“Mom! Wake up sleepy head!” Melody giggled into my ear what felt like minutes later, waking me from a vague dream that involved bananas, a fruit I hadn't thought of in well over a century.

“Eh…?” I grumbled as I opened my eyes and saw her beautiful mismatched eyes staring back into mine, the ceiling of the Stable noticeably quite different from that of the shop.

“Siwwy…” She giggled again, booping my nose with hers and tugging on my hoof to sit me up. “You’ve been asleep for like six-hours now!”

I knew I was still in my armor given the uncomfortable pressure on my lower spine from where the turtle shell ended and where my cuisse began. Glancing at my PipBuck I saw it was roughly eight o’clock at night which threw off my measurement of time by a fair amount. I had not cared to check my clock while we were raiding Velvet’s house earlier but the sun wasn’t that low in the sky when we had left for The Pile. Either way, I felt better after the nap and my mind felt lighter now that the ordeal was over. Sleep never stopped surprising me with how effective it can be, even on a partially mutated body like mine.

“Where is everypony…?” I asked, sitting up and wincing in silent pain as my neck and shoulders popped and cracked as I moved.

“They’re out in the Workshop eating dinner, that’s why I came to wake you up!” She said cheerfully, her breath smelling strongly of garlic and onion though not in an unpleasant way. “Uncle Cogs bought us a bunch of food from one of the restaurants on the Second Floor and brought it back for all of us! Common! All the Alfredo is gonna be gone!”

That explained the garlic and onion breath and got me out of bed like a bullet from my Sequoia. Alfredo was a rare taste in the Wastes and just so happened to be my favorite food just behind pizza and fried rice. Melody climbed onto my back and we charged out of the Stable together on a quest for deliciously creamy pasta, the smell smacking me right in the face the moment we left the Stable and unconsciously sending my legs galloping even faster, Melody clinging tightly to my neck and giggling with glee as her mom charged with fury for food.

“Well look who’s awake!” Chocolate laughed as we skidded to a halt in the Workshop, the three of them gathered around a hastily cleared work table laden with several dishes of fine food. “Did ya dream about me, sweet lips?”

I blushed slightly and set Melody down in the chair next to mine as I yanked the half-empty platter of pasta towards myself, stuffing my mouth with the dairy ridden Alfredo sauce so fast I risked choking.

“Whoa there!” Cogs exclaimed, trying to pull the plate away from me. “There are others at this table who desire this just as you do Athena.”

“Thanks mom.” I sneered at him while pulling the plate back for me and Melody to share before digging back in with a hungry passion.

“Oh my god!” Chocolate giggled as she watched me pork out. “Can you eat pussy like dat?”

Melody burst out in giggles while Cogsworth and Gold looked away with red cheeks as I pointedly replied, “You know it!”
The rest of the meal continued more or less in the same vein with plenty of banter as everyone had a chance to talk about something they wanted to say. The Alfredo was delicious but not quite the same as the stuff I had enjoyed before the Great War. Standard wheat, barley and rye had been laid waste by the Megaspells and what had sprung forth in their place was what came to be called Razorgrain; sort of a hybrid between wheat and barley with oddly shaped stalks that could cut deeply if handled improperly. There were a few subspecies that reflected the general flavor of Pre-War grain species with even a new variant hitting the local market that tasted pretty similar to rye. Agriculture was doing well enough for itself in the West, even here in the desert proper.

Of course, I was eternally grateful that civilization survived enough to know how to cultivate the land and domesticate those Feral species that were beneficial to our survival. Farming in the region was primitive compared to the massive corporate farms of yesteryear but New Pegasus thrived thanks to still-functioning water pumps and a clean aquafer deep below the city. I could only guess that Mr. House had planned just as far ahead for the city's longevity belowground as he had the buildings topside as the pipes functioned almost flawlessly. This allowed the Stirrup to charge the farming community on the other side of town (the side much more reduced to rubble) half of their yields in exchange for direct access to a water main. Westside, as it came to be called, was at once home to some of the richest and some of the poorest in the region outside the Stirrup itself. For every wealthy Brahmin baron or collective farm owner, there were three dozen poor saps weeding and toiling away on the farms themselves making just enough to afford their room in the collective housing unit they were assigned to.

Regrettably, the wonderful meal was over before I knew it and my stomach was fit to burst from the amount of food I had forced it to cram in. Melody’s scrawny frame also clearly showed the massive bulge of her full stomach as she leaned back in her chair in the grips of a contented food coma. The Pile had great restaurants for the post-apocalypse, especially the Second Floor which supposedly had managed to snag some talented chefs out of Tenpony. Of course...the agriculture, talented chefs and the like were all possible thanks to the ancient magic of writing shit down as well as cutie marks. It was easy to take them for granted, especially in an era where blank flanks were not uncommon thanks to the means for some talents to be realized being non-existent or unobtainable. But, at the end of the day it was magic older than written record itself and it gives ponies the extra inspiration needed to keep the wheels of innovation cranking. Slowly and on rusted cogs...but turning all the same.

“I haven’t eaten that much in years…” Melody sighed happily after a good ten minutes, patting her belly gently. “I’d ask for more but I think I’d throw up.”

“I agree with her…” Chocolate groaned from her place on the floor where she had unceremoniously decided to lay down. “Shit’s filling as hell!”

As we waited for the meal to settle in our stomachs enough for us to move, we discussed our next step that we wanted to accomplish. Gold casually reminded me that we were originally going to the Dark Market for Dragon leather for his duster before Black Velvet had crashed our party. Without a place to go yet beside Cogs, there was some time to hit the Dark Market and run a few errands I felt. Cogs had mentioned they might be a good opportunity to try asking about a new place to stay, a sentiment I agreed with as its denizens came from all across the globe via the Gateways. If somepony had good real-estate ideas, I had a decent chance of stumbling across something that could work for us. Now that I was all-but-convinced that Melody and even Gold were here to stay with me, my hole-in-the-wall apartment was absolutely inadequate to house all three of us in any sort of comfort. I needed space for my trophies, weapons and work benches, Melody repeatedly asked for her own bedroom and I knew Gold would want probably much the same for himself.

“What precisely are you seeking in a residence?” Cogsworth asked as he downed his third bottle of Cola. "Describe unto me your perfect choice in housing."

“Well...it’s gotta be close enough to New Pegasus for starts but not too close if you know what I mean. I want to be near enough where I can come here to The Pile for stuff but not so close as for ponies to be constantly nearby; you know as well as I do I hate areas with crowds. Honestly I’d like it to be an apartment complex like Velvet was staying in so everypony could have a room if they wanted to. I mean I know its a lot to ask for but you asked. Only other thing I can think of would be like an old Army outpost or something, ya know something with some pre-built defenses in it so I don't have as much to worry about when it comes to fortifying the bitch up.”

“I see…” He mused, taking a bite out of an apple and chewing slowly. “What else?”

“It would be awesome if it was kind of isolated like that one hotel is.” I said, liking this route of wishful thinking for what it was. “You know, the one outside Fillydelphia they never finished that was supposed to be Tenpony's sister hotel. Something like that with a great line of sight for miles around and a nice concrete wall with razor wire lining the top would be absolutely perfect.”

“Why not go one step further and wish then for a castle?” He chuckled, setting up his empty bottles like walls surrounding the empty box of Insti-Mash potatoes. “That would be most advantageous would it not?”

“Sure, a castle would be dope!” I giggled, lobbing my fork at his makeshift castle like a spear. “But seriously, who the fuck even owned a castle before the War? Aside from the ruins all over Trottingham, there's just the Royal Palace in Canterlot and let’s face it...we’d need a lot more than overactive imaginations to live in that clusterfuck.”

“Indeed. So, an easily defendable apartment complex or, even less probable, a derelict military base of some form. I assume you would like my assistance in repairing and fortifying such a place?”

“Well, you’re the one with the materials and the robots.” I laughed, tempting fate by taking another bite of Radlemon Pie. “I don’t got none of that as you know. Unless ya want your ballistic toy tinkered with and adjusted, I don't have any of the skills needed for construction either.”

"Indeed that is the circumstance. I would be glad to assist you my friend, although I am afraid I cannot accept even a number of favors for my services. I will of course be extending a gracious discount but..."

"No worries, Cogs. You'll get paid for you and your robot's hard work in full. I've got a lot of savings that I've got nothing to do with and I can always try and see if I can snag another Contract or two if I really need to."

"Oh? I-I thought that they would b-be mad at you for...y-you know." Gold interjected, looking at Melody who was dozing off too hard to be part of the conversation. "C-could you even get a C-Contract?"

"Well, thing with the Syndicate I've learned is high earners get more leeway. Long as the Directors and their Shadows got paid well, they tend to turn a blind eye to transgressors. That's how Black Velvet got away with her bullshit for so long, that and her big sister's clout with the Directors. Odds are, given Green is not well liked by anyone, my fucking with him just this once will be overlooked and my record will be clean enough to get Contracts still."

"Oh? Even with several taken out on your own head?" Cogs asked curiously.

"This ain't the first time someone who works for them was also considered a target by someone else. If they live or die, it doesn't matter as long as caps fall into their hooves. Any bar in town that has a Board is considered neutral territory with all patrons encouraged to shoot the aggressor in any situation if gunfire erupts anywhere nearby. Somepony tries waiting nearby one for me to snag a Contract is gonna get the shit blown out of him by a bunch of drunk, angry Mercs, Hunters and maybe a Hitmare or two. Happened to Golden Rod and Salty Brine four years back when they tried killing Killer Queen outside the Stiff Stallion if you remember."

"I see...very well then, I will leave it to you to set your financial affairs in order. Naturally, I will not be able to make cost estimates until I am able to inspect the location but I am sure you will have something for me to analyze before long."

