Mocha's Story

Chapters

Introductions to the past
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
'Deerland' (Dar'Ling)
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
On the road from home
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Dra’em
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Top 'o the mountain
Chapter 27
Interlude to the past
Interlude to the past 2
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Mountain Peak
Well, um...
Chapter 2
The first frontier

Introductions to the past

I walked into the motel room and looked around. Quaint, simple, just what any pony would need for a layover between destinations. That’s me; just a traveler taking a stop to be interviewed by some mare with a major complex. She was sitting just to the left of the door next to a small window with the shade drawn shut.

She’s cute, but she has nothing on my current wife, or the rest of my herd. I guess that’s just my loyalty though. Four beautiful mares and me, I don't think I need another.

A hundred lifetime's worth of experiences and here I am, a pony staying the night at an inn in some backwater town being interviewed by a pony with a dozen pencils, two quills, at least one ink well, and a stack of paper large enough for a thesis, and a box behind her. What’s she expecting to get from me, I’m not giving my complete life story, am I? Maybe.

She found me somehow and guessed my secret. An inability to lie to such a pretty mare left her open to bribe me to tell my story. A story only one Alicorn alive knows, and even she only knows so much.

I walked into the room and dropped my bags at the foot of the bed before turning back to close the door. She looked so expectant for me to talk right away I almost feel disappointed for letting her down in such a small way.

“Hello, shall we begin?” I asked as I turned to face her, smiling in the way I have for so long even I don’t know when it’s real or fake. I really was hoping it'd be some simple 'where are you from' questions and I'd be on my way.

“Um, sure! I’m so excited to hear your story and,” she began rocking a leg under the table, “I’m sorry for making us meet like this, but, I couldn’t pass the opportunity!” She was almost bouncing on the seat at this point, smiling, her eyes staying steady following me and my every move. She crossed her rear legs under the chair she was sitting on and sucked in her bottom lip biting it lightly to calm herself.

“So, where do you wanna start?”

“THE BEGINNING! I have to know everything about you and where you’re from!” she blurted before covering her mouth with her hooves.

I stood by my chair at the small table and looked at her as she shouted at me, she trembled with excitement. “What? My life story?”

“Mmmmm-hm,” she said, her eyes almost sparkling with anticipation, lips pursed.

“I’m too old and you haven’t enough paper. Besides, most of my life is a lot like yours, I’m sure. Routine and not worth talking about. So, I’ll cover the basics.

“My name's Mocha I'm an earth pony, or at least I look like one right now, and I'm about six thousand years old. At least, that's what we estimate our age as," I looked up and tapped my chin for a second. I often forget since age doesn't matter after so long. It fades like the light of the setting sun, only the sun always rises again. Also, the calendar is way different that the Gregorian one I was used to until 'recently'.

"Before I was a pony, I was a human from earth,” she tensed up, her eyes widened and she took a breath in. She began writing as fast as she could with a pencil in her mouth.

I looked at my hooves and felt a pang of regret at the choices I've made over my time here. The times I had a chance to go back, the friends and enemies I'd made over the eons, and the lovers I'd had that I can't get out of my mind. The woman I loved, that was with me for so long, the reason I stayed here, the reason I stay here. I looked back to the green mare and raised an eyebrow.

I found it odd, since she’s a unicorn writing with her mouth, but whatever, she can write however the hell she wants. “I had a different name, age, look, and was from a totally different planet. Population over nine billion at it's apex and 3 billion when I was born.

“Hunger, disease, starvation, and distrust were almost everywhere,” ‘...nine billion’ she muttered under her breath, “We'd taken our beautiful planet and poisoned it to the brink of near extinction before I was born, and the recovery was slow but progressive.

“The water was drinkable, wildlife was repopulating, the air was as clean as it was during the start of our industrial revolution; which is saying a lot about something you don’t know, and spirits and hope were increasing among the poni- people of the nations. There were, however, still wars every now and then among neighboring nations.

“Heh, Neigh-boring nations. I still laugh at that phrase,” she raised an eyebrow pausing her writing and looked at me before writing again, “You see, in my old world ponies and horses were servant animals with base instinctive knowledge and communication; mostly whinnies and hoof clops,” she took in a steep breath and held it, pausing her writing as she looked at me.

“Only humans dominated the planet?” she said with a slight gasp.

“Yup, anyway," I placed my hoof on the table and looked at her, "I was born in a country that was on the borderline of health and death. Once a world power in economy and military might; it was the sixth to fall to the poison of corruption and greed. I was a boy, that’s like a colt, when I was indoctrinated into their military. Simple work for us youth, get coffee and drinks, run paperwork, and have fun at our leisure,” she began writing again but this time she took a pencil in her magic to write while focusing her attention on me.

“Fighting was encouraged, of course, and I was built to take a good punch, let me tell ya,” I spent a second in a fleeting memory before I stored it away like the millions of others, “so I was about 19 when I was promoted to a specialist in our military and stayed there. A soldiers life for me.”

“Soldier? Like the royal guard?”

“Heh,” I chuckled and felt myself rub the back of my neck instinctively, “only if royal guard were only trained to kill other ponies, to say the least.”

She gasped and the pencil fell from her magic to the floor with a clatter. “Kill? Only to kill?” the look of fear flashed in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t done that for a couple hundred years.”

“Killed... a pony?” She stiffened a bit uncrossing her legs, I could sense her flight or fight gearing up.

“It was a gryphon, and it was a tough time, a lot of bad things happened in history that Celestia hid or forgot. Let’s get back to my story and we’ll see if I get back to that, okay?”

She nodded and readied her quill as I leaned back and crossed my forelegs. I sometimes miss my arms.

"Well, let me tell you about how I got here. Do you know what a 'life bomb' is?" she shook her head absently, "let me start at the beginning then."

Chapter 3

Standing in formation was never a problem for me. To my left was ‘Techie’ Reece , that cheeky jerk that always beats me, to my right was Janice. Reece was a fighter and technician. His ability to repair our equipment efficiently and methodically was awesome, but not always so fast. He could fix a remote control easy enough, but he had to write the whole schematics of the thing.

He always called it reverse engineering, like it mattered. I have to say, looking back, that it was invaluable. Plenty of times we were in battle against orcs, minotaurs, or even ponies only to be saved by one of his thingies at the last second. Yeah, the history of this world is rocky and full of strife. Once Reece learns how to fix it he just reads those scribbles on his papers and boom, done.

‘’Minnie’ Janice. Heh, that name will forever be in my heart. She always had a crush on me and, while she was cute, I didn’t want cute at the time. She was a short skinny woman with tan skin from a land we called India and she was the nerd to my geek. The Beta to my Alpha, the Romulan to my Klingon. Yeah, I know that look; I’ll get back to the story.

Well, ahem, she was pretty cool. I spent a whole lot of my free time watching, reading, playing, and doing things like writing fanfiction to expand the depth of meaningless knowledge and facts about things that didn’t exist just to have fun and expand my imagination.

She, on the other hand, learned the math, facts, science, and that specific stuff to prove her point when needed. She was the engineer of our squad, she and Reece were not only invaluable to the team with how they could build, repair, and fix anything we needed, but their pranks were hilarious.

Also in our squad was ‘Skippy’ Markus; He was the beater, a guy so large and muscular that no one except other beaters would chance to look him in the eye for more than a second. He exuded power and intimidation, but he was totally into art and music. He could name almost any popular song from the last hundred years, and sing it!

Next was ‘Obvious’, George. He was the comms guy; he could turn any tech into a way to communicate. From cans with strings to taking an old radio and making a walkie-talkie. Not only that but he had upgrades; things implanted in his body, that helped him learn and translate languages. He also stated the obvious a lot. Hence the name.

Yeah, we all had some type of upgrade. Mine was a database of weapons and tech, since I was the weapons and armor guy. I also had years of training in weapons usage so I could use almost any modern, at the time, or traditional weapon. I actually got Janice to hack the software in my head so I could upload a terabyte of old TV shows. If it got boring, I could pull up a show and act like I was asleep or something while waiting.

I could build, fix, clean, repair, and design weapons from rope snares to spears to semi-automatic machine guns and pistols, with the right equipment, that is.

Lastly, but not leastly.

Our Squad leader, who was none other than my lover, Cadence. When she wasn’t running the platoon for her exceptionally lazy bosses, on occasion, she was leading our small squad of expert slackers. She was a sergeant and great person that loved everyone through hard work.

Everypony knew her as a hardass, a woman who would just as soon make you run a mile as she would chase you shouting motivational insults at you the whole way. But that’s where people messed up her image. She was part of the punishments, a way of saying she’s above you but, equal. You ran, she ran. You jumped, she jumped.

I got smoked by her a few times and it was hard not to smile as I watched her doing pushups with me or having her lead me in a marathon jumping jack competition. She knew I loved her boobs so she’d tease me when she could. Erhm… Sorry, back to the story.

So, there we were; standing at attention for at least, I exaggerate not, three hours. I had watched enough of my shows and was buckling in the knees like several dozen others. No soldier of any rank should stand that long looking in one direction and everypo-body was becoming restless until somepony, erhm, someone got fed up.

“Dammit, why are we here?” she shouted from my right somewhere. Uncomfortable rustling noises came from across the whole platoon. A voice shouted ‘attention’ and we all gathered our wits. A set of stomping boots was heard to the left and an officer, in full dress uniform, stomped to the front.

He stood and held out a remote control as the lights dimmed and a screen descended while he began to speak loudly. A natural booming voice, I felt sorry for those in the front because his voice was loud to us near the back.

As a map appeared behind him on the canvas screen he called out ‘at east’, much to the pleasure of our aching muscles.

“Troops. We have just found out that talks with the eastern continent have been sabotaged. Terrorists from their side, against the wishes of their leaders, have killed all our ambassadors and envoys over the last two days.

“We have been ordered to ship there and, if need be, show them what we think of those that kill ours!” We erupted into a cheer even though I don’t know why. I never bought into that propaganda BS. Not even when I was a foa-child. My mother just made bad choices that got her poisoned with radiation while traveling with a group of traders. I had to join, listening to that stuff for years.

Anyway, we were cut loose with full access to all our credits, our squad grouped up and we did a football - hoofball huddle and made a meetup place to start blowing our creds. We decide to pool it so we could hang out and do everything together. Usually when they ‘declare war’ it’s just a skirmish but those that are sent away have to stay there permanently to help set up a new base of operations.

Sure, just like the royal guard we got free food, armor, a place to sleep, warm showers, and the best basic amenities they could offer, but they only pay you enough to have fun through the month plus some to save, if you were smart, not including our bonuses. Pooling our bonus money gave us an advantage few others did. We could party and draw from the same pool of money. Together.

We met outside the armory as soon as we could; it was time to armor up. One good armor would be enough to keep us safe in battle for the next couple decades, what with discounted repairs and free updates to the software; I’d be set for what could have really been my military career.

Like I said, I got the best armor I could. If I ever get the chance I’ll publish a book call ‘Iron Pony’, but it’s like a heavy metal suit of full body armor that’s full of the best tech and resistant to a lot of things. It was also a fully environmental, so I could walk thirty feet underwater, through poison gas, or even hover in space until my backup air ran out. It was small caliper bullet proof, and even a .50 cal round would deflect off it.

Laser weaponry would do about half damage as long as the battery would last to charge the dispersion field, a few shots always means the difference between life and death. Plus a set of compressed air boosters on the back so when I fall, it's a guarantee to happen, I can get up.

Anyway, we all buy some good environmental armor, since one of us was holding out, but wouldn’t say who, we had almost thirty thousand creds and my buy cost 2,900. In total we armored up and it came to about 9,500 creds.

We had them shipped to our stalls and went to eat at the officers club. Anyone could get in, it was just damned expensive if you weren’t an officer. Yeah, it was packed. We had to wait, they hadn’t been that busy in years and they were going crazy. A hundred soldiers all rushing for their last fancy meal from a world long lost.

Well, after the best meal we had, maybe, ever eaten; we got matching tattoos, spent the afternoon fighting off fears and aggression, then night came and we went camping. Well, we did what most others did; we went outside and laid under the stars on blankets and counted the stars, tried to name the satellites that passed by, made jokes, and enjoyed each other’s company.

Turned out Cadence shared a secret with us all. She grew up with a real family! Most kids joined to stay safe, she did it out of duty to her parents who were in service. She told us her father was a scientist and was working on secret stuff all the time and her mother was an astronomer. That’s a kind of star science.

She spent a long time, drunk off her ass, telling us constellations, nebulas, galaxies, and other stuff. I was listening in with rapt attention while the others zoned out on their drugs and alcohol. Well, anyway...

The next day we woke up and the day started like any other, with an extra two hours to collect ourselves and clean up. We handled ourselves really well, considering the night we had, while other squads were absolute wrecks. Drunk, drugged, some in small piles from passed out sex in the late night through early morning.

The look of shame in their eyes will never be forgotten.

We gathered up an hour later, cleaned, fresh, and I couldn’t help but pinch Cadence’s ass when we arrived. It was worth the elbow to my gut. The laughing fit hurt, but it felt good.

Well, the day was full of stuff that’s kinda repetitive so I’ll skip to that night. Cadence and me were in her quarters. An actual room, with windows and wood furnishings. The difference between levels of authority were obvious.

“Honey?”

“Yeah, Mocha?”

“I love you.”

She giggled softly and touched my cheek with her soft left hand; her fingers were perfect too, just like the rest of her. She smelled like flowers but damned if I know what kind they were. We were naked and in bed facing each other, just having a bonding moment since Aunt Flo had to show up and ruin our last nights of relative freedom and routine.

“Baby, you got game, but I ain’t saying that to ya, not yet.”

“C’mon, we’ve been together for almost a year. Why can’t you?”

She sighed and lowered her hand to her other between our faces. “After this. After we go through this I will. I promise.”

“Really? You promise?” I deadpanned to her smile.

“Cross my heart, hope to die. Stick a rusty nail in my eye,” she said softly making motions.

“Yeah, we got enough of those,” I remarked sarcastically. Then she gasped and pulled her arm back and I didn’t even flinch when she punched my bicep.

“You jerk. You’re not supposed to agree to that,” she scowled, but her voice was full of that school girl giggle that no pony ever heard about and, as I had planned, no one would. Heheh, funny how plans change when you don’t expect them too.

Yeah, I’ll get to that soon. Keep writing, I’ve only been talking for half an hour and you’re slowing down. Need a break?

D-Day. Deployment day. We packed our gear into our trunks, our weapons and armor were readied for us, and we formed up one last time at the only place most of us knew as home. A short propaganda speech later and we were hooting and hollering blindly at some idiot in a pre-recorded movie from who knows how long ago, then we were told where to go; the launch bays.

Those were easy times; do as you’re told. Hurry and wait. Eat and exercise it off. War, isn’t that easy.

Our squad got in the air ship along with a few others and our respective equipment and personal items then, in a heavy force of gravity we were shaken until we almost threw up. Raised, dropped, rolled, and even spun while traveling.

Cadence and all of us were in full armor, since flying into a war zone with nothing was like begging for death from a new mother Ursa Major, so that meant we could all talk clearly and had open comms. Also, vomit tubs were standard attachments for air-travel; thank the goddesses.

We were all talking, trying to stay distracted; Reece was even watching an old documentary on repairing boats, or something. How many terabytes of space did we waste? Filling our favorite shows, songs, books, movies, porn, and other stuff we each loved.

I had entire series’ worth of geeking out time in that thing. If I had time, and about eighty years, I could spend ten hours a day watching, reading, writing, and enjoying fiction for every day of those years. I mean, you never know when something like ‘who’s better…’ will come up and you have to prove to them Picard was the best.

Yeah, anyway, right. Cadence switches her comms open to talk to the team.

“Fuckin’ fly-boys’r messin’ with -urp- us, L.T., can’t ya do somethin’ to stop ‘em; ‘fore I shoot ‘em soonaz we land?” A few laughs and a lot of dry heaving. Tough crowd.

God I loved her slightly southern American accent. The stronger it got the madder she was. And she was plenty mad, and like most of us, getting sick. Our team leader was some new butter bar, that means new officer, didn’t say much. He didn’t look too keen on dealing with us earlier that day.

He worked, put himself through school, and got into the officer school a year before he was assigned his first mission real. This one.

Shoulda been nicer to him, but what the hay, we were still so young.

Landing was soft compared to the first half of our ride.

So, we disembark and look around. This is not the base we were supposed to be at. This was a ruined city. Not a huge metropolis, but a small city. I guess you could compare it to Canterlot in size.

Yeah, that was a small city in our time and world. Hard to imagine how much we had done to ruin it, right? Two teams, six in each so twelve of us were dropped in the middle of nowhere and with no orders.

Once the ship was thirty feet from the ground a message was broadcast to us.

Soldiers, your mission is simple. This is a training exercise and you have done well so far, however if you want to get to the new land you have to find the flag in the center of the city. Good luck and godspeed.

With a sonic boom the plane was gone, a shrinking spec in the distance.

We looked to each other and then to Butter Bar.

“What the fuck?!” Cadence shouted at Butters.

With a single motion was almost at the stunned officer, shoulder checking him, and knocked him to his ass. She stumbled past him and landed expertly sexy with a roll, pulling her gun on him.

We all stood back and watched as he scampered back, holding his hands out.

He started to blubber about not knowing anything about this, please spare him, he has so many ambitions, he’ll be forever grateful, ya know, pleading for mercy.

She flips the switch on her gun and pulls the trigger and we all freeze. Not funny anymore.

With a crack the gun pops and recoils her arm slightly and I stared wide eyed at her. Did she really just shoot to kill a superior officer?

He falls back and screams, flailing his arms and legs before she holsters the gun and turns to us, then shrugs.

He gasps then goes silent.

“You bitch! That was a blank?!”

Yeah, we erupted with laughter. I couldn’t stand, I fell to my hands and knees.

“Great going, Butters. Ya really earned our respect now,” Reece quipped between guffaws.

Even Cadence fell on that one. Butters got up and, even through his armor, you could tell he was pissed. Cadence pointed to his crotch, there was a scuff there.

"Don't call me 'Butters'," he said sternly, he turned to Cadence. "you're gonna get it for this,"

It wasn’t a blank, it was low caliber. So low it wouldn’t punch our armor, but it marked where his manhood was. We had to take his man card for a while after that, but that made him part of our squad. We collected ourselves and looked around, scanning the area for life, weapons, usable tech, and any place that had twinkies.

Never had ‘em, but I heard they last forever and would outlive us all. Maybe they did, maybe not. Some mysteries are never meant to be found out, I guess.

Well, anyway, our squad was Bravo. The other squad was Alpha, and together we made a team. Two sides. One leader. Well, this was weird because Alpha was on the other side of the city.

They got the same message. Took about half an hour for us to figure out they were on the same mission as us. A capture the flag game, and we just wasted time shooting our leader in the balls.

We gathered our stuff cuz there was no way I’m leaving my clothes to be picked over by some scavengers if I don’t come back to get them. Same for everyone else. We trudged through the ruined streets of this once bustling burg and took in the sights of a world lost to us, but maybe to be reclaimed by our grand children.

“What’s a 'B-ger' Kng?”

“I dunno," Butters started, "looks like some kind of shop. Maybe they sold toys or something and they were the kings of it. Who cares, Mocha, take third and scan your sector. Markus, guard the rear. Everyone stay frosty and comms open. They changed frequencies so we will too. Stay calm and we can win this, get home, and get paid plus bonuses. Easy peasy."

“Sir, yes, sir,” we said softly in unison. Butters took the center of our squad line-formation and we trotted… walked quickly, to a shopping center. Curiosity got the better of us and we chose to go through, instead of around. We spent a good half an hour just looking at what once was.

Menaquinones with old style degrading clothing still on them, photos of things leaning against walls, stairs going between floors, and all of it crumbling without mankind to maintain it.

“What a craphole,” Janice said lowering her rifle and standing tall, looking around.

“Well,” Obvious interjected, “when it was at its peak this was home to about 18,000 people.”

“Ese, how did that many people live in this building?” Reese asked incredulously.

I looked to Reece in dumbstruck awe at his question. He filled our comms with laughter.

“You thought I was serious? Damn, you’re too easy to prank, man.”

A few minutes of laughter and we looked around and I actually felt myself blush. There were a few animals around looking at us. It took a second to dawn on me that they watched some weird creatures walk into their domain, then start spasming silently. Internal comms only work inside the suits, that’s why it was so awkward.

We got back into formation and began walking out of the mall. Overall, for a structure almost two hundred years old, it held up pretty well.

Looking around it was almost nice to see nature had retaken the land. Trees were growing, vines were here and there, and small plants and weeds were abundant between the grass that had cracked through the stone and cement. Husks of cars were littered everywhere, abandoned when the gas ran out.

I looked around in a haze, taking in the beauty that was supposed to be lost before I got shoved in the back by Marku. I got moving and started playing some relaxing music to take our minds off the long march to the center of the city. Only a few miles away, we didn’t want to run or overexert ourselves so a slow march it was.

We walked through the ruined city taking pictures and videos of the sights as we went. We were just like tourists, dancing in our armor and making goofy poses in front of whatever we thought was an interesting relic. Before we knew it we could see the center of the city and it was so unimpressive; just a few blocks of crumbling buildings in every direction.

Without an idea where this flag was we started debating the issue when it happened.

I looked at the unicorn in the chair opposite me, scratching with her pencil as quick as I could talk. She was so intent on my story she hadn’t blinked in the past couple minutes. Gods, I never get used to these ponies, I mean their eyelids are retractable! What the hell?

Holy crap; This is still my life now. Okay, calm down Mocha.

“So, what do you think of my story so far?”

“Oh, well, it’s interesting. I-I don’t see why you had to go through this whole mission thing and why would they drop you and your human friends outside a city like that? It just sounds kind of, I don’t know.”

“We were barbaric at times.”

“Oh,” she sat up and her magic wavered, “I didn’t mean it like that. It was your nature to fight, like Minotaurs or manticores.”

“Or ponies,” I said raising an eyebrow, waiting for her reaction. She let her face fall into a look of disbelief. A look that said ‘really?’.

“Ponies don’t have wars and aren’t barbaric.”

“Not now, but back then…” I looked to the ceiling and began to get lost in thought.

This is gonna be a story that she won’t be able to understand in some ways, and in other ways her beliefs will be changed forever. Can I do this to her?

To her future, her family? What if she publishes this and it ruins her; what if it’s accepted and challenges everything these creatures know? I lowered my head and softened my gaze as I looked at her.

“Um, what’re your plans with my story? I know I should have asked before but, I have to worry. This story could change you in ways you don’t know.”

She looked to me and lowered the pencil before falling back into her chair and crossing her forelegs with a heavy huff and a frown. “You sound like every other pony I know. Always worried about my future if I follow this,” she gestured to the table and papers piling up before crossing her forelegs again.

“I’ve already lost almost everything to this belief of mine. I believe humans exist. I believe you are one of them. I know that when we’re done here, that this story will change me,” she sighed softly and looked down and began dangling her legs, her forelegs loosened and I could tell she was a defeated pony.

“I-I have nothing to lose, Mocha. My roommate kicked me out, my parents cut me off financially, I lost my job. I,” she stopped to wipe her nose on her foreleg, “I hope I do change after this. Maybe, maybe I’ll be able to get over this and move on with a normal pony life. Maybe I’ll turn it into a book.

“Maybe I’ll take it and burn it. I have no idea, just-just that I have to have answers, before I go insane trying to-”

“It’s okay,” I said tapping the table with my hoof, “it’s okay. I understand and,” I had to put the next words together right so I took in a deep breath to draw the time out, “me too.”

“Huh?” She asked raising an eyebrow.

“I haven’t told anypony my story and only a couple creatures know some of it. This is my story, from my perspective. If you publish it then others involved will know I told you, and things may become difficult for you, but as you said; you have nothing left to lose. I am afraid for you, but this has to happen.

“It’s been a secret for too long and it’s time some things are brought to light. So, I suggest we take a bathroom break and maybe get a snack before we begin again. Okay?”

She smiled and nodded as I looked into her eyes. Hope. I miss seeing that in a pony’s eyes, and I miss it more in a human’s eyes.

Chapter 4

All our comms shut down and overlayed on our HUD screens was a scientist in a lab coat, brown dress coat under that, and a purple tie with green polka dots on it, green shirt under that; not big on style. He sat in a high tech room full of advanced science machines and new age technology. I could see holo computers in the hands of random techs, a floating diagram of," I cleared my throat, "a bomb was just behind him on his desk.

Really nice looking too. It was just the outside and in false color so it glowed in certain parts and flashed in others. It was kinda pretty, in a 'you're doomed' way.

“Thank you for your forced attention, troops,” he started. He folded and interlocked his fingers in front of his pale skinned face and used his knuckles to nudge his glasses slightly higher up the bridge of his nose.

Whatever he was going to say he wasn’t comfortable with it.

“I am Doctor… Well, just call me Doctor, since this will be a short message. You select few have been chosen to be the subjects of a test. Yes, there is a test. First one to the flag, or whatever game it is you play. The second; I have designed a new tool for the aid and growth of life in an area. It will clean the air of all particulates, the water will be sterilized, the ground will be fertilized, and where ever we use it we will be able to repopulate within hours of detonation.”

He sighed and sat straight up, placed his hands to his temples and pressed lightly.

“The only thing we need to do is test it on possible human inhabitants to the area. It wasn’t my ideal plan, but you are said subjects. At this very moment a device in being dropped from above you and will detonate very shortly.”

I felt my legs trembling before I collapsed to the ground. I looked past my HUD and tried to zoom into the sky. Damn was it bright, though. I looked around to my team members and watched as they stood or fell like me, staring ahead, watching ‘Doctor' talk to us.

“With the best of luck, you will not be harmed at all. Worst case, the data you provide will be invaluable to future tests,” he lowered his arms and looked to the camera, as though he could actually see us, “this is how science is done. This is how we made so many advancements and… how we created so many deaths. The cycle has to end, and with this device; Genysis, we can all, every human, have an ideal world. -Zxxxtxt-

“G-s-xxt-sspp---bles-xxttx.”

“Then that was it. I woke up a pony and the world was happy and full of fruit trees, magic, love, sunshine and happiness ever after."

“Don’t scowl at me, you know I’m joking. It’s my thing, how I cope with events that are less than happy.”

I groaned loudly and stretched my legs, all four of them, before I continued.

There was a flash of light that barely registered since my suit had light filters and polarized lenses, so I didn’t get to see with my eyes what happened, but thankfully there was a complex series of cameras across my suit that switched on.

I looked to my right and tightened my grip on my rifle as a cloud of vibrant, white, heavy light and dust washed across the city toward us. It looked like it was swallowing the city in the two seconds it took to hit me. I was thrown into the air and saw the city shrink below me as I was tossed into the swirling energy that picked me up.

The ground vanished in that sea of colorlessness then I was pulled and was tossed around, rubble smashing into my armor and shattering several of my cameras, blinding me to the world, turned to shit, around me. I could see enough to recognize the ground. It was coming at me. Fast.

I grit my teeth and called out commands to the onboard software to prepare for a crash. Bags inflated around my body and I couldn’t move. The air hissed inside my suit somewhere and I cursed. My air supply was damaged and leaking. What a way to die. As a lab rat.

I impacted the ground with enough force to crack the asphalt below me. Red lights and things flashed inside my suit telling me my whole world was pain. Like I needed a computer to tell me my armor was as good as a toy horse in a tornado and I had the best case of tinnitus of my life.

My vision was blurry and I saw a few spots but overall I was okay. I called up a medical diagnosis and I saw lots of green and a few yellow spots, nothing to bad. I chuckled and looked around and through my polarized lenses the ground was bright still. Glowing but it looked like cracks were all around and under me.

I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that I lived then looked to the direction of the initial blast. Standard mushroom cloud spiking up into the sky, only it was green. I took a picture and started recording, something I might be able to blackmail a few million bits from the government and get out of the military, start a life.

Then I looked back where the blast went and my heart fell. A funny thing about bombs most ponies don’t know is that there’s an exchange of force. The blast forces an energy wave out, but creates a negative space that has to be filled. Which means that something has to go back to refill the gap.

That’s when I got picked up again. Felt like I got hit by a train and I was tossed around like a leave in the wind again I just waited with baited breath for my death. I just gave up. There was no way I could survive this twice. This wasn’t some movie, book, or play. I couldn’t hide in a box and live through this.

This is how I was to die.

I closed my eyes and thought of what any great geek would think at a moment like that. And I shouted it proudly, so the universe would hear me. “PICARD WAS BEST CAPTAIN!”

Then I saw the mushroom cloud coming closer. Fast. I grinned at my last line and took a superman pose, aiming into the inferno of doom. Going out with style was part of the game, I figured.

Then everything went dark.

I mean pitch black. My tech fizzled but didn't burn out. The hiss of air escaping was the only thing that broke the silence I was in. I looked around frantically trying to see anything or anyone. How many creds would I have given to see a flashlight in the distance? How many years of service would I trade for my friends? Thoughts began to flood my mind as I watched the NO2 gauge slowly fall. The time estimated several minutes before I’d be out of air and begin to suffocate.

“Is this how Zombie Shakespeare dies?” I quoted comically taking a pose from Hamlet.

“Shut up and give your location, Mocha.”

“Techie! Crap, oh crap. Ya heard that?”

“We all did, numb nuts,” Skippy said in a deep voice.

“You were talking over open comms. Of course we heard you.”

“Thanks Obvious, didn’t figure that out on my own.”

“Cadence! Everybody, I’m glad I’m not the only one. Where are you all?”

“Floating in a vast sea of dorkness,” Minnie said.

“The black sea? That’s racist!”

“Oh shut up, Mocha! God, when we get outta this I’m gonna slap you.”

“Minnie, as long as I’m in armor, you can kick me in the nuts. Until then, let’s just find out where we are. Any ideas?”

“Limbo?”

“That’s a place between life and death.”

“Thanks Obvious,” Butter Bar said flatly, “but I don’t think we’d be in full gear still. I still have my rifle. I’m gonna fire a test round.”

“NO!” we all shouted.

“If you fire a weapon you could hit one of us, dumbass,” Techie said with annoyance in his voice.

I turned my arm cannon on, that a gun built into the arm of my armor, and fired a shot into the nothing. While they bicker about the risks I’ll take it.

Nothing happened but a round was spent. No one noticed so I fired off a couple more for fun. I turned down the volume and looked where I think I’d fired my rounds and waited. Maybe a giant worm monster would open its maw and we’d fly out into an asteroid belt or anything.

No such luck. I readied my rifle, switched to a flare, and fired. No light. Either it failed or the darkness sucked the light up.

“Great.”

“What was that, Mocha?” Cadence asked, turning her fury from Butter Bar to me.

“I tested a flare and nothing happened. Either it failed to ignite or the darkness ‘ate’ it.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic. And did I give you permission to waste resources, specialist?”

I scoffed at her tone and ignored her.

“We have to find out what’s going on, where we are, and where WE are in relation to each other.”

“To my knowledge none of us are directly related.”

“Shut up, Obvious!” we all shouted.

“Unless it’s about something important,” I added. I once told him to shut up during a training exercise and half our team was killed because he wouldn’t tell us there was an enemy behind us. Lesson learned. He’s literal too.

“Why don’t we just unload and attack it?”

“What the hell are you thinking of attacking Skippy?”

“I’m gonna attack the darkness.”

We broke down into laughter, he was kinda funny when he wanted to be.

I started to feel vibrations and called everyone’s attention to it. They noticed it too and we started looking around at what could be causing it.

I heard Janice whisper her weapons name, almost as if to mock the entire situation. She named it ‘+10’, so when she’d get a hit or kill she could call ‘+10 to the win’, or something nerdy like that. I know my eyes rolled.

Slowly I focused ahead and saw a pinprick of light.

“Guys, look. Light! Can you see it, it’s to my left. I can’t turn my body but I see it.”

“Me too!”

“It’s kinda pretty, hope it gets us out.”

We watched and waited as it grew in size until it was bright enough so we could actually see the noses on our faces. My polarized lenses had disengaged and the light was warm. Refreshing, even.

The quiet blaring of an alarm was quickly silenced as my air tank nearly ran out of gas. I can only assume the others were in a similar boat as we passed some kind of threshold. Green grass. Blue sky. Trees. Shit.

“We’re really high, guys.”

I looked around and couldn’t even see anyone in my squad. A quick scan revealed no one. I rolled and tumbled freely looking and scanning for any sign of them for naught and rolled flat to my belly and opened my arms to break speed. I had an emergency parachute, as did we all. Hope everypony’s worked, I thought.

I punched a panel on my chest plate and shouted ‘parachute’, then the pull of gravity stopped and I gagged on my own spit for a minute; hacking and coughing for a good minute as I gathered my senses and took account of landmarks and a few photos. Video was still recording so I was excited to see my own near death experience.

I reinitialized the computers, again. Got diagnostics on the armor, my body, my weapons.

Well, I was showing a lot of yellow, the armor was heavily damaged, and my air was still leaking with about a minute left. Whooptie-doo.

Still about twenty minutes until I land in this light forest and then I could activate my … broken homing device. Never mind that option. Well, I still have comms.

I was so glad when I landed, but I had to get my squad together.

“System, comms status?”

“25 mile short range only. Please see a mechanic to repair armor ASAP.”

“Yeah, I’ll schedule it when I get back to base. Activate radio and scan for any friendlies.”

”Scanning. Scanning. One friendly found. ID indicates Skippy is seventeen miles northwest of current position.

“Seventeen fucking miles?! In this busted up piece of shit armor? How long will it take me to march my ass that far?”

”Approximately one and a half days. Nutritional supplies are sufficient for duration of march and atmosphere is free from harmful particulates at the scannable range of one part to a billion of known toxic substances. General background radiation is averaging 3 millirads. Air pressure is 1,750 feet above sea level-”

“Okay, I stopped listening after how long it’d take. Point me in the right way and scan for hostiles.”

With a click in confirmation a light blipped to the bottom left of my vision. I turned to face it until it got centered below my vision and I began to march toward it. This was gonna be a long day and I was walking into the sun. I could see what time of day it was by watching where it moved. Morning or night, I’d know to schedule my rations that way.

“System, what time is it?”

”The current time is 0320 hours.”

“Well it's definitely not three in the morning. What about where we are. Shoulda been some indicator when we were falling.

”There are no known locations or landmarks nearby to use as a point of reference.”

“Great. So it’s three in the morning and the sun is high with no idea where I am. Maybe I’m on the other side of the planet. Maybe I was thrown into the future, and when I find Skippy he’ll be a skeleton surrounded by the bones of a hundred wolves that made the mistake of trying to take a eat him.”

I chuckled and put a little more pep in my step. “Turn on awesome mix three. I need to jam out; keep scanning for life forms and anything that can be hostile.”

Another click and James Brown's I Feel Good began pumping throughout my suit; I sang along with the gusto of a shower sonet. Yeah, pretty bad. But I felt good, so there was that.

A few minutes later I was jamming out to a Backstreet bory hit when the sun did something I’d never seen before. It moved suddenly, like a tick, not a steady motion. Well, it’s normal now, but I was stunned. Never had I seen the sun move an hour space in a second. The next few minutes consisted of me jumping around like an idiot, screaming science fiction ‘facts’, and being a fool I started marching again, waiting for the next hour to come so I could see it again.

“This sucks. How much farther ‘till I’m there?” I whined in the most manly fashion possible.

We have traveled six miles. Rest is advised.”

“Shut up. I know about rest. The sun is gonna set soon and I’m exhausted. There aren’t any hills, mountains, caves, or even a valley for reference, damnit? System, how many probes did I buy?”

You have the ten probe package. Four tunnel mappers, three sector scanners, and three general purpose.

“Whatever one has the best range, fire it and give me a display of the topography, if you can.”

With a slight whirring noise a small thrust from my back sent me stumbling forward while my HUD lit up with an impressive map. It was 2D, but it had everything for a good ten miles before the probe died. And all I saw was an expansive, yet sparse, forest. A few rivers or streams, and that was it. I was still miles away from finding out if Skippy was okay, so I should growled.

“Well, I’m not wasting any more scanners like that. I gotta hot the head. System, open up and enter guard mode.”

A lot of grinding and clinking filled my senses and I gritted my teeth. “Don’t. Fucking. Say it. The suits locked due to damage. Fine, I have options. Crappy ones, but if I have to. System, activate internal waste disposal,” I groaned as the words left my mouth.

The sensation was unpleasant, to say the least. I won’t go into details but you can guess what entered my body and where. Well, I did what I had to and was thankful that system worked. Well, I was exhausted and had to sleep in power armor.

So, I found a nice rock to lean against, fell to my butt with a heavy thump, then fell back to look at the sky. I had always loved the sky; the stars, the constellations, Cadence's eyes.

“System, where the hell is the Big Dipper? Scan for constellations and tell me where we are.”

Scanning. Scanning. No related constellations found. Current location, unknown.”

“Damnit, where the hell did I end up. Team? Squad? Anyone there?" I began to ask, hoping against the obvious, "Can you hear me? This is Mocha.”

I fell back, my heart beating faster and my fists clenched tight. I didn’t know if I really was dead or alive, or what. There are, and were, so many possibilities that I actually chose to stop thinking about it. I turned on a show called "MacGyver" and killed some time.

“Scan for hostile lifeforms and enter low power mode, run any repairs you can but save resources on anything we don’t need. I’m going to sleep, keep trying to get into comms with anyone. Wake me, gently if anything happens. I don’t want to find out there’s a lizard monster on my chest and kill it only to find out it’s some kind of god to a local population of Ewoks.”

I looked to the stars and glanced side to side, checking various readouts and stats on my armor, weapons, and self. I was mostly green again, and the suit went from red to yellow in most spots.

The suit could self-repair to a point. Not fully, this isn’t some comic book where everything is perfect and magical. At the cost of time it could patch smaller holes in the armor itself with molecular bonding.

My air tanks were shot, the last of the air leaked out and repairing it was a technicians job. A few spots on my armor were irreparably weak, even after self repair. I needed to get to a shop or find Reece.

I was worried about what I’d wake up to. What nightmare could greet me through the night or in the morning.

“Gods, if you’re there. Take care of my friends and I.”

I wasn’t much for religion but once in awhile I’d ask a random deity for a favor. Usually booze or better luck gambling, but this time it seemed more appropriate to ask them all at once for something that mattered.

I decided to playback the recording of my journey and was shocked at what I saw.

Chapter 5

“Colors. I didn’t see this when I was in the void. It was pitch black; system, what am I seeing?”

The optical filters were effective in shielding you from the light. The wavelengths exceeded all safe levels and your visor was fully shielded to prevent blindness, injury, and eventually death.

“From light? What kind of light could do that in the void we were in?”

Solar radiation was detected, however it is not possible to experience solar radiation at such levels at ground level without total loss of life and atmosphere.

“So, let’s say I did pass the sun. What does that mean?”

I cannot answer that, not enough information available.

“So, I guess I passed the sun and lived. Great, that tells me nothing.”

The solar radiation was variable from what data is known.

“What else can you tell me?”

The standardized data package is limited to basic astronomical data to be used for navigational purposes. Basic solar system knowledge is available as well. Would you like to know facts about the Mars colony?

“No, that’s fine. I’ll just save this data in hard memory to view later. Powersave mode and good night.”

Good rest, soldier. You keep our society strong.

Well, that wasn’t very soothing, I thought as I yawned lightly, slowly drifting to sleep, thinking of what I’d be doing tomorrow besides walking another several hours and using a set of hoses plugged into my privates so I could go without stopping. Yeah, those were good times.

I don’t recall what, or if, I dreamed, but I remember waking up to a surprise. Birds were perched on my helmet visor. Looking at me and singing a song I couldn’t hear, but it looked pleasant and the birds looked terrestrial. Refreshing to wake up to, especially after what I’d been through.

Essentially being in a city destroying bomb, being pulled through space past a star, parachuting to the ground, then having to walk almost twenty miles. I yawned loudly and blinked a few times, really wishing I could wipe my face with my hands.

“System, report.” I asked, in-between yawns.

Good Morning. Current time is 10:16 AM. External air temperature is 24.4 degrees celsius or 74 degrees fahrenheit. All defence systems are damaged but functional, weapons systems are functional. You have healed thirty seven percent compared to your injuries yesterday-

“That’s fine. Open external audio at safe levels. I’d like to hear the ambient sounds for once, not artificial noises.”

With a click the songs the birds sang quietly increased until I heard their songs. It was so beautiful, like something out of a nature recording from before I was born. From when Earth was still vibrant, not just recovering. I laid there, being serenaded to by these tiny creatures that were completely unaware of what I was capable of.

Or maybe, they knew. I don’t know. I felt so much peace at that moment I didn’t notice I had fallen back asleep. When I woke up they were gone and I was alone so I sat up and looked around. Same sparse forest. Same blue sky above me.

I used a quick burst from a compressed air jet on my back that was only good to get me off my butt if I was knocked down in combat, to get back to my feet and I started walking again. The sound was unlike anything I had heard in real life before. There were birds, wind in the trees, the crunch of leaves below my feet.

The sudden impact of something against my side was a bit surprising, but not enough to scare me. I figured it was some animal that didn’t notice me so I turned to look at whatever it was and was not surprised to see a little horse with huge eyes rearing to punch me with its forelegs. I smirked and stood still as it landed several blows to my left side and arm without even scuffing the paint. Well, hardly.

I turned to it and knelt down as it turned to buck me and giggled as it’s legs hit me, then it stumbled forward, losing balance, and face planting the ground. I openly laughed as I quickly picked it up and righted it to it’s scrambling feet. Hooves. It ran away quickly and I watched it go. Just like a scared deer it didn’t look back.

“No harm, no foul.”

I stood and started walking again, enjoying the sounds of nature. I’ll admit it was getting boring to me; I mean compared to the fast paced and loud lifestyle of a soldier surrounded by others, this was meditation or sleep time stuff.

I was about to put my music on when I felt a heavy thud on my back. Camera’s being broken and all I figured I’d ignore it and keep on. Another, then another to my left side. “Okay, what the hell?” I asked turning to see a group of about a half dozen brown to grey horses about three quarters my size in formation with stones in their hooves.

“Ooookay? Uh, I come in peace?”

Yes, that’s what I said, exactly. One of the smaller ones near the back pointed to me and shouted something I couldn’t understand. I started recording for the humor of it all.

“Intrel ptick!”

I stood firm as the rocks began to thud against my suit. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing. Horses picking up rocks with their hooves and throwing said rocks at me shouting ‘intrel ptick’ at me. When one of the horses grabbed a tool, I took notice and grabbed my rifle from my back, with a quick swing and pointed it at the ground between us.

They stopped and looked at me. I actually saw their faces contort into what I knew to be confusion, fear, and anger. The one with the tool flung it at me and I shot a round into the ground toward them. The sound was no big deal to me but the look on their faces was pure horror and terror. I had never seen a real horse, or pony, so seeing their faces react like a human’s was interesting.

They all scattered, screaming like mad away from me, save for one. A light brown one with a necklace of feathers and dried fruit, it seemed. The horse fell to its side as the others ran away. I watched for a second before taking a step forward. I looked around and didn’t see any traps and where I was didn’t seem like a place to ambush either; it was too open with no cover. I watched the others running until they were beyond sight, lost to the trees.

I slung my rifle again and walked to the downed horse, knelt down, gently touched it, and wished I could feel it. I poked it and waited to see if it was breathing. A shaky breath in and slow release. Again. Again.

Okay, it’s alive, just in shock, I guess. What should I do? I can’t help it from inside the armor, I can’t get out of the armor. I could carry it, but then the others might think I’m taking it as a kill and they seemed to have a herd mentality, so they may protect their land violently.

