Fallout Equestria: Blood and Sand

Chapter 1: Cleanliness is Godliness

“I don’t want to set the world on fire;
I just want to staart a flame in your heaaart”

I must have looked a horror.

Blood hoof to muzzle.. caked with sweat... I didn't even think about the sticky mess until I caught a look of myself in a piece of particularly shiny steel laying against the overpass's far side. My ivory coat was almost entirely blood red, my rust-colored mane accented with grease and blood at the tips. My violet eyes, narrowed against the visage of the ugly bastard observing him, were bloodshot from some vessel that had shat itself last night.

Now THIS looked edgy.

Some part of me liked this new style far more than I should.

Oh Goddesses, please tell me I wasn't turning Raider...

I shook myself of the thought about the time Victory Charm trotted up behind me with a hard clop on my back

"Don't worry, I'm sure there's a radioactive toilet you can scrub yourself clean in."

I wasn't amused.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I scooped water from the radioactive stream over my coat- I knew it was filthy and dangerous, but hell, it was better than being shot for looking like some random blood-caked raider. I scrubbed with all of my might, cringing as the gore pulled my fur. I pulled a pouch of Radaway (ORANGE!) and gulped it down once my mane and coat were clean, and heard Victory Charm whistle.

"Damn, are you seriously using THAT to clean your... everything? You're going to end up with tumors where the sun don't shine like that." I shot her a scathing look, and she blinked, turning around as if I'd just socked her. She began to sit against a burnt tree, before turning around and looking me dead in the eyes. "Do you usually... go berserk like that?"

I must have looked uncomfortable, because she didn't even wait for my answer. "I guess... not. I um... I haven't... thanked you for that yet. So, erm.... Thank you. F-for keeping me from... being...." She trailed off, and I knew what she was going to say.

"Don't .. worry about it. You saved me too, after.... that. So... consider it even."

Another awkward silence.

"What were you doing there?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"What were you doing in that raider den? You don't seem like the kind of person who would go raider hunting."

I gave her my standard cold stare, and replied "None of your business. I was there, and you got lucky. That's the long and the short of it."

Another goddesses-be-damned awkward silence.

"It... was.. my home."

Now it was my turn to look confused. "What was?"

"My home was far, far north. My horn... got broken when raiders attacked my hamlet. Took a hammer to me." I felt my stomach twist and knot as she continued. "I don't expect you to care. But if you must know why I'm going to Tenpony... it's to hopefully restore my horn."

I really... did care, for whatever reason. I wasn't in the habit of it, but.... something had broken in me. "I.. c.." I shook my head hard, grumbling. Showing weakness was a death sentence. "I'll make sure you arrive safely." I stood, shaking radiated water from my fur. "Let's move. It will be the hottest time of day soon, and we need to be in shelter when it comes." And with that, I began to trot in the direction of a cluster of ruined buildings, trying to ignore my sudden pang of conscience.

~~~~~~

Mother. Mother was... difficult. When she was there (which was only rarely) she was only too happy to berate the ivory-rust stallion, smack him around and break him of his pathetic, bleeding-heart mentality. "Death is a part of the wasteland," she would say "and you being a pussy isn't going to keep you alive." He didn’t think sourly of her; he figured that was just how it should have been. Mother is god in the eyes of a child, and to him, she was a cruel god that kept him alive. So a few bruises and hurt feelings were a small price to pay.

Caught in thoughts I hadn't thought in years, I was snapped out of my brooding by a whistle from my new compatriot. I brought my sniper to bear before she could finish the sentence I was already aware was coming; "WHAT THE HAY IS THAT?"

A mange-ridden beast, just slightly larger than a manticore and with much more muscle, roared at the two of us, his milky-white eyes glistening in the light from the streetlight above. Dusk; typical. I meet another pony and forget where I am. "DEBU!" I bellowed, and squeezed the trigger with my tongue, sending a .308 round right into their eye. The creature screamed, and began to rampage towards us. I bucked Victory out of the way, and rolled just in time to evade getting a massive claw stuck in my back. I brought the rifle to its temple and squeezed the trigger- a torrent of blood and brains was blown from their skull, and its body slumped as the two of us panted. "Th...thanks.." she gasped, and a loud roar sounded in the distance.

"Don't thank me yet! These things travel in pairs!"

Another of the damn things was charging at us, and as I drew my rifle to bear, to my surprise it was Victory Charm that leapt into its path. She pointed her horn at the creature, focused, and sparks grew from her horn- as I began to ram her out of the way, the Debu was so close I could smell its horrid, rancid breath...

...Just in time for the bear-beast to erupt in a shower of fur and gore, as a tremendous burst of unfocused magic struck it full tilt with the brightest colors I'd ever seen.

I fell back , butt impacting the dirt below me, and my jaw fell open. "What... the..."

Victory Charm posed, strutting and smirking. The pride coming off of her would have choked a cloud ghoul. "I'm not COMPLETELY helpless."

"But... you don’t have a..."

"Horn? No, I don't. and it's STILL a problem. But I CAN use a little ingenuity, can't

you?" she pranced a little- must not get to surprise many ponies with her little coping talent. "I can't cast spells, or use telekinesis... but I can blow a hole in just about anything from close range. not the best trade, but... better than nothing! Comeon, we should move!"

No wonder she doesn't have saddlebags... who needs ammunition when your head is a goddesses-be-damned energy cannon? I mused inwardly as I stood, finding myself almost... liking this random mare I'd just met the day before. If she could do that to a mutant bear...

...then why couldn't she do that to a raider?