The room fell into silence save for the soft whirring sound of the Mr. Handy floating around us clearing the table while humming a happy tune. I knew my ideas for a new home were kind of asking a lot of the universe given the crappy real-estate market in Equestria but I was determined to find something as close to my vision as possible. With that kind of setup I could keep Melody safe, have plenty of room for even more stuff and live right next door to people I cared about and host others, assuming Cogs and Chocolate wanted to pay us a visit or something. Who knew, maybe I would let the dork inside me turn it into some sort of command post to make believe I was working at Camp Macintosh again.

It dawned on me that I had literally no idea what I was going to do with myself now that I was a parent and had more or less called it quits to actively being a Hitmare. Was I just going to settle down as a full-time parent like Penny had wanted to do after the War? It was a possibility but I couldn’t lie to myself...I would get bored of that really quickly and would need to be out in the Wastes doing shit. Besides, it wasn’t like Melody was a four year old. I didn’t necessarily have to be a stay-at-home mom given she was sixteen or so. With some practice behind the trigger and some more time out in the Wasteland by my side, she would be more than capable of taking care of herself in the big, bad world. Gold was even better off having demonstrated some notable level of competence when it came to Wasteland survival. There was still plenty of polish that needed to be added to make both of them shine but soon I would have a pair traveling companion who aren't useless in a fight and could hold their own. The only question was if Melody herself was willing to live that kind of admittedly dangerous life with me. Gold...now that he had most of his armor assembled, I think the only way I could get my Desert Ranger fanboy off my tail was by shooting him. There was no way I was gonna be able to shake that boy loose now that I had semi-delivered on my promise for the equipment.

“Well...I think it’s time we take off to the Market.” I said with a heavy sigh fighting back the fat, lazy feelings trying to glue me to my chair. “Anyone who wants to come is welcome to. I know you two already asked to come but I know the post-dinner fat and happy feeling pretty damn well so if you wanna just stick behind and nap, go right ahead. I'd do the same if I could trust someone else to make the trip.”

“I-I’ll go!” Gold exclaimed excitedly, immediately jumping out of his chair and running to go put on his new armor.

“Alright, that’s one. Anyone else?” I asked, looking at Cogsworth and Melody.

“Isn’t it closed?” She asked, looking at the collector’s edition Sparkle-Cola clock on the wall nearby that glowed purple and blue. “I mean, it’s almost ten. Don’t places close earlier than that?”

“The Pile for the most part, yeah.” I replied, tossing my Sequoia up into the air and angling my hind leg so it would land right in its waiting holster. “But not the Dark Market. It’s kind of like New Pegasus, it never goes to bed no matter how late it is. Hell, night time is when most people visit it anyway. Time is relative in there anyway.”

Melody tugged on her armored jumpsuit and grabbed her rifle though I got the feeling she didn’t much like her armor. Compared to Gold and I’s armor, hers was lacking both aesthetically and in its level of defense. Small arms would be tolerable but rifle anything would be problematic, especially with the Kevyarn. That begged the question though as to what kind of armor appealed to her but it was a question for a later time. For the moment it sufficed and, most importantly, it fit and was a hell of a lot better than running around stark naked in naught but your own fur. After running back to the Stable to strap Little Fang to my back, the knowledge of its usefulness not being lost on me, we set off out of the Workshop and up the stairs to the skywalk connecting us to the rest of The Pile. Cogs knew just as well as I did that no matter how long we spent down there, we wouldn't be gone longer than a half-hour.

From the moment our hooves stepped onto the skywalk, it was easy to tell The Pile was all-but-closed for the day. The echoing clamor of the pedestrians milling about buying and selling goods throughout the entire building was mostly silent now save for the few merchants that kept their stalls open late into the night. The bulk of what noise remained in the slightly echo-y building was the laughter and singing echoing down from the fancier bars upstairs. There, alcohol was served all night and good chow was ready and waiting for those citizens who could afford to enter the Stirrup but chose to live outside it. Everywhere you looked, the thriving aisles of the market from earlier stood closed up and sadly quiet, sliding metal grates or simple cloth blinds pulled over the counter; all their goods stored indoors inside tightly locked trunks, safes and barrels against the busy day of trade ahead. It was peaceful and eerie all at once.

“It’s so...quiet.” Melody whispered almost to herself as we made quick time towards the grand staircase in the center-rear of the building. “It’s kind of sad…”

“The feeling you’re getting is called ‘Kenopsia’,” I explained with a smile, grateful I remembered the term as it was a curious sensation I experienced myself often particularly in Pre-War locales I used to remember. “It’s the eerie, sad atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now empty and abandoned. It’s especially apparent in places like well-known cities or buildings with importance to you. One of those odd emotions that somehow has one word to sum it all up easy for you in the dictionary.”

"Yeah...that's pretty cool there's a word just for it. I love learning cool new things about words!"

We finally reached the Grand Stair separating the Main Floor from the Second Floor. Standing guard at the foot in a small booth built just for the purpose was the pair of bouncers tasked with keeping the poor from the fine establishments above; little love was lost between the rich and poor even outside the Stirrup. They eyed me idly as we approached, angling to the left of the Grand Staircase to pass down and behind it in order to reach the stair down to the entrance of the Dark Market. Unlike the way to the Second Floor, no bouncer was needed in order to gain entry. Everypony knew it was here but few were allowed to pass the Gateway. The Dark magic that helped fuel this pocket dimension was the sort of security protocols that M.O.M could have only dreamed of being legal for their use...

“I guess you must feel...Ke-Kenopsia a lot, huh? Being so old and all that...” Melody commented softly as we started our journey downwards.

I stopped mid-step and looked at her with a pained expression as visions of Manehattan, Las Pegasus, PonyVille and other such places flashed through my head in their pristine, Pre-War glory. Lofty towers of steel and glass, well-maintained lawns and gardens...

“All the time.” I replied softly before taking a deep breath and another step only to graze the edge of the stair and tumble headfirst down to the next landing in a crumpled heap of mare. I had come to a stop on the next landing down despite what my inner-ears were trying to show me and the impacts had been blunted by my armor.

“You ok?” Melody asked frantically, trying to find my head in my tangle of softly aching body parts.

“Yep...just having a friendly meeting with another emotional friend of mine. Hello, Mr. Pain...” I mumbled as I unraveled myself from myself and stood up. I noticed a small message appearing on my visor indicating a suggestion that I clean my Flexi-Mesh padding as soon as I could, the words bordered by an orange square indicating some urgency behind the message.

“Y-you tumbled like a c-champ though!” Gold chuckled as he slid down the center railing with surprising grace, landing with a loud clicking sound as his bare hooves touched the floor.

“Tumble-n’-Roll Champ all through EastPoint.” I laughed painfully, checking the message off and making a mental note to take care of it ASAP. “Wrestling, Judo, rolling down a hill...I did it all. Of course, that was over two-hundred years ago but eh, I think I still kept the title. I mean, they award Noble Peace Prizes to dead people and they get to keep their titles so...why not me too eh?”

“You’re siwwy.” Melody giggled as she hefted my AMR into my arms after it had flown off during my tumble. “But I love you for that.”

“Thanks, Mel.” I replied, taking the lead once again across the landing and around the corner to the next set of stairs leading even further downwards being extra careful where I put my hooves this time around.

The stairs finally ended with a long hallway leading up towards a gigantic set of cold black marble doors carved out to look like a great Dragon devouring the world. The walls leading up to it began to be lit by torches in sconces recessed into the rough hewn walls that burned with purple and green fire casting everything in a trippy, flickering light. Melody and Gold alike stared at it all with absolute amazement, the light of the arcane torches casting strange colors on their faces and bodies . Above the doors, carved in a very gothic font were the words, ‘Deinde Qui Ibi Tenebrae Prosperabitur’, a sentiment that anypony who dared enter understood before they even arrived. The Market was decidedly on the black side of the moral alignment chart though was not itself wholly evil from what I had experienced. It just happened to be the most accepting place on the planet for those who peddled the forbidden and taboo of yesteryear.

“Deinde...what does all that mean?” Melody asked after feeling a hoof over the magnificently carved Dragon where every single scale was contoured to give the exact feel of a Dragon’s hide. "Wow that's cold!"

“It means basically, ‘He who brings Darkness shall prosper here’.” I replied, giving a rough translation of the mantra. "And yes hun, that's because that door isn't technically there. What you're touching is a physical manifestation of something that is 100% magic. That magic just eh...just so happens to be Dark in nature. Don't worry, it won't harm you just from touching or even entering there but you can't linger for too long or it will start affecting you."

"Oh? Like how?" Melody asked right on cue.

"Depends a lot on what Darkness you already have lingering inside you to be honest so it's too varied to give a straightforward answer." I replied candidly as this was not the kind of place to be vague about the rules. "But the longer you stay in there, the more time the ambient energy of the Market has time to poke and prod at your inner demons and stir them up. Stay too long and they will more than likely overrule your ability to ignore them leaving you with your worst attributes at the surface of your being and there's only so much that can be done to repair the damage. The magic used here is stronger than anything you two have even heard of so for the love of fuck...listen to the rules imma lay down here."

"We understand! Don't we, Gold?"

He timidly nodded, obviously a bit spooked about what I had just described but not enough to turn tail and head back to Cogsworth upstairs. Despite the dangers, I couldn't blame him at all for taking the chance to witness something truly out of this world. The Dark Market was one of those Post-War marvels that exceeded what it had been Pre.

