As Ye Sew, So Shall Ye Rip

As Ye Sew, So Shall Ye Rip

Recouping

New York City - Ark, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash’s Home

“Ugh! This is so boring!” Rainbow Dash groused, “I’m not supposed to do anything fun for another four months!”

Fluttershy shook her head, “Rainbow, you heard what the doctor said,” she said, “Besides, it was sweet of Discord to come by and help you heal faster.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Sweet?” she asked, “Fluttershy, he snapped his talons, looked like some old doctor with a cane, called me an idiot, and then snapped his talons again. It was awesome that he mostly healed me, but I really would have liked to be able to do more than go for walks, I need to fly, and I’m supposed to be managing the weather. Princess, er, President Celestia asked me to be the head weather pony.”

Fluttershy sighed, “Rainbow, Discord was right, you need to learn patience, and this will help.”

“Also,” Ark added, “we can count the number of actively flying Pegasi on one hand. Hell, we can count them just in this room! Face it Dash, there isn’t an active Pegasi weather team in the whole country, let alone the planet.”

“Ark is right,” Fluttershy said, “I don’t know any other Pegasi who are flight capable right now. Maybe sometime later, yes, but for now, no. Besides, there are whole bunch of stallions and mares who work the weather here on Earth without wings. They could use your keen eye for weather systems to help them predict and prepare for changes.”

“Well, you got a point there,” Dash murmured, “you humans have no control over the clouds or anything! Still, I miss flying.”

“Well, if you keep resting, you’ll eventually you’ll be healed enough where you can fly like you’re used to,” Ark stated, “until then, no strenuous activity while your back is knitting itself back together. Those ‘neural synaptic relays’ are new hot shit from the medical community but they’re still in the prototype stage.”

“Like your legs?” Dash asked.

“Nope,” Ark answered, “my type of cybernetic prosthesis has been in production since the mid 2040s, so they aren’t new. And there’s newer companies developing cyberpros every other year, so it’s not like there is a lack of competition or innovation. Those synaptic relays, though? Cutting edge tech, not even approved by the Food and Drug Administration.”

“And the last thing either Ark or I want is to have those relays fail while your doing some stunt and you- you fall…”

“Okay, okay, I get,” Dash retorted, “we don’t want another Empire State Building incident.”

“Exactly,” Fluttershy beamed, “now, sit. I bet Anastacia could find something to occupy your time.”

“Yay, me.”

Rainbow groaned and leaned back into the chair. The one nice side to all of this was that she was officially part of a herd, with a decent stallion. Sure, Ark more or less was built like an Earth Pony, but he seemed to be a pretty decent guy. Not to mention the fact that he and Fluttershy had just made things official. She was trying to get included in it, because honestly the last time she got laid was at the Wonderbolts training camp.

Just before her accident, she felt the itch of estrus hit her, but she couldn’t find a stallion to help relieve her heat. The fall from the Empire State Building was- a poor lack of judgement on her part, not some desperate attempt to garner attention. Yet, Dash but be remiss in not admitting that she was tired of feeling that certain itch in her plot; stretching her wings would have helped soothe that itch. A pity her ability to fly was hampered by the unique conditions set up by Discord when he brought her here. Well, things would get better soon and then she would be busting clouds and performing Immelmans with the best of them!

“Comrade Arkady?” Anastacia spoke, “um, I have an interesting incoming communique? I am not sure how to classify it…”

“What is it, Anastacia?” Ark asked.

“Well,” Anastacia continued, “the ident of the caller is- male? Visual reference is of a man… but the current video feed shows a woman’s face… and they are identifying themselves as one Kaitlyn McAvoy?”

“Donut?” Ark mused, “put it through.”

“As you wish, Comrade,” Anastacia said.