Dammit, what do I do? I can’t just leave it here, what if a predator shows up? Easy lunch; and it’d be my fault.

“Shit.”

I saw it’s ear twitch at my word and I stood up and backed away slowly. “Hi, can you hear me? It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just going to go, I really hope you’re okay.”

Once I was about ten feet back it huffed and slowly raised its head, looking around. It locked it’s eyes on me then tried to stand but fell again. Several times, each time trying to scurry away until I saw blood on it’s back leg. I didn’t shoot it, but some debris ricocheted to the poor creature.

It was terrified. Terrified of me and what I had done. I wasn’t some monster that was trained to kill without mercy, none of us were. We were allowed pets, when I was young we had a troop dog named Sky. I loved her as much as the other kids did. Now here I am, injuring a poor animal for no reason.

I hesitated and began to walk to it with my hands out and palms open, showing I had nothing. I couldn’t take my rifle off, that’s stupid no matter what, but I slowly walked to the terrified horse and knelt down. It stopped scrambling and leaned back from me, it’s breathing was heavy and fast. I could see fear in its eyes, folded back ears, and trembling lips.

“T-tirumbnaaptaltthan,” she rambled quickly.

It had a soft, almost child-like, voice.

Language. Real language. It’s smart. Oh god, what the hell. What do I say? I just met a new life form and the first thing I do is shoot it. Shit, intergalactic war.

I gathered myself and looked to it, my hands holding the several feet space between us before I retracted my hands and began pantomiming.

“I. No. Hurt. You.” I said slapping my arm then shaking my head the best I could. I motioned wrapping around my arm while saying ‘I-help’. It calmed down a little.

Okay, I think it understands me. Which is great. We have some cultural similarities, maybe I can help it and get on my way with a story to tell.

I knelt down and knocked on my chest plate, by my heart, and bowed to it; full prostration. I mean, if it was smart, it had to have a social structure. If I looked subservient to it I’d be in a better place. So, I looked up and it had a look of repulsion. Ears still back, head pulled back with a sneer, and one eyebrow slightly higher than the other.

“R-ruoum twoyg? Ythmloth ruoum twoyg?”

I looked at it and shrugged.

I hope this works.

I slowly sat up to my knees and opened my arms, inviting it to me. It’s look changed to one of bemusement. As though it was trying to scream ‘really’ with a look. It worked, but I stayed where I was, arms open like a fool.

It slowly rolled to its belly in a comfortable position and looked at me.

“Prit?”

I shrugged then nodded. “Prit.” Gods, don’t be a declaration of war.

It got up carefully and cautiously took a step toward me, watching me as seconds passed. Taking another step it regarded my body and I realized I was still behind polarized glass. To avoid any setbacks I’d wait to show my real face. It took another step.

“Prit,” it stated flatly.

“Prit,” I replied warmly.

It smiled a little then limped calmly ahead to me and stopped just outside my reach.

“Prit,” it said with a smile. It walked into my arms and reared, opening its forelegs it fell into me with a giggle.

Oh. My. God. It means ‘hug’, I think. I’m hugging a smart horse. What now?

It broke the hug but kept its forelegs on my chest and looked to my helmet. “Trrop timper tokok yur jilling?”

I slowly reached up and tapped my helmet and told the computer to disengage the polarization so it could see my face. It reacted as I expected. A scream and scrambling back, it fell to its haunches and screamed in pain, clutching its side. I lunged to catch it before it fell, and I quickly picked it up.

It was crying in pain so I turned it around and scanned its injury. It was literally a flesh wound. The shard of rock, or whatever it was, grazed the leg and left a centimeter laceration. I chuckled and looked around to find anything I could use to patch it quick. I saw plenty of nature around but nothing I could use.

Then I had a silly idea. I placed it down and took my rifle off my shoulder and broke the strap. It was a heavy bulletproof cloth called kevlar. It wasn’t absorbent but I figured it’d make this creature feel better. I ripped a segment off and quickly wrapped the creature's wound with part of the strap.

A brief struggle and a few terrified looks to me and I let it go. It stumbled to its hooves and took a few shaky steps looking at my amazing medical skills before looking to me with confusion. Then it beamed a smile almost too large to believe was possible.

“PRIT! Prit prit ruoum, prit prit ruoum, pri~t.”

It was singing and dancing like it didn’t have an injury to begin with. It sat again and looked to it’s rear leg when I noticed it was a female. I wasn’t really looking before but there were the obvious signs, teats and all.

I touched my chest and smiled. “Me. Mocha. You?” I pointed to her as she looked to me. Cocking her head to the side I repeated myself. “Me. Mocha. You?”

She looked to my pointing finger aimed at her then I could see the spark of her understanding.

“Ythmloth Mocha. Tal’than Lom.” She pointed to herself, “Lom.”

I smiled and extended my hand, more by habit. “Hi Lom, nice to meet you.”

She reached up and bumped my hand like it was no big deal, which was surprising to me.

“Ythmloth, Mocha. Nytyng.”

I chortled. I was having a conversation with a sentient horse.

“Me. Friend. Prit?”

She looked at me and then to the sky, almost like she was thinking of something. I followed her gaze and took a second to appreciate the blue, cloudless sky. The leaves blowing in the soft wind. The sound of nature around me; how it could have washed me away with it, if it weren’t so dang boring.

I felt a knock on my chest as she got my attention back she smiled. Poor teeth, but big smile.

“Fr-ind. Prit. Fr-ind. Mocha. Prit. Frongid.”

It was so cute and cool. She was trying to speak my language after a few minutes.

“Oh, you’re…” My heart skipped a beat. I think I just made peace. “You’re my friend?”

We looked at each other and smiled.

OR, I was just married. Crap, I’m not a linguist. It’s okay, Mocha. Just stay cool. Maybe it, she, Lom can help get this armor off. I could use a breather.

No, wait. Maybe they can help me get to my friends. Well, how would they help, exactly? Maybe I can become their god and they can carry me the whole way?

I rolled my eyes at myself.

What the heck am I thinking? Any plan like that would make me into a warlord, disrupt whatever balance these creatures had with other tribes, maybe even start a war.

I’m not here to kill. I’m not even a soldier to kill. I’m a soldier cuz it’s an easy life. Even if I went to war I didn’t expect to kill, these things always ended before harm was done. Maybe I should just leave. Yeah, that’s it. Just get up right now and leave.

I looked to her and saw her pointing in the distance. “Hey, that’s where Skippy is. I think I can go home with you, just don’t make me dance at your bonfire party tonight.”

She cocked her head and began talking to me in her language before getting up and trotting away. She stopped, nudged her head, and I got up to follow her. I wasn’t worried. They’d shown me that their weapons were rocks and stone age tools. Unless they were gonna drop a boulder on me, I was gonna be safe.

Chapter 6

I followed Lom, what an interesting name by the way. Lom. Anyway, Lom led the way and I followed. Wait, that’s obvious. I guess I’m just trying to get past what happened during our walk.

As soon as I began following her I noticed her talking again. She’d point here and there, stating what seemed like facts. Probably telling me what things held importance to her. Maybe names of the trees, plants, grass. Maybe she was just talking to the voices in her head, I didn’t have a clue.

She was ahead of me and I was enjoying the scenery. I still had my HUD on so data was running across my screen. I got a noise and beeping sound that drew my attention to Lom and… How do I put this? Well, horses didn’t go to the bathroom anywhere specific. What I’m saying is... she was pooping while walking and talking.

Her tail was up, and it was just dropping while she walked and talked like it was nothing. Maybe to her it was nothing but, I’m not a horse. Or, wasn’t. I’m still not, but, you know what I mean. So, there she was, talking in horse-ese and pooping.

And I stepped in it. It was awful to think about. Just as bad to watch it happen the second time, but I was able to walk around that one.

The forest was becoming much more dense, so her talking was becoming more animated. I think she was telling me about the terrain but even now I can’t recall.

She stopped suddenly and ducked, then motioned for me to do the same. I hesitated before I complied and knelt down. She looked back to me and scowled, to which I shrugged. My massive body wasn’t going to go up and down like a normal creature; not while I’m in the armor.

I don’t think she understood by the way she glared at me like a mother would a child. I actually felt a bit uncomfortable but stayed as I was. She huffed and turned to look ahead. I focused my scan ahead and didn’t see anything at first but then something moved. I smirked and turned off my HUD.

I saw them hiding, even without the HUD and I still had my rifle in my right hand and I relaxed myself, I stood and, holding the rifle like a crutch, I began to limp. I saw Lom hop up and turn to me.

“Mocha. Ythmloth potokok. Ythmloth. Potokok.”

I’m pretty sure she was telling me ‘stay down’. I shook my head and winked at her. I stumbled ahead and moved my hand up, almost like I was guarding myself from her as the others jumped from their hiding spots and ran up to Lom, making all kinds of ruckus surrounding her.

Some held spears, others rocks, in the crooks of their forelegs. I didn’t know they could bend that way, but horses shouldn’t have language like that, so what the hell do I know?

Cool, stone age horses. This’ getting cooler and cooler.

“Intrel ptick, bo’ta worass,” A large one, comparatively, whinnied in the middle of his sentence aggressively, “Lom,” he growled at me, “eieith miltrep. MILTREP!”

I fell back and cowered slightly. “Lom. Catch. Me. Lom. Fine. Warrior.”

I pantomimed by pointing to her, then to my leg while I spoke. I made sure to tremble my arm, as best I could in armor, while pointing to her and saying her name.

The look of such confusion on Loms face was worth the picture. I still have it, actually. All these years later. I’ll show you later. Well, she was able to squeak something that meant as much to me as it did to them. She was speechless. The warriors, I call them that loosely, looked between us and grinned.

They chanted her name and hoisted her up, the look on their faces was something out of a show I once saw, where a young warrior had killed his first prey on a hunt. They were so excited and focused on Lom they didn’t see me stand up and start ‘limping’ away. One of them did and I was quickly surrounded by spears.

I acted like I was afraid, which I would have been, had it not been for a centimeter of layered armor that was heavy round resistant. Uh, that means it was really tough. I bet if I still had it, Celestia couldn’t even stomp it without a lot of effort. Yeah, that’s how tough it was.

Well, their leader warrior guy shouted at me and I turned around slowly, still using my rifle as a crutch, and looked to him with a hint of sorrow and fear. The fighting grin he put on was actually endearing. Even without my armor I think I’d have beaten him, but he’d have fought his best and might have landed a few good hits.

He grumbled a few words to me I really didn’t hear or care about.

Lom trotted up to him and placed a hoof to his side and got his attention. She whispered to him and his eyes widened, then he looked to me in shock.

“Mondah, ruoum Lom?”

I looked at him and I think he could see my confusion.

“Ythmloth Mocha, Retila. Ythmloth Mocha.”

I guess his name is Retila. I’ve gotta remember that. Damn I’m terrible with names.

He looked to me and narrowed his eyes. “Mocha, ruoum Lom?”

I think he’s asking me if-

“Mocha, Lom, prit!” Lom shouted loud and proud. I really wish I could have been recording still. Their expressions turned to shock, all of them. They looked to her, then me several times, trying to process whatever she said.

Their gaze fell on me, their weapons lowered. Retina started to talk to me. “Modahk-”

“Mocha!” Lom interjected.

He glanced to her, almost kindly. “Mocha, prit?”

I have to find out what that means? I swear, if I married her I’m going to run until my armor dies.

I nodded. “Lom, Mocha, prit. Retina prit?”

He hopped back a bit, recoiling. The others laughed and Lom came to my side, whispering in my ear. “Retila. Ythmloth Retila, ngng Retina,” she giggled as she moved back.

“I’m sorry. Retila prit Mocha?”

The laughter subsided and he looked me over with caution. I glanced to Lom and she was standing tall, but she nodded and moved her forelegs apart.

Oh yeah, I guess I should..

I steadied myself and placed my rifle on the ground, leaning my knees on it so none of them would get it. Just to be safe, and opened my arms.

Lom smirked at me and nodded, like we understood each other. A few seconds of uneasy murmuring among them and the leader Retina- yeah, Retila, whatever, stood in front of me holding his spear lightly. He grunted and the others raised theirs again. I couldn’t see them all but, I imagine if I could they’d have been smiling behind me.

He lowered his spear and took a step into my open arms then reared and fell into me; another hug.

What the hell is with these things and hugs? Oh crap, what if they’re all one big happy family and this is just indoctrination into their clan? Like, I have enough to worry about.

I grunted and embraced him lightly, since my armor could probably crush a tree in its prime, I just left enough space, just in case. He pressed against me and I opened my arms. He looked into my visor at my face and we shared a smile, it was a good moment.

He pushed back and turned, landing on all fours. Reaching down and picking up his spear he thrust it ahead. Well, kinda. It was at an angle from where I had to go. I couldn’t just leave this group, and who knew when I might need their help in the future?

I just stood up, grabbing my rifle as I did. I took a few steps before I remembered I was supposed to be limping and I got a few awkward looks. I looked to my leg and knocked it three times, while giving a command to open the reload slot.

It’s a place where extra rounds are kept, so I could drop a mag and pull a new one in a pinch… I’ll maybe get into that later.

Well, I removed the clip and replaced it the same way. I groaned and wiggled my leg like something was happening, then I stomped it to the ground. With a heavy thud I hopped a good foot, that’s like two hooves…

You know, I don’t really like how our measurements are based on Celestia’s sizes. I mean, conceited much? Gosh, sorry. I’ll try to not insult her in front of you. I said try, not I wouldn’t.

So, I landed and they all looked to my leg like it was miraculously healed. A couple tried to poke my leg with their spears but Retina… Retila, stopped them with a sharp shout and glare.

I began to walk through the small group and in the direction he had pointed for a few good paces before I was flanked by them all. I was still surrounded, but it didn’t feel like I was in trouble now.

Lom was the talk of the moment; I heard her name several times a minute. She kept pointing to her, whatever it was, a bandage? A patch? A three hundred credit piece of plastic that I needed to keep my weapon on my body, in and out of the suit. Whatever you wanted to call it, she was proud of it.

I just went along for the ride, essentially. After about an hour the conversation died and we walked ahead in silence. The sounds of nature began to drive me mad. Crunching under our feet, wind in the leaves, birds. It was mind numbing.

Then a manticore jumped out of the bushes and I wrestled it to the ground and they watched in awe as I rode it around, then I adopted him, named him George, loved him, petted him… What?! It happened, in my imagination. Only it wasn’t a manticore; it was a lion. But I was so bored I wanted something to happen.

I had heard stories, read books, and watched movies about how great nature was. How it was where we belonged, where we came from, and where we went when we died.

If it was like that, I’d have preferred to live in a heavy metal video for eternity.

No, I’m rubbing my temples because I keep making references you don’t get, and you ask, and I have to deflect the answer. It’s really difficult to stay on topic when reminiscing about something so boring, at the time.

Okay, well. After what felt like an hour I shut off external audio and turned on my music again. I was so much happier listening to classic rock like Metallica and Slayer and other classical music like grunge. Oh, it was amazing music.

Well, I was alerted by System to pay attention and looked ahead to see a large gathering of horses. Maybe fifty of them scattered around a clearing ahead of me. I turned off my music and stopped. I looked to the bushes and sighed, turning I took a step, only to find spears at me again. I looked at them and tapped my crotch, then pointed to a bush.

Well, a few blushes told me they understood I had to use the restroom, as it were. Or, that I had to furiously masturbate in some privacy. Gods I wish I knew their cultural heritages.

Well, I went into the bushes and used a drill feature on my boot to make a small hole and deposited my waste from the last day into it, then covered it, following the act I walked out to see all the horses looking away from me. I really hope they thought I was just doing some weird alien bathroom stuff and not…

Well, I rejoined them and they led me into what appeared to be their home, of sorts. It was mostly just a poorly made forced clearing. They had knocked over some trees and cleared bushes away from a good sized area. A place to gather, while I’m sure they slept in the safety of the nearby woods or a cave or something.

The overall opinion of this group returning with a giant bipedal creature made from unknown material was obviously fear and concern. I saw parents and their foals group up, their little ones hiding under their legs, peeking as they could.

I stopped at the edge of the clearing and knelt down again. “Lom, prit?” I asked pointing to the horses in the clearing. Lom looked to me, followed my point then looked at the concerned ones gathering together. She looked to me and smiled a little before beginning to talk to Retila. She pointed at the ground before me again and told me to stay with a look. I obliged, like a good pet. Maybe prit means servant. I wondered.

She and Retila went ahead with the others standing around me, relaxed like I was just a tourist and they were there, like I wasn’t something that scared them to death earlier.

About ten minutes later Lom and Retila returned and began talking to me and the others around me. They all walked into the clearing and I was encouraged to follow. I hesitantly stood and walked ahead, into the clearing. I didn’t know what to expect, at all.

A small group approached us and we stopped, I was following Lom like she had me on a leash. She nuzzled who I presumed to be her mother and father before pointing to me, happily talking and saying ‘prit’ so often.

Their eyes were locked on me the whole time. They watched me with their ears perked up, their bodies in a position to bolt away in a heartbeat, and their little ones under them waiting to follow their parents’ actions; cautiously looking between me and Lom.

She finished her little tale and they all looked around to the other horses in the area who were whispering. I know I say this to death, but ‘prit’ was the word of the day. It was losing it’s cute factor and starting to drive me mad. I know I didn’t have any linguistic package in that dumb suit, only a few thousand human languages.

It could translate horsen-ese just as good as I could. Yeah, that bad.

At least at first.

After a few minutes I sat down after finding a large tree to plop against, and I relaxed again. The horses came by and randomly poked me, looking at me, asked me things I couldn’t answer because I couldn’t understand. All I could do was smile as nice as I could while they passed, crowded, poked, prodded, and examined my armor until they warmed up to me.

I actually started to fall asleep so I thought I’d give them something to talk about. I loudly yawned and stretched my arms, tinted my visor, and slumped like I had passed out. I heard them giggle, talk, hush each other, then an eerie calm washed over me. I had my shows on at first, just enjoying most of an episode before I got an odd feeling.

I paused and looked up to see about thirty of these horses laying on their bellies, sleeping or dozing, while many others laid facing the woods. They took me as a cue to rest safely.

I couldn’t even find a thought at what I saw. I turned off the show and lifted my head to look around. Lom had fallen asleep with her head on my lap, I couldn’t feel her but it was so cute to see. Her ears, and the ears of almost all the others’ ears, flicked in every way while they restlessly slept. It was odd to see them sleeping so uneasily and I really wanted to find out why. What kind of predators existed here? What kind of tech would I have to face down in this weird world?

Well, that’s all I had to think about as I dozed off to sleep myself. “System, standby mode,” I mumbled, almost instinctively, as I fell asleep.

I woke up I don’t know how long later to see the sun was setting.

Holy shit, I’ve slept more here than on a week off in the military.

I noticed I was on my side and grumbled. Trying to sit up didn’t yield any results. I was in a suit that weighed as much as five ponies, I couldn’t get up without help or System.

“System, online.”

A humming sound filled my ears for a couple seconds and everything turned on. My body twitched briefly as my suit did a mobility check and I sat up. Looking around I saw the entire area was deserted.

“Great, what happened?”

System was in standby mode. All systems were set to powersave mode. Current power levels are at 57%. Projected life is three days without full recharge. Solar recharge panels damaged. Recommend return to repair bay ASAP.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said grumpily as I boosted myself up and looked around. A quick scan and I found their tracks. And something bigger. Looked like a big beast, whatever it was. So, I began to trot, I mean run, after them.

“I need to take a break,” I told her. She frowned but I insisted. “This next part is a bit tough to put into words, I need some water. Be right back.”

I got up and cantered to the bathroom. I went in, closed the door, turned on the light and looked at myself in the mirror.

I have looked the same for almost sixty years. Maybe I should change it up? Meh, what’s the point. I have to face the truth sooner or later. I guess this is the first step, telling the truth. My truth.

I turned on the water and plugged the sink, letting it fill about halfway before turning the water off. It was warm when I dipped the tip of my hoof into it. I chuckled.

When I first got here, hooves were senseless but mobile and could grip. Now they’re almost like having two fingers with nerve endings. I can’t wait to get to that part of the story.

I plunged my muzzle into the water and drank all of it down to the drain before I gasped for air.

I always loved water, but the water in some places has unique local flavors. Some sweeter, some saltier, some are just to full of minerals. But, all are clean and fresh. I respect that about this world.

After everything, the water has always been clean.

I sighed and shook my head quickly. Most of the water got off, some was in my fur. Fur. If only I knew. I grabbed a towel from above the… what do I even call it. It’s a toilet, I guess. But they’re so different here from what I knew as I human.

It’s a unique design that somepony I knew came up with a while ago.

I dried my face and tossed the towel to the sink before turning off the light and exiting the bathroom. She was still there, tapping her hooves on her legs waiting.

“Do you know the history of the toilet? I asked her. She snapped me a look that said ‘what the hay are you talking about?!’

She shook her head cautiously.

“I know the pony that invented the modern design. Did you know that they were once like chairs, with a hole in them?”

She tittered at the thought and shook her head. “That sounds so silly. And weird. And why are you talking about that?”

“Just a quick side note. The ones now are just long squat toilets that cater to practically every species. When I got here, creatures went while they moved. Over time we tried to implement more comfortable ways we were used to. It didn’t take so well for quadrupeds, though. And tails were not a thing humans had, if I didn’t mention that.”

“No, you didn’t,” she said with a hint of annoyance as she levitated her stack of papers to the beginning and scratched a note about human anatomy. “I thought you were monkey like, they have tails.”

“Don’t let any human hear you call them monkeys. It’s inflamatory, an insult. You do not want to anger a human.”

She looked at me and nodded.

“Anyway, I have a story to tell you.”

I tracked them for what felt like miles. My suit was doing most of the work but it was still a long trek through an unknown forest. Not that a known forest would have been much better. I had my infrared scanner going and searched for any horse I could find.

I found a few drops of blood by a thorny bush, lots of lost mane or tail hairs, but nothing of note. I finally got tired of looking and looked to the sky. The colors of night were coming in and I saw some stars peeking through the void. I kind of hoped I’d get kicked again, that some horse would be there beside me, shouting ‘prit’.

I turned and began to march toward where Skippy was when I noticed a heat signature. It wasn’t tiny. It had to be what scared the horses away so I readied my rifle and walked loudly to it. I switched to night vision for a second before regretting it; It wasn’t night yet, just dusk. It turned itself off but left me seeing spots.

I didn’t notice the creature until it’s maw was right over my upper torso, trying to chomp me. I let my rifle go from my right hand and drew a fist, I raised that fist up as high and as fast as I could catching the beast somewhere that made it vomit as it flopped off me and rolled on the ground.

I didn’t mind being covered in whatever its last meal was as I walked to it and looked at it. It stood on shaky legs and I saw it was what I now know to be a manticore, but a smaller male. It backed up and I saw blood around it’s mouth. Not mine, so whose?

I took my rifle in hand and looked at it, ready to shoot it’s ass with buckshot or even a taser if I wanted. Then I saw Lom on the ground, dead by it’s rear legs. It was eating her. I stopped it from finishing her. He threw her up on me.

I blinked as the flash from my muzzle, the gun muzzle, blinked. I didn’t know I had even aimed and pulled the trigger but I hit it center mass with a .50 caliber round. It was turned to mush before it knew it was dead and I still shot it twice more. I didn’t even feel mad, it just happened.

I walked to Lom and cradled her head in my hands, part of her face was nibbled on and the rest of her was just beginning to be snacked on so she was mostly intact. I took in a deep breath, held it for as long as I could, and exhaled sharply.

“Lom, Mocha prit.”

I laid her head down, covered her with a few scraps from the beast, stood up again, then began my march to find my friends.

If this is how it is here, maybe life on earth wasn’t so bad.

Chapter 7

I trudged along until after the sun set and the stars sparkled above me. I looked at them as I walked and wondered where I was.

How did I get here. Was this death? What do I even look like in this suit? What if it merged with me? What if I’m a zombie, decaying in here. So many what-ifs, nothing to know. I really have to get out of this armor, how much longer unti-

It was at that moment I found a small cliff.

Yeah, laugh it up. Haw haw. It wasn’t very funny to me, you know. I was having a moment and then boom, I’m face first in what seemed like rocks and mud.

It’s not that funny. Sheesh.

…

Well, glad you’re back. Have a good bathroom break? Glad I could make you laugh till you peed. Right, back to it? Thanks.

So, I fell face first into this muck, hush!

And I grumbled to myself. I looked at my sensors and wasn’t too happy to see a black spot on my armor display. My left knee was nearly broken. The armor, not mine. I pushed myself up and rolled back to a sitting position when I just started screaming and shouting. Letting all the frustration I’d had from the moment I was bombed until I found, her.

So much trouble and I bottled it up.

I lost my world, friends, and now my armor was crumbling around me. I shouted about how much I wanted out of that dumb armor, only to have the front crack open and hiss. The front of my torso was awash in cool fresh air and I took the deepest breath I could. The air was so fresh and sweet.

It was only a little bit, but I was so enthused and excited my frustrations melted away. I felt almost giddy. I wasn’t dead. I wasn’t a zombie. I wasn’t alone. All I had to do was get up and really use my rifle as a crutch and find my team.

“Close the armor,” with a whirr and hiss I was sealed back in, “open comms. Can anyone hear me? Anyone out there?”

A slight static noise and then silence. “If they’re out here they’re alive. Radio static doesn’t just happen like that. System, try to hail anyone else. Use morse code with static if you have to. I’m gonna get to Skippy and start fixing this.”

I got up and crutched myself, and began trudging ahead. I could still move my leg, but it wasn’t easy. My speed was so much slower and I couldn’t risk being out at night without my armor. And now that I had a gap I could Superman my suit open and pee in a bush like a man.

I had renewed vigor and kept going, glancing at the sky this time, not focusing it. I heard random static popping in and had high hopes I’d get a signal soon. Then I got another surprise. I mean, what a first day? So much happened it felt like I was fast forwarding through a movie.

I was surrounded by smiling faces and large eyes. Spears aimed to the sky as I was rushed by my horse friends again. I untinted my visor and looked to them surrounding me. I saw Retila and a few of his pals grinning to see me. I dragged my feet together and stood as best I could.

I had to tell them, even if they knew. I felt the corners of my mouth trembling, pulling down as I remembered seeing her on the ground. I looked around, but for the life of me I couldn’t tell them apart well enough in the day. The night made it worse. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.

“Lom, Mocha prit…”

“Mocha!”

I turned my head to the noise and saw a horse pushing through the crowd. It stopped before me and I looked at it.

“No way…”

“Mocha, prit! Ynipyut tolnat!” she shouted excitedly.

Oh shit, I’m a racist bastard. I can never mention how I couldn’t tell them apart.

I commanded my armor to open and grabbed my chest with my hands. Risk be damned, I was so happy and sad to see her. I pulled and felt the gears grinding until it clicked past the breaking point and slid open. The hoses and things retracted from my body and, honestly I forgot they were there until that point. Very weird.

The creatures scattered back as I fell out to my knees. A little worse of wear, but I was so happy to see Lom in the flesh. She was, well, confused to see me. First I was this giant thing, now I’m a tinier thing and not as tough.

I looked at her and felt my eye water. “Lom, my friend. I’m so glad to see you.”

She smiled at my voice and looked at my empty armor, standing by itself, then to me again before walking up and nuzzling my cheek. She was warm and soft, her coat smelled like, well horse, I guess. When she pulled back she sniffed me and recoiled. I had been walking in my own sweat for a good couple days, among other things.

She, on the other hoof, hand, had breath that smelled like a fruit smoothie. I hummed in pleasure at the memory of a thick fruit smoothie I’d had a few months before. Cost a lot but damn was it worth it. I heard some giggles and realized their voices were more sweet than I knew. inside the armor there were filters, face to muzzle was so surreal.

“Lom, are you okay?”

She looked at me closely, my eyes adjusting to the dark as best they could. I never really had great night vision to begin with. She leaned into me again and covered her nose with her hoof as she spoke to me again.

“Mocha, ythmloth poohye.”

I broke down into laughter as she and the others backed up reflexively.

“You’re saying I stink?” I asked as I collected myself. “Pooyah, Mocha?”

A round of laughter waved across them. Great, that meant something else.

“Ngng, Mocha poohye,” she leaned in to speak softer, “pooyah Mocha…” she patted my head and mouthed ‘pooyah’.

My eyes widened as I think I got it. “Oh,” I said then felt my face contort into disgust. That made them laugh louder.

Yeah, I’ll tell you I learned the translation for what I said was literally ‘poop on me’.

Yeah, I said that. But I said I wasn’t a linguist and I stand by it! Anywho...

After a large round of laughs I stood up with pins and needles through my legs, stumbling I caught myself and stretched letting a mighty groan leave me. Maybe too loud as foals ran under their parents who huddled together.

Oh yeah, they may think I’m a monster. Better just yawn, cover it up.

I yawned as I stretched and smacked my lips loudly before looking to a group of huddlers. They relaxed and sighed, their foals still hiding but peeking at me.

Lom began talking to her people about something while I turned to observe my armor. Damn it was banged up. Looked worse than I imagined, but better than I would had I not had it taking all the hits for me.

The armor was dented all over. Paint was just awful. Burns and scorch marks from passing near a sun, and not a single bullet mark.

“They’d be impressed, or disappointed. I hope I get to find out,” I said softly as I felt a bump on my butt. I turned to look and expected Lom, but I got an elder. She was tiny, almost frail looking. I wondered how she was able to keep with the herd if they ran through the forest and all that.

“Mocha, tal’than Brop. Mocha prit Lom?” Lom chimed in agreement. With a nod Brop smiled at me. “Mocha ruoum. Mocha prit Poh’Nee.”

I thought about it for a second and couldn’t help but chuckle. “Pony?”

She crooked her head to the right. “Poh’Nee,” she emphasised by waving a foreleg to her people.

“Ah, Pony,” I said again, “gotcha,” I nodded curtly and crossed my arms like it was my understanding. I saw her roll her eyes and smirk.

At least she didn’t press the issue. I reserve then as I do now, the right to be a smartass. “So, where are we?” I asked openly.

Current location unknown. System said.

A flurry of motion and I was pulled back from my armor behind the horses, who were ready to defend me from the disembodied voice.

Random shouting and the intrel pticks started, but I shouted loudly; roared more like, to gather their attention.

Looking to me they realized their foolish act.

“If I’m here, and I came from that; that must be a part of me, right?”

Some turned back to the armor and poked at the open cavity with their spears, others closed their eyes and swallowed hard. Intelligence varies among these creatures too. Funny how they named their tribe Poh’Nee. Like pony, but they’re not ponies. They’re horses.

“Okay, that’s really been confusing me,” she interjected, “you know the difference between ponies and horses. Most horses live in the deserts to the south, or they emigrated from Equestria during the three race war. Even the city of Saddle Arabia only hosts about twenty and most of them are just ambassadors from other nations.”

I smirked at her again. “Yeah, I know. I was there. The thing I’ll cover in more detail sooner or later is that when I got here, I met horses first. That’s all, I’m not misinforming you or anything. Just stay calm and let me ramble on, okay?”

She rolled her eyes. Eye plates. Grah! Okay, back to the story. Gods I can’t believe what he did.

“Okay, well, as I was saying…

It was a coincidence. What was happening around me was just life returning to normal after that.

The horses gathered into families and huddled together, trying to stay warm in the falling temperatures. I noticed it was getting colder than it had the previous night but I needed to learn something about these creatures.

I walked to a random group who eyed me with caution and non even a little trust as I sat down and crossed my legs. I smiled warmly showing my teeth. Yeeah, they got up and scurried back to another place, leaving me alone like a fool. I let my shoulders fall and I slumped. I felt so weird now.

Nature, in its finest form, was around me. It was dark now and I could see the stars everywhere above, but I didn’t see the arms of the galaxy. I looked to my wrists and let a sarcastic laugh go. “If this was a movie I’d have all this cool tech to talk to my armor. Maybe have it walk over and start a fi-” I hopped up and ran to my armor, spun around and slammed into it.

Automatically it shutting itself around me as I read the displays and readouts. “System, distance to Skippy?”

Last known location would be seven miles on a heading of 230 degrees. I have marked the direction on your compass.

“Any luck contacting him yet?”

Negative. All comms have stopped from his location.

“What?! When?” I asked with a bit more volume than I needed to use at a computer.

When you were last asleep his short range transponder was disabled.

“Well that’s just prime. Fine, I need to start a fire to get this place warm for my new friends. What do I need?”

It was kind of embarrassing to ask a computer for help on how to make a fire; the most basic and needed of all survival skills. I had never needed to know, I always had tech to fall back on. Trainers taught us that when we were kids, but it was more of a novelty since we were going to be spending most of our lived inside buildings with power and all that.

I mean, how many times have you had to make a fire pit for survival while in Manehattan? Ha, that look says it all.

Well, I gathered up sticks and even climbed a smaller tree and broke a few branches off, just incase I needed to make smoke for something like, oh, I don’t know, maybe my friends to see and come to me. The horses were all watching me intently as I piled a mound of sticks and kindling into a small clearing.

I went and cleared a space as best I could to make a safe fire area, and began digging a hole.

Quickly others joined in. I had my night vision on and could see almost as well as they could and the looks of determination while digging was impressive. Took about seven minutes to dig a five foot deep pit. I stopped them and called Lom over and knelt down to look at her. She was dusty but didn’t seem too tired after helping dig.

“Lom, Pony back up.”

I gestured with my arms to the area and she took the cue. Communicating was getting easier. She shouted and they all backed up giving me a wide area. Not enough though, I motioned and they backed up more. I thought about seeing how far I could push it but I decided that was enough.

I grabbed a large armful of twigs and stuff and threw them into the hole and waited for them to settle while keeping the others back. I did make sure to keep a sharp eye on my rifle while I did all this by the way.

Well, I loaded a flare into my arm cannon and aimed it at the fire pit and shot. Boom, fire exploded in a giant mushroom cloud and announced my arrival to the land. I stood tall over it and bellowed in a mighty royal voice. “I bring thee fire from Mount Wannahockaloogie, bow before…”

“Oh, c’mon! Can’t I do some dramatic inflation?” I was standing on my hind rear leg while my right was on the chair. My left foreleg was on my flank and my right was holding a pencil like a sword.

She looked at me like a cow looks at an oncoming train. Just like I was the most annoying pony ever, at the moment.

“If I wanted to have somepony make stuff up I’d listen to my old roommate explain my hobbies,” she said. Suddenly she looked defeated and I lowered myself to all fours and went to her side.

“Listen, I like you. And I believe in you and what you’re doing. Please, don’t be upset. Look, I’ll do my best to remain calm and serious. I can’t promise anything but I’ll do my best,” I reached and brushed her cheek in just the certain way without thinking and she instantly gasped and blushed.

“Oh, Celestia I didn’t mean it like that, really!”

Yeah, I kind of accidentally just made a sexual pass at her.

She turned to look away and let the pencil fall to the floor as she buried her face in her hooves, trying to compose herself. I backed away and felt my heart race a bit. I had been with my wife for several years now and I couldn’t have another. Plus this one is kinda nuts, don’t fall into the trap.

“Look, I’m already with my special somepony, I didn’t mean that like that. It was a mistake, okay?”

My reassuring worked and she looked to me, her blush receding a bit.

“Y-you know, you should be careful with that hoof of yours. It’s softer than it looks… Oh my, now I’m doing it. I’m sorry,” she took in a deep breath and placed her hooves in her lap and looked to the ceiling, exhaling forcefully but slowly, gathering her wits. “No pony has touched me like that for a while, sorry.”

“It’s okay. Besides, I have enough in my herd,” I joked. She giggled in a really cute way and covered her mouth again.

“How many is that, now?” she asked sweetly.

“Well, there’s me as the stallion. My first mare is Light Eyes, she’s a Bat-Pony. Then there’s Vanilla Mint, she’s a unicorn from Long Isle. Then there’s,” she looked at me with growing awe, “Amber Sap, another unicorn. She’s my favorite in so many ways. She’s creative, smart, funny and the one who loves to travel with me on my adventures. Also the only one I married.”

“So, you said you had a wife, not a herd,” she said sweetly and starting to show signs of interest in me.

Not what I need. Not what I need. Not what I need. Not what I need.

“Well, with a ratio of 4 mares to every stallion in Equestria I have a pretty small herd. No foals yet, though.” Shit, why’d I say that?

“Well, if there’s ever a position that I can fill in your herd… Oh, Celestia no! That’s not how I meant that to sound, really.”

Now I was blushing. Deeply. I actually felt the heat of my breath leaving my muzzle.

“I need fresh air,” we both shouted at the same time. Looking to each other we shared an awkward laugh and we agreed to take a break, outside. In public.

“So, this’ Ponyville? I know a lot about it, but not as much as I thought. What with Nightmare Moon coming back and all I kind of stopped paying attention and focused on keeping my herd safe. You know how it is.”

“Yeah,” she said softly, “ever since that whole thing, Princess Luna coming back, there’s been more danger and adventure happening every week. Most of us locals take Saturdays off and go out of town,” I chuckled to hear her say that. Saturdays were always the best day off for me.

“On occasion the trouble follows them so we have to keep an ear out to know what their plans are in advance. I once went to a wedding and was attacked by Changelings.”

“There’s no safe place around here anymore. But, don’t be to hard on the Changelings. Just like any other creature, they’re just trying to survive in the only way they know how,” I looked to the stars and admired how beautiful the night was. How much beauty Luna brought to the canvas.

“If nothing else, we have to find way to help them to not die without hurting them or us. Queen Cryssy isn’t so evil, just trying to live.”

She turned to look at me in a slight reverence. “You have a unique look on things. Why’re you not famous, or a teacher?”

I looked at her and had so many things to say. “Let’s get back to the story and I’ll fill you in on the why’s.”

Author's Note

Lom Lives! Booya, take that. Told ya this story isn't gonna be all cliche. Well, a lot's going on so far and it's only been a couple hours into his story. There's a long way to go and I thank you for enjoying the start so far. Comments are down there. Don't care if it's September of 2015 or July of 2020, comment and let me know what you think!

Chapter 8

Well, the fire was warm and cozy to me. Standing outside my armor again and looking at the lightly crackling blaze that was sunken into the ground was almost relaxing. The horses were slowly gathering around the rim of the fire pit, their fear ebbing away as I stood by the pile of kindling.

Lom had brought her little family to me and we began introductions. They were a really simple tribe... herd, I guess. They gathered and defended, that was it. They moved as the seasons needed and blah, blah, blah. Ya know, nomadic herd life. I’ll just skip ahead a bit, no point talking about obvious stuff.

So, the next morning I woke up all warm and cozy to the sound of nature again. This time I listened closely to the birds and breeze. It was really nice to feel fresh air on my face and hands; those being the only parts exposed to the elements.

Then I started coughing. Startling the whole herd into panic mode; they ran into the trees before looking back to me. I was on my hands and knees coughing like I had something in my lungs that wouldn’t get out.

It was at that moment I found out I was allergic to pollen. Not a problem where I was from; filtered air. Not a problem in my suit; recycled air. Major problem in nature; nature.

I started noticing my beard was itchy as all tartarus too, two days without shaving had never done this to me. I got up and my lower back was aching too. This was the most miserable I think I’d ever been while outside. I stumbled back to my armor and climbed in, letting it close and quickly filter the air.

I began to feel the itching going away, and my lungs stopped having this weird tickle. So, that’s how the next part of my story starts, I guess. I was in my armor and trying to scratch things at random while learning about allergies for the first time.

Sure, food allergies were rare but existed for us back on earth. But ‘seasonal’ allergies were unheard of. There weren’t seasons where I was from, not anymore. It was warm, always. Even when it rained. It never snowed, hailed, or froze. The area had become temperate. Climate control for the wealthy and military was the big thing; just showing off political and financial power, more than for comfort or common sense.

Anyway, I digress again. The happenings of my old world are of little consequence now, so…

I made sure to cover the fire pit before I turned to where Skippy’s last locator was, and started to walk. Sure, I needed company and I was sure that at least Lom might follow me, but I wasn’t gonna wait forever. I still had friends to find and a story to tell.

I marched ahead and yeah, most of the herd followed me, grazing and pooping as we walked, with me as an impromptu leader. I walked with my rifle at the ready, just to look more fierce than I was. Like I was a predator that worked for the Poh’Nee herd, and I meant business.

I guess a couple had seen me turn a manticore into mush and spread the ‘word to the herd’.

I had a lot more respect this morning than I did the previous night. It took until almost noon but I finally got to the area his transponder was. And I say was, because I found most of it. His armor was rusted and falling apart like it’d been here for months. I, and the herd, cautiously walked to the armor of my friend and I looked closely at it.

The herd began grazing and checking for safety while the elders laid near me and the foals stayed under their parents. Quickly the area became calm and serene as I approached Skippy.

Fear waved through me as I expected to find him, or parts of him, inside. Yeah, it was empty. I swear I almost jumped for joy, if my armor had working knees I would have.

I leaned close and scanned the armor only to find nothing. It was destroyed, age had taken its toll.

“Great, where do I go now? What am I supposed to do? I’ve seen enough movies to know the black guy dies first, and damnit that’d have to be me. So, where the hell is he? Did I fall through time and he’s already lived a full life? Shit, why can’t it just be simple?”

I looked up and around me, expecting him to pop up like it was meant to happen. Hoping that this world with talking herds of horses would just work in my favor. No such luck. Like I said, this isn’t a book, it’s real life.

I tried to scavenge his armor only to find all the important tech, like weapons and scanners, were gone. Same for the onboard computer files. We used crystals to save data, and they were all gone.

But, without a functional computer system they were useless. So, I figured he must have taken them to one of the others who had still working tech.

Much as I was liking these creatures, sticks and stones were never going to get me home. So, I just started scanning for radio signals of any sort while I tried to find a new way to go. I finally just picked a direction. His armor was laying on its back, open and just broken beyond repair.

The forest was thinner again, not dense, but not sparse, so wildlife had taken its toll while trees and roots had avoided it. I hoped I’d see some indicator, pointing me this way or that. Maybe a scratch on a tree or even a neon sign that said ‘this way to friends’.

I was so frustrated, but what could I do?

I raised my rifle, switched to a small caliber round and fired off three rounds. A standard call for help for soldiers. I kept my comms open and listened for what felt like a good minute to silence before I did it again. Five minutes, then again. And again.

Finally I screamed and had a little panic attack inside my armor. It was only me. Me inside my armor; screaming and panicking. Spit was on the inside of my visor and even though I could open my armor I was trying to claw my way out of it. I don’t know why, then or now. Still, it felt good to go primal.

Just, let my instincts of terror take hold and try to solve the problem for me. Maybe I had some kind of power that I didn’t know that could make my friends appear. Maybe if I cried loud enough Cadence would show up and hug me until I calmed down.

Instead all I got was a cowering group of horses that were almost as tall as I was, hiding in the brush and protecting their families.

I had had it, that was it. I fell face first to the ground, in my armor, arms and legs splayed out and my rifle I didn’t know where. I looked to the soil under me face. I had made a slight impression when I fell and only my HUD gave me light. The display waited for a command. No conversational package. No sudden static to ease my entire existence. Not even a rapping against my armor of a comforting creature to make me feel better.

I was as good as alone now.

No friends.

No family.

No love.

No reason to go on if I didn’t find a reason.

I had never experienced true loneliness. It’s actually a tactic used in prisons and interrogation now. Herd mentality extends beyond equines. Take any social creature and isolate them and they’ll go mad. A human within a month. A pony will go mad in three days. It took me about ten minutes.