“Now...before we go in there...remember what I told you two earlier. Stick by me at all times, don’t look anypony in the eye, don’t touch anything and most importantly do not speak to anyone while we’re in here. The people here are...well, honestly the only word that best describes them is ‘cursed’. The Dark Market is another world that parallels ours and acts as a refuge for weirdos and weird shit too crazy and powerful for the Wasteland to handle. There are many entrances all across the world so you'll see some pretty crazy and diverse faces down here. Can only wonder what those other places are like but sadly only the merchants are allowed to pass through any Gateway. Everyone else is connected to one specific door and none of the others in order to prevent old blood conflicts from flaring up between regions since this one hub has spokes that touch every nation. Any enterprising group or Merc company would die for that kind of super-highway to move vast distances. Fuck...to think what that sorta thing could have done in Equestrian hooves...”

“I-I’m not so sure I want t-to g-go in there…” Gold whimpered as he took a few steps back away from the door like being even near the stone would suck his Soul away.

“You don’t have to, but that means I’d have to walk you all the way back to Cogsworth and I’m really too tired to do that right now.” I replied, gesturing up the hallway to the stairs that seemed to be cast in an entirely different light as if the real world ended there and the hallway marked the entrance to a different plane of existence.

“N-no! I-I’m not a c-coward.” He said as confidently as he could though there was still a note of trepidation in his raspy voice. “I’m n-not afraid.”

“Good…” I replied softly, turning back to the door and putting a hoof on the center crest of the devoured world. “This isn't the sort of place to wear your fear on your sleeve.”

I nudged them aside and stood before the door, raising my hoof to the fanciful crest in the center of the Dragon's jaws. The crest glowed a bright red as a glowing pentacle projected from the stone requiring a few twists of my hoof in the right order; runic symbols floating atop the circumference of the array flashing softly as the tip of my hoof passed over them like an electronic combination lock. All Gates into the Dark Market were heavily fortified with unknown Dark magic set as a defense against any (like the NER) who wanted to come inside with motives ulterior to simple economic exchange. After getting the combination correct, I pressed my lips to my hoof still surrounded by the glowing runes of the pentacle and whispered the mantra engraved above the door. As the last word left my lips, the crest hissed open while the doors swung inwards, Melody and Gold both jumping slightly from the sudden noise. My blood was part of that array...the color of the runes deriving their color from the same gathered from everyone who had been granted entry.

“Welcome my friends, to the weirdest place on Terra Firma!” I declared as I walked forward with my timid quarry in tow.

The gates led to yet another torch-lit hallway, the walls seemingly carved from black obsidian which gleamed with a fine polish in the light that ended with yet another stair leading downwards. At the top of the landing the full scope of the Market came into view, the doors behind us booming shut sealing us away from the rest of Reality. Before us was a monstrous cavern carved out of the same obsidian-like rock as the hallway that was packed to the brim with all styles and sizes of exotic tents, traditional stalls and endless rows of variously sized cages. The air was alive with the yips and growls of the caged creatures as well as the barking of the seedy merchants to any within the reach of their calloused voice. Most of the patrons milling about below us were hooded or masked in one way or another; scowling eyes flashed from the shadows masking their identities from the others as caps changed hooves in exchange for glowing potions, decapitated heads and scraps of ancient scrolls that seemed to warp Reality around themselves. It was the opposite side of the coin to The Pile above. Caps here were considered an uncommon currency and the goods being exchanged were only for niche practices and the bizarre hobbyist.

“W-what the f-fuck…?” Gold stuttered, looking about as if stuck between wanting to charge forward in interest and wishing to flee back to the waking world.

“It’s cool!” Melody sang as she looked over everything with wide eyes eager to see more. "Weird...but cool!"

“I’m glad someone else likes the look of it for once.” I replied with a laugh, thinking back on the time I had made the mistake of bringing Cogsworth with me and the scene he had made after being nearly sold into the service of a Necromancer. “Time doesn’t pass while we are here. We could spend a day's worth of hours down here and not a second has gone by since we passed the Gateway. But, like I said earlier, we gotta be quick here. Faster the better.”

They didn’t say anything so I took the lead yet again and led them down the chiseled stairway and to the edge of the bedlam. Scaly Fang, the only Dragon merchant who actually liked me, was towards the far end of the Market over where the mutated Feral guard-Wolves and inbred Manticores were caged. Unfortunately, our quest for leather meant traversing nearly a half-mile of weirdly dangerous terrain with two foals who were, as proven earlier with Black Velvet, prone to ignore commands and follow the whim of their interests. Thankfully (and it was the only situation where this was a blessing) Melody was not a virgin and thus could not be snatched up by one of the Necromancers for their blood rituals over by the unorthodox food court. As for Gold...considering he was turned into a Ghoul at age fourteen, it was doubtful he had ever gotten some good mare action. Or stallion action, wouldn't bother me in the slightest if he liked a bit of dick in his life too for all I knew. He wasn't the only one.

“K, this is where things get trippy and a hundred times more dangerous than walking through the front door, you got me?” I asked, looking at both of them long enough to get my seriousness across. “People here don’t have the burden of a conscience usually and wouldn’t hesitate to snatch you up for the sake of a profit. Everything is bought and sold here, even Souls. Stick by me and you won’t end up as one of them, I promise. Can't beat the niche shit you can find here though.”

“Wait, Souls?!” Melody asked incredulously. “How the hell do you sell a Soul?”

“It’s easy if you’ve got the magic for it.” I replied, the memories of my first encounters with the practice still fresh in my memory. “Abyssal Magics are...sinister to say the least. No attacking the physical body or even the arcane side of you if you're a Unicorn. It attacks the Soul directly ignoring armor like an X-Ray. Thankfully few can use them but those who can...just fucking run. Don’t even try to shoot at them, just run. The shit they can do is worse than dying, believe me.”

“But how do you sell a Soul? Like what does a Soul even look like?” Melody continued, unfazed by what I had just said.

I pointed to a nearby shoddy tent wherein a Zebra mare, partially hooded with a thick leather blindfold over her eyes, was cupping a small yellow Flame in her hoof as if weighing it and said, “That right there is a Soul. Inside the body it is unseen and ethereal but using the right magic, you can remove it from a body and allow it to take a visible form. It's a tricky art and isn't inherently evil in and of itself, just some of its sub-types.”

“Fire?” Melody asked in a surprised tone as if she had expected something different. “I was expecting something like a little floating ball that glows or something. Or...something...”

“The analogy ‘fires of life’ is a very literal thing, Melody.” I responded, unconsciously putting a hoof to my chest where my own Flame resided. “Fire is an apt illustration of the concept of life. It warms the body and illuminates the mind, leading you on towards some distant goal through the darkness of ambiguity and hardship.”

“W-who are you and what the f-fuck did you do w-with A-Athena?” Gold asked, calling me out on my lapse into sage-like speech and sounding a bit too philosophical for a Hitmare.

“Shut it.” I snickered, watching as the Zebra inclined her head towards the robed Griffin before her and pressed the Flame into a talisman hung around her neck, a great eye set in emerald and bronze which glowed brightly as the Flame was consumed. “A Blood Oath. Curious…thought the last of those practitioners emigrated back to the Empire...”

“Huh?” Melody asked again, looking between me and the strange mare in the blindfold.

“The Griffin made a promise of some kind to the Zebra that had to be paid for with blood and Souls. I wonder if it was for a Blood Gem or something equally rare to pay such a high price…” I replied distractedly trying to see between the passing pedestrians at what exactly they were exchanging, looking for a distinctive dark red glowing stone but unable to see much of anything. “Alright, let’s get moving. We’ve got a ways to go yet and we can't get caught up staring at everything. If we did that, we'd be here until we mutated into demons or something.”

They nodded and I loosed Little Fang in its black sheath on my back while unbuttoning the strap over the spur of my Sequoia. I was a familiar enough face to those who could actually stand to live here but that was never enough to exclude one from potential bullshit. Gateways opened up from here to the Kyoto Isles in the Far East to places like Espania in the Northwest corner of Saddle Arabia and Dark Magics were practiced differently amongst all of them. Anyone could have an agenda in which your free-will had nothing to do with it. Unpredictability reigned in the Dark Market and you either had to fight the current and drown or, roll with it and try to keep your head above water. That meant treating it like a familiar battleground but only a few on the field were known friendlies.

The crowd ebbed and flowed in a sporadic fashion as we attempted to weave our way between ponies, Griffins, Zebras and about a dozen other Sentient species going about their business; it was almost impossible to spot anyone without armor or a weapon of some sort on their person amongst their other exotic garb. It was serene to see a glimpse of the harmony of co-existence that used to exist in this country being replicated in a place such as this. That wasn't to say the Market was harmonious, in fact it was quite much the opposite but yet it remained an interesting insight into what the concept looked like in action. Melody clung to my side with every step while Gold was a bit more hooves-off about the whole situation and preferred to walk on his own four hooves as we made our way steadily through the quasi-mob. Harsh voices barked about their products in languages ranging from English to Afrikaans to Saddle Arabian with one voice sounding almost Mareseillian, though I couldn’t be sure given the sheer noise surrounding us like a hurricane of sound.

Large and elaborate tents were the preferred method of housing and storefronts in the Market, a trend adopted right out of Saddle Arabia and the Empire. Each varied wildly in shape, size, color and configuration in a chaotic yet organized mess across the whole scope of the Market. Hooks of meat, cages of animals, vials of various fluids, books, exotic jewelry, antique artifacts, ancient sets of armor and weapons...the list of items on display was mind-boggling. Another benefit of having many Gateways was the resulting explosion in the diversity of products for sell. To be frank coming to the Market somewhat guilt-tripped me on the inside as I considered just how much of the place was devoted to the arcane, in particular some of the most powerful artforms in the world. Of course it was one thing I was pretty ho-hum with in practice outside of lifting guns and fiddling with buttons on shit. As a result, I could only appreciate no more than a third of what the Market truly had to offer the enterprising shopper.

“They’ve got art!!!” Melody yelled into my ear excitedly, jabbing a hoof towards a traditional stall that looked eerily out of place next to the mix of shoddy and majestic tents on either side of it. "You didn't say they'd have art!"

