War isolated behind the Maginot Mountains."

"U-um, A-Athena?" Gold said in a worried tone and tugging on the tail of my duster. "W-we should probably k-keep moving..."

I nodded and quickly ‘exchanged’ the duffle bags for Sigil Stones before depositing them in an empty mag pouch and checking the room for any other stragglers. I was mostly fine if I lost a 10mm or even a .50 BMG mag because I knew I could always just buy a new one from a vendor like the Gun Runners for a pretty inexpensive price. Anything dealing with the AMR-25 however was irreplaceable. Only one factory in all my years had carried anything for it, that being a few spare parts and a replacement barrel that lacked a muzzle brake. I was grateful for the parts though since the years had been tough on my favorite gun but the rest, like the receiver, bolt, firing pin and other such key components, had to be re-machined by eye by either myself or Cogsworth. The gun still worked well but not beautifully. There were a few minor hiccups here and there that irritated me from time to time like the fifth round having the tendency to misfeed forcing an emergency breech clear.

Thankfully, the room was totally and entirely empty meaning the only thing left was to get the hell out of dodge and unfortunately dive right back into the sewer. Unless of course we wanted to start urban warfare against Green’s cronies and take the overland route back to Cogsworth. Only issue with that is I didn’t want to drag the fight with us everywhere we went. The Pile was already ugly as it was. It didn’t need any more holes in the walls or rubble on the ground making our trip through the maze of buildings even more dangerous. After a few minutes of careful movement, we took up position in the same alleyway we had used to get off the street from the sewer entrance and I gave Holes another buzz on my radio.

“I hope to hell you got your shit together, Crete.” Holes growled into my ear in a warning tone. “My little distraction is bringing all the freaks to Junction 16. Guess they thought you blew something up or some shit, hell if I know what those feather fucks think when they're wearin' Talon gear.”

“Wonderful…” I replied as I wondered if anypony had dropped into the sewers yet since we had all forgotten to put the lid back on the hole. “How many?”

“Eh...more than ten, I can tell you that much. They don’t look happy. Shit, they’re knocking on my door! Be back!” He replied, a muffled banging heard in the background.

“Well fuck…” I sighed, poking my head out slowly into the street and finding it thankfully empty for the moment. “Alright, follow close and don’t shoot unless you’re shot at first. In that case, tear them a new one and aim for the head.”

Melody and Gold nodded silently in acknowledgement and trailed close behind me as we made our way through the short alley and onto Junction 16. The view before us was somewhere in the realm of chaotic as multiple figures could be partially seen in the thick haze of black smoke from further up the street. Thermals showed me sixteen in total, six of which were quite clearly the Griffins from earlier toting their large weapons and were making their way back towards us quickly while the rest went further away. The distance to the open sewer hole was a little over forty feet, which meant even at a gallop we would be in sight of our feathered friends before we made it down below. This was going to need some planning.

Melody started running out from the alley with Gold following suit leaving me silently fuming as they had ignored my earlier instruction to stick close to me. They hadn’t even left me any time to explain the fact we were going to be seen by the Talons if we moved too soon. I fumbled at my chest for one of the few grenades I carried on my person in a panic hoping to make an effective smokescreen for our escape. I yanked the pin from the smoke grenade (noting it was amusingly a neon pink type by the colored stripes down the sides) and hurled it onto the street, tripping up Gold who ran over it as it rolled across the asphalt. As he rolled out of control into the cracked road making a loud ruckus with his armor hitting the pavement, the grenade popped and hissed out thick plumes of bright pink smoke that quickly filled the street like a solid wall of pink clouds. I took the chance to dash forward and silently cursed my choice of smoke colors as nothing was more obvious than a gigantic pink cloud to cover one’s escape. Not a second later the Griffins seemed to have caught sight of my party trick and immediately opened fire through the smoke amidst some angry shouts and bellowed war cries. I regrettably had to dive and tackle Melody to the ground, taking care to twist around so I landed on my back with her against my chest cushioning the blow for her. Bullets whizzed above us like angry hornets causing the smoke to curl and billow as the projectiles cut their way through the pink haze. I knew it wouldn’t take them much longer to guess we had dived to the ground so I shoved Melody as gently as I could off me and towards the open sewer drain while rolling on my stomach and planting my AMR on the ground before me. I only needed one shot and the locals could probably live with this part of the road being even more fucked up than normal.