The holostage of the nucleus ignited, and an image began to emerge. Rainbow Dash got a confusion of colors as pixels in the image slowly resolved themselves into the face of a human mare’s face. The woman, as she was told mares of Ark’s species are called, was rather handsome, with a finely cut mane of luxuriant strawberry blonde strands, sparkling green eyes and a light hand of makeup applied to the eyelids and cheeks. But, when the woman spoke, the voice was most definitely that of a stallion!

“Sergeant Visovic!” the woman cried out, “how are things in the Big Apple?”

“Things are well, I guess,” Ark answered, “is that you, Donut?”

“It is!” the strangely named woman said, “The VA finally got the approval for my shell replacement! Now I just need to get my vocoder replaced and I can finally be myself.”

“Oh, I bet Bumper is going to lose his shit when he finds out,” Ark mused.

“I have no delusions that he will make an attempt to flirt with me,” Donut replied, “unfortunately for him, once I went black, I know I can never go back.”

“Oh, that is going to blow his little Tennessee mind,” Ark laughed, “I’m kinda glad you called, Donut. There was a conversation ongoing that was getting into heavy topics and you just saved me some heartfelt discussions.”

“That doesn’t sound very healthy,” Donut said, “oh, Miss Fluttershy, I almost did not see you there! How are you?”

“Oh, I’m doing well, Donut,” Flutters replied, “work has kept me busy, what with spring coming and all, but I do love tending to all the kitties and puppies. And there was a recent shipment of ferrets and they are all so cute! I’ve been trying to find a tortoise for my friend Rainbow Dash because she misses her animal friend, Tank.”

“Please don’t bring up Tank right now, Shy,” Rainbow said.

“Oh?” Donut queried, “Ah, I see. Hello, Miss Dash!”

“Oh, uh, hey,” Rainbow muttered, “kinda new here, so uh, who are you again?”

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy hushed.

“No, it is a valid point of inquiry,” Donut corrected, “for the record, Miss Dash, I am the one Ark calls Donut, but my full name is Kaitlyn McAvoy. I was originally programmed as a companion droid… but the hackivist collective known as Anonymous rewrote the subroutines that should have planted my central processor and data banks into a female AnthroCom shell into a male AnthroCom shell. And now, I have my female shell returned to me! Although, I have chosen not to fulfill my role as a companion droid.”

“Oh, uh, that’s cool,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Anyway,” Donut continued, “the reason I was calling is because I have just come into some work by this new company that is working on a new wave of armored cavalry units!”

“Armored cavalry units?” Ark asked, “what like tanks or something?”

“Something akin to tanks, Sergeant,” Donut answered, “there is not much I can tell at this moment. I am under an NDA, but, the salary I am pulling in has afforded me some- let us say, some rather nice creature comforts. And, I was hoping to share it with you, Sergeant, as well as your house guests…”

“Oh, that sounds nice!” Fluttershy beamed.

“A vacation?” Dash asked, “Where?”

“I have a place outside of Denver, Colorado,” Donut stated, “within the Inglewood suburb. It is such a lovely neighborhood with some very pristine schools and plenty of shopping! I can have you all over for the weekend if you like.”

Ark mused over this for a bit and said, “When can we leave?”

Arnett Texas Rarity’s Home

The sound of foals talking, arguing, and quickly quieting down filled the area. Rarity sighed as she looked at her daughters and son. Jake had his cutie mark, a wonderful thing in and of itself, but it scared her. His cutie mark was that of crosshairs similar to the ones in the scope on John’s rifle. He was truly talented when it came to using a rifle, and the fact that he was so talented at it bothered her.

Of course she knew that he wouldn’t use it for a nefarious purpose. That wasn’t something that she believed he was capable of, but it did most likely mean that he would be entering into the same kind of work as his father. It bothered her because she wondered if he would make time to have a family, find a wife, have foals, and build more than a career. Perhaps it was a mother’s worry.

She heard the sound of Wheatley informing her that someone was contacting them, and she answered the call.

“Thank you for contacting Rarity for You, where everything is chic, sweet, and magnifique. How may I assist you today?”

“Oh, were you busy Rarity?”

