"Garand! Athena? Yew two in here?!"

Firefly's voice came in through my ears as if from somewhere far away and fuzzy. My head was heavy and my body felt sore; yet all the same, there was such a feeling of deep, primal satisfaction that cushioned my return to consciousness. More sensations started to come to the fore as I slowly slid back into the waking world, not the least of which being the constant stream of warm water still pouring out of the various showerheads; the temperature exactly the same as where we had left it, at least as far as I could tell. Not only was I waterlogged, I was resting against someone big and equally as soaked who rested some of his talons across my back while the others gently cupped my ass. Not only that...I was now very aware that he was still inside me, the realization that his dick had yet to leave my pussy in who knew how many hours... It was painfully uncomfortable given how wide he was spreading me across the top of his knot (not to mention his pointy head jabbing right into my cervix), and yet...I was entirely entranced at the sensation. I'd had some fun with birds before now, but he had somehow left me utterly breathless... Breathless and with a surprising hunger for more.

"Fuckin' showers runnin'? You two...? Goddamn!"

With great effort, I forced my eyes open and brushed my sopping mane out of my face while trying to look back in his direction. Every movement felt like it came five seconds later than when I asked my body to do something, and it almost felt as if I were viewing my life play out before me like a prerecorded video. Or...perhaps as if viewed from far away, every motion performed on autopilot while the core of my mind rested lazily somewhere deep inside watching it all play out. Even with my Berryl hangover, I could tell Firefly was just eating up what he was seeing before him. And to be frank...were I of better mind in the moment, I might have even asked for him to take a photograph as Garand was by far the largest male I had ever taken to bed. The fact I had him up to the knot inside me...that was unabashedly a victory in my book any day.

"Well, well..." He chuckled with a wolf-whistle of approval. "Ah knew yew two were gonna fuck! From th' moment he started gettin' all ruffled n' flustered abou' yer lil' jabs n' jokes towards him. Seen Garand naked before, but Ah ain't never though' Ah'd get tah see yer ass outta armor. Might Ah say, wha' ah fine sight indeed!"

I blushed and couldn't even muster the strength to cover my face in shame, limply dropping back onto the large Gryphon just beginning to stir underneath me. As he started shifting around, his cock started moving about under me as well, sending jolts of painful pleasure up my spine that got more than one whine out of my mouth, much to my embarrassment. I would have tried sliding myself off of him myself but with his heavy hands nigh-on pinning me against him and the hangover...I just didn't have the strength to try and force it. He'd caught us (close enough) in the act and to say otherwise was just delusion. We had fucked each other in the shower while high as balls on Red Berryl like a couple of irresponsible young adults who had just moved out of their parent's houses and went to college. Gods, I was no better than my mother was while she was working up to her dentist degree...

"Nnn...fuck me..." He groaned, pulling both his hands away to rub his eyes giving me time to get my forehooves under me on his lower chest to try and prop myself up somewhat.

"C-careful..." I whimpered softly as all this movement stretched me in ways sober, not so horny me couldn't handle. "H-help a g-girl off?"

It took a few moments for the scene in front of him to seemingly register as his eyes went from groggy and sluggish to wide and slightly panicked, while at the same time...perhaps a bit amazed? I found it hard to gauge what he was thinking just from looking at him, but his expression was certainly one of interest.

"Oh fuck! Did we...?"

"Y-yes, now...p-please help me o-off your cock p-please...?" I nodded with a blush before glancing down at the soft, yet still broad base of his knot currently spreading my lips wide apart.

"Right! Yes! Sorry!" He exclaimed hoarsely, moving his talons back to my hips before gripping gently but firmly.

The muscles in his arms spasmed softly as he tried to lift me up, failing twice before he managed to help me lift my ass high enough for his dick to slip out. The feeling was...indescribable, a great fullness suddenly sliding smoothly out leaving behind a sore emptiness, followed by a sloppy sludge of what could only be Gryphon cum. A lot of Gryphon cum. He set me back down on his lap and just...stared down at me with his beautifully sharp orange eyes; the urge to moan at the sensation of his sloppy seed slipping from between my lips a terribly difficult one to resist.

"Hooooboy Ah wish Ah had a camera fer tha' right there..." Firefly whistled again, walking forward a bit into the shower room itself and licking his lips with a wink. "Ain't much fer puss, but Ah know Ah good time when Ah see one, Crete."

"I...um..." I stammered, wishing so much to bury my face and hide before I managed to squeak out, "Thanks!"

"Mmmmmph..." Garand sighed in pleasure after stretching a bit and comfortably setting his hands back on my ass. "If you weren't waking up in my arms, I'd be thinking that was the best fucking wet dream I've ever fuckin' had! And yeah, you're definitely right about a good time, Firefly. This girl...fuck me, she's good."

"Thanks for referring to me in the third person..." I sighed tiredly, the soreness across my entire body gripping me in pain. "Glad you had so much fun with my body..."

"Hey...common...I didn't mean it like that, Athena..."

I looked up at him and again saw that same gentleness deep in his eyes, the same gentleness still being reflected even in how tightly he gripped me. I didn't feel like I had with some other Griffs who seemed to immediately assume I was their mate, and thus a subordinate they could just casually own like some kind of pet. With Garand...there was just...something more there, something that sparked between us more than I had felt with someone I just fucked on the first date. I felt...safe in his talons. Safe and, far more importantly, like I were free to pull away on my own volition at any time. The way he held me...I was more than just a fun sex toy to him. There wasn't even any solid proof for this other than his body language, but...in that moment, I couldn't think of a single place I would rather be than where I was. Even though I was definitely feeling the consequences of our passionate first night together, I felt myself melting against him. I was just so comfortable and...delighted even, just being held by him. Tension between my shoulders and in my back that had persisted for what felt like decades even slackened their grip on my body. This was something I hadn't experienced before. Or...maybe I had and just...forgotten sometime over the last two-hundred years? Where had that time gone...?

"Heh, well...much as Ah like th' view, Ah'll just leave yew two alone fer ah bit!" Firefly chuckled cheekily while turning around to leave, using his horn to shut the showers off for us. "Just uh...don't take too long? Only other person tah talk to is tha' robot lady on th' Vertibird n' she ain't got no legs tah follow meh around n' chat. Pretty lonesome place otherwise...don't like it much on mah own."

We both lazily waved him off and with the showers now off, the sound of the door closing behind him echoed through the walls of the locker room to announce that we were finally alone again. As I expected...neither one of us felt like speaking first as the awkwardness between us had hastily thrown up an uncomfortable wall of silence. I could only guess what was going through his head while my own...remained a confused mess to say the least. It wasn't even because we had been unwitting enemies only a short time before. If anything, it was more from the sheer confusion in the back of my mind as I witnessed myself continue to melt against his chest feathers; old worries and weights seemingly slipping from off of my shoulders the longer I laid there in silence. A weirdly, beautifully delicious silence that warmed my heart with a smoldering burn of contentment and...dare I even say it...happiness? I was horrified with how vulnerable I was allowing myself to be with someone, Melody herself only getting a generous portion of it as she still needed me to be her pillar of support. But with him? I was just butter in his talons, the musky scent of his feathers becoming more addicting the longer I allowed myself to lay against him. And...I was ok with it. I was wet, I was naked and I was vulnerable...and I couldn't have felt better.

"Um...well..." He stammered, rousing my head to look back up at him. "I...don't know how to...you know...compliment a mare like you, but...um...that was some of the best sex I think I've ever had."

I laughed softly, painfully, at his attempt at a compliment, even if it was a tad on the shallow end of the pool. Still, I appreciated hearing something other than snarky sarcasm coming out of his beak. Besides...there was something to be gained from taking his compliment. After all...it wasn't every day I got to hear something so personal, and the way he said it helped sell me on it being from the heart. Well, as close to the heart as a big gruff Gryphon like him could get when asked to be vulnerable and honest with his opinion.

"Heh...well, I'm glad to hear it." Came my slightly breathless response. "I...thanks for letting me play with your ass. I...don't get to do that often, especially with birds, so...thanks, heh."

It was now his turn to blush in embarrassment and he looked to the side slightly as he grunted back, "Heh, um...t-thanks... I've never met someone that into eating my ass before...let alone a pony! Uh...no offense, heh."

