Fallout Equestria: "Best Laid Plans"

Chapter Six: Dashed Hopes.

“Aw, you shouldn't have. It's just my taste. Thank you.”

Things were beginning to make a lot of sense for Doctor Dawn. The stealthed assassin, the torture of rangers. It was obvious that Charger was not working with Friendship at all, and that this was all some elaborate ruse. Most likely concocted with Party-Time Mint-als. That made sense, right?

“Please. Let me go to him, I won’t use any magic. Just let me make sure he doesn’t die.” Dawn begged the cyber-pegasus pinning him down. Tears streaked his red cheeks, and choking with heartache the doctor finally stopped struggling. He looked up to that blackened merciless robotic face for a sign, and Charger looked back.

*Granted.* He let the doctor go.

A cold chill running trough his mane and body as what was left of Horseshoe tower peaked in the horizon. Dawns mouth felt dry as if the doctor had spent the day without water. Every step forward was an agonizing slow reminder of a past event where he had been stranded in the wasteland.

A lone pony against the vast emptiness reached out from the dark corners of his imagination and a strange ache took place inside his heart.

Wire’s death was an unspeakable, unbearable nightmare he couldn’t bear to experience. The blonde pony shivered with death and his breathing was laboured and fast paced. Dark, glistening blood was still leaking from Wire’s wounded shoulder and pooling underneath them. Painting the thief in those grim shades reserved for corpses.

From having seen Blacklight’s assault Dawn could draw an educated guesstimate on the extent of the damage. It was a brutal beating with agonizing intent.

The smallframed earth pony had more fragile bones than his kind, but what grieved Dawn the most was that without magic he could not mend them back properly. Fortunately the cracked ribs hadn’t ripped open Wire’s lungs or damaged his internal organs.

The doctor opted for a healing potion to restore them into some semblance of normality. While it wouldn’t set the bones perfectly, it was better to begin mending them, than to leave him with all those cracked ribs.

Wire’s laboured breathing slowed down to an extent, and the thief began to stabilise soon after.

Dawn had time to do a thorough check. The ribs had seemed heal okay, no head trauma, neck was fine. Breathing wasn’t slurred or raspy. The stab wound had healed.

 the doctor noticed a corruption running deep in Wire’s hind-leg. An oily liquid was seeping out trough the holes in his shoe, and upon further inspection the hoof seemed to have been in this state for days.

The doctor had no time to guess what Charger would do. Instead he acted on instinct. Tearing out the iron shoe and hugging the wounded leg with his horn. Magic potions don’t work on wounds like this, festered and diseased.

Dawn’s yellow magic soared through the leg. Flushing way any signs of the corruption ever existing. There had been no choice in the matter. It was either this or loose it later down the line.

*What did you promise me about your magic doctor? You might need it for me.* Chargers voice pierced Dawns ears and the scorched cyber-pegasi began tugging the doctor away.

“No. Please, he just needed a bit of magic, and now some bandages.” The doctor wriggled out of Chargers loose grip with a set of magically enhanced bandages from his saddle-bags at the ready.

Dawn began wrapping the bandage tightly around the base of Wire’s leg, taking the time to do this properly before continuing down to the hoof.

Would this be enough?

Was this all I had to give?

He recalled Aphrodisiac’s diary.

“Eith, one of the several Zebra glyphs representing the element of magic... One of the few I have had the pleasure to use extensively. In combination with Zohm... More than triple the effect of a regular healing potion.”

Dawn looked at Wire’s hoof feeling a strange, almost overwhelming temptation to carve on it. Now that the corruption and the rusted shoe were gone Dawn would have plenty of room to carve the symbols on.

What harm could it do?

More than triple the effect huh? Why not see it for myself after all Wire is just an addict. Why not use his body? Experiment a little.

First the circular shape of Eith. The glyph of magic was an elaborate form of six circles, that ended in a flourish intended to connect it with the next glyph. The sharp and broken Zohm, pained and jagged with an unnatural crookedness. He could recall them with almost photographic accuracy.

It was almost as if they wanted to be drawn. This was dangerous territory. He had to discard these thoughts for now at least. To wield magical runes he had just recently found in a random prewar diary would just be reckless and childish.

Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time he did something along those lines.

Wrapping the bandages over the thief’s hoof Dawn discarded the idea for now. Instead he sent the usual prayer to Celestia. It was up to her and Wire now.

Just like all his patients before. No need for hastily drawn runes from some prewar diary. Dawn sighed, and his thoughts returned back to the situation at hand. “I’ll do whatever you have in mind, so take him downstairs and give him a bit of rest.” He looked towards Scorch, and saw Blacklight had stripped her gear off, and was now carrying the black mare back down. “Scorch need’s a rebreather. You hear me? Blacklight?”

Charger was blocking the way as Dawn began walking towards the glowing pony. “There’s usually a rebreather in each of the guest quarters, and some inside patient rooms. In case of a larger scale gas-attacks or fire.”

It had been a thinly veiled ploy, and it still was. Smiling, and blinking with salted eyes Dawn looked to Charger. “Let’s get this over with.”

Charger raised an eyebrow at that and coughed. Instead of speaking up, the pegasus instead pointed at a segment at the base of his neck. It was easy to spot once it had been pointed out. This surprisingly flexible layer of metal muscle that had previously been hidden by his skin contained a small crack, and Charger simply couldn’t reach it himself.

With Dawn nearby, he didn’t have to either. There was a black pipbuck compatible cord inside, and after some insistent coughing on his part Dawn began working on it.

“Is this?” Charger nodded and made gestures of speech that never had any audible cues outside of breathing. Proving to Dawn that he was mute now. “Right.”

Dawn plugged it into his pipbuck as instructed by the pegasus pony, and the screen flickered to life; Showing him Chargers entire throat system. Basically a reforged metal-made speaking system based on the living one. An incredible technological accomplishment. It was hard not to be amazed by it. Who the fuck in the wasteland had the resources to found this thing?

The images showed damage to his deeper vocal cords, and signaled for extensive repair, though most of the damage could be adjusted away. All he had to do was lower the damaged ones, and adjust the others to give a more pleasing output.

“Testing. Testing, one, two, and three.” Charger gave his new voice a try, and instantly looked as if he wanted to kill Dawn, but the act faded quickly. It was replaced by a sad acceptance that this would be his new voice until repairs could be carried out.

Dawn stifled a giggle and refrained from patting the cyber-pegasi on his shoulder. “I’ve certainly heard worse.”