At the sound of Fluttershy’s voice Rarity smiled, “Not at all Darling,” she said, “In truth I’m more or less caught up. If I would have paid more attention to Wheatley I wouldn’t have even answered your call like that.”

She looked at her friend and grinned, “Actually, I’m about to slow things down and take a much needed vacation. I’ve already let Sassy Saddles know that all orders from the beginning of this week on will have an additional three week wait time,” she said, “John is getting a month off, and I want to be able to spend that time as a family.”

“That’s wonderful Rarity,” Fluttershy said, “Ummm… I wanted to let you know that we’re going to Colorado, someplace called Denver, Ark’s friend called him and we’re taking a vacation. I didn’t know if you wanted to check the place out, and see if maybe you would want to open a regional shop there.”

Rarity rubbed her chin, “Well, it would be nice to compete with those dreadful Right Fit shops. They are convenient, but they lack imagination!” she exclaimed, “Well I suppose it could be a working vacation, of a sort. I doubt that I would make an offer right away, but seeing the location, and then deciding would be nice. Plus, if I do decide to open a shop there I know that Sweetie Belle and her herd are looking at moving. Perhaps they would be willing to run it.”

In truth the idea did have some merit. Sweetie Belle had talked about her, Scootaloo, and Button Mash moving with Love Tap. Button was indeed a good stallion, and she loved that her nieces and nephews would have their grandmother there to help take care of them. She considered it for a moment and then looked back at Fluttershy.

“When were you planning on making this trip?” she asked, “Because I believe that it could be something that we might enjoy as well.”

Fluttershy rubbed her chin for a moment, “I think in the next few days, maybe in two or three days?”

Rarity gave a nod, “That should be fine. I believe that I should be able to have us suitably ready to leave by then,” she said, “Even though John no longer works for Mayberry Security I do believe that they stated that they will happily give us a discount. I may be able to extend that discount to your small herd as well.”

Fluttershy seemed happy to hear that, and possibly, if things were timed right, they might even be able to ride the same train together. Rarity explained that she would look into the details dealing with the schedule, and from there see if there was a train bound for Denver Colorado that passed through New York and then Texas, or Texas and then New York. As they talked Rarity had Wheatley check the Amtrak routes, and after thirty seconds he flashed the results.

“Oh my,” Rarity said, “Fluttershy, you said that you wanted to leave in a couple of days, right?”

“Yes,” she said, “Why?”

Rarity studied the route, “Because it appears that there is a train that would do exactly what I had hoped. It will leave New York, travel to Arnett, and then backtrack to Denver. I dare say that it looks perfect, would you like me to send the information to you?”

"Please," Fluttershy said, "It might make for a little longer train ride, but I think that it would be worth it."

Rarity agreed, sent the information to her, and while she was she was also messaging Mayberry Security. After a moment they sent back a confirmation that they would extend a discount to her for the train tickets.

It wasn't John's former employment with them that was the reason they decided to give her the discount, but it was instead the fact that after John had left the company she had still offered them her high impact slim armor. The fact that she gave them a discount for ordering in bulk only further created a favorable relationship with the company.

She was informed that she was a freelance armorer, and as such because of her relationship with them she could enjoy some of the basic perks. They also told her that if she chose to come work for them full time they could guarantee a six figure income, acceptance into any private schools she wanted her foals to go to, and a private security detail that would be available to her at a moment's notice.

She politely declined, informing them that she had reopened her boutiques, and was possibly considering opening another, but that she was flattered that they thought so highly of her.

Once that message was sent she smiled at Fluttershy, "It would appear that I am eligible for the discount," she said, "So, how do you feel with me ordering the tickets, darling?"

"Oh, that would be fine Rarity."

Rarity smiled, "Just a moment," she said as she reopened the Amtrak site, ordered the tickets for Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Ark, John, Jake, Jewel, Radiance, and herself. With the tickets ordered she emailed Fluttershy's tickets to her.

"There we go," she said, "It's all taken care of."