Hanging from every possible surface were paintings of all shapes and sizes hailing from multiple species and ethnic backgrounds. I recognized the bright orange, white and black colors used in traditional Zebra paintings as well as the highly detailed aerial landscapes of a Griffin artist as only they (and the occasional Lesser Dragon) had the dexterity to paint such minute details. Of course, this was about as far as my knowledge in fine art went aside from some other random shit I remembered from college. I had never had much affinity for art and never wasted my limited wall space with pictures that could have been used for more bookshelves or storage space for ammo. Melody though seemed to have a keen interest in it and tugged on my leg begging me to take her over to the stall for a closer look. We were getting too close to Scaly to get stuck looking at shit now, goddamnit.

“Melody, stop it. Now.” I said firmly, tugging back on her and nodding in the direction we had to go. “Look, if we’ve got time after we’re done here then sure, we’ll stop by for a bit but we’ve got shit to do and this is not the place to be standing for too long, alright hun? Please...just trust me, Mel. Alright, Gold? Let’s get going now.”

Without even looking I could just feel that he was nowhere nearby. I turned and spun in a full circle hoping to pick him out of the crowd but there were so many Ghouls already present in all shades and colors that it was impossible to pick out the little twerp from the bunch. Similarly, checking my E.F.S as normal would be similarly useless with a crowd like this. The little fucker had grown on me but this was more than I wanted to deal with right now.

“Goddamnit!” I growled, yanking a leather belt from my bag and wrapping it around my leg and Melody’s. “You’re staying right next to me. Don’t bitch about it, let’s move.”

With my helmet back on, I went immediately for my radio; Melody grumbling to herself as she glared at the belt connecting us but graciously not fighting me on it. I could tell she was spooked even if she hid it well.

“Gold where the FUCK are you?!” I yelled into my mic. “Get your ass back here now goddamnit, this isn’t funny!”

All I got in response was dead air. Either he was ignoring me or, in more likelihood, wasn’t wearing his helmet. Without a PipBuck and an EarBloom of his own, there was no other way to contact him unless he had somehow come across a shortwave radio since I had last seen him not even two minutes before. My first real day as a parent, hell my first twenty-minutes as a parent were going about as well as I had assumed they would be. Why would I be so lucky as to make it even an hour without more bullshit coming my way? First Velvet and now this...

“Where did you see him last?” I asked Melody, almost in a demanding tone that I instantly regretted given the shock in her eyes.

“I-I don’t know...he was right behind me when I saw the cool art stuff…” She mumbled, ashamed that her infatuation with the stall had potentially cost us more than the price of any painting.

“For fuck’s sake…” I sighed, fighting back panic seeking to jab itself into my brain and take control of my actions. “Alright...come on BitchLord, think!”

With my E.F.S essentially useless in our surroundings and no Buck Beak or Vertibird crew circling above to lend us their eyes, I was clueless as to how to go about a search party with just two of us. I could feel Huckleberry’s scolding at my ineptitude as a parent playing darts with my heart with slivers of ice cold shame and self-loathing. What would my own mother say if she could see me now? I wanted to shriek if it weren't for social awkwardness and wanting to keep it together for Melody's sake. She was already starting to crumble from the strain.

“Ek het die beste klippe te koop!” Cried a Zebra mare nearby, the translator doing its job and turning her words into, “I’ve got the finest Gems for sale!”

“Bingo.” I grinned, untying and then lifting Melody off the floor a few inches with telekinesis so we wouldn’t have to do a three-legged race through the bedlam.

“Where are we going?” Melody cried out, bobbing alongside me like a sparkling buoy as I vaulted over, under and around people between us and my goal.

“You’ll see!” I yelled back, skidding to a stop in front of the tent with the blindfolded Zebra we had observed earlier.

“Ah, I bid thee welcome!” She chuckled as we approached, several tables surrounding her piled with jewelry, uncut stones and various talismans and Zebra fetishes on display for sale at mid-to-high tier prices indicating quality. “Tell me, what bringeth thee to mine humble wares? It seemeth to me thou art seeking something that was lost...tis a shame to lose something precious, is it not?”

I knew better than to question her insight into our situation given my extensive history with her species and asked, “I do seek something. Someone. We came with a colt and he is missing. Can you help us?”

Melody looked at me like I was crazy for asking this complete stranger (emphasis on strange) for help in finding Gold but thankfully did not say a word as we waited for the mare’s response. It wasn't my first choice but employing the aid of the Dark would help us more than anything else I could think of. Dark Perception would allow one to see the location of any Soul one desired like a beacon in a dark field. A mare who dabbled in Blood Oaths and peddled Gems was without a doubt going to have the abilities I needed. The only question...what was she going to charge for this? I only had a few hundred Groschen in my purse, the old Greifenländer coinage made of their impervious Silver Steel used as one of the only hard currencies accepted here. I hoped it would be enough...

“Thou seekest one who is lost...such a task is nary beyond mine abilities but there is no such thing as assistance without proper compensation…” She chuckled again, the emerald eye around her robed chest glowing ever-so-slightly as she spoke the word ‘compensation’.

“What do you need…?” I asked with a sigh, reaching for my money purse.

“The power ye seek cannot be bought with money, foolish girl…” She chided, pulling a withered black Tome from her robes and setting it on the table, a cold, evil aura emanating from the book like it had just been pulled out of the freezer. “I trade for Souls and nothing less...have ye my price?”

Fucking Necromancers...of course she would ask for the one thing I didn’t have in my possession. But...she was the only one who seemed capable of casting Dark Perception in the immediate area.

“Take mine then.” I said finally after weighing my options. “I can live without it...already done it once.”

She chuckled again, a slight cackle to her voice that reminded me of a witch’s from the old Nightmare Night displays of my youth. I knew I was being flagrantly stupid with my own well-being with this stunt but I wasn't in the mood or had the time to care with Gold's life on the line for my lapse in attention. I was already done with the transaction in my heart so all that was left was to do the damn thing already.

“I know not whether to commend thee or pity thee…” She chuckled, holding her chipped and flaking hoof out for me to press my chest against. “Indeed thou shalt live without thy Soul...but it will be a cursed existence. Is this life ye seek worth the price I ask? Think carefully...”

“Yes.” I said without hesitation. “My life is cursed enough as it is, what’s another curse added onto the pile?”

She seemed a bit miffed that I was so flagrantly disregarding her warnings but smiled as she felt my armored chest press against her hoof. Business was business after all.

“Foolish mortal…” She mumbled, her hoof glowing with a sickeningly Black aura as she pressed her other on the Tome on the table. "So be it."

It was as if she had shot me through the chest with my own AMR. The pain was excruciating as her Abyssal Magic phased right through my physical armor and into my ethereal body, acid laced tendrils wrapping around my heart and piercing deep within for the Flame that resided inside my body. I had shut off my external speaker prior to the spell so I was allowed to scream my lungs out without letting Melody hear, a sentiment that bolstered my flagging resolve and allowed me to keep my wits about me as the tendrils were wrenched out and back into her hoof. As she pulled it away, a large Grey flame flickered and sparked brightly, floating in the air above her hoof like a small bonfire. Of course, I was reeling from the indescribable experience too much to take immediate notice having to bend my knees and gasp for air to fight off a blackout. Easily I would take getting shot a dozen times over having my Soul torn outta my body.

“T-this is not p-possible…your kind vanished from this Plane long ago.” The mare gasped, wrenching her hoof away from the Flame like it were something poisonous.

The Flame continued to hover in the air glowing with a soft, gentle light that at once felt both cold and yet strangely warm even from a small distance. While my experience with Souls was much smaller and less extensive than the Zebra’s, I knew enough to understand and likewise be shocked by the color of my Flame. Yellow was common, Blue was was rare sign of a pure Soul, Red was only found in those who had succumbed to the lust for destruction and death but Grey? I had never heard of that color before in a Soul. Even Black, the rarest Flame to exist, was only said to be found in those who had given themselves entirely to the Dark. But, even Black was a known fucking color.

“T-take this back…” The mare whispered, afraid to even touch the orb. “Tis an accursed Flame, I shall have none of it.”

So Grey was a really bad color then? That was...comforting…?

I reached out and gingerly put my hooves beneath the floating Flame, the warm/cold atmosphere around it seeming to suspend it a few inches off the grooved texture of my armored combat boot; the metal gleaming softly in the muted light cast by it. It felt familiar. Like an old stuffed animal like Mr. Hissy... I wished I could be alone with it in the darkness of the Stable where I could stare into the Grey without fear of prying eyes. I felt...compelled to stare...

“I can’t put it back in me lady.” I said pointing to my chest. “This isn’t exactly like shoving a buttplug back in. That I at least know how to do, this is out of my skill range.”

She grimaced so hard at the command that I was afraid she might puke but with the same Black aura clinging to her hoof she pushed the Flame back through my chest and back where it belonged, a sudden rush of warmth blossoming from my breast like stepping into a warm bath as it found its rightful place in my being. The whole experience was a fucking rollercoaster for my body to experience and I was grateful for my enhanced stamina keeping me on my hooves when I otherwise would have completely crumpled up.

“I will assist thee…” She grumbled, opening the Abyssal Tome that seemed to shriek silently with the howls of damned Souls consumed to form the pages. “But dare not to come near me again. What ye bear is truly the curse of the Grey Walker. I have no need of thy curse be yet upon mine own Soul. Walk thy middle way betwixt alone!”

Putting both of her hooves on the open book before her, the pitch black pages entirely devoid of writing, she began to chant in a language that was entirely foreign to this world. I only knew the words spoken were the Black Speech of the Abyss from whence this spells came and drew their power. Her words seemed to hang in the air with an icy bite on the ears, the unintelligible runes of the Black Speech glowing in red upon the pages beneath her hooves as her eyes shone with a sickly, eerie red through her blindfold. I could only dream of being able to explore such kinds of power...