"None taken. It's...well...kinda no secret now to you that I can't get enough of it when I'm in the mood. Not everyone is into that sorta shit, especially Griffin males! Er...Gryphons. Either way...I've only gotten to eat bird ass twice and both times, she had a juicy snatch under that tail for me to slobber over as well. But you...? That was...well, exciting to say the least."

"Heh, heh...well, I won't say no to that kinda compliment, sugar lips. Ain't everyday I meet a chick that into tongue-fucking my asshole, not like you did at least heh... And yeah, before you ask...I do enjoy it up the ass too. I don't bottom for just anyone though! Eight-times-outta-ten, mine's the dick doing the stuffing, but sometimes...sometimes I just need a good stuffing myself, ya know? That, and the guy has to be someone I'd wanna suck off normally anyway. If the face and the dick ain't appealing, my beak and ass are closed for business."

"Oh? Is that to say you're a whore?" I joked softly, mulling over the idea of him dressed in something...provocative.

"Whore? Hell nah, a slut does the do for the fun of it! Though...now that you mention it, I probably should've started charging per orgasm back in Stable 39. Could've had a beautiful head start on pristine StableTec bartering supplies to sell once I finally got my ass outta there."

"Oh common...you couldn't have been that popular to fuck down there. I mean...don't get me wrong, I had the time of my life, but...common, it's a Stable! There had to be other males down there who gave a good dicking to those who wanted it."

"You'd be surprised then...I got lucky and got a dick most ponies can take. Well, only if they're looking for something...ya know...bigger. And no, I didn't have the biggest dick in the Stable so I won't try playing that card...the jackass with that award was a goddamn Mustang hybrid. Mustang, Griffin, and a bit of Dragon and something else...guy got the luck of the draw and got a massive knotted dick outta the whole deal, plus those not-so-pokey barbs some Dragons have. That guy had all the freaks lining up to his bedroom unit."

"...E-excuse me?" I asked in complete bewilderment. "Like...I know that a lot of Sentient species are genetically compatible with each other, but like...a Mustang, Griffin and a Dragon hybrid? That's a pairing I've never heard of before! Dragons and Equestrians, Griffins and Zebras, even have a Fox/Wolf hybrid as an acquaintance but...that's a new one."

He snorted and laughed rather unexpectedly at that, bouncing me softly on his chest with his mirth before he replied, "Oh trust me, that's more on the tame side of the hybrid spectrum by 39's standards... That place...you've heard about those Stables all being rigged with some sort of...'social experiment', or whatever the fuck they tried calling it?"

"Yeah...? Never...exactly been inside any working Stable like that before, but yeah, I've heard about the depraved shit they pulled in those things. I think most of the Wasteland has by now...anywho, what was 39's deal...?"

"I kinda already told you. Hybridization. The Overmares pushed for interspecies relationships and anyone expecting was expected to have their fetus extracted via a specialized machine about six-weeks after fertilization. They then took the fetuses to be incubated in some bigass central facility overseen by Stable-Tec scientists. Entirely off-limits to either parent to enter, or...really anyone who wasn't registered with Stable-Tec as one of their lackeys."

"They...they did what??"

"Oh trust me, it gets so much weirder. After they've been grown to full-term, any expecting mother reported to this big machine with the Overmare watching and...literally got a random fucking kid back from the machine. No do-overs, no begging for the kid originally taken out of you, and absolutely no questioning the Algorithm their fancy main computer used to make the selections. You're just stuck with one of the other mom's babies and have to raise it as your own, with all the weird quirks mixing so many species together can produce. The Stable started out with a big old mix of species thanks to everyone just kinda piling in just as the Great War kicked off, but by the time I got my ass outta there, I was the only one there who was 100% genetically pure anything. Everyone else there who eh...didn't have to get euthanized due to genetic abnormalities during adolescence, was walking around with hooves, wings, paws, horns, talons, feathers, stripes and scales in one combination or another. Were Stable-Tec still around, I'm sure all the information from this particular Stable would leave their eggheads with years worth of data to analyze and sift through. Most I learned was that they wanted to see the effect of multi-generational hybridization under a controlled environment and how it affected family dynamics and courtship/mating rituals over time. Why? Hell if I know..."

I...was so beyond the ability for words in that moment that all I could do was stare silently up at him with what must have looked like horror. It wasn't so much that I was shocked or even horrified at what he had just told me, but rather it was just...the sheer unexpectedness of it all. I knew that genetics between most species on Terra Firma as a whole were in some way compatible with each other, allowing for these sorts of crazy hybridizations to occur. This however, had never been allowed to occur in such a controlled, isolated environment before, so the true extent of how many species could be spliced through natural reproduction like this was completely unknown. Back in the day, interspecies romances were more on the socially taboo side of things as the Ministry of Morale really liked to emphasize so-called pure-blooded family units over those of mixed parentage. As a result, what children did arise from these relations almost never ended up pairing with another similarly hybridized individual simply due to the change in public opinion towards hybrids. I couldn't even imagine what two-hundred years of this strictly enforced practice could do to an isolated community like that.

"Told ya it got weirder with that place!" He chuckled before trying to lift me up again. "Nnn...fuck. Why am I so fucking weak right now?"

"Heh...Berryl concentrate can do that to you in big enough doses. Lemme help out this time..."

With what felt like insane effort, we both put our all into unceremoniously flopping me from off of his belly and onto the wet floor beside us. It hurt but then again, everything hurt. We were both like so many beached fish, uselessly flailing and flopping about while trying to get our legs under ourselves and away from the rapidly cooling air as our heat was lost to the draft wafting in. Yet, try as we might, neither of us were very much able at all to get to a standing position. Even Garand with all his strength was collapsing under his own weight as his muscles spasmed and twitched while straining to do as he asked them to. It got to such a point of patheticness that we both collapsed to the floor nearly as one, panting and groaning under the weight of our own horrible hangovers. It was far from my first such hangover like this...but I was usually in my own home or in the safe arms of some SugarApple cutie, not stuck on a cold tile floor deep underground.

"Firefly!" Garand called out with as much effort as he could put into his voice, calling upon our only available savior from our own weak stupidity.

"We need some help!" I added to his plea. "Quickly please!"

When no booming accented voice answered the call, I glanced over and up at Garand with a bit of concern. With the water now off, the air-conditioned draft pouring in from the exit to the locker room was starting to really set its icy fangs into every inch of me that could still feel. Normally such a minor irritant that could be simply solved by moving into the next room, this time around we both were nearly powerless to even stand, let alone walk such a long way...

"Well fuck... How are we gonna do this?"

"I-I don't k-know..." I shivered in reply, wishing that I still somehow had the Inferno Ring on me within easy reach. "W-we need...t-to get o-outta h-here...."

"I got ya, don't worry. Here...try to spin yourself around and I'll try to like...slide you across the floor to the lockers. If you can crawl just a little bit farther from there, you should be able to reach one of the radios and call for him. He should still be wearing his stuff on him. I hope..."

"I-I might a-as w-well just g-get us s-some towels at t-t-that point..."
"If you can find them..." He grunted seemingly unconvinced. "Didn't see any earlier that I remember."

Without a better idea to go off of and not wanting to waste any more energy than needed for the task ahead, I began to painfully, slowly, drag my ass around and into position. Once I was slumped in the right general direction, laying on my side and feeling like I had just moved a boulder, Garand placed his hand once again on my ass. This time though...his arm was cocked and I could feel him building up as much strength for one mighty push as he had left in him. With a nod, he shot me forward with a shocking level of force for how seemingly debilitated he was from the hangover; the water spread across the white tiles acting like wax to help me along as I rocketed across the shower hall and painfully slammed into the wall separating the showers from the lockers. The jolt knocked the wind out of me as I had directly impacted it with the side of my body, but I had graciously been spared the extra pain of smashing my head against it as well. It was hard to say if he was just too strong in his attempt or the water allowed me to maintain a lot of momentum from his push. Either way, I was still left gasping and coughing for air all the same and blinking a sky full of stars out of my dazed eyes.

"Shit! Fuck! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it, I swear on my life I didn't!" He exclaimed, weakly yet frantically attempting to flop himself forward and crawl his way over to me to help.

"No...!" I coughed out, waving a hoof for him to stay put and save his energy for staying warm. "No...I-I'm ok...I can d-do this. J-just...just w-wait right t-there...!"