“Thank you Rarity,” Fluttershy said, “I’ll let Ark know, and we’ll get ready.”

Rarity watched as the line disconnected, and then she got up. She needed to let John know, but at the same time she thought of Coco Pommel. Her dear friend was dating a human stallion that lived in the area, and while she would most certainly be spending time with her family and with Fluttershy’s herd, it would be nice to see her. She sat back down and had Wheatley connect to Coco’s Digital Assistant.

/b]Denver Colorado - Miles and Coco’s home

Coco smiled as she lay beside Miles. They had just gotten back from his physical therapy a little over an hour ago, and they both decided on a nap. The World Boxing Federation was ensuring that he would be able to return to the ring, but they weren’t cutting corners with his therapy. The fight with Rasputin had fractured his wrist, dislocated his shoulder, and in truth he was lucky that was the real extent of it. His doctor explained that he could work his other hand, and suggested that he do so, but that he had to take it slow with the arm that was healing.

The therapy wasn’t so much to restore use to the arm, but rather it was ensuring that he didn’t damage his arm further by trying to push it too fast too soon. Coco had done her best to ensure that he listened to the doctor, and she was pleased to admit that Miles had done everything he had been told. A slight chime got her attention when she looked at her tablet. She lifted it and saw that it was Julia was attempting to reach her.

“Julia?” she asked, “What’s going on?”

Julia gave her a small nod, “There is a caller, a Rarity Marshall I believe. Would you like me to patch her through?”

She nodded, “Yes please,” she said.

A few moments later Rarity’s face appeared on the tablet, “Coco!” she exclaimed, “It appears that I will be making a trip to Denver with my family in two days. We will be arriving by train, and I wasn’t sure if you were there or in Las Vegas.”

She smiled, “Well, I did move,” she said, “Like I called and told you.”

Rarity nodded, “I know,” she replied, “But I wasn’t sure if you had a meeting back at your employers.”

She grinned, “No,” she said, “No meetings at the MGM. Everything is being seen to remotely, and I’m able to check in from my tablet. But you’re coming to visit?”

Rarity nodded, “I am,” she said, “Well, my entire family is coming with me. I was wanting to know if there was a decent hotel that we could check into.”

Coco looked at her, and then she gently shook Miles. He snorted awake, saw that there was a mare with a very styled purple mane on Coco’s tablet, and looked at the mare and then at Coco.

“Friend of yours?”

She nodded, “She’s coming to visit, and I know that we have quite a bit of extra room.”

He smiled, “Sure, I don’t mind if they stay,” he said, “How many are we talking about?”

Rarity smiled at him, “Five adults, three children, would that be okay?”

He nodded, “Sure, I’ve got six bedrooms, so it shouldn’t be an issue,” he replied, “Although I know that while I have internet access in the house it isn’t controlled by digital assistants. Also, I don’t have the hookup for anything beyond tablets.”

She smiled, “Ah, that would actually be more than fine,” she admitted, “It would be a nice break from all of this. Then I shall see you in a couple of days, and thank you so much for inviting us to stay with you.”

He smiled at her, “A friend of Coco’s is a friend of mine.”

The line disconnected, and he looked at Coco who seemed to be lost in thought. In truth he was fine with them having visitors. Most of Coco’s friends were back in Vegas, and her seeing a friend that was formed before Vegas couldn’t hurt. The idea of there being children wasn’t something that bothered him, either. After all, Coco had all but told him that they were going to be parents. To prove her point she had a test done, and it provided the absolute proof that they had a child on the way.

It was something that he found himself wanting. He wanted them to have children. Maybe he didn’t want to go all out and have more than he had fingers and toes, but he did want kids. He’d practically been raised by Jacob Leibowitz, his trainer. Jacob was one of the last old school trainers alive. He’d adapted to include the other disciplines into their routines, but he always hammered home how important it was to do his strength training, his stamina training, and to eat right.