It’s not funny. I’m serious. I pushed myself up and started to hobble as fast as I could. I left my rifle and just went. Anything in my way was trampled or moved if it could. I don’t know how long I moved for, but the meter on my suit kept track of the distance and direction. When I finally got tired and kind of came to my senses I looked to see I had blanked out for almost seven miles.

I looked around and Retalia was holding my rifle on his back, directly to my right and a couple paces back.

I noticed I was sweating profusely and gasping for breath. I screamed for the suit to open and let me out. With a sting to my chest it opened and I fell out. I pulled myself out of the unitard and tossed it back to the armor. I looked to Retalia with a look of determination and thrust my hand out.

He looked to me and slowly backed up. Another look, more serious, and he cantered to me. I grabbed my rifle and cycled to a signal flare and fired it into the air. Tactics be damned. If I could get noticed I was gonna chance it.

I watched the flare fly up and explode in the late day sky casting a fireworks explosion before I looked down to see my naked body. I suddenly realized I was naked and didn’t care. For humans that’s a huge taboo, being without clothes. Suddenly I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to become one with nature and discard my old life.

Not by any means was I ready or able to survive even a week without my tech, so I chose to get my old clothes. A standard green camouflage uniform that was supposed to help us blend in with the environment. In other words it was worthless leftover garbage from ages past that was found, en masse, in warehouses after territories were redrawn.

But, it was coverings.

I had never been so down. I was wearing green camo in a forest full of life and no one to hide from. Alone, save for them.

I didn’t know what to do. They kept talking to me and I didn’t care. They tried to cheer me up and it didn’t work.

What was I to do? I was stuck in a mental loop. Insanity in its best form.

I was daydreaming about being able to fly and I noticed a new creature watching me from about a hoofball field away. Just barely, but it’s coat contrasted slightly when it moved.

“What the hell is that?” I said getting up and grabbing my rifle. Taking it to my shoulder it looked down the sight and zoomed in to see a deer.

“Great, maybe I can get some venison… Unless it’s smart too.” I was so tempted to just pull the trigger and get some real food. The suit gave me paste that filled my needs that tasted like toothpaste that had been flavored with a salad. ‘Bleh’ is right. So, I lowered my weapon and watched, waiting for the deer to do something.

I heard nature in full swing, and that was it. The deer did what deer do; stared with its ears aimed at me. Not the horses or anything, but specifically me.

I didn’t really have time to react as I heard a screech and was in a dangerous flurry of horses scrambling around and past me. I turned to run into my armor only to have a net. A freaking net, tossed over me. I was a good couple leaps to my armor and watched as it was cast in a net too.

I fell to the ground, slamming chest first and hurting my left arm and before I could fight to get free I was being pulled away from my armor.

I turned and tried to see my attackers but there was too much commotion still. The noise was too loud to make out single sounds and, oh yeah, I had my rifle. I cycled to a blank round and pulled the trigger. The round spent and the area went silent as I rolled to my back and sat up, cradling my rifle like a child, never taking my finger off the trigger.

I followed the rope net to a terrified looking deer with the rope in its teeth and a spear, of sorts, tied to its side with vines. The horses looked at me then to the deer around them.

Nets covered many, others had loose knot ropes around their necks as several deer were holding several horses in place with spears or knives set in their teeth.

I watched in awe as the horses and deer exchanged glances before the tides turned.

The free horses swarmed around me and chewed quickly through the net and freed me as I watched in awe at the display. What I thought were cowardly and passive horses were fighting, quite well, against deer. Even if I recorded it I wouldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The deer were almost on the retreat until another wave came stampeding and hopping into the battle. All I could do was swear loudly and fire blanks into the gathering. I wasn’t foolish enough to try to kill them or take definite sides. Too many examples in human history of people choosing the wrong side too quickly.

So, when they realized I wasn’t doing anything but making noise the deer went on the offensive. They were very organized and used a couple good combat techniques and quickly turned the tide, surrounding the horses and my dumb butt that was too busy watching and making noise to go back to my armor.

A deer, as tall as Celestia, with a rack of antlers that looked like a tree walked into view and took its time walking to us. It stopped at the outside of the group of deer and spoke.

“Hoo-nym.”

It then pointed to me and said it again, louder.

“Hoo-nym!”

The other deer joined in and shouted that word. I knew what it meant, it was human. How’d they know about me? Did they know my friends or Cadence? I was about to ask when a wave of gasps passed over the horses and myself, as we passed out. My first active magical experience by the way.

'Deerland' (Dar'Ling)

It was cold. Really cold. I shivered as I woke up, I was still naked and regretting it, luckily I didn’t have a headache, but I was getting thirsty and the shrinkage was enough to make any man cover up. Shrinkage? Well it's when... You know what, let's not go there.

I curled into a fetal position and squeezed my eyes shut before I slowly opened them. The chills ran through my back and I saw a wall made of wood, like, a tree was growing around me. There wasn’t any light from outside, but the walls glowed. I tried to figure it out and saw glow worms squirming through the cracks and bumps. I turned over on the pile of long grass I was laying on and I noticed a doorway, covered with vines. More light.

The doorway, if it were open, was just large enough for one person, horse, or deer to pass through at a time.

I laughed internally as I uncurled myself and took note of my room. It was about the size of my old room, back on earth. Dirt covered the floor, but it was light and seemed added. There were hoof marks to the 'bed' and out the door. Nothing decorated the walls; no shelves, no photos, just the natural wood. There weren't any vents or windows, the same for any form of entertainment.

I stood tall, and with a slight ache in my back and a dull pain in my left elbow, I went to the doorway and pushed the vines away. Or, I tried to. I pushed harder, left, right, I knelt and tried to grab them from the bottom.

They were in the wooden floor and I couldn’t move them, but I slipped my fingers out of the room and it was warmer out there. I got the fur bumps. We called it goose bumps, among other things, but humans don’t have any fur.

I listened intently for any noise but it was eerily silent. Did I dare to shout for help? Do I wait for who knows how long? Nope, first I gotta pee. I looked around and didn’t see anything I could use, by my knowledge at the time. I realized this was a cell without any bathroom.

“Well, they go where they go. So, when in deerland…” I said walking to a corner and standing tall, I braced my hand against the wall, grabbed myself and let it flow. What? That’s how human men did it. Totally different than quadrupeds. Anyway, I finished and kicked some dirt from the floor over it before trotting, er, walking, back to my grass bed.

I knelt and poked it several times, making sure it was safe before I climbed onto it. It held a little warmth from my body before, just below the surface, and I focused on that as I lay back on it, observing the ceiling. Just the inside of a tree that was growing around me, I thought.

Several hours passed and I had used my little spot to go a couple more times, number one and two, just covering it with dirt and laying down on the bed. Begging for my captors to bring me food and a stout drink.

I heard hoofsteps coming, finally, and sat up looking at the vines, waiting for them to open, to show me some elk or deer, maybe a few moose, why not, holding spears and screaming their version of ‘intrel ptick’.

A young buck walked past wearing a cloak and kept going like he didn’t know I was there, his necklace clattered with every fourth hoof step.

“Hey, what the hell? Let me out!” I shouted. The deer snap it’s head to me in shock. It looked to me and then turned back the way it came. At a gallop. It left me in silence again.

Great, at least it’s gonna get help, or something.

I stood up and waited. Waited. Waited. I began to let my mind wander and imagined charging out of the room and using my insane martial arts skills to run out of this place and kung fu every creature I came across.

“Hyah, ha, haa, hwaaaah,” I said making really bad moves. In my imagination they were awesome, though. I heard hoofsteps coming at a fast pace and I refocused to the doorway. Smiling as a small group of three deer looked at me; their faces remained neutral.

Maybe they aren’t as expressive as horses, I thought as one of them reached with its long, slender leg to the side wall of the doorway and opened a slot. The slot opened on both sides, I saw a gem in it and with a press the vines retracted into the ceiling.

Her aides entered the room and walked up to me and one produced a necklace while the other mouthed me a blanket. I took the blanket first and wrapped it around myself like cloak, then I took the necklace and looked at it.

Gems and jewels as well as shells from some kinds of nuts adorned it.

I smiled awkwardly and put it over my head and let it fall to my neck.

The lead stepped in. She was wearing a brown tunic with green fringes at the bottom, yet it was only enough to cover her body and left a large gap from her belly to the floor. She was soft spoken in my language, but in a broken form.

“Hoo-nym. Why you no leave room?” Her soft feminine voice asked. I was frozen in place at the fact before me. I shit in my given room. I had no idea this was a room, not a cell. Oh yeah, and a deer was talking to me. What used to be common food back home was smart here too. I don't know if I'll ever eat meat again, damn vegetarians were right.

Why was a talking deer less impactful than what I’d done a few times against the wall in my room? Maybe because I had a complete mental breakdown right before I was captured. But that’s my only educated guess.

Anyway, I felt a sharp jab to my gut as I was ‘gently’ poked to get my captures to get my attention. I farted and fell to my knees letting out a hearty cough as the two doe still outside giggled into their hooves.

The leader backed up and, even though it was hard to tell, she was blushing as she looked to the ceiling. She looked to me again, quickly regaining her composure.

“I-I not mean, hurt you,” she said louder than before, yet the apology was laced with shame and sorrow.

She looked at me and smirked a little. "Come, I show you home."

"What do you mean?"

She stopped just past the doorway and looked back to me without turning around. “This land is home, you are in Collective, tree where all our knowing is held." She said it as softly as a lover asking for an ear nibble.

Sorry for the analogy, I didn’t mean it like that! Stop blushing, please, I didn’t mean it like that.

…

Well, erhm, so… where was I? Uh, deer, dirt, neckla- Oh yeah.

So, the necklace was enchanted to let me speak understand their language, without it I'd only hear them in their native tongue. Likewise if they took theirs off.

They were highly spiritual, at the time, and believed that stray thoughts were a betrayal of their deeper faith in the power and magic of the land. Yeah, they were. Were. Now they’re just a bunch of toad licking, fermented fruit eating pronkers that hug trees in an effort to keep them ‘rooted to the earth’.

Crazies, almost every one of ‘em. But back then, they were respectable and honorable; noble. Keepers of knowledge and some of the best librarians in the world. Creatures would travel the world to get a mere peek at the home tree to say they were there.

I was escorted from my room by the pair of doe and stopped when I looked a few rooms ahead. There was a sign that showed an obvious bathroom so I naturally facepalmed and groaned. I think I blushed a bit, and didn't know what to do about the mess I'd made in my room.

They must have forgotten I had the necklace on because they began talking about me in a hushed whisper. About the size of my manhood. Apparently bucks aren’t as gifted as humans are, and honestly, I wasn’t that gifted as far as humans went.

Don’t laugh, I had enough to get the job done and then some… You know what, it isn’t the size of the… Shut up! C’mon, I have a herd, I must be doing something right.

…

I met the leader... doe at the top of a set of spiraling stairs at the end of the hallway that went up for about two floors. Everything looked like it was grown out of a tree, or reshaped from a tree. It was really cool. The stairs were like roots that were just moved into place. Not really designed for feet. I got a few pinches and stubbed my toes several times getting to the top.

“Greetings, Hoo-nym. We are Dar’ling, this is home. Where Collective is, best in lands. Who are you, Hoo-nym? Name?” She gestured from herself to me.

“Uh, my name is Mocha, and it’s nice to meet you…” I led with her to give me her name. She cocked her head as I gestured to her. “And what is your name?”

She shook her head and looked at me. “Our name is Dar’ling. You understand, yes?”

“Oh! Your name is… Sorry, I thought the name of your people were that.”

“Our name is Dar’ling, you confuse us.”

“So, your name is Dar’ling or your people are Dar’ling?”

“Yes.”

“So, you’re all named ‘Dar’ling’?”

“No, We are Dar’ling.”

“OH MY GOD,” I shouted, “Who’s on first?” I laughed awkwardly as I put my hands to my head letting the blanket drop, “For fuck’s sake,” I grumbled as I grabbed the blanket at my feet. Apparently the thoughts of the size of my manhood were ‘hard’ to contain since they all looked intently at it. Yeah, that joke I meant. No! Not about my manhood. Silence from the commenter!

“We apologize,” she started, her blushing through her fur still obvious, “Our eyes betray us, we rarely see one as such as you. A male and Hoo-nym are rare, indeed.”

“Wait, do you know other humans? Any other humans here?”

She lowered her head and pawed the floor twice before she looked at me with soft, intelligent, gently eyes. I hadn’t noticed before how gentle she looked. She raised her head to speak to me.

“Hoo-nym, you alone. We help all, save you from Poh’Nee danger. Other human came, long time ago, left long time ago.”

"Great, so how long is- Wait, I wasn’t in danger from the horses, they were my friends. You didn’t hurt them,” I said lowering my voice, “did you?”

She shook her head, sending the green on her cloak waving gently. “No, we no hurt. We send on way. Tiny one, Lom, stay here for you.”

“Oh my gosh! Lom’s here?! Where? Is she okay? When can I see her? Will this thing,” I grabbed my necklace viciously in my hand and clenched it a little too tight, breaking one of the nutshells.

“No talk fast. You have many word. We, not," she said hesitating, "our name is Dar’ling. You are Hoo-nym. I talk for Dar’ling to Mocha.”

I looked at her and let my necklace go, the broken shell falling to the floor. They watched it fall in pieces below their sight, their eyes stopping where my… package was.

“Erhm,” I coughed into the air to get their attention.

“Oh, uh, We apologize for betrayal of eyes, Moh'ka.”

“Riiight, well; can you take me to Lom. Then, hey, where’s my armor? You didn’t leave it out there did you?” I asked incredulously pointing to my right, directly into a wall. I felt my finger crack as a yelp left my mouth. I began hopping in place grumbling while holding my hurt finger, then the blanket fell again.

Chapter 10

I held the blanket tight as I sucked on my pointer finger. I cracked my nail across the tip and just bit it off. It stung but it wasn’t as unsightly as a chipped nail just waiting to scratch somewhere unpleasant. It’d be like a chipped hoof, only kinda worse. Long story short they led me outside to another part of the tree. It was actually several trees, the largest in the center and where the library was.

I followed the deer through the halls and out of the dormitory and into the light of the world again. I was honestly impressed. Before me was a wide open forest with trees larger than should be real that had been molded, or remolded, into something else. Trees were linked with wooden bridges held up with vines and everything was so vibrantly green and fresh.

The canopy was so high above us it seemed as though the sky was green, with the sunlight shining through the green leaves that were as large as a Ponyville house is wide. There were so many of them. I could count the veins in the leaves and follow them back to the branches of the trees they were attached to.

“Where are we? The trees weren’t this large where I was before you… Hey, what did you do to me? I was doing fine before I passed out”

I recalled sitting with my rifle in my arms and a wave of chills running over me then I fell asleep.

“We use magic lamp to make sleep.”

I looked to my left to the lead deer. “Magic? A magic lamp none the less? Where was the genie?” I mused.

“All Djinn leave world long ago, we use lamp for sleep magic.”

I snapped my jaw shut and looked at her. She was serious. “You’re serious? A genie? In a lamp? And you use magic? How do you know it’s magic? Can you do some magic to convince me?”

She shook her head at me. “No, we no magic. Can use… How you say?” she scrunched her muzzle and face in concentration, “Stuffs? They have magic, we use. Gems, mostly.”

“Well, who makes them?”

“We get from across world. We show you map,” she said turning back and walking into the tree ahead of us.

“Can I see Lom and my armor first?”

She stopped and looked back to me, a soft smile on her muzzle. “Yes, you may. Lom and friend in reading room, armor in safe place.”

“Can you take me to my armor first, then? I really need to see it, make sure it’s okay before I plan to move on.”

“Hoo-nym, you choose. Maps, friend, or shell?”

“Shell? Oh, I get it. You think it’s my shell, well in that case I’ll see my shell, I can take notes that way and get my clothes. What’d you do with my uniform I was wearing, by the way? It was green.”

She looked to me and raised an eyebrow. “You mean you no shed skins? Hoo-nym, confusing people.”

I slowly raised my right hand to my face and groaned. “No, we don’t shed. Where is it?”

“We take and leave it with shell, maybe custom, maybe not. We not be rude to you people traditions.”

I sighed. “Well, at least I have clothing options. Now I definitely have to go there first. My people wear clothes as tradition and rarely take them off.”

“Oh,” she said sharply as her ears pressed to her head, “I-We, sorry. We, not know.” She cursed to herself and I heard it.

“Don’t do that, you’re not at fault,” I walked to her and placed my left hand on her back. I felt her tremble at my touch. She turned to me and lowered her head as she bent her front knees and bowed to me. “You really don’t have to do that. Please, stand up. I forgive you of this egregious mistake.”

She snorted and stood back up. “You are funny, Hoo-nym. Come, let us make fast to you shell and skin.”

I grit my teeth in my mouth, semi audibly. “Sure,” I grumbled. It’s one thing to be called by your species name in a different way, it’s another to add in the skin thing. It was, for some reason, insulting to me to be thought of more machine than a man. So, I raised a finger to my mouth and click, right ring finger nail; gone.

We walked through and around, down and through, until finally we exited the tree we were in; the dormitory as I called it. We were near the floor, ground, whatever it was it was full of tree roots that were as impressive as the trees they were feeding, and that means that they were impassible by even the most agile of deer.

And trust me, they could jump higher than you’d believe with a grace that would rival a pegasus taking to the air.

We walked across a very strong wooden bridge that was held with green vines that led from the bark of the tree to the other tree and the vines had smaller vines coming off them. They had tied the vines’ vines together and somehow molded the trees into a walkway, but with cracks that made it looked like they were boards.

I know it sounds confusing but it was really cool, walking on molded tree. “How do you do this? This tree stuff? Like making the trees into a walkway or bedrooms.”

“We,” she hesitated but kept leading me to the next tree over. Must have been a good two hoofball fields and away. “We not know. We find this long ago, make Collective.”

“So, this was made before you? Who would leave all this,” I gestured with my right hand over my head, “behind? Don’t you have any books or something? There must have been something from the builders.”

She stopped and looked back to me, the first time I saw annoyance on her face. “We not know. Stop asking, please. We find generations ago. No idea who made, but impressed, so we make home.”

“Ah, got it. Let’s just get going, I can use clothes. This blanket, as great as it is, doesn’t give me a lot to go on, and I have to hold it. Must, get, clothes… er, skin.”

She smiled back to me. Dang she was cute, like a toy I could give to a child before bed. We walked the rest of the way in silence with her two aides behind us and me gawking at the massive scale of the workmanship used. Walking in I was greeted by smiles and acknowledgement by each of dozens of deer offering advice or putting books back, Wolfkin, a group of Diamond Dogs… Every creature was welcoming, or ignored me with a sneer.

It was a place of knowledge. No hostilities were allowed, save for debate and arguing over knowledge. As a level ten geek I was dying to ask everything I could about every species there, but I was still a soldier and I was without any of my tech. I had my implants but they only worked when I was within a few meters of my equipment. Even then it was more for getting bullets to targets.

I almost lost sight of her and rushed to her, my blanket waving behind me. I didn’t care about clothes, only Wolfkin and Diamond dogs wore clothing, that I had seen, and even those were loosely covering their junk and chests.

Yeah, junk. You know, privates… Ugh, I know you don’t think they’re private since ponies don’t wear clothes, for the most part. But some cultures don’t have them on display. Whatever! Just let it go, we’ve got a lot to cover.

So, she led me to my armor and I was so happy to see it. They had even washed its exterior and my clothes were draped over the arms. I wasted no time and dropped the blanket, running to my armor, grabbed my pants and gave them a good snap, making sure to get any dust off.

Slipping them on was almost refreshing, then I turned to the rest of my uniform and quickly covered my dark flesh with green. My boots were behind the armor and socks were in them. Oh, I was so happy I coulda cried. Shoes! No more stubbed toes, no more risk of splinters, no more stubbing my toes. Yeah, that was a big deal to me.

I went to my armor and reached in to grab my portable camera and decided I’d check System, make sure it was okay.

It shut and the HUD came up, seventy seven percent repaired and fifty nine percent power. A bit of time in the sun and the power would climb.

“Dar’ling, can you move this into the sunlight?” I asked through the voice modulator to a very confused doe. I said it again and she took a step back. I opened the armor and stepped out, grabbing my recorder and placing it on my head, a little screen across my left eye gave me various stats and features of the recorder.

It was a better device that was based on tech from the 21st century called Goompa Glass. I think it was anyway, the company didn’t last but their tech did. Military applications were endless and the governments did what they wanted with the tech, what with end of the world and all.

Anyway, gosh I tangent a lot. Or is that talking in circles? Maybe it’s- Gah, why’d you throw a pencil nub at me? I was totally on topic! Just thinking out loud, was all.

So, with a bit of pride and dignity restored I asked my question again. “Can you move this into the sunlight? It needs sun to get better, stronger.”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “Why you go in and out of shell? Is not normal.”

“Well, for my people it is. This is like a turtle shell, I can hide in it or leave it for fun.”

“Ah, We understand. Sort of. Come, I take you to maps.”

“No, Lom.”

“You like to see Poh’Nee? Odd,” she said turning and leading my back to the doorway but walked with me instead of ahead of me. “Poh’Nee tribe very dangerous when trouble. Throw weapons, hurt, kill. Then run away, hide, do again. Not talk peace, only war with all. We see you, different, help.”

“Well, they were nice to me. Maybe because I helped Lom and killed a monster that was eating one of their herd.”

“Ah, they accept you then. We are sorry, think you in danger. Act without thought.”

“Ya know, you have words I understand, but do you know what verbs are? Nouns? Sentence structure that adds words so you don’t talk like that.”

“We, not understand. We not speak good to you?”

“Oh, no, no, no. Not that, but it’s kinda hard to understand when you’re saying when I’m listening and filling in words you don’t use. Gosh, I sound like an asshole right now. I apologize.”

“Is, okay. I will talk more gooder. I have read many books, scrolls, words,” she cleared her throat, “is this better for understand you?”

“Well, we’ll see. Don’t hurt yourself speaking complex words, I was just being a jerk.”

“Is okay, We are Collective, to help. Turn left and go down stairs with me.”

I followed her direction and was led through several turns and stairs, several creatures stopped to look at me as I passed, mostly due to my height, I believe. I was as tall as the tallest Diamond Dog, but so different. The deer were almost as tall as I was, at the head height, and many other creatures came up to my shoulders, with ponies at my hip level.

I remember thinking a nasty thought as a female earth pony walked past me and I got a glare from the leader doe and told to control my thought against thinking such things. I didn’t know the gems worked both ways and regretted my lustful curiosity.

A long quiet walk later I stopped before a room with the same vines that had entrapped me in my room. Gods I was so embarrassed of what I did in there. I coulda just rubbed one out to put icing on the cake.

Oh my gosh! I didn’t mean it like that, sorry, sorry! I didn’t think before I spoke. I just thought you’re kinda cute when you blush and it distracted me. (Facehoof) Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen.

I saw Lom and Retina… Retalia, in the room laying on a grass bed, only the room was an obvious reading room. It was larger than my room and had empty shelves across the walls, a simple desk molded from the roots, without a chair, was in the far corner opposite the sleeping pair.

“Lom?” I called softly. She stirred and her ears moved around before she fell back asleep. I called her name again and her head slowly raised to look to the wooden wall with a curious look. She turned to examine the room and finally she looked to me. A smile that quickly turned to a grin shone upon me and it was contagious.

She hopped up and trotted to the vine doorway. “Mocha, you alive and safe? Lom happy! Mocha friend! Retalia here too, sleeping! See?” She pointed to him as I watched her in awe, of sorts.

“Lom, I understand you,” with a bit of restrained excitement I reached to the vine doorway.

She gasped and jumped in the air squealing with glee, I thought it was as cute as you. She woke up the male with her and he looked to me, narrowing his eyes.

“Mocha Lom friend, not mine. Lom, be still and quiet, I sleep,” he stated in a deeper voice than I would have thought.

“Hey, don’t talk to her like that,” I scolded him as Doe, I’ll call the lead doe, Doe. Easier that way. Why are you blushing again? I didn’t do anything. Whatever.

He sat up taller and growled. “You speak now? Why not then? Danger? Esi?”

“Esi?” I looked to Doe who shrugged, the meaning was lost on us both. “No, I’m a friend of Lom and all Poh’Nee. You’re my friend too,” I said calmly. He stood up and walked to the door, standing taller, almost to my neck his head reached.

“You have much to prove if you friend with deer,” he practically spit the word deer out. Lom pushed him roughly and glared at him.

“Be nice to Lom saver, what you do? Run away when I’m hurt. He help me, fool.”

Retalia looked to her and softened his gaze as he relaxed. “Ah, I, I sorry.”

I have to teach these creatures verbs, among other things. I feel like I’m in a racist movie from ages past.

“Great, you made up. Can they come out?” I turned to Lom, “Can you read, Lom?”

“Read?”

“Nice, can we teach her to read?!” I asked Doe excitedly. This was a new world and I was gonna take whatever chance I had before I was magically poofed back to earth.

“Will take time, but they learn fast. Maybe two moons.”

“So, two moons? Doesn’t sound too bad.”

Doe opened the door and Lom hopped on me, knocking me to the floor and I almost hit my head against the wall.

“Mocha! You friend, friend, fri~end! So happy see you!” She gasped, “You have magic now? What powers? Can make food? Water? Healer?!”

I coughed as I sat up and she moved back, still smiling as Retalia stood just inside the doorway watching, calculating.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, I have no magic.” She reached and tapped my necklace. “This? It’s to help me communicate, er, talk to you.”

She cocked her head to the left and looked at me. “You have blue pretty, use for magic, yes?”

“Damn you’re so cute when you talk.”

Doe answered the question. “The gems are for to talk to all, not to make magic. Nuts are for eat less, stay energy up.”

“Great, and I broke one. What was the one I broke?”

She hummed and tapped her chin with her hoof. Damn she was slender. I wondered if I could ride her without her limbs breaking. She looked at me.

“We are stronger than you know. You break shell of… We don’t know word, um, stomach no upset?”

“Ah, acid reflux? Nausea?”

“No, poison and bad eats. That word! Your language hard, many many words.”

“Well, can I just get a new shell?”

“No. New necklace, but not free. Must trade. You have nothing we need. This blue gem will last until magic gone, then you must trade for new one.”

“I know things you don’t, give me a chance. I bet I can teach you something. Like gooder grammar.”

She pondered it and then smiled. With a curt nod she raised a hoof. I looked at it then pounded it. That means we hoofbumped.

“Well, I have to see this map now,” I said firmly to Doe then I turned to Lom, “are you ready to learn stuff?”

She smiled but I could see she was confused. I nodded to Doe and she turned, walking without waiting, leading me to this map.

Awestruck is an understatement. I was in a library just a few levels above where Lom was, and it was something from Beauty and the Beast. Let me just say; the Royal Canterlot Library would be put to shame. There were three levels and creatures of all types were reading, looking for books, and holding intense discussion while I admired the size of the thing, in a hollowed out tree. There were even large windows letting green tinted light in.

But, it wasn’t hollowed, it was molded. The shelves were the tree, the tables, chairs, podiums, everything! I walked in and gawked for a moment before I saw a group of creatures arguing over a large red book. It sounded heated and a deer was standing behind, watching carefully.

“Are they going to fight?” I asked Doe.

“No, no fight here or banned. No creature would risk such loss.”

“Ah, I see. Fair rule. So, Lom,” I turned to look at her, standing tall and proud as I said her name, “what do you do in your tribe?””

“Lom gather and search for safe food. Strong stomach. Retalia keep safe with spear.”

“Retalia no keep safe from Mocha and boomer,” he said from behind us. I totally forgot he was there for a minute.

“Well, at least we’re all the best of friends now,” I said with a hint of sarcasm. Retalia huffed but stayed quiet. I, we, were led to a side room, the doorway was massive. Large enough for a centaur, but I didn’t know that back then. I figured the creators may have been huge, or something.

The room was lit by those bug worm things crawling all over the walls. I was gonna ask what they ate but the sound of pages turning gathered my attention.

“Look, we here. Home,” Doe tapped the page as I walked over and took a look.

“Start recording,” I stated to my camera as I walked over. “Click,” I said, and it took a photo of the map.

The map of the area was impressive. Topography and colored with a trio of giant trees in the center.

“How big is this world?” I asked casually as I looked at the map in more detail.

“Hm, this big,” she held out her hooves across about a meter, “times 150,000.”

I gasped and began coughing on my spit as the number registered. Falling to my knees I hit my chest trying to get my lungs clear as I thought it over. I passed calculus two and studied science in school, mostly to prove Minnie wrong. That was roughly the size of a gas giant, one of the largest planets in my home worlds solar system. Hey, just because I was a soldier doesn’t mean I was dumb. High school education was standard.

“How, how am I not crushed under the gravity?” I finally sputtered out, “What about the atmosphere? Holy crap?! How am I even breathing? The pressure should be massive.”

Doe giggled into her hoof lightly. “The magic is why. You and all on Home are welcome.”

I cleared my throat loudly with a last cough as I stood up again. “So, the only reason I’m alive is cuz of magic? This’ feeling more like a cartoon every few hours. Where everything seems to make sense by not making sense.”

A quizzical look was passed between the three that accompanied me. “Nevermind,” I stated looking over the map with my nerves still making me twitch.

“This world doesn’t make sense, it’s huge, massive, magical. What about cities?”

“Many cities,” Doe said as Lom walked to a wall and began examining the bug-things. Retalia just sat by Lom, facing me with a scowl, “many tribes and races, all here.”

“Wow,” I said as I raised my hand to my mouth, covering it slightly, “what about leadership? Is there a king or queen? What about the sun, it moved suddenly a couple days ago.”

“Ah, yes. Home has magic, sometime plays tricks on eyes. Have little trust of what you see when what you see make little sense.”

“I… Guess that makes sense,” I said questionably. “What about those two, can we get a teacher and start teaching them literacy?”

With a growing smile across her slender muzzle, Doe nodded excitedly. “Yes, yes. We teach, love to teach. I, no can,” she said excitedly, like a foal being offered candy, “however, others can. I get them!” She turned and galloped from the room, almost into a rolling book trolley that was being pushed by a donkey.

I raised an eyebrow to see a mule doing mule work, but shrugged it off. I turned and sat cross legged beside the table, reaching Lom’s height, just a bit shorter though. I opened my arms. “Mocha friend, Lom. How are you?”

With a toothy grin she trotted into my arms and wrapped a foreleg around me, hugging me tight. I felt a wave of warmth flood over me and sighed. Maybe more magic? Happiness? Love? Nope, she peed on the floor and it was soaking into my pants.

I couldn’t wait for her to be taught how to use a toilet.

Chapter 11

A shriek followed by gibberish and a scampering sound with scratching came hurdling toward us as she loosened her hug to look at the noise with me. A small green creature, maybe four feet tall, if it was standing upright with pointy ears was quickly running toward us. A sharp inhale from Lom was all the warning I got before she screamed, whipped her head around and smacked me across the side of mine. Horses have really hard muzzles.

She stumbled back and ran to Retalia, who jumped to her defence while I held my face while laying on my side and trying to hold back a long list of bad words that would make anypony cover their ears.

It stopped by me and gibbered at the puddle Lom had made. I looked to it and rolled to a sitting position and, while wincing through a throbbing face-pain that was starting to swell a bit, it looked to me.

“Holy crap, you’re a goblin?!” I shouted, scampering back. I had read of them, greedy little monsters that were fast with a knife and would kill for gold. It growled and turned, scampering back, giving a roll when it lost its footing. Pretty cool to see it cuz it kept its pace like it was nothing.

It returned a few seconds later with a mop. If my face wasn’t throbbing from getting face slapped by a horse I’d have facepalmed. It was a janitor and was unhappy, as can be expected. I placed my hand on my leg, stood up, then frowned. The moisture in my pants was getting cold fast.

I was tempted to try to wipe it off, for some reason and I did. That was when I swore, a lot. A few creatures came by to see what the… harsh words were for, only to see me looking at my hand like it did something wrong.

The goblin looked to me while mopping the floor and grinned. Cursing under its breath in Goblin it turned, scampered away before returning quickly when it offered me a simple towel. Reaching for it, the goblin pulled it back and reached its hand out, palm up. It’s small green hand, curved fingers, almost sharp to the point angled nails that were at least an inch long.

“Well, I don’t have anything to trade since I’m new here and all I have is on me is this pocket knife.” It reached up and snatched the knife then lowered its hand and glared at me, gibbering again it threw the towel at me then rolled backwards and hopped up on its feet, walking back out of the room.

“That was awkward, and I lost a good knife,” I stated, “are you two okay?”

“Yes, we okay. Goblins hunt us, slave trade, no like them.”

“Slave trade? Didn’t expect that, and how do they get you? You’re bigger, stronger, faster than them.”

They are many. More than us, trade for stuff. Bad creatures,” Retalia hissed with a hint of anger as he glared at the doorway after the goblin left.

I took the towel and wiped it across my butt and lower legs and was shocked. It dried me almost instantly. “Magic towels? Holy shit; I’m definitely keeping this.” I grinned wide and rolled it up, putting it in my thigh pocket. I shouted as it emptied its contents across my leg. Lom and Retalia found it amusing, I didn’t.

So, I found out how it worked; fold it, thirty seconds later it empties… Ya know, to save a bit of time since the next two weeks are pretty mundane I’ll just skip ahead a little bit and cover the basics.

We got set up in a series of rooms adjacent to each other in the dorm. They had a rule against ‘reproduction’, or attempts thereof in Collective so no chances were allowed; that meant no sex allowed.

My armor charged its batteries up to seventy percent and that was its max after all its damage.

Lom and Retalia were schooled using a simple magic book that put basic knowledge into their heads, I did too but, it was mostly language basics.

There were eight languages used on the world that was literally called ‘Home’. There was also an odd development; the recordings I had taken didn’t have magic effecting it in both my armor and my glasses.

Every ‘word’ that was uttered by Lom, the deer, a gryphon I had asked about where it was from was neighs, bleats, elongated caws, nothing was translated into anything I could understand. By the way, gryphons were a lot more hostile back then. If I was anywhere else it would have disemboweled me while using her beak, which they sharpened back then, to split my head open and drink my blood as it squirted into her mouth.

Yeah, she said that and I had no reason to doubt her. So, I made the choice to avoid gryphons when outside my armor. I had used a bit of tree bark to patch a few holes in my armor and done some wrench work to get my armors knee sort of working again. It wasn’t gonna be great but it looked less broken.

I could trot, I mean walk in it easy enough but running was out. Jumping wasn’t a choice and if I fell down another cliff it’d break again. I was by no means a mechanic but there was basic repair stuff in the computer's memory and a couple tools. So, that was the gist of it.

What languages were there? Well, there was Goblin, used by most trolls, orcs, goblins, ya know, those kinda creatures.

Next was Equish, that’s what you and I are speaking. Call it Celestian if you want but it’s called Equish. Horses, earth ponies spoke it.

Next was Avian, which was used by gryphons, hawkins, many pegasi at the time…

Yeah, pegasi had a different language. Next was Mystic used by unicorns, chimera, the rare hippogryph, and the like.

Next was a language few could speak called demongogian which was used by demons and creatures of pure evil.

Centaurian was used by centaurs.

Mind, which was a psychic language, was rarely used since it was a language that wasn’t taught, but was instinctive; something they’re still born with. Those that used it were often times secret users or used in trade negotiations between nations and held in high regard, some unicorns could tap into this with their magic too.

Lastly was dragonese. It’s actually the first language and was the base of all other languages here. So, that’s the basics of language back then. Now, though, Equish is the common language amongst almost all creatures and is easy enough to learn. So, may I continue? Thanks.

So, two days later Lom and Retalia were talking with verbs! It was so exciting, but hard to keep going. They did have a life of speaking one way, afterall, so I didn't press the issue. Math was another issue. Base four was almost too difficult to learn, and teaching math was something I couldn't do. I only knew the basics of adding and subtracting but multiples and division were almost impossible without a calculator.

Best of all, potty training was starting and Lom was taking to it very well, or so I was told. She was scolded harshly several times for making a mess so she took to it quickly.

“Ya know, it’s getting really late. Let’s call it a night and go to our rooms and continue this in the morning.”

She looked a bit nervous. “Well, you see, I didn’t think this would take so long. I didn’t get a room, I had planned to get on the last train home.”

“Wait, you don’t have a room? Can you get one, they’re always ready to take new travelers at these places and it was pretty cheap.”

“I don’t have enough bits. I-I guess I’ll just find a place outside, maybe in a bush or under a cart. Wouldn’t be the first time,” she said.

I groaned and raised my hoof to the side of my head. Sure, I could loan her the bits, but that’s inconvenient since she’d owe me. Crap, only one choice. “You can sleep here, I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“You’d do that for me?” she asked hopefully, “I guess if it isn’t a bother.”

“Nah, it’s better than having a cute mare like you sleeping out there.”

She blushed again. “I’m not that cute, I’m just normal.”

“Green has been one of my favorite colors for a while,” I said calmly. I was trying to assure her that she was in safe hooves while here and that I wasn’t going to let her be taken advantage of. Yeah, like my words had any effect besides turning her on. Crap, what’s wrong with me?

“Okay,” I said before yawning loudly, “I’m gonna crash, see you in the morning.”

She looked to me and nodded. As we got off our chairs and walked to our respective places of sleep we said our goodnights, she turned off the lamps with her magic and covered up, snuggling into the bed. I laid on the floor and quickly fell into a deep asleep.

Always the heavy sleeper I didn’t notice her pick me up in her magic and move me into bed with her, wrap me up in the blankets, and turn over. We slept together, in the same bed. But that’s all that happened.

I woke up the next morning in bed and forgot she was there. I yawned softly and stretched, moving the covers off me slightly to see a problem only certain males experience early in the morning. Standing at full attention was… you know. So, I groaned. I didn’t wanna get up yet, I liked traveling cuz I get to sleep in.

Then I felt a leg drape over me and a rustle behind me, followed by a nuzzle and sigh. The memory of me falling asleep on the floor, not the bed. She moved me to make me comfortable and here I was, eyes wide in shock as her rear leg draped over my flank and came dangerously close to touching… it.

Gods, what do I do? Crap, crap, crap. Don’t move your legs, don’t move your legs, I tried to will her; just then she moved her legs and pulled me closer. She was a sleep cuddler, just what I didn’t need.

I decided to break a cardinal rule of mine, to save a lot of trouble and awkwardness. I focused and teleported a few lengths away just outside the bathroom. She woke when her legs hit the bed, where I was, and she looked at me as I was jumping into the bathroom. I know she saw me moving but I don’t know if she saw my ‘problem’.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, just gotta go. Morning and all,” I said as calmly as I could as I stood in the bathroom, willing it away to no avail. I decided to try to go, which I did. Thankfully that worked and away it went. With a grin I washed my hooves, splashed some water on my face, then left the room.

She was sitting in the bed still, reading the last few pages we completed and mumbling to herself.

“Well, good morning and thanks for the bed, but really, it wasn’t necessary.”

“Oh no, it’s okay. Since my roommate kicked me out I’ve been sleeping alone and she’d at least comfort me once in awhile.”

“Oh, so you’re…”

“No, not often. It was more just a casual thing when we were in heat.”

“Ah, I see. Well, breakfast?”

Yeah, I wasn’t surprised. Females were more populous and often times would join in temporary unions. Marriage was uncommon but not rare among ponies of any gender relationship but when it was decided it only took less than three months to make that commitment. Anyway, breakfast was fine, then we got back to the room and back to my story.

This was going to be a long story. “Are you up to traveling with me? This story is going to cover a long period in your long past history.”

“Um, sure? Where are we going then?”

“Well, I have some business to get done in the south, then I have to go north and do a few deals along the way before going home. We might be done in a few days if we go constantly.”

“A few days? Well, I have no life now, so sure. I’ll have to borrow bits, if that’s okay.”

“Sure thing, I have more than enough bits and bars to make it.”

“Bars?! You have that many bits?”

“Yeah, business is good.” I said with a hint of joy in my voice.

Incase you didn’t know there are bits, bars, and bricks. A bit is one, a bar is fifty, and a brick is a hundred. They don’t use any other denominations, well, there’s the block work a thousand, but they’re too heavy to move easily and usually used to make major land purchases. Mostly made from gold, they is a mixture of silver and a gem shard in the center, size depending on the worth, made from acanacite with palladium crossed through it.

Absolutely unforgeable and, thanks to the gem, impossible to reshape. Acanacite is a gem found under Canterlot castle, guarded by Celestia and more spells than even Discord could get through if he had a millennia to try.

Anyway, I tangent a lot, I know. But, at least I think it’s interesting stuff, so there.

“Mocha, you use many words and we do not, why?” Lom asked in her sweet voice.

“Well, I guess it’s cause my people have a long history of war, and that makes it more important to talk. More words means more ways to win.”

She nodded, I could tell she didn’t get it and even I didn’t have a clue about what I was talking about. I was just rambling an answer hoping it made sense. It wasn’t too bad, I guess.

“Hoo-nym."

"Call me Mocha."

Retalia smirked. "You war a lot?"

That was an answer I could answer.

“No, most wars are made by our leaders and we do as they say.”

He grunted in agreement. “I know, many times defenders must go with gatherers instead of have fun,” he said dejectedly, “but, I follow Lom to keep safe, so not always bad.”

We shared a smile, his was a bit subdued, but still a smile. He didn’t trust me enough yet, but friendship was something that was easy to come by. Close friendship is what takes a while to earn.

It didn’t take long for us to get bored with the place. It was only a library after all.

With a trade of a few blank rounds to a goblin in the market under the guise they would scare a monster the size of a dragon away with one pop. A test round fired when the goblin came by my armor in the storage area proved my point. I got a significant amount of rations and some gems that were tradeable across the lands.

So, I got some blankets and bedding, as well as a small pup tent for us to sleep under, as a gift from the deer and with that we set off. Like a fool I didn’t ask for a map in my haste to explore the lands and search for my friends but that was easily fixed with a probe sent up as soon as we saw the sun above us. The terrain was a bit hilly and rough around the edges, but wasn’t a problem. The trees came to an abrupt end about twelve miles to the east to a plains.

I took the lead and turned on some music at low volume while I walked at a steady pace. My armor was moving a bit better than I’d expected out in the open and not in a storage room in a tree. It was really calm, just like at the library. The sun was rising when we left and was almost at its apex when we stopped for our first break.

The horses actually preferred to graze while I dipped into my share of the rations.

“Mocha,” Lom asked me while I nibbled on a bread type thing that was pretty bland, “why you not eat with us? Floor food is yummy,” she said smiling with grass in her teeth. I swear I saw a bug too, but averted my eyes.

“I can’t eat grass, my tummy isn’t made for it. I can eat bread though, so I’m gonna eat this now. Thanks for the offer.”

She nodded and turned, prancing back to Retalia, and began munching on berries on a bush, branches too. Crunching and grinding it between their teeth was actually kinda cool. I usually hate hearing others eat, always, but I guess I enjoyed the sounds of company.

Since my freak out I only had them to keep me company, and I was so grateful when I realized that they’d stayed with me of their own accord. I imagine, even now, that it must have been a bit of a hard choice to leave their herd for some weird creature they had met a couple days earlier.

At the time I didn’t understand, now I do. I’ll get to that later, too.

The next few days were pretty calm. It rained from the third to the sixth day, we ate our rations by the fourth day, and we talked. I listened mostly. Now, as you can tell, I’m a talker. But, what could I possibly talk about that they would understand? The only things we had in common were basic living stuff like food and shelter, the latter they weren’t really dependant on.