~~~~~~~~~~~

It had finally hit the time of night where darkness prevented us from moving further, with her lack of light magic, and my own habit of travelling only in the daylight, halting us in our tracks. We decided to set up a fire, setting alight a few miscellaneous chunks of wood in a lightly dug pit in the sand. As we lay on the warm sand, huddled around the fire, we decided to get to know each other a little better (despite my immense hesitance to grow attached to someone like... her.)

"So, you're pretty good with that rifle. Where'd you learn that?" she asked over a half-rusted can of beans.

I had begun to clean my gun, a ritual I had learned would rapidly keep me alive longer than waiting till it jammed. A small part of her obviously wondered how I could have the fine control needed to dismantle a firearm, but I wasn't inclined to answer. "I picked up a rifle because it's much harder to get shot if you're out of their range. I got to be a good shot because ammunition is expensive, and heavy. Travelling light keeps me moving- the faster I get somewhere the less resources I need." I answered cooly, in as matter-of-fact of a manner as I could. She seemed to mull that over, shrugging as she looked around.

Now was my turn to ask a question. "Where the hay do you keep pulling that food from?"

She blinked. "My.. ohhh you mean my saddlebags!" She wagged her tail against the fire, and I realized just how.... massive and bushy that tail was. she wagged it more, and her saddlebags came falling out. I blinked once... twice... three times...this is.... how strange.

"In your tail? How does it stay in there?!?"

She put on a mockery of my cold even voice "I learned to put my saddlebag where nopony could see it, so they would think I was unarmed and not rob me. Muwahaha." she laughed at my perturbed expression, and I found myself liking the sound. I didn't smile, but it was.... nice.

I rolled my eyes, and shook my head softly. She looked at me and grumbled. "Grumpy bastard.."

I looked at my hooves, a little dirty but not caked with dried Raider. That raised to mind a

question...

"....Why didn't you kill that Raider?"

Her expression went from mildly frustrated to downright uncomfortable. "I... don't want to

talk about it."

"Hey.." I was shocked at the soothing tone of my own voice. "Please. I won't mock, I promise."

I really was surprising myself today...

Victory took a deep breath, and began: "I... wanted him to end me." She looked at the ground, and I caught the sound of ... Oh My Goddesses she was trying not to cry. I sat where I was planted, and she continued, trying not to choke up. "The wasteland... it's worse than I thought. So much pain out here... I... my hamlet was always so peaceful. Nopony got shot, we survived perfectly adequately. And then the... the raiders... my horn, my parents, my..." she trailed off, staring into the night sky at something I could not see. "...All gone. So, I started to go to Tenpony after hearing a broadcast from DJ Pon3, and... I saw a group of raiders pretty quick. I learned that people would steal from me if they saw my bags, but as I saw that Raider... all I could think of was my family, friends, home, and horn, gone, and all I wanted was... for him to.. to..."