“I sound like a mare.... What is the time?” Charger ripped the pipbuck to him. “We have the time. Let’s bring him inside for now. Leave the gear for later.”

“Time for what?” Dawn usually prided himself on solving puzzles with snippets of information, but this winged menace just kept surprising him at every turn.

“Until our ride,” Charger boasted, and begun lifting the injured Wire with physical ease. Cradling the small framed, and wounded thief in an augmented, metallic muscled embrace like a baby. “Let’s find him a room.”

“What? Wire needs an auto-doc. I can’t mend eight rib fractures with a single potion. For the goddesses sake, just let me do the surgery, and then operate on Wire after,” Dawn pleaded.

“Sound’s reasonable. Unfortunately I ain’t that stupid,” Charger neighed. “From my perspective, this criminal has proven to be fairly resourceful. Given a restored body he’s bound to mess up things. You cure him and Scorch dies.”

“What?” Unable to believe it Dawn wanted to ask again, but the pegasi simply flew back inside without as much as a second glance. “This isn’t funny Charger,” He spoke in an upset tone as he hurried after the pair.

The yellow and browned hallway seemed to blend in with how he was feeling. Chasing after that flying pony with his purple streaked mane, and ruined blue coat made him feel tired. It was like the world slowed down to a trickle.

Ever since he had heard that radio broadcast he had simply cried and left the fate of two children he had deeply appreciated spending time with in flux. Four Leaf had wrecked his mask with his childish innocence and even called him princess.

Goddess damn-it. Leaf and Rabbit were far too skilled to die, and still carried with them the infinite potential of foal-hood. These children did not deserve to be left to their fates. Leaf might call him mommy if he saved them.

Both were earth ponies though. Cute, yet slightly limited by their race if he intended to take them in as apprentices. Their wide eyed innocence might even pull Wire out of his drug habits. Yes. Wire was clearly hiding things from him. No useless drug addict turned thief could have thrown a knife at some stealthy assassin like that.

It seemed like an eternity had taken before Charger stopped to open a door. Dawn was still following with heavy heart. “Don’t just fucking run away when I want to talk to you.” The doctor cried out in exhaustion as he slowed down.

Charger had dropped the thief down at one of the many beds that lined the room. An act which made the dust from several the years of negligence swoosh into the air. With a static sigh of dismissal the cyberpony proceeded to gather this dust in a cloud, and then he discarded it in a surprisingly mundane fashion.

Dawn didn’t hesitate and ran forward to prep the leg holster to elevate the previously corrupted leg. Charger was one thing, but the thief was another.

He owed Wire his life, and it had been the first act of genuine emotion Dawn had seen directed towards himself in a good while.

Dawn reached out, and brushed Wire’s grey mane away. Revealing Wire’s rather cute sleepy face. Ignoring Chargers presence he leaned down and planted a kiss on the thief’s cheek.

What did Wire want from him? What could he possibly do? Should he kill Charger during surgery? Fuck Scorch. Scorch can just go die. He’d get here from Surgery within a minute, it’d be easy. Just raid the emergency surgery closet, and prepare for invisible mares.

“This isn’t for Friendship city is it?” Dawn looked at the metallic lines and the blackened damaged fur. Charger had suffered from a barrage of exploding grenade machine-gun fire. Because Dawn had hesitated to help his merciless slaughter of Steel Rangers.

Charger blinked, then gave him a toothless grin in return. “Nope,” the pegasus pony said giggling. “You want to know?” He grinned now, showing how much pleasure he derived from withholding the secret. “I’ll tell you after surgery. Won’t be long now, just keep being obedient and you keep your pet project. I wouldn’t want to Butt inn.”

Dawn recieved a pat on his head, as Charger continued. “I’m not unreasonable, and most Mice actually find me quite pleasant to work with. I’ll tell you when I know that you don’t pose a risk to my operation. Which would be when I wake up from surgery. Which reminds me. Let’s get it over with.”

The doctor sighed, and followed Charger out into the hallway. “As you wish,” the doctor yawned, and betrayed his tired condition. The cyber-pegasi looked back at him: Presenting a can of tin along with some rather well kept papers. “One of these should make up for the lack of preparation, and these papers should be detail enough to get you through my surgery.”

Dawn accepted the tin reluctantly and began looking at the drawing. True. Dawn felt bogged down by lack of sleep, and the recent running hadn’t done much to help restore. “Sacrebleu! Are these mintals?” Dawn looked visibly offended, and his hatred burned deep at the sight of the tin.

“Am I being handed the most addictive, slimy substance to ever grace Equestria by Charger, Captain of Friendship City?”

“No, not exactly captain anymore,” Charger’s repaired and rather effeminate voice sensually wrapped itself around the papers Dawn was trying to comprehend. “I’m quite done with Friendship City and those fools who founded it. Take the Mint-al. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Afraid of catching some kind of addiction from one pill? It’s not even “Party Time” flavoured. We could even make some coffee for you to drink it with, and gain some kind of double boost. Like Bandaid usually does before a major surgery.”

“That’s partly why I left,” Dawn replied still very much inspecting the fairly artistic drawings. There was a name in the bottom right corner written in the same elaborate handwriting describing how to do the surgery in steps. “Who is this Dastardly?”

“A pony. Stop stalling, and keep moving,” Chargers said while putting a hoof over the drawings. Disrupting any further reading. “Do I have to force you to eat that Mint-al? I like it when Mice struggle. Much more pleasant for me than it will be for you.”

Brown met Purple in a stare of wills, while Dawn reached out, and grabbed a Mint-al. Then he placed it on his outstretched tongue, and pulled it into his mouth. “Happy now?” Dawn asked, presenting his empty mouth to Charger.

The pegasus merely shook his head and they continued towards the operating room for Chargers surgery. Dawn made a coughing noise, and pulled out a bottle of water from his bags. Pretending to take a gulp out of the contents as he slipped the Mint-al back out.

Chargers blue hoof was there. Stalling the bottle from leaving his muzzle. Nearly locking him in a half-hug. “Oh, poor doctor. So thirsty he felt like drinking an entire bottle of water.” Chargers sensual voice and the surprise ambush had Dawn choking, before obediently swallowing.

“Don’t think of me as those backwater rats you scurried about with back in Friendship, or some trader whore you can easily trick.” Charger chuckled, and began squeezing Dawn as the last content’s of the bottle vanished down. “I am so much more,” He said while offering the doctor a few hard pats on the back. “You will see the extent of it as you open me up. Which is why I want you to have clarity. A small slip up can become quite bigger than the usual patients you venture around. Don’t take it personal.”

Wow, talk about persistent bastard.