It took a few more moments of gasping and clenching my eyes against the tears of pain from the pain in my side, but eventually I was able to focus myself again and blink my eyes clear enough to see. Being awake for a time now, I was slowly regaining some quality of feeling in my limbs, enough to make some use of them. And so with my muscles squealing in uncomfortable agony, I began to crawl. Or...more like kicked myself off the wall at an angle so I slid partially back into the empty locker room. Firefly had actually left us entirely alone instead of fulfilling a small hunch of mine that he had only made it sound like he had left, instead rather sticking behind to catch some more of the sights and sounds. While I was grateful for the genuine show of respect for privacy, it came with a healthy undertone of annoyance purely due to the sheer inconvenience of the situation we found ourselves captive by. Lying exactly where we had left them, the various bits and pieces of our respective equipment littered some of the low wooden benches lining the center between rows of lockers. With some more grunts of extreme effort, I dragged myself across the icy floor until I caught full sight of my stack of Celestium impact plates sitting detached in slightly organized stacks nearby my duster. Given the state of the two of us poor soaked losers, a healthy dose of restoration potion was the only course of action that didn't include a few days worth of bedrest. Even with the potion, the rest would do both of us some tremendous good anyway. Unfortunately...my medkit was devoid of anything useful (my last vials of ES potion lying empty on the ground nearby), and the only thing on hoof that could dull the pain was the exact shit that got us in this mess to begin with. Even from the floor I could just barely see the top of the black rubber eyedropper that capped off the bottle of intoxicating Berryl extract which mocked me from above.

"Y-you make it?" He called out with a hint of a shiver in his voice now that some more time had passed.

"Y-y-yeah!" I replied with a squeak that flushed my face red with cold embarrassment. "G-give me a m-m-minute..."

The cold was weighing heavier and heavier on me by the minute as I laid there soaked and naked in the middle of the floor; the air vents mindlessly blowing more cold air down the rows of lockers and benches around me. Even as I sparked up my horn to try and locate the PipBuck still strapped to my bracer, I knew the nasty side effects that came with hypothermia were starting to affect me. While my search through the various worn bits of metal was frantic, it was also greatly tempered by a growing exhaustion that sapped all heat from my muscles and sank deep to the bone...

"Yew two are takin' fer goddamned ever in here! Yew ain't fuckin' again are ya??"

Some ways behind several more rows of lockers, the door to the room clattered open as our resident Ghoul half-kicked it back open and noisily entered the room. Had I not been suffering from the cold as I was, my reply might have been longer and far more snarky. Instead...all I could do was squeak out another rather pathetic plea for help. It was borderline humiliating but...I had no other choice. He had already seen the dam-burst of cum that that oozed out of me...I couldn't possibly sink any lower in his eyes if he had any sort of respect for me before now. The great Ranger Crete...soaked in water and jizz and freezing to death on the floor of an abandoned underground military complex worth untold billions. A death the members of Alpha Squad would have immortalized for all eternity with great amusement, but not one I would otherwise have in mind for myself.

"Th' fuck?!" He exclaimed once he came around the corner and caught sight of me on the floor. "Shit! Yew ok??"

"Y-yeah...j-just...get us s-s-some towels p-p-please!" I squeaked back helplessly.

"Firefly! Is that y-you?? T-Thank fuck! I w-won't die from p-post-nut h-hypothermia!"

By the grace of all the Gods who gave a shit, the towel racks were plentiful and readily nearby, merely hidden behind some of the larger locker doors we hadn't bothered to check before our shower. Once Firefly had discovered their hiding place, mountains of them were dumped on and wrapped around me with major assistance from Firefly's horn to get me up and off of the frozen floor. It was then I discovered another wonderous spot of luxurious ingenuity behind those minds that built this place: the damned things had been hanging off of heated racks. With so many towels piling my body and indeed nigh-on mummifying me in layers upon layers, the icy death gripping at the corners of my vision was quickly replaced by a loving, cotton-fiber warmth of immense goodness. It was all I could do to just lay there sprawled out across a wooden bench and allow the heat to penetrate my body down to my very Soul if it needed to, in order to purge the ice from my veins. Though the cocoon around me made for dulled and hazy senses, I couldn't not hear when Garand finally received his own mummification at the hooves of Firefly.

"Ohhhhhhhhfffuuuuuccckkkkk....!" Came his loud groan echoing across the conjoined rooms. "Yessssssssss....thankkkk youuuu, Fireflyyyy..."

"Heh, heh...yer welcome, ya cum-soaked dingus! Can Ah get yew two lovebirds somethin' else? Ah couple's massage? Should Ah make some dinner reservations in th' canteen over yonder fer y'all tah enjoy together?"

"Oh shut up, Glowstick... Yeah, you win. Ha, ha, very funny. How about you get us some health potions instead of being a smartass taking a victory lap?"

"Aww, fuck yew then! Yer no fun... Tha' victory lap was well fuckin' earned in mah opinion. Don' know why y'all didn't try tah jus'...ya know, turn th' hot water back on tah keep y'all warm but ain't mah place tah say Ah guess. Couple o' drinks fer th' lovely couple commin' righ' up! Now let's see wha' Ah got..."

From there, he took a few moments to set down his saddlebags and dig through them by hoof, lacking the handy aid of a PipBuck to manually sort the deep-pocket spell within for what he needed. After a bit though, he managed to draw out a compact cardboard box stamped on all sides with the pink cross of the Ministry of Peace. Popping off the folding lid, out came a thing of polystyrene foam packaging which cushioned an emergency set of four Extra-Strength+ vials of potion. Given one of them was dosed for the average, fit stallion of fighting age, I warded off his attempt to give me two and sent it instead in the direction of the big softie in the other room who needed it more. It took a minute before the towels wrapped around my horn had warmed me up till I felt confident enough to bring the vial to my lips to drink without it shaking out of my grip. The deliciously sweet, flowery fluid flushed everything it touched with life as I began to sip; every swallow bringing more and more vigor behind it until I had downed the entire thing without realizing it. The familiar warmth of the potion in my belly bloomed throughout my body, bringing much-needed respite to my desiccated inner-self like a tsunami of cleansing water flooding out the aches and the pain wherever they could be found. Wrapped up in warm towels as I was, and feeling the kind of relief that I was, Firefly wasn't too far off when he had jokingly mentioned a couples' massage. While I had finally regained the dignity needed to hide the groans of relief clawing at my throat, Garand on the other hoof made no attempt to hide his enjoyment for the consolation brought about by three potent brews.

"Fuckin' hell, Garand!" Firefly chuckled in unabashed mirth. "Yew mewl like ah fuckin' power-bottom!"

"Ssssssshutttt theeee fucckkkkk upppp...." Came his moaned reply echoing across the walls. "Y-you're o-oneeee to t-t-talllkkkkk...!"

"Oi! Just 'cause yew ploughed meh don' mean yew get tah walk free o' these charges! Ah'm gay as hell fer some dick n' told yew as much, so fer meh tah make them sorta noises is within th' realm o' reason. Yew though? Wit' yer big ol' domineerin' ass? Really...?"

"Ooooof...!" Garand sighed loudly, sounding like he was coming out of a particularly large stretch. "This ass can do all sorts of cool stuff if I want it too, Glowstick. Either way, shut the fuck up and help me up would ya?"

'All sorts of cool stuff indeed...' I giggled to myself within the comfort of my own thoughts.

The warmth in my gut from the potion eventually wore off, though once it was finished I was feeling more than rejuvenated for the experience. I had covered so many miles just getting here, plus a fight on top of it with a competent opponent. A fight and...a hell of a lot more besides. With the potion having done its part to restore my weary tissues, and sleep having had some time to sink into my head (as odd as the circumstances had been), I once again felt close enough to my usual self. Well...as usual as I could be with the remnants of Garand still trickling out from under my tail as a fun little reminder that all that had transpired was, in fact, reality. Rather than, as he had called it, the best fucking wet dream I had ever experienced. Even with that sticky reminder, our romp in the showers still felt like a hazy dream. All the same however, I was grateful to have some extra towels straddled between my legs to aid with the cleanup I failed to achieve while the showers were still on. The moment Garand appeared from around the bend behind Firefly, draped still in robes made of towels like myself, our eyes locked for a moment before darting our separate ways hurriedly. I lacked an excuse to continue to lounge around when there were places to be and things to do, and so with a reluctant grunt, I began to unravel myself from my many layers.

"Not exactly the strip-show I was expecting so soon, but hey! I won't say no!"