They stood in a line before me, my thermal vision unobscured by the smoke and I switched mags to suit my ammunition needs. The switch from APEI to HEI was effortless, both to maximize my efficiency as well as the fact there were six of them and I had only five rounds to share between them. Griffins were notorious for not wearing armored gauntlets on their claws as they complained it made pulling triggers more cumbersome. Not only that but they also tended not to wear armor on their hind paws or even their very large and exposed wings for more or less the same reason. Comfort was king for a Griffin just below money which was their emperor almighty for as long as the two have been in contact with the other. It was precisely this flaw that I poised to exploit as the Dragon’s Spit incendiary compound was hot enough to superheat the tar in the asphalt while the high explosive charge was strong enough to propel shrapnel through most light armored plating. I only needed one shot...and with the range locked into the BORS computer, the fuse on the tip of the round was set to go active from the first rotation free of the muzzle brake.

The AMR cracked loudly through the commotion like a cannon compared to a firecracker and the smoke around me gusted away from the might of the blast channeled out the sides of the muzzle brake. The two inch projectile punctured through the pink cloud and detonated at the paws of my winged opponents. Though I couldn’t see in normal detail, the large hot red explosion, the subsequent shower of rainbow colored gore, the glow of white-hot fire and the horrific squawks and screeches of pain told me I had done my job. I scooped up the rolling empty casing as I myself rolled into the hole and onto the ladder, dragging the cover onto the entrance above me before jumping down and to the side just outside the pile of shit surrounding its base. Melody and Gold both clung to the ladder halfway from the bottom and were overjoyed when I floated them to the clean safety of the brick floor beside me.

“Yo, Holes.” I called into my radio, hoping his guests had already left by now.

“I’m here, sorry.” He said after a moment sounding out of breath. “They dragged my ass outside and were going to ‘teach me a lesson’ when you made that smoke screen. Nice color choice by the way, it’s cheeky. Really pissed them off. Come to think of it, it’s kind of a scary color now that I think of it, what with Canterlot and all that.”

“Thanks…” I said distractedly, wondering what it looked like to people not in on the situation. “Those six Talons, I blew at least a few of their legs off and made it back into the sewers but I don’t know how long it’ll take them to check down here.”

“You made it down? Perfect. Green’ll be pissed you maimed his featherheads but honestly, not like there’s much more he can get pissed at you for. Poor bastards though...they like their claws.”

“I know.” I responded as I led the pack at a brisk trot back up the tunnel towards Cogsworth’s escape tunnel. “I know some mares who love them too.”

He chuckled and surprisingly admitted, “I know what you mean. Griffins are fun bastards under the sheets. So what now? You just gonna ditch us and vanish into the Wasteland?”

I glanced back at Gold and Melody wondering that same question before answering, “At this point I think I have to. It’s too dangerous to stay in Freeside now that Green knows I’m already here and he’ll find my place sooner than later so I don’t see any other choice. Besides, I’ve wanted a bigger place for awhile now...just haven’t had the reason to move out until now. Just didn't expect this to be the catalyst for change...”

“Well...I wish you luck Crete.” He said solemnly. “You may have been a bit aloof with everyone but we all liked you as a neighbor. Gonna be a shame to see you go...but, we understand. Hey, if you get the chance? Why don’t you just kill that fat green bastard for us huh? Would make everyone here super happy. Not to mention the Queens would finally run Freeside normally again. The Queen is having a hell of a time stamping out Freeside's rogues gallery of idiots on Green's payroll.”

“I’ll look into it, Holes I promise.” I said with a small laugh though I was beginning to feel a small pang of sadness for leaving good ponies like him behind. “For what it’s worth...thank you for everything. I’ll try to find a way to pay you back for all this. For what my word is worth around here, I promise.”

“Heh...you can pay me back by using that big ass gun of yours to start cleaning up this country of shitheads like Green!” He laughed. “Aight, assholes are coming back around, I gotta go. Stay in touch, Crete.”

The line went dead before I could respond so I just switched off the radio in general since I had no further need of it.

“I d-don’t think she h-heard us…” Gold said hazily to my right.

“Hey Athena! You in there?” Melody giggled, jumping up and tapping the side of my helmet to get my attention.

“Sorry...got lost in thought again.” I said looking towards her. “What’s up?”