Dawn rubbed his cheek feeling both embarrassment and a twinge of respect? Amusement? Surprised that there were ponies capable of seeing things more than one step at a time? Dawn had given Charger an easy time with that kind of poker face, and made it fairly obvious that he was going to resist eating the mint-al from the get-go.

Charger forcing him to eat a mint-al felt horrible, but Dawn couldn’t bring himself to be mad. Anger would just get in the way of thinking, and he could do a lot of thinking right now. Except Charger hadn’t said anything new to think considerably about.

It’s not like eating the mint-al had been Dawn’s fault, the pegasus had been quite insistent. To the point of forcing him to drink an entire bottle of water just to be sure he’d swallow. What did he expect from himself? It wasn’t as if his father or Wire would think any less of him for being force fed a single mint-al. Probably existed a lot of ponies who’d just try Mint-al’s out once.

Right, surgery.

The doctor opened the doors and entered. The operating room was dark, aside from a flickering lamp shedding light on some very familiar metal hands.

The butterfly tapestry however looked like it was more intact than outside. Even in this limited light Dawn could make out that Charger was fiddling with the coffee-machine.

Because of it’s closer proximity to administration this operating room, contained a built in circular balcony. Intended for ponies to sit and observe during surgery. Often he had dreamt of being a master surgeon with wonderous nurses and a steady audience. Students of the craft would travel miles just to on top of that balcony, and then marvel at his skill with the scalpel. Dawn had forgotten just exactly what kind of surgeon he had been in that particular fantasy. Brain perhaps, although his cutiemark suggested heart.

“So how come you get a medical pony like me to do the surgery if it’s a mechanical part that needs operating on?” Dawn looked back at the papers again.

“Because most mechanics would fail the initial part or get nerves along the way, and we figured most doctors had the skill to handle a screwdriver,” Charger replied as he activated a hot water talisman.

“We?”

Dawn yawned, looking at the hot brown liquid pouring down into a can while making an educated guess as to who this partner we was.

Maybe it was this Dastardly that had drawn these instructions or was it that invisible mare called Blacklight?

“I told you. Answers will come after surgery, and remember to graft some skin over this metal when you’re done with the operation.” Charger flew up and was checking the base of the auto-doc. A green glow intruded upon the room for just a moment. “Well, the talisman looks fine,” the pegasi said while giving every auto-doc arm a firm shake. What followed was a small metallic choir.  “Everything is in order for you to begin.”

Having studied the paper instructions twice now, Dawn managed to perform the entire surgery without any complications arising. The auto-doc responded sufficiently even if it hadn’t been used once since before the war.

Levitating down the medical syringe Dawn felt a dull headache settling in. There wasn’t much fuel left to keep the magic running for basic levitation.

He fumbled and pushed the needle back inside using his mouth. Charger needed at least a few more hours of sleep.

Drinking greedily from the hot coffee Dawn began reflecting and using simple logic.

While Scorch might be a hostage, if he did run off with Wire then they might consider saving her for later. They might even pay her to help track the two of them down. Scorch could have that effect on ponies, and Charger would be smart enough to see her as a tool rather than let his anger of some inevitable betrayal get the better of him.

Dawn gave out another yawn and began rubbing his eyes to try and stave it off for a few more moment’s. His mind was aching and the doctor felt worn out. Like a piece of rubber stretched thin.

Some of the coffee went into an available thermos for later, but it wouldn’t be enough. He needed a bigger boost, he needed to be awesome if only for a few more hours.

Wire felt a heat on his face despite how cold the rest of his body felt. A giant beam of sterile light made it hard to make out anything other than oily shadows, and his ears only picked up alien sounds. The thief squinted and felt an unfamilliar weight on his chest, a shadow was pulling at something except the pull fame from within.

Pain flared up, he tried screaming, and began to struggle against his bonds. He was trapped in some kind of harness and a gag muffled any attempted shrieking at this horrifying experience.

“Stop struggling and look at the light. While Doctor Dawn sets your ribs all-right.” A soothing, loud voice was singing in a happily forced tune. There was a grunt followed by a crack from one of his more reserved nightmares. No drugs or side effects could have produced that sound.

 “When your awake and feeling sore. Doctor Dawn will give you some more.”

Another wave of pain wreaked trough Wire’s ruined body. He screamed for what felt like hours and still it wasn’t enough to drown out that stupid singing.

He struggled in the pain, but had no energy left. One of his hindlegs shifted a small amount, the strap loosened slightly. Using the adrenaline from another wave of pain, he jerked it hard. With each spasm his leg was closer to freedom.

Finally his battle was won and the leg was free.

The leg could hardly be used for anything besides kicking it around at random. He managed to knock over some sort of metal stand and grazing something covered in fur. His face was lifted up and Dawn stood near it.

“There, there. Poor thing. It’s not every day I get to mend this many bones and make you healthy again.” A purple glowing liquid bottle was pressed against his gag. “And now you must drink okay? Else you’ll drown.” The liquid began pouring into his mouth from the gag.

He fought the idea of drinking for as long as he could, until a hoof was pressed over his nose, cutting off his breathing. The fear of death loomed over him. Poison! Acid! Mind control serum! Ideas flashed though his head, but it was futile.

With tears in his eyes, the thief obediently swallowed.

“Good boy.” Dawn patted his cheeks and the world around him began to glow in a pinkish hue. He felt warm and tired, but he was better, and Dawn untied the gag to let him breathe fully. “See? That wasnt so bad was it?”

It was bad, it was one of the worst things he had gone though in recent memory. He was still tied down, so he couldn’t deck the smug pony. Thoughts of snapping his neck, or slitting his throat, or blowing his fore-hooves off were high on his to do list, but nothing was possible yet.

His body may have felt revived by the potion, but all his kicking and screaming left him drained, unable to even lift his neck to try and headbutt the doctor.

“What did you do to me?” He finally asked, trying to get the pony to release him from his bondage.

“You had a bad hindleg suffering from infection, and Blacklight messed you up rather nicely.” The doctor giggled in a cheery mood as he jumped down from the surgery table and drank from a yellow cup with butterflies on it.

You’ve gotta be fuckin kiddin me. He glanced at his one free hindleg, it was wrapped in clean white cloth, explaining why he was able to get it free, and why it hurt so bad now. He wasn’t sure what to say. Thank you was going to be very low on the list, he’d rather have just been given a shot of Med-X than suffer the hell he had just been released from.

Another thing that was beginning to unnerve him, Dawn, or Romeo, or Sobs McCryfilly, was acting far far to happy about any of this. Last time he was conscious the colt had been in tears, but now there wasn’t even a hint of sadness.