Although Jacob was still his trainer he rarely did much of the training anymore. It wasn’t that Miles didn’t want him to, but Jacob was pushing seventy-three. To hear him tell it he’d boxed in the professional circuit for a few years, but found that his true calling was training. Miles had shown up at the gym one night, tired, aching, and wounded. Jacob had watched what happened outside. Three kids did their damndest to take what little food he had away from him.

Colorado wasn’t as poverty stricken as some states. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Oklahoma or Texas, but there was a difference in the economic structure here. In Miles' case, the difference was that he was more or less on his own. Amazingly he didn’t fall when the three attacked him. Instead he fought them off, made them run, and Jacob came out to greet him. He took him inside of the gym, asked about his parents, learned that they had been taken into custody by one of the major corporate farms, and that Miles had been on his own for the last year.

The fondest memories Miles had was Jacob asking him if he wanted to live there, and then after he healed he learned to fight. Jacob taught him everything he knew. He trained him in boxing, and then they moved onto other fighting disciplines. After Miles entered the boxing circuit Jacob was there the entire way. He took care of him, cared for him, and raised him as his own son. Of course he noticed that Jacob was slowing down, he was forgetting things, and on top of that he could see how tired he was getting.

He wanted Jacob to stick around long enough to meet his kids. Although he doubted that Coco would want Jacob training them like he did for him. Then again, he wasn’t sure that Jacob would. It was likely that Jacob would simply treat them like his grandkids and leave it at that. He’d been sweet to Coco, complimented Miles on his bride to be, and went out of his way to be nothing but kind and open with her.

His mind drifted from his former trainer that had been a father when he didn’t have to be to the lovely mare that was going to officially be his wife. They were engaged, and the marriage had been worked on and planned for some time. That wasn’t exactly right. It wasn’t fully planned. Coco had an idea of what she would like, and he agreed with quite a bit of it. Originally she thought about having the wedding near the old cabin. He had to agree that the area around it was beautiful, and it would fit perfectly. The problem with having it there was that it would be difficult for most people to make it. The trip itself required a four wheel drive vehicle, and the electric automobiles had a very real chance of losing their charge before making it up to the cabin.

After that there was the problem with charging them. Sure, some had solar panels, and that meant that they were fine, but he knew that there were some that required a special kind of plug, and he didn’t have that. It would require a gas, or diesel, powered four wheel drive to get there, and there weren’t that many around. Oh, that wasn’t to say that they were especially difficult to find. A person could head toward any impoverished area, look for the stacks, and most likely they’d find an entire mound of rusted out cars. More than likely a four wheel drive something or another would be in there.

Chances are it wouldn’t run, and getting the parts to repair it would cost a small fortune. Those that had working automobiles either were lucky enough to find them resting at old farms, in abandoned towns, or had them passed down. Miles’ own Dodge had been rescued from Independence. It actually had been parked inside of a garage, and he didn’t have that much work to do to it before it was roadworthy. The location was moved, and she agreed on Independence. It was close, there was a church that was large enough to host the wedding, and it was accessible to everyone they wanted to invite.

It truly was the best of both worlds. He felt her snuggle against him. When she had spoken to her friend, Rarity, he noticed that she had kept it focused on her face. And it was with good reason. The both of them had taken to sleeping nude, and the nap wasn’t any different. She squirmed closer to him, getting that wonderful rump of her to rub against him in the most delightful way. She’d turned when talking to Rarity, and at the moment he enjoyed being the big spoon.

“Should we get up?” he asked, “I’m sure that there’s some things we need to get into order before they get here.”

She shook her head, “Right now, we can relax,” she replied, “Tomorrow we’ll get the rooms ready, do some shopping, but right now, at this moment, I just want to lay here with you, and have you make love to me.”

He kissed the back of her neck, hearing the soft coo of happiness, and he continued to hold her close. She took what he was doing, the feeling of his attention, and she enjoyed it. The both of them took it slow, enjoying each other's body, feeling the love building between them, and soon she found herself on top of him. There was no rush, no hurried need for release, but instead this was connecting in a way that was almost spiritual. She softly moaned as touched deep inside of her.