On a side note, it turns out I did teach their clan how to make fire. I just took the old two sticks method that night and showed them. At first it was done by a random defender, who screamed in terror and, with the rest of them, scurried away into the forest until I coached them out. I imagined, at the time, that they were all making friendly fires and had started a nice forest fire that would undoubtedly never stop burning.

(I shrugged dismissively as she looked at me with narrowed eyes.)

We reached the edge of the forest and looked out at the plains ahead of us and I got out of my armor to talk to them, face to muzzle. Taking a knee I asked them the big question.

“We have to decide, go forward, into the unknown for us both, or walk along the forest edge and see what we find. What do you think?”

“Hmm, I want to go new place with Mocha,” Lom beamed. Retalia was sitting with his left side to us and he simply nodded.

“Well,” I said slapping my knee and stood up while Retalia looked to me quickly. “Time to get moving. You can graze while we go and since you don’t like my music I’ll just listen to it myself,” they both nodded in agreement.

I honestly thought Lom would at least like some of my tunes, but that’d be too hopeful. She said almost every song I played sounded like a hive of screaming bees. I still take some offence to that, even the classics like Mozart or Eddie Murphy were torn to shreds by her hearing.

Apparently my music didn’t translate either. It sounded almost the same but at a much, much higher frequency and the reverberations from it exiting the suit were making it inaudible to them. Oh well, more for me, was my thought on that subject.

I mean, their songs weren’t bad, but it was more of humming since they didn’t want to attract predators with chanting or singing. Pretty bland by my standards but they liked it enough to keep them occupied on the trip so far, so whatever.

Climbing into my suit again I looked at the map I’d been given. Still a bit of a way to go before the map cut off, give or take, but it was gonna be an interesting trip.

Two horses that were almost up to my neck in height, and a human in a robotic exosuit beginning an adventure, of sorts, into the wilds of an unknown land. Possibility of thousands of miles of nothing, death by any number of things, including starvation or predators.

A few miles past the treeline and we walked, face first, into a wall.

Chapter 13

I returned to the room with Lom and Retalia, the innkeeper wasn’t anywhere I could see, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was to get a nights rest and a meal in me. And I was tired of seeing my equine friends graze, they deserved a real meal, even if it was full of vegetables. I knew gryphons ate meat so there was a chance I could get some tasty protein, too.

Yes, humans are omnivores, we eat meat and vegetables, but don’t need meat to live. It’s just how we grew as a species, which meant the herbivore diet of grass and hay were not on the menu.

The prospect of a meal really got them excited but I was beat, and I did not trust an unknown town with a gryphon as its defender. So, we took a good nap and woke up at about eleven at night. I was the least upset of us three since it was my idea to nap at what was about five, we’d slept past the point when anypony would be awake.

I bit the bullet and kept them quiet by offering to raid the pantry. Stumbling over a few random lumpy objects I finally stubbed my toe and cursed through clenched teeth letting me know I’d found the coffee table in the living room.

I hopped a couple steps then tripped over a large object that wasn’t there earlier. It was dark, the shutters were closed and a little light leaked in but I had terrible night vision and no, before you ask, I couldn’t see in the dark. I had a line of text to tell me what weapons I was linked to and a few lines dedicated to telling me how much ammo I had. Had I spent thousands of bits, creds I mean, on bionic eyes, this story would be far, far different.

I climbed over the thing and stumbled to the next room. The dining room table was of moderate height to accommodate several types of creatures of different heights that may have stayed over the years. I made my way to the kitchen door, or so I thought it was, to find another row of rooms.

I walked slowly and looked at each one; open door and empty. I got a bad feeling suddenly, things weren’t adding up. Where was the owner sleeping if I was looking at the whole of the building right now, why a dining table with no kitchen or place to cook. I gripped my pistol on my hip and unlatched the holster.

I was wearing socks so I had the softest footfalls of any creature I’d met so far, but I hadn’t had a shower for almost a week and my clothes were just dank. I closed my eyes and listened for any sound before I heard a creak where the lump was and I turned to it.

“What are you? Show yourself?!” I shouted with authority, but I didn’t pull my weapon, just raised my left hand, palm out, to show I had nothing in that hand but the other was dangerous.

“S-sorry, I heard you and I just lied down, I hoped you’d go back to your room. A-are you going to eat me?”

I sighed and relaxed a bit, but kept myself on edge, just incase. “No, I thought you were dangerous. A thief or something, you know. I apologize, what’re you doing out this late? Where’s your bed?”

“I sleep across the street with my wife, I was going to give you the papers. The defender was confused but I have convinced him all is well and the trade is complete, I will be leaving with my family in two days, sir.”

I stood tall and scratched my head, I still have to get used to my hair growing in, I thought first since I liked to sport a no hair look. My second thought was that this guy was crazy.

“Can we get some light in here, please?”

He scampered around the living room, I saw a spark, then a lantern lit. He held it in his teeth as he walked to about a length from me and set it on the floor. He turned to what was a saddle bag back then and pulled out a sheet of paper, trotted to the welcome table by the door, and placed it, gently upon it, turned to smile at me with a grateful grin, and went to the door.

“Woah, woah, woah. Wait a second, you’re being too cryptic. What’re you talking about?”

The doors were simpler than the ones we use now. Wood posts held up with nails on a cross board set high and low with a rope tied on both ends serving as the door handle and a latch at the center to act as a really crappy lock. They were inventive that they opened both ways on a swinging hinge, though.

He let the rope go from his mouth and looked back to me, smiling wider. “You’re not getting anymore from me, sir. You’ve paid and we bumped on it, do you disagree?”

“Wha-? No, but-”

“Than I, and my family, thanks you. Goodeve.”

I watched him prance out the door before closing it gently.

I walked to the paper and looked at it and grunted. I couldn’t read a word; it was dark, and I wasn’t exactly literate in this language yet. That’s something they never tell you about magic, you can speak a language with a spell, but reading is just as impossible as seeing a rock with wings.

Discord not included.

Well, I took it back to the room and told the others of the weirdness I had just experienced. They agreed that it was odd, but perhaps it was a local custom. For all I knew that was a receipt and he was just telling me that since I had paid so much he was taking his family away for a couple days.

The more I thought about it the more I made sensible scenarios. About two in the morning we fell back asleep, all in the same room, with me on edge still, waiting for a mob to charge in with torches and pick axes.

I would have prefered the torches and pickaxes.

We walked out of the inn and looked to see a cart being loaded by two stallions while a mare and two foals were under it staying cool.

“Hey, buddy, what’s going on?” I asked another earth pony named Jonathan, as he passed by me.

“Dunno, looks like he’s loadin’ up his cart.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“Anytime, freak.”

I looked at him as he trotted away but couldn’t blame him, by local standards I was a freak, just like a plethora of talking barnyard animals were to me. I figured I’d check back on him later and looked for a pub. Every town always had to have at least one. I just had to find it.

While I was pondering where it could be Lom called my name before she followed Retalia into the pub, located directly to the right, next door to the inn. I smiled to hide my irritation at them finding it before me as I walked in.

Six tables all knee height, no chairs, and no creatures in sight. Wooden floor that was well taken care of and a row of mugs made from clay or something lined the polished bar top.

“Huh, nice place, but no food?”

“What you talk!? Make best food in three tick-tock moves! What?”

A goblin, of all creatures, stood from behind the bar. Her pointed ears were cut near the top like earrings were ripped out, but other than that what I saw was a normal goblin. A female from the awful makeup it wore.

“I’m a human, these are horses, and we’re hungry. What do ya have to eat for weary travelers such as we three?”

It’s eyes sparkled at the prospect of a sale and chance to cook. “Have much, many, many foods,” it said in that goblin high pitched squeaky voice, “You eat meat or only, ground plants,” she almost spit the word ‘plants’.

“Well, I eat both, and they eat plants,” I said to my friends that were looking around at the walls and the single window against the wall to our right. I had just noticed that against the far wall were two alcoves with tables and chairs. Ah, that’s where I can sit, if I come alone.

“You not need pay, first meal free for traders. Big, big traders! I make you food and them plants, be back, no take mead or charge double,” she shouted gleefully to me as she disappeared behind the bar. A small door squeaked as I turned to take a floor spot, they followed suit at the center table.

“So, that was kinda weird, what’d you think?”

Lom and Retalia looked to each other then me. “Yes, odd. Are many this odd in world, we wonder?” Retalia asked in his soft baritone.

“I think so. I guess we’re a good team, neither of us knows anything about this world. What do you think he’ll bring you to eat?”

“I want berries and leaves from the herb trees,” Retalia said calmly looking to the place the goblin was.

“Oh, I want grass, but no grass, crunchies from ground.”

“Ah, I see. I want eggs and anything, to be honest.”

“What are eggs?” Lom asked. Suddenly I got both their attention.

“Well, where birds come from.”

“We call those nests,” Retalia stated looking to the table and resting a hoof on it, applying some pressure.

“I mean what’s in the nest. Crunchy shell, soft inside, come in many colors; eggs.”

“Oh,” Lom chirped, “We know those. Baby birds from those. Tasty, yum, yum.”

She patted her belly and smiled to Retalia who was sporting a smirk of his own.

“Yes, yummy. When eaten with berries best.”

“You love your berries, ever have wine? Can’t stand the stuff myself but plenty of people, apparently, say it’s the best berry drink ever.”

“Wine? I try some, give.”

“Woah, where’s the manners? And I can’t give, but I can ask. When the food arrives I’ll get you some.”

“Yes, good. I grow very hungry and thirsty.”

“Me too, me too. Lom likes good foods, crunchies are best though.”

“Wait, you eat eggs, Lom? I thought you were plant eaters.”

“Hush, Lom,” he started before looking to me, “We eat when they fall; too high to get. Cannot crawl on trees like runners. Very happy time to find one.”

“So, it’s a deliecacsy? Cool, I guess,” I said shrugging the comment off before turning to my little follower. “So, Lom, how old are you,” I asked finally. I didn’t realize I didn’t ask earlier.

“Hmm, nine times the flowers on the Mota trees have made berries since she was foaled,” Retalia answered while she looked to be counting.

“Retalia, yourself?”

“Twenty three times they have flowered.”

So, you’re old enough to be her father?” I asked with humor while he glared at me briefly, “And I didn’t know you were almost as old as me. I’d have figured you both for adults.”

“Lom is almost adult! Two more flowers and I will be,” she said in a forceful whine.

“No, Lom will be adult when she is ready to bear foals and has a proper mate.”

“O-kay, so you’re only nine? I really thought you were older, but I guess it makes sense with how you act.”

“Yes, me big mare,” she said factually with a nod.

“She will be,” Retalia sighed, “then big trouble will follow. That why I follow her here, you not know trouble she make, and we not trust you and her alone,” he said giving me a look any father would give a colt who came to pick up his little filly.

“Woah, there’s not gonna be any of that happening, I prefer my lovers to look like me,” I said with a hint of revulsion as I held up a hand and wiggled my fingers. The approving nod from Retalia was enough to satiate me.

“What’s ‘lovers’ mean?”

We both winced, Retalia and me. “Retalia will tell you all about it when you get back to your room.”

The look he gave me could melt ice in a blizzard and I did feel a bit of remorse for what he was going to have to go through but, I think it was a good revenge for the tail thing.

A squeak was heard from the counter, a few seconds later the goblin returned with three plates that were covered by plates, you know, to keep the heat in. They were on a tray balanced on its right hand with three small towels on its elbow. It walked slowly, so as to not spill the tray, placed each plate before us, and smiled a crooked toothed grin.

If she wasn’t being so cordial I was have sworn she was going to bite me with her sharp chompers.

“Take plates off, creatures. Take plates off and look-see with eyes at yummies I make.”

The others used their noses to knock the tops off and, seriously, squealed in glee at the vegetable platters before them. Raw carrots, celery, onions, things I’d never seen littered their plates and they wasted no time digging in.

I was far more worried to see what was under my plate. Would it be chopped eyes or some goblin delicacy that would make me ill? I opened it to see a nice cheese omelette with a simple bunch of berries next it and a small pile of meat under it, after I inspected it.

“Goblinses knows grass eaters no eats meats and scaredy of it easy. I hide for you, is bird from skies, no worries,” it said in a hoarse whisper, no pun intended. With a growing grin I picked up the spoon that came with the plate and cut a small piece off before putting it into my mouth.

Gloriousness it was great. The first real food I’d eaten since I got there, here, this world. And I knew I deserved it and the goblin was pleased to see me happy to eat as it nodded and scampered away.

Returning with drinks a minute later in mugs before each of us was some local mead of the highest quality. We toasted our meal, took a drink, then swallowed hard. It was sure strong, whew. I can still remember the taste. Fermented berries, apples, and herbal tones that made me think it was a fruit salad that had been left in the sun too long.

Lom gagged, Retalia swallowed and politely put the cup in the center of the table, and I followed suit with him. It was up to the youngest of us to ask for water, fresh water, with which we ate and finished our meal.

With a sigh I leaned back and caught myself with my hand as a crutch behind me while my right hand rubbed my belly. I straightened my legs under the table and the others laid their heads on the table in delight.

“That was the best food I’d had in weeks, thanks goblin buddy.”

“My name Xitax, goblin cooker of many foods and maker of drinks. Very best goblin in Sploy court and kingdom, yes, yes. You go home now, rest, eat later, and pay with much trade,” she said grinning again, this time a few feathers were in her teeth and I that realized I had fresh meat.

I appreciated that more that they all knew.

“C’mon, let's check this town out,” I suggested as I got up to standing again and waved the others to follow me. Getting up quickly they followed me out. “See ya soon, Xitax.”

I waved a goodbye in return to Xitax’s ecstatic wave and we left.

The town was alive with a hustle and bustle of earth ponies, several cows, a minotaur that was looking intently at my armor, and the gryphon guardian. Once the gryphon saw me she flew to me, stopping ahead of me, and smiled. How does she smile with a beak?

“Rea, so nice to see you, and to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Just saying hello to the new owners of the hotel.”

My mind went blank as I tried so hard to understand what she’s said.

“I had never heard of a wealthy people such as yours that throw Ranovite gems like nothing, but we’re pleased to have you in our town.”

“B-b-b… W-what? Ah, I, what now?”

“Heh, translator broken? You can have one on the house, but the next one’ll cost ya okay? Consider it a good faith gesture,” she said.

“N-no, my, it works fine. What did you say about me buying something, now?”

“Oh, c’mon. You traded a Ranovite gem to the inn owner. He’s moving to the next city over, Rew, to start a new life and retire.”

“W-w-w-w-w-what?! I-I didn’t mean to-, but I just-. Only a couple days was it! I didn’t mean to buy the place.”

“Well,” Rea chuckled opening her wings, “you know the laws, all trades are final unless you both agree to dissolve it, and I can tell you they aren’t going to.”

She took to the air and began a simple spiral as she went higher to survey the town, I guess, while I looked around and got a lot of awkward yet pleased looks.

“Well, shit,” was all I could say.

Chapter 14

Earth ponies were all I saw at the time and I could swear I had known one of them, but I didn’t know where from. She had a pink coat with a long flat pink mane, and blue eyes, only she was sad and looked out of place, all the other ponies had earth tone colors; brown, grey, white, grey, black. She was pink, really weird. She made eye contact with me and forced a small smile, but that was it before she was past and gone.

The ponies didn’t have cutie marks back then, just names. James, Erin, Marsha. Names I could recognize and relate to, and that was weird in and of itself, even with magic.

I walked to my armor and smiled wide at the minotaur. “Like it, she’s one of a kind.”

“I like it,” he said. Typical minotaur, won’t bore you with details, only they were a lot dumber then. “How much?”

“Ah, not for sale or trade. It’s mine, only works for me and my kind,” I said tapping my right temple, “with certain features that help it to work.”

Yeah, I was trying to be clever and instead the minotaur, which had its arms crossed, opened its left palm and swung at me. It hurt. A lot. I don’t remember much but a lot of running and screaming from the ponies around where I was. I reached for my right hip where my pistol was and realized I was sailing through the air.

An instant later pain. Pain through my whole body, starting at the top of my back and screaming across and through my entire body. The next thing I knew I was being picked up by the top of my head with its giant hand; its fingers almost reached my neck, but it was enough to hold me in the air with its right hand and pummel me with its left. Pain thrust itself in my abdomen, then my chest, then my abdomen again. I was being beaten to death and couldn’t do a damn thing.

I grasped for my pistol in desperation and felt it for a second, then pain across my right arm made me black out. Some fighter I am, I thought as the beast stopped pummeling me for a moment.

From what I was told something magical happened at that moment. Lom jumped past the monster while Retalia bucked it in the back of its knees, breaking them both in one shot. Lom jumped under me and I landed on her back, she ran me clear of the area in a blind panic for my life while Retalia landed one more heavy buck to the creature, shattering its left horn, then joined in running behind us through town.

Rea guided them to a clinic, which was a room in the ground floor of somepony’s two story house, where I woke up three days later. Naked again, but I didn’t care, I was barely alive and happy for that much.

The first thing I saw was a lantern at low light to my right on a table, a wall to my left, and nothing but fuzz after that. It was a blur, I called up my internal HUD and it was still working, but what good is that if my arms were broken or something?

It hurt to do everything so I did the only thing I could. I whined like a little filly that wants candy for as long as I could until I started to cough loudly. The door swung open and galloping to me was my first unicorn. She was beautiful, I told her so several times while she cast spells on me, cursing after each one.

Finally she put something in my mouth and I felt so much love I could have kissed the lantern, had my body not been so damaged. Yeah, I was heavily, heavily drugged. The fact I woke up was a miracle after the beating I’d gotten, they said.

The inn owner stayed with his family until I could wake up and left promptly once I had, which killed my plan to join them and give the inn to somepony else. Now I was stuck there until I healed enough to travel again. And just cuz I woke up didn’t mean I was awake. I was in and out for the next week, drugged to the limit and beyond.

Finally I woke up gasping, drenched in sweat, coughing like crazy in the middle of the night, but alive and thankful the pain, at first. Retalia was in the room, sleeping below the window. I called his name with a raspy voice and his ears perked up as quick as he did to look at me.

It was like a loyal dog that just got startled, so cute. I mouthed ‘water’ while trying to whisper it, I was so thirsty and dry I felt like I could cough dust. A moment later a ball of water was floating in front of me.

Without even thinking about it I leaned toward it, pressed my lips to it, and sucked a mouthful of it. It might have been the best water of my life, seriously. I gasped and before I had finished inhaling fresh air the water had moved to my mouth again and I drank it like a foal at a teat.

It was so good. Suddenly I felt cool and refreshed, the headache I’d had dissipated almost instantly and I fell back into the bed and smiled. The world became clearer and I asked for more water. Another ball hovered over me and I drank it just as quickly, and again several times.

I awoke again to the sun shining on my face, the window was open, and I could smell the sweet scent of flowers. I hadn’t appreciated it nearly as much when I was trudging through them for those days, eating them on occasion with my new friends, or even putting one in each of their manes and watching as they freaked out. It was akin to being engaged for them. It was an awesome time.

I gave myself a quick once over, moving my limbs, feeling them and my fingers, toes, and butt wiggle was elating. I wasn’t dead or paralysed. I moved to sit up and regretted that too. My right arm was broken, I didn’t know where but it hurt like… well like a broken limb. I tried to sit up unassisted and that hurt too, the grunt I made as I fell back down woke Lom up from her sleep.

“Mocha, friend Mocha, you are okay? Please, talk. You’re awake and get better now? Horn pony! Friend Mocha, awake now!” she said in a happy panic.

A few seconds later hoof falls approached and I saw the unicorn that had taken care of me. I had a brief flash of memory of her blushing fiercely, but that was it.

She was white, alabaster white, with a blue mane, yellow eyes, and the first horn I’d seen that didn’t want to hurt me.

“Fine sir,” she said in a careful and soft voice that was almost as sweet as yours, “are thee well?”

She was eloquent and exuded a poise I had never really seen in real life and wore a smile that took any fears I could have had away.

She was so clean. I hadn’t realized how dirty the world was compared to her coat. “Your coat is so pretty,” I said before I thought, “I mean clean! Can I get a shower? Where’re my clothes? What day is it? How long have I-”

“Hush, darling. When one is in a fight with a minotaur, one does not live. Thee are unique,” she said lighting her horn. I felt the usual tingle you get when you’re magically scanned before she spoke again. “I have never seen your kind, or heard of your kind. Thou are akin to minotaurs?”

“Heh, no. Not even close. I’m not even from this planet, I kinda fell here,” I said as she helped me sit up with my pains and groans.

“I have read of magic opening portals to other worlds, but to have fallen? How far did thee fall?”

“Heh, about fifteen thousand feet,” I said as I swung my legs over the side of the bed with a grimace.

With a sceptical look she dismissed my words. “Yes, and I can walk on clouds,” she said sarcastically, but in a refined way.

“Ya can!? Cool, what’s it like? Can you show me?”

She looked at me with a bit of humor and a lot more pity. “Simple creature, unicorns can not walk on clouds, I was musing at your expense, lest the humor belittle your mind, I shall ceace.”

“Yeah, you can, but my mind is far from little,” I said, almost snapped, back. She got a small twinkle in her eye and took a step or three toward me and leaned in close. Too close for me, I leaned back, got a cramp in my side, hissed in pain, then fell back and hit my head on the wall.

She burst into a laughing fit as I burst into tears, mainly from the pain, but also from the slapstick of what had just happened to me. With a little magic I was sitting upright, but I quickly fell to my knees and hunched over, still sharing a laugh with her. Lom and Retalia were in the room still, I had totally forgotten about them until I noticed them watching me from the corner of my eye.

What felt like a good hour of laughing in pain was over too soon after only, maybe, three minutes. I trembled and asked for more water as I looked at a small puddle of drool under me, when the unicorn saw it she started laughing again, but this time left the room to get more watah.

‘Watah’, like water but… Nevermind, she got more water.

Well, I collected myself and sat up, resting my back against the bed, which had a wooden frame, and that surprised me since I figured it’d be flat on the floor or something. A futon would be a more accurate description, but double padded. Hmm, I never really thought about why she’d have had that in a room.

I mean, minotaurs are big. Cows, bison, the latter two weren’t in that part of the world at the time, but why so much comfort for a wounded creature?

Meh, I’ll never know, I guess. So, next came the fun question every bipedal creatures loves to get from a quadruped. “Mocha, why is it out? Are you excited by horn pony?” Lom asked. I glanced to Retalia, but he was just as curious, staring at my… reproductive organ.

Okay, I know it’s not an organ, but that’s what males call it sometimes. No you can’t see it now!? What the hay. I don’t care if you’ve seen plenty in the streets, I’m not that kinda colt. Back to it.

I was done being silly for a bit, getting my flank bucked was enough to humble me. “No, it’s always out. That's why I wear clothes, plus I lost my fur and my human friends can help me find it.”

I guess I wasn’t really done being silly, I just didn’t wanna put any effort into it. When the unicorn came back she held a blue ceramic bowl in her magic. I took it from her as she sat before me while I sipped my cold water.

“I know thy name is Mocha, however I have, as of yet, the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Una, Unaleska, but I prefer Una. I am a unihorn, as you can tell. Have thee any questions before I continue?”

I shrugged and winced from the pain in my right arm. I got a good look at it and saw a simple set of splints tied to my arm, my bone, reset nicely, was throbbing between the boards and under the cloth holding it together. Slowly I raised my arm and looked at the work.

“What did I do to deserve this?”

“Ah, I was meaning of myself. Your question is simple, the minotaur believed you to be insulting its intellect. Uh, calling it stupid, they say here. Some are, indeed, and that leads them to rage. Their strength is nearly unparalleled, the fact thou live is only due to your friends, here.”

“What happened? It’s all kind of a blur, and a ‘unihorn’? Not unicorn?”

“Hm, unicorn? Unicorn? Why? We have a horn, and what is a corn?”

“Well, corn is a delicious sweet vegetable that looks like a horn, but it’s covered with small yellow balls of sweet juice,” I said looking at her as she listened, “yellow like your eyes, just not as sweet.”

She blushed, which was weird given her fur shouldn’t have. Then I winced as I failed to facepalm with my right hand. The growl I made as I held back a roar of pain got everyponies attention, their ears pointed to me, and their posture straightened.

“Sorry,” I said as best I could through a strained exhale, “I’m right handed and this is gonna be tough. So, the other question? Can you answer it?”

“Erhm,” was the noise she made loudly as she cleared her throat to begin, “yes, right. Well, thank you for the comment about my orbits, few notice, it seems,” she said sheepishly looking to the floor and then to me.

I have to add, that ponies eyes weren’t as big then either. They were smaller, by far. And round in their heads, not plates, but your vision was better too that way. I’ll cover the change eventually.

“Well,” she began, “from what was told at the tavern and rumors abound, the minotaur struck thee, lifted thee by the top of your head and began to break thy body until you stopped moving and became cold.

“Your friends here came to your aid and, with the help of Rea, brought you to me. I am the town healer of body and mind.”

“Wh-what happened to the cow that beat me up?”

Una gasped and placed a hoof to her chest. “My word, thou use such hurtful words about them,” she said in shock, “all cows are better than that who beat you.”

I strained a laugh as she did too at her humor. “Ah, it hurts to laugh. You’re humor is as great as magic. Is the beast in jail?”

“No, your stallion friend here broke her legs and a horn. She stayed here until she was healed enough to be sent to Rew, the jail is stronger there, an enraged minotaur will break our city if they felt like it. Thou are safe now, can I get thee some food?”

My stomach grumbled as she said that. “That was weird. I am hungry, but my stomach never growled so on time like that.”

“Oh, Lom hungry too,” she said as both her and Retalia’s stomachs rumbled.

“Huh,” I said looking between them all as they looked back to me, “did anyone else ever notice that happened too coincidentally?”

“What?” Una asked.

“I’m hungry,” I said. A second later my stomach rumbled again. “See, that! Say it too, Una.”

“I am hungry,” she said looking to me with an eyebrow raised. Her stomach rumbled. “Oh my,” she said looking to her underbelly, “what an interesting phenomenon. I have never heard anypony ask such a question. I am hungry,” she said again as her stomach rumbled. She arched an eyebrow and poked her belly saying it again to the same result.

It still happens, but it’s part of the world knowledge so it’s not as interesting. That was how I started ponies, unicorns specifically, to learn about the digestive systems of animals. They kept it to themselves for a long time, but after that whole tribe war everypony shared what they knew for a while.

I tangent again, I apologize.

We got up, with a lot of effort on my part, even with Una’s help, wrapped a sheet around myself, and went out of that room for the first time in a week that I, thankfully, didn’t recall.

What I did notice first was the fresh air full of sweetness.

Chapter 15

I limped into the hallway and was blessed with the sweet smell of baking. How anyone was baking anything was a mystery to me, maybe more goblins, but no matter what, it wasn’t unpleasant. Just like the thought I’d had earlier in the experience about who had taken care of my… leavings.

I owed Una so much already, the fact she’d cleaned up my waste was just enforcing my obligation to repay her.

“I shall show thee to the dining hall,” she paused, the word almost caught in her throat, “oh sorry, I mean room,” she said dejectedly. “The finest baker of sweet and salty goods is present in my employ. She is my adoptive daughter as well,” she said, joy returning to her voice as she waited for me to catch up.

The house I’d seen so far was two rooms, side by side, a hallway large enough for two ponies to pass and rub sides, and another door at the end of the hall. I turned to look back to see my two little friends behind me and another door opposite the one I’d left that I hadn’t noticed.

That must be the restroom, I thought to myself, I can’t wait to use it, maybe there’s a shower with hot water or a luxurious bath, I mused to myself as we reached the door at the end of the hall.

“Now, stay calm,” she said happily as the door glowed a light yellow and swung open. We stepped through and everything was made of the finest candy the world could ever know. “It’s all edible, take a bite,” she said as I dropped the blanket and charged the nearest table and bit a chunk out of it.

It was so tasty I swear I could have heard the others squealing with happiness and joining in with me.

I sniffed the table I was biting and winced at a sudden pain in my mouth and a tugging feeling on my legs, a shout came into my ear as I blinked to see myself with a plate, thankfully made of applewood, in my mouth and the horses and pony trying to pry me out of the bench that was overturned under the table with me under it, if that makes sense.

Once I was free of it all I was laying on the floor, with Una looking down at me, worry filled her expressions and her horn was alit. The cold wooden floor stung my bruised areas and my arm was under a dull throbbing pain still.

“W-what happened?” I asked as I moved my jaw around, feeling my teeth in my mouth confusedly.

“Thy are still under the effects of the medicine, it seems. Tell me thy feelings and thoughts, Mocha.”

“Uh, I’m confused and heard you say this place was all eatable. Then here I am.”

“Una, will he be okay?” I heard Retalia ask from above me, somewhere. I wasn’t in any shape to go moving my body and looking around.

“Yes, it seems he is well, however I fail to see how he would interpret my query an invitation to eat the platters,” she said with joy returning to her.

“I-I had a vision that everything was edible, you had said it before the door opened.”

“My query, not statement of the taste of the decor, was whether or not thou had a friend to help you now that thou are proprietor of the inn.”

I groaned lightly and raised my arm in a motion that usually meant ‘help me up’, only to be left hanging. “Help me up please,” I said as I realized quadrupeds have no reason for such a gesture.

“I can’t believe I got that place, what do I have to do to get rid of it and to the next town?”

Una’s expression fell. “Thou cannot leave yet to travel, thou can hardly move, lest you travel you may further damage yourself, I cannot allow you to leave.”

I was sitting at this point, the light tingle of her magic against my upper back supporting me.

“How long until I’m healed enough to leave? A week or two?”

“I-I don’t know thy body, maybe six weeks, maybe less. Come, let us dine and converse over the recent events.”

“What about the inn, can I sell it?”

“Nay, the seller must maintain the property until it is repurchased. None in town wish to own the inn, costs are too extreme.”

“I’ll give it away.”

“Nay again to thee, the taxes would be steep.”

I didn’t even bother to grumble or anything. I just felt the pain of what was being said slide down a lump in my throat and I locked it away as I stood again, with Retalia and Una as my… what’re they called, um, hoof rests doesn’t sound right. Whatever, I used them to get up again.

I covered myself with the sheet and wrapped it over and around my body. I think it was a topa style. Tonah, toga, tota? I don’t recall, but it covered me and left my unskilled left hand free to manipulate the meal ahead.

The table was rectangular with bench seats; long ones at the sides and shorter ones at each end. Lom and Retalia sat side by side with Lom closer to me, Una and I sat at opposite ends of the table, which left a whole side open. Plates of ceramic and a bowl with a spoon on them set the table for four.

Una called out. “We are prepared, please bring the meal,” with a knock on the table with her hoof.

A clatter of noise from beyond the door preceded it opened and the pink mare trotted in with a large wooden oval tray balanced on her back. She placed it against the table and with a hop of her rump it was on the table, then she left back to the kitchen, returning again with another before doing the same, lastly she left and returned with a small crock of soup in her mouth, held in a wicker basket. She walked to Una and bowed after the table was set with food, her bow left her almost kissing the floor with how deep she went.

“By thy leave?” the pink mare whimpered into the floor.

“Pinkie, stand and present thyself. Thy are free now,” Una said with a hint of concern in her expression, “take a seat by me, yearling.”

The pink one stood and, with a lowered head walked to the other side of Una, across from Retalia and I, before she climbed, roughly, onto the seat.

A lot of concerned looks went between the adults at the table over the next second.

“Mayhaps I shall elaborate,” Una started, “there are three tribes of ponies. Ne’ev they shall cross, lest the born be cast aside. Pinkie here,” she tapped the place in front of the pink mare, “is one such cross. A pegasi and an earth mare. The rumors and gossip of how the union occurred-”

Her eyes widened and looked to the mare sitting somberly by her side. “A story for another day, never, preferred. The union was a brief romance, more of a lovers tale to the youth you will hear of someday, I’m certain.”

She quickly took a gossip tone and was about to go off on a rant, I could tell, so I steeled her with a look that focused her back on the topic.

“Yes, apologies again. The foal they bore was this one here. The dam, nag as she was, locked her in the cellar for her life, only to be allowed out when it was necessary-”

“When mother needed meals, mostly,” the pink mare said softly, looking to where I assume her hooves were.

“What else, dear?” Una coached.

“W-well,” Pinkie started, looking up to Una before continuing, “when a gathering would happen, I would set up, cook, then go back to the cellar by the old barn, then when it was over I would clean up and put everything away. Mother didn’t like me to have done it, but I often would steal food and hide it from the parties.

“I-I would,” she began quieting to nearly a whisper, “I would pretend to have my own parties with my friends.”

“Yes, with that you know what a savage lot these earth ponies are; to treat their own kin in such a way is only fuel to their own pire.”

“Woah,” I interjected, “you can’t condemn a whole people, or race, or tribe, or whatever based on the actions of a few.”

“I beg to differ, had I not purchased this fine servant, she would no nothing of civil life to this day,” she retorted with a hint of that elegant snobbery.

“And to that, I’m certain we’re all grateful,” I replied sincerely, “my own kind had a long history of slavery and oppression, my own ancestors, by the color of their skin, would wage the worst of wars,” I stated trying to sound poetic.

“I call thee out, surely thy jest, a people such as you, who looks like a minotaur, were brutish in thy past?” she mused again. At first she was a charm, but quickly, over the four minutes we’d been around the table I was ready to see how far I could punt her.

“Well, enough of that, what’s for dinner?” I said, changing the subject and gripping a spoon in my hoof. Hand, I meant hand.

“W-well, I made a layered salad with nuts,” Pinkie started speaking softly as she reached with her left hoof and removed the first dome, “and a hot potato soup for us. And for the,” she glanced to me for the briefest of split seconds, “him, I made a carnivores delight.”

She winced as she released the first lid, having placed it to the side, before reaching to the other.

“Wait!” I interjected, stopping the others from reaching for the salad, “What’s under that cover?”

The pink mare looked at the table before me, not looking at me. “A mix of animal parts from fresh kills, as thy need.”

She placed a hoof on the lid and lifted it. I waited and was ready to see a pool of blood and dead animals piled up, ready for a ravenous dog to slobber over.

What I saw was a pie. It looked like any fruit pie, which didn’t help my nerves. She tapped it off the tray onto the table quickly, so she wouldn’t burn herself, before it stopped before me after a few extra taps.

Everypony sat in silence for a second before Lom reached to grab the pot of soup. “Lom, wait. I’ll pour you some,” I said softly reaching for the pot. I opened the lid and a puff of aromatic steam escaped filling the table with a sweet scent plus potatoes. I moaned in approval before the others. “Yeah, this’ gonna be good. Do we have a ladle?”

The pink mare sat up quickly and a look of fear crossed her face, her muzzle trembled, and she looked at me like I had a fist coming at her.

“N-no, please, mine mind was remiss, please forgive me,” she said stumbling back and falling to the floor from the bench she was on, with a thud from both her and the bench hitting the floor.

I froze and looked to Una who had a look of surprised shock. “Pinkie, are thou okay?” she asked still sitting, no motion to move.

I pulled my leg carefully back and over the bench, clutching the blanket tight I limped the several feet to her and knelt down, it hurt but I didn’t groan she scrambled back and used her forelegs to guard her head and I saw scars across the exposed parts of her limbs.

“Don’t fret thyself, Mocha, she’s used to this. She’ll cease her cowering and sob in the kitchen, per usual.”

“Pinkie, is that your name?” I asked the pink mare softly. She shook her head quickly with an apology.

“What is your name? What should I call you?”

“Her name is not important, she is pink, a lovely shade at that,” Una said scooping herself some salad.

“What’s your name?” I asked softly, placing a hand on the small mares foreleg. She cringed and scampered back to the wall and sobbed. “I won’t hurt you, ever. I promise. Cross my heart, hope to cry, stick a rusty nail in my eye.”

Her ears turned toward me sharply and her legs lowered, her eyes opened again and looked to me, finally.

“W-what’s that mean?”

“It means I mean it. I wanna be your friend, but I need to know your name.”

Una sighed sarcastically. “Horses, eat. Thy friend wishes to make friends with a mixed breed, it is his choice. No reason for us to go hungry.”

I was really starting to dislike Una.

“M-my real name is… Latrine.”

“...Oh.”

“Yes, yes. Now you know why I call her Pink, and many variations of. Her mother named her after a hole one defecates in.”

“Well her mother is a fucking bitch,” I stated. Pinkie gasped and a chortle left her, quickly she covered her mouth. “It’s true. I haven’t met her and I hate her already, treating such a beautiful, mare, like you like anything but a little angel.”

A smile. The first smile I’d seen on her. More like a smirk, still forming as she asked a question I still lament.

“What’s an angel?”

I had three options run through my mind at that second. One, tell her about a religion and lead to other questions that could start something I may regret. Two, lie to her and tell her it was a term of endearment. Three…

“It means a creature with wings that are gifted to it by a higher being, its beauty is unparalleled and it’s loved by almost all who see it.”

The sparkle in her eyes. I couldn’t describe it if I had a week.

“W-wings? Like daddy, but they’d love me?” she asked softly, the growing strength in her voice…

“Yes, to soar through the sky-”

“Oh to think,” Una tittered, “an earth pony ‘sprouting wings and flying through the sky’? A fine jest, but I digress, let us eat and leave the fun for after our meal.”

I was really starting to dislike Una.

I smiled to Pinkie again and helped her up. There was no was I was gonna call her by her real name, ever.

I offered her a helping hand up, which she took reluctantly. I helped her get to her hooves and walked back to my spot, sitting heavily and shooting Una a glare before I pushed my plate and bowl to Pinkie's place, leaned up, and began scooping food for Pinkie, and a ladle of soup into her bowl.

She was had set the bench and had climbed on it and gasped. “T-thy have set my plate?”

“What?” I asked.

“N-none have ever-”

“You’re the first to put food on her plate. Congratulations are in order, thou have given her something I could not.”

“What? I was just being polite," I said passively. She stared at her plate and looked to me with a gleam in her eyes, a bit of moisture building in the corners of her eyes. “It was nothing, really."

“True! Mocha always nice to Lom. More nice than any other,” Lom said just before she shoved a hooffull of salad into her mouth. I looked to Retalia who nodded while he chewed, mouth open by the way. Ugh. Peeve.

“Well, you’re becoming a favorite to her already. Mayhaps you wish to purchase her, I could use the trade to buy three of what I paid for her; ones that aren’t nearly as broken.”

Taking a bite and crunching loudly through a closed mouth Una looked at me sincerely. Suddenly I realized what she’d been doing since she saw my expression when Pinkie walked in. She was pitching a sale of a creature she couldn’t take care of; but I could.

I frowned and took my seat, took my spoon and dipped into my pie. One bite and my bad mood melted away in a series of almost orgasmic moans.

I had taken three more bites before I realized I was the center of attention, but I didn’t care. I was the ‘freak’ anyway. A rich freak at that, it seemed to the locals. “This’ beyond amazing. How much do you want for her?” I asked without thinking about the fact I was in the middle of a slave trade.

“Well, a Ranovite gem would be more than fair.”

“How about a fragment and I’ll offer you a room at my inn.”

“I have no need for an inn when I have a house my own,” she scoffed with a wave of her hoof.

“No, a room. Whenever any creature stays in it over the next year you get ten percent of their bill paid to you.”

She raised an eyebrow at that.

“How do I know thy’ll simply never use said room? T’would be simple to have every other room occupied during spring harvests save the one.”

“It will be the first I offer every night, I will furnish it with the best bed and cleanest linen possible. You will be richer by the end of the year by percentage alone.”

She let a sly grin creep onto her muzzle.

“We have an accord, Pinkie, you are his ward now. Mister Mocha, we will visit the mayor and settle our agreement post haste, after our meal and after thy clean thyself.”

I felt a hint of an insult but nodded, I was gross and needed to clean up. I touched my face to feel my uneven beard coming in, plus my hair must be growing, which meant I had unruly dense curls to deal with.

The rest of the meal was spent with Retalia regaling us with stories of his time as a defender of the gatherers. I had no idea he had actually fought off beasts with his little group and that he was the equivalent of a sergeant. A drill sergeant at that, in charge of training new recruits who were ready to move into their jobs.

We finished our meal and they helped me into the bathroom. More like a literal bathroom; a large wooden tub and a scrub brush, jars of stuff that were meant for ponies and horses that I hesitated to guess what they were, and a chamber pot. Eeyup, a chamber pot. A short one too, designed for the owner, not every creature that came through her care.

I looked to her and she smiled that warming smile again. The one that told me she did care, before she nodded to the tub.

“There’s no water.”

“We don’t use water for bathing, jester. Now get in and take my linen from thy hide.”

I chuckled and untied the sheet, letting it fall behind me, leaving her staring, inches from my… dangling participle.

She stared for a second too long before she cleared her throat and turned away. I was enjoying these creatures’ reactions. They were naked but always looked at my nudity like it was new to them.

I guess it was new, in a way. But she’d have seen it a lot while she was changing me and all that, so I don’t know.

I got in the tub and started to sit.

“No, stand, this will be quick.”

“That’s what she said,” I said quickly.

“Oh dear,” she said rolling her eyes. I fist pumped my left arm, she got the reference. She smirked and sighed in defeat. “Thy humor is limitless, it seems. Even with a musing as old as that one. Last I heard that I fell off my elephant.”

“Is that what you call your ex-boyfriend?”

She burst out laughing. It was a hearty laugh that I couldn’t help but smile at. A pony. A smart refined pony that spoke with ‘thee’s’ and ‘thou’s’ mixed with common local vernacular that got my jokes.

This wasn’t so bad, and I liked her a little more than during dinner.

Author's Note

Yeah, Una uses thee, thy, thou, you.

She's from a 'refined' culture and is adapting to the locale she's found herself at. As such, her wording is changing at a personal level. Deal with it! :rainbowwild:

Chapter 16

The bath, if you can call it that, was unique. Yeah, I was naked again, but at that point I had only seen the minotaur wearing clothes, a pair of hand stitched leather pants and a necklace. Most of the, no wait, every other creature had been nude and I just gave up on shame.

At the time.

Standing in the tub Una cast a spell and I felt a tingle starting at the top of my head and it worked its way down my body, stopping over my personal area for a second longer than I’d have liked, before it lowered to my feet to clean my whole body.

“What is it with everyone checking out my junk?” I asked Una, who was, again, trying to be avertant with her eyes, but using her peripheral vision in an obvious way.

“W-well,” she started, “we, those who walk on four legs, we keep ours away. Uh, the males that is. And to see them, well, implies attraction or readiness for,” she was blushing. Her head was a shade of light pink and it traveled down to her back.

“Sex?” She looked to my face suddenly, hiccupped, and nodded once, looking away again, taking a step back, hesitantly like she about to teleport, even though it wasn’t invented yet.

“What’s it like? You’re, like, a nurse at least. Is it good? Does it feel great or is it just something that has to be done for population?”

I put my hands on my hips, standing tall in a couple ways, just to mess with her.

She shuddered slightly. “Y-yes. I-it is enjoyable, I hear. I-I’ve taken a vow of celibacy, until I find my mate, that is.”

“Well, good for you. I couldn’t wait that long. It’d be so hard to hold out. I might get a throbbing ache in my loins that I’d have to massage out,” I said arching my back slightly and placing my hands above my hips, “with your help as my healer, and all.”

Her coat was now a shade of pink with her head red as… something that’s really red. She looked to me and saw my… erhm, yeah that, aimed at her. I had to laugh at the sound she made and the look of surprise on her face as she scrambled back into the door. She was looking all around the room trying to not look at this bipedal creature breaking several unspoken societal norms aimed at her.