Shit.

I'm not a good pony. Slavery, stealing, contract murder...I have NEVER been a good pony. I'd ignored the suffering around the wastes, and never given thought to anyone or their pain. But here, this unicorn I'd never met, this pony I've only known for a few days, was hurting.

I was watching this pony struggling to keep her composure, heard her crying and trying her damndest to get her words to hide the sorrow and agony she was feeling. And for possibly the first time in my life, I actually felt the pain she was putting out.

I was scared out of my mind, for the first time in my entire life, and I found my body moving of its own volition to walk close to the mare, who was attempting to stifle her sobs. It wasn't the lack of control I'd used to tear the raider to pieces, but instead, as if I was doing something I'd never had the courage to do before. And as I saw her puffy eyes, her body quivering in protest to her tears, I did the only thing I could think of.

I hugged her.

Mother, a difficult pony. A crying, rust-maned colt, sobbing in terror from a bad dream. Mother, smacking her child across the face for his weakness. "Don't you cry you little bitch. I have to keep you alive, but I don't have to tolerate your crying. Shut up." Smack. A little earth pony keeping himself quiet, curled up under a blanket. Drying his eyes, scolding himself for showing weakness. Weakness kills ponies. Weakness kills Ponies. Weakness killed...

Her muscles tensed, and I found myself worrying I'd crossed a line I would regret. But as my hooves encased her, pulling her to my chest, she returned the favor and gripped me tight. I wasn't sure what words to use, or how to move, or react; she couldn't speak, for all of the tears that were cascading down her face, and words were beyond her grasp. So wordlessly, the two of us held that embrace; for her, an embrace with a pony she didn't know if she could trust; and for me, an embrace with a pony I barely knew, and the only embrace I'd possibly ever felt. The only sound the wracking, agonized whimpers and miserable sobbing, as I tried with all my might to soothe her pain. I wasn't even sure if this little unicorn would appreciate this intrusion, or sympathy from someone who'd only shown her coldness for the short time she'd known him.

But at this moment... in this one, singular moment of empathy, the first I'd ever shown...
...a tear streaked down my cheek, and the rest of Equestria ceased to exist.

Victory Charm... and a heartless, uncaring pony with grimy coat and stained mane.

Maybe I'm wrong...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When her sobs had silenced, replaced by a light snoring, I hefted her saddlebags (holy shit these are heavy) and positioned them as comfortably as I could underneath her head. Gently, slowly, I let her lay on the soft sand, and stood up. Content that she was resting peacefully, I trotted softly around the perimeter of what I could see.

"I didn't think you had that in you."

In another instant my rifle was pressed barrel-to-plate with a... spritebot? I took the gun down looking around, as the spritebot continued in a monotone tinny voice.

"Sorry to startle you, but I couldn't have you shooting my little bot here."

I grunted. "Great. First a crippled unicorn I have to care for, and then a goddesses-be-damned robot. What do you want?"

If the bot could show surprise, it certainly was now. "First time I've had such a... nonplussed reaction. I'm Watcher, and I've noticed you around the Ponjave desert. And I've never seen you be so..."

I waved a hoof dismissively. "Yeah, yeah." A softness creeped into my voice as I looked at Victory Charm, "I didn't think I could either."

Watcher bobbed silently for a moment, before saying "Seems like she trusts you. I hope you don't break that trust. I've seen you around the wastes, out of the corner of my eye."

"Why."

"Because I think I see something in you, and I hope- I sincerely hope- that the good will outweigh the bad." I almost detected an edge to its voice. "And there is a lot of bad."