I looked up once I had set down most of my laundry and was unsurprised to see Garand staring my way with a smirk from where he sat tugging on his pants and boots. I didn't bother replying and instead, deliberately turned to conveniently pick up my Kevyarn underbarding, hiking my tail up just enough to give him something worth looking at for a bit. There was still some tension there between us but...I didn't feel so reserved about playing around a bit more with what it all had in store. His job done and our embarrassing gratitude exchanged, Firefly had once again seen fit to leave the two of us to finish getting dressed in peace; something we both now committed to as the various bits and pieces of our armor and equipment found their rightful places on our persons. Both of us were rather knowingly defeating most of the purpose of the shower we had both taken the day before by putting our dirty, travel-worn gear back on. Regardless, with our faculties mostly back to normal, muscle memory ensured we both were dressed and on all-fours within a couple of minutes; weapons, ammo, and all that we had carried inside with us returned to their rightful place on our persons.

"Well...guess we should get going..." I finally suggested once there was nothing logically left for me to divert my attention towards other than him. "We've kept our uh...unwitting rescuer waiting long enough I think."

"Heh, like I needed rescue. Nah, I get you. Let's get the hell outta here." He nodded in agreement, starting the path back to the doorway out. "And uh...before we head back out there, just wanted to say again...t-thanks for that. I uh...I've never been with a mare who made sex...more than just something to do to...ya know, blow off steam if ya know what I mean. Like... I dunno, free and open sex was one of those things Stable 39 really encouraged since it meant more kids for the machine to sort through for the next round of hybrids. It was just...something to do there, like watching a holovideo or boxing in the gym's fighting ring. Something you did to just...waste time and blow off some steam...ya know?"

Were this anyone else trying this sort of stumble across the finish-line, I would have felt inclined to shoot a quick barb or two into their flailing attempt to compliment me on my vagina. But given all that was going on between us as of late, I allowed myself to enjoy the compliment as well as appreciate its deeper meaning. He wasn't the smoothest with his words...but, he was intelligent and everything else I had come to appreciate about him (and his physique). There was much more to him than the Griffins I had grown accustomed to seeing in the Wasteland. So much so that I felt almost as if I were just...being drawn to him on my own. As a reward for his honest attempt, I flashed him back an equally honest smile of approval.

"I think I have an idea what you're talking about..." I replied, thinking over the decades I myself had spent getting off with strangers and higher-end prostitutes without feeling anything more than the carnal pleasure itself. "I...just...keep this on the down low, but...yeah. I agree with you. I know what it's like to fuck away your life without getting anything else outta it than a fun, short waste of time. Time...you and I both seem to have too much of. Thank you for appreciating what I've got to work with. I...I enjoyed that a lot more than even I could have expected."

"Damn, that's pretty kind of ya. You getting this soft so soon after meeting me?"

"Hardly... Part of me still can't believe you and I are even having this conversation at all, Garand. Not for nothing, and I mean no offense, but...you were as good as dead as far as I knew up until yesterday. You went from a target, to an old acquaintance, to...someone I fucking straddled and rode like a goddamned mare from the SugarApple. All in under two fucking days... That's...a lot to take in."

"Heh...you seemed to handle me and my cum alright! I think that counts for something!"

I blushed again and felt my knees quake a little underneath me before I could reply, "W-well yeah, you said I couldn't handle the kinda load you'd leave in me and uh...I took that as a personal challenge, heh. Don't want to eh...let a good time go to waste."

"You're...not in heat or anything, are you?" He asked with more than a little concern now that the idea had come to mind, something I was quick to reassure him on. "Not for nothing but uh...even after the genetic experiments they tested on me in 39, I'm still mostly fertile far as I know..."

"Even if I were, whatever mutations hit me two-hundred years ago fucked up my hormones and especially my ovaries... Couldn't have a foal even if you tried whatever artificial methods they might have pioneered there."

"Oh...? How do you...?"

"Know? I guess another juicy secret for you is...I am very into ending my fun time with a good creampie. I don't always find myself hungry for dick, but when I do...I just can't help myself and let them finish inside me. And trust me, I've had enough of those over the years to have mothered...Gods, I don't even want to try to count."

"That so, eh? Well then...ain't that a...helluva thing." He grunted, looking away even though I could still see the look of immense interest in what I had just said. "I...guess I should...admit the same..."

Wait...was he...? He wasn't also into getting his ass creamed was he? Then again, he had taken to my mouth being down there with great enthusiasm I'd not expected from such a big bird. Just what kind of a kinky fuck was I getting involved with? ...Where else could this potentially lead?

"Yeah, on top of wanting it up the ass sometimes...I like 'em to finish in me too, alright? I can't finish myself until I feel them spurt a nice thick load into me... Alright! Now we've both admitted to something extremely sexual and extremely personal, so we're both feeling weird and awkward over this shit. Feel any better for it?"

His sinful admission had gotten some very lovely thoughts floating through my carnal brain and it took me a moment to reply, "Heh...yeah. I suppose so, big guy."

"Finally! You're back!" AUNTIE cried with joy from her hidden external speakers as we emerged from the personnel lift and into the hangar. "Mister Firefly has been waiting a dreadfully long time for you two to return..."

"Yeah...we know." Garand chuckled back with another smirk, his gaze drifting over me even though I couldn't directly see it. "But! We're back now so all is right in the world again!"

"Were tha' so easy..." Firefly grunted, hopping from off the floor of the open cabin door along her side. "We gotta sit n' talk fer ah bit Ah think. Lotta shit's gone down since we all took off from New Pegasus lookin' fer this here Outpost, n' Ah think we owe it to ourselves tah have a group huddle since we're all here."

"Oh blessed day, a team huddle! Finally!" AUNTIE sang excitedly while Garand and I approached. "Come aboard and make yourselves comfortable! We can have this discussion in the air!"

Garand grimaced somewhat and with good reason. Despite the rubberized flooring interspaced amidst all the anchor points for cargo, it did little to pad the a body like his against a rather uncomfortable ride. It was honestly impressive how he'd been able to put up with it the first time while still nursing the injured shoulder I had given him.

"Couldn't we just...have it here in the hangar? Sure, there's just concrete around here to sit on, but at least I'd have the room I need to sit all the way upright. Inside there...unless you can get me some fuckin' padding to lay on in there, I ain't getting back in that thing. I'll fuckin' walk back to New Pegasus again if I have to, I won't pull what I did yesterday all over again."

"To be fair, Captain..." AUNTIE chimed in trying to be helpful. "According to Mister Firefly here, your injuries should have been sufficiently healed from what they were yesterday. I'm sure the discomfort will automatically be noticeably reduced because of it!"

"Heh...I mean, you're right, but still...I'd rather have something more underneath me than that damn floor if it's all the same to you. Even with the rubber padding, it didn't do a whole helluva lot to provide me with any real physical comfort in there yesterday."

"I see...very well then, if one of you would be so kind as to parse through the overhead rack storage of the main cabin in search of the Type-3 field kits please? Inside, you should find some sleeping bags with inflatable air pads that should provide some level of comfort to Captain Garand. At least, when compared to laying on the bare floor back there."

"Ahhh, see now we're talkin'!" He replied with a satisfied smile while nodding in our general direction. "That right there is something I can work with, at least to get us up and back out of here. Past that...fuck...what are we gonna do now after this? We've been so set on getting here the last week or so that...I kinda lost track of what I wanted to do after this. I mean, it's not like I had a plan before this whole shebang came along, but at the same time...I can't help but feel there's something we could be doing. I dunno, maybe it's because I've gotten used to having something else to work towards that involves a lot of time and walking."

"Oh?" AUNTIE asked quietly and with genuine shock. "But Mister Firefly said you have only explored a fraction of this facility! Think of all the beautiful relics of the old world that could be hidden away here! Pristine concrete walls and sealed bulkheads hiding all manner of secrets behind their steel hatches...oh dear me, the idea is quite exciting to entertain!"

"We've seen enough to know that we need a lot more than emergency power to see what all this place has to offer." I chimed in. "There's like a whole two floors that elevator back there just refuses to stop at, and...I'd be willing to bet real caps that that's purely due to a lack in general power in the facility."

"All the more reason for us to stay here and explore some more!" She whined softly, as if she too could simply get up and explore the base alongside us. "Even with emergency power, you all still seemed to have covered some decent ground using the credentials Mister Firefly mentioned."