A cold, almost imperceptible wave of energy seemed to explode outward from her that I would have missed had I not been looking for it to occur. The moment it passed I knew she had performed the spell correctly and it wouldn’t be but a moment before our search results came back. Dark Perception could pierce through walls, earth, clouds and flesh with the target standing out like a flare amongst the crowd. It was magic like this that made Zebra snipers paired with a Sangoma witch-doctor so damn deadly, the ability to isolate high value targets with pinpoint accuracy.

“I have found him.” She muttered, her voice echoing slightly as if multiple layers of her voice were all speaking at once, some higher pitched and others lower. “He has been taken by Necromancers to the Temple of Kalymeet. Make haste err the knife strikes!”

So he was a virgin, at least I had been right about something. Unfortunately...he was a virgin and Necromancers preferred their blood to any others. First ten fucking minutes and somepony had already wandered off and gotten kidnapped. And Mother of the Year award goes tooooo...

“Great, thanks.” I blurted out, yanking Melody with me as I doubled my pace towards the center of the Market where the Temple dedicated to the Zebra God of Death, Ogbunabali,stood.

The crowd was as thick and preoccupied with their own tasks as before but my experience in freerunning had taught me just how to navigate such a hectic terrain. After all, what was the difference between a pony and a low wall when it came to vaulting over them? (Well, aside from the obvious of course.) Out of the corners of my eye I saw other shops displaying their wares as we passed including a stand that offered both shrunken and pickled heads with what seemed to be home décor themes. Perfect for the more wealthy and ‘classy’ Raider who wanted to decorate their shithole of a house with more ornate severed body parts.

“What are they going to do to him?” Melody whimpered as we slowed down, the glowing black pillars surrounding the squat Parthenon-like building coming into view.

“They’re gonna cut his heart out, pass it around and take bites out of it while draining his blood into cups they’re gonna pour onto some Blood Gems to strengthen their power and turn them into Dark Gems someday.” I explained as I squinted at the building and my visor zoomed in on the scene before me. "You know, your average ritualistic sacrifice bullshit."

As I expected, there were about a dozen black-and-red robbed ponies and Zebras flitting about between the rough hewn pillars supporting the peaked roof in preparation for their ghastly ritual. The obsidian altar in the center seemed to pulse from below with an angry orange/red glow like the beating heart of a volcano while on the far side chained to a pillar was Gold and several other ragged bodies that were undoubtedly the other sacrifices. The Dark Market continued unabated around the public ritual and more than a few had gathered near the Temple to watch. In many ways, the medieval ways of the time when the Market had first been created had yet to end with public spectacles like this being common.

“T-they’re going to kill him?!” Melody gasped in horror as we approached the Temple, Little Fang’s long silvery black blade floating beside me practically begging for something to cut deep into.

“When you’re in a psycho Necromancer cult, you gotta do what you gotta do.” I replied, pushing through the crowd and up the stairs into the Temple itself. "Not today, goddamnit!"

“Ranger!” Cried one of the hooded ponies, pointing an accusing hoof at me. “You desecrate this holy place! Leave at once or suffer! This does not concern you.”

The other nine cultists had noticed me by now and had all turned to face me, various weapons being drawn from under their robes ranging from knives to guns to one with a staff. It was no simple staff like a quarterstaff though. An ornate metal set of horns curled out from the top, a carved purple stone darker than any amethyst suspended in the air between the horns emanating a sickly purple and black aura I could almost feel from here. It was a Catalyst, and by the looks of the Gem suspended in the horns, it wasn't meant for casting normal spells. This would be a whole different tango to the one with Velvet's Inferno Ring. Blood vs Dark Gem...this was going to be interesting.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” I replied, taking the sword in my hooves and rearing up in the combat style unique to the sword’s Far East heritage. “You’ve snatched up one of my kids and I’m here to get him back whether you fuckin' like it or not. The Ghoul. Let him go and I’ll be on my merry fuckin' way. You freaks can go back to your worship or whatever, ain't my business the moment I get him back.”

Melody tugged on my tail, pointing at the huddled bodies of the other virgins set for sacrifice with a scared, pleading look in her eyes that punctured through my wall of apathy yet again. Right...the other poor fucks deserved their freedom too I guess.

“Actually, scratch that. I want all of them.” I said with hesitation, the prospect of fighting the Cult of Ogbunabali more frightening than Black Velvet could ever hope to have been. “You’ve got...six seconds.”

There were a few snickers and the one with the Dark Catalyst hissed, “You dare steal our Sacrifices to the Almighty Ogbunabali? This is your last chance Ranger, leave or you will join them in death! This is not some offer to heed lightly or throw scorn at too hastily, thou fool. The might of our Lord shall not turn a blind ear to such heretical speech.”

His warning was undercut by the bellowing yells of his underlings all charging towards me and I settled into a firm stance with the blade above my head. While most blades could be swung with magic or in the mouth, this sword was designed to be held in the hoof. Through some unknown enchantment it allowed you to hold it as firmly as if you had fingers like a Griffin or a Dragon and never left your grip even if you swung it in a single hoof. The Bushido Style as it was known was difficult to master and required immense agility and flexibility to perform correctly even in the best circumstances. Although my armor was not as flexible as the legendary Warriors of the East I had heard so much about, it was good enough for my adapted version of the Bushido Style. I could only hope I did Zecuro proud with my use of his Nagamaki in battle and earned some kudos points with the Kyotian gods.

I activated S.A.T.S out of habit, not to make the fight easier (which it would have) but to just take a moment to see what weapons I was up against. Out of the ten, six used bladed weapons, three used small-caliber pistols and of course the last had that Dark Catalyst. The blades were easy to parry, the bullets far from strong enough to penetrate my armor so the Catalyst became my main focus. Aside from the various Gems that had been discovered and employed during the last years of the War, Catalysts were an ever evolving device from beginning to end. Like a witch or wizard’s wand, Catalysts helped focus the power of a Unicorn’s magic and doubled its output like plugging a guitar into an amplifier. In this case, the Unicorn wielding the staff didn’t need a Dark Ring to produce Dark spells as the Catalyst provided the same proper transformative properties of the Ring as well as an added bonus in magical output thanks to the enchanted wood. That being said though, the moment the staff left his hooves he would immediately lose the modifying effects of the Dark Gem floating between those horns and have to rely on far less dangerous magic attacks. It was scary to think that there were Catalysts out there strong enough on their own to allow non-Unicorns to use advanced techniques such as Frostbite Magics or Pyromancies.

I pushed Melody away to keep her from the fight (hoping she would at least try to use her rifle to help me out), and ducked under the slashing attack of my first opponent, their sacrificial blade leaving a silvery red trace in its wake. Crouched low I spun on my back left hoof, cleaving open the Zebra’s back as my right hoof planted firmly behind him while glancing over my shoulder to see where the remaining nine were. Little Fang seemed to purr in my grip as blood wetted its blade only to be absorbed right into the metal like a sponge and the grip in my hooves became even more sure as it recognized there was a feast to be had by the strength of its steel. The Blood Gem embedded in the pommel was roused and remembered it was starving.

“I see you too use the power of the sacred Gems!” The one with the staff barked, fury carving itself into what face I could see beneath his low hood. “Heresy! Now you must die! For thus it is written!”

The second of the dagger wielders attacked from behind while two of the gun users opened fire on me from the front and left side. Beneath my layers of long-fiber Kevyarn and Flexi-Mesh padding, the 9mm bullets sparking off my armor felt like minor thuds as if someone were merely tapping against my chest trying to get my attention. I caught the blade of my behind-from-back attacker against the flat side of my own and slid her all the way down to the crossguard locking her in place; I kicked her in the chest and used her body as a springboard to backflip up into the air to face my next attackers. My brief amount of airtime saw one of the three gunners get shot in the chest, the bullet exploding out of his back and sparking as it broke against the black stone behind him. Melody was not so timid in this fight as I had feared.

My momentum was enough to carry me right into the face of a stunned dagger wielder who seemed in shock at the speed at which I had already killed two of his fellows only to quickly join them as the razor sharp chisel-point of Little Fang bit into his skull like a Dragon to a tender steak. Properly wetted, the blade sucked his corpse dry of blood in the brief seconds it was impaled through his head and I flipped horizontally over the first blast of Dark energy cast by the leader, hurling the dead weight of the body into the chest of the next one in line. As three of my hooves clacked down to the stone floor, the sword still clutched in my front right, I saw the second gunner drop from a well placed shot from Melody, this one sailing clean through his eye socket and out the back of his head. She was popping off some damn fine shots and I wished I could be by her side to congratulate her.

With half of them now down and a sixth trying to stand up from getting knocked down by the flung body, the odds were evening out; a fact not lost on the leader who raised his staff over his head and slammed it into the floor, the Dark Gem glowing fiercely purple/blue. A wave of dark purple energy exploded from where his staff hit the floor which quickly dissipated by the time it reached where I stood fifteen-feet away. His followers looked at him with a mixture of confusion and annoyance as his AoE attack had a limited range and I was safely outside it. Well, was. While they stole a second to express their silent judgement towards his inefficacy, I cleared the gap between myself and the third of the gunners, hurling Little Fang ahead of me into the air so I could gallop on all fours for more speed.