In more ways than one, wink wink. Heh, yeah, I was just teasing her though. I wasn’t expecting her to be all into it. She stammered, a lot, trying to find the words to excuse herself before she turned quickly and opened, more like flung, the door open with her magic, and bolted around the corner to the right then down the hall.

I heard a heavy thud and a word in a language I didn’t understand, which turned out to be Umni, the unicorn language. It’s a dead language now, but the word was quite uncouth, for such a lady.

I restrained my laughs as best I could before stepping out of the tub. A light puff of dust was left as I looked to my left foot as it lifted out. I was messy, really gross. I felt so clean, and thankfully I had started to recede, so to say, so I pulled the sheet up and over me in that toga way I mentioned earlier.

I left the room and looked to the way Una ran and smirked before I turned the other way, only to bump into Lom. Her muzzle, right in my private area. I grabbed myself with my one good hand, and winced with massive pain as my broken arm stretched in a way that hurt, badly.

Falling to my knees I looked to Lom why was wiggling her nose, eyes crossed looking at it.

“Ohch, you poke my nose, why?”

“Wha-? I-? I poked your nos- You walked into me!”

“No,” she said focusing on my wilting form, “Lom stand here to wait. Mocha walked into Lom nose,” she said with a confused tone. “Lom wants to go out, likes outside more.”

I nodded and she giggled, turning and galloping away, down a right turn, and I heard a door open quickly and Retalia shout, giving chase to the happy little mare who had permission to be free of the tight confines of the home.

“That mare’ll be the death of… Doesn’t count! I didn’t finish that sentence,” I said sternly to no pony as I rocked up to my feet again. I adjusted my sheet and rubbed the break in my arm. It’s funny when you think about it, not that it happens often, but when a bone breaks, you rub it. Something about helping it heal, I heard from a doctor once.

I stumbled for a step while the pain began to ebb away from where I was struck by that snout. And it wasn’t funny, she was a filly. It’s not cool to joke in that manner. I made it to the bedroom I was in and the stench of the week I was there hit me. A mix of unpleasantness I won’t divulge, except to say that I turned right back out and went to the door and then outside.

The day was warm and beautiful, the sun was bright and clouds were drifting on the breeze higher than I could have ever hoped to be. I heard Lom giggling to my left, just out of sight behind some houses, probably with Retalia. A few ponies were traversing the street and giving me awkward looks.

I waved my right hand at them and smiled as warmly as I could, they hurriedly passed and went on their way. I could understand, strange creature shows up in town, buys the inn, then gets into a losing fight with a minotaur. I’d be worried too if that happened in any town I live in, even now.

So, I turned to find Lom. The road was rough and I yelped and growled a few times as I stepped on rocks. Tender soft feet are no match for hooves or boots on almost any ancient or modern road. And few creatures, it seems, has tough enough feet. I walked off the beaten path through town and walked on the grass by the side of the road.

I found Lom playing with a set of foals in a grassy yard between one story houses; they were chasing her and all the younglings were having so much fun.

“Yearlings! Get away from that savage, lest it buck ya in the muzzle.” The foals turned in a short arc and returned to their mother, hiding under her after her scolding. A grey mare that looked in her thirties, a black mane, and brown eyes. “And you, to let your own offspring play with my little ponies, ya carry the ignorance of your tribe everywhere you go,” she condemned Retalia.

“Nag, Retalia am no savage,” he shouted back, lowering his head and spreading his stance to charge. I had to step in before something bad happened.

“Hey! Quiet, the both of you. Is this how you want your children to act? Angry and ignorant of others?”

“And you, freak, who’re ya to rump into this? Ya thinkin’ cuz yer rich ya can do what’ya want?”

I placed my hand over my chest and fell to my knees, turning to face her, merely two lengths away, placed on my best act of my life. I leaned over and started to sob. I looked up to see concern on all their faces, a couple windows opened and noses peeked out from around corners to look at the scene. “Horses, ponies, why do we have to fight? Can’t we all just get along?”

“M-Mocha, is you okay?” I heard Lom ask next to me.

“Yeah, it’s just so sad to see such amazing creatures, that both bleed the same color blood, but to fight with foals too?”

I looked into Lom’s face and saw, for the first time, sadness.

“Goblin tears. Foals, do not listen. A couple a dirty forest horse, livin’ in the wilds and-”

“Hey, we gotta problem here?” A voice said from above us, a second later Rea fell to the earth, landing heavily in the grass, her talons digging into the earth to prevent her from bouncing into the air from the speed at which she landed.

“Yeah, she’s being mean,” I said with a humph and crossing my arms, looking down at her smallish self with a scowl.

“Wha- why ya foalish freak, what’r ya talkin’?”

“You. Are. Mean,” I said as I stuck out my tongue.

“Okay you two, break it up. Being mean isn’t a crime, but Beth, you can’t stop every creature from playing with your kin.”

“See! That’s what I-” A look that actually gave me the chills was shot to me from the gryphon. “Shutting up.” For a gryphon she was about my height but her length and mass made her deadly, as all gryphons tend to be, but without my body working and my armor, who knew where, I was in no shape to risk even an argument.

“As I was saying,” Rea continued to Beth, “your children need to grow up around others. If yer so intent on having them be alone, then y’all can just as soon move to the mountains and take yer chances.”

“And as for you, innkeeper,” she looked at me again, softer this time, “keep your… child, out of trouble,” my mouth started to protest and to correct her but her eyes steeled again silencing me, “just because you’re new here doesn’t mean the rules don’t apply. Stop by the station and I’ll bring you and your... mate, over there,” she nodded to Retalia who across the yard, sitting facing us, inspecting the grass with a nibble.

I gasped and felt my face heat up. It was rare that I blushed and in the moment my stunned silence lasted, she had taken it as an agreement.

“Very well,” She opened her wings, crouched, and loosened her claws from the ground in a single motion then hopped with a few flaps going high into the air.

“B-but, he’s not my mate,” I practically squeeked out of my mouth. I looked to my right to see Lom sitting directly beside me at the gryphon disappearing from sight in the sky.

“What’s ‘mate’ mean?” Lom asked innocently.

“Well yearling,” Beth said walking over with her head low, “it means your fathers ‘r very happy to have a foal as big as you in their lives.” Lom frowned.

“Lom no yearling, nine times the flowers have blossomed, not two,” she harrumphed leaning back, sitting like me, and crossing her forelegs.

“So much like her father,” Beth mused, covering her mouth as a giggle arrived, cutting into my masculinity like a knife. Lom smiled wide and nodded. “Ya see, I ain’t exactly the most trustin’ of ponies, but ya seem like a nice unique family and all. I’m sorry fer how I acted and if’n ya wanna let our kids play fer a bit, we can talk and get ta be a might neighborly type ‘a friends.”

“S-sure,” I stammered as I blinked several times in rapid succession, refocusing my attention. “I-I’m Mocha.”

“Yea, yea. The rich frea-, I’m sorry, I mean creature who outright purchased the inn before he stayed in it. I’m Beth, nice ta meecha.”

I bent over and we shook hooves, I stood up quickly as a slight cramp formed in my lower back, and hay was my head swimming. I thought I’d fall over. Which I did, right onto my freaking broken arm.

I blanked out from pain for a second and was on my back, the cool grass poking the exposed shoulder and my lower legs, but in a good way. I was holding my splinted limb, with Beth, Lom, and Retalia standing over me, looks of concern on them. It was actually reassuring, but all I really wanted was Cadence. I had always had a slight fantasy that she’d be standing over me, as I lay bleeding and wounded in the field.

Time would slow down, she’d lean over me, tears dripping into the ends of her long hair that was undone and offering a block to the sunlight as it streamed through, making her look more angelic than she normally could.

Seeing horses and a smaller grey pony weren’t nearly as magical, none at all honestly. I tried to sit up and grunted in pain, Retalia wasted no time in helping me sit up. A few seconds later and I nodded, Lom trotted to my left side, I placed my hand on her back, pushed myself up, then smiled again.

“Well, how about some coffee.”

“Cof-ee? We have tea, mister Mocha.”

“Heh, it’s ‘mister’ now? Your attitude changed quickly, are you okay, Lommie?”

Lom shot me a glare that made me giggle.

“Me. Lom,” she stated flatly.

“Awe, no likie be called Lommie?”

Retalia snickered and poked Lom in the side, to which she hopped away from him, almost pronked, a full stride. Landing she looked at him. “Retalia, scared me! No again do that,” she scolded. He pointed to the two foals behind Beth and Lom didn’t waste five seconds to have that link that youth have.

They shared a look to each other, then to us adults, then immediately started playing again.

Lom being as large as Beth did cause me some concern and it showed. “Lom, don’t be too rough,” I advised looking as they took to the center of the yard and began hopping around the little colt, all giggling.

“Well Ah’ll be, looks like our kids’re just dandy. Yer a good set of parents, I ain’t even gonna ask how, but congrats,” she said smiling in that happy-slash-accepting way ponies do before turning and trotting to the back door of the house.

“Mocha, what she talking about?” Retalia asked. I couldn’t pass the opportunity up.

“We were married while I was out and they think Lom is our daughter,” I said casually, taking my first steps after Beth.

I had almost made it to the door thinking he didn’t get it before he freaked out.

“What?! I no marry, I no have mate now, I-I have never had mate, why us? S-stallions? Why, you and me, married?!” I snickered and looked back to see him standing with his head down, hyperventilating into the grass, his eyes widened in shock at the prospect.

“Oh, c’mon husband, let’s have tea with our new friend.” He inhaled sharply and looked at me quickly.

“Y-you not Retalia’s mate.”

“Oh honey, you’re so cute when you deny our love. C’mon, we’ll talk it over tea. Lom,” I quickly called, “daddies are getting tea, play nice.”

I turned to walk in the home, ducking slightly to get into the doorway comfortably. I glanced back to see Retalia sitting in the grass, looking at me, staring more like.

“Don’t stare too much, you know what that could lead to.”

He blushed and turned away, my teasing having taken its toll his forlegs became wobbly and he looked to Lom, who was still playing with the other foals, chasing now. I whistled twice in quick succession to get his attention while I heard the pony mother, Beth, making some noise behind me.

I motioned with my left hand in a ‘come here’ gesture, to Retalia, before turning and taking in my surroundings.

My vision was still acclimating to the darker inside of the home but it was enough for me to make out a lot of knick knacks, poultry based hand carved knick knacks at that. The kitchen was simple.

Some kind of stove, maybe wood or coal, given the lack of unicorns and excess of forest within a day's march. An ice box, a small sink consisting of a large metal bowl of some type and a place for drying plates and whatnot. There was a table a length from me with no chairs, it was low so an obvious sitting table.

I could see through an open doorway another room with a lot of pillows. Heh, eeyup, it was a traditional living room, back then it was quite grand though. Pillows were around, but they were only used by those with status or those that had a need for them.

“Take a seat, please,” she gestured to the table, merely knee height for me, “fresh tea, almost ready.”

“You have tea ready all the time?”

“No, but cold water is always free, so I have some on my stove, ready just in case.”

I smiled at the logic and nodded as she went to a cupboard about five feet high, er, fifteen hooves high. Oh, I didn’t think you knew foot measurements since they’re used mainly by minotaur. Anyway, she reared up and opened a door, on wooden hinges none the less, and began taking out three wooden cups.

“Wow, those look nice,” I said. For an instant she tensed then relaxed with a sigh.

“Heh, fer a second I thunk ya were talkin’ bout my flanks,” she guffawed, “I don’t gotta worry about that with ya, now do I?” she said nudging the cabinet closed with her nose and landing on all fours.

“Well,” I started to say as Retalia walked to the door and sat outside like a puppy, frowning at me, “oh, you gonna come in and have tea with us?”

“Retalia wants no tea. Tell truth, now.”

“But-”

“Now, Mocha,” he said sternly.

“Heya, what’s goin on? I don’t wanna lovers fight in here.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said lowering my head and taking in a deep breath, “Beth, he and I aren’t mates, I don’t have any children, and the only person I love is a female of my own species, with hands, not hooves.”

I winced as I heard a hoof clop on the floor, waiting for something to hit me, or shouting to begin. I looked to her and she had furrowed her eyebrows, but wasn’t that mad.

“Well, Ah understand, but don’t like ya led me on. Mister Retalia, ya comin’ in fer tea?” He nodded and stomped his feet just outside the door, clearing them of some of the stuff that got clotted on ‘em. He trotted in, tall as I was sitting, walked right past me and whapped me, with his tail, across my face.

Yeah, it was kinda funny, I deserved it.

“Mister Retalia, yer the honest one, so ya get the first cup.”

She placed a wooden cup, hand carved again, with a wooden attachment on it that let hooves hold it. Or, a hoof, I should say. It was before magic was as useful as it is today, it took a lot more training and work back then to learn how to use the latent magic in one, much less focusing it to the hoof pads, to pick something up.

Those that didn’t want to, or feel they needed to, never learned how, so there were these custom grips that were made, by none other than our own Beth.

While we got acquainted with one another and cleared up a few misunderstandings, while I avoided my military past, in favor of taking a new title, traveling defender. I found out she was the craftspony of the town. Great one too. She offered me a good discount on my first works, whatever I needed to get me started.

I couldn’t help but cringe inside. I wasn’t getting out of this one horse … Aheh, sorry, two horse town.

I made peace with Retalia and told him I didn’t mind who was with who, as long as I was with Cadence.

“Well, our time’s up.” She looked at me incredulously, like I had planned to ditch her all of a sudden. “No,” I clarified, “our time in the room, it’s up. I have to get to the station, you’re coming, right?”

With a huff of relief she did that unicorn thing where they gather all their stuff in one motion while making it look like nothing, packing it all into a box. The one box she had when we started.

“Is that all you have?”

“Yeah, kinda all I have. Oh, and twelve bits,” she said sheepishly.

Holy shit, she really has lost everything to this obsession, I thought, though my smile was ever present.

“Well, I started out like that more than a few times. Let me pack quick and I’ll meet you outside.”

“No, that’s okay, I can wait.”

I smiled as I tried to will her out of the room to no avail. I turned and made sure my saddle bags were still evenly packed, the promotional fliers were sticking out so I could drop them as I went about my day. Check and check, a dozen times over. I picked them up and slid them over my withers, letting them slide back to my sides.

I tightened them, wiggled a bit, then tightened them a little more before nodding in approval. I reached to grab my hat that I’d taken off and hidden below my bags last night and slipped it on with a sly grin. Running my hoof along the rim I winked at her. “Let’s roll.”

Classic. She rolled her eyes as I did my suave look. Plus one more.

“Ladies first, and since I don’t see any, you better go first,” she said grinning at me.

“Ouch, I’ll take that as a compliment.” I said as I walked past her, “How long have you been thinking of that one?” I asked as she followed me out and closed the door.

The morning was almost past, Lunch was drawing near, and the train station was within eyesight.

“I’d been saving that one for my old roommate for months before she, um, before we decided me not liv-”

“Are you hungry? I’m getting hungry. Let’s check out that place,” I interjected before she could get all depressing.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure! I love that place. It might be a while before I come back this way so I should get a daffodil and safflower soup with a bean sandwich. I love the way they do their everything, but that’s my favorite.”

I’m still impressed how quickly and easily ponies of these generations are willing to change subjects. Back in my day, nah. Just kidding. I’m not that kinda old stallion.

We went to the outdoor cafe, ate a modest lunch, which I split the bill on to her surprise. She was now down to four bits. She’d have six but she had to have that smoothie. We left with full bellies and I had a heavy heart. It wasn’t easy for me to watch anypony, especially a mare like her, going broke.

“Well, I’ve got a quiet room on the train, number five, you can join me.”

“Well, I have enough for a ticket to Canterlot, that’s all the money I have left.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll owe me. I’ll start a tab,” I said adjusting my hat slightly to shield my eyes from the almost noon sun, “train leaves in seven minutes, we’ll make it then I’ll get on with my story.”

She forced a smile. “I don’t really want to burden you, I’ll do some evening work when we get to our next layover and-”

“I’ll not hear a word more on the matter,” I sound like a mother, sheesh.

“You sound like my mother,” she retorted, “fine, but I owe you and I will pay you back. I Pinkie prom-”

She stopped when I turned and stuffed a hoof in her mouth. “Don’t say that. You don’t know what history that promise has with it.”

She smacked my hoof from her mouth and spit her mouth clean onto the ground.

“Don’t do that! Do you have any idea how disgusting it is to put your unwashed hooves in somepony else’s mouth?” she said loudly between spits and sputters. I got more than a few looks of distain. “Pthleh, what the hay? You could have slapped me and it would’ve been nicer than that.”

“W-well, I didn’t really think about that, Wait, I’d never hit a mare, and I’ve read stories where it was a -”

“Stories?!” She shouted, now a crowd was growing around us as she looked to a mare who had a large tea in her magic. With an unspoken set of words the mare relinquished her beverage to my now anger filled co-traveler. She swished her mouth out and spit it to the ground making a small mud spot between us.

“Do you really think that some stupid book is going to tell you that stuffing your dirty hoof in my mouth is not only gross, but positively rude?!”

“Uh, I,” I started backing up, this was out of hoof faster than it should have been.

“And to top it all off you made me pay for my own meal after the night we shared together; in the same bed!”

Oh shit.

“N-no, wait, it’s not like that-”

“So, I meant nothing to you then?” she said growling with rage.

“Uh, no. I mean yes, but-”

She stomped her hoof on the ground and kicked the puddle of spit mud at me, across my front and my reaction knocked my hat off, whereafter a stallion reared and stomped it. A series of boos and throwing of foodstuffs they crowd had on hoof, I turned, pushed the stallion off my hat, grabbed it in my teeth and galloped to the train.

I had a couple followers who glared at me the whole time I was walking into the train and followed me on the platform, staring daggers at me as I went into the private cars to my room. I opened the door, shuffled inside, and took off my saddle bags.

“Well, that was the worst thing that’s happened to me in years,” I said as I took a seat by the window, drawing the shades so no pony would see me from the outside and call the mob to me.

I sighed and let my mind go blank before I felt a deep rage build in my chest, the likes of which I hadn’t felt in years. I was about to buck the opposite seat to nothing when there was a knock at the door, followed by it opening without me saying even a ‘hello’ or ‘come in’.

There she was, light green coat, box in her magic above her, and a grin that would be worth a thousand bits.

“Hey, I’ve got enough bits to take care of myself for a while now.”

Chapter 17

I steeled my gaze to her, normally a forced frown I liked to wear when in cities and I didn’t want to be bothered was what I used to travel. Well, now it was real. “You- You…”

“Genius?”

I couldn’t hold it in, I laughed heartily at her and beckoned her in, she entered and shut the door, placing her box by my bags she merrily levitated a bag from it and dropped it into her lap at the same time she sat into her seat.

“I haven’t had a partner in that scheme before, you were excellent.”

“Scheme? You’ve done that before?”

“Yeah, usually to some weird stallion that I don’t know. I toss ‘em ten bits and I keep the rest I collect,” she said levitating bits from the bag, “I got about forty here, so you can have-”

“Stow it, lady. What the feather were you thinking, doing that to me?”

“Feather? That’s a pegasi thing, second is that when a helpless widdle fiwwy is hurt by a mean owd stowwion, den awl the ponies gwive her all the money she needs to get home. Before she knows it, she’s home with rent, to be delivered to her roommate in the nick of time.”

I was thoroughly impressed. She was a genius in a way, the way she phrased that whole thing went from being like a filly learning to talk up to a mare that was highly educated and her confidence...

“Touche, you’re well versed it seems, in the female wiles.”

She nodded once and let the bits fall back into the bag. “So, I owe you a new hat. Also,” she grinned laying on the bench seat and levitating several pages in front of her, “you were saying something about,” she paused to read that unicorn language they use.

Wingdings. Literally the font wingdings with a couple changes and omissions to make it pony friendly, is the official written language of the unicorns. Mother. Fucking. Wingdings. They took the original unicorn thirty letter alphabet and turned it into fucking wingdings. I couldn’t believe how far that prank would go. I sighed and rolled my eyes, I couldn’t wait to get to that part.

“...something about a tea party.”

“Yeah, well, let’s just continue from there, you clever girl.”

We found out Beth was a foal sitter during the afternoons and she’d whittle and carve stuff in her free time, while her evenings were full of actual hard work with tools creating all kinds of things, from door hinges to decorative items. I guess I wasn’t in that bad of a place to have met her, she was a hub of networking options and she might have been able to help with keeping my armor alive for a while longer.

Retalia was a bit smitten with her, I could see him, after they’d gotten on the topic of his line of work, that he kept staring at her whenever she’d turn her attention to me. I finally excused myself when the foals she was watching came scream-giggling into the house.

“Lom made a plotters!” they shouted, hopping in place, giggling loudly.

I looked to Retalia who looked to Beth who blushed. Took me about two seconds to figure out what that meant.

“Oh shit. Retalia, we have to get Lom.”

“Why? Lom in trouble?” he asked as I got up quickly, banging my knee on the table, much to the delight of the foals. “No, but she made a mess. Like at Collective,” I said looking intently to him.

He got it a second after that and did his best to politely excuse himself while not trotting over the foals as he stared at her until he left. I had to give him a shove to the side to get him out of my way while I got out the doorway, nailing my head on the way out. At that point in the day I didn’t even stop.

I was ready to yell at the little mare but then I saw her, sitting, head low and sobbing softly.

“Lom?” I said as I exited the home and began to talk to her. She was about six lengths away, so she had time to react. She looked up to me, tears had matted the fur across her muzzle from her eyes to her nose. It broke my heart. She knew she did something wrong and tried to hide it the only way she could, by sitting in it.

And she sat there and cried, looking to the ground in shame, waiting for somepony to yell at her. I quickened my pace and knelt in front of her and embraced her into a hug. She shuttered a lot before I felt her foreleg wrap around my not broken arm, thankfully, and she pulled me into her.

I let her cry onto my shoulder for a moment until she calmed down. “Lom, Lom it’s okay. It happens.”

“B-but, Lom bad now.”

I pulled back just enough and she leaned back and I looked into her eyes. “You’re not bad. You’re the most, best Lom I know.”

She huffed some snot from her nose onto my chest and she started to smile. “Real?”

“I would never lie to you. You are the best Lom I know.” She sniffled and let me go, I took a step back and she wiped her nose on her postern.

“L-Lom messy now,” she said, her voice trembling, “Lom, not want to move. Make mess,” she whimpered again.

“Well, that’s not a problem then,” I said as I untied my tota and returned it to its sheet form then in a swift motion I covered Lom in it.

“M-Mocha,” she gasped, “what you doing?”

“I’m making sure my favorite horse is okay to walk home, to get a bath.”

“B-but what about-”

I knelt down and started to lift her, which I knew she hated. A flurry of movement and she was on her hooves and looking, almost proudly at the… Toga, That’s what they’re called. Not tota, toga. The method of wrapping the sheet around myself. She looked to it and smiled to me as Beth cleared her throat.

“Darlin’, Ah’ll take care of the mess, ain’t the first time, won’t be the last a pile ends up on a foal care lawn. See ya later you two. See ya later, Retalia.”

He stumbled as she singled him out but he kept his eyes straight in a trained manner and walked, taking the lead, back to Una’s house. With a quick wave I followed the two.

This time it was Lom who got the awkward looks. The local ponies looked at me briefly but focused on Lom. I couldn’t figure out why, but the reason was a good one. Still one that persists until this day.

Ponies in many places don’t wear clothes. Not even during winters, but back then wearing clothes was a sign of a pony that was going to trade sex for money. That’s why I got looks the way I did.

That’s why she was getting them too. When we got back to Beth’s she quickly cleaned Lom up and informed me that I shouldn’t have gone out fully dressed unless it was very cold, or I was very sick.

She also explained, through a nice shade of pink on her cheeks, that the reason full clothes were worn for those types was because males could have a full erection ready and the mares could take whoever the stallion was without leaving marks on her body, and the, uh, fluids he’d leave wouldn’t leave a scent as obvious between sessions.

Yes, I am being very cryptic. I’m not comfortable talking about trading sex. So then I decided that I’d wear less. Sure, it was a nice day and there weren’t many bugs out, but I didn’t want to have a mosquito suddenly bite me on my male bits. That was before I knew this world was free of those awful parasites.

I was able to fashion a pair of shorts from some extra linen that was more or less rags that were going to be thrown away from scraps around town. Una put out a request and brought them over. My military uniform was still usable and the blood was cleaned off it, however I wasn’t going to cut a perfectly good uniform.

So, a couple days later I was okay enough to go back to my new purchase; the inn.

I went was led there by a new friend and neighbor named Otter. He was a farmer, like over ninety percent of the town, and he showed me home. That was quite a surprise. I thought I got the inn, I also got the house across the street. I had no idea these gems I traded blank bullets for was enough to get me what I got.

I had two more of larger sizes. What could I buy? How rich was I? My mind was reeling at the opportunities while I toured the house. Lom stayed outside while Retalia was spending time with Beth. They were an unofficial pair, by any standard of the word. She was teaching him some about crafting with tools, he was teaching her and a few other youth guard techniques.

They were a good match and no pony thought otherwise. Lom wasn’t much of an indoor horse, so I made her a tent out back while I took classes at the schoolhouse in basic literacy. I learned the hard way what to charge for creatures that wanted to stay at the inn, and how to check them out after their rooms were checked.

I also started taking a deposit of some type to compensate for any damages a raging horny sex festival of three minotaurs had that shut half my hotel down for a good week while I rebuilt it and sterilized the room they were in. I was, to say the least, not very fond of minotaurs.

Well, it’s funny how life throws you a crystal when you were expecting a gem.

On the road from home

Three months passed and I won’t go into detail over everything at that time, but I healed nicely. My armor was unfixable by the locals but they did like to see me move around in it and its strength was unparalleled, I could help them haul ten times the produce from their farms with that bad boy running and got a lotta respect.

I was able to get a couple helpers that knew more about pony math and cleaning than I did, gave them jobs at the inn, with Beth and Una as acting co-owners. I’d write them where I was going, they’d send me tradeable gems and goods ahead for when I got there.

It was a great plan that got me out of there.

So, I packed up one evening and got ready to leave with a goodbye party and everything. Almost half the town showed up, it was a huge get together and party. One thing I will tell you about was my little pink pony. I changed her name to Strong Heart, or Heart for short. She said it was silly, but I told her it was because she had the strongest heart of any creature I’d ever known.

She was the housekeeper of the inn after I bought her. Damn I hate saying that outloud. She was really loveable once she realized I wasn’t really her owner and treated her like an equal, if not a daughter. The first week she slept in the house with me in her own room since the horses prefered outside to sleep and I didn’t think she could handle being stuck outside by a new ‘owner’.

She would scream in her room every night. At first I thought she was being attacked. Turned out she was. What her mother had done to her had taken its toll and she was scared, not just along her forelegs in defensive wounds, but in her mind. Una would cast a silence spell on Heart when she would go to sleep, so she couldn’t wake her with her night terrors.

I found myself sleeping in the same bed as her one night after one of her attacks, she cuddled up to me and was sleeping so sweetly when I woke up I just couldn’t move for fear of waking her. I’d never seen her so peaceful and content. So, that’s how we slept for the next month until I weaned her into her own bed.

I had Beth craft me a human doll that was made from wood but wore a green dress. When I gave it to her she was afraid of it, afraid of what I’d take in exchange. The thought of what horrors she’d had gone through crossed my mind for a split second before I came up with a perfect solution.

“If I give you this, I want something only you can give me,” she shuddered but nodded, “A smile, every day, no matter what.”

The look in her eyes as she looked to me was astonishment. ‘Something so simple? That’s all?’ She said with her expression of doubt and awe that were criss crossing her body.

Tentatively she reached a hoof out to the doll I held in my outstretched arm and hand, she laid her hoof flat and I placed the doll on it. “Smile, Heart, please?”

She looked to the doll, then me. I saw her mouth twitch, her eyes closed for a moment, then she looked into my eyes and I saw something change in her. She let a smile cross her muzzle, finally, and I sighed a sigh of relief. She’d finally smiled after all the time I’d known her.

I didn’t really like Una, overall. She had a skewed view of life and equality that didn’t sit well with me. It hurt me so much to leave her, essentially, alone back in that town but I had to. The morning I left was the hardest I had ever felt. I had to leave my home, but it was my home. I had friends there that I could count on.

Dishonesty and thievery weren’t big in that town, and with a gryphon soldier as the town’s hired defender, plus the extra gems I’d given him to hire a couple extra trustworthy creatures to guard the town. One of those acanacite gems was enough to make Rea crap on the spot.

She stared at the gem from the second it caught her eyes until we finished our deal. The reason they were worth so much, and it’s funny now, but at the time, they were how rainbows were made. Pegasi would be paid with the gems and use their energy to fuel their weather magic.

Now, their magic permeates everything across this land so they’re almost worthless outside of bits, and that’s why bits are a global currency. Gold, palladium, acanacite. Those three items are the tradeable items across the world, then and now.

Wow, that was way off the topics. Me leaving. Back to it. So, I ‘hired’ two mules from the local farms to haul my cart. In it I hid my armor, as well. I wasn’t going to trudge across the land in that thing, and I wasn’t going to leave it out for any creature to see and beat me up over. Learned my lesson with that one.

I began my journey out of town on a rough traveled road with Lom at my side. The hills were alive with the sounds of nature. It took two hours of travel on foot, in my boots and combat pants, no shirt because it was hot, before I started to feel excited. I was on the road. Off to explore a new town.

A new city. A new land that was open and ready. To find my friends. Cadence. To hold her to my chest after we finally made passionate love to each other.

The cart was rolling along and the mules, simple as they were, were conversing over what grass tasted better during our route. One was making the case green shrubs by the right side were sweeter, while the left one was standing in her belief that short grass was healthier for a growing foal.

They were each, apparently, holding their own versions on the same topic. The air was warm against my darker than usual flesh and my hair was coming in nicely. I chose to let it grow out and see how it looked. I was also growing a goatee. When I said what my facial hair was called some ponies wanted to call me ‘the goat’.

A vicious smile from me and a mention of how I fight a hunger for meat stopped that within an hour.

There was only one problem, well, one more problem with the route we were taking. The cart was wooden wheels and axle on a wooden bed with stone supports. Loaded to its max weight and barely full it was a slow haul which meant that a trip that should have taken a week on hoof was going to take almost three, weather permitting.

That and every so often the squeaking would get louder. I know uphill was rough on the ancient equipment, but it was worrying me and Lom. Three months had taught her some about the mechanics of how the carts, doors, and see-saws worked, and she knew about breaking things too easily.

If the cart broke too soon, we’d have to go back and wait a week for another to be built, or I could have bought one off somepony else for five times the cost of a new one, since I was right and all. We were climbing a hill and crested it when, as it happens, we began a descent. This time the path was a lot bumpier and that squeak occurred more often until I finally had to call it. Before we got half way I stopped us, the mules weren’t too happy since they saw dense brush growing near the base of the hill and it looked ‘mighty tasty’.

Lom and I walked around the wagon and checked it out, made sure the wheels were tight and there wasn’t any signs of burning wood by sight and smell. “Huh,” Lom said, “It look fine. Mocha, maybe we think too much?”

“No, I swear it’s gonna break soon. Mules, ahead slow.” With a grunt they started to slowly walk ahead. Lom and I listened intently and didn’t hear anything from the wheels. Then we hit a bump and her ears perked while I felt my hearing focus at the underside like I was on a hunt.

“Nothing.”

“Yup, Mocha is right. No things here.”

I kept pace with the wagon while Lom sided with me and bumped into me. It’d become a habit that whenever I’d be next to her I’d pet and scratch her along her mane and along her ears. She loved it dearly and it gave her a pleasure that is hard to describe. Like, imagine an itch on your back.

You find a way to scratch it, but it moves. You swear you feel it move too. Then you track it and scratch it. It feels so good, but then it pops up a hoof space away. And it continues until you’re almost crazily scratching your back on anything that can offer relief.

I was her relief. Her itches were along her mane. I honestly didn’t know a horse could purr until I started scratching her one day about two months before.

Then I heard a quiet squeak.

“Shit.”

“Mocha! Go in bushes, hurry!” Lom hopped ahead and pointed to the small patch of shrubbery ahead of us.

“NO!” both the mules shouted in unison.

“Not that kind, and don’t talk like I do with that, okay?” I asked slash scolded her. She looked to me with a frown.

“I help. You say and-”

“Look!” I pointed to the bed of the wagon.

Lom stopped and did a short gallop to get behind it and looked in. “Lom, erm, I see nothing. What is I looking for?”

“Mules, stop,” I said loud enough for them to hear without letting frustration seep into my words.

I went around the back of the wagon and lifted the tarp at a corner and exposed a stream of flowing pink hair hiding under the tent equipment.

Author's Note

Thanks to deltablaze22 for bring a great prereader

Chapter 19

“Heart, what’re you doing here?” I asked rubbing my forehead.

“W-w-w, please don’t be mad, sire,” she whimpered.

“Heart, don’t call me ‘sire’, I’m not that important. Just,” I groaned as the cart lurched forward as the mules took the last couple paces to a small bush growing in the path. Heart’s eyes filled with fear and she scrambled out of her hiding place and she leapt at me. I caught her and stumbled back, but didn’t fall this time, I held her close as she trembled in my fore… in my arms.

I frowned at the thought of having to take care of two mares of the same age but, I made a huge mistake and looked down to Heart. She was terrified for some reason, and she’d ridden all this way with that terror just to be with me, or us. She moved her ears around the area then she looked to me.

The fear washed away in an instant and she cuddled into my chest with a whimper.

“Ah, damnit,” I said under my breath, “c’mon, Lom. Mules, eat up and move on.”

The mules grunted and the cart lurched forward and quickly traveled to the base of the hill where the bushes were. Covered with berries and vibrant leaves even Lom took to them quickly. Even Heart looked over and showed an interest.

“Hungry, Heart? Go get some,” I encouraged. She trembled and hugged my arms tightly for a few seconds. I jogged over and knelt down, leaning her into reach of the bushes. She leaned out and bit a leaf, chewed it slowly, then went crazy getting out of my arms and her face into the bush.

They were certainly enjoying themselves. They cleared the path in ten minutes, the mules chewing through the branches and vines like they were licorice and my friends not even waiting to savor the flavor, just gorging themselves. I watched in awe until the end of it as they argued over the last few bites.

I intervened when Lom and a mule almost came to biting over the bites of berries on a bush. I let the mule have the berries and Lom was upset, quite upset. She gave me that look every female knows that screams ‘hate’. But, they needed the energy to haul more than her little frame did. She was healthy enough.

We got back on the trail with a good pace, I had my canteen full of water and an opal gem that was enchanted which tripled the fill for four uses. Which would have been perfect if I could use magic at the time. But I didn’t know it needed magic to refill the thing, so I contently drained my first canteen.

The next hour Lom was mad at me, refusing to speak to me. I was mad at the salesmare for selling me something I couldn’t use. And Heart was just being cute holding a fast trot to keep up with me, stay beside me like a loyal puppy. She stayed opposite the cart, it seemed the squeak sounded different to pony ears.

“More like a groan mixed with a scream. A sound she remembered too well; she’d made the same noise when she was being punished in that damned cellar by her…” I grit my teeth and the grinding sound was audible. She looked at me with a thinge of regret in her eyes.

“I really hate that mare, and if I ever met her I’d have smacked her to next tuesday without a second thought for what she did to my daughter,” I seethed.

“Your, daughter?”

I felt my heart ache at my admission. “She was as close to a daughter as I could have ever had. She,” I stopped to choke back a sob at the memory of her first smile, “she was and will always be my Heart,” I strained out. I felt a tear stream down my muzzle and I didn’t wipe it away.

“I swore I would never would I wipe a tear away that was for her. I’d let them dry into my coat, into my skin. She’d never leave my memory. Not even after I die. She’s the first one I want to see if the afterlife exists.”

The mare looked to me with tears forming herself. “That’s the saddest thing ever. H-how did she…”

I took a shaky breath in and shook my head. “Not yet. I can’t tell it twice in the same year, if not longer. It hurts too much to live again and again. Just, let’s go on.”

Chapter 20

We reached our first camping spot on time with a bit of speed on every down slope and a lot of overgrown vegetation on the path there were few complaints. The site a dozen lengths away and was an area that was packed down and had a small fire pit set up with several split logs for sitting or lying on for barrel support.

I set up with Lom’s help while Heart picked up the sticks from around the area and put them into the fire pit. The mules unhitched and walked around grazing on the other side of the road. An hour into sunset and camp was set up; the tarp on a few stakes, just in case it rained, and our blankets.

Heart was quite clever in how she managed to roll her doll into my blanket then looked at me with those huge, hopeful eyes. Yeah, she was gonna sleep with me for the whole trip. That sly little pink pony was always a step ahead.

We ate vegetable kabobs and drank juice from a keg on the cart. One cup each, per night, should have gotten me and Lom about halfway through our journey, however I gave up mine for Heart. She needed it more, being a growing mare and all. And that was the week. Nothing of note happened.

The second week, however. It thunder stormed for four solid days. It was like we weren’t meant to go on at times with how muddy and deep it was at places. I had to get into my armor on the third day and pull the cart with the little mares on it. The mules unhitched and walked beside me and we all suffered.

No tent. No blankets. No deep sleep. The girls huddled with me on the cart while the mules rested under it. The tarp turned to drape us and over the side to provide what little help I could to the mules. Only Heart and I weren’t built for the weather, her having short fur and me being, well, human.

We’d shiver all night and be groggy all day. Bugs swarmed us as we began to near a treeline on the fifth day; sweaty, exhausted, hungry, and in need of a bath. We were all just miserable by the time we got to the halfway mark. A large, weather battered tent stood as the mark.

“We’re behind schedule. Let’s just rest and gather ourselves,” I suggested, “there’s a stream nearby so let’s get there and freshen up. Mules first.” They looked to me like I was crazy. “You’ve done more work than any of us, pulling this cart. C’mon, I’ll help scrub you.”

I turned to the cart, opened a small chest and grabbed a bottle of shampoo, then left it open as I turned to where the stream was. I stopped about ten lengths away to look at them, who were unhooking still. Hesitantly they followed me. I waited for them to catch up and we descended a short hill to the stream.

It was larger than I thought it would be, probably thanks to the rains that moved on. I took off my boots and pants and entered the tepid water that came up to our kneeswhich was knee deep to them and I. They were heartier and fell into it, rolling around a few times, before they called it good.

“Hey, get your flanks back here,” I scolded. I could see them tremble at my words, “I have to clean you still.” That got their ears to turn my way before they looked back to me with bewildered looks.

“Ya wanna clean, us?”

“Yeah, haven’t ya been cleaned before?”

They looked to each other then back to me. “Only before we’re sold.”

I sighed and looked to the sky in just one of those ‘oh my Celestia’ moments.

“I’m not selling you, I don’t want you to get sick, infested, or keep stinking up the trail,” I mused. They didn’t get the last part and frowned at me.

“‘Tis our way. No one cares fer mules, only we care fer each other.”

“Well not with me,” I frowned and pointed to the water next to me. The male came over first and I had to yell at him to do so. Obedient but timid, they were bred for service only. Ponies being slave owners. Check that off the dark past that should stay hidden from Equestrian history.

I poured a line of shampoo across his back from mane to tail and began to scratch the soap through his coat and to his skin. When I got to his sides he had the largest smile, his tongue lolled out of his mouth and he was making a clicking noise every so often.

When I got to his underbelly I was greeted by an unpleasant surprise that you can imagine was quite funny to the female as I shouted and stumbled back, falling into the water as he looked at me with ‘that’ look. I was done with him at that point and told him to roll the soap off and trade places.

When it was her turn I got the same response except her tail almost went straight up by the time I got to her belly. That stallion was still looking at me. Later I found out what the word colt cuddler meant as he went ahead and she filled me in with the details of his personal life, which was less than two sentences of information.

Same for her. They worked a lot and had never been so clean. I sent her ahead and told her to send the fillies back.

Their baths were much simpler and easier to work with, having been cleaned by me dozens of times already. They even helped me get my back when it was my turn.

I didn’t mind being naked around them, no. I was really okay with my family seeing me, however the others, not so much.

Chapter 21

We were out of food I could eat, but our water was full. I filled our keg with water from the stream upriver from where we bathed, and made sure to dry out all our stuff the following day. I was limited on what I could eat. Did I eat the paste my armor had? Do I chance local flora and fauna from the ground? Nope, I was lucky and caught a fish in the stream that I roasted and ate while the others grazed further away.

The scent of cooked meat turned their stomachs, somewhat. Heart was willing to lay under the cart while I ate, but she wasn’t coming close to me while the smell was there.

We rested the day away and the next morning took to the path again. I set Heart in the cart and the rest of us took a good trot pace for a few hours and when I needed a rest I’d climb into the cart. Another hundred and sixty pounds wasn’t that much, what with the loss of our food, it was an increase of only a couple dozen pounds of when we’d left.

The next three days we made up a lot of lost time and entered a tree line of a light forest. The path had vegetation growing along it and over it, to the equine delight, and that meant birds and things for me to eat, if I could catch any. I decided to try my luck at a trick I learned in survival camp back on earth.

My arm cannon, if you can call it that, was removable from my armor, all I had to do was load my rounds ahead of time. I chose mostly blanks and a couple live rounds. Strapping it to my forearm I went to a large tree where I saw a couple critters and birds hiding. I raised my weapon up and squeezed the hand trigger.

A loud boom resounded through the area as the blank was expended. My ears rang slightly but I’d angled my arm so the sound wave passed over me, not through me. Six birds fell to the earth. Heart attacks. Easy way to eat meat in the wild.

Also, the mules panicked and bolted from the area, Heart was terrified and screamed all the way to me as full gallop and Lom took a steady trot to see what I made the noise for.

Easy peasy fix. “Heart I have a thunder spell I can cast but I’ll explain it later. I used it to scare away a monster that killed all the birds here, but I have to eat them because I can’t eat grass, you understand, right, sweetie?”

She nodded and held me tight, looking to my forearm that had a weapon strapped to it. I passed Heart to Lom and picked up the birds, when Lom had gotten a fair distance away I’d taken the birds and made sure they were dead before I collected them and returned to our day camp, started a fire, roasted them all up and ate two of the five birds that were for sure dead, saving the remainders for traveling snack.

Yeah, meat can be good for a few hours after it’s been cooked. So, I snacked until they were gone. I heard the others retch while I was cooking them, but I told them I had to or I’d starve. They understood, but didn’t want to be near me when I did anything with meat.

So, that held me over for the next two days. I rested in the cart the last four days of our journey and ate berries when I could. We came by a few streams which we used to refill our water supply, wash up, and take a cool rest when the sun beat on us too hard.

“Two more days and we should be there. Two more days until I can eat a full meal again. Two more days until- Lom, is that another traveler?” I asked hopeful. There was a wagon being pulled in toward us by something. I got really excited and started digging through my stuff until I found my gem pouch.

A few gold coins were in there that I dug out in anticipation to buy even an apple to satiate my hunger. The void inside me roared at the opportunity for a salad. Which meant a lot since I wasn’t big on those things. ‘Rabbit food’ we called it, back on earth.

As the wagon approached I saw it was being pulled by a blue unicorn and she wasn’t looking too friendly. I waved at her and stood in the path to ask her if she’d sell me some food. Instead she blasted me with a spell that burnt my chest and sent me flying two lengths into the grass and onto my back.

She entered into a full gallop as Lom and Heart came to my aid. The mules did their job and stopped hauling the cart and began to graze again.

At first I thought she thumped me with a telekinetic punch, but then I tried to sit up and it hurt. A lot. I saw my girls over me and asking what to do to help. I looked to my chest and saw a first degree spherical blister forming and I did what people did when they got attacked.