“Oh I was just wondering where we’re gonna be moving to!” She said brightly, skipping around another pile of refuse. “Is it big? I hope it’s big! Well...it’s ok if it’s small too. I was just hoping for a big bedroom all to myself but then again I don’t know how big is big for a bedroom because...well, I’ve never had my own bedroom before!”

God her voice was enough to make me swoon…

“Well...I don’t have a place picked out yet, Mel.” I said with a small chuckle. “I mean, I only just decided to move out today so it’s a little soon to have something in place yet, especially given we have a drug lord on our asses. Most ponies plan ahead for moving out. I didn’t leave my house four days ago thinking I was going to be moving, otherwise I would have packed up and left everything with Cogsworth before I even left.”

“Heh, true.” She giggled, bouncing along beside me with the ever dirtying mask over her muzzle.

There were echoing noises bouncing throughout the tunnel as we went coming from the open drain holes above us indicating the search was on even more fervently than before probably due in large part to my business with the Talons. For now thankfully there no angry heads poking down from above and I ignored the angry red ticks on my E.F.S as I still couldn’t tell the difference in how high above or below me any enemies were. I still kept my Sequoia out and floating in front of me with the hammer cocked on an armor piercing round just in case there were some baddies crazy enough to dive down into this shit stream to look for us.

My map beeped sooner than I had expected it to indicating our exit was upon us on the left hoof side. It was as innocuous as any of the other dozens of recessed decorative alcoves that adorned the otherwise drab brick walls of the tunnel but this one was special in that it was yet another of Cogsworth’s ingenious hidden doors. Pushing against an unremarkable brick on the arch caused it to pop open like a little spring loaded panel revealing a keypad with an optional key card reader attached to its side.

“Four two, four two, five six four...whenever you wanna knock on Cog’s old door.” I mumbled with a giggle as I typed the appropriate code into the pad which beeped a happy green light before the brick wall slid into the floor with surprising silence.

“What was that?” Melody giggled as she paused for a moment to see the keypad before following behind Gold and I.

“A little rhyme Cogsworth came up with to remember his master password that he uses for just about everything.” I responded with a smile she couldn’t see. “He taught it to me since he trusts me not to fuck his shit up. And to think they used to bitch all the time at desk jockeys about diversifying your passwords...”

The walk back up the well lit tunnel took barely a few minutes and we exited out into the well-cleaned white and blue colored Atrium of Stable 109. I wasn’t surprised to find it empty as Cogsworth was still open for business and his was one of the most profitable in The Pile next to the Gun Runner’s outlet store. The Stable door was thankfully open so we wouldn’t alert anypony to its presence in the building and we made the short trek into his workshop area where we found Chocolate laying on Cogsworth’s modest bed nestled in the corner of the room nursing a large pout.

“Run up against the old Arabian stoic virtues?” I giggled as she frowned even more at my approach.

“Stoic virtues?!” She pouted. “The guy fucking told me no! Me! Is he always that big of a prude?”

“Eh…” I laughed as I took out the Sigil Stones for my duffle bags and touched them with a bit of magic causing them to be suddenly replaced with the original objects. “It’s how he was raised. His mom taught him to treat mares with respect and not as objects for sexual pleasure only. Until he’s gotten to know you better, he’s going to keep his dick in his pants so to speak. It’s just the kind of guy he is and I honestly really respect that of him. Not enough to do that sort of thing myself but enough to not call him a morally straight-laced tight ass.”

“Humph…” She pouted again with an irritated sigh. “Guess I’ll have to seduce him the old fashioned way.”

“That you do!” I giggled as I stacked the bags with the others in a hidden space behind one of the many tool boxes. “Not everyone out there is a sex crazed nymphomaniac like you.”

“I know…” She sighed with even more irritation in her voice. “Fuckin’ prudes are everywhere. What happened to the good old days where you just had to ask and boom, you can get laid the next second?”

I could tell Melody was starting to get very uncomfortable with the subject by the way she bit her lip and looked around the workshop as if for a place to hide so I changed the topic as best I could without being too jarring.

“Speaking of the old stoic, where is he?” I asked, looking around the otherwise empty shop.

“Dealing with some asshats who wanted to buy some shit.” She sighed, nodding to the newly hung curtain over the doorway leading out to the store portion. “Something about one of those robot dudes. You know, I wonder just what kind of sexy attachments those Mr. Helper dudes got. I certainly could use the help, especially from something that doesn't have a one-shot rifle if ya get my meaning.”