Pouncing on the gunner's back I caught Fang and drove it through her neck and into the floor, the stone giving away to the blade like soft butter as her blood too was instantaneously sapped into the blade. It offered no resistance as I yanked it back out and moved onto the one who had just gotten free of the tangle of emaciated legs only to lose his own as I leapt forward, swiping at his legs and catching myself by whipping out a combat knife in my other hoof and driving it into the cracks in the floor to stop my momentum. My shoulder screamed as it was wrenched by the sudden stop given by the knife and I found myself swinging around as if on a pivot bringing me back around towards the now legless and howling stallion. In a move that would have made even Zecuro proud I got my legs under me and launched myself into the air, flipping horizontally once more and bringing down Fang like a hammer into the flailing head of my victim. With the Blood Gem roused from its slumber and engorged as it was after so many years of use, flesh gave way before the blade even made contact. With every kill the edge became more and more refined. Had I wanted to I could summon up the blood of the fallen to greatly lengthen and enhance the blade giving me access to some potent Sanguimancy spells. However, with Melody, Gold and the other victims in the crossfire, it was bad enough that I was fighting them normally.

‘This thing is almost too sharp…’ I thought as I slid the weapon back out of the furrow I had made in his head all the way down to his neck with hardly any effort.

Seven down, three to go. There was a loud crack like distant thunder and a ball of Dark energy shot into the air from the Gem. It stopped before it reached the ceiling and I knew what was coming next. It was the same idea as Arcane Bombardment but using the much deadlier Dark energy rather than regular arcane energy which could be resisted with a strong enough Aura of your own. As I predicted, the ball exploded into multiple smaller masses and rained down at random, the purple balls exploding slightly like miniature fireworks as they hit the ground and blasting puffs of icy cold air. I danced around them easily enough but one of my three remaining targets got hit in the head by one of the darts and crumpled into ash and bones with a wraithlike shriek. I heard Melody yelp behind me as the barrage ended but the sound wasn’t frantic enough to warrant me turning around to inspect the damage. A real injury would have caused her to scream like that cultist had...

With only two of them left, the leader snarled at me and yelled, “What have we to do with you, Ranger?! Have you come to destroy us all? Lay waste to our Order and tear asunder our works?”

“You kidnapped my son and were going to gut him for his heart, I’m pretty sure that warrants me wiping your asses off the face of the motherfuckin' planet you psychopathic sadist!” I retorted, getting into another fighting stance and egging the last dagger wielder, a Griffin with a knife in each talon, to come and get some. "Normally I wouldn't even fucking bother with you freaks but one of you dumbasses just had to go and make it personal!"

“We are practicing our religion!” He cried, jabbing a hoof at the altar that seemed to be angry that it wasn’t getting drenched in fresh extra virgin pony blood by how it pulsed with light. “Would you deny us the right to worship the Almighty Ogbunabali?”

“Look, I could give a fuck less about you psycho’s beliefs. Have a fucking potluck of toad livers and crow entrails then dance naked under the full moon while chanting 'I Am Da Queen of Da Bass' for all I fucking care.” I growled, glancing at Gold who was picking the lock to his own chains while everyone was focused on me, his Sequoia cast aside by the cultists on the ground nearby. “Stand down and give me the key to all of them and you two can go off and have a blood orgy and suck Ogbunabali's dick for all I care. Get down and dirty with big daddy draggo and go nuts!”

They both howled as I finished speaking clearly indicating my offer of a potential blood orgy with a Dragon was rejected which I didn’t much mind. The Griffin came at me first, the Unicorn obviously careful not to be parted from his Catalyst, and attacked. The blades spun around his talons with a speed that even made me envious as he hacked and slashed at every part of my body he could, angry sparks erupting as our blades deflected the others’ in a flurry of motion. He was clearly talented and had me work up a sweat trying to get a hit on him as for once the length of my sword came as an impediment rather than a bonus. He was just able to stab and twirl his knives around much faster than I could with my nearly three-and-a-half foot blade and equally lengthy hilt. It was a godsend for sure that the Mrk. IV had well over a dozen pieces of tertiary armor attached around the neck, knees and other locations usually targeted by the Crimson Dragons of old. More than half came in handy for keeping his steel from biting into my body where my guard with my weapon just couldn't move fast enough. Little Fang begged to unleash her full power but I fought against the urge just as intensely as I did with my opponent. It was too dangerous to trust techniques I had little practice with or control over.

After a clever uppercut to my guard, he kicked me to the ground with a light orange paw to the chest. As I landed, the message to clean my Flexi-Mesh popped up again with a much more urgent red outline and I could feel the padding on my fall was a lot stiffer than it should have been. While the honeycombed rubber and liquid-crystal padding system could blunt impacts upwards of several hundred Joules, repeated impacts imparted kinetic energy in the liquid-crystal which was stored as potential arcane energy. If it absorbed too much without being purged by a special process, it would turn rock-hard and eventually even explode on its own from a random energy containment breach breaking bones or blowing limbs clean off. Kicking Fang out of my hoof he jumped onto me with a look of smug victory on his beak, his daggers pressing against my neck. I hated the idea of getting my throat slit; a fear as strong as my terror of the ocean.

“Should’ve stayed out of our shit.” He laughed just before his head exploded and a second later he was tackled off me by a shrieking Melody who pummeled his dead body with her smaller hooves and beat him mercilessly with the butt of her rifle.

The Unicorn spun his staff around menacingly and shouted at me to try and fuck with him in close-quarters combat but half his robed chest exploded outwards in a shower of bone and mushed organs as Gold fired his first .45-70 round, the maiden voyage of any new gun. He stood there shaking slightly but there was a satisfied smile on his face as he wiped the blood splatter from his face and kicked over the half-standing corpse of his first kill that I knew of. Melody on the other hoof had stopped beating the dead Griffin and sat on his chest, calmly fumbling to load three spare .308 rounds into the en-bloc stuffed in her rifle while the end of her tail sizzled slightly. The yelp had obviously been about the burnt tail which calmed my fears immediately and I looked around the Temple to see the crowd that had gathered for the ritual had now dispersed. Whether to take shelter from the fight or move on because the spectacle was ruined, I couldn’t quite guess. Then again, it was the Dark Market. What were another ten dead bodies amongst the many that wound up here by one means or another?

“Everyone ok?” I asked, getting to my hooves and letting Fang slurp up the pool of blood that had settled into the spiraling channels carved into the floor around the altar before sheathing it on my back.

“I-I’m good.” Gold said over his shoulder as he went to work on the chains on the five other captives who had said nothing let alone looked up from their hooves. “That was d-dope!”

“Melody? You good?” I asked a little gentler, watching as she replaced the three missing rounds in her clip before putting it away.

“Yep.” She said with a bit of a forced smile. “Just making sure I’m ready, mom.”

I wasn’t so quickly convinced given her reaction to the massacre she had caused at Old Appleloosa but I took her at her word as she seemed as chipper and happy as ever. If she wanted to let her guard down and talk, as I felt she might want to do, I was sure it was going to happen the next time she and I were alone. I respected and admired how resilient she was for her age even if I regretted the circumstances that led to her above-average maturity for the situation. It would come in handy given the lifestyle I pursued and I was silently grateful for having kids with spines and good aim.

As the last of the captives was freed they scattered out of the Temple and vanished into the crowd without so much as a thank-you for our efforts. I was a bit pissed off at their ingratitude but quickly pushed it from my mind as I checked my map of the Market and remembered we were very close to Mr. Scaly’s shop. Seeing as everyone was loaded up and ready to go we set off once again though I paused to wrench the Dark Gem from the Catalyst so nopony else could pick it up and use it. The moment the Gem was removed the staff cracked loudly like a clap of thunder and disintegrated into dust leaving nothing behind but a pile of nondescript ash. The Gem glowed with a soft purple radiance like an enchanted amethyst of the darkest hues and was cold to the touch much like the presence of the Abyssal Tome from earlier and I slipped it into its own pocket for later study. I knew very little concerning these particular Gems aside from the scraps of knowledge taught to me by Zecuro and was curious to explore their lore some more. Now that I was the proud owner of an Inferno Ring, it was only fitting I start brushing up again so I could try and put my meh talents in magic to as much work as they were good for.

“You sure you’re ok?” I asked Melody as the crowd thinned when we neared the cages. "Tell me honestly, Mel."

“Well, not really but I’m ok enough.” She replied not looking me in the eye. “I’m as good as I can be I guess.”

I decided not to press her further and took the lead with both of them nearly hugging my side as the lines of cages loomed before us. On either side were smaller cages housing any and all of the twisted creatures and abominations found in the Wasteland for sale as pets, guards, food, mantle pieces and really anything else you could think of. The noise was even more intense than the crowd from earlier as the air was alive with yips, howls, barks and of course the bone rattling roars of the Dragons. At the far end of the long alleyway of cages stood an open tent, an age-worn relic of the M.O.I tents of old wherein stood a long line of tables piled high with carefully folded Dragon skins of just about every shade imaginable as well as variously sized vials of Dragon saliva, blood and other bodily fluids used in various potions, recipes and dietary supplements. The only thing missing however was Mr. Scaly himself, an easily recognizable stallion covered in as many scars and burns as I had with an eyepatch and a messy, wild mane of bright purple above a magenta coat. Hard to miss such a berry colored stallion in such a dark place.

“Ok...all your shit’s here so where the fuck are ya?” I asked to nopony in particular as as leaned over the only part of the line of tables that wasn’t taken up by something and looked behind.

The small sleeping bag he napped on/in whenever he felt like it located right under the main table was deserted and there was no sign of him anywhere else. Knowing he would know I wasn’t a thief I hopped the table and started wandering around the rest of his tent poking around crates of skins and bags of dung with no luck. The small Sparkle-Generator was vibrating softly in its corner powering the soft yellow lights that emphasized his products and the place he and I had played a few games of cards was likewise deserted. It was like he had stepped away for a bit to take a piss or something.

“Oi! What the fuck ya doing, you?” Barked an angry voice from the front where I had left Gold and Melody.

“Not this time bitches!” I rumbled to myself as I dove out of the maze of crates and into the lit counter area with my revolver out and cocked.