Yet no matter how big the smile or how happy a tune Dawn sang the thief somehow knew it was fake. Right now he just wanted some drugs and sleep. With luck he could forget this ever happened.

“Not yet.” Dawn withdrew the glowing lamp.

Finally Wire could see that his doctor had been wearing that blue spring dress from earlier. it was hidden underneath the standard white doctors uniform. It was an odd blend that didn’t make sense for anypony else.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Untie me and a dose of Med-X so I can sleep this nightmare off.” He demanded.

Dawn giggled and grinned. “The only way you get any stuff is if we make out.”

“I told you that bird brain wasn’t to be trusted.” Wire said. Unable to resist the urge of rubbing the truth at that spoiled doctors muzzle.

“And you were right.” Dawn simply acknowledged, as he brought fourth a small plastic cube of white powder. “This should get you on your feet.” The doctor held a content, almost drowsy look on his face as he awaited Wire’s response.

It wasn’t everyday somepony just fezzed up and said he was right. It was surprising, but that little box of drugs allowed him to push away any semblance of coherent thought. He went to reach out for it. Like a moth drawn to the light, every bit of Wire was now drawn to the little cube of wonders, sitting right in front of him.

“But we’re going to have to share the cube.” Dawn returned from having washed his hooves and opened the plastic to let the cube become a small white pyramid. Like a shovel he scooped it up with his tongue and walked up to Wire with a wicked grin on his face.

“The fuck are you on about now?” He recoiled back as far as the tie to the table would let him. He doesn’t... No, he can’t... Really, I uh... He tortures me, takes away my chems, leads me into a trap, gets me knocked silly, and now this? Wire was furious. All of this and now he was going to bribe him into degrading sexual favors. Wire may be an addict, he may be desperate, but he still had some Celestia damned self-respect.

The doctor simply put his tongue back inside and gave an even broader smile in return. Teasing Wire with a set of pursed lips and an overall expression that said.What? As if Wire’s reaction was the one out of place.

“You ain’t serious. You can’t be.” Wire tried laughing it away, a hollow laugh that fell on deaf ears.

The crimson pony gave a nod, bringing his muzzle down further “Oh. I’m serious alright.”

No. It’s just for the chems. You’ve done way worse for chems, right? No one gets killed if you kiss some crazy colt in a dress while in a scary hospital in the middle of the Manehatten ruins. These thoughts didn’t make him feel any better about the situation.

If only he could get some of that powder in him, he could just forget about the whole ordeal. The pain and the mental anguish would wash away.

“Any other way?” He eked out, trying to keep some of his dignity, not going for it the second he was given the opportunity.

As if on a signal the doctor made a swallowing motion.

“No! No! No wait! No!” His eyes were pin pricks. He needed those chems, no matter the cost, he would die without them. He closed his eyes, “Okay, okay, just hurry up.” He tried to hide his disgust as hard as he could,

“Aw. What happened to the face that saved me when I was shot? I guess you don’t want the drugs at all. Good for you.” The doctors sweet voice maliciously goaded him from the darkness.

Don’t play into his little game, you’re better than that. He wasn’t though, he opened his eyes to look at the colt. He swallowed his self respect, the half tablespoon that was left of it. “Please?”

The doctor stuck out his tongue, it was still coated slightly white, but the majority was obviously now absorbed in his(Ugh) spit.

Wire opened his own mouth, his attempt at a smile failed, he just wanted the drugs. The potion he was gifted was already starting to wear off, and he didn’t want the full force of the pain to hit his fragile mind.

The doctor’s muzzle was readily available with pursed lips, eagerly awaiting the kiss. Growing desperate Wire stole the kiss, and slit his tongue into the other mouth only to meet a row of clenched teeth. “Oh, come on!”

They obviously had different ideas on how this was going to be carried out.

“Well, then I guess you don’t want any drugs at all,” Dawn teased him.

Wire managed to hide his anger for a moment, “What then, what do you want?” His voice was shaky, his composure evaporating. His window to chem assisted relief closing quickly.

“For an addict you are surprisingly difficult.” Dawn chirped. “I simply want your body. You can have all the drugs you want, but you will give me your body in return.”

Wire was completely blindsided, “You uh, what?” There are some things you just don’t take at face value.

Dawn raised an eyebrow at Wire’s shocked expression but giggled all the same. “What don’t you understand? I’ll give you drugs, and in return you kiss me like you’d kiss any other mare. It’s not rocket science.”

Images of Wire being a prostitute to the red colt were immediately washed away in a small wave of relief.

Kiss him like I’d kiss any other mare. He wondered about this, it seamed to be too fair an exchange in his favor, unless the pony was looking for something more. He was about to put a lot of thinking into this when he realized that he couldn’t give two fucks about the doctor and his problems.

Med-X to pretend to kiss this colt. This’ll work until I can get my things back. He sighed, making his thoughts about Med-X and escape seam like he was deliberating over this tough decision, “I guess if that’s the only way, I can try.”

“Prove it.” The colt challenged him on the spot with a fierce glint in his eyes.

Hmm, should have seen that comin. If he squinted a bit and didn’t really think about it, the doctor could pass for a mare in the dress. That along with his talent of truth bending, would make this pretty simple.

It’s gonna be a stroll on the moon. Wire nodded for the doctor to get closer, and their muzzles clashed together. he teased the lips at first, and started out smooching with something that tasted of mint and orange. things got heated, Dawn let out an effeminate moan and then Wire stopped.

“Call it a, uhm. Sample.” The words left a bad taste in his mouth.

The doctor blushed, nodded, and fetched more powder for their game to continue. Wire’s restraint’s came off about midway and their intimate game continued. Wire felt warm, good and a familiar haze was covering his mind. Powder flowed freely, and the doctor sounded pleased with what he got out of it.

Okay, I got some in me I’m good. No need. Unless. He stretched out his forelegs, bones popping, ligaments going smooth, blood flowing, carrying the medicine though his body. One more hit will keep him off of me for a while.

“How much of that you have left?” He asked the doctor.

“Enough to last us for some time.” Dawn put a hoof on Wire’s cheeks and guided him back to his muzzle, the tongue awaiting him was covered in white and Wire wanted all of it. He licked, and sucked, swallowed and made out with Dawn until he knew what he needed had all gone his way. He even licked some drool off Dawn’s neck to seal the deal.

Another dose of sweet chem release washing over the thief. Wire felt happy. Who needed self respect and dignity? Now he could just humiliate himself for drugs.