And I thought I thought about sex too much...but goddamn was she a piece of work. I stood by the curtained doorway for about fifteen minutes waiting for Cogsworth to finish his business and listened keenly at how great of a salespony he was. For every question about his many wares, he had an immediate and informational answer that was tailored specifically for the ponies he was working with rather than a memorized script for general use. When complimented on his work and the condition of his products, he always acted with humility and made sure to compliment them in return for something of theirs that he appreciated be it their armor, weapon or even manestyle. By the time he parted the curtain and walked back into the workshop, he had a fat sack of caps in his possession and a happy smile on his face as the sounds of his satisfied customers left the store through the skywalk. The guy would have thrived as a telemarketer in another, less exciting life.

“If ever there comes a day where I do not make a single purchasing customer happy, please do indulge me with a thorough and complete lashing for mine incompetence in satisfying the needs of my fellow Equestrians.” He said with a solemn smile as he deposited the sack in a large safe amidst piles of other bags waiting to be counted at the end of the day.

“Knowing you Cogs, that’ll never happen. Besides, we both know I don’t want to hit you even if you’re a jackass sometimes.” I giggled softly in response, noting how he was potentially wealthier than I was with just what he had in that safe alone, not to mention the much bigger vault he kept hidden deep in the Stable.

“Indeed…” He chuckled before he looked at the pile of duffle bags over by where Chocolate lay talking with Gold. “Ah, I see your venture was a successful one. Tis a blessed sight indeed to see the gift of luck was with thee.”

“Yeah, the sewer route was a wonderful idea.” I said in a sarcastic tone, glancing at the dirty brown mask lying on a table near Melody. “Such a wonderful smell you discovered there Cogs!”

He rolled his eyes and walked over to the bags, opening a few of them and peeking at the contents before saying, “My word...you brought everything.”

“Well I’ve got a drug lord and his army of psychofucks on my ass so what’d you expect?” I asked, looking at the faint bloodstain on the floor where Cook Cook met his fate earlier. “If you’re gonna haul ass for your life, you can’t half ass it. You either go full ass or none at all.”

Chocolate giggled gleefully and commented, “Damn straight! Ain’t nopony goin’ to go half ass on my ass!”

Cogsworth and I both rolled our eyes as I continued.

“Thanks Cogs…” I said with as much sincerity as I could muster without coming off as cheesy. “I really owe you for this.”

“Think nothing of it!” He chuckled with a bright smile, nodding towards his workshop. “Where would I be without the aid of my closest associate?”

“Eh...probably still working that Brahmin farm with your family?” I suggested.

“Oh my...let’s refrain from going there shall we?” He responded with a sigh. “What are your plans now? You have your belongings but no lodging. You and your friends are more than welcome to lodge within mine Stable though I do not think that is what you wish to fix as a permanent solution to your housing needs, is it not?”

I nodded. The Stable would be a nice place to bed down for a few days while we waited for Green to start searching elsewhere for us but as it was unfinished and thus unfurnished, I doubted everypony would find it comfortable for longer than a few weeks. While it did offer us a decently covert route around New Pegasus, we couldn't stay for very much longer in the area. Still, it would buy us time to find a new home somewhere else, hopefully somewhere relatively nearby since I didn’t like the thought of moving to the other side of the country. I may be on the run but the Westcoast was my home. The ideal location was an abandoned office building or hotel, something that we could barricade and fortify while living on the top floor out of the reach of most enemies. There were a few buildings I knew of that fit that bill though I had yet to fully inspect the majority of them and I didn’t want to move into a complete dump. A partial dump that could be cleaned up relatively easily and restored with some effort and time was what I was willing to settle for. It was straight up stupid to hold out for a well preserved building like something found on the Stirrup and even then, this was the West. Aside from the Stirrup, the only buildings around that broke the 10th-floor marker were going to be East of Canterlot where skyscrapers were much more in fashion and widespread.

“Thanks Cogs. I have a general idea for the perfect place but I’m going to need your help finding something like it. Or hell even something close to what I have in mind given how small shit is around here. You willing to help me out?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t abusing our relationship by asking for so many favors in one day.

“Of course!” He smiled. “I would love to further assist you in this endeavor! You assisted in my acquisition of this place and thus it is only fair that I assist you in finding a place of your own. No mare nor stallion should be without a pocket of land to call their own and you are no different from they.”