"You mean General Olive's?" Garand asked while casually waving the PipBuck on his foreleg even though AUNTIE couldn't (probably?) see it.

"Oh? Is that whose it is? I suppose that would explain your unparalleled access thus far, given this facility was supposedly his brainchild from the communications we received during the trial phases of Operation: Castle Rook. His name was mentioned anywhere there was a chance..."

"I'm gonna go out there and tell ya right now, there's no way that asswipe came up with this place on his own." Garand snorted with utter disdain.

"Absolutely agreed." I concurred fervently, memories even that ancient having not damped the old hatred within. "I'd bet even more than raw cash that he simply slapped his name on it after whatever geniuses really behind this place got mysteriously transferred to the Zulu Campaign and vanished into obscurity. And that's ifthose poor saps were even that lucky..."

"Now that would make much more sense by me by comparison, given what I've been informed regarding the contents of this facility." AUNTIE continued in a thoughtful tone. "More than one mind was surely involved in the design and execution of this base and it's contents. For it to all be the work of one stallion, who himself was commanding the entirety of the Southern Front and all the responsibilities that carried...? I find it rather preposterous for it to have been the work of one mere pony, regardless of whatever personal talents they may have."

"Glad we're all in agreement here..." I sighed, having to steer the conversation back to where it had begun. "But to bring it back to macro, I do have a bit of an actual need to leave before too long. I started a rather massive and expensive renovation project on a new home of sorts I found in my travels just before taking off here, and uh...I'd like to see how my investment is panning out so far. That, and I've got those two adopted kids of mine waiting for me back there too and Gods know every day I stay here, the more freaked out they'll get."

"Colonel! You never informed me that you were a mother!" AUNTIE exclaimed with cheerful surprise. "How old are they??"

"Trust me, I'm still getting used to it myself so don't feel too blindsided by that... And they aren't foals if that's what you're worried about. One's a young mare, at or somewhere-abouts adulthood and the other is a Ghoul. And to be honest, I...haven't exactly had the time or the gumption to try and ask his actual age yet. For all I know he's somewhere over a hundred, but looks and sounds like he's stuck at around sixteen. He's bright though, and got a lotta heart in him..."

"A...Ghoul? What is a 'Ghoul' in this context?" She asked in bewilderment, something I deserved for thinking she was with the current times and lingo.

"They're basically zombies." Garand answered before I even had a chance to.

"Garand!" Firefly and I both chided rudely before I continued, "While his...way of describing it was less-than-polite, he still wasn't too far off. If you know what the term 'zombie' implies that is."

"Zombie...my records connect the use of that word with reports of Necromancy performed by the Zebra Empire. Is this to imply these...'Ghouls' as you call them, are all reanimated corpses of the dead via arcane means?"

"Thankfully in this case no, though those were an issue during the War towards the end... Anywho, no, in this case the word Ghoul has come to represent any Sentient that ends up absorbing too much arcane radiation of one kind or another and mutates to become tolerant of excessively high radiation levels. At...the cost of most of their hair and fur, localized necrosis, withering muscle mass and the potential for higher-brain function to further degrade due to a myriad of factors. Sadly to the point they lose their sanity and become just as good as any hungry, angry Feral species with Sentient food on the mind."

"Yeah heh, what she said." Garand added sheepishly, glancing at Firefly who gave him the hoof anyway for his trouble. "Yeah, I know Glowstick. I didn't mean to rope you into that whole zombie comment too, dumbass..."

"Glowstick...?"

We were getting off topic again and were now starting to confuse the ever-loving shit out of our new electromechanical friend with names and nicknames she had no context for...

"All the same, I don't want to keep them waiting any longer than I have to." I butted back in, in another attempt to redirect the conversation. "We've discovered and protected this place all rather handily so far, but I think it's time for me to start turning my attention back on the world going on outside these walls. Much as I love this place, I'm not so free and unburdened by responsibility as I was even two months ago..."

"Right, of course Colonel. It wouldn't be prudent to keep expectant people waiting like that. I would be happy to take you wherever it is you need to go, just climb aboard and give the word!"

"Eh...fuck it, you talked me into it." Garand grunted somewhat unexpectedly before addressing Firefly, "You comin' with?"

"Now wait ah damned minute!" He understandably protested now that Garand had suddenly decided to join me. "AUNTIE here brough' up ah good point, why don' we try tah crack this sucker open more now tha' we've got some time?"

"Well, I dunno about you, but I don't really know a whole fuckload about Crystalline Fusion tech" Garand replied frankly. "I can cycle out the Core in my Power Armor with a new one and some other basic shit like that, but they didn't exactly teach me how to operate, let alone perform a full-restart on a goddamn Fusion Generator. Even when I was with the Order, that sorta maintenance duty was left to the Scribes and I definitely wasn't a Scribe back there. They ever teach you guys to fuck around with advanced technology like that in Camp Longshot?"

"Well...no..." He admitted sheepishly, glancing towards his Mrk. I helmet laying on the floor of the Vertibird nearby. "But...there's still more tah be found here, we all know it!"

"And it's waited to be found for two-hundred fuckin' years just fine without us, Glowstick. It can wait a bit longer, and so can we. Besides...I think I might know a guy who could help us out with this."

"Oh really?" I asked curiously given my only recourse was Cogsworth but I didn't know if even he knew how. "Is it someone with the SR who wouldn't turn you in for the Bounty on your head by your own Order?"

"Oi! Former Order! And they weren't even mine to begin with anyway, I just joined up because it was the only thing I could think would be a good use of my talents. But yeah, he's SR. Sorta... Are you familiar at all with any of those breakaway factions of the Order I mentioned earlier?"

When Firefly and I both replied with a no, he continued, "Yeah...thought as much. A good eighteen-hundred or so Rangers and Scribes broke off from the main Seven Chapters of the Order in what we/they called the Great Schism. Amongst them was a group of Scribes who had made contact with a...particularly eccentric Dwem I used to know who lives in a grand villa or something overlooking their capital city of Kyopsis. When they needed a place to stay, I heard around the canteen that he had offered to take them in. Next thing anyone knew, they were gone without a trace by the next morning with all their equipment and personal items. Even checked with the gate officer back at base and he swore up and down to me and the Elder himself that the bulkhead to the surface had stayed shut the entire night. There was over twenty of them and they all vanished at one time, long after the actual Schism even happened...my gut is just screaming at me that he's the one who got them out. Ain't nobody else could do that under the nose of the SR."

"Oh really? And how could he even manage to do that? And why would a bunch of Scribes just relocate to live with some wealthy...wait, what's a Dwem doing with the Baladi??" I asked, jumping through multiple questions in one go.

"Yeesh, one at a time mare... I told you, this guy is absolutely something else. He was apparently 'independently wealthy' and voluntarily spent a few decades with the Scribes as a high-ranking member of their ranks, bringing a lot of lost knowledge with him in the process from some private collection of his. Then...I guess he got bored of it all and just up and resigned one day, taking all his research and materials with him. He's uh...he's got some kind of magic I've never seen before and I don't even think it's native to the Dwem either. He tossed fully armored Star Paladins sent to stop his exit like they were ragdolls and shrugged off blasts from magical energy weapons like they were fuckin' laser pointers... If he could do all that and walk the fuck out with all his stuff unscathed, you better believe I think he's still alive and is the one who got those Scribes out. Now...as for him being willing to help us out...? That I don't know so much. We weren't exactly close by any means, but...anyone back East would tell you Chief Scribe Luger was the best the SR had when it came to Pre-War tech. If he managed to overhaul the CFCs for four Chapter headquarters, I'd like to think he could handle something like this. Hell...if we spun the tale big enough, it could be enough from the intrigue factor alone for him to take interest in something like this."

"Well...if he's even half of what you say, he might be our best bet." I agreed after taking a minute to process what he had said. "My only personal option was my friend Cogsworth who's one of those born naturals for Pre-War tech, though he specializes mostly in programming, robotics and metallurgy more than anything else. Still, he's tech-savvy as they say so he was my one and only choice, at least until now. Not unless you happen to know any specialists, Firefly?"

"Not one fer Crystalline Fusion tech, nah." He replied with a shrug. "Damned fine gal fer fixin' up them fancy vehicles n' shit downstairs but outside tha' nah. She ain't intah fixin' reactors, least not like tha'."