"You don-" I was cut off by a loud pop, and it floated away with the sound of overtly patriotic big band music, and then it was gone. With its absence, I trotted back to the campfire, hooves folded under me, and fell asleep almost instantly.

~~~~~~~~

Broken and bloody, the corpse laughed. Its cackle was echoed by a second, a third, and a fourth, and a fifth; soon, the raucous laughing turned to the laugh of the legion, bellowing in laughter. A blue unicorn's muzzle broke into a scream, and soon, all that could be heard were screams.

A hoof shook me awake, and I was on my hooves ready to shoot - only to be met with a concerned stare from Victory Charm.

"Are... are you alright?" Fear and caution tinged her voice, and I realized I must have looked furious. I growled, looking away and bit my saddlebags slinging them over my back and grumbling.

"I'm fine. Let's go."

***

We trotted in utter silence for more than two hours; she was afraid to talk to me, and I wasn't sure what to say to her. As we came upon a ruined building, my silence gave way to cautious whispers. "I hear ponies talking. I think they have an ambush planned.."

"What do we do?" She asked, horn giving a small spark as I noticed a tinge of relief in her voice, grateful for the break of silence.

"How big of an explosion can you cause and how far away?"

"I can probably hit that tree." she said, confidence tinging her voice again. It was a welcome change from the quiet, I had to admit. "And pretty big!"

"Okay, I want you to wait for one minute. Exactly one minute, and then detonate that tree. I'll take care of the rest." I didn't wait for an answer, and dived behind the far side of the building, and crept up behind the party behind the wall of the skeletonized building. I sat, pulled my rifle silently from my back, and waited.

Thirty.... twenty-nine... twenty-eight... twenty-seven... twenty-six... twenty-five... twenty-four... twenty-three... twenty two... twenty one... twenty....

I checked my gun, making sure the bullets within would be sufficient. I heard no more than three ponies- a male, and two females. The male spoke in a deep whisper, and the females had shrill, cruel voices. Not raiders, per say, but...

Nineteen... Eighteen... seventeen... sixteen... fifteen... fourteen... thirteen.... twelve...

I found myself hoping they wouldn't see her. I was mildly worried about something happening to her. I knew I'd have to be quick to dispatch each pony once the distraction was...

Eleven...

I wonder if she'd understand the things I'd done.

Ten...

Why did I care? I barely knew her. She wasn't used to the wastes.

Nine...

I hope- I sincerely hope- the good will outweigh the bad.

Eight...

The metallic, tinny voice's words felt... strange. I wasn't a good pony. I hugged her to shut her up so we didn't get ambushed.... didn't I?

Seven...

What good could possibly be in me? And why did I care?

Six...

She WAS the first pony I'd ever bothered to hang around, or get to know. I'd escorted caravans for cash... but I never had any interest in getting to know ponies that would probably just die anyway.

Five...

So why was this pony different?

Four...

She was just some mare.

Three...

I don't even like mares.

Two...

I was just doing it for the loot.

One...

...Wasn't I?

Crackle... bzzzzt BOOM!

I sprung into action, leaping behind the distracted ponies and swinging my gun to a foot or so behind them, sending a bullet into the back of the head of the most heavily-armored pony; their head erupted in a shower of gore, and I racked the slide on my firearm. I had just enough time to roll out of the way of a tire iron swing before Charm leapt on the back of the other, giving me time to rack my slide fire again into the tire-iron-wielding pony's chest. Her thin, padded cloth barding blossomed into a bloody mess as their chest was obliterated by the high-caliber round. Charm's hoof impacted the back of the remaining warrior's helmet to no avail, and she was promptly thrown into the wall with a hearty thud and the "oof!" of the air leaving her lungs.

I felt the fury rising in me again, and flipped my gun around (against all of the common sense I'd tried to keep), grabbing the barrel in my teeth, and swung the rifle butt into the temple of the cycle-helmeted pony. His helm had been shifted by Charm's ineffective smack to allow the solid strike to hit his temple, and the pony slumped to the ground. I wasn't sure if he was unconscious or dead, but I intended to make sure it was the latter. As I brought my rifle up into its natural grip, and racked the slide I pushed the barrel to the pony's temple, tongued the trigger...

And felt the cold glare of Charm's stark, emerald eyes boring into my mane.