I got pissed.

Chapter 22

I violently pushed Lom away and stomped past Heart to the wagon, climbed over my armor, grabbed my rifle and stood tall with a .50 cal round primed to shoot through her wagon and maybe through her; but I stopped. I sneered and changed to a small air burst round.

I took aim at the rear tire on her thing and fired. Direct hit. The wagon lost its wheel and I was tempted to wait for that mare to come around and put her down. I turned my rifle to safe, secured it next to my armor again then I hopped to the ground and looked at the broken wagon, a mere three minutes trot away. Lom had timidly returned to my side.

“Mules, let’s go,” I shouted as I saw the blue mare cautiously peek around the front of her wagon. Eyes as wide as they’d go. “Next time, don’t attack someone that asks for help,” I shouted as I turned to walk behind the cart. “Girls, c’mon. Let’s get.”

Heart was under Lom and trembling a lot.

“B-but, Mocha hurt her.”

“No, Lom, I broke her cart. She has a spare wheel and a bad attitude. Let her fix it herself.”

“Yeah, let her fix it ‘erself. She’s a butt,” Heart said proudly as she charged up to me. I smiled and looked to her and stopped in my tracks. She said it in such a happy voice but the look on her face screamed ‘hate’. “Mules stop!” I shouted.

“Heart, what do you think of that mare that attacked me and ran away?”

She looked to me and her expression softened. “I hate her, she hurt my dad- I mean, um, you.”

My heart wrenched, if it could have it’d have torn itself from my mouth and I’d have died right there. “D-dad? Heart…” I looked to her and she blushed, turning her to a hot pink shade across her cheeks.

“Lom, Heart, c’mon. I’m gonna help her fix it.”

“What?! B-but she’s mean and hurtcha! She’s just a nag, let her take her lickin’s and die ou-”

“Heart!” I shouted so loud it echoed. She shrank and, that fear in her eyes… “Do not ever think or talk like that,” I said as I turned to face her, “She might be the biggest nag on this planet, but she doesn’t deserve death.”

I looked to Lom and she had shied away as I yelled. I kept my angry look at her as well. “No one deserves to die because they’re rude,” I grumbled.

“But, she, hurt Mocha-”

“Do I look hurt?!” I shouted to Lom. This time she cowered before me too. “She could starve to death out here if she can’t change the wheel. She could lose trust for all of us over something so simple, each of our races could go to war. That could lead to death, torture, murder-”

I stopped when I felt something on my shoulder and I roared behind me with a swing, ready to fight a minotaur if I had to. It was an apple held toward me from that blue mare. She was far enough away to be safe from anything I could do and she was ready to gallop away if I threatened her. She held it to me, a little further away this time. I glared at it, then her, then I snatched it out of the air and took a bite that was too big.

I chewed like a ravenous animal that was scavenging the last food in a kill. Totally primal, totally embarrassing. I ate the whole thing, even the stem, only to see another in front of me.

Thirty second later it was gone and a two carrots and a yellow onion were in front of me. I felt the rage dissipating like a poorly cast spells magic from a horn. I saw the vegetables and grabbed them from the air, munching them until I got halfway through the onion.

That was when I realized I was on my knees and my eyes were burning. I dropped the onion, spit my mouth clean, and took an open handed swipe in front of me as I fell back and shouted a couple bad words. I couldn’t help but giggle as the food started to give me a euphoric sensation.

I started to laugh as I took a seat on my butt and held my eyes. My laughing turned to tears pretty quickly and I felt Lom brush against me. She hugged me and I spun so quick any other creature would have thought it was a killing strike. I hugged her so tight I could feel the bones in her neck move and the pulse in her neck.

I let months worth of stress out in her coat as I blubbered like a foal. I lost control. I lost control and that was what led out world to the brink of death. Gave into my instincts and yelled at my family.

My family, I thought, these mares are my family, and I hurt them. Heart- I looked to her and opened my arm, inviting her to me. She paced herself and walked to us. I didn’t waste time and lunged a bit to pull her into a hug, just us two.

I cried onto her as I apologized for yelling. She patted my head like I had to her a hundred times while she cried. She just kept telling me ‘it’ll be okay. You’re a strong dad, it’ll be okay.”

That didn’t help me at all, she had this thing about wrenching my feels out. I stopped crying and looked to her; my snotty nose and red eyes looked at her intently and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Heart, I’m not your-” I was at a loss. She was, and I… I hugged her softly again. “What happened?”

A chuckle came from that blue mare. “Thy hath hunger madness. I have seen it before, yet not in another with such a manner. A wizard such as thy should have the power to conjure what thy need, not scare and attack a traveling mare,” she said proudly.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know what I was doing. I lost control… Thanks for the food miss-?”

She looked at me with wide eyes and a slight look of shock. “Surely thy jest! Doth thee not knoweth about me? I am the most wondrous and powerful Beatrice? Shalt I showeth thee of mine skills?” She took a pose that spoke of pride and skill.

“No, but thanks for the offer,” I said hugging Heart tightly and trying to tune this egotistical mare out of our moment.

“What?! Thou art joking? How can thee sayeth no to mine art?” She hopped to a defensive pose in shock.

“Nah, let’s get that fixed and get you on your way,” I said lowering Heart to the ground.

“A brief display of mine skills?”

“No,” I said standing again.

“A sample of my wares?” she looked to me with a pang of hurt in her eyes.

“I already owe you for the food,” I said patting Lom on the head. She smiled back at me and I started jogging to the mares wagon. Lom and Heart were close in tow.

“A free demonstration?” she shouted while trotting along side me.

“You’re persistent, but no,” I said reaching the wagon and looking it over. The spare wheel was slid into a spot on the underside and I got it out while Beatrice pestered me to no end to let her give me a sample of her skills.

By the time I was done - which was quite quick; pull a pin, lift, new wheel, replace pin - she was growling and shouting about how ‘none has't ever hath said no to mine display’.

“Well, all fixed, let me get your gold and we’ll be on our way.”

She followed me to our cart and took the gold I offered. “Within this wall of flesh, there is a soul that counts thee its creditor for thy patronage,” she grumbled as she turned away.

“Shakespeare! That’s who all you unicorns talk like,” I slapped my forehead in knowing, “that’s why you’re all so fancy. You talk like Hamlet,” I said incredulous to myself as I got it.

Who is Shakespeare? Well, on earth he was a playwrite. One so influential that the effects of his writing changed half the planet’s way of speaking, writing, and romance for the entirety of its future.

Beatrice looked at me like I was crazy, again, then backed away until she was near her wagon, turned, and galloped to the front. “Mules,” I said smirking, “let’s go. We’ve got time to make up. Lom,” I said softly, “I’m so sorry for yelling. Um, hold on.”

I knelt down to pick up Heart and placed her on Lom’s back and as I jogged I looked to them. I loved a good jog and run after a meal. By the way, what I didn’t eat my girls did while I was fixing the mares wagon.

“Girls, I’m so sorry. If I ever do that again don’t take it personally, I don’t mean it, I’m just emotional and sometimes I act mean but I mean to be happy.”

“Yes. Lom know many dams that are like you.”

“Damns? Da’... Oh. Oh.” She compared me to a pregnant mare, I couldn’t believe it. My emotions were getting away from me and I needed an outlet.

Sex and fighting used to be how I got my emotions in line. Not an option here. Or so I thought.

Dra’em

Dra’em: A city that was a bit farther than Rew, where the innkeeper went, but I thought it had a better chance of me running into a creature that knew what humans were.

“Fuck. Me.”

The girls looked at me as we stood outside the city walls. Massive walls that were as tall as Canterlot castle, lengths deep, and made from solid stone. No mortar, not individual bricks. Magic fused stone. The city was the size of the whole of Canterlot mountain, build around a mountain and spiraling up as high as I could see.

And the best part, minotaurs. This was a minotaur city. Every other one of those creatures had a blade on their hips and boots made from heavy hide. Heavier than pony or any four legged creature I knew of. The city stank of testosterone and sweat. I actually felt okay in that respect, like a good day at the gym. I was terrified and put my right hand against my sidearm while I looked around.

We stood outside the gates for maybe fifteen minutes with me just staring at the creatures moving about their daily lives, waiting to attack me at the slightest cultural faux pas. I steeled myself and I looked to the girls. Heart on Lom’s back, a pony riding a horse. I’d have to be careful, they aren’t smart enough to survive without me here.

I turned and hugged Heart, then Lom. Side by side we entered the city and I felt like we were easy targets for every type of scum possible, so I made sure to keep my sidearm ready and loaded with stun rounds, as well as two extra clips with real rounds. If I needed to fight for my life or my girls; I wasn’t going down easy.

The first thing I did was have the girls go onto the wagon and lay down. The mules were as safe as any creature. They were mules, common and worthless across most of that continent. Did you know that Equ… No, nevermind, we’ll come to that near the middle of my story.

I also made sure to slip on my unitard. Remember, that solid black thing I wore in my armor? Well, I put my full soldier uniform over it and was ready to take a stabbing, since it was tough enough to resist a large caliber round I think, or thought, a knife would be child’s play. Hint, it’s not the same, knives are worse than a bullet sometimes.

So, I get the pang of hunger as I smell roasted meat and I grab a gem from my pocket. I turn quickly to the smell and find a stand in one of many marketplaces and look at the meat turning over in the fire. Having left my girls in the cart that was by at an intersection nearby, I traded my gem for a huge sandwich of meat and vegetables.

I actually got change back in the form of small coins. Green copper with a black mark in the center. That was the palladium, encased in obsidian. Their currency. I asked how much it was worth and I was told it was enough to sleep a night and for another sandwich in the morning.

With a grin I took my coinage and returned to my cart and took a big bite. It was delicious. Amazingly seasoned, slightly pink still, and a smokey flavor that just sang in my palate. It wasn’t pony. It was cow-beef, flank steak to be exact. Still a favorite of mine when I go to their lands. But, let’s get off that topic, you’re looking a little more green. It’s good on you.

My next goal was to find some type of hub of knowledge. A library or something. Surprisingly, many of the minotaurs of old were actually very educated. They were still short tempered, but smart, literate, tactful, and cunning in groups. Outside their walls they had farmlands the size of Equestrian cities dedicated to produce and others dedicated to meat production.

It was industrial too. The city carried a dark cloud over it that cast it in almost constant shadow, but that was an amazing thing. Smoke from furnaces that were smelting metals and creating small part that were used to make large complex machinery.

While we were asking for a place to ask questions, redundant, I know, I saw my first pegasi. A blue pony with a white tail wearing nearly full body armor with grey wing blades that almost cut me looking at them they were so sharp. Not to mention the half dozen knives that were within mouth reach. It had a steely look to it and hovered in the air above street level scanning for something. It formed a cloud and sat on it, which was amazing to me, having never seen it before.

Then it saw me. I saw it’s body tense through the armor, just how it stopped suddenly. Then it took to the air, leaving the small cloud in its place as the pegasus flew up at blinding speed out of my view and toward the city built around the mountain proper.

“Maybe that’s a good thing?” I asked myself.

My girls were under the tarp in the cart and I was munching on my meat sandwich. Okay, I’ll stop saying meat. I was eating my food and turned at a stall to grab three plates of vegetables for my girls and the mules to eat while we took a break.

The girls ate quietly while I found a nice spot to let the mules eat. It was a couple blocks from the library, I found out. A sign that had a pile of books was what I was looking for and I saw it from that far. Destiny.

I thought about leaving the cart and letting them eat while I went ahead for half a second before I thought of everything being stolen and sold, never to see anything again. “Yeah, not gonna happen.”

“Mocha, what do mean you?”

“Lom,” I sighed. She was trying at least, “I’m not leaving you alone in this city without a guard or two. Since I have the means maybe I can rent one for the day. Mules, let me know when you’re done.”

“We’re done.”

“Wow that was fast. Did you even taste it?” I asked walking around the cart and collecting the plate. It was an interesting dining system. Eat in the market with a plate and leave the plate by a garbage bin. They were collected later. Take a plate and get caught, pay a fee of two coins. Two coins. That was enough to buy a plate of vegetables or a sandwich with a drink.

Chapter 24

I got the plates stacked and cleaned up my girls’ faces, then mine. The city was actually a really clean place. The streets were well traveled so there were a steady flow of janitors, or whatever they’re called, that cleaned the streets of animal droppings.

Yeah, street maintance, them guys. They dood a gooder job than we dood now. Heh, just being silly. This’ a long trip after all, gotta keep it from being too serious.

I walked across the street to the cart, which was parked on the right side of the street in the direction of the mountain, when I bumped into one of those horned dweebs.

“Hey! What’s the idea, smalling?” he growled and sneered. Shirtless, leather pants, battle axe on his back with a heavy strap across his chest to hold it up. Not to mention freakishly perfect humanoid upper body with fur here and there. The bull head and horns weren’t too amazing since almost all of them had horns of differing sizes.

“I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching where I wa-”

“Then pay me to not end you where you stand.”

I felt the core my being tremble inside my body when he roared at me. I stumbled back and fell to my butt, my face betrayed me as he grinned and reached to me. Grasping me by my uniform jacket he lifted me into the air and brought me to his face, my feet maybe a couple hooves from the ground.

He spoke in a hushed whisper to me as a crowd began to form and currency was prepared to trade in betting. “You’re less minotaur than any creature I’ve seen, human,” he said raising his eyebrows, “I have no want to start an unnecessary skirmish. Pay me one coin to make this seem fair, and you go on with all your limbs attached.”

“Y-you know about my people?” I asked softly. Not to be quiet, but I was terrified.

“Pay me,” he said in a normal tone.

“Uh, ah, I…” At a total loss of words he roared at me again. Fight or flight kicked in at that moment and I did something I regretted immediately; I brought my left fist up and uppercut him in his jaw. It hurt, a lot, on my hand. But it seems bovine jaws are padded a little more than humans, so I didn’t break any bones.

He looked back to me and growled. “Very well,” he said in a low bellowing voice, “now you pay.”

He let me go and I felt the world slow down as I fell to my feet. He pulled his left arm back and the same time I touched the earth I felt every muscle on my left side tighten. I pulled myself out of his strike by a split hair. The wake of rushing air passed my face and I felt like someone had blown a puff of air in my face.

He was aiming to really hurt, maybe kill me in one strike. As his arm reached its max extension I brought right foot to the ground behind me, crouching slightly. He dropped his elbow to clock me on my head.

Not gonna happen, I thought as I started to take account of what was happening. The scene, the motions he was making, the sounds he used as tells. Two moves and I was already onto him.

I used my combat skills dodge his attacks and stay crouched while leaning to the left and avoiding his elbow, then I made my first strike; I right hooked him right where a human’s kidney’s should be with all my might.

I connected and he grunted in pain taking a step forward which I used to my advantage. I brought my right fist back while my momentum stopped and moved in a counter swing striking him in the obliques. I leaned back by habit. Skippy would drop his arm and make a passive sweep to get me, just in case.

The minotaur missed, having used the same motion it was easily dodged. I landed standing tall and sprang at him, shoulder checking him. He fell over as the crowd cheered and bets were traded.

He got to his hands and knees, pushing himself up, taking his sweet time. His back to me, he cracked his neck. The same time the pop sound left his spine his right arm came swinging back at me, just like that one that sent me into three month recovery.

I bent backwards and, even though I knew it was gonna hurt like a bitch, I did an arc backflip, sending a boot worth of dirt across his body, especially his eyes. I landed poorly, with a slight cramp in my back and I smacked my right knee on the ground sending a numbing stink across my whole leg.

He covered his eyes and roared. I couldn’t wait for the pain to pass. I put my left foot into the dirt and pumped it with all the effort I could, sending me at him again. Left fist balled again, I struck him square in the muzzle. As tough as he seemed, he screamed pretty loudly at my strike.

He covered his muzzle and screamed into his cupped hands, his horn nearly hitting me probably would have won him the fight. Blood poured from his hands as he curled over himself and stayed down.

I kept my combat stance as a guard pushed the crowd of the way. “What’s going on here? A fight? It ends now,” he looked between me and the minotaur on his knees, “the human is the victor; pay him and be on your way,” he said in a deep voice. He turned to me and stared me down while change jingled.

A hand touched him on the shoulder and he opened his in response, a bag was dropped in it and the crowd dispersed.

He opened the bag, counted ten coins, then closed it, tossing it to me. Not once breaking his stare on me.

“What are you waiting for, be on your way,” his deep voice rumbled. Normally a person would have been scared or intimidated, but his voice was on par with a corporal that was pushing for a promotion. Not as scary as a trained sergeant in my military, like Cadence.

“What about him?” I asked.

“Leave him. He’s earned his coinage,” three coins were tossed to the minotaur I couldn’t believe I beat, “all is fair and paid.”

The guard turned and walked away. I took a step back from the minotaur as the last of the crowd went on their way I turned to check on my girls.

“Girls, are you okay?”

“Da-,” Heart stopped herself, “Mocha, that was so neat! How’d you beat him so easy?! The last one almost killed, you,” she said the last part in hush as he eyes widened.

“Heart, Lom? I’m fine, see? I’m not-” A heard a growl behind me and my shoulders went up, I winced. The girls shrank. “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

Lom nodded quickly.

“Look, I don’t want any more trouble.”

“Human, you’re lucky I took the fall.”

“What?” I asked turning around in surprise. He had a small but on his snout. That was it. I felt like I did a super attack against a high level boss, and he stood tall and faked losing?!

“Buy me a drink and we’ll negotiate me not killing you in an alley then selling your horses into slavery.”

I took my sidearm out, safety off, then I shot him with a stun round. Now, how those work is a lot like a stun spell, only with technology. He froze in place, body locked tight, his eyes looking at me but he couldn’t move.

Longest ten seconds of his life, I bet. I had turned and covered the girls again, given the order to move, and was sitting on the wagon moving away. The stun dart was drained, which had an unusual reaction in him, in so that he didn’t fall or pass out. He took a couple leaping steps and walked right behind the cart.

My smug smirk was frozen on my face as my heart races, again, and my mind went blank.

This’ how I die. Thought it’d be more epic, like flying into a mushroom cloud screaming. Heh. I stand by it.

“You’re a unique one. Most humans, I’ve heard, will kill on the spot and leave. You used your weapon and I’m still alive. Are you a rebel, a mercenary, a traveling fool?”

I smirked again.

“What’ll you trade me to know?”

Chapter 25

I was terrified. A minotaur was walking pace with my slow moving cart, being pulled by two ignorant mules who would walk over a cliff, and my girls were within reach of his battleaxe.

All I have to do is play this cool. “So, where’s a good place for a human to find out about other humans, mister Minotaur?” I asked smoothly.

He smiled, showing those bovine teeth with carnivore canines. I heard Lom whimper, she knew what it was like being on the other side of the hunt.

“What will you offer me in trade?” he retorted.

“Well, let’s set some ground rules,” he nodded, “you ever threaten my family again, and if they find any pieces of you, they won’t know who you are.”

He grunted in response. “Agreed. Next?”

I leaned back and slid off slowly, touching the dirt and keeping pace with him and the cart as I sided along with him. “Second, I need a bodyguard while I’m here. If you’re interested I’ll pay you all the coinage I got from that fight, plus a few hand fulls of gems.”

“Ah, the rumors are true then, you twist any situation to serve yourselves.”

“If you’re not interested,” I shrugged tossing the bag of coins onto the cart, “then maybe I can find a female who is.”

I quickened my pace to hop back on the cart when he snorted, I felt the hot air from his snout on my neck. “Deal,” he whispered harshly, “what are your terms.”

“Terms? I dunno what you’re talkin’ about, bub,” I smiled wide and sided with him again, “we’re just two old friends, hangin’ out. So, buddy,” I handed him the bag and he wasted no time fitting it into his grasp. “So, let’s go find a place to catch up.”

“My name is Taurus. It is a common name here, call me Rus.”

“Well, I’ve known a few Russes in my day and they’ve all been good. Call me Mocha.”

Introductions aside he told me the safest places to park a cart, I chose his house. Why spend unnecessary money when I could just bribe Rus into letting me and Heart crash in his living room while Lom got the grownup responsibility of watching the cart, and the mules… Well I didn’t really care what happened to them.

I’m sorry, really I am, but at the time they were a little less than they are now. Think of a donkey, now make them smell worse and twice as dumb. That was a mule. I had two, I was offered forty coins for them both. Still, I’m not in the slave trade, so I turned it down, but if they chose, while everyone was sleeping, to gallop off into the night...

A while later we were in one of the residential areas. The mules and Lom were outside guarding the cart, and by guarding I mean the house rule was no large animals, which I argued the irony of. I was able to take Heart in though, she was small enough to fit in my arms still and a little more time with my little pink pony was always a plus.

Ever since she called me dad, even now all these years later, I couldn’t risk her being hurt. Lom was tough. She was raised in a forest with a herd, weather beaten for her whole life. Heart, you know her story up until I got her. I just wanted to keep her safe, like a good protector should.

The residence Rus had was pretty simple. An apartment complex style of housing, he was on the sixth floor, hence the no large animals, in a small one bedroom apartment. A bachelor's pad. Darts stuck in the wall without a dart board, empty jugs of ale, cider, and other alcoholic drinks littered the corners. There was a table, but it was a wooden board balanced on two legs, one side of the table was in the wall, just smashed into it.

Various weapons lined one wall while a sink basin was full of dishes, mostly market plates, encrusted with food that had long since packed and left itself from the conditions of the area.

That was just the entryway-slash-kitchen-slash-dining room. The living room and bedroom were just as bad. No windows, just axe marks in a wall that let light stream in and a board covering several holes in the wall where a window should have been. His bedroom was little more than a hammock in the corner of the living room and a large stack of adult magazines.

“Well, you live in a latrine.”

“Heart?! Don’t say that to the nice man, obviously someone thought his apartment was the local dump and-”

“Shut it you two,” he growled, “I know my place sucks, but it’s all I can have with my job and what I make. If you want to sleep in the street, go right ahead,” he said taking his battleaxe off and dropping it in the center of the kitchen floor as he walked to his hammock. He turned and fell onto it.

It broke, sending him to the floor with a few local curses. He got up and kicked the cloth and placed his hand on the wall, grumbling to himself.

“M-Mocha, I hafta pee.”

“Heart, um, okay, hang on a second. Rus, where’s the bathroom?”

“Nextdoor, just go to where your cart is,” I cursed lightly, “turn left, you’ll see a one story house that smells like it should just a ways down.”

“Wait, this’ for her.”

“Then let her go in the street like all mules.”

“Hey-” I started but heart lived up to her name.

“Hey! I ain’t a mule, I’m a pony and you better not forget it.” Crap, she’s getting my bravado.

He turned and glared at her. She trembled in my arms but stayed as still as she could. I decided I’d see how it played out, even though I felt like backing away slowly.

“Little horse, know your place. Go in the streets like a mule or on my floor, where I will use your mane to scrub it clean.”

Oh shit, I’m gonna step in and-

“You wouldn’t dare hurt me, I’m a filly and I’m cute,” she said with a flip of her mane in a dignified way. I snickered, but covered it with a cough as he looked at me with that raging bull stare.

“Cute won’t win in a battle.”

“If you’re cute, you never have to badel.” She stopped trembling and I felt her tensing.

“If you never enter battle you’ll never become a warrior!” He shouted.

“And my daddy will make sure I’m safe so I won’t need to fight.” she screamed back.

He leaned in close to her, his damned horns coming too close to me.

“Your daddy is not even your kind, little horse,” he said slowly, egging her on.

“My daddy is my kind,” she turned and hugged me looking back to him, oh, my heart was choking me. I almost cried. “he saved me, he gave me a name, and he loves me,” cue slow violin, “and I’m his little pony.”

That was it. The moment I fell in love with her.

Before, it was just breaking her free from slavery. I was gonna let her live at the inn for the rest of her days. She might even take it over, I’d thought. Now she was my little pony, in my arms, staring down a creature that could kill me in one swipe and then eat her if he felt like it.

He laughed and stood tall, hands on his hips as he laughed. “Very well, pony. It isn’t much, but you may use my bucket. I will empty it in the morning with the others.”

“Others?” I asked.

“Yes, why make one trip every time? That’s foolish. Two buckets will last me a week.”

“A-a week? You let your buckets sit in here for a week?” I sneered at the scent, but then I relaxed and sniffed.

“Yes, fool. We don’t keep them in our rooms,” he grunted and went to the boarded window, pushed it open slightly, and pulled in a sturdy wooden bucket, wider than round.

“Aw crap. I, I don’t know if I can use that.”

“Well, the offer isn’t for you, human. That pony has a stronger heart than you do,” he pointed to Heart and I looked at her. She turned her head to look at me, eyes wide, she understood her name. She gasped as she squirmed in my arms and then looked to the bucket and whined.

“Oh, fine, but I’m holding you, Heart.”

She blushed a bit as I lowered her onto the bucket, she braced her hooves as best she could, Rus and I averted our eyes, then she went. It was an uncomfortable moment for us all but that made it a little less bad, just awkward.

“Well, anyway,” Rus cleared his throat as he returned the bucket to its perch outside the window, “what inspired you to name your, daughter there, Heart?”

“Actually-”

“My name’s Strong Heart, cuz I’m tough.” Is she going to keep talking over me?

“Well, that’s a happening, eh? Well, Mocha the human, tell me of yourself and I will see if I can help.”

“Well, I haven’t much to tell. I was a soldier and got blown up. Instead of dying I was here. I got to this place a few months ago and met Lom, the horse that’s guarding my cart,” he chuckled, “and then I bought Heart. Her name was Pinkie,” he burst into laughter; I waited for him to calm down, “then here I am. Looking for any others of my species.”

He grinned and walked to me, Heart was in my arms scowling at him. “Well, you’re in luck. There are a few humans at the top of the mountain, ripe for the plucking.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Heart shouted. For a nine year old filly she had spunk. At this rate I’ll just let her do the asking of the hard questions.

“It means, Heart, that there is a pack of humans that live on the mountain. I would never be able to go myself, but now that you’re here you’d have full access to the upper mountain,” his eyes widened in realization, “and then I might be able to swipe a gem or two.”

“What? What gems are you talking about?” Ha, got that one in.

“Acanacite. Your kind came in, bought a house on the mountain and within a week had a hoard of those gems raining across the mountaintop. They purchased and evicted the whole top half for themselves. Now they have a pegasi army up there, guarding the paths and air routes. All it takes is a gem to change the world.” he said sullenly.

“What happened?” Heart asked, she pushed from me and reached to him. He took her like he would a cat, her flat mane flowing into his arms from mine. I felt empty without her close by.

“Well, little pony,” he said turning and walking to a wall, then sitting on his bottom. He took a knife from his pocket and scratched a triangle into the wall. “This was the mountain. Before the humans came, I lived here, just about half way up with my family. Then the humans bought a home two levels above us.

Then,” he drew a line from below where he marked his house at, “they bought all this. They moved in, bought us all out from the city government, and bought an army to keep what they’re doing a secret. None but humans come and go with supplies by the roads. There is one airship, a bladder of air with a boat of some type under it.

“It flies with a large pegasi guard to and from above the cloud cover with supplies and other unknown things.”

He’s quite the artist, simple but gets the point across.

“Well, let’s go see what’s going on then.”

He looked to me with a frown. “None shall pass. That’s what is written a dozen times along the path. Get to close and the birds with strike you with lightning. That’s the warning, if you survive.”

“Woah, cool. They use lightning?” Heart asked, ears perked up. He pet her and she cuddled into his arms. Bastard, give me my daughter back.

“Yes, little one. They are weather masters. The weather works by nature itself, but they can make the weather do what they want. If you owe them a debt, they can make the crops die in a drought, or drown in a monsoon. If you cross the line in the mountain,” he pointed to and stabbed it with his blade, “they strike you.”

“Well, what next? Do they make a tornado or something?” I mused. He deadpanned me back.

“If you’re lucky, you might be able to survive that. No, pegasi are warriors. They never touch the ground, riding the air and nimbus clouds to stay out of reach. Powerful and fast, well armored with the sharpest of blades. To kill one is to win the envy of all who know you, and the wrath of all the others.

I had a friend, many years ago. His uncle killed one once that was pestering him with fly by’s. There were a dozen in the clouds that he didn’t see, and they leveled his farm and ruined his home. Over the loss of one of theirs they laid waste to his entire family legacy.”

“Woah, that was an over reaction by every means, why not just find a way to make peace with them? I’m sure you can bribe them, right?”

“Hrmp, typical human. No, they’re loyal to their commander without a fault-”

“Then kill the commander,” I interjected, thinking I was smart.

“Then they would kill every last child in the entire city, and every adult who protected them. Fool, you aren’t a warrior, are you?”

“I was born a soldier,” I really was, pretty much.

“Then what happens when someone kills your commander in battle?”

“Oh, I get it. There’s another to replace him all the way down to the last soldier. Then there’s the code.”

“So, some humans have a code? That’s news to me. When you readied your weapon I was ready to die.”

“Some of us have codes, give me Heart back,” I asked extending my arms. She was asleep when he passed her back. A snuggle into my chest brought a smile to us both, he returned to a more stoic expression when he saw me look at him. “Others have guidelines.”

“So it seems,” he hummed. “Anyway, let’s rest and get ready tomorrow. It’s midday, you must be tired from traveling.”

“Not tired enough to sleep here. Not yet. I think I’ll sleep in the cart tonight with Lom and Heart.”

“No, she can stay here, I’ll clean a space for her.”

“I don’t trust you yet. You tried to kill me.”

“If I’d wanted to you’d have died by my blade without a chance.”

“True, so why spare me? You had me dead to rights.”

“I prefer not to kill unless in battle. A street fight isn’t worth the fine.”

“A fine? That’s all that was holding you back?”

“A fine would cost me my palace here,” he gestured to his apartment, “and then I’d have to move away, with only what I have on me. That would lead to the sadness, then maybe I’d fall on my axe. Worse ways to go, but I’d prefer it not to happen.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes until he got up and went to his sink. He flicked a plate and a cloud of mold spores greeted him.

“Perhaps I go out for dinner? You have given me two weeks worth of pay so I needn’t return to the factory yet. What have you to offer in your part?”

“Would you accept the cutest face in the room?”

“She is asleep.”

“I meant mine,” I said seriously.

We shared another laugh. I liked him, but trust wasn’t there yet.

Top 'o the mountain

The next afternoon we were traversing the town, heading to the mountain. I couldn’t wait, and I don’t mean that in excitement to potentially see other humans. I hated being surrounded by minotaurs. I had one that I was paying to keep me safe. Turns out, big shock, acanacite wasn’t worth much where it’s farmed.

The gem I had was worth one hundred coins. That was it. Sounds like a lot, but before the gem boom I’d have gotten, well you know what I got before.

So, we reach the base of the mountain around three.

“So, how long to get to the top again?” I asked wiping my face. It wasn’t hot, just humid. All the clouds around the mountain had an effect.

“As I told you before we left, to reach the top would take two days, our goal is the cloud layer by tomorrow morning. If we survive past the cloud layer, then we see how far we need to travel. Your kind hasn’t been there long, but no telling what they’ve done to the houses that were there for generations before they purchased-”

“Yeah yeah, I remember your rant. Lom, Heart, are you okay in the cart?” I asked.

“I okay.” “Me too.”

They giggled and began to whisper. Both Rus and I chuckled at the sight of two young mares in the back of a cart sharing secrets and acting like they should.

“You know,” Rus’ baritone voice said softly, “since I first saw you with those two I knew you were odd, but to have those two as family,” he smiled at me and nodded. We had an understanding. I was okay adopting two equines and had an open heart.

Hours passed as the mules walked a steady pace up the mountains winding path, Rus and I became a little closer through stories, Lom and Heart were playing tag, of sorts, while we walked, and it was a great time, until I saw the first sign. A literal sign written in one of their languages and another above it written in mine.

“It says ‘stay out’,” he read.

I sniffled and wiped a fake tear from my eyes. “No, it says ‘armor up’.”

“What’s that mean?” he asked, hands on his hips.

I gave him a wide smile. “It means I have to put on my dress clothes.”

He raised an eyebrow and I patted his shoulder, as hairy as it was, before I called to the girls. “Hey, daddy’s putting on his big boy pants!” They giggled and ran to the front of the cart to stop the mules while I hopped up and climbed under the tarp. I’d had my power armor hidden the whole time, so when I climbed under the tarp I imagine he was a bit concerned.

Especially when it powered up and the systems warmed. There was a unique hiss of air being sucked into the suit to pressurize it as well as load certain defenses and my pellet rounds. One thousand little plastic balls that when they hit a target would pop, spreading a color on it. Often they would jam, so it was a waste of space that I didn’t wanna get rid of.

Anyway, I move my arms and sit up, the smooth silence that was offered was blissful as I saw the tarp fall away and the look on his face. Heh, it took him three seconds to have his battleaxe at the ready, a war face on, and I could feel the cart vibrate from his roar.

I slid down and landed on my feet in front of him, now about a foot taller than I was. “Hey, tiny,” I said as he swung his axe. I grabbed his wrist before the blade struck me with my left hand, took a step and pushed him with my right making him fall back, and I leveled his axe to his face.

“I dub thee, sir chops a lot,” then I tossed his bladed weapon to his right. “C’mon Rus, don’t you recognize me?”

He sneered and stood up grabbing his weapon, backing up, leveling his weapon at me again. “You’re one of them?! The beasts that burn my home to the ground?! They were HUMANS?!” he shouted.

Oh shit, this’ not going as planned. He’s entering bloodlust, I don’t want to hurt him, what do I do?

I take my rifle and swing it to him and spin a stun round into it. “Calm the fuck down, Rus. I’m me, not one of them. It was at that moment my girls entered the fray.

“Leave Mocha alone!” Lom shouted in as close to a roar as her little body could, she took a pounce stance, like an angry dog. Heart jumped to my shoulder and screamed at him: Just screamed a lung’s worth of air at him in a tiny pony roar. Hashtag cute. I’ll explain later.

He relented as he was outmatched by size, weaponry, logic, and cuteness. He lowered his axe and huffed. “If you’re not with them, why do you have their armor and weapons?”

“Because, numb nuts, we’re from the same planet. Of course we’d have the same stuff to keep us safe. You saw how weak I am outside this thing,” he nodded unconsciously, “so let’s get up this mountain already.”

He sneered, I turned and started walking. “Mules, move!” My girls were still watching him closely. He didn’t sheath his axe and I didn’t trust him yet, so I just walked the path.

Two more signs and the cloud layer was coming close. I started to see pegasi flying in the clouds in scouting patterns, there was no sneaking up on the mountain. We made camp and rested, I stayed in my armor. Not comfortable, but it worked just fine and kept me alive from some raging bull scenario.

We got up before sunrise and started making the final leg of our path. “Okay, stick with me and I think we’ll get through fine. Anything I say, just play along. Lom and Heart, you can’t lie so don’t say anything unless I ask you. It’s better to think you’re simple and leave you alone. Rus, you’re my bodyguard as we travel the world.”

“I have no plans to follow you that far, human.”

“It’s a cover story, a lie to get us in,” I told him flatly. I know he was smarter than that, right? “Once we’re in stay close. I know how my people are. Trust no one and say nothing, everything will be used against you.”

“Typical humans,” he groaned.

We reached the cloud layer to be greeted by four hovering pegasi, no weapons, but they had more than enough skill to draw them while running a distraction. I took the lead for our group.

All white or blue and fully armored in light blue armor. Clever to stay hidden in their element. “Greetings, let me pass,” I stated firmly.

“Human?” one asked.

“Yes, here with my caravan.”

“Before you pass you must answer these questions three,” a female droned.

Oh no, we’re not really going to do this…

“What, is your name?” the one at the far left asked.

If I could have face palmed, I would have bruised myself. “Mocha.”

“What, is your quest?” the next one asked, like it was the most annoying question ever.

Okay, how should I answer? Literal or the quote. Either way they can’t deny me, I’ll just pull the ‘wait’. “To find the holy grail.”

They nodded to me then pointed to a smaller blue female. She shook her head in silence, but a grunt from another made her wince. She flew up to us and spoke softly.

“What is the speed of heavy swallow,” she practically whispered.

Might as well have a little fun with her. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“What’s the speed of a swallow?” she said quickly.

“You gotta speak up, I can’t hear you in this thing,” I tapped my chest for the sound effect. The pegasi behind her snickered as her face turned a shade redder.

She grit her teeth and yelled at me. “HOW QUICK CAN YOU SWALLOW A BIRD?”

It was, hilarious! Her pals were holding their sides, I was laughing. My girls were laughing. The mules were looking at the ground. It was a great moment.

“I can swallow okay; how ‘bout you, pretty lady?”

She gasped and blushed, hiding her face in her hooves as she took to the skies, disappearing into the clouds.

“She’s never gonna live that one down!” one of them shouted as a roar of laughter came from above. Seems I’d have a fight on my hands if I tried to rush ‘em. Great strategy on their part.

The pegasi calmed a bit and a white one flew to me, eye level. “That was awesome. I’m Skydancer, good to meet ya, Mocha.”

I sighed in relief. They’re not hardened soldiers. I can work with this. “Yup, she’s an easy target. She a noob?”

“What’s a noob?” the white pegasus asked.

“Anyone who’s new and doesn’t know what’s going on. She’s a noob,”

He grinned. “Noob, I like that. So, you’re here to meet the other humans? With a group like that?” he pointed at my motley crew…

“We’re the Motley Crew,” I said opening my helmet, “my mules, a pony, a horse, and my body guard, a minotaur.”

“Hrm, I see. Unusual but I’ve seen weirder groups, follow me.” He turned and flew ahead slowly as I sealed my helmet again as we headed into the clouds.

Breaking the cloud layer took a few minutes and without a guide we’d have fallen into a broken part of the road. More clever tactics from a flying pony.

The sun shone upon us with its warmth and brightness and I could tell the others were content. I was unable to enjoy it at the time, but I’d get my chance.

Chapter 27

We turned a corner and it opened to another residential area, the road was almost ten lengths wide here, compared to four-ish the way up. It was more industrial and lived in as well as residential, the mountain was actually partly hollowed out here with mine carts every so often and human tech, glorious human technology.

I was greeted by a group of twelve humans, my people. Eight men and four women in grey digital military uniforms. Old school American style uniforms, maybe marines or army. Mine was generic global woodland green, not as fancy. They looked me up and down and pointed to me with a device. My armor opened, to my shock, exposing my frail human body.

“Well, looks like he’s real. C’mon out, buddy. What’s your message?”

“Message?” I asked stepping out and crossing my arms, looking tougher than I was.

“You’re not a messenger?”

“Nope, just lost in this crazy animal farm for the last few months.”

They murmured amongst themselves. I walked around my armor and to my cart. The mules had stopped and Rus was beside it, like I’d told him, in a guard position with his weapon accessible on the cart, but not on him.

“Heart, c’mon girl.” She peeked at me from under the tarp and Lom poked her head out as well. I was fond of keeping them hidden, made me feel safer for them. She climbed out and made her way to me, snuggling in my arms.

“This is Heart, my pony. Bought her for a bit a couple towns ago. I’ve also got my bodyguard,” I pointed to Rus, “my hauling mules, and horse I saved from a beast. We’re the ‘Motley Crew’,” I finished with a metal sign and slight sneer. They chuckled.

“The name seems to fit. Why do you have them all? I understand the guard, but four horses? C’mon, you coulda sold them in town for a week in a hotel and some, well, decent food.”

“Well, I’m attached to them. This one is like a kitty,” I said petting Heart. She snuggled into my arms and the ladies said gave a collective ‘awww’.

Some white guy stepped up and looked at me. “Well, I think you look like her; a pussy.”

“Well, at least I have a furry pink thing always on hand.”

“Well, your head is as shiny as a bowling ball.” I smirked. He wants to go personal…

“Your chin is as hairy as my mules’ balls.”

A collective ‘ooo’ came from his friends.

“You’re as dumb as a mule and twice as ugly,” he started to get flustered.

“Well, that makes me twice as great as you, plus I’m hung like one too.”

His group started to laugh, even Rus chuckled at our back and forth. The pegasi were holding their sides and drifting away, seeing I wasn’t a threat, they were returning to their duties.

“C’mon Chubs, don’t let him get ya!” Ha, opening!

“Chubs? Get that at boot, did ya?”

“No,” he stammered giving me the next opening.

“So, in the barracks then? Was it yer sarge?”

Now practically everypony was rolling in laughter. He was at his wits end. Endgame, his ace in the hole.

“Well, at least I don’t travel with Horse!”

The laughter died.

“A horse, get it, guys? C’mon, that’s funny!” he insisted. I don’t know where they came from, but I heard crickets.

“C’mon, bring your group,” the lead guy offered us to follow.

Chubs grumbled. “Horse, like whores; no one has a sense of humor anymore.”

“So, you’re only five months here on New Earth?”

“Three and a half, and ‘New Earth’? Renaming a whole world is a bit, quick, isn’t it?”

“Heh, he doesn’t know how long some of us’ve been here,” the leader said over his shoulder, “the name’s Norris, Chuck Norris,” I dead panned him, just blank expression to the max, “well I’m not giving my real name, Mocha.”

“Fair enough, but you had to choose that name? Out of all the names in the book, why not Chuck Testa?”

He thought for a few seconds before snapping his fingers and cursing. “Well, too late now. I’ve been here for eight months. There are some that’ve been here for a couple years, others are still arriving.”

“Wait, you mean we’re just popping up in this place? Like ‘poof’ there’s a human?”

“Well,” he rubbed the back of his head. Never a good sign. “We actually fall. If you’re lucky you get caught by a pegasus-”

“Pegasi,” a mare, er, woman interrupted him.

“Whatever,” he dismissed her statement, “or maybe you have a parachute in your armor, maybe you land in a lucky place. Most fall until they hit the ground. Short story for them.”

I guess I should be happy I’m alive, but this’ just, sad.

“We can’t even loot most of them since there’s nothing to salvage and we’re not monsters, we can’t just dig through the remains of our dead for stuff. Most of the time we bury them where they land with a shortwave transmitter, damn things switch on and off too often, though.”

My vision blurred slightly. “D-did you come across a guy named Markus ‘Skippy’ Henders?”

“Hrm, I don’t know. We have a list that we communicate with other settlements with, maybe someone else has, if not us.” He placed his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a radio. “Chuck calling mountain base, come in, over.”

“This’ mountain base, what is up Norris, over?”

“Found a new human, wondering about friends, over.”

“Uhhh, WILCO, list will be ready, over.”

“Roger, out.”

I smirked. “I miss hearing that.”

“Yeah, it’s not bad to keep up old habits. Nearly everyone who lives is military, so we rarely have to worry about anything else.”

“Nearly?” I asked as we started to ascend the mountain again.

“Well, our population is up by sixteen; newborns from pregnant soldiers.”

I smiled and looked to Heart in my arms, she was asleep again. “That’s actually great. More humans can be a great thing.”

“Too many is a bad thing,” one of the guys said under his breath.

“Well, I didn’t come to debate the obvious, uh, philosophical stuff. I’m here to find my friends, my squad. We all came through at the same time but I lost ‘em.”

“Well, mister Mocha,” Chuck placed a hand firmly on my shoulder with a squeeze, “you’re in luck. Now, odds are you came through a few days, maybe weeks apart, but if they’re military I’m sure we’ve found ‘em.”

I shrugged his hand off my body. “Well, okay then. And what was up with Chubby’s jokes? They were older than a flight cushion.” Ah, laughter. I love being the center of attention like this.

“Well, too bad ‘Joker’ is taken. But I’ve got a joke for ya,” he said.