“Whoa, calm ya tits Crete!” Yipped Amaris, the unusually large white Fox that looked more like a Wolf. “These two your pups?”

“More or less, yeah. Don't ask, long story and I've got shit to do.” I said quickly, checking to see if there were anyone else in the area I had to worry about while Melody stared at her in wonder. “Look, have you seen Sneak? He’s not here as far as I can see. His place is open but nopony is home so is he off taking a piss somewhere or something?”

“No, he took off last week to sell some of that black leather he just got off of Ol’ Blackie. Said he had a buyer who wanted to check the quality in person over by Shady Sands but couldn't make the trip to The Pile so he took off with a collection of samples and left me and that annoying ass Lion with keeping an eye on his shit. What you need him for?” She replied, her voice soft but a little gruff, a sexy long mane of plum purple falling down her head and shoulders like the mane of a pony despite the fact she was a canine.

“Gold here wants a duster like mine and the only way to get one like this is to get Dragon leather.” I replied, holding up a bit of my coat. “Know when the bastard should be back?”

“Nah.” She said scratching her left ear with a hind leg like any dog. “I thought he would be like three or four days ago, but you know the Wastes. Nothing ever goes exactly to plan out there and Shady Sands is a decent walk North so I hear. Not like I'd fuckin' know, I never leave this place except to roam the Crystal Tundra where I came from when I'm bored of this place.”

I thought back on how drastically my trip to Old Appleloosa had changed my entire life plans and chuckled painfully at the truth of her words. The Wastes brought about changes and complex conundrums of its own in the most unexpected of ways, especially while on the road out in the middle of nowhere.

“Like this place is any more predictable?” I asked pointedly. “We just came from slaughtering those freaks at the Temple. They were gonna cut Gold open and use him to incubate some Dark Gems.”

“Oh?” She laughed, her fluffy white ears perking up with interest. “About damn time...they fucking annoyed me with their loud ass chanting and all the screaming from the sacrifices. I wasn't gonna touch 'em, I live here. Only place they can touch ya now is if you stick around or head to the Zebra lands somehow.”

She turned to Gold, seeming to ignore the fact he was a Ghoul and said, “So, a virgin eh? I don’t blame you kid, it’s always good to wait on it for awhile. The person who pops your cherry is usually gone and outa your life a year later.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from personal experience.” Melody giggled slightly.

“Well damn, ain’t you a cutie!” Amaris giggled, the sound sounding like a cute, playful growl mixed with a laugh. “They didn’t snatch you up too? That’s surprising.”

“Not a virgin.” Melody said quickly, looking towards me for some reason. “Haven’t been for awhile.”

“Huh, with your looks I ain’t surprised.” Amaris responded, stretching out and yawning lazily. “Well, if ya need to find him that bad just head out towards Shady Sands. He always follows the highway so he shouldn’t be hard to find. Basically the only merchant here who actually visits the Overworld in Equestria.”

“Even with those tolls the NER charges?” I asked surprised. “Carrying Dragon leather? He must be paying out like three-hundred caps just to go one-way.”

“Hey, cheaper than getting your face eaten by a Hellhound or some shit though.” Amaris said over her shoulder before jumping up onto the padded couch that sat behind the counter of the nearby cages that sold nothing but cats of all shapes and mutations. “Good luck! Tell Scaly he should get someone else to watch his shit next time, he's got nothing interesting to look at to pass the time and Dragon shit is hell on the old sniffer.”

“She’s so fluffy!” Melody squealed softly as we left the Dragons behind and made our way back through the crowd towards the gateway out of the Market, everyone tied to my legs so we all walked awkwardly as one. “Is she a Wolf of some sort? I've never seen anything like her!”

“She's a Fox actually, one of the Feral species out in the old Crystal Empire. Was once caged up for research purposes in Manehattan Pre-War and got exposed to Taint during the experiments which expanded her brain size and complexity making her Sentient. Ended up a like me in a few ways with biological immortality through accelerated cell regeneration and arcane-induced genetic stasis. Hates cats obviously, but she's nice enough for being a former lab rat given sentience by alchemy. Would have fit in well in the Army to be honest, a lot of the old predator instincts are still present in her behavior and I've a feeling she'd be vicious in a fight.”

"Wow...she was experimented on?" Melody asked with some measure of disbelief. "Why would Princess Luna let something like that happen though?"

"Hun, I'm pretty sure old Loony was way in over her fucking head given how much of the governing she left to 'trusted advisors'. I couldn't tell you about how well managed the Ministries were back when they first started, I was just two years old when they left my hometown to go set them up. All I can say is that somewhere along the way power got to ponies' heads and incredible lapses in oversight and regulation happened all over the fucking place from the bottom to the top. Hell, far as I'm able to guess Amaris was held and experimented on by the Ministry of Arcane Science since they are the genesis of the very same Taint that partially infected and mutated me. There is a lot more shit even I don't know about locked away in places like Canterlot more than likely..."

“W-what was she s-saying about a t-toll?” Gold asked, gratefully switching topics since the past was still something I was coming to terms with. “You h-have to pay t-to use a r-road out here?”

“The NER has a standing army they use to try and secure the Westcoast under their control and because they’re trying to cover such a large area, they’re spread pretty thin across the board. Had they a surplus of soldiers like they did fifty years ago, we would start encountering patrols soon as we crossed the two-mile exclusion zone around New Pegasus. Of course, back then times were better for them economically so the tolls weren't needed.” I explained, stopping both of them as a cart rattled on by with a caged Radigator loaded onto it.

“They’ve managed to ‘claim’ the major highways connecting New Pegasus and the surrounding towns North of here to Shady Sands, their capital. A large part of their army spends their time patrolling the length of them warding off bandits. Makes the main roads pretty well guarded from Raiders so any trader headed North takes their roads. Problem is, now the NER charges you to use them in order to cover budget deficits lost to embezzlement and fraud. It's basically highway robbery disguised as a form of business tax but ponies put up with it for the most part just to keep the peace.”

“Why though?” Melody asked. “Seems unfair to charge people to use a dumb old road, even if it is guarded.”

“Well if it was any old road then yeah, but the NER’s got soldiers patrolling the whole damn thing and they need to pay said soldiers or else they’ll just desert and go home. That’s why they charge you to use the road, to help make ends meet thanks to their internal issues. It’s based on the relative value of your cargo but it’s becoming common for the soldiers to rifle through your shit and take a bit of what they want as an extra fee. That way, they don’t have to work for a meal or a cigarette and get to chill out doing nothing all day. Toll stations are notoriously boring posts from what I've overheard old vets talking about and now they're just a place to get politely robbed by the Republic.”

“I thought you said they were protecting ponies?” Melody said critically as I pushed open the Gates and we left untouched back into the waking world, the doors booming shut behind us. "That doesn't sound like the kind of ponies I'd be grateful to have protecting me."

“Well naturally they protect NER citizens when there's a problem but there's the caveat. There hasn’t been a major attack on any of the roads or settlements in over thirty years. Even back country banditry is pretty unorganized and sparse.” I said, waiting at the top of the stairs for their shorter legs to catch up. “They're basically charging you for the reputation of the road, not for an actual service. Just ask anypony who’s been posted on Highway Patrol duty, they’ll tell you the exact same thing: you get paid to sit on your ass and pilfer things from merchants passing through half of the day and the other is wandering the Wastes nearby the booth. It’s the cushiest job in the NER army far as I know aside from maybe the mailroom or their Revenue Service.”

“They sound kinda like a bunch of losers.” Melody mumbled as we made double-time across The Pile to the skywalk, the massive building as devoid of life and sound as before with the glow of the moon outside peeking through the high windows and crumbling dome.

“They’re not bad, per-se. They're...just a bit too greedy for their own, and everypony else’s, good. They do a pretty decent job of keeping the major settlements safe but they pass new tax laws like Sparkle-Cola with their back-to-back ad campaigns. After the twentieth one, you just kind of tune them out and accept they’re not going away anytime soon. Long as you're not a merchant though, getting past tolls in NER territory is pretty easy so we shouldn't be held up for too long.”

“H-huh…” Gold hummed, opening the door for Melody and I like a proper gentlecolt. “H-have they tried t-to tax you t-too then?”

“Plenty of times.” I snorted, pulling off my helmet to scratch an itch in my mane that had been bothering me since before we had gotten to Mr. Scaly’s booth. “I always drove 'em off. They kept sending bigger and bigger groups to try and force me to pay but eventually I guess they got the message and stopped bothering me to pay the 45% tax on living in Freeside as a ‘Protected Guest of the NER’. We’re all guests in the eyes of the great President. Not like houseguests. More like hotel guests. Except the hotel is kinda shitty and they charge like they’re the Rarity Suites.”

"Right...you mentioned the random tax collectors earlier...damn." Melody hummed, keeping her eyes on me the entire time we crossed the skywalk to the doors of Cogsworth's Pre-War Bazar.

“Back so soon?” Cogsworth chuckled as we strode into the Workshop where he seemed not to have moved an inch since we had left; Chocolate asleep face-first in the empty pie tin on the table. “Did you get what you desired?”

“Nope.” I said with a sigh, plopping down into a chair and stretching my hooves out on the table. “Turns out he hit the road several days ago to show off some samples of new leather he just harvested but hasn’t come back yet from Shady Sands. Amaris said he should have been back two days ago but...well, here we are.”

“Curious…” He replied, lifting his PipBuck to his face and pressing away at the blue glowing buttons looking for his map. “One would expect him to have returned by now. Tis not that far of a journey between here and hence.”

“Yeah, we made it in what? A day-and-a-half on hoof?” I asked, peeking over his shoulder at the vastly more detailed map the 3000 model offered over my 2000 and feeling some measure of envy.