"Well, she might be useful down the line then if we make it that far... Still, I'm not sure how I feel about trusting a random Dwem I've never met before to handle something we're kinda hoping to keep hush-hush."

"Well I don't know this Cogsworth guy you mentioned so how do I know we can trust him with knowing where this place is and what it looks like?"

"Fair...fine, you can come back with me then and meet him for yourself. He's the one I go to for all my supplies and I even charged him with overseeing the remodeling of my new place. Not to mention he's the only one outside of the Syndicate who knew where I was going, so he should be there still if we don't take too much longer hanging around here. We can bring both of our choices if you find you get along with Cogs and your guy gives a damn enough to help us. I trust Cogs with many things, more so than perhaps anyone else in this Wasteland."

"Guess I've got nothing other than your word for now..." He replied with a shrug before looking at Firefly again. "I'll ask ya again, you coming along? Thing's got plenty of room for all of us in there."

The poor Ghoul was facing extreme isolation if the three of us left without him, prompting him to groan in annoyance, "Ugh! Ah don' wanna be all by mah lonesome in this here tomb...fine, Ah'll go wit' y'all back North..."

"Well...I see that public sentiment has swayed in the breeze." AUNTIE replied with some resignation in her voice. "Very well, I suppose we can leave this place's secrets behind for awhile longer then. I also suppose that there is no way of knowing if any of the Crystalline Generators suffered a containment breach during whatever event that knocked them out. That would certainly be most problematic indeed..."

With our initial huddle more or less over by that point, the conversation petered out and Firefly and I took the time to pull out and inflate three individual pony-sized sleeping bag/pads for Garand to lay on for the flight back to what now counted as civilization. The problem of keeping them in place for him to consistently lay down on them was easily solved by using a series of hooked retractable straps built into the floor to pin them down; anchor rings spaced evenly opposite where each strap retracted into the floor. Once everything was strapped down and well enough in place, he obliged us by climbing aboard to test it out. Judging by the sigh of relief that came out of him as he sank down onto his new space, it was a significant improvement from the last time he had laid down there.

"Ohhhh yeahhhh....this is wayyyy better than before." He commented contentedly after he had shuffled his wings around to get more comfortable. "Though...I just now remembered that the only reason I climbed aboard the first time was because we were going to come right back here and I could pick my Power Armor back up. What are we going to do about it...?"

"Ah fuck...I knew we were forgetting something..." I groaned in response, glancing over to where he had left it standing parked by the personnel elevator at the back of the hangar. "I mean...do you need to have it...?"

"I'd kinda fuckin' prefer to keep it on me if I can, yeah. I know it'll be safe here as long as we lock the doors behind us, but...at the same time, I've kinda adapted how I fight to include that extra inch-plus of armor around my whole body. Yeah, I can live without it, but..."

He ended his sentence with a shiver I could personally relate with given I would always feel naked without my Mrk. V protecting my ass. I ran my mind through any possible ideas as to how we could transport his armor but came up short, seeing as it had a rather rigid frame with a limited range of motion. There was...one option though that could work that I remembered, however it would be a bit dicey as to how we could pull it off with so few of us.

"Do you think you could haul it underneath you, AUNTIE?" I asked aloud once my thoughts breached the surface again. "I'd be surprised if this craft didn't come with the hardware for hauling heavy equipment like the Ravens did. We used those for hauling Power Armor around, pallets of supplies, even some of the smaller Kampfwagens we had in the Zebralands. Could we just...do that here?"

"Possibly?" She replied, though with some uncertainty in her tone. "There are fixtures for several different load configurations retracted into the fuselage including individual suits of Powered Infantry Armor, however...we lack the expertise of a qualified Loadmaster. I'm sure we could come up with a working solution, but the Loadmaster typically remains behind on-station rather than boarding the craft. So...how would whoever hooks the unit to the cable system be able to return back into the main cabin?"

"Ah fuck...true..." Garand grumbled unenthusiastically. "I mean, I wish I could just cut a hole in the floor and build a hoist for it in the roof, probably be a bit easier than worrying about some certified whatever handling all the fancy equipment."

"It is...interesting that you suggest that, Captain. A partially enacted design choice in this craft was the idea of it also being capable of dropping a payload of munitions via a recessed 'bomb bay' housed in the belly of the fuselage. While the hollow space for the bay was left and its doors were installed, they were sealed shut when it was deemed to be an unnecessary additional logistical expense and left out of the official munitions arsenal. At best, it is likely to have been the hope that it could be revisited later in the capacity of a small cargo hold, but it is hard to say."

"Wait, I was just joking about that though..." He replied with some amazement while glancing under himself for the space she described. "You mean that could actually be something we could do?"

"Well...again, perhaps? You would need a skilled team with very good equipment to even think about attempting such a modification, but barring that, I think it could be possible to achieve. Granted, only one, maybe two suits could feasibly occupy that space at a time given the dimensions, but I would like to estimate it could be possible."

"Well...now that makes me actually feel a bit better now to be honest. You think that friend of yours could help with something like that, mare?"

"Who, Cogs? Uh...yeah, probably? I know he would be more than willing to have a go at it, that's for damn sure. He's got all the tools needed to take old Sky Chariots apart and cut down the pieces to reuse for other projects so he's my best bet on guys for the job. Hell, I can only imagine the dizzy spell he'll have when he finally gets a look at everything."

"Hmmm...alright, that's some fairly heavy hardware to be fucking around with, I'll admit. But if he says no, I'll have to come back here for my armor and walk it the rest of the way back. I've had that thing for a damned long time and I don't wanna have to toss it aside just like that. Walked from Manehattan all the way here and even fuckin' farther than that before all that!"

"Hey, I ain't saying you have to get rid of it or anything like that. Regardless of my other feelings on the SR, Power Armor is one of those things I can't bring myself to hate; even if my feelings for those wearing them are typically violent. Protection like that is far from cheap these days and even a patchwork set like yours is worth its weight in gold."

"So...we all sorted n' shit?" Firefly asked after glancing between us and the hangar out the open cabin door to our right. "If we're gonna go, we should jus' go already at this point. Make sure y'all got yer shit n' all tha', everypony."

Garand and I both patted ourselves down and ran through a mental checklist of anything we might have forgotten before he clambered back out of the crew cabin to paw over his Power Armor. Within a couple of minutes, he had detached several saddlebags from the exterior of his armor and reattached them onto his tactical rig; curling his Plague Bird helmet under his arm before climbing back aboard. Once he had gotten himself comfortably reacquainted with his new 'accommodations' and gave a nod did I give AUNTIE the word to take off and start heading North. The cabin door slid shut of its own accord while Firefly and I hopped into the closest of the line of seats lining the walls and, in Firefly's case, strapped in for dear life. Having flown for the first time in centuries only a day before, I was surprised and impressed at how quickly my air-legs had returned to me as my vertigo was usually quite a stubborn bitch to subdue. By the time we had risen up past the hangar door and out of the mountain it was hidden in, I was already back on my hooves and wandering around the cabin, gazing out of the windows while riding a wave of nostalgia and elation that fed my very Soul it felt like. As our altitude got higher and higher over the Ember Mountains, I felt my knees go weak once more, although this time out of the majesty of the view offered to us so high above. It was one any Griffin or Pegasus or Dragon could easily see with a bit of wing effort but for me...it was something only a few non-winged species like myself ever got to see from a perspective like this. The Embers were as desolate and barren of life as they ever had been, but that didn't mean we couldn't be spotted once we lost the convenient cover of the mountain peaks themselves. Unless we took a massive detour Westward, we would be flying near the Gap of Canterlot. And with the commotion the SR just caused there while breaking through...more eyes than ever were going to be scouring the immediate region.

"Hey, AUNTIE?" I asked aloud once the concerning thought hit my mind. "We're going to be losing our cover in just a couple of minutes at this pace. Although it kind of scares me to risk it, I need you to breach that cloud layer above us and stick above it until we get right up over the place we need to go."

"Wait, what?" Garand blurted out in surprise. "The fuck did you just say?"

"Yew wanna do wha' now?" Firefly likewise exclaimed in dismay, glancing over at me wildly from where he sat strapped against his chair for dear life.

While I raised my hooves in an attempt to pacify them, AUNTIE commented, "Um...begging your pardons, but...why is that such a big deal? I've been aware of this cloud layer you speak of since we first launched yesterday, but atmospheric analysis determined it to be somewhat electrically charged, but non-radioactive and so I did not make much of an accounting for it. It's very unusual for it to have such a widespread coverage over so much territory at once...however, I suppose I merely just...assumed that was just an aftereffect of the...ahem, end of the world as it were."