“Sweet. We’ll go get settled in, in the Stable. Once we’re ready we can sit down and talk about what I’m looking for, k?” I asked, moving to go pick up Chocolate who scowled at me.

“Oi! You still owe me a pair of legs sugar ass! That nurse chick was very clear we needed to get it done before the shit she did to mah stubs wears off so let’s get me some sweet new robolegs eh?”

“Ah yes, pardon my lack of remembrance. Please allow me to begin constructing them immediately.” Cogsworth apologized as he quickly began gathering tools and materials from around the shop. “Do pardon the time required to construct these as they are very delicate devices and require time in order to be built properly. It should take me no more than eight hours to complete them, ten if I require more raw materials than I currently have available.”

“Honey, I’ve got all the time in the world.” She giggled, licking her lips again as her eyes strayed to his ass. “Maybe we can get to know each other better eh?”

“I’m out!” I laughed as I took Melody and Gold with me back into the Stable with a few spare cots Cogsworth loaned to us for our stay.

“Chocolate is a slut.” Melody said simply as we set everything up, her bed noticeably placed near enough to my own that she could easily reach out and touch me if she wanted to. “Do you think your friend would be a good stallion for her…?”

I was surprised by the sudden question that sounded all too grown up coming from somepony as relatively young as her. It was obvious she cared about Chocolate as evidenced by how she paid her extra attention back in Old Appleloosa but I wasn’t really sure just how much of a history they had together. The most I could assume was it was just a mutual friendship between two girls living in the shit together but still, it was touching to see how much she cared for her friend’s well being. I knew Cogsworth very well, more than enough to say beyond a doubt the guy was completely and utterly single. We never really talked about it much but it was more or less due to him just waiting for the perfect mare to show up in his life. Of course, this was despite my constant suggestions he go out looking for her rather than just waiting for her to come to him. Not only that, but I did also try to open his mind to the idea of potentially looking for a stallion for himself since as a bisexual mare myself, I found I got along with and understood my own gender better than the opposite one. He wasn’t keen on the idea sadly... I could think of a few stallions who would be good for him that worked in the Pile but...not everyone could be as 50/50 as I tended to be.

When it came to Chocolate though...I did have to wonder if this was the mare he was looking for. She was crass, overtly sexual, good looking in her own way (like I said, I’m just not one for the color brown) and had a rather fun, unique personality. From what I knew of Cogs, he was looking for a mare more or less that fit her description. He liked girls who were bubbly, sarcastic, optimistic and had a well proportioned, thicker physique; that is to say he liked girls with big, plump asses. The years of slavery hadn’t exactly left a nice plump to her ass, but I was sure with proper care and some time she would fit that bill nicely. Not only that, but she seemed like the kind of mare who wanted a nice fat ass as opposed to myself who preferred my asses slim, firm and toned. Still...all rambling aside, she seemed like a good candidate for my lonely friend who I knew was pent up down under and was fit to burst. Yeah...Chocolate and Cogsworth would make a good couple. Barring any unknown hitches, Cogs was going to treat her like a Saddle Arabian queen. His queen.

“He’s the best stallion I know.” I said firmly, looking at her with confidence. “He’s one of the few guys I know who I feel confident in calling a true gentlecolt. He’ll take great care of her, I promise you. I’ve known him for over twenty years and I know he will treat her like a Queen. No doubt in my mind. Guy's totally into the old chivalry stuff of the past.”

“Well...awesome.” She said after a moment of thought, looking up at me with a soft smile. “She deserves somepony like him then. Has for a very, very long time now.”

“Hey…” I started slowly, trying to form the right words so I didn’t come off sounding rude. “How did she end up...disabled like that?”

“Oh…” She responded with a soft sigh causing my stomach to lurch a bit with apprehension. “We were out picking mutfruit for Jangle since she was throwing some party or something and wanted fresh fruit for her guests. So, me and her and a bunch of others were out looking for them near the old orchards South of town just before Death Valley begins. There was a big old RadWasp in one of the bushes that got angry, one of those scaryyyy ass black and red ones, and we backed off. There was a loud beep and then...boom. Her legs got blown off by a landmine somepony had left in the dirt.”