“Precisely. I know not of thee, but I have uneasy feelings regarding this. I despair to think it...but I feel compelled to wonder if something hath befallen him.” He replied, his ear twitching at how close I was to his head. "Such an absence is not like him with his quarry of Dragons to tend to within the Market. It is most unusual for him to be late as he currently seems to be."

“Yeah...now that you mention I don’t like this either. That kind of trip is two-days max with the wagon crew he has running with him. Remember that one time he told us about how they all went for a solid twenty-eight hours straight high off their asses on Buck to make an egg-laying deadline?”

“Hey bartender...Bloody Mare-y, O-positive…” Chocolate mumbled in her sleep, three empty bottles of Tree-Hugger Rum laying near her head as a testament to how her night had gone since we left.

“Yeah...I’m gonna agree with her.” I yawned, glancing at the Cola Clock and feeling tired again after the fight. “Let’s figure this all out in the morning. Scaly can wait another few hours, I’m beat.”

“Very well.” Cogsworth said as he stood up and took a shot of rum himself from a small, nearly empty bottle, one of five laying before him indicating they had engaged in a drinking contest, the victor clearly Cogsworth. “Go and rest. You all look like you have had a battle. I take it there were some complications?”

“Yeah, something like that…” I said distractedly as I stood up and felt the grimy sweat of the last week’s exertions stick to the lining of my underbarding in an unpleasant way. “Hey, did you get the Stable’s Water Talisman working? I could really use a bath. It’s been like two-weeks since I’ve last had one and I’d rather not use another semi-clean puddle of water this time. We all know I'm fine with a bit of sweat, grime and bleck but it doesn't mean I have to like festering in my own stank.”

“Of course.” He chuckled, lifting Chocolate from her seat with ease and draping her across his back. “It has been a month since you have last set hoof here, I have accomplished much in that time. You shall find the Stable's primary facilities are all fully functional including lavatories, faucets, lights, doors and other such amenities.”

“Oh thank Celestia…” I breathed, following behind him with almost too much excitement. “I’ve been needing this.”

"W-wait...a bath...?!" Melody gasped with wide eyes of wonder and delight. "L-like a real one??"

"Naturally!" Cogs chuckled as he led us through the Stable door. "And now complete with running hot and cold water!"

"Well what the fuck are we waiting for?! Let's go!"

Leading us past the Atrium where our cots lay with tantalizing softness and where Gold decided to stop, Melody and I entered into one of the unused rooms on the second floor of the Atrium which had been converted into a large, white tiled bathroom. It came complete with a large refurbished ceramic bathtub in the center of the room, a set of shower heads along one wall and a set of bathroom stalls on the other all housing clean, undamaged toilets all now hooked up to the sewer system and fully functional. It was any mare’s dream to be in, let alone use a bathroom as clean as this one and I could only envy those Stable Dwellers who got to live with facilities like this their whole lives. According to Cogs, the design of the washroom was a variation on what StableTec would have done minus the tub so it wasn't hard to imagine for a moment what it would be like to only know indoor plumbing and incandescent lighting. Kinda boring if spoiled rotten.

“I assume you remember how to operate a bathtub.” He chuckled as he gestured to the tub and turned to leave. “Towels are to be located in that set of lockers near the door, just be sure to mop up after your inevitable mess if you would. Complimentary rubber mops are located to the left of the lockers and are to be used to flush water towards the drainage system installed beneath the floor.”

After leaving, the large pneumatic door hissing shut behind him, Melody turned to me with an awkward blush and said, “W-well...um...if you want to use the t-tub I can just...shower. Or...wait my turn.”

“Nope.” I said with a smile as I quickly stripped naked and tossed all my shit in a heap wherever they decided to land. “You and me, hunny.”

She bit her lip with an even larger blush but didn’t say a word as I finished tugging off my socks and panties, tossing them in an entirely separate pile for cleaning.

“Well?” I asked, flicking my tail over my snatch to air everything out better and sighing at the warm air cooling down my sweaty ass. “Ya gonna strip down and get ready for a bath or am I gonna have to do it for you, little lady?”

She squeaked and turned yet another shade redder matching closely to the color of her red eye and I turned around to turn on the tub, nearly ignoring the blue tap and going full blast for the red hot tap, turning the blue one only enough so I didn’t boil us alive. As I stood there, holding a hoof under the running water and fiddling with the taps for the right temperature, I couldn’t help but swish my tail a bit just in case Melody was staring at me. It wasn’t enough to show a whole lot underneath it but it was enough to call attention to it. I suppose it was instinct by now as it never failed to entice Hucks no matter what was going on and Melody had brought back a lot of happy memories since her unpredicted arrival into my life.

When the water was the perfect balance of hot but not too hot, I quickly looked over my shoulder and caught her staring exactly at what I had hoped she would, my sudden eye contact making her squeak even louder as her head whipped away like she had been looking another way. I smirked. Grandpa would have been proud at my fishing skills as I had a definite tug on my line as the bait had been taken easier than I had thought. I wasn’t going to start reeling in yet though. Melody was going to need time to figure out things for herself and what she wanted from her new life. If I was going to seduce her...I was going to do it gently, lovingly and allow her to grow into it of her own accord. Though the fact she had been staring was a good sign in and of itself at least. At the end of the day, she was the most important thing to me now.

“Common darling.” I said sweetly, walking up to her and putting a soft hoof on her armored chest, playing a little with the steel zipper hidden between the strips of riveted steel. “I’m not gonna hurt you. You know that.”

“I...I know.” She said quietly over the rush of bathwater running behind us. “It’s...I’m not used to ponies being this nice to me...I’m used to them stripping naked and shoving their dick in my mouth without even giving me time to get some spit on it. This is...this is really nice. Soft is nice.”

“Yeah...guys are like that.” I sighed, thinking on the Ironshod workers I had slept with for information on specialty ammunition. “Not me though. I know all the right ways to treat a lady and make her feel special and adored like she deserves. Just takes a soft touch, a creative and slightly devious mind and comfy surroundings to bring out the best.”

She looked up at me, still blushing slightly and laughed, “Yeah...Chocolate told me a bit about your...special talents when you were passed out. I don’t...think I’m quite ready for that stuff again.”

“Hey, by all means hun.” I said, nudging down the zipper of her jumpsuit with some magic as we talked. “I wasn’t going to push you into anything lewd anyway. Thought I was gonna be alone but I ain't dumb enough to say no to company like you, Mel. You’ve been through a lot more than I ever want to experience. It’s the least I can do to try and help you relax and recover from all of it. A good, hot bath is a damn fine way to keep that ball rolling for ya.”

“You’ve had a way harder life than me…” She said, not stopping me as I continued to bring the zipper down to where it stopped just below her navel. “I mean...you had to watch Equestria get blown up and everything...all I’ve had is...well, it’s not as bad as yours. I don't want you feeling compelled to stop and help me...I don't wanna be a burden.”

“In a manner of speaking, yes I suppose but that doesn't detract from the fact you've seen some serious shit too hun…” I said as I pushed the loose suit from off her shoulders and gently helped her get her front legs out of the sleeves. “The thing with personal experiences that most people don’t get is that something that might be no more painful than a stubbed horn to one could feel like a gunshot wound to somepony else. We all experience life’s bullshit and orgasms in different ways and that’s what makes us all unique. Sure...I’ve had a long life full of bad shit...but I’ve had a long time to grow into the role. You...you’re still young and this is really all you’ve ever known. I want to change that. And so far...despite all the crazy shit that's been happening ever since I met you...I don't have any regrets about throwing my world into chaos for you.”

She shivered as I carefully stepped beside her and tugged the lower half of her armor down her back and over her thin flank, letting it drop to the floor with a clatter of collapsing fibers and metal plating. She was as gorgeous as ever with that majestic azure coat and I finally noticed her cutie mark. An upside down treble and bass clef that formed the shape of a heat with small arrows hovering along the long tail of the bass clef in the seven colors of the rainbow. It was beautiful and much more artistic than the revolver and sniper rifle on my own ass and it went a long way to show the differences between us. I was the definite tomboy who had a severe armor fetish and she was clearly the artistic one. I mean, her name was Melody for fuck’s sake and her cutie mark was a heart made of musical symbols. Just like most of the ponies in my high school band, she was a natural while I had to struggle to learn the bass guitar just to be able to play along with everypony else during recitals. I was the only one in band without a music related cutie mark and it showed. Only stuck with it thanks to my dedication to the instrument that I so loved to hear.

“Has anyone ever told you you are the most beautiful and eye dazzling little mare ever?” I asked softly, leaning into her ear and feeling her cheek in my tender hoof.

“N-no…” She admitted with a tiny sob as she turned and hugged me. “Sexy, hot, cute and gorgeous...but never beautiful. It's...thank you. I...I need to hear stuff like that. I want to feel pretty, like a mare. Not just some cocksleeve.”

“Well...you are beautiful no matter what they say.” I replied, hugging her tightly in return and kissing her sensitive little horn again, a soft coo escaping her lips as I did. “Common, let’s get you washed up. Healing potions don’t treat sweat and I can't reach my back ever and it'd be fuckin' awesome to finally have somepony do it for me so I don't have to fuck with mirrors and telekinesis.”

She flicked her tail and grinned, full-hearted and pure making my heart dance a jig from here to Mombässa. I could feel the burgeoning trust and love she had for me already after so little time together and I had to stop and reflect on what I was feeling just now. Was this...what it felt like to be happy...? I had forgotten the sensation...

“Me too. I-I’ll help you if you help me.” She said cutely, a heavy blush returning to her cheeks as she lifted a scrubbing brush laying on the rim of the tub with her red-violet magic. "We both win!"

“Deal, cutie pie.” I giggled, cannonballing into the tub with her still in my arms.

Next Chapter: Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Motherly Check-Up Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 43 Minutes