I woke up in a dry, warm, dark room; it hurt to move. Luckily I was still fully dressed, but I felt emptier for some reason. I felt a nuzzle on my cheek and my eyes barely focused, I saw Heart’s blue eyes looking at me full of worry. I groaned. “What happened?”

“Th-they hurt you, hit your head with lightning, and it was really scary. Are you ‘kay?”

I felt my head throb and touched it, bandaged.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly, sitting up, looking around.

“Y-yeah. I-I kinda was scared and didn’t help you, I’m sorry.”

I reached for her, but couldn’t grasp her. Terrible night vision, one of my many problems. She moved into my reach and I pulled her into a soft hug.

“Don’t be. I’m glad you didn’t, they wouldn’t have let us stay together if they knew how smart you were. Now, do you know where we are?”

She pushed her face into my belly, her mane dragged across my arm, it was so soft. She sniffed and spoke softly. “I dunno, we was taken here, and it was dark. They were so scary, I’m so sorry I didn’t fight them,” she sniffled again as I hugged her again, “I’m not strong.”

“Hush, baby. You’re strong. I gave you your name and it’s true. Strong Heart, I need you to help me, okay?”

“H-how? I’m too tiny. I can’t do anything, cuz I’m so small.”

“Hush, first. I need you do something for me, it’s really important, can you do it for me?”

I felt her shuffle around, pull away from me, and remain still. She was looking at me with that great night vision she had. I was actually feeling helpless. Small. This was my chance to make her into my hero, build up her confidence. I was puny when I was a kid, I grew into a man thanks to the right coaching. She needed this, even though it sucked.

“What can I do?” she whispered.

“Do you hear something?”

“I-I don’t know, I thought I heard hoof steps, but it’s quiet again.”

“Okay, ready for your mission?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“First, call me that word again, from earlier.”

“Oh, um. O-okay,” she took in a shaky breath, “daddy.”

“No, like you mean it. Like you did before, please. I need to hear it, it makes me happy.” I needed to focus, and the rush of endorphins was what I needed to help.

She shuffled, I could hear her breathing quickening as her mouth moved. She jumped into my arms and hugged me. “I love you, daddy.”

My vision swam. I finally got a female to say those words, she loved me. And it wasn’t the love I wanted from Cadence. It was pure, innocent, cute love from a creature who saw me as a true parent. I’d saved her. She was mine. Not from purchase, but a part of my life. Lom was too, but this was different.

I think the best analogy would be to say my heart was like a cup; it was overflowing. Months of emotions poured out of me at that moment. I hugged her and wept. That wasn’t part of my plan, but it happened. She relaxed in my arms and I blubbered like a fool, letting out all my stress and pain. The fear of where I was, the minotaurs, the humans who’d taken us for whatever reason. It was too much, I felt free finally then boom, it’s all gone again.

I composed myself and wiped my nose on my sleeve. “Okay, thanks a lot. I, I’m so happy right now.”

“Then, why are you crying?” she asked, so innocently, “you wasn’t beat.”

And there went my heartstrings, tugged again at the mention of her past. Wait. I tried to call up my HUD, my weapons screen. Nothing. My videos, music, data, games, anything.

They took out my implants. But why, and how? What could they… Shit, my armor. They can’t spin up the rounds without it. They stole my armor, my tech, my freedom. Bastards.

I calmed myself. “Thank you, so much, Heart. Next, I need you to look around. What can you see?”

“Why don’t you look around yourself, silly daddy?” How could I not smile at her.

“Because, it’s dark and I can’t see. I need you to see for me. What do you see, sweetie?”

I heard her huff, almost thinking ‘If I can see, why can’t he?’

“Um, we’re in a room kinda like the inn, but the den. There’s a floor bed, a table an’ chair, a poopin’ bucket, and a door,” she clopped away from me to it. I sat up and had a throbbing headache where they’d surgically, hopefully expertly, cut into my head. I heard her knock on the door. Metal. Must be a cell, but a nice one?

“Daddy, I-I don’t like this place. It makes me, um, remember bad things.”

“Oh, sweetie, c’mere.” She clip clopped to me and sat down next to me, laying her head on my leg. I began to pet her and rub my hand along her mane. “No matter what happens, here or in the future, remember that you have me.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet. So, what happened next?”

“We waited.”

“Okay, for how long?”

I knew she was going to ask that, but I wasn’t ready to give the answer.

“About four days.” She gasped, shock took her, and her face paled.

“B-b-b-but, a filly can’t…”

“Barely. Just barely. She nearly died, starved to death in my arms, bathed in my tears. And I don’t mean that as a euphemism. I was laying next to her, feeding us the mattress, when she went into a coma. We were without food and water; I was making us drink our combined, ‘wastewater’ until it was too toxic to smell. We were nearly emaciated by the time the door opened.”

She winced at the thought of a filly and stallion having to drink bodily fluids to survive. “That’s,” her eyes swelled with tears and she choked on her next words.

“They forgot about us.”

“What?! How could they forget about you and a little filly?” she shouted, grinding her teeth in anger.

“Hurry, get a doctor, we have a medical emergency,” I heard someone yell as I closed my eyes from the light pouring in. I held onto Heart tightly, she wasn’t going to die without me. Not after I fell in love with her, not after everything we’d been through, especially this. I heard a mad scramble of feet and shouting. THEN I passed out.

I woke to a beeping sound, pain sent waves trembling through my body, and I felt my gut wrench in agonizing cramps. I looked around, she wasn’t there. The beeping increased.

Stupid heart rate monitor. Fucking humans. God damn them, I’ll kill every last one of these assholes, I cursed as I disregarded my body’s protests and sat up, grabbing the diodes and tubes from my body, pulling them free.

I heard a scuffle of padded feet and… hooves? I was nearly off the bed before I was pulled back onto it. Not a medical bed, but a raised cushion bed. Took seven people to hold me down while I seethed with rage, cursing them all for killing my daughter and hurting my other friends.

Before the drugs they gave me to make me calm down took me into unconsciousness I remember begging to see to see Heart’s body, to hold her once last time.

“She’s ...,” I heard a woman say as the world went dark.

Interlude to the past

The world was black. Nothingness surrounded me. I couldn’t feel anything but I could hear a voice. “Oh, my goodness. Look at you, a male, and what a shape you’re in?” A disembodied male voice jovially said.

“Who are you? What do you want? Where am I?”

“Oh puh-lease,” the voice moaned, “every creature asks me that. I refuse to answer such simple questions,” the voice huffed.

“Then where aren’t I?” I joked.

A few seconds of silence. “Hrm, intriguing,” the voice said in my right ear. It tickled and I tried to move to brush it away, but couldn’t move. “You’re different. You’re unique. You’re,” the voice’s tone bellowed, sending a terror through me in it’s deep, guttural, venomous tone, “chaotic.”

My body flushed with goosebumps and I tried to move away but I wasn’t in control of my body. “What’re you doing to me? Why can’t I move my body? Wait, where are… uh, where aren’t we. Why aren’t we?”

I heard a pleasurable groan. “The way you speak is like nails on a chalkboard going through a wood chipper; I love it. Please, say something else.”

Who the hell is this guy?

“Moi? I am simply an observer from another realm, higher than yours,” he said flatly.

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked.

“Well, imagine you’re reading a book. When in reality someone is reading you reading a book, and that person has a book. In that book is a person reading a book-”

“Okay. So you’re the guy with a book reading me?”

“Oh, why thank you for the thought, however I detest reading. I prefer to wait for the movie version.”

I heard a cliche woman screaming, then a series of violins striking cords, then a series of, tuba’s?

“Some sound effects? What’s that mean?”

“Oh, just my personal favorite theme song. Something to remind me of the finer things in existences endless swirling reality of sanity. However, I digress,” he said. I heard a snap, like, snapping fingers. I felt like I was under a warm sun, on a beach. Sand was under my feet and I heard birds call, but it was still pitch black. When I moved to touch my head I realized I was in my armor.

“Uhh,” I groaned, “my head. It hurts, a lot.”

“Yes, that happens when one is in a trans-dimensional rift caused by an experimental bomb designed to create life. Trust me, after a few thousand times, it tickles.” I felt a claw drag its way down my spine. I leaned away but to no avail as the claw reached my lower back.

I reached to where the release latch was, I was gonna get a look at where I was, and if this voice, who was fucking with me, could be out there, I had to see it.

“Uh, uh, uh, not without the magic word. If you take off your helmet, then you won’t be much use to me. You ssssee,” he hissed, and I felt a snake like tongue tickle my left ear sending chills through me, “when I saw the rift open to your world I took a peek. Oh, such beautiful insanity you creatures have to offer.

“You, humans, was it? Killed yourselves trying to not kill yourselves. Bombs that gave a blink of my reality into yours. Lives designed and conditioned to fight, mentally formed from before birth. Tell me, what is your name?”

“Mocha.”

“What is your real name?”

“M-Muh,” I cleared my throat, “Moah, Kuh…”

“Ah, and what of your friends?” the voice hissed, a snap of fingers and I could see my squad, standing at attention, eyes closed, “what are their names?”

“Markus, Cadence, Janice-”

“Oh,” the voice tittered mirthfully, “no no no, you’ve known them for at least fifteen years. They have full names, right? You’re family, practically,” I felt a fat furry hand on my shoulder, “now. What. Are. Their. Names?” He said, a white orb appearing behind each of them, one by one, before stopping over behind Cadence.

“Guys!” I shouted, “get away from that thing!” They didn’t move. Time dragged on so I relented.

“His name is Markus, she’s Janice-”

“Oh how drole, again with this. What would you say if I told you that you never met these before a few months ago?”

“I’d call you a fucking psychotic liar!”

Another giggle. “Oh, you flatterer you. The only one you have to be upset with are the ones who sent you to me.”

“What the hell do you mean?” I shouted. I could feel myself tensing for a fight.

Several minutes of silence passed before I heard a snore.

“Are you fucking sleeping?!”

A yawn, but from a female this time. “Oh, certainly you don’t mean me? I’m more than willing to listen to some creature drone on and on, but I have better things to do… Oh me, oh my. Really? He is? It is? Hrm, well, if he’s half as interesting as you suggest. Greetings, hehe, Mocha. Is that really his name?”

She laughed at my name and had a silent chat with that other voice? What weirdness was this?

“Very well, We will each give you a gift, but we won’t tell you what it is. You have to find out yourself, and,” the voice to a more regal tone, “may the odds be ever in your favor.”

“Now, now, now, dearest,” the male voice spoke again, “don’t forget to wipe his memory, it’ll be so much more fun to watch.”

They started at a giggle and before I knew it were at a full, screaming, maniacal laugh.

“Is this how Zombie Shakespeare dies?” I quoted comically taking a pose from Hamlet...

Interlude to the past 2

“Is dark. Is cold. Sad and alone. ‘Stable’ they say word. My name now? My home now? They take my necklace, no understand them.”

Lom said to the horse in the stable next to her. A male horse that nickered and whinnied often, but spoke in a different dialect than her. Unable to speak the same language she spoke simply to get her feelings out. Looking at the hay strewn randomly across the floor and with the scent of manure heavy in the air she continued.

“Miss friends. M-miss Mocha, pink one too even, a little bit. So much happen. Such happy, little scary; Mocha safe. Remember when Lom first meet.”

The horse next to her nickered, looking sullenly at the floor.

It was a warm morning, the berries we were eating were delicious and us big mares were ready to go to a new grazing spot. Pota and Yano, born the same week as Lom, giggled and spoke about a cute guard that was watching over us. It was typical to have several guards guarding us.

Pota was the herd’s shaman's’ daughter.

A series of loud crunching sounds broke all of us from our joyful outing.

“Monster! Monster! Made from rock, run!”

“Monster?” Yano asked the others with a sly grin. Ever the explorer she galloped towards where the ‘monster’ was while the guards were looking after the panicking ‘guard in training’.

“Yano, come back! Please,” Lom shouted, speaking softly as she looked to Pota, “she will stop moving, be food for monster. Please.”

The group didn’t need to say anything. The soldiers galloped away, after the young mare. Lom and Pota were in close pursuit.

“Defenders, halt! Poh’Nee, ready. Younglings, behind,” the guard leader, Retalia, shouted as he and the others formed a column, protecting the girls behind them, “prepare to escape. Defenders die for Poh’Nee tribe!” he shouted as the others yelled a warning to the monster.

“A beast made from shiny stone? Cool,” Yano said as she has pressed between Lom and Yano to stop her from running away again, “if is beast, why no attack yet?”

“Hush, female,” a defender in line said ahead of her, “it watching. Listening.”

It spoke in a weird way, but it wasn’t their language.

“GO AWAY!”

With a movement of the beast the defenders began doing their job. Having left their spears at camp they began throwing whatever was around them, mostly rocks. “The beast remains! Back up, prepare to run. None will be food this day!”

With a cheer the defenders gave one last barrage, the creature ahead of them, oddly standing on it’s hind legs, seemingly mocked them.

One of the defenders carried a shovel. The latest tool he had made, which he grabbed from a strap on his back.

“Away, beast, or I’ll use this!”

The defender prepared to throw it as the beast swung a stick from it’s back, then the sound of a dozen thunderbolts screamed from the beast.

Everyone left, running to safety. All except Lom. “I-I bit, dead now. Please, eat me and not others.” Lom fell to her side, barely holding onto consciousness as the beast stomped closer. Lom felt her heart pounding and her head began to swim, shortly she was embraced by her last sleep.

The beast was still over Lom when her began to wake up. Hoping it was a bad dream, she listened and trembled as the sound of steps retreating reached her. Lom cautiously raised her head to look. “Maybe it not hungry?”

She looked at the beast, kneeling, looking at her, ready to strike. It had bit her, and it was going to watch her die. Lom scrambled back, trying to distance herself from her inevitable death.

“Don’teatmeandifyoudomakemyendquick.”

It began moving its forelegs, telling Lom something. Then it began tapping it’s heart. Then bowed to Lom. This thing thinks Lom is leader? Maybe it friend, not monster. One way, to ask.

“Friend?” Lom asked the shiny rock monster.

“Friends.” The creature said.

Lom couldn’t believe it. A friendly beast. No, not a beast, it hugged. Offering itself as servant to Lom for life. A new friend for Lom. First servant, too! And a rock monster. Everyone will be so jealous.

After the creature fixed Lom’s leg, she took him to show off too tribe. Everything went great, he even made a fire! Turns out he was a beast that lived inside the rock monster. He took the rock monster with him everywhere. He was Lom’s servant and defender, so she let him keep it.

Then deer attacked, they took us to a big tree. Lom was taught words ‘toilet’, ‘potty’, and to use a hole in the floor to go; not where ever Lom was standing or walking. Everyone was happy; so Lom was happy! Also, new necklace that showed Mocha and Lom are one. We began to talk.

He said a lot of words Lom didn’t understand, however it was nice to have a servant that spoke now. Oh yeah, Retalia was there, whatever.

We went to a different town later; A real beast tried to eat Mocha, so Lom and Retalia fought it, beat it.

“No one hurts my servant,” I screamed as I ran my Mocha to a healer with a smart bird showing us the way.

A long time passed before my servant was better, then he had a cave. No, it was named ‘Home’, with Home another Home. A pink little horse was there too. She was his servant. A servant should have a servant, but this world was different in places.

Very different.

The last place we went was a town of beasts that tried to eat my servant. I was hiding with the pink one and the rock clothes while Mocha was defender. Lom has a smart servant. Attractive too. Retalia is gone, stayed to mate with a small horse there. Maybe I can have my servant… That is a thought for another day.

We all walked up the ‘mout-mane’ and then Mocha was hurt, a flying cloud made a boom, hit him in the head.

“Now, I wait. Servant with healer, long time. Much work. No necklace. No friends, not even pink one.”

The horse huffed twice and clopped his hoof, turning away from her.

“Now, Lom alone and sad. And… Mocha?”

Chapter 30

I woke up in the evening on a mattress in a room. A ragged wooden room with a window that looked out to the mountainous wall. I moved my arms to find I was tied down, just my wrists, by a single rope under the bed. I had a gown on, so I was nude, again.

“Are these guys idiots?” I mumbled. Not a fool myself, I closed my eyes and began to breathe slowly through my mouth. Focusing on my hearing I just listened. A moment of silence and I could hear my own heart beat, feel the blood pumping through parts of my body, and the footsteps of a single soldier passing the door.

One guard pacing in boredom. Easy enough to take down. I’ve played enough games to know it’s not easy, but if I want to escape I have to at least get out and not let him alert anyone. Five minutes passed and I smirked. He is alone and bored. I have to get out. Get my girls. Maybe Rus, I mused, Nah, I’ll get him, if he’s here.

I carefully raised my legs and rolled them over my head, pressing against the wall and carefully pushing the bed away from the wall. Placing my feet on the floor I pulled the rope binding my wrists to the head of the bed and the rope with it, then it slid out and off the bed. I was almost free, just had a three foot length of rope binding my wrists.

I could go all Tom Clancy and choke him out with the rope, but if he’s armed one shot and they’ll know. Plus, that’s stupid in more ways than I can go into right now. How bout if I play the Solid Snake route and sneak out, find my friends, and get us off this mountain. Shit, that’s almost as stupid. How am I gonna get a horse, pony, minotaur, plus myself, off an enemy occupied mountain without being seen?

I shrugged the idiotic thoughts away and went to the window, there wasn’t more than a length drop and it was facing the mountain with enough space for me to crouch and move with ease. The window slid open with little effort or noise and I climbed out.

Heh, easy peasy, rice, and cheesy. Now, I’ll go that way and hope for the best.

I crouched and began to untie my left wrist, then I wrapped the extra length around my right forearm, then I began moving ahead. There were homes spaced out with a length of space between each, each home was a standard ponyville size, some two stories, others one. I noticed they all had a raised front porch, four steps each.

I’d made it past three dark windows and homes before I came to a lit one. I pressed myself against the wall and peeked slowly into the room. Save for some woman sleeping in full uniform hugging a stuffed yellow plushie of a minotaur, it was just like my other room. I walked past quickly and quietly, so as to not wake her.

Even though I didn’t see it, I knew she had a gun nearby.

I made it past; two more alleys and a guard came around a corner. Some kid, just by chance. Hoping to pee quick behind a house, he had his rifle in one hand, unsecured, leaning on his shoulder. He looked at me and froze in shock, I didn’t. I reached and grabbed his weapon with a shove, sending him back. I aimed the weapon at him, inches from his nose.

“Password,” I asked firmly. He was terrified and told me whatever it was.

I aimed the weapon at him, his head, and swung it around quickly, nailing him firmly with the blunt butt end, most likely causing a concussion, since he passed out. Shitty rifle fired a shot, scaring the shit outta me, too.

I began shouting ‘misfire, misfire, misfire’. That’s what we said when a weapon was shot by accident. I watched his body twitch and I wasted no time taking off his coat, pants, and boots. Most of us wore the same size clothes, general fitting small, medium, large. Extra large were rare, mostly for the beaters.

I heard a shout, typical challenge words. Something like ‘the fly flies in the wind’.

“The password is,” I shouted what it was, “give me a minute, I’m shittin’, dropped my rifle.”

“Fuckin’ dumbass,” she mumbled before shouting, “bullets aren’t easy to make. Do it again and I’ll have you docked and flogged,” a stern woman’s voice said stomping away; grumbling about the soldiers she has to watch over.

I parked myself between the unconscious body, and the path that led to my next objective.

Find them. Get out. Nothing gets in my way.

I dressed and buttoned my new coat, looked at the name. “Henderson.” That’s who I am for now. There have to be a few more than a dozen people here. Hopefully I can get a ways before someone that knows the real Henderson catches on.

I moved and pulled his body out of view and left the shadows of the houses, only to enter the shadows of the night, mountain, and clouds the pegasi were perched on. Ever alert and ready, watching every movement with their night vision and weapons at the ready. The moon was out, waxing in the clear evening sky.

I didn’t look twice. That was how you became suspicious. I held the rifle at the ready and took a patrol close to the edge, where I could drop and slide out of sight quickly, with the least risk of loss of life. Them or mine.

One dead, assume fourteen more. OpFor Skills; highly trained and well armed, projectile and some energy weapons likely. Avoid contact with best of abilities. Mission; find them, get out. Nothing gets in my way. Ha, I’d much an awesome spec ops. Sleep tight, nudie.

I left him the gown I had and left him. He was breathing and that meant I didn’t kill him, so I went about my mission.

I walked uphill, since that made the most sense, strategically speaking, and it was away from the CO that had made her displeasure for me known.. I made it about a good mile before I came across a group of drunk soldiers heading down. I shouted the challenge and leveled my weapon at them.

Heh, the look on their faces was priceless. Three men, two women. All dressed in combat uniforms, but untucked, loose boots, sidearms unsecured, starting to touch each other inappropriately. Drunk as heck.

“What. The. Holy. FUCK are you doing?!” I shouted so loud it echoed. I didn’t care, that was how we talked to those that messed up. “Attention, maggots!” I shouted like a trainer. They all snapped to attention, one of the women’s pants fell to her knees. They laughed.

I frowned so deep, narrowed my eyes so sharply, and inhaled slowly. They stopped laughing just looking at me. I sneered, gutturally growling at them.

“What’re your names?”

“Why should I answer?”

I switched the safety on my new rifle from safe to semi. The look on their faces wasn’t defiant anymore. That click meant life or death. I offered them the challenge again. They didn’t know the password. I stomped at them, ten feet away with the moonlight being blocked out by a pegasus that came to watch.

I raised my rifle and took aim, the red dot lighting on the chest of a female soldier. Terror washed over her, the rules were simple in the military of earth. Fail a test; risk death.

“I ask you again, soldier. What are you doing out at these hours looking like a droughter?”

A droughter? Um, well simply put they were people who wanted to live on their own back on earth. Only when drought season came did they, men and women, swarm the bases prostituting themselves for sex or live testing. Maybe they’d get a vitamin shot to help them, maybe they’d get a baby, like I was, and have more rations as a result.

Anyway, the female trembled and stared at the business end of my rifle.

“Uh, w-we, ahem, we were celebrating my promotion to sergeant.”

I couldn’t help but smirk. I can use this.

“Who’s your commanding officer?” I asked. She relaxed.

“Lieutenant Chang.”

Huh, that name’s familiar. “Two more questions. Where’s he located?”

They sighed. She pointed up. “About three levels up in the blue house. Ya know, I don’t know why he likes blue so much. It’s kinda femmy.”

“Hey, I’m not done yet,” I let a smirk onto my face, “how many soldiers are here? Eh, roughly.”

I was asking easy questions with solid answers that I needed.

“Forty seven humans, twelve minotaur “workers”, she air quoted, the others chuckled, “and about a dozen ponies and horses, plus two from the other day,” she turned to the guy to her right, “how long did you say that pink one was gonna be in the vet’s?”

“Meh, coupla daysh. She’s outta the wroust of eet,” he chucked and wavered.

“Oh, that little pink horse?” the other woman said looking to her female friend, “she almost died with that one guy. He’s, like, a hero. Feeding them both a mattress to survive while their paperwork was “lost”,” she said with a scowl.

I lowered my weapon. “What’s that now?”

“What?”

“I didn’t hear about that. I don’t get into the gossip mills,” I said flatly.

“Oh,” the one woman said trying to take a casual pose, falling over herself as she forgot her pants had fallen. A round of laughs went by and I slung my rifle as she got up, pulling her pants up with a blush. “Yeah, so, this guy and a horse are put in a cell and the guard puts his paperwork with his other stuff.

“The dumbass filed it all away and no one checked the cells until, what was it, two days ago? Found ‘em both almost dead, stuffed with stuffing.”

“Yeah, they even drank their own pee!”

“Eew, thash grosh. Buuut, shmart,” one of the men leaned over stumbling ‘accidentally’ grabbing the breast of the new sergeant. Got a smile from her, wasn’t my business or problem.

“Yeah, but why’d they lock ‘em together? Wouldn’t it be better interrogation to do it separately?” I asked.

“Interrogate? Dude, some stupid bird jumped on a cloud and shocked him. Poor bastard almost died. Had to take out his main implant processor. He’ll never remote operate tech again, but he’s still alive. One of us. So, we’ll help him. And, since we’re done, can we get back to our orgy?”

The other woman punched her while gasping in shock. “Don’t listen, she cray-crazy! What’s your name?” The other men chuckled to themselves.

“Uh, Henderson.”

“Well, you’re doing a great job. Keep at it, can we move on without you shooting us in the ass.”

“Yeah, have a good one. I’m almost done on my shift. Wrap it up, peeps.”

We parted ways, me resuming a ‘patrol’ while they giggled into a random house to ‘celebrate’.

So, I was accidentally attacked by a pegasus and forgotten about? Hero? No, too convenient. If I was a hero they wouldn’t have lost me. Not even the military is that messed up in their logistics. Whatever, fuck it. Get this done.

I continued up the mountain paths, taking shortcuts up the sides via crude steps. It was then i noticed my feet were a bit snug in Henderson’s shoes. It was like everything that was going wrong in a small way was.

I peeked above the ledge to the next level and smirked. Not a ‘haha’ smirk, but one of those ‘finally’ smirks. I’d found the stables. One guard was asleep leaning against a support beam of a broken house.

The stables were actually in great shape, which led me to believe they were stables made by the minotaurs and were part of the buyout.

I put on my best solid snake mode and crawled toward the guard and, using the stock of my rifle, slammed it into the side of his head. He grunted and fell over, rolling to his side. He put his hand to his head and moaned.

Shit, it didn’t work. Damn you, video games.

A bolt of lightning struck the guy in his back, sending him into a brief fit, then to slumberland. I looked up to see a cloud over me. That meant a pegasi was watching me. And had helped me.

The cloud began to lower, I held my rifle at the ready, but didn’t point it at the cloud.

Maybe I can BS my way out of this. Okay, a blue pegasus, black mane, blue eyes, full body armor. Crap, what’m I gonna say?

“Jung ner lbh qbvat?”

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. “Say that again?”

“Jung ner lbh qbvat, uhzna?”

I grasped my chest lightly, higher by my neck, to find I didn’t have my necklace. No way for me to understand what he was saying.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, whoever you are. Go away, let me do my job.”

“V uheg lbh, ncybtvmr.”

“Yeah, I can’t understand you. No necklace and I don’t speak,” I gestured to him, sitting on the cloud, “whatever language you use.”

“Oveq cbal,” he replied. Okay, funny thing. The original name for pegasi was Oveq cbal, literally bird pony. Ha, ha, ha. I know, creative, weren’t they?

Unicorns were ‘bar ubea’ which meant one horn; and earth pony’s were ‘uvtu ubaberq’.

Well, that was a bit of a problem later, especially during the third pony war. It meant highest of honors. Based off the fact that even without the other races, crops tended to by earth ponies would grow, only at a rate so low it’d keep them alone alive.

That was a tactic during the second world war. Ponies wanted no part in it, so they refused to feed, water, and heal warriors.

I’ll get to that soon, don’t worry. Back to the pegasus.

“Okay, so you speak Oveq cobal, whatever.” I turned to leave and heard him growl. Not what I need right now. “Alright, what’s the deal?”

He pointed to my unconscious ‘friend’, giving me a look that just screamed ‘got you’.

“What? He was a traitor and I’m going to report him,” I said with a hint of firmness in my voice. He crossed his arms and gave me one of those ‘are you serious’ looks. “So, you’re not an idiot, damn,” I said with a bit of humor and a snap of my fingers in feigned defeat. “Fine, my daughters were taken when I was KO’d, uh, knocked out, and they almost killed one of ‘em.

“I’m gonna save them, get the hell outta here, before they know I’m gone. That’s the plan, anyway. So, gonna turn me in?” I finished with a sigh of defeat.

He smirked and reached into his armor and pulled out a gem, moving his hooved back and forth between us, then handed it to me.

“I am sorry. I was who hurt you, I was a fool and wanted to prank you. The lightning found metal in your head and…” he trailed off.

“So, you’re the reason my life turned to shit, again. I can’t believe you did that! Not only could you have killed me, you could have hurt Heart! She was-” he pointed to the gem in my clenched fist. “So, we’re sharing a comms gem, great. Tell you what. Give it to me and tell me what the fuck you’re here for? You got him for me, so are we even, or something?”

He tossed the gem back to me, his armor shined along the runes in his foreleg in the moonlight. “I will help you escape. My ponies are warriors, fighters; loyal and feirce. But, good in heart, will understand the debt I owe. Then, we’ll be even.”

I looked at him for a good twenty seconds, I could feel him becoming annoyed, but he held his military posture. He only blinked as he waited for my answer.

This is too perfect. What’s happening, how can things keep falling in line with my luck?

Home has magic, sometime plays tricks on eyes. Have little trust of what you see when what you see make little sense.

That doe may have been right. Magic could be why little things keep going my way, and why I keep getting fucked over so bad ten times worse than the good that happens. Yeah, ‘magic’. More like luck.

I tossed the gem back to him. Fine. I accept your offer. If you’re a creature with honor you’ll fulfill your promise, if you’re not; you’ll betray me and it will weigh on your heart for the rest of your life,” he looked at me with a hint of more respect in his eyes. He was about to hand the gem back to me when I waved him off.

“Keep it. I have to save my family. A brown horse and a pink pony. Ready?” His jaw dropped open at my mention of what my little family was. “What, were you expecting them to be humans? The only humans I need are in my squad. They’re as much my family as my daughters are.”

The look on his face went from shock to stern. With a nod he opened and slowly flapped his wings, taking to the sky above me by about fifty feet.

The stables were simple enough. Several houses worth of space and stalls with ponies and horses lined against the mountain wall. Most of them were asleep, except for one that was mumbling, sadly.

I know that voice.

“M-Mocha?” I heard Lom ask as I approached her. A smile crossed her muzzle and I calmly walked to her stall, unhitched the latch, and she took a few steps out. I took a knee and we hugged, tightly.

“I know you can’t understand me, but I’m so glad to see you. I think we should learn the same language. It’ll fix this issue.” She looked at me and smiled, nuzzling me as I stood and held my arms like I was holding a baby. Her brow furrowed but she nodded. With a nicker she turned and began trotting ahead.

Looks like she knows where she’s going. Shouldn’t be too hard to find a pink pony in this place.

Chapter 31

“Well, shit.”

I turned a corner and saw five guards running down hill towards me, us. Lom and I. Weapons ready and then they saw us. I played to soldier card.

“Guys, I got the alert, what’s going on?!”

They stopped, panting lightly to address me. “That guy broke out, Solid Snake style, KO’d some kid, then ran for it. You see anything, call ops asap. Heard?”

“Heard that, I’m going ahead, I’ve gotta report in, then I’ll join y’all in a minute or ten.” A nod between us all and they passed me and Lom. They didn’t even shoot her a look. “Lom,” I looked at her confused expression. We shared a smile then trotted quicker up the next bend to find a dock.

An airdock, that is. For the blimp, or whatever it was, to dock at. Unguarded and unimportant. I took the rope from my wrist and called to Lom, then loosely tied it to her. I kissed the top of her head. “We got lucky, let’s keep going.”

She nodded as I gave her a slight shove. She led the way to a large house with a cloud, a superimposed with a unicorn horn. Lom stopped and pointed a hoof ahead of us. “Hurt.”

“Ah, I get it. Let’s go get ‘er.” We approached the clinic to be stopped by a bird tweet. I looked to my friend in the clouds, since we were too high for birds to just be chirping about at random. I waved him down and he tossed me the gem.

“I listen to your plan. Foalish. You cannot attack a clinic in honor. You can not kill those that are unable to fight.”

I looked at him incredulously tossing the gem back, he nearly missed but caught it. “I have no intention of harming anyone. I need to get my little girl, Strong Heart, then I’ll get outta here. If I come across my bodyguard then I’ll free him too. Do you have a plan to get me in there? If not, bug off.”

He sneered at me, but it was a pleasurable sneer, like a smile through hate. Weird. He threw the gem at me, really hard. I caught it, cutting my hand slightly on an edge.

“Fucker! What the hell? Goddamnit, that cut me you fucking…” I looked to my hand and the smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes and began to walk past him, tossing the gem to him and letting the rope fall to the ground. “Wait here, Lom,” I motioned for her to stay put, and I went inside.

The clinic was simple enough. A large two story house with medical charts of minotaurs here and there. The entrance was a room full width and about fifteen feet in with a waiting area and check-in. There was a long hall with six rooms, three on each side. The doors of rooms in use were closed. There were two closed doors. Those had to be it.

“Medic? I cut my hand being a dumbass.”

A woman in medical scrubs came from a room at the end of a hall. She looked at me and did a quick assessment as she walked up; authority and confidence in her job exuding from her.

“What’d ya do?”

“Cut my hand, just need a stitch. We’ve got an alert.”

“How’d you cut it,” she asked taking my hand and looking at my injury. Before I could say anything she slapped my hand with her other one. I yelped. “You are a dumbass. I’ll get you a bandaid, be right back.” She rolled her eyes and went into a side room.

Crap, maybe I can get in from the windows outside. Just then I saw a flash of light from the room she went in. Followed by a bird’s chirp. Jogging to the room I saw the pegasus’ cloud floating up. That son of a bitch.

I didn’t look a second longer, jogging to the next room, opening the door. Oh my. Not her, I closed the door as I saw a female soldier that had been beaten, asleep on her bed. My teeth ground together as I thought about finding the guy who did that, but I had other, more pressing issues.

The next room I found her. Asleep on an infant's bed. No plugs, monitors, tubes, or anything attached. I looked around the room quickly before I went in, there was a basket of vegetables and a note to feed her every four hours. I can do that.

“Heart, sweetie. C’mon, let’s get moving. We have to go. Can you hear me?”

She wiggled her ears, then stretched her rear legs. A cute little yawn squeaked out of her and she smacked her lips. Her eyes fluttered open in the most adorable of ways and she rolled to her belly.

“Zrny?”

“Heart, it’s me,” I said happily. She looked at me, groggily, and a smile crossed her face.

“Mocha?”

Her voice was music to my ears. Her mane had been trimmed, as was her tail. She looked good in short hair. It seemed they had some nanotech, it’d healed a couple scars on her flanks, making them look like she’d never been hurt.

I almost felt a pang of guilt.

If they could heal her scars, maybe. No, no maybe. No maybes. If I leave her she’s as good as dead. Slavery will claim her again. Maybe she’ll be kept as a pet. Not a life to live. Not for her. Not for me. I had a moment of realization then. Or me. Spending a life in servitude to a country. Just another form of slavery, no more.

“C’mon, we’re going.” I grabbed the vegetable basket in my left hand then gently picked her up.

I made it outside and sighed. Eight guards were pointing weapons at me. Machine guns, mostly.

“Specialist Mocha. Says here you’re armory. Is that right?” He asked walking around me with a datapad in his left hand.

I looked at the sergeant and huffed. The small room I was in was once a child’s room, I could tell from the decorations that were left up. I struggled against the duct tape binding me to the three legged chair I was on.

The room was lit with a few candles against each of the five walls in the, otherwise, bright room.

“I have nothing to say to you. Let us go.”

He looked down to me as he stopped by my left side. “You attacked and rendered two soldiers unconscious. One with a concussion. The other has burns from the taser you used. The nurse you tasered is still unconscious and we’re not going to waste time trying to find your weapon or where you got it.

You got help from somewhere and I want to know who they are. If you tell me, I’ll make sure they go easy on you. Apparently, you’re some kinda hero amongst the local troops. The women especially. Something about you being so resourceful, saving a little pink prissy pony instead of yourself,” he shouted at me, “instead of yourself. Does that sound about right?”

I glared at him as he walked around me, behind this time, I turned to face him.

“I found her, saved her from slavery. She’s a daughter to me and I was and am willing to die for her to live a life free of slavery. I would have given her what water I had if you’d given us a drop in that cell.”

“That wasn’t a cell-”

“It was the only place I’ve seen in this whole city with a metal door! Solid granite walls, dirt and hay floor. A bucket for us to shit and piss in. Obviously a five star hotel, my mistake.”

I braced myself, he raised his hand for a strike. It didn’t come.

“You, were misplaced.”

“Mis-fucking-placed?! You nearly killed her. One more day and I’d have had no choice. I’d have had to do something so horrible and vile,” I spit at him, “and to her. The first one to actually love me in my life. I’d have had to eat my own family to survive?”

The look he gave me was nothing short of shock.

“If I’d have had to do that, every. Single. One of you would be dead,” I glared at him before turning forward again. It hurt to twist to see him. I just growled at the floor in front of me.

“Well, the important thing is that you didn’t have to. Who, um, w-who helped you? Who gave you the taser?”

I tensed and growled louder. “You almost took away everything in my life. My family, my sanity, my humanity. And you want me to turn over and let you rub my belly; just so you can look good in your next review?”

“Look, son-”

That was it. The second I lost it. I never had a father, my mother made it clear that I was a droughter’s debt and that’s all I was. Having some asshole a few years older than me call me ‘son’ was the last I could take. I braced my feet on the ground and pushed, arcing my head back.

The sound of his face cracking was a horribly satisfying crunch. I landed on him and the chair cracked at just the right place for me to pull my arms free. Sure, I broke a pinkie in the process but I was starting to stand up, didn’t matter.

He was groaning on the floor, holding his face while I stood over him. “Sir, you can fuck yourself,” I kicked him in the belly, “and I will never betray my family and friends,“ another kick. I could hear people approaching, “and I’ll save my family no matter how many times you catch us!”

I fell back onto my butt and rolled to my stomach, hands still behind my back, and waited.

The door was knocked in, and I felt a knee in my back, between the screaming of ‘stay down’, and ‘don’t move’. Which was ironic since I was doing that when they came in.

I was done talking. Done playing their games. Done with it all. It was time to go.

Chapter 32

“So, then what happened?” she asked me. A little tension had returned to her posture and voice. A moment before I was a cute stallion defending his filly, now I’m a brute that was fighting my own kind.

“Well, how about we take a break? I need a snack, want anything?”

“No, I want to know what happened next,” she replied sternly.

“Look, lady-”

“My name isn’t ‘Lady’.”

“Whatever,” I dismissed her with a wave of my hoof, “wanna apple?”

“Wait, what’s my name?” she asked me, all indignantly, like she was all high and mighty all of a sudden.

“Harpo, relax. I know you fine.”

Her eye twitched as she lowered her quill and paper to the seat by her. “Harpo?”

“Look, we slept together last night, and it was special and all, but I-”

“HARPO?! You think my name is that… That… That?!”

I was sitting across from her in the increasingly small room, I watched as her horn fired up, almost literally. She concerned me for a moment, and that doesn’t happen easily. Females, am I right?

“My. Name. Is. LYRA!”

I sat, stoically, as she threatened to let loose the arcane energies, unchecked from a hormonal surge, the power I could see was enough to ravage the entire car to nearly shreds if she knew how to focus it. As it was, all I saw was a pretty light show and a decent breeze. Intimidating to those who aren’t as, hmm, ‘well versed’, in the arcane arts.

“Okay, fine, ‘Lira’, my bad.” I wanted to egg her on, just to see. If she had a fire in her heart she had potential. She didn’t disappoint.

At that moment, that I pronounced her name as “Leer-uh” she took that as a focal point. I saw the energies focus to a nice, fine, coalesced point of energy just to the left of her horn. A sign she wasn’t in control of the energy that was being drawn by the right side of her brain.

That meant she was being more primal. Emotional. Protective. Proud of her heritage and name, most likely. That meant loyalty, to a point, to her family... But that wasn’t pressing. At least, not at the moment.

I closed my eyes and viewed the world through shadow sight, a special place few can view, that allows more details on the thaumic properties and effects of the world around me. I saw the usual pings of unicorns using magic all around. The dull steady ‘hum’ of earth ponies on the train.

A group of Pegasi on the train. What I focused on was the mare in front of me.

The magic in her was following the usual paths; from her heart and branching out through most of her body in a conduit of sorts, ending at her horn. Not much to magic at this level. What caught my mind’s eye was the energy.

It was being taken from the aether directly outside her horn, not through her body the usual way.

“Enough,” I said flatly, inhaling deeply.

“W-what happened?!” she asked looking around as the air stilled and her neck wobbled from the sudden loss of energy.

“I won’t have you going all ‘heat crazy’ and hurting somepony.”

She narrowed her eyes and grumbled something inaudible.

“I blocked the magic to your horn, silly filly.”

Her mouth opened, a look of shock crossed her face and she tried to sit up. Tried; operative word.

“W-what? Y-you can’t stop magic. No pony can.”

I had to smirk. I hadn’t heard that for ages. I ruffled my mane and looked back to my tail.

“Who ever said I was a pony?”

I let that sink in for four seconds before her notepad and quill levitated and began to write again. She was startled. There was no aura surrounding it.

“So, let’s continue where we left off. I’m feeling better than I have in centuries talking about all this! Sure, getting to this point was a bit slow; but let’s just get some story happening. Enough ‘character building’... for now.

“I was in their clutches, and now we both knew what their game was.”

They picked me up and hauled me from the room, out into a short hall, and out the door. Face met dirt and rock. It hurt. A lot. I leaned my upper body up a bit so I could look ahead of me, blood in my left eye from one of dozens of small cuts across my face. Two guards to my front plus the two that got me from the room.

I let my face fall into the dirt and groaned. Feigning pain and or agony was always effective. I was trained for worse than what these softies were doing. I’d watched entire seasons of anime, where everyone loses at the end.

‘There are four lights’ was what I said during annual interrogation resistance sessions.

“Please, don’t hurt me. I-I don’t know what’s going on. I just panicked, please. Let me go,” I nearly cried out.

Whining like a weenie helps too. I had nearly bunched the tape into an unbreakable but mobile rope on my wrists when I was picked up by my collar and pulled by the two soldiers that were in front of me. I whimpered and whined as they drug me toward the cliff edge.

My legs were freely dangling behind, just dragging along. They didn’t expect when I stepped one foot to the ground and kicked forward, right between the two holding me, sending them stumbling forward ahead of me over the ledge to the next lower path. I turned and bounced and rolled down the hill on my side for the fifty to eighty foot mostly slanted drop.

I mentioned I was on a mountain, right? Because those have a lot of sharp rocks that cut. Not so many where the cliff face was leveled, but enough.

Landing on one of the guards with the utmost luck, I heard a crunch from his body. A few more bones were broken when I landed on him and I grinned darkly. I rolled off him and looked around to see the back of houses, just like the ones I’d escaped before. The creativity of minotaurs was a lost cause.

I sat up and spat out a tooth chunk, maybe, three. Mostly from my left side, which I could live with until I got to a medic, healer, or whatever. I heard shouting and the squawk of a radio echo from above. Time was short.

I felt around the guys almost lifeless body and got a knife, I grabbed his weapon, a decent, post wars, high caliber weapon with enough rounds to make me smile. I grabbed the strap in my teeth and pulled it free from him, sucked my head into the strap, and stood up. I was sore, as you’d expect from somepony who rolled down a rocky hill.

His friend was dead, landed on his head and rolled over himself like a caramel roll.

But, I was alive. And pain is your best friend if you’re alive, because it reminds you that you aren’t dead, yet.

I began to trot, um, jog between the houses while trying to get that damn knife to cut the tape without cutting myself. I heard hoofsteps and knew it was now or never. I braced myself and just cut the damn thing.

I restrained myself from screaming in pain, as I’d filleted a nice bit of flesh and a little muscle from the inside of my right arm, just at the joint.

“I ain’t got time ta bleed,” I growled as I grabbed the rifle. The bleeding was steady but a slow ooze. I’d have a few minutes to get to a place to start patching myself up. Hell, they had nanotech, maybe I’d get lucky and fall onto a nano-kit and get a full heal.