I turned, seeing the intensity with which she regarded me, and felt a burning shame.
"What?"

"He's unconscious. He's not a threat anymore."

I scowled at her. "Yeah, until he wakes up and comes after us."

"Comes AFTER US? We were just a pair of random ponies who coincidentally was in the right place for him to take things from them."

I was rapidly progressing from shame to irritation. "Exactly. That's why I need to make sure he's dead."

"Why does it matter? He won't care that we're gone! He's UNCONSCIOUS!"

"The radscorps will get him even if I don't!"

"Then the blood won't be on your hooves!" She stomped, sending a small cloud of sand into the wind. "Leave! Him! Be!"

And now it was nothing BUT irritation. "Excuse me, but in case you weren't aware, they were going to KILL US! Take our belongings and leave our corpses rotting in the desert! You were fine with me killing the OTHER TWO!"

"BECAUSE THEY HAD A CHANCE TO FIGHT BACK!" She roared, and I holstered my rifle.

"THEY AREN’T SUPPOSED TO GET THAT CHANCE! THEY'RE THIEVES!"

"AND YOU’RE A MURDERER!"

"SO? I KILL TO STAY ALIVE YOU STUPID BITCH, AND FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA’S PERIOD-FUELED RAGE THERE'S NO ROOM IN THE WASTE FOR PATHETIC BLEEDING-HEART..."

Her rear hooves hit my sternum, and I lost all of the breath in my lungs, collapsing in a heap. Damn but this unicorn could buck. "I am not pathetic! I am not going to stand here and let you tell me that killing a pony we don't even know, a pony that might have only just tried to take our things and not tried to shoot us, is okay!"

I coughed, and felt a righteous anger swell in my chest. "Wh...and wh...what if... he kills...
someones... family?" This seemed to hit her like a sledgehammer.

"Don't you us-"

"Wake up and smell the radigator dung! If we leave him alive that's not just us that will pay!"

"I.."

You think you're the only pony in the wastes who loses their family? Fucks like THIS-" I pointed an accusatory hoof at the unconscious pony laying in the sand "-Are the reason ponies lose everything! The reason foals grow up without a mother, or a father!"

Tears welled in her eyes "B-but.."

"NO! You absolute moron! Do you want others to go through what you have?"

"H-he's just o.."

"Just one pony? JUST ONE PONY? THE RAIDER THAT BROKE YOUR HORN WAS 'JUST ONE PONY!'" I stood, an anger I was a stranger to making me forget the pain in my chest. "THE PONY THAT KILLED YOUR MOTHER WAS JUST ONE PONY! THE PONY WHO KILLED YOUR FATHER WAS JUST ONE PONY!"

She began to sob now, but I couldn't stop. Celestia knows I wanted to stop, but... if she didn't learn now... "THE ONE PONY YOU LEAVE ALIVE IS THE ONE PONY THAT RUINS SOMEONE'S LIFE!" I found myself stamping the sand with each word. "OTHER!
PONIES! WILL! DIE!" I looked at him, spitting each word as if it were poison. "He's just a goddesses-damned brigand. You're standing up for him, and do you know something?" I looked at her again, her cowering against the wall. "He would have SHOT YOU! HE HAD A HIGH-CALIBER LEVER ACTION! That ISN'T a gun you use to scare people! You use it to pump as many bullets into someone's chest as you can before they can bring their pistol around!" I bucked his helmet- he didn't react. "And I will NOT LET SOMEONE KILL YOU GOD DAMMIT!"

She sobbed, and I fell back on my haunches. This rage-fueled indignant tantrum was sapping all of my strength, as if I'd never allowed it to release; like a flamer with a loose hose burning from the inside out. "You can't trust anyone. Nopony is on your side, and nopony has a good heart. They all want your head, or your caps." She cried softer, shaking visibly. I shook too, from exhaustion instead of terror or...

Ah, shit.

I looked at her, and the burning shame returned at full force. I looked at the bandit, and sighed. "I.." I swallowed hard. "I'll.. leave him, if you want.

More sobbing. Dammit now I felt bad.

...I felt bad? I'd just saved her ass, and I felt BAD? I was just saying things as they were. She wouldn't survive without me. Not if she let... these... ponies stay alive.

And yet...

I kept my muzzle shut as I trotted around to the other side of the broken wall, leaving her alone. I sat against the cold brick, listening to her broken sobs and the choking, ragged breaths that accompanied each one. I'd been the one to silence her tears last night, and now I was causing them. I'd never really cared before- I'd seen ponies crying and begging for their lives and it never kept me from shooting them in the face for daring to hurt m... daring to try to take my things- but this pony, crying due to hurtful words I'd thrown without consideration, was causing a freezing cold ball of nerves to collect in my chest. I wasn't sure what to do- I got