"You can thank the Pegusi for that one." Garand responded with a gruff grunt of disapproval. "Cowards lost Cloudsdale during the first wave of Balefire attacks and as if on-cue, they set all cloud factories to overdrive and laid an magically charged cloud layer across most of Equestria. Guess it was enough to throw off most of the Zeeb's ability to target their towns and cities since you'll find a buncha RadZone craters across the old grasslands out East where they failed to hit anything. Regardless, the Pegusi closed off the skies a long time ago above a certain altitude and some kind of shadow government took over from what I heard."

"I can help out a bit more there." I chimed in since I had a tad more information to share with AUNTIE on the topic for her benefit. "They must have had this shadow government for the Pegusi for a good while before the Great War kicked off since, as he said, they organized their response way too fast and efficiently. Though...since then, their so-called 'Enclave' has gone progressively darker over time. There's not a ton anypony really knows about 'em, but anyone with eyes has noticed there's been more holes forming than there used to up there. There's whole swaths of the San-Palomino that are starting to get direct sunlight and they're only getting bigger as time goes on."

"Y'all not know about th' settlement above Shady Sands?" Firefly asked incredulously. "Thought them winged fucks were common talk these days..."

"No, I knew." I replied. "Was about to mention it, but you beat me to it. That being said, I don't know a whole helluva lot myself so if you know more, please do share."

"Eh, most o' it is rumor n' fearmongerin' bullshit. Ah know they ain't part o' th' main Pegasus Enclave thing tha's had it's own radio channel fer...fuck, forever now. Anyways, these folks o'er NER territory broke away n' been doin' their own thing fer ages. Supposedly th' normal Enclave types don' deal wit' us livin' down here at all, but...Ah dunno. 'Side from them ponies livin' up North, ain't been much word from them Pegusi fer a long while now."

"What are you saying?"

"Nuthin', just wha' Ah know 'bout them winged weirdos. Big rumor round th' NER was th' Enclave failed n' fell apart 'er somethin'. Civil war maybe, 'er perhaps they just all went their own ways... Is ah risk tah try n' breach th' cloud layer, but...Ah'd be surprised if there were any Pegasus towns anywhere nearby this godsfersaken desert."

"Fair enough..." AUNTIE replied after Garand remained quiet but didn't protest further. "Well, we can certainly try and find out for ourselves though, sensors indicate no presence of life within a five-mile radius. Ascending to ten-thousand, five-hundred feet. Please remain seated and on guard in the event I am horribly wrong and need to escape the area quickly. Oh, and the AAOS has been enabled for your convenience, Captain Garand."

Firefly's eyes went wide with fear and, as the sensation of rising up through the air rippled through the cabin, I chuckled to myself as I witnessed him almost frantically tugging tighter on the straps of his harness. Garand took his cue and seemed grateful to plop his Plague Bird helmet on his head before plugging himself back into the Vertibird's exterior camera feeds. Given she wasn't shooting upwards but rather made her way at an even pace, I got my legs under myself and made my way back up the belly of the craft to the cockpit for a proper viewing experience. Making it to the pilots chair with mere moments to spare, I watched with rapt attention as the triangular windows were shrouded by a thick veil of white cloud. Though I had expected the cloud layer to be rather thick so as to support the enigmatic life above, it was a solid four-or-five seconds before the view before me opened up and I became (likely) the first Unicorn in generations to see this side of the cloud layer. For a glorious few moments the unadulterated might of the sun basked my face in a light and warmth that even the heavily tinted windows couldn't fully attenuate; my vision almost entirely enthralled by the golden orb far off in the cosmos I hadn't properly seen in many a year. Once my vision was set free from the majesty of the sun for long enough to notice anything else, I held back a soft gasp of amazement as the signs of a settlement, now long-derelict, sprawled out underneath us. Pegasus architecture was never something I had extensive exposure to, but it didn't take a genius to distinguish an Equestrian settlement from that of one of the cloud-based Griffin clans who made their nests a few thousand feet closer to the earth. While the odd nomadic family made their homes entirely out of the clouds around them, most Pegasi had long since moved onto the stability and comfort of solid stone housing built atop specialized clouds which could sustain the weight. So long of course as the surrounding cloud layer remained mostly intact to help keep it suspended. Unlike the traditional Pegasus settlement with its towering marble columned buildings and humble one-to-two story townhouses, the remains sprawled out beneath us were decidedly much more military in nature. The remnants of a half-finished landing strip and its associated hangars, control towers and various auxiliary buildings lay in ruin with the heavy equipment and materials needed to finish it wasting away under an unmitigated sun. Whether this was something Pre-War and associated with the Outpost itself, or a sign of what had become of the Enclave we had all heard about...it remained to be seen.

"This thing on?" Garand's stunned voice came in over the radio feed sounding from the speakers built into the chairs. "You seeing this shit, mare? I'm not hallucinating this, right?"

"I hear ya, and yeah. I'm fuckin' seeing it alright... What do you think this place was? It's really close by the Outpost, but it looks like it hasn't been occupied since the War."

"I think you mean even finished before the War" He added. "Hardly anything down there looks like it was 100% installed, and a lot of the damage looks like the same wear-and-tear we see on a lot of buildings down below. My bet is on it being a staging ground for Airborne units back in the day and was similarly left to rot with the history books."

"Well...I can't say anything for certain...but I'm inclined to go with that bet of yours. Architecture definitely isn't civilian, but I can't say I've ever seen whatever unique aesthetic the Enclave might have adopted since they cut off the sky. Either way, this place is a total ghost town and that is honestly fine by me."

"Me as well. Well, if this is what we have to look forward to on the way back North, it'll be a quick and easy trip. Dunno about you mare, but...that kind of break sounds nice about now after the last two-weeks we've had."

"I'm hoping for some more action myself!" AUNTIE added cheerfully. "Though, I understand it is not preferable to maintaining our relative anonymity...I'll be sure to keep my sensors swinging in all directions looking for any signs of life. Well...any signs of life that are above a certain size of course, it would be a waste to make an accounting for every small Feral species milling about. I will advise you all ahead of time that my ability to promptly respond to any further questions may be reduced as...there is a tremendous amount of information about this new world I'm in. The readings I'm getting are consistent with my projections for the more survivable outcomes of the cataclysm, however...there's so much raw data I need to sift through and make sense of. It will take me some time to...gather my thoughts as you Organics would call it. I apologize ahead of time for the momentary lapse in prompt processing."

"You'll alert us if you detect anything scary that we should worry about though, right?" Garand asked pointedly.

"Of course! A benefit of being a Virtual Intelligence is the ability to set as many redundant reminder scripts as I need to keep it all straight. Not to mention the Vertibird itself is capable of a significant amount of automation, even without my presence on board. That being said, I do not recommend removing me...and beg you not to as well."

"We would never!" I interjected with as much urgency as I could put into my voice. "Although...I think all of us could take some time to sit and think quietly with ourselves for a bit. Set course for New...I mean, Las Pegasus, and then follow the highway North for like fifteen-twenty miles. We're looking for a lone apartment that's part of a bigger complex that didn't get finished, some ways off the main road at that point. It's...not much, but...I plan to make it something better."

"Understood, Colonel. Setting course for Las Pegasus, ETA: forty-eight minutes; longer barring any detours if we do happen to encounter a settlement up here."

"You hanging in there, Firefly?" I called out, hoping AUNTIE was attentive enough to transmit the message across the PA system to the crew cabin.

"Y-yeah, Ah'm ok!" Came his reply a moment later before the cockpit hatch slid open and he entered looking a tad shaken. "Ah don' know how yew can enjoy tha' feelin'..."

"I got a feel for it a longgg time ago. Although, I suppose I'm also a bit surprised at how quickly it came back to me after all this time. Regardless...I couldn't be happier to be back aboard something like this."

"Hey, more power to ya. Mind if Ah go n' take ah quick snooze in th' bunkroom again? Might help mah nerves calm down ah bit now that we're all flyin' straight n' easy."

"The hatch has been unsealed for your convenience, Mister Firefly." AUNTIE responded dutifully. "The storage compartments within can accommodate personal effects including clothing and even armor. In all honesty, it seems designed particularly with M-CAP users in mind if you are so equipped and 'wish to take off a load' as they say."