A nagging voice at the back of his head told him to just run, use some of the tools to hobble the touchy feely pony, grab as much of the drugs as he could take and cash out. But Wire considered himself to be a good gambler. And the cards he’d been dealt seamed to point towards letting his winnings ride. I’m sure this wont come back to bite me in the flank later...

“You ready to go find the kids?” The crimson colt in front of Wire put on a more serious face while straightening the neckline on his blue dress.

“No, not a bit.” Wire’s body was far from amazing. His weapons and tools were gone, and he didn’t have a clue where to start looking for the two foals. “But I don’t have a choice here, do I?”

“Well, you could walk away.” Dawn laughed and patted him on the cheek. “Without your drugs, or gear naturally. Charger is going to kill you on sight once I vanish.”

The thief sighed in defeat. He obviously didn’t have much of a choice. “Where is he? How long we got?”

“I’m feeding him a constant stream of tranquiliser. He’ll be stuck in a limbo for a few days, unless somepony snaps him out of it.” Dawn nodded to a corner where the blue pegasus lay comfortably on a bed with an IV drip flowing into his veins.

“Let’s get going before that stealthy assassin decides to check up on us.”

Wire recalled that look on his attackers face when she’d sank the knife in his chest. There was also the part where he’d been thrown on the ground and beaten half dead. The villain was a single mare with a stealth-buck and she could be anywhere.

His eyes darted around the room, the stupid doctor would never know if she was right behind him. But, could Wire even tell if she was right behind him?

No, keep it together. She’s not here. You would have noticed the buzz. Or maybe. No! Focus.

“Yeah.” He chocked down his fears and eased down his breathing. Wire was scared of many things that inhabited the wasteland, it was the whole reason he snuck around and picked locks. You don’t run into monsters by sticking to the shadows. Raiders tend to know what doors are locked, so if you just open the door and lock it back up then you have a safe place to sleep. That mare on the other hoof could be anywhere, at any time, and it was impossible to dismiss her completely.

“What happened to Scorch?” He said after a few more moments of quiet paranoia. The mare was big, and might ward off an attack just from being with them.

“She’s not here.” Dawn scooted up a box of breakfast cereal from his bags and began chewing. “Here is something proper for eating on the go. I refilled my water too for later.”

Sugar bombs. Wire’s stomach did back flips at the very though of eating those disgusting sugary bits. “What do you mean by not here?” He rejected the box and said something about how he’d rather eat the cardboard than it’s contents.

“Oats then?” Dawn put the cereal away but his expression was that of utmost importance. “You need to eat after those kind of injuries. Maybe not now, but soon.”

“Scorch, why ain’t she here?” Wire was not happy with Dawn refusing to answer his questions.

Dawn simply laughed and began walking. “Because she isn’t.”

Wire sighed, There’s always something goin’ on. It looked like he would have to go along the doctors plan for the time being. It was still better than remaining with Charger and his watch dog.

Wire shuddered again at the memory. The malice he had felt from that mare’s eyes. He pushed the thoughts away and began walking. “Hey Dawn, slow down,” he called out.

His legs were wobbly and every step felt strange. Ugh, this is going to be one of those days... Wire thought as the doctor looked back with concern.

Dawn had already begun walking back to him. “I guess I should have given you braces after all.”

Wire grumbled, “I just need my pack.” He wasn’t putting any weight on his wrapped up hindleg, feeling like it might pop if he did. “And a brace might not uh, hurt, I guess.” Sadness welled up from within. He had never needed to use one of those things before. He really was Useless.

“Your stuff was taken.” Dawn was quick to fetch the brace and began untying the majority of bandage on Wire’s leg in favour of hard leather straps and metal. “Sorry, but id rather not linger. I just want my kids back.”

“And I’d like my stuff back. Not much use with none of my tools, am I?” Wire began putting some weight on his hind-leg, slowly at first, but the brace was working. He could barely feel any pain at all.

“I like the company.” Dawn giggled and patted him on his cutie-mark. “And we can always get you new tools later.”

Wire couldn’t get anywhere without the chem’s that Dawn was hoarding, but his pack was all that was left of his life. He wanted his trinkets and nick-knacks back. Some of them hurt to look at, but at least he could pull them out to recall happier times in periods of depression. Now he was truly alone.

“Fine,” Wire harshly batted the hoof lingering on his flank away. He would have liked to shove the doctor to the ground and demand help in finding his stuff, but right now he was small, weak and worse he felt old. What if he failed and Dawn took away his chems forever?

He couldn’t bear the thought of that. Instead he would do as told and hate every second of it. It was easier obey and get pushed around. If it failed he could always escape and blame himself later for getting it messed up.

He would be more than fine if he could just get a single injection of Med-X. Then everything would be fine.

The crimson colt was talking about things he could care less about while Wire thought back at the package delivery that had gotten him in this mess in the first place. The dumb little job that put him on the path to Friendship city.

“Listen, Wire. It’s a damn simple job. If you don’t want it, get the hell out of my buildin’.” Pony Express was an older stallion, and he pretty much towered above the thief.“You take this box to the mail room in Friendship City. No questions asked. Don’t open it. Hell, don’t even look at it for too long.”

Wire was far from a clean pony when it came to work, but the job stunk of set-up. Express however was one of the few legit businesses that would pay him half up front in chems. Honestly, that was the only reason he dealt with this kind of asshole.

“How many can I get for it?” Wire asked expectantly. His body had been without Med-X for a few days now, all his caps were gone, and supplies were down. He was willing to do just about anything for some of that sweet escape, even if that meant being jumped by raiders, or shot by the residents of Friendship for bringing in something bad.

“Well, you’ve done good work before. I’ll give you four. They’ll give you fifty caps when you drop it off. And Celestia dammit, if there’s a single fuckin scratch on the box, I’m takin it out of your hide! You hear me down there?”

“One time and you never let it go.” Wire grumbled. He wasn’t quite sure howa few bullet holes could ruin a package. “There any chance I can get five? You know, for old times sake?” Wire pleaded with the stallion.

“No you damn junkie. Keep this up and you’ll only be gettin three.”

“Okay.” Wire did not want to miss out on a single vial of that liquid paradise.“Give me the thing and I’ll head out now. I should reach Friendship in a day or two.”

Pony Express handed over the small box wrapped in several layers of dusty parchment. Wire placed it on top of his backpack. It fell into it with an empty clunk.

Next came the vials, and Wire used one right away. Express began yelling about something else, but once the syringe had been emptied Wire slipped out the front and legged it for Friendship..