His wonderful tool touched the exact place where their foal was being formed. There was no doubt in her mind that she would love him forever. She wanted, and needed, to be with him. To feel him inside of her, to feel his touch, and become drunk on his love. Their love making lasted for an hour, and their climax was reached nearly together. When they were both sated she laid down beside him, and she let her eyes close. Tomorrow would be a new day, and future Coco could worry about getting the house in order for guests. But present Coco just enjoyed making love to the man she was going to marry.

Miles woke about an hour later, saw that Coco was still sleeping soundly next to him. He gently moved, getting out of bed, and walked toward the shower. The moment he got into it he took a quick one, and then he went back into their bedroom, got dressed, and headed down stairs. He looked toward the portal holographic rig. It was still inside of its compartment, but to be honest he had absolutely no desire to charge it up and use it.

In truth it was little better than using a tablet or even using the television which basically doubled as an exceptionally large tablet. Of course there was the added benefit that the television did have a small camera made into it which was able to track movement. He could effectively change channels, conduct business calls, and a thousand other things without ever actually touching the surface of the television.

He activated it, and it automatically went to the default setting of the news. He stopped that, and took a seat.

“Archie, got a minute?”

The screen changed to an older man sitting in a chair. He looked tired and then shrugged, “Sure meathead, what’s the deal?”

He smiled. His digital assistant had been created after the character Archie Bunker from All in the Family. The old man was a multitude of things, not all of them were good, but when push came to shave Archie, the character, proved that he was a loyal friend and an honest man. Personally he didn’t use Archie much. Most of the time he did his own dialing, but this was a rare occasion that he wanted to let him do most of the grunt work.

“Archie, would you check my messages? Did I receive anything from Mickey?”

Archie turned, lifted a bag that looked like it was filled with letters, and searched through them.

“Yeah, yeah, youse got one right here meathead,” he said, “Wants I should play it for youse?”

“Please.”

A moment later the screen turned to Mickey. He saw his manager who seemed fairly well together.

“Alright, Miles, here’s the deal. I’ve been doing some talking and we’re going to old school this thing. We need you to stay relevant, but we’re not putting you into the ring until we have an unbiased doctor saying that you’re all good,” he said, “So, what I need for you to do is to continue the reactions. Keep up your training, and keep up the physical therapy, but continue doing the reactions. People are loving it. Not to mention we’ve officially gotten some support thrown to us by some of the studios that put out the films. They sent a short list, I’m sending it to you. Work through the one you have, and then work on these.”

Miles looked at the list, and while they all had boxing in them, not all of them were about boxing.

“So, is that all Meathead?” Archie asked, “Or do you want me to retrieve another message?”

He smiled, “No, that’s fine Archie. Thank you. Would you contact Julia for me?”

The screen split and there was a blank space for a moment before Coco’s Digital Assistant appeared.

“Ah, young sir, how are you this evening?”

“Young sir?” Archie asked, “That’s the Meathead.”

Julia made a slightly disgusted look, “Honestly, I don’t know why you chose this… person to be your digital assistant.”

Archie shrugged, “‘Cause I tells it to him straight,” he said, “And I ain’t got to act all prim and proper. I’m just me, and that’s all the Meathead wants.”

He smiled, “Archie, thank you,” he said, “But I need to speak to Julia alone for a moment.”

Archie nodded and his side went blank before Julia expanded the entire screen.

“Ah, much better,” she said, “So, may I assist you with?”

He smiled, “Julia, Coco has a few friends coming to visit. I know one of them is Rarity. I wanted to know if you knew anything that would help make sure that they’re comfortable here.”

Julia nodded, “Actually I’m quite familiar with Mrs Marshall’s digital assistant. I shall contact him, and relay any preferences she may have. Is there anything else?”

He smiled, “No, that will be all,” he said, “Thank you.”