“D-damn…” Gold whispered as he looked towards the giant Stable door. “P-poor girl…”

Melody nodded in a somber way before yawning and curling up on her cot with heavy eyes. Soon she fell asleep, followed minutes later by Gold who was probably just as exhausted as she was from the excitement of the day. I sat up on my cot watching them, wondering what I was becoming by taking these two into my life. I didn’t feel ready let alone worthy to call myself a mother just yet but…I did feel some sort of maternal connection to them, Melody especially but to Gold as well. Every day that passed with these two felt more vivid and crisp in my mind and heart than any I had experienced in the history of the Wasteland. The days were no longer blink and you'll miss it moments...but they didn't drag on like others did either. I felt like I was finally awake. Finally...aware again that I still had something left of my heart and...it could still feel good things and in turn make me feel...well...happy. Melody with her courage, charm and similitude with Huckleberry and Gold with his eagerness and genuine curiosity.

I knew he was far older than he looked but his looks inspired feelings of youth in my mind associated with him and just by the way he acted, it was clear he hadn’t exactly grown into mental adulthood. At the very least, I was their guardian. Melody needed a lot of time and love to recover from what happened to her and Gold...well, I had to admit I didn’t know much more about him than the fact he was a Ghoul with a fascination with the Desert Rangers. Still though, there was a certain frail innocence about him that made me feel more motherly towards him than I would towards a mere friend. I felt the instinctual need to care for him just as I was going to care for Melody, though I also recognized he probably was capable of being more independent than Melody was. I mean after all, I did meet him at the Camp Macintosh Crater where he was bravely searching for his lost gun by himself in a place notorious for Hellhound activity. The kid could take care of himself and with a bit of extra training, I was sure he would end up as one of the lucky ones who survived in the long term.

Still...I was unprepared to be a mother. I was somewhat confident in my abilities as a guardian since it was like watching my fellow soldier’s backs only with a pair of kids but motherhood continued to hold some mystical, frightening meaning that I was uncertain about. Huckleberry was the more motherly of the two of us. I was the ‘dad’ figure since I was such a goddamned tomboy and was given to acting like a guy more than a proper lady while Hucks was more half-and-half with her gender roles. She was the more mare-like of us and was the one who was more serious about adoption and planning for a baby than I was. Of course...it had to be up to me to make changes in my life in order to adopt a child. Or two. I was really unsure of what to do with Gold...but Melody for sure was going to be my daughter. Whether or not she accepted it...I was going to treat her as my own in my heart and pray like hell she would be receptive to the idea.

Looking over the two of them I just couldn’t help but whisper in frustration, “Goddamnit...why is it so fucking hard to parent kids you haven’t even adopted yet?”

I answered my own question...I had to tell them. Wait, scratch that. I had to ask them first. Worst move I could make would be to adopt them without even asking first. With that in mind, I had the resolve to at least put the idea in their heads about my potential candidacy for parenthood. It was times like these where I wished I had my own mother to turn to for advice on this whole parenting thing since I was as underprepared as could be. So many questions never asked because I never in my life thought I would one day be like her...oh Goddesses...what would she even think of me...?

My armor and coat weighed heavily on my back as I sat there fighting off the allure of a safe night's sleep. I was in a Stable for Celestia's sake...I could sleep for as long as I wanted, as deeply as I wanted and nopony could stop me but myself. With slight trepidation I began to shed my layers of protection and set them on the concrete floor next to me finally getting truly naked for the first time since my last bath a week prior. Even my escapade with Chocolate saw me continuing to wear at least the upper-body portion of my underbarding just in case we were interrupted by a madmare with a pistol or something. It wouldn't be my first time getting caught scissoring another girl and getting pushed into desperate combat.

The air in the Stable was cool against my fur and I felt up my chest and legs with a hoof, losing count of how many scars I had covering my body from my years of constant abuse. There were knife marks, bullet wounds, burns from both fire and energy weapons and many others that I had a hard time remembering the origin of. Above all the rest though were the bizarre, jagged scars along my lower spine that marked where I had been literally Tainted in the caverns beneath Splendid Valley. In the darkness of the Stable I could almost see the faint purple glow emanating from them, a constant reminder that though I was 'lucky' to be alive...I was a marked mare. I had more in common with a Ghoul and a mutated animal than I did with Melody...but for what I was worth, I was going to prove myself wrong. I was going to be better than the mare I had been. I was going to stop merely existing and start living...and that all was going to start with asking Melody to be my daughter. Certainly not what I expected...but I was grateful for it nonetheless as nothing in this life comes free.

Next Chapter: Chapter Twenty: Mutual Suspicion of Authority Estimated time remaining: 22 Hours, 52 Minutes