A simple job.

Wire blinked a few times, his face felt soaking wet from being doused with water. Confused as ever he could see the ever present cloud cover blanketing the Manehatten sky. His ears were ringing and made the whole thing uncomfortable.

Wiping the water out of his eyes Wire felt better. Instead of the hospital the two of them were now sitting between a pair of old buildings.

Okay, I’m sittin in an alley now, Wire comforted himself as the ringing in his ears stopped. Instead he could focus on a lingering light headed sensation that remained.

The crimson colt was in front of him with a rather unsettling smile painted on his face while pouring water in a small bowl. It could only be oats.

“Say aaahm.” Dawn’s gentle spoon poked at his muzzle. The caring stallion was still wearing that blue dress, and had taken to grooming his mane again. Whatever good that would do.

“You had me worried for a second when you fainted there,” the doctor laughed.

Wire refused to say aaahm but he took a bite of the grey mush and swallowed some rather uncomfortable yet sugary lumps down.

Water, oats, crunched sugar bombs and something else he couldn’t put his hoof on, were being forced into his muzzle. Is he gonna force feed me? He was happy to see that the bowl the doctor had on the ground wasn’t very large, anymore and he would just throw the whole mess up.

“Feeling better now?” Dawn fetched another spoon touching Wire’s forehead.

“Stop.” He smacked away the hoof, “Yeah I feel better,” he admitted begrudgingly.

Dawn shook his head and looked at the thief. “You need food. I even put drugs in it.”

He should have been ecstatic, free drugs and all but there was no point to it. He wasn’t going to be able to convince the pony otherwise, so he just had to choke it down. “If you’re offerin, I’ll take it.”

The doctor presented to him the bowl. “Eat. It will give you some strength back, and then we need to go.”

He took the bowl from the hooves of the other pony, “Fine.” He looked at it for a few moments, not too happy with how it looked, for some reason a pile of brown was never that appetizing. He didn’t bother with the spoon, and stuck his muzzle into the food trying to choke it down as quickly and painlessly as possible.

He wasn’t sure what the pony had added, but it sure made his body swell with heat. Most of the constant pain he had been feeling slowly faded and lessened to a point where he could ignore it.

He felt healthy and young again, as if he could take on the world. Wire knew he couldn’t actually do that, but he’d be able to walk down a road with little difficulty.

He dropped the bowl to the ground and decided that he didn’t need the little globs at the bottom of the bowl.

“I ate it, you gonna quit houndin me now?” He growled and then flinched in surprise. Which made him even angrier.

“Hound you? You fainted, and the drugs wont keep you up forever. You’ll need nourishment to go with it silly.” Dawn scooped up the bowl and quickly rinsed it with some leftover water. “Do you want seconds? We have time.”

“Oh now we have time? Plenty of time to do whateverDoctor Do-good wants to do. I’m sick of it. Sick and fuckin tired of you. This fake smile, that dumb dress. I was perfectly fine before you and your help came along.” Wire dug a stained hoof into the material on the crimson bucks dress and left a smear.

“Wh-What?” Dawn jerked away and sounded hurt. “Fine? Would you call that rotten leg of yours fine? Given a few more days and you would have lost it.” He was quick to begin washing the stain away with a spare cloth. “Why are you dirtying my wonderful dress you meanie?”

“Am I some kind of charity case? A project for you to fix?” He dodged the other pony’s question, “Too bad I’m not some sick slave kid, then I would get the whole ten feet treatment.”

“Ten feet treatment? So I didn’t massage you every day,” Dawn giggled. “This is absurd.”

Wire wrestled with his desire to deck the laughing pony, he really really wanted to punch that smug look off his muzzle. Maybe break a few ribs, see how he likes to fix them without any painkillers.

“It’s okay Wire. You’re upset. I understand.” The crimson pony had removed the smudge Wire had caused. “The buck I put in your food to get you moving is making you angrier too.”

“No. You are the one making me angry.” He rose on his hindlegs and pushed Dawn backwards onto the ground. “I should have let you bleed out. Things would be so much better for me.”

“You don’t mean that,” the doctor pouted his lips and rubbed his chest. “I saw it on your face back then. It was more genuine than the rage you have flowing trough your veins now. You got beat up, and you’re in pain. I’ll make it go away, just be patient.”

“Maybe if you were a doctor instead of some idiot playing nurse!” He wanted to rip the dress off and burn it, the crimson pony wasn’t worthy of it’s soft pastel blue color.

“Ohohoho. Watch out Celestia. We have a badass here,” the doctor retorted in a sharp manner.

“Let me guess. You want hot chocolate in the mornings, and all the med-x in the world? Do you think medical knowledge comes easy? I am not just going to sit back and take it when you insult my work, and call me an idiot. At least direct the rage where it belongs. At Charger and his glow-pony.”

“If I hadn’t tried helping you find those foals this wouldn’t have happened. All you did the entire time was cry!” Wire wished he had just left the red pony to die in the hospital lobby. He wished he hadn’t read those foals a book. He wished he hadn’t given Dawn the stealthbucks, or tried to escape from the hospital.

“And all you do is complain and moan. This wouldn’t have happened if you’d let me take the Celestia damned foals with me to the hospital in the first place.” The doctor yawned involuntarily but forced the anger to resurface. “Show some compassion for Luna’s sake.”

“Bring em to the hospital?! So they could get killed? I’m sure Charger loves kids, and his invisibitch too. It would be one big party. And you could be the center of attention. Maybe you could call all your friends too! If you had any!”

“I don’t care about whatever Charger wanted. If the kids hadn’t been kidnapped we could just have pretended it was for Friendship City and gone our separate ways. Grow a brain you damned moron.”

“Fuck you. I bet those kids are happy they don’t have to hear you anymore.”

“They were taken by Slavers, or Raiders, or worse because they trusted us to come back for them. How can they be happy?” Dawn cringed and hid his face behind a set of front hooves. “I’ll find them,” he whimpered. “I’ll set things right again.”

Wire felt great. He’d made an emotionally fragile pony break down in an alley way. He was a strong pony, and he didn’t need any of these nagging doubts in the back of his head. Did he really even care about those dumb kids? The poor Innocent kids that had just been freed by a princess in a dress.

“Your mane is tangled really badly. It needs brushing, and I wanted to see if i could sneak up on you.” Four Leaf replied innocently. Still dangling from the brush. “Turns out I can, but now I’m stuck.” He heaved and used his powerful hind-legs on Wire’s cheeks, but all he did was drag the thief to the floor. “It’s not budging. Help.”

The filly jumped on Wire’ back as well but it was futile, the brush was stuck.

“Sorry,” They said in unison.

Fuck. It didn’t matter anymore, they were gone, and he couldn’t do anything.

“I won’t just leave them and not try.” the doctor sniffed and rubbed his nose on the white coat with pink butterflies on. “I can’t.”

“And what if they don’t want you back? And you’re left all alone?” He may have asked Dawn the question, but he knew it was pointed at himself. What will you do then Wire?

“And what if they are dead? If I let possibilities stop me, I’d still be in the hospital.” Dawn took a few steps forward and tried to embrace Wire. He was met with an extended forehoof and fell back in defeat.

“What are you tryin to do?”

“I wanted to hug you,” he muttered back.

Hug me? You gotta be kiddin. He had been having a throw down with him, and now the pony wanted a hug. His mind wasn’t even sure how to make the leap of logic that required this situation to exist.

“Why?” Either Dawn was crazy, or he was double crazy. He almost felt a pang of guilt for the pitiful thing he was looking at. He was too tired to yell anymore. His head hurt too much to be angry.

“Because I’m hurt, crashing from drugs I took to stay awake, and now I want comfort from somepony I fancy.” There was a faint blush and Dawn looked down. “I guess I could have asked first.”

Wire shook his head. Pieces of the puzzle that was Dawn fell into place. And he wasn’t liking the picture it was forming. “Listen, kid.-”

“Now that’s just damn cute,” A burly Unicorn was looking at them from the entrance. He had wrapped a rather crude and dinged up combat shotgun in an orange magical glow and was pointing it at Wire. “It’s what you get for shouting so the entire Wasteland can hear you. Though we are more interested in whats up in the place you two came from than the caps we will earn from selling you on the market later.”

Wire froze, all the big strong stallion stuff he had felt when yelling at an unarmed pony in a dress faded in an instant. Nothing sobers you up quicker than a twelve gauge to the face. He would have to rely on his amazing speech craft to get him out of this.

“I don’t have no idea what you’re talkin bout mister.” Wire feigned a smile at the pony. He couldn’t chance a look back at Dawn. Maybe the red pony would pull out a gun and shoot the shotgun waving pony and they could run. He wouldn’t bet on the odds though.

“Been tracking your movement since you left the hospital. Not that hard given that you fainted and your mare had to carry you. Or do I have to refresh your memory?” The stallion grinned, daring Wire to try something before more ponies popped up from the edges of the two buildings.

Not only were they trapped, but they were many and Wire had nothing to explode them all with. Taking just a quick glance the thief could tell that all of Orange pony’s so-called friends were armed.

Wire began retreating backwards slowly. Eventually he bumped into Dawn. The idiot had fallen to his haunches in some kind of shock. If I just had a smoke grenade. He glanced towards the intruders. “Now, there ain’t no need for all this now is there?”

“Nope. So long as you give me your saddle bags, we can all just get along nicely. We even have a set of necklaces for you to put on. The newest fashion.” Now that his friends were out and about the stallion took the time to grab a smoke and laugh at his little joke.

Dawn’s saddlebags hit the ground, and the crimson colt was unable to hide a very basic sense of fear as some of the ponies came closer with slave collars.

Just a simple shackle, with a small amount of plastic explosives above the neck bone. They never maim, or injure,it’s one hundred percent fatal. Wire held his breath as the clasp clicked and the collar beeped once.

Wire had seen the process before, and it never really left an impact on him. But now he was on the receiving end. The thief was at least grateful that the device couldn’t fit around his slimmer than average neck, if only he had a set of precision tools...

“Don’t mess with the loot. Javelin has dibs so wait with splitting til she gets back,” said the orange unicorn to the pony handling Dawn’s saddlebags. With a snarl of disappointment that pony pushed Dawn forward.

“Get a move on.”

Dawn gave Wire a mournful, defeated look while walking forward as commanded. The thief struggled to get his legs moving, and with each squeak from the braces a dull pain shook trough him.

Already now Wire knew he was going to get shit for it, but that wasn’t something he could fix. Instead he kept up pace with the red colt..

The walk went on and his mind came up with nothing. Something was wrong with his head. He hadn’t had any Med-X in as long as he could remember, and he was paying the price. His mind was gone. Replaced with whatever that stupid crimson pony had fed him.

The sad doctor looked old with wrinkles around his pathetic, sleep-deprived eyes. There was no light left in them, and that fake smile was gone. Wire tried smiling to cheer Dawn up, but there was no happy ending from here on out and they both knew it.

The doctor even looked away and ignored all his effort to make nice. It was all on him to fix this..

Wire looked towards the apparent leader of the slaver outfit. The orange pony was looking into the strange saddle bags they had stripped from Dawn.

Slavers were still ponies. Unlike raiders they could be reasonable, so a little conversation was worth a shot.

“So, where we headed?” Wire kept his tone gentle and conversational.

The slaver let out smoke from his cigarette and looked back at the thief. Boredom was practically written in his face. “Back to base. Then we wait for Javelin while we look at the hospital entrance for more ponies.”

“Why yall interested in the hospital all the sudden. I mean, it’s been there since the war.” Either they expect more ponies, or, Charger’s little display has em comin’ out of the steam-works.

“We tried once before but failed. Then the rangers came and opened it for us. Tried to take it from them. Wasn’t very pretty.”

He looked away from Wire, but quickly returned to look back. “And you Squeaky. How come a pony that isn’t with the rangers comes walking out of the hospital with his marefriend?”

Why did they keep thinking Dawn was a mare? Do these ponies not have mares in their base? It didn’t matter, maybe they’d take mercy on the two of them if they thought of them like this. “Well, we uh, we were salvaging supplies for Friendship.”

“Uhu,” the stallion stated in a very blank way and returned to keeping his eyes on the road.

The journey wasn’t that long. Pretty soon they were being herded into a building overlooking the hospital. Most windows were boarded shut, and a barrel filled with an overgrowth of smelly, glowing mushrooms represented the entrance to just another layer of grey and brown. “Welcome to Casa hotel. Feel free to go crazy while we decide what to do with you..”

Wire didn’t like the foreboding nature of that. He was a bit relived though, since a slaver operation couldn’t take place in such a small and easily accessible, and to a lesser extent escape-able place such as this old-world hotel.

The relatively large entourage of ponies that had escorted them so far dissipated to different areas of the building, a few going up the stairs and the others with the bigger guns sticking to the entrance, reliving other ponies that were keeping watch.

Smiles and sideways glances were levied at the blue dress wearing pony, who was still unresponsive. Wire assumed the doctor was stuck inside his own head, trying to block out the apparent world crushing fate that had encompassed the both of them.

Something in Wire’s head flicked on, gears began turning, and a few thoughts falling into place. From the surface of it, Dawn looked no more than a useless emotional mare. Not really good for any type of normal slave work.

Sure they could whore him out, but if they were to look under the dress it would be back to step one. The doctor was useless to them.

Wire himself wasn’t any better. His coat was stained with blood and grime from his injuries, his back leg was glued together by a brace. His stature was that of a malnourished runt. He was worth even less to any potential buyer. Maybe this was a way out? For the both of them.

“You aren’t considerin’ us two as merchandise, are you?” Wire asked the pony in charge. The pony shook his head in response.

“That’s probably where you end up though. Can’t let you go to Friendship and spoil our plans. For all we know you could be Rangers trying to report back to base.”

“You’re kiddin right? Us look like Rangers.” This might be the third dumbest thing he’s heard today.

“Just a theory we had. Can’t just let you go either way. Not until Javelin has had her sayso.” The stallion pulled out another smoke and lit it.

“I’m sure we aint worth your time, we could all just forget this mess and be on our ways. You look like a reasonable sort of stallion.” Wire pleaded with the pony, hoping he was a just dumb grunt.

“It’s because I am reasonable that we went over and captured you,” He uttered while pointing towards a room. “Just get in there. I’d rather keep things on this level and not let my bored friends have their ways with you both. I can assure you it won’t be pleasant.”

Wire gulped, knowing it wasn’t going to be fun and games if he kept trying his luck. He nodded, agreeing with the apparent leader, and took a look towards the room where they were going to be put.

He couldn’t see much inside, no lamp or light was turned on, but he did notice it was the only door in sight with a big heavy lock on it.

The thief reached out and bit into the fabric of the crimson pony’s dress and began to tug Dawn along with him. There was no telling what trouble the buck could get into in his state.

As soon as they were beyond the threshold of the door it slammed shut and several clicks emanated from the door frame. They were struck.

The room was sweltering hot and pitch black, but at least it didn’t smell of death. Wire began to feel around for a light in the room. Dawn’s horn lit up: Casting the room in a soft yellow glow.

“Thanks.” Wire attempt to make things right fell on deaf ears. No response came from the doctor. At least the silent treatment was better than hearing him cry about it.

Wire set about searching to room for anything useful. The room looked nothing more than a storage closet for whatever the building had been before the war.

There were sheets here that hadn’t been reduced to scrap, and an actual soft mattress was leaning against the wall. The thief noticed sagging cardboard boxes resting on shelves in the back. The glow from the unicorn wasn’t enough for him to sift though them, but at least from his place by the door.

Wire tugged at the hefty mattress until it slid horizontally across the floor, he placed a hoof on it and confirmed that the entire thing was in excellent condition. Maybe this’ll cheer up that prissy buck.

“Hey doc, there’s a uh, a bed to sit on over here. You can get off this dirty floor and maybe get some rest if you know what I mean?”

The doctor muttered a small thanks and laid down on the mattress. “The wasteland is full of shit.” The doctor yawned and the magical light dimmed.

Great, there goes my light. “Yeah, it sure is nice.” Wire sat down on the edge of the mattress. At least it was most likely safer with the slavers than with Charger and that invisible pony. “Things’ll work out. We’ll find those foals.”

“Maybe.” The doctor sounded exhausted and gave a tired moan as he rolled over on the makeshift bed. “I’m just tired, alone, and I feel horrible.”

“Well, it aint everyday you get captured by slavers, but look at the upside. You have your dress, I guess.” Wire took one of the sheets from the ground and pulled it towards the red pony. “Here.”

“Why?” Dawn hurriedly tugged the sheet Wire held out. A hurt sniffle rippled trough the air as the doctor laid down and grew silent.

Wire could imagine that the doctor had lead a very sheltered life or spent far too long inside the safe walls of Friendship. Dawn probably saw him as an amazing marvel of wasteland experience and because he’d saved Dawns life back there.

He regretted that outburst in the alley now, but it was for the best.

“Get some rest doc.” He extended a hoof to pat his head, “I’ll try and figur-” He let out a loud yelp as pain rippled trough his body and leaped from the mattress before he could comfort the sad pony.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” It felt like rebar had just pushed though his flank and now he was going to die. Bleeding out in a dark room with a depressed doctor. Wait.

Wire reached his head around and grabbed the foreign object; A sharp metal spring from the bed. He pulled it out in one motion and winced with hurt.

Using his hoof and mouth Wire began straightening the spring. The metal was sturdy and unwieldy, but Wire grit his teeth and pulled harder.

The thief laughed a bit at the sturdy tool he had made.The thief tried to spin his collar around around and tamper with his own collar, but a single beep came from the small explosive on the side.

Wire gave up on working his own, but the crimson colt snuggled under the covers was sleeping very hard. He sat behind the pony. Staring down the deadly device the thief began to psyche himself up. You got this, its one of the simplest bombs around. Signal flips a switch, bomb goes boom. A few wires is all. I can... I can...

Wire took a look at his shaking hooves in the darkness. he wasn’t good enough, not strong enough and Dawn might die if he tried.

There wasn’t any Med-X and he had nothing except wits to defuse the collar. It wouldn't be enough. He couldn’t. Instead he wrapped the piece of metal around his bleached fore-hoof. Nopony would find it unless they looked for it.

The bleached fur on his leading down to the hoof however might just make ponies curious enough. That bastard Dawn, ruining his good hooves.

He crawled into the bed but made sure to keep some distance between them. No need to give the doctor ideas.

Level up:

Sad filly points +10

“Charged With Destruction” 1 Rank Prerequisites: PER 7 Repair 50 Explosives 65: “Smoke bomb, barrel bomb, dirty bomb... you name it, I can whip it up with a tin can, a bushel of corn and a few boxes of detergent. Molotov? He was a pussy. Here, try some of my jellied gasoline gas-bombs. Made the gasoline and shaved the aluminum myself!” Your zeal for explosives has lead to you become rather... creative with the bits and pieces that litter the wasteland. Homemade Explosives recipes unlocked.

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All credits for the setting go to Kkat, author of the original story Fallout Equestria published on Equestria Daily. Please support the sidefic authors that continue to explore her universe:Sidefic Googledoc.

Story is coauthored by Volk, Redundant and Damhoof.

Big hugs to DamnfoolBronyauthor of"Kiss Equestria Goodbye"