"Are they now? Well ain't tha' somethin'..." He hummed softly, glancing down at his DeadEye armor with interest. "Think Ah migh' take yew up on tha' offer then if ya don' mind. Been wearin' this fer awhile now...how'd ya know Ah was wearin' one o' them M-CAP sets?"

"Educated guess I suppose based upon my existing projections. That particular product line from Arms-Tech seems to have been wildly prolific during the War, given the number of accommodations this craft comes equipped with for servicing and storing the various popularly used models amongst the Equestrian Armed Forces."

"Yeah, good old 'combat armor' as most ponies like to boil it down to. Not exactly protection on a tight budget, but anyone with some money to spend on their own safety lives and swears by 'em. The Model 3 was only designed for ponies with a sort of all-in-one design with impact plates fastened to a Kevyan undersuit with limited adjustability options. They got smarter when designing the Model 4 line and designed them into three tiers of protection using individual pieces that can be worn over clothing, like say a military uniform. That, and they made them to fit multiple species who were part of NEATO back in the day, so options are available to more than just Equines. Something that versatile...well, makes perfect sense as to why something like this is so ready to accommodate it when anyone worth taking around in this thing would be wearing that kind of equipment."

"Uh...yeah, wha' she said." Firefly chuckled sheepishly while getting back to his hooves to leave. "Well, all Ah needed tah hear was tha' yew got ah place fer mah shit n' Ah can catch ah few Z's. Wake meh up when we get there if ya would."

Once the hatch sealed shut after his exit, I was left alone with AUNTIE once again though, again, she asked if we might take that chance I had mentioned earlier to keep to our own respective thoughts for awhile. Though my passionate spark for armor had reared its needy head once more, my greater awareness knew the time to jabber on about Arms-Tech hardware was not now. Instead, I sat back in my seat and watched the now empty fluffy expanse of white stretch out underneath us at a fast crawl as AUNTIE flew us in our desired direction. After an unknown number of minutes spent idly staring out into space, I suddenly came back to an awareness of myself and felt almost...worried by how little time I actually had to pause and reflect on our trip back. Now that I had come this far with Garand...by not bringing him in, I was playing the most dangerous game with my life yet. I'd put my name on his Contract with their magic and I was bound to its terms until a Shadow Broker broke the spell upon a Contract's completion. They had eyes and ears everywhere out West...and while defying Green Peace was its own can of shit to swallow, defying the Syndicate was something I wasn't sure I was even ready to handle. A rogue operative wasn't unheard of before now, nor was the open Bounty then placed on said would-be defiant rebel against the system in place here. As Garand said, the SR was very likely to renege on their end of the Contract placed on him which would put the Syndicate itself in a rather unique bind that few were stupid enough to put them in. Of course...there was also the question of whether or not their little foray past the Gap nullified the Contract in some way as only one sanctioned operative name was assigned at any one time. While they had not necessarily been hunting down Garand directly per-se, if we spun the narrative the right way...we could somehow manage to wriggle our way out of it all. It was a long-shot to assume it would work, but...if I killed enough of those sent after me, I could potentially force another meeting with a Shadow Broker and work something out. There was just too much unknown ahead...but, I was better equipped for it than I could have expected given the circumstances. I...actually had some genuinely decent help at my back to try and see me through the road ahead. Not only that, I had people worth fighting for more than myself for once. That had to count for something. Right...?

"Approaching final destination! Scans of the area indicate there is a group of buildings roughly matching the description you gave me roughly two-miles off the port bow. Are we ready for approach?"

Those forty-eight or so minutes had passed by a lot faster than I was used to and I found myself suddenly roused from my daze of drifting thoughts back to the cockpit around me. The same plush white cotton sea stretched out everywhere around us and I was left to rely on her sensors while I made my way back to the radar station for a better look. The three-dimensional readout of the immediate area appeared on the screen once I sat down at the station and I was able to recognize the terrain after a few moments of looking. The E-15 threaded a broad path ever Northwards, rolling dunes flowing in every direction on either side and, aways from the main road some five-or-six miles, lay the rectangular complex of buildings we were seeking. Six ruined and half-built buildings sat crowded around the 20-story apartment tower in the center, accompanied by well over two dozen independently moving objects marked in a friendly green milling about the immediate area; the mess I vaguely remembered being there looking tidier than before. Zooming closer into the area with the console controls, the roughly orb-shaped forms of Cogsworth's Mr. Helper robots became clearer as I observed them stripping the crumbling ruins of debris and piled it up to the side. Dragging the map feature around somewhat revealed no living creatures performing any duties outside meaning the group was likely indoors doing something. The area surrounding the lone apartment building was relatively flat enough from the Pre-War development phase for a parking lot, and so when a suitably close area to the buildings caught my eye during my sensor sweep, I pointed it out to AUNTIE as our intended landing zone. Once we were hovering in position directly above my indicated target, I moved to the communications station directly opposite where I sat with the radar equipment and plugged my PipBuck into the data port. Had I had half a mind at the time, I would have contacted Cogs far sooner, but...here we were. It would be a lot for everyone down there to process to say the least...

"Athena to Cogs, you there old friend?" I spoke out into the small mic which extended out from the console once the channel was opened. "I'm back way sooner than I thought!"

As I expected, the line remained dead for a few moments necessitating I try again before his confused, yet elated voice answered, "Athena! You return alive and well! Oh blessed day this is!"

"Yep! So, I know you're going to have hundreds of questions about what happened but trust me, save them because you're going to shit yourself over what we found."

"Oh...? What mean ye by, 'we'...?"

"Just trust me, Cogs. Common outside to the...Eastern side of the complex in that open space that was supposed to be for carriage parking or something. Oh...and uh...might want to plug your ears a bit and tie down anything loose that could get blown away."

"...You have made some odd requests before now my friend, but this...new. Very well, I will find young Melody and Gold if you so wish?"

"Yes! Please do!" I grinned with pride as I anticipated the looks on their faces. "I think everypony will wanna see this!"

"Alright, as you request my friend. Shall I message you when we have made an arrival I suppose?"

"Sure, heh. I wanna make this next part fast for reasons you'll understand soon as it happens, I promise."

"Understood, Athena. Might I say, you have certainly pricked mine interest like unto a barbed thorn of the desert sands dug deep into the hide of a Brahman..."

The line then went silent as he went and gathered my two adoptive children for our arrival, and I could only wonder how they would respond. The Vertibird was far beyond any technology Garand, Firefly, or I had ever encountered so it was up for serious debate as to how such unfamiliar minds would comprehend what they were about to see. In the meantime, AUNTIE brought us to our final stop before we descended below the clouds for the grand reveal and she too seemed excited for what lay ahead. We exchanged a few words while we waited and I gave her a quick rundown as to who she was to be meeting once we landed and tried my best to offer some kind of prediction as to how they would take to her. Given they both were of a gentler disposition and retained a child-like wonder for discovering new and exciting things, I was expecting nothing less than a borderline comatose response to be had from something as incredible as the Vertibird. This seemed to give her some measure of reassurance and I found myself amazed at just how...Sentient her emotional response to it all was. While any V.I enabled robot was capable of great emotional range dependent on original programming and how their experiences adapt their programming over time, AUNTIE seemed somehow more into her words and actions than other V.Is I had encountered in the past. Indeed, the longer we conversed and the more she shared her inner worries over her ability to be liked and perform to expectations, the more I could let myself forget the metal, the plastic, and the crystal wiring which formed her being. I even started to forget somewhat that I wasn't even speaking to a physical pony sitting beside me, holding a normal conversation about nerves as I might have with Gold or Melody themselves.

"Athena? I am returned and we have made an arrival at the place you requested. We cannot see you anywhere, is there something we are meant to see or know but have not been informed of yet?"

Over the course of my chat with AUNTIE, I had admittedly almost forgotten about Cogsworth and the others, forcing me to blurt back into the mic, "Hang tight, we'll be right down. Make sure you're ready for a lotta wind and flying sand."

"As...you say then." Came his bewildered response, the line returning to its earlier quietude.

"Alright, AUNTIE." I then prodded encouragingly, glancing over my shoulder to the radar station to see three Equine shapes marked in green in the target area down below. "Time for us to go meet your new extended family!"

Next Chapter: Chapter Forty-Six: A Guide for a Maze of Shit Estimated time remaining: 50 Minutes