What? Story too grotesque for your pony mind? Just you wait.

I held the rifle at the ready as I reached a window. I peeked inside and saw a nice room. Something you’d see if you went to visit an aunt’s house. I opened the window and went it, closing it behind me. I took the knife that was now reddened across it’s black blade with my blood and looked at my wound.

A flap of skin was dangling, hanging on for what little it could do. Cutting it off stung like getting a bee sting in the plot hole.

I cut the quilt that was on the bed. A nice piece of it off, and wrapped my wounded wrist. Then I cut into the bed itself and used the stuffing to absorb some of the blood from my face and head cuts. I was on my way to being a full blown emergency self medic.

I tied a strip of the darkest part of the quilt into a bandana with stuffing over my forehead and cracked my neck side to side.

I’m coming, girls.

I opened the door slowly and checked the hall.

Silent night.

I saw a silhouette pass the front window.

Holy night.

Then I saw another passing the first.

All was calm.

I lined my shot and pulled the trigger.

The flash was bright.

A lot of shouting and the blissful sound of rifles shooting blindly into the house.

They took my family.

I fell to the floor and laid in a prone position, tracing the path the bullets tore into the house from the lights they were using and the damage being done. Even the dust in the air was a tell.

And they thought they were right.

I began shooting through the soft wooden walls of the house, out toward where the soldiers should have been.

For their actions.

The world was silent again, save for groans of pain from outside the front of the house.

I will slay them all tonight.

I rolled to my side and aimed blindly, firing a shot at the window behind me that I’d entered the home through. Just on a gut feeling. A round discharged. I grinned at my sly action. I sat up and turned back to the front door, hitting the room door closed behind me so I could focus on the front of the house.

Taking a quick rush, I went to a window by the main door and peeked out, very cautiously.

They were all down. Five soldiers were down. Dead or wounded I didn’t care. I meant what I’d said.

I grabbed a loose chunk of wood that was from one of the walls that broke free when they were shooting. I tossed it out and waited. The telltale crunch of boots on rocky dirt. I raised the weapon again and took aim.

It was the new sergeant from before. I had her dead to rights. I could have taken her out of the world right then and there. I squeezed the trigger and her lower leg, just above the ankle, exploded from beneath her. The sound she made made me cringe. The blood curdling scream of pain, fear, panic.

Two of the men from earlier were with her. I aimed and shot one in his outstretched arm, he was pulling her, now he was in the same boat. The last guy. Mr. Drunkass, panicked and ran away. Leaving his friends behind. He fell, but he wasn’t going to get up ever again.

“Never leave a fallen comrade, asshole!”

With that little bit of sage advice I opened the door and began running toward the injured duo.

“Get medical help, you don’t need to die for their mistakes.” They were going into shock. “You’ll live. Get to medical, get some nano on your wound and they may save your leg. Your BF is on his own. I’ve got a horse and pony to save.”

She gave me a look of curiosity as the blood drained from her face and I turned to leave her. I picked up both their weapons and took out the ammo clips, dropping the empty rifles a few paces uphill from them.

“New tech, quality stuff too. Must be a hundred rounds in these things. What the hell was I issued?” I asked as I took to a steady jog again.

More importantly, why are these weapons so neat? As an armory tech I should have come across these, or something like them. Even in the hushed whispers of rumors.

I looked at the weapon closely in the moonlight. It was a rough polished charcoal black. A digital readout on the side by the stock read how many of what type of rounds were chambered. The sights were variable between iron sight, holographic, and full 20x zoom. It was nearly two feet in length and made from some alloy.

It was nearly as heavy as any smaller rifle I’d used but it’s power was far above them. Maybe a heavy weapon could best this thing. Maybe. There were things about this that I had no idea about yet.

If I had my implants I could interface with it, maybe, and figure it out in a few seconds. As it is, I’ve gotta learn the old fashioned way.

My wrist and flared with pain with every heartbeat. I could still taste blood in my mouth, and the weight of actually having killed one person for certain was starting to weigh on me.

I began to wonder about what I’d done. Who I’d taken from the world, what could he have offered the future of us all? I couldn’t push all the thoughts aside, but I was trained to carry out the mission so I silenced them, somewhat.

I came upon the stables again. Guarded by three this time. Armored up too. Luckily the new weapons were heartier than the classics I had. Switching to a more damaging round I took aim and walked up into view.

“Lower your weapons or he dies,” I said calmly.

They all raised their weapons to me. I trained my sights on the chest of the center soldier. If I killed him, they’d have to shoot at me, giving me a chance to dodge and shoot one of them. Then while the last one is stunned from his friends being dead...

“I’ve got a D.U. loaded and I will fire. Give me my horse, Lom, and I’ll be on my way to get my pony. Then you’ll never hear from me again.”

They had a chat inside their helmets, maybe with Ops.

“Mocha, you are requested to lower your weapon and submit to reconditioning.”

That’s more like it. A little honesty through the lies.

“You have until I count to five. Hair trigger. Aimed at his chest. If I hit him, he’s dead no matter what. Once I hit him I’ll shoot you,” I nodded to the soldier to his left, “then you,” I nodded to the soldier on his right.”

They reacted by moving back. I’d already taken down a squad and I had a radioactive bullet ready to fire. The DU is a radioactive element that’s bonded to a round. It’ll melt through armor and irradiate whoever it hits. I was on the offensive and they weren’t what I was expecting.

“Who are you all?” I asked switching the round to an airburst. I didn’t know I had those. Three of them and these guys were close enough for me to concussions blast them all in one shot.

Yeah, I’m gonna talk about things you don’t understand. Hush, let me remember. It’s so nice to reminisce.

They didn’t answer. They were weak and soft. Whoever they were, they weren’t trained for active combat. Maybe some modern first world country that was on the cusp of a golden age that had their renewed tech and vigor do their fighting. Who cared?

“Last time, my horse. My pony. Now.”

They tightened their hold on their weapons. A sign they were hoping to get the initiative.

I pulled the trigger. I felt the slight kick from the weapon as the round left the clip and chamber. I watched as, in less time than I had to register the event, the round exploded dead center mass on the center guy and I saw a shockwave emanate from where he stood, taking down the other guards.

I was flung back onto my ass, I covered my ears and shouted. The concussion was heavier than I expected and it hurt. A lot. Those three were guaranteed dead, and I was probably deaf in my left ear, but whatever.

Still alive. Gotta get ‘em.

I stood after a minute of gathering my wits and stopping the world from spinning. I would have thrown up but that was one skill I had. I could stop myself from vomiting. Usually.

I held the rifle tight as I stood, a bit hunched, and began trudging toward the stables.

Shit…

Lom wasn’t there. If she was she’d be one of the dead or panicking horses that was probably going to be suffering from hearing loss for the rest of their short lives.

It broke my heart, but I had my mission. I turned and ran past them, higher up the hill. I climbed a ladder that took me up to the next level. Nothing new. The next ladder took me to a row of colorful houses.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw clouds moving, pegasi watching the carnage, no doubt.

Blue house. In sight.

I took aim and fired a round into the houses two spaces away on either side. The explosion shattered them. Screams of agony and pain. Fear. The majority of his soldiers were in those houses. It was too easy. They were making the most basic mistakes. What kind of soldiers were these?

I took a knee and looked around. Scanning for movement.

Almost there. This Chin guy had better be easy going. I didn’t want to kill him too.

Mountain Peak

I sat there, crouched, waiting for anything to happen for a long time. Could have been thirty seconds, could have been two minutes. Time changes when you’re in battle. And I couldn’t get past the thought that it was just too easy. Not even in some of the movies I’d watched had the hero gotten so many lucky shots.

So few guards. So little skill. What the hell was I up against? Like a terrible AI in a game. AI? Alive technology. Hush, I’m telling.

So, I was crouching… Then, oh yeah. Okay, so, I get up, rifle at the ready, cheek to stock, finger on the trigger. There are several houses between me and the blue one. So, I go to the first one and sneak along the porch, peek in the window, and see… a cowering human family.

Three women huddled over several children. They all start crying as I walk by.

Same for the next couple houses. Families, sometimes a couple groups huddled together in the living room. I began to wonder how many were in the other rooms of these houses. Was I the bad guy? No, I had a simple mission.

I got to the house that I’d blown up. Several soldiers lay, mostly in pieces, across the main room. I froze in my tracks, so to say. I also saw a large group of, erhm, I’m sorry. Uh, I saw a large group of dead children. Yes, I’m guessing the soldiers were trying to guard them.

The next thing that went through my mind was how long it’d take this many children to grow to such an age. I was missing something; something big.

I made it to the blue house. There was a guy in uniform, back to me, and holding a knife. He had to be the guy in charge. I turned and kicked in the door, leveled my rifle at him, and waited.

“I-I’m s-so sorry… I didn’t mean it, she was supposed to be a bargaining chip!”

“What the hell are you-” I stopped and looked at the knife. There was blood along the tip. He hopped to his feet and fled into a side room and there she was. Strong Heart, on the floor. A small pool of blood under her, and a stab mark in her chest.

I heard a heavy door open, heavy and metal. I stood at that damned doorway for too long before I dropped the rifle and ran to her. Her little form looked so delicate. Like she was asleep, just waiting for me to nudge her awake.

I spent too much time crying over her before I picked her up. That broke me, my mind. My sanity. They wanted me to break. They got it. It got a bit fuzzy after that. I know I picked her up and then I ran outside and popped the four explosive rounds, not concussion, at the mountain wall by the door, destroying its hinges. Then I was inside a tunnel, into the mountain. Then I fired a shot and it took of, most of his leg.

I don’t know what came over me on that mountain, but I wasn’t me. I remember him begging for mercy, then his head exploding after I shot him. The terrible ringing in my ears from the reverberation from the gunshots finally caught up to me.

It didn’t matter. Every person on that mountain was dead. Me too. I was broken. I lost my reason to fight. Wherever they’d taken Lom, I wouldn’t ever see her again. I hugged Heart and just kept walking deeper into the mountain, however it wasn’t dark.

There were powered gems the whole way, they were light blue and flickered. I remember that because once I reached the end I saw an enormous cavern. What was more interesting, was that in the center was a large bomb. Specifically, as I recalled, the Genesys bomb.

The accursed weapon that sent me here.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” a man’s voice boomed, the echo resounded for a minute.

It resumed at a quieter tone. “Yeah, well, volume was a bit high. Welcome to the project.”

“What project?”

“You’ve been here for a few months; some of us have been here for years. Time doesn’t move in a straight line when you’re being ripped apart between realities. This was to be our way home. We were gathering families and soldiers to send home. Maybe to find a way to get us all home.

“Now, thanks to your Rambo tactics, almost everyone is dead and the bomb is without purpose. So,” he stopped and I heard a click, “time to go home, or die trying.”

“Then that was it.”

Lyra, I finally knew her name, had taken the quill and paper back and was writing again, albeit wearily. “So, then what?”

“That was it, I said. I died with Heart in my arms. Pretty unceremoniously, to be honest.”

“What? That doesn’t make sense. How are you here when you died then? I thought you were immortal.”

“I am and I did.”

“I-I don’t get it. Can you, elaborate,” she said hesitantly.

“Okay, remember what I said about time being meaningless between realities?”

She nodded, looking at me curiously.

“Well,” I continued, “it was a gift and curse, I guess. The bomb worked, only this time it was a bit different. This time, it’d happened here,” I gestured to the window as the terrain, while still vibrant and green with luscious, delicious life in all its beauty, was beginning to become hilly, with a few boulders scattered around.

“What’s that mean?”

“Heh, this world has magic and mine didn’t,” I looked out and remembered my earth. Sure, it was shitty, but I knew what to expect. “when the bomb went off, inside a mountain full of arcanacite, something changed in me. Well, those of us who lived through my rampage, anyway.

I woke up in what is now Canterlot. More like ‘Rubble-a-lot’,” I chuckled, “it was just a blank mountaintop, leveled off from the explosion and it was cold, given the height, even it seeming to be mid afternoon.

I was wearing heavily scorched clothing but I wasn’t broken or bleeding.

“So, you survived thanks to the latent magic?”

“Let me explain.”

Author's Note

Short chapter. Next will make ya go 'huh'.

Well, um...

The world seemed a bit duller. Like, it wasn’t as colorful. I could hear a bit better too, given the fact that I was in a massive explosion and was alive I’d think I’d have been deafened a bit. But, overall I was okay.

I heard light sobbing to my side and turned. A b-e-a-utiful girl, must have been around fifteen or sixteen, was laying on the ground. She was naked, lighter skin, light blonde red hair.

“Are you okay?” I asked looking to her. She moved really awkwardly, like she was trying to crawl like an infant.

Awkward view! Don't look into the tunnel...

She turned half way so I saw her from the side. Couldn’t help but notice she had nice boobs and a body shape that worked on so many levels. Then I saw her face. She was so sad. Her blue eyes were almost red with tears and her face was just… Yeah, I thought she’d seen me kill her family or something. Especially when she looked at me.

Lust was gone, broken heart; active.

“Huh?” she said between sniffles.

“I-I said, asked, um, are you okay?” Yeah, I was smooth. Well, it’s not like I was looking for a lay! I was actually really concerned that a girl was crying. That’s when shit got real.

“M-Mocha? I-is that you?”

I know that voice.

“Heart? Is that you?”

We looked at each other then smiled, quickly it turned to a grin and we both scrambled to get to each other. We failed miserably. See, I was a pony now. She was a human. We had no idea how to move or do anything in such different bodies.We didn’t know how to do anything with our limbs.

I’ll cover the swap in a few minutes, just be patient.

We laid on the ground, both of us mere length apart and smiling to each other. We both knew we had no idea what happened but that didn’t matter much; we were alive. Heh, and again things just fell into the right place. I couldn’t make it up better if I was writing a fairy tale, or whatever.

“Hey, human. Glad to see some of you lived. That dark one killed all the others, you got lucky,” a pegasus said lowering a cloud she was perched on with a few steady flaps, “and you, Mud Pony, get out of here before I zap you,” she said mirthfully. A few giggles from other clouds gave her ego a boost.

“Hey, go fuck yourself,” I scolded her, lifting my head and scowling. It was so different lifting my head as a pony. The neck alone was so long I could barely keep my head from wobbling. That actually worked out because a few other pegasi came by on their clouds and surrounded us.

“We have injured survivors, we have to get them to their healers. Pegasi, let’s go,” another mare shouted with authority. It seemed a whole cloud, a big one, fell at once around us. In the fogginess that was the cloud I felt myself being lifted by soft hooves and held tightly as I was raised to the top of the cloud.

“Mud Pony, speak to us like that again and you’ll slip from our grasp,” their commander said firmly. She was a blue mare with a white mane and she meant business. I nodded and chose to not move. The knowledge I just died and was reborn as a pony was enough to make me terrified as to what might happen next.

What if I died permanently? What if I turned into a female? What if I was a female now? As my mind ran through various scenarios I was taken from the mountain and they began to descend the fast way to the city below. I tried to get a good view but my head was kinda floppy, like I was a newborn foal.

I heard Heart scream as she was raced down past me. She was loving it. The rush of falling, not my thing. Give me a parachute and a two hour descent over a HALO any day.

She got to the lower city a few minutes before me, but they were still holding her, asking for directions to the healers. By the time I got to their level they were at the point where they were threatening any minotaur that passed. They had Heart covered in a cloud, so she wasn’t exposing her nudity to the world.

I thanked them for that, but they didn’t understand why I, a Mud Pony, cared about the clothing habits of a ‘human’.

We finally got an answer and were taken to a clinic somewhere in the city. Most of the city was at arms, ready for battle and preparing to charge the mountain to take it back. I saw whole families with children as young as those in diapers with weapons.

That wasn’t my problem right at the moment though. My thoughts were on why in tartarus I was a freaking pony. It made no sense. I didn’t have magic, the bomb should have at least killed us by rubble, and what about getting home? Shouldn’t I be alive back on earth? Or just plain old, I dunno, dead?

Before I knew it I was lowered to the ground in front of the clinic, where I simply laid down. They at least had the decency to fly Heart into the clinic. A moment later two minotaur males came running out and began to look me over, talking basic medical stuff and asking me questions.

Wait, how am I understanding them and they me?

I remember specifically thinking as I was carefully picked up and carried inside. They took their jobs seriously; a very disciplined and dedicated people, those minotaurs.

So, I’ll skip ahead a bit and skim the deets.

We got checked in, we were fine, medically, and they didn’t believe we body switch story so they checked us out. We got a scan by a unihorn doctor and they didn’t even comprehend us changing bodies, much less species so specifically, not even a whisper of a myth.

They contacted Rus and he had Lom, happy reunion with hugs and giggles. Rus and Lom were, to say the least, amazed that we were alive and then there was a comical round of laughs and questions as to why the heck we weren’t us. Rus had taken Lom when I was captured and the mules too.

My armor was taken by the humans, whatever. It was just tech. Back to the tale.

Lom spent an hour sniffing and poking me, asking me questions and then addressing Heart with a little more caring and understanding. While we were in the clinic, before we were ushered out for being crazy but not in need of medical attention, Rus took us in.

Rus had a new shelter outside the walls as the city was being checked and looked over by mages, builders, sellers, and any creature looking to exploit the situation that came rushing in, as well as a half dozen other species that thought the mountain had turned into a volcano and were there to pray.

Only about a thousand lives were lost from falling debris, which is a miracle, by any standards.

Took me two days to learn how to stand correctly, and her four days! I didn’t know it’d be so hard to learn how to stand, of all things. Rus made sure to take us outside to an outhouse to let us relieve ourselves. It was a great help being with him. I never knew he was such a kind heart. His parents were very good doctors, what a cliche.

For us. eating was easy enough, we both ate vegetarian food, but she had to eat more soft greens since humans can’t digest an herbivore diet.

“So, Mocha the Pony?” he laughed heartily as he opened the door to his small wooden shelter after a day of exercise that consisted of us crawling successfully for a hundred feet, or so. Without Rus’ generosity we’d be in a cart full of asylum bound creatures to ‘get better’.

So, I was more than willing to put up with his poking fun.

“Yeah, Rus the Minotaur?” I replied looking at the classic panelled door with a rope to open and close it.

“Nothing, I simply like to remind you of your new status in life, Mocha the Pony,” he replied quickly, smiling at me.

I looked to Heart to my right, we were in race with our species appropriate wheelchairs, hers let her use her arms to move and I had my rear legs supported in a harness with a set of wheels on it. I didn’t have as much trouble moving my front legs. You know, it’s just moving in the rhythm that makes it hard to learn.

She smiled back at me. She was wearing a dress, light yellow and she was so beautiful. I won’t lie, even though she was family, I had a bit of a crush.

“What?” Heart asked me, snapping me out of my moment where I was lost in thought.

“Oh, uh, nothing. I was just wondering how long we’ll be like this.”

“Oh, well. I don’t know. Maybe forever,” she said looking to the ground in front of her while she forced her arms to move the wheels, “ maybe not. Daddy, why do I have red hair now?”

I smiled at her as I planted my front right hoof and pulled myself that much closer to the open doorway, she was keeping pace with me though in a little race we were having.

“I honestly don’t know. Just like how we can talk now without our necklace gems. I’m just glad you’re okay; if you had stayed… you know, not alive. And I didn’t, what I did; then, I just don’t know.”

“I’m glad too. ‘Cuz now, I have a daddy and he’s a pony now too, even though,” she said smiling sweetly and giving another shove forward, “I’m not a pony,” then a big smile crossed her face as she looked at me. I had a bad feeling about what she was thinking. “Now I get to carry you.”

I sighed, she was right. A pony on this world is so tiny compared to a human. Worse yet, what if I liked it as much as she did? Not very masculine to be treated like a small pet.

“Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Until then, I have you and Lom to teach me to walk and you have me and Rus. We’re in a good place rig-”

“Mocha!” I heard a scream as I was tackled to the ground and out of my wheelchair by my little Lom.

“Lommie,” I said giggling as she attacked me with kisses and nuzzles. She was, a bit excited, to see I was a pony now. “Stop, c’mon,” I said pushing her back with my hooves.

“You were gone big that time. I miss you and Heart,” she leaned close to my ear, “and Rus, a little too.”

“I know, can you help me up? I should try walking a bit on my own anyway, and it’s great to see you too.”

After the whole mountain thing where I was attacked by a pegasus, after she was ordered to, they had no want or use for the mules, Rus, or Lom. So, they let ‘em go. Bastards got what they deserved, I still say.

Granted, it wasn’t my intention to blow the top off a mountain, which I didn’t. Bu~t, it turns out hero worship can be a great thing. I just didn’t get a chance to see him amidst the crowd of upset locals that were very... unhappy that their iconic landmark and many of their homes were gone.

They needed someone to blame, so we got a move on. This was about two days we were at Rus’ shack. So, four days after I died and came back a pony, for the first time, I was on the run for my life. I was the one they blamed and I wasn’t in a hurry to die again.

I don’t remember if it hurt, but what would I come back as if I was killed? It was all just a string of thoughts I had while sitting in the back of the cart with Heart as Rus ran with the mules to get us out of the area late at night. I was scared, we all were. But, turns out, it was the start of a great friendship and family.

Sadly, there was a major problem to the land that we were going to be blamed for before too long. The first, ever, pony war.

Chapter 2

The alarm was blaring through the speakers like it did every freaking day in my room. Room, more like cell. I rolled to my right side and opened one eye before reaching to the nightstand and pressing a button on it. The cold metal stung my hand for an instant before the alarm stopped and my TV turned on.

I loved to wake up like this, but Cadence hated it. She grunted and pulled the covers over her head and mumbled something about hating my morning routine.

She was a beautiful woman. Light skin, long black hair, amazing ass, perfect C cups, just enough to grab but… Anyway, she was great and all mine. I looked over to the TV, mere feet away and set into the wall, playing the required morning propaganda. “Our country is growing in strength thanks to us. Our dedication is the drive for our economy." Blah, blah, blah.

A minute later the routine ended and a guide channel showed up in monochrome black and white. I sat up and stretched. Looking to the right, I saw the remote on the nightstand and grinned. Reaching for it Cadence turned and lunged for my wrist. She’s a sergeant and it shows, she’s faster and stronger than most give her credit for.

“Turn on a cartoon and I swear you sleep alone tonight.”

I laughed. How can anyone not laugh? I looked back at her naked body under the sheets, her bare chest, and my smile turned to a wicked grin as she traced my line of sight.

“Yeah, every woman has them. Turn on the news and I might let you touch them,” she said softly as she batted her eyes at me.

I leaned down and wrapped my arm over her body as she let my wrist go. She rolled to her back and I kissed her lightly, while my other hand held the remote and typed in ‘363’. The sound in the room switched from kissing and light moaning from her to the slapstick sound effects of Tom and Jerry.

She looked at me with disgust as I sat up and laughed, hopping to the carpeted floor, and putting the remote behind me.

“Sorry, it slipped.”

She sat up and looked me over and now it was her turn to let a wicked grin plaster itself across her face. Then she looked behind me to the TV. The room was about the size of, well, I don’t know. A small shipping crate cut in half?

Tall enough to stand and stretch my arms all the way up and do a cartwheel and a half from end to end. It was home. She sat up and let the covers fall to her hips as she turned her face to a scowl, I knew what was coming next.

“Specialist, you will return that remote to me, get back into this bed, and cuddle me until it’s time to get ready for formation. Am I understood?”

“Sorry, the TV’s too loud. Can you say that again?”

A smirk showed for a second before she narrowed her eyes that trained forced anger military leaders get. Any other man would have done anything to get her to stop but, I’m not them.

“You will give me the remote or Ah’ll have ya whipped.” She squeezed her eyes shut at what she said knowing what I’d say.

“Whipped? Sergeant, that’s racist and I think I have to report you to the captain,” I said standing taller and almost at attention.

She groaned and fell back to the bed. “You’re an ass, you know that.”

“Yeah, but since I’m black you can’t do shit about it.”

She looked to the ceiling and placed a hand of her forehead, wiping a few hairs from her face before replacing the hand to her head. “You’re more of a mocha color, hot mocha, and for craps sake can we not play the race game today?”

I sighed and slumped my shoulders and returned to bed turning the remote to the TV and pressing ‘013’; the news. I hate how much I love her and the sacrifices I make.

“Ya know, you don’t have to sleep here. Your quarters are much more fitting for us to roll around in,” I suggested while leaning against her, staring at her dark hair.

She smiled and leaned up onto her elbow to look at the screen before she sighed. “I know that I say this a lot, but why don’t you just get promoted and move in with me? Bravo barracks would be glad to have you and,” she looked at me and spoke seductively with lidded eyes, “so would I.”

“You already have me, and I’m in no rush to command my own squad or platoon. I’m not in the mood to have piles of paperwork in front of me for hours a day, not to mention the stupid questions thrown at me like knives at a wall during training.”

Her face fell emotionless. “I wasn’t either, and the paperwork makes sure my soldiers get food and paid so they can have a butt as nice as yours,” she said smiling again and kissing the arm I was leaning on to stay upright on the bed, slightly over her. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Then it happened, the moment I feared every time it came up.

She lunged with her right arm and pulled me to the bed while starting to tickle me with her left. Naked or not, I was about ready to run out of the room. She knew just where to get me to make me giggle like a little girl and fight for my freedom from her tickling reign of terror.

I finally got free and fell, butt first, onto the floor with a heavy huff, gasping for air between girlish giggles before a stood up and put my hands on my hips. “That was manly and rugged, now where’s my logging axe?” I spoke in a deep baritone voice.

She laughed and rolled off the bed in front of me. I stood my ground as she reached down and caressed my… part, and leaned in, wrapped her other arm around me and kissed me lightly.

“You’re the manliest man that’s ever manned. I’m so lucky to be kept safe by you, but I’ve got your axe and I plan to use it.”

I gulped heavy and looked into her hazel eyes and blinked. She shoved me against the wall and against the screen, inlaid in the wall and covered with bullet proof glass, and glared at me.

“But,” she said breathily, “if I have to wake up to cartoons again; I’ll give you a week long dry spell.”

“Yeah, you can’t go twelve hours without sneaking a kiss, at least,” I winked, “and I know what it takes to moisten your towelette.”

She scoffed and looked at me with a confused look. “You are so stupid,” she said smirking and punching my arm. Darn she’s a lot tougher than she looks. I actually may get a bruise, but I won’t complain, it’s a love tap and I’ll tap her back before too long.

She turned and started picking up her clothes off the floor and I was really tempted to do something right then and there but I decided not to. Waiting can be a blessing sometimes. I thought as she stood up and looked back to me with a wink. She knew what I was thinking. We quickly got dressed and looked each other over, making sure our uniforms were spec before we looked to the door.

I turned off the news and replaced the remote on the nightstand as I felt her glare at me. I flinched at the thought and slouched my shoulders turning to my bed. Making it quickly I turned to her to see her shaking her head. I grumbled loudly and made my bed ‘properly’. She hugged me from behind and kissed my cheek. She smells so nice and is so soft.

We left together into the large empty warm metallic halls and sealed the door behind us then turned our own ways and went to our next locations. Her to some leadership staff meeting, or something, and me to my breakfast. Yum; slop.

Getting into the que I took my tray plus a few extras and handed them back to the thanks of the others.

“Hey jerkwad, ya gonna pass one more of them trays or ya too busy eatin’ all the good food?” a male with a spanish accent said .

A few people laughed and I rolled my eyes and head to him. “No comprendo por favor.”

That line always gets a huge laugh. Pretending to be ignorant is always funny.

“Hey Reece, I can’t hear you from that far behind me. Speak up,” more giggles, since he’s shorter than average at five foot three.

“Esse, say what you want, but who’s the one that tosses ‘chu like a leaf every time we spar?”

“Hey man, leaf the fighting alone.” I tell ya, I should get paid by the joke.

"Yeah, we'll see what you say when you're on the mat this afternoon, cryin' for me ta let ya go."

"Well, maybe I'll win this time," I said smugly.

"Maybe a monkey will fall outta my butt and do the mamba." Damnit, he's always winning.

“Soldiers!” A voice boomed from the side of the room. The whole hall snapped to attention and stood in place, trays level before us and all of us looking forward for where we were.

“I expect professional attitudes and conduct at all times, am I understood?”

That voice, the voice of the only leader in our battalion that worried me.

“Yes Colonel!” we all shouted in near perfect unison.

For a high ranking military man he was pretty cool, actually. But when he was around large crowds he was always a hard ass. Us older guys understood and acted afraid of him. Mostly because new ‘recruits’ would come in and start ‘volunteering’ as young as 11 years old.

Free labor from underage little people? It’s worked so far and all they do is run small errands for us. Unlike history books told us, they don’t work mines or do anything dangerous, I usually see a kid wiping glass or sweeping a floor. Simple work even I did at their age. Most of the time we don’t even notice them.

Like little robots full of happy energy. I remember being a child like them, free food and a place to live. The safety and security the military can provide while having a steady list of things to do and when to get them done by. Always different, always growing in challenge, always something to do.

Just what any kid needs.

I scoffed at the thought before I was bumped by some chick behind me with her tray. She was asian, short, and cute, I let my eyes trail her body for a fraction of a second before I turned forward and took a step ahead. She looked like a bitch and I was already with the perfect woman. Lee? What a typical name. Hush brain, don't make the same mistakes that started the wars. I turned and nodded to her, she sneered at me. Yup, bitch.

I smiled at the thought and how Cadence'd melt in my arms when I told her later of my loyalty, the passionate love we'd make, then my thoughts went to how tough she acted in the real world. It was always scary to watch her change from cuddlebug to hardened military leader as soon as we leave the room.

I shuttered at the thought of what she could do to me. As a soldier or as a lover.

The rest of the day was spent doing paperwork, standing in lines, doing laundry, exercising, and talking about whatever. Another day, just like thousands before it and what I believed would be thousands after.

Two days later everything changed.

Cadence and I woke up like any other day, I turned on the news since I wasn’t feeling like being silly out of respect. It was her time of the month and I knew not to push the limits so we looked to the wall and stared at the TV for what felt like half an hour. Images and news, unfiltered and full of graphic violence, as was the law, of people dying, being killed in firing squads, soldiers marching down a popular street in a major city.

At the top of the screen was a red banner that scrolled various stats of the conflict and, between every several stats, ‘WAR DECLARED’ was stated in flashing letters. We looked to each other and to the TV without talking, watching the events unfold until she jumped out of bed and clutched her hands together.

She grabbed her clothes and pulled her shirt and pants on, slipped on her boots without socks and grabbed my stunned ass by the shoulders and looked at me. I felt her hand buzzing. I looked to my shoulder and was about to say something sly before she kissed me, hard, held my face for a second then ran to the door, opened it, and left. The moment she looked at me before she left sent chills through me. She was afraid.

I looked out the door to a stream of soldiers running down the hall. One, a female, ran to my door and looked me over for a split second. “Get dressed, we’re at war!”

My mouth hung open and I started at the open door where she was a second ago, then hopped to it, shut it, then I got fully dressed as quickly as I could. I saw Cadence’s bra and socks still on the floor, pushed against the edge of my bed. For the first time that day I worried, but it wasn’t gonna be the last.

The first frontier

It wasn’t really a wall, per se, so much as it was an invisible force field. I stumbled back a pace but caught myself while the others rubbed their snouts. I walked to it and pressed against it forcefully to no avail. The others turned and bucked it to no avail. I punched it to no avail… I was getting upset cause I was running out of ways to use the phrase ‘no avail’.

Finally I placed my hands on my hips and considered my options. I could try to blast this thing but that’d be a waste of ammo. I could try to find a portal or opening but that was stupid. This thing could be miles, if not tens of thousands of miles long, given the size of the planet it could be larger.

Well, I could always turn back, that’d at least keep us in a forest, maybe there’s more intelligent life that may have seen my crew. I mean Skippy can’t have gotten that far if, if this was here when he was. But, that’s not a good idea. From what I saw the library was one of the only things there within the forest, as far
as they knew.

The forest was in the center of a large continent, one of thee that were all vertical and separated by oceans. The oceans were simply 1, 2, 3. The world was spherical and orbited a yellow dwarf star, like my own, and had six planets, Home being the fourth from the sun. The others were, again, numbered with ‘Home’ breaking the train only.

Each planet was unique in their own ways, but the first two worlds were rocks, the next world was too chaotic to let life flourish. I assumed, and still do, that solar radiation was the chaos. As for life, I don’t think it can hold life, but let them believe what they want. The other planets, 5 and 6, had several moons and were uninhabitable due to gravity and cold.

But, that’s getting into astrophysics. A fun hobby but not a fan, personally. I’ll just pretend to fly on a ship across the void and not think about how it works at… the… Sorry, I lost you again. I’ll just tell you about the other lands shortly.

Most other locations were estimates on the maps, like the gryphon kingdom and hawkins nation. They weren’t even given sizes since territories were constantly being won, lost, or disowned by their owners, reclaimed by the land, paperwork lost and feuds, or even legal work, holding ownership up. Sometimes entire cities would trade claws several times over a year without a drop of blood being shed.

Then there were the tundras of the north, dry deserts and savannahs to the south, and an ice cap at the north and south poles that were used for easier crossing of land borders than sailing across oceans with unknow sea life waiting to gobble a small ship once it crossed too far out.

Well, to the east was a settlement that we were going to and here I was. Uh, we were. I kicked some dirt at the blasted thing and watched as it passed through, no problem.

“Great! First major challenge, get past the bubble like grass. How do we do it guys?” I asked eagerly, faking enthusiasm.

“I not know, maybe Lom?”

“Hmm, food and dirt go through, maybe hide in food and dirt?”

Retalia laughed at her answer but my mind was turning out ideas hella quick. “I have an idea, good thinking Lom,” I said patting her head, “but we’ve gotta go back to the trees, cover up in leaves, er, your food, and dirt before coming back. We may just pass through.

So, to save obviousness, we returned a few hours later covered with dirt and mud, as well as leaves, twigs, I even grabbed a bush and put in on my armors head calling it my outside mane. They laughed like crazy, it was a good moment. Lom was about to go through by he stopped her, pushing a hoof through and grinning as he walked through it.

Lom followed and I took up the rear, stopping suddenly I began to pull heavily and stopped as Retalia returned through the field and laughed louder than I had heard him laugh before.

“What? What’s up? C’mon, tell me!” I shouted in desperation as Lom trotted back and began laughing.

“Mocha, you tail is stuck in water wall!” she giggled as she ran around me.

“Wha-?” I backed up and into the field and got out of my armor, walked around to see a spot of metal that was exposed on my rear where, apparently, Retalia had put a vine in a nook used to hoist my armor up for repairs, as a joke.

I had to laugh at the cleverness of his joke, but he’d knocked a patch of mud off and exposed that one part to the bubble thing that held us in. I looked up to see a beautiful day and rushed to cover the spot before the mud got too dry, reentered it, then walked through with them behind me.

That problem solved I had to think of a way to get back at Retalia but put a little more focus on the move ahead. I couldn’t spare more probes yet, so we’d have to go ahead blind. So to speak. The plains were wide and beautiful. The greenest grass I think I’d ever seen as far as I could see and wildflowers scattered across the entirety of it all of all colors.

The most vibrant painting ever couldn’t elicit the kind of feeling I’d had at the moment. I took several photos and realized something amazing and drastic. Something dramazing! I had no way to print the photos! I stared at the horizon and practically grit my teeth. When, not if, when my suit finally broke and I couldn’t take it all with me, how was I going to play these memories back?

Sure, the arm cannon and rifle were coming with me since they were modular, the helmet too, since it was slightly large but still light and full of scanners, and the memory crystals, but that was all I could scavenge. Those were all that would last of the thing. I was gonna look like an idiot too, if I wore it all.

I didn’t even include the bulletproof vest option since I didn’t think I’d be in the field this long, and without Techie… Whatever, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. This is amazing, if only I was a grass eater.

I didn’t know what herbivore was. I didn’t know everything, afterall. Even now I don’t, which I am totally okay with. No pony should know everything, or what’s the point of life?

So, we walked through the fields for a couple of days, the weather was nice enough and my suit did me the gift of giving me clean air, while the enchanted necklace gave me allergen and bacterial resistance. Just luck, not planned or fate. A lot of creatures that went to the library would carry germs that would make other creatures ill.

Also, there was a lot of dust, tree pollen, and stuff like that which would make some creatures ill. So, I guess it was kinda planned and maybe a bit of fate that I ended up there… I never thought of it that way. Huh.

On day four I had almost run out of toothpaste flavored health food in my suit and water was scarce out there so I was getting worried. Three more days and I’d be out of water, which by the way was just recycled pee. Yummy, I know... There were filters that cleaned it, yeesh, I didn’t drink it fresh. Ew. Why would you ask that?

Yeah, humans were weird by modern pony standards, but that didn’t mean we were that weird and gross.

So, here we are, back to the tale. Yay.

So, I did the unthinkable, I tried some grass. I had to try something or I’d be dying while they watched. I have to tell you, it wasn’t that bad. It was gross, kinda sweet, and chewing it turned it into a gooshy mush that turned my stomach, and I don’t think it held much nutritional value for a human, but it wasn’t too bad after that.

They were excited and pleased as punch I could finally eat with them… Once I ran out of food. Gods, what I prospect, a starving human eating grass to survive. I did have the option of being carried but it was kinda embarrassing to ask that. I’d save that for a later option.

While we trudged ahead it became really boring for us all. The scenery was always the same and the walking was making us take breaks more often, sometimes an hour, sometimes five. I had talked and listened to them all I could and even music and the occasional movie was getting boring.

The batteries were running down, even with the sun charging it, or should I say slowing the drain on the battery. It just kept getting better and better.

Finally a sign of hope, smoke in the distance. That wasn’t a coincidence, I got really excited and began talking of what it meant; food, water, creatures to trade with, maybe a mode of transportation or a map. Best of all a place to sleep for me, a real bed, or anything that wasn’t in that infernal armor or on the grass in its shadow.

I made haste, a full gallop! The air felt so good on my face, or that’s what Lom said when she ran back to me and tried to encourage me to move faster.

Another fourteen hours. Fourteen hours, of seeing hope on the horizon before I saw a small town creeping up on us. The closer I got the faster I wish I could have walked. Finally we got there, to the border. I was so excited to see another life that I marched right into town and found the main street.

It was a decent sized hamlet, smaller than Ponyville and had simple one story houses, a couple had signs over the entryways which I knew to be shops. An inn and a traveler's store were actually the only shops on main street. It’s kind of annoying how it’s called ‘mane’ street in Equestria now.

I saw doors slamming shut and window being closed as we approached, one horse to each side of me. A gryphon flew from a roof and landed in front of us.

“Creatures, why are you here? Trouble or trade?” she asked raising her right foreclaw a hoof length from the ground to show she was ready to fight.

I actived my external speakers. “Trade and a bed, if that’s not too much of a bother,” I stated flatly.

She growled and hissed at me, at the same time. “I am Rea, guardian of this town. You make trouble, you’re gonna leave in pieces.”

She jumped into the air and flew back to the building, which I noticed to be the sheriff station, but they were called guardians. Same concept, just how names changed over the years. No signage, only a set of three bars on the door.

I looked to my sides to see no horses, then turned to see them behind me, smiling sheepishly. “Scared a bit?”

“Yes, they hunt, eat Poh’Nee.”

“Well, not with me here,” I said raising my rifle and pointing it to the sky. “Boom, right?”

With a bit of confidence they took to my sides again as I made my way to the inn.

It was quaint by any standards and I was impressed to see a simple entryway with a table set a few paces inside the doorway. Two open rooms to the side led to what I assumed were a dining room and a social area. I could make out doors to either side in the back of each room as well.

I was still outside and had to make a choice; leave the safety of my armor and go in or sleep in it again. I took a few steps to the side, turned around, and opened it up, stepping out into the cool air.

I looked back to my armor and thought about Iron Man again. The armor was so similar that if it was possible I bet they could have been sued by the owners of the show; whoever that was. With a last motion of me placing my rifle inside I commanded it to shut. I watched it close from the outside for the first time since I bought it. Cool stuff.

The arms, legs, and torso were open while the helmet rolled back and was easily detachable from within. They folded closed and I heard a slight hiss as it pressurized.

With a bit of pride in my armor choice I turned and went inside the inn with the two in tow. They followed me in and I cleared my throat, then knocked on the table, and after what must have been a food minute called out.

“Hello? Anypony,” I mean, I called out, “anyone here? I’d like a room, I can trade some gems.”

A rustle came from a side room as my first pony came into view, an earth pony, poking its head slowly from around a corner and looking me over, then the two I was with. I smiled and looked to the neutral expressions of my friends, then looked back to where the pony was.

“I-it’s okay, I’m not a danger and my friends here are safe too. We just want a room to stay in until we figure out where to go next, a couple days at the most.”

I heard a deep sigh as the pony walked around the corner and cautiously approached the table with a book on his back. He was brown with a black mane, I remember, but I can’t recall his name. I think it was Josh, maybe Joey, whatever it was I took some solace in the familiarity of his name.

Yeah, get used to a lot of thing being different. Names, places, attitudes, a lot.

So, there I am, with two horses, dresses in combat greens, and a pouch in my hand.

“H-hello, guest. What have you to trade for your nights of lodging at my home?”

“Well, I got these gems from a goblin, I’ll trade you two yellow ones per day.” He took one look of them and his jaw almost detatched it opened so quickly. “In that case, one for a week?”

He looked to me and closed his mouth, wettened his mouth for a second or five of silence between us, before he spoke.

“T-thi-this’... A deal,” he said forcing a smile, still staring at the gem. Reaching his hoof up I bumped it and asked where my room was. He pointed to the door to the left. “Three rooms, they’re all yours, help yourself to anything else in the house too,” he said. I swear his eyes were twinkling.

I wasn’t a fool, I had to know how much these gems were worth. Once we got to a room we decided they would share I sat down with them in a semicircle and dumped out the gems and looked them over. I knew nothing about gemology but I knew my colors, and these were just colored rocks to me that were shiny.

“How much can these be worth? What if he was afraid of it and a mob is gonna form up around us? I think I’m gonna need a sidearm, just in case,” I said to the others who looked at me with curiosity, “it means a small boomer. Be right back,” I said gathering the gems and putting them in my other leg pocket, not the one that had the towel, the other one. Only two legs, remember.

So, I open the door and see the owner jump back, folding his ear down, the one that was pressed against the door trying to listen. “Oh, uh, just checking if you’re doing okay. I can see you’re fine, so I’ll just,” he said quickly as he galloped back to the front. I stood there for a few seconds before pushing through the mental wall of ‘what the heck’ and followed his path to the living room.

He was peeking at me around the corner of the dining room doorway and I could hear him breathing heavily, the table had a small note on it in words, more like scratches, that I read as ‘closed’.

Ha, I got this guy wrapped around my finger. Another gem and I could spend a month here I bet.

I exited to see a few curious children looking at my armor before I coughed softly into my clenched fist and looked at them,smirking. They screamed and scattered, running to various alleys to regroup and tell the tale, I’m still sure.

I walked to my armor and asked for a sidearm, and just like the original Robocop the leg opened to show me a small but powerful pistol. I couldn’t do as much as I’d like with it, but it had thirty rounds. twenty rubber bullets and ten real rounds. More for crowd control than combat, which is what I needed here.

My internal HUD, which is a computer screen in my head, linked to the weapon and secured it to my hand when I picked it up and got a readout of the rounds in it. There were three clips I left in the armor, two were all real, ready to kill, rounds. So if I needed to I could kill up to seventy creatures, if I was ever that good a shot.

It was more for safety than actual harm and don’t worry. I didn’t kill anyone in that town at this point in the story.