Fallout Equestria: Duty

Fallout Equestria: Duty

Chapter 32

Trust

“What I tell you is the honest truth.”

~O~Frostmane~O~

I whinnied angrily as I pulled on the reins these Ponies had put on me. My horn was rather uncooperative, and I could only guess that I had suffered magical burnout during my fight with the Sirens. That I didn't feel the usual signs of it however, only served as a reminder that I hadn't gotten used to my new body yet. The three red robed Unicorns dragging me somewhere had annoyed looks on their faces, as they were pulled towards me once more.

Sadly, the straps on the mouthpiece of the reins were so tight that I couldn't even speak. Two more Unicorns joined the three that were still biting down hard on the leather straps, and finally they succeeded in dragging me along. Hooves are no good when it comes to friction, so all I could do at that point was to refuse to trot along quietly. The dark hallway they were dragging me through was too small for me to spread my wings too, so I couldn't even use them to offer some more resistance.

        “That is really not necessary!” I heard the familiar voice of Lemon Butter from up ahead. The stallion seemed to be quite upset about something. Given the situation I was in, he was most likely referring to my treatment.

        “She's dangerous, don't you see that? She's taken out a peaceful caravan without any provocation, and killed everypony in Brothel.” another male voice, an unfamiliar one, replied. The other stallion sounded as if he was in his sixties or seventies. He also sounded as if he was angry at me for what I had done.

The hallway opened into a rather large room. It's center was emblazoned with the Cutiemark of Twilight Sparkle, the mare of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences. Lemon Butter was arguing with a blue Unicorn stallion there. It was the only part of the room that was illuminated. For some reason, the rest of it was shrouded in complete darkness that even my Alicorn senses could not penetrate.

        “And I keep telling you, she wouldn't have done that if she didn't have a sufficient reason, Apple Candy! For bucks sake mate, she just saved your entire settlement singlehoofedly!” the Pegasus shouted, jabbing the Unicorn in the chest with a hoof. Apple Candy only batted my former subordinates hoof away, before looking at me. His eyes narrowed, and I got the distinct feeling that he didn't like me.

        “Enough of that already Lemon. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to do anything at this point. The council will have to decide over her... fate.” he spat, as the five Ponies who were dragging me came to a stop right next to the pair. Lemon Butter rushed over to me, apologizing again and again. They even allowed him to remove my reins.

Rolling my tongue a few times to get rid of the disgusting taste it had left in my mouth, I looked at my former subordinate, cocking an eyebrow.

        “Mind to explain all of this, Lemon Butter? I don't really like to be restrained when I wake up.” I said in as even a tone as I could manage while throwing a look at the chains on my hooves. If Lemon Butter trusted these Ponies, then I was willing to play along for now. If they tried anything funny however, I would do my best to get away.

        “Vice-General... I'm terribly sorry. The Twilight Society thinks you're a threat, even though you helped them in the fight against the Rangers. I've done my best to convince them, but they just won't listen. You've been brought here to face a trial by the Societies high council... Again, I'm sorry, but it's the best I could talk them down to from outright killing and dissecting you.” he explained, hanging his head.

        “Dissecting me?”

I blinked, looking over at the other stallion. He was still looking at me with hatred in his eyes. What had I done to him? I couldn't remember having met him before, so I was pretty sure that I hadn't done anything to him personally. Did he, maybe, have friends in Brothel? But that sounded unlikely as well, since Lemon Butter seemed to be his friend, and Lemon had tried to infiltrate Brothel.

        “To see what makes you tick. It might have given us some insight on how you actually ascended. Would have been useful information to have, if your kind ever came here again.” Apple Candy said. Something struck me as odd. How did that stallion know about Brothel? If I could trust the date and time on my Pipbuck, then that had happened only about twelve hours ago. It was almost like with...

        “You're DJ PON-3, aren't you?” I said flatly, making the stallion jump in surprise. He exchanged a look with Lemon Butter, who shook his head, before he himself nodded slowly.

        “Actually, I wanted to meet you. It's the only reason I came to Manehatten. I have a deal I wanted to offer....” I began, but the DJ cut me off.

        “I don't think I'd be interested in any deal you'd have to offer. Homage has told me all about you. You act all kind and gentle, but as soon as you get the chance you slaughter everypony in sight. If I had my way, I wouldn't even be here.”

It was my turn to be surprised. He had met Homage? That was... actually good news, since I had intended for her to stay with him anyway. What he had said however, made me more than sad. Was that how Homage was thinking of me now? I had to admit that my anger had gotten the better of me with the caravan Ponies, but in the end I had done something good. At least I thought so. By taking them out, I had prevented them from capturing any other foals and sell them off as slaves after all.

        “Is Homage safe? Where is she?” I demanded, while Lemon Butter could only look back and forth between Apple Candy and me.

        “She's in another part of this tower, and yes she is safe. Not that it would be any of your business though. I've taken her on as my apprentice, which makes me her guardian, and I don't want you anywhere near her.”

        “I... I understand. Well... the deal I mentioned earlier? I wanted to offer you some access codes to Ministry of Awesome mainframes and broadcasting stations... in exchange for her safety.” I mused in a sad tone, looking away from the two stallions. I didn't want them to see the tears that had formed in my eyes.

Maybe it was better that way. If she thought I was a monster, she wouldn't try to come after us after all. I couldn't drag her into this any further.

        “I must admit that I would be interested in these codes after all...” DJ PON-3 suddenly said, his voice much softer now. I threw a quick glance over to him, seeing that the stallion was wearing a Pipbuck. It beeped a moment later as it received the codes I had transmitted.

        “Take them. What you're doing is very important. Just promise me something. When all is said and done, I'll come back here. I'll leave something in your care then. Promise me that you will give it to her once she is old enough to understand what I have done, and what I am yet to do.” I muttered softly. I could see him nod out of the corner of my eye as he was looking through the data I had sent to his Pipbuck.

I intended to get out of here alive and get rid of Gear Turn. The mare was my responsibility, and I intended to solve the problem the old fashioned way. Once I had done that, I would come back here, and leave a memory orb of the night Homage had run away from us. She just had to understand why I had done it. Maybe... Just maybe she would be able to forgive me if she saw it for herself.... But even if she didn't, she deserved to know the truth.

A moment later, a deep voice came from the darkness before us. Lemon Butter and Apple Candy straightened up, while I did my best to wipe away my tears.

        “Vice General Frostmane, the council has assembled today to decide what we should do with you. All evidence brought to us indicated that you are guilty of murdering innocent Ponies in gruesome ways. However.... our own investigations tell us a different story. Would you like to say something in your defense, before we hoof out the verdict?” the voice from the darkness asked, and I stepped forward. There was no way I would just lay down and die for doing the right thing.

        “I have no idea who you Ponies are, or where you get your information from, but I am not a murderer. I am a soldier. Vice-General Frostmane, service number MS-00001. I was the commanding officer of the platoon known as the Moon Skulls, which was part of the first armored Luna division. I do not deny that Chain Whip and everypony in his caravan died by the hooves of myself and my marefriend. Neither do I deny that it was me who brought Brothel down. What I deny, is that these acts were crimes. These Ponies were capturing and selling other Ponies. They used them as sex slaves, breaking their wills to make them more obedient. What I did, was not murder. What I did, was remove a cancerous growth from the body of Equestria, as is my duty as an Equestrian military officer.” I stated, looking into the darkness as if I was looking the Pony I was speaking to directly into the eyes.

Silence followed, which reigned for several long minutes before another voice came from the darkness. This one was female, and didn't come from straight ahead, but from my right.

        “You speak true, Vice-General. Our agents have investigated the scenes of these battles, and they have come to the same conclusion. We apologize for the inconvenience we have caused you. However, there is another thing you could be able to help us with.” the mare said. The cool sensation of releasing magic washed over me as the chains on my hooves opened and fell to the ground. Apple Candy didn't seem too happy with my verdict though. He was looking at the darkness in shocked surprise.

        “And what would that be? I'd be happy to help if I can, even though it might have to wait until I am done with my current mission.”

        “One of our agents went to Hoofington some time ago. When she returned, she broke any ties she had with our organization. Usually, we would allow her to be on her way, but we can't allow that this time. You see, she was in Hoofington to retrieve part of a magical experiment that had been referenced in Twilight Sparkles notes. It was called Project Chimera.” another mare explained from my left. My blood ran cold. I knew that name. I was, essentially, a product of Project Chimera after all.

        “What part of the Project? What part did she retrieve?” I demanded frantically.

        “What's wrong, Vice-General?” Lemon Butter asked, obviously noticing my distress.

        “Not now Lemon. I'll explain later.”

        “Sharp Edge was tasked with retrieving part of a magical tree. In Twilight Sparkles notes it was said that it was used to create clones of other Ponies, and that these clones were called Blanks. Ponies without a Cutiemark or a soul of their own in other words. We wanted to study it. As far as we know, she managed to break into the facility that experiment was carried out in, but she never returned to the Society afterwards. Instead, she is now working in some old ruins that are located in the Everfree forest.”

A stallion who sounded as if his voice came from directly above me said. This was certainly dangerous. Project Chimera had been sealed after some of the tests had produced quite dangerous results. There was no telling what a skilled scientist could do with that kind of technology...

        “Wait... Twilight Sparkle didn't have anything to do with that Project. As far as I remember, she was one of the ones who voted to shut it down by force if need be.” I said, feeling a little confused.

        “That's correct. Twilight Sparkle used her influence to have the Project sealed, so the actual fusing spell can not be used. We are merely interested in the cloning process, since it seems like and interesting piece of Arcano Tech.” an old sounding mare explained.

        “And what do I get out of it? I mean, I have somepony else I have to go after right now, and that one is highly dangerous as well.”

        “We offer no reward for this. All we can do, is give you back your belongings and send you on your way. Just know that we have been able to find out that Sharp Edges goal is to work with the genetic material of Alicorns.”

I sighed. Gear Turn would have to wait it seemed. If there was a mare out there that had access to the Chimera technology and that wanted to clone Alicorns... It certainly demanded immediate action, due to what I had seen with Moonsinger. They tended to go insane, and they could wreak a whole lot of destruction once they did.

        “OK, I'll do it. Where in Everfree is she exactly?” I asked. The answer I got almost brought me to my knees....

~O~Firestorm~O~

Hope had taken a liking to the calm and gentle demeanor of Golden Sunshine almost instantly, and so I finally had some time to rest. The two of them were, as far as I knew, in the kitchens. My Alicorn friend was a decent cook, I knew that, but I was a little skeptical as to how well she would do when she had no fresh ingredients available. Not to mention the sheer number of Ponies she would have to cook for.

Laying down in the Princess suite of the Alicorn, I stretched out my wings. They were quite stiff, since I didn't have an opportunity to fly for quite a while. The bed was... really quite nice to be honest. It's sheets were made of red silk, while the four poster bed was big enough to fit about eight normal sized Ponies in it. Remembering the new size of my marefriends body, I realized that this was a good thing. A normal sized bed just wasn't big enough for her anymore.

A slight blush found it's way onto my face when I remembered the last time I had shared this bed with Frostmane. It had been a fun time indeed, but I also knew that it was the first, and last time I got to explore her Unicorn body. I didn't even know if Alicorns had sexual desires or not.

Groaning, I turned onto my back and looked up at the mirrored ceiling. I could see my reflection in the mirrors, and I looked like hell. There were bags under my eyes, and my feathers looked ruffled. My mane and tail were... tangled. I wasn't dirty, since I had taken a shower before leaving Brothel, but I didn't take the time to properly groom myself. Sighing, I decided to take a shower before taking a nap and see what I could do to make myself representable again. I didn't want to look as if I had just gone ten rounds against a dragon when Frostmane returned after all.

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The hot water running through my mane and coat felt simply divine, and I could feel how at least some of my muscles relaxed. Just to be on the safe side, I had placed my armor bracelet on the sink outside the shower. This ship was truly amazing. The seawater processing machinery in the belly of it extracted the salt from the water, and made it drinkable. Even a major part of the radiation got cleansed that way, so that the water was only slightly irradiated.

The soft click of the bathroom door from behind me alerted me to the presence of another Pony. I turned around to look over my shoulder as I sat down to soap the front of my body. It was Hope. She just stood there, watching me curiously. I smiled softly at her.

        “Well, if you want to join me, go ahead. You can wash my back, and I'll wash yours.” I said, putting one of the hoof held brushes on to start brushing my mane. Hope seemed to take my offer, since she stepped inside the shower with me. It was big enough to fit two Alicorns so even with the two of us in there, there was more than enough space for us to move around.

When I looked over at the gray Pegasus again, I saw that she was looking at my flank, while hot water was running down her body. Following her gaze, I saw that she was actually looking at my Cutiemark. It was a blazing Tornado.

        “So... you like my Cutiemark? It's a little unusual I guess, but I think it fits me perfectly.” I chuckled, trying to crane my neck to get a look at Hopes Cutiemark. So far, I didn't check if she even had hers yet. Since she seemed to be around fourteen years old though, I had just assumed that she did. Hope didn't move an inch. She just stared at me.

When I finally got a good look at the mares flank, I saw that her Cutiemark was actually a heart. A heart with thorny vines around it to be precise. I had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean though. Moving over to her, I saw that, despite the hot water running over her, Hope was shivering.

        “Shhh... You're not afraid of me, are you? Come on, let's get you washed up and find you a room so you can rest a bit. It's been a rough day for you as well. Would you like that?” I asked, and she just nodded without looking at me. It did strike me as odd that she was suddenly so hesitant to meet my gaze, but I didn't make anything of it.

I hoofed her a brush, so she could scrub my back, while I went to work on her wings. They were in a bad shape. Her feathers were soaking wet and I doubted that anypony had ever taught her about proper wingcare. Not at all like mine, which had been taken care of before Hope had come in. Right now the water was pearling off of them, due to the special wing cream I had found in one of the cabinets.

What happened next made me gasp in utter shock. I looked back, and saw Hope standing there, the shaft of the brush protruding from her muzzle, with the actual brush facing away from me. The other end of the shaft was stuck in me...

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

I was standing in front of Hope, who was sitting in front of the sink, her head hanging. The brush she had used to try and please me, was laying at my hooves. I sighed. I was wet, cold and upset at the same time. Not a very fun combination.

        “So... what went through your head back there Hope? I meant it when I said that you could wash my back. I didn't mean anything sexual by it. How did you get the idea that I did?” I asked, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.

It took Hope a few moments to actually start explaining it to me, and when she did, she didn't look at me. According to the young mare, this kind of stuff had been expected of her and the other mares in Brothel when they were dealing with a female customer. Some of them also did it to each other, if they liked the other mare, or just for fun.

The more the young one talked, the more I realized that her “training” was much more deeply engraved into her mind than I had thought. It was disturbing to think about the fact that she had never learned that there could be non-sexual physical contact. Hope even told me her Cutiemark story, which involved her and five stallions... It was... disgusting to say the least. When she was done, my coat had almost dried already.

        “Please don't hate me...” she whimpered, as she saw my shocked expression. I seriously didn't know what to say to that. Many of the things she had told me were hard to process, since I had a much different upbringing. With my mother being a Pegasus, and my father being an Earthpony, there had been other difficulties. None of which had involved things like this however. When I had composed myself enough to act, I did the first thing that came to my mind and embraced the mare.

        “I don't hate you. There's just a lot you don't know and....Mhmmmm” I began, but Hope kissed me. I drew away immediately, looking at her reproachfully.

        “Sorry...” she said sheepishly, sticking out her tongue at me.

In the end, we both took another shower and I decided to keep her with me that night. I wasn't comfortable with having her alone in a room for now, since some of the male slaves we had rescued had a similar mentality as her. It was the main reason we had separated them. Watching a major orgy unfold between the lucid slaves, that inevitably involved the broken ones, was really something I didn't want to see ever again.

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

I was half asleep when I felt a hoof caress the base of my left wing. It felt good to be honest. Soon, soft lips were nibbling on my left ear. I turned around, not opening my eye as I reached out to return the favor. When my hoof failed to find a horn on the Ponies forehead however, my eye snapped open. The room was only dimly lit, and I could make out the silhouette of Hope next to me. Her eyes were closed, and she was still breathing as if she was asleep. Just as I wanted to say something, the door opened and somepony flicked on the lights.

        “Oh....” I heard a familiar voice say, and I immediately looked over to the door. Frostmane was standing there, sweating profusely and wearing two very heavy looking saddlebags on her back. For a long moment we just looked at each other, while one of Hopes hooves was resting on my flank.

Time seemed to have frozen, as I could watch how my marefriends expression changed from one of shock to one of cold anger. It was the expression she had worn while slaughtering the Ponies of the caravan, and during the countless combat assignments we had been on while we had been part of the Ministry of Awesome. Frostmane was analyzing the situation, trying to understand what she was seeing, and how to deal with it.

Batting Hopes hoof off my flank, I jumped out of bed. I knew that it had most likely looked bad, but I just had to try and make her see that it wasn't what it looked like. Frantically searching my brain for something to say, I ended up saying what I was trying not to say.

        “It's not what it looks like!” I sputtered, mentally kicking myself in the flank for doing so. Frostmanes eyes narrowed at me, as she stepped into the room and set her saddlebags down on a sofa that stood next to the door. Hope had, of course, awoken at this point and was hiding under the sheets. My marefriends demeanor was certainly enough to scare even me.

        “Well... Let me tell you what it looks like then. It looks like I haven't been away for a full forty-eight hours, and you have already taken another mare to bed with you. Not only that, but to the bed we both shared.” Frostmane said, trying to keep her voice calm, but I tell that she was doing her best not to cry.

        “And I tell you, it's not what it looks like... She's one of the slaves we freed. For Celestias sake Frostmane, she's not even half your age! I only allowed her to sleep here to take care of her.” I said, and I immediately knew that I had, once again, said something stupid. Frostmanes eyes widened for a brief moment, before her expression changed once again. This time to one of sadness. Her ears were pinned back, and she let her head hang.

        “I trusted you with my life so many times, and you never once disappointed me. Now I trust you with my heart, and this is what it comes down to...” she said, tears starting to fall from her face.

        “Frostmane it's not what you...” I began, but she cut me off, her head snapping back up suddenly.

        “I DIED for you, you know that? I'm sorry if you don't find my new body as attractive as my old one, but I only changed so I could safe you! When Luna offered me a chance to help you, she said that I would have to die to do so! I thought she would use my life force to create a temporary body for herself. But no. Instead she BURNED ME ALIVE, and made me into an Alicorn! Do you think I wanted to become like this? Being this tall, I barely fit through any normal door without ducking my head, and those feathers are itching like crazy and I have no idea what to do about it! But I endured it, because I did it for YOU!” Frostmane shouted.

I winced. She had been burned alive to become an Alicorn? I didn't know that. Only now did I start to think about what this transformation had done to my marefriend. She had a problem with her self-esteem before, but now... She had been changed on a very fundamental level, and she had done it to safe me from Brothel. Just thinking about it made me dizzy. I couldn't begin to fathom what it must have been like to be burned alive, and then wake up in a completely different body. Taking a step forward, I reached out with one of my wings to embrace her.

A blue shield came into existence between us, that barely missed my primary feathers. Had they been in it's path, they would have been clipped off in an instant. It was then that I realized just how mad and hurt Frostmane was, and I couldn't even blame her. I had known that Hope might do something like that, but I had not taken into account what Frostmane might think about the whole thing. Just as I wanted to say something, Golden Sunshine stepped into the room behind the still sobbing light blue Alicorn that was my marefriend.

        “I think that's enough, don't you think Frostmane? You're both upset right now. I think it's better if neither of you says another word, and you try to talk it out tomorrow. Otherwise one of you might say, or do, something she'll regret. Besides, you have a visitor waiting for you in the saloon, sister.” the white mare said, gently nudging Frostmane towards the door. The look she threw me over her shoulder however, let me know that she wanted to have a serious word with me later.

~O~Frostmane~O~

I let Golden Sunshine lead me to the saloon of the Alicorn, while thinking about what I had just witnessed. I had come back here at top speed as soon the Twilight Society Ponies had returned my saddlebags to me, only making a stop at Brothel and the scene of the battle with the caravan to pick up our belongings. I had seen so much death in these last twenty-four hours, and much of it had been caused by myself. One of my former subordinates had even died in my hooves.

All I had yearned for, was to lay at Firestorms side and forget about everything for just one night. To find that inner peace that she gave me once more. Instead, when I had flicked on the lights, I had seen Firestorm on the bed, her hoof stretched out towards another mare, while that mare was caressing her flank... It just wasn't fair. How could she do this to me? She knew me better than any other Pony alive today, and yet... and yet...

The double doors to the saloon opened, and Golden Sunshine slapped my behind with a wing gently to make me go in on my own. I looked back at her for a moment. She just smiled encouragingly at me, before gesturing towards the bar at the far end of the room with a hoof. I followed her gesture with my eyes, and spotted a cyan colored Pegasus ghoul sitting there. A ridiculously colored set of Power-Armor sat at the counter next to her. The few remaining tufts of her mane, the many wounds on her body that would never heal and the fact that her wings were almost featherless, made her look like a rotting corpse. Nonetheless, I recognized the mare. It was Rainbow Dash.

Wiping away my tears, I trotted towards my former Commander as she chucked down another glass of Apple Cider.

        “You know...” she began as I reached her “... I didn't even think there was a single bottle of this stuff left in the entire wasteland... First grade Apple family cider.”

        “Glad to see you enjoy it.” I replied, my voice sounding slightly hoarse due to all the crying I'd been doing. Dash looked up, and I saw that she had a sad expression on her face. Gingerbread had said, that ghouls couldn't cry. From the expression on my friends face, I knew that she would have cried her heart out if she had been able to.

        “Makes me remember her. One of my best friends... Applejack...” Rainbow sighed, putting the glass down again. Golden Sunshine had told me, shortly after my arrival here, that the ship that had evacuated the slaves had left as soon as they were all on board the Alicorn. So why was Dash still here?

        “Well... if there are any more bottles of the stuff, feel free to take them.”

        “No worries there. I've already packed up all of them.” she chuckled, filling her glass once more. This time however, she didn't drink it herself. Instead she pushed it towards me.

        “So you're an Alicorn now, huh? Should I start calling you “Princess Frostmane” now, or will Frosty do?”

I couldn't help but chuckle despite of myself. Taking the glass of hard Apple Cider in my magic, I downed it in one gulp. It was, by far, the most delicious and yet the strongest drink I'd had in a while. Thinking back, it was the first real drink I had since coming out of stasis... I briefly wondered what had happened to the bottle of cooking Cherry I had scavenged so long ago. Had we sold it? I didn't remember. I noticed that Dash was eying me curiously.

        “What?” I asked, before realizing that I hadn't given her an answer yet. “Frosty will do, thanks. I've got no ambitions of ruling Equestria. Even if you asked me to, I wouldn't do it.” I added as the warm feeling of the alcohol began to spread through my insides. It felt good, and it was exactly what I had needed.

        “Good to know. There would be a whole lot of opposition if you tried to pull a stunt like that, and I wouldn't be able to help you with it. No offense, but while I think you make a great commander, I don't think you have what it takes to lead a country.” Dash said, her gaze drawn to my flank. I already knew what she was staring at. Lunas soul fragment had told me that my Cutiemark might change, once it left me for good. In fact, I had been a blank flank again until recently. I sighed as I turned a bit to give the mare a better look at it.

        “I know what you are about to say. Don't hold back. Laugh if you want to...” I challenged. My new Cutiemark was a little bit of an oddity, and that was saying something if I considered that I had seen Ponies with a Skull on their flanks. Mine wasn't quite as graphic, yet I did miss my ice-cone with it's three different types of ice-cream dearly. Instead, I now had what looked like a microphone, whichs handle looked like the blade of a sword as my mark. A double edged sword no less.

        “No... sorry. That's actually not what I meant at all Frosty. For an Alicorn, you look like hell. Even your friend who showed me the way here looked much better, even though she could only walk very slowly. What's happened? You look like you've been crying your eyes out.” Dash finally said, and I sighed again. I told her everything that I had been through today, and what I had found when I had come back. I had expected many things from the other mare. I had expected her to break out in laughter, or even chastise me for assuming the worst. What I had not expected, was that her eyes became half closed, and she began to speak in a comforting tone to me.

        “Look, Frostmane. I've known you and Firestorm for quite a while now. Trust me when I say that it is, most likely, just one big misunderstanding. You wanna know what I once saw while you two were still under my command?” she began, and I nodded. “Well you see, there was this stallion. Crystal Flare I think his name was. However, he had that attitude that, just because he was the best flier in his squad, he could have any mare he wanted. You wouldn't believe how many complaints I received about him, before I kicked him out. I must admit he was good, but I wasn't sad to see him go. Anyways, for some reason he had his eyes on Firestorm. Anypony knew that she was kinda in love with you. Only took you two hundred years to figure it out. Well... he thought that, if he got her into bed, she'd change her mind.” Dash explained, and I cocked my head.

        “Bet that went well. Storms not one to take kindly to such advances...” I said, remembering the time she had put Lemon Butter into the hospital. Dash laughed heartily at that.

        “You're right. You see, we performed an aerial raid on one of the Zebra bases near our border. In the end, we had a new fortified base in Zebra territory. Of course we celebrated that, and Flare tried to get Storm drunk enough to... well... you know what I mean. When he thought he had her, he tried to make his move on her. Believe me when I say, I've never seen a drunken mare beat up a stallion before that, and I've never seen it ever since. She trounced him so badly in fact, that we had to send him to the MoP hub in Hoofington to get treated. And you want to know what she shouted when she stood over his broken body?” Dash said, after snatching up another glass and filling it up with Cider. I shook my head in response.

        “My heart and soul belong to Frostmane, you filthy bastard! So don't you EVER try something like that again, or I'll kill you!” Dash said, trying to imitate Firestorms voice. She did a bad job at it, but it was enough to shock me nonetheless.

        “She really said that?” I asked, to which the cyan ghoul nodded.

        “I understand that this is your first real relationship, and that you're afraid of her cheating on you, or that you might loose her in another way, but believe me. That mare? She'd go through Tartarus and back for you.”

Footnotes:

Frostmane:

New Spell:

Teleportation (Rank 1) : The Twilight Society has taught you how to teleport, after you agreed to take on the task they offered you. You can now teleport for up to two hundred meters as long as you have been to your destination before.

Maximum Level!

Party Members left:

Golden Sunshine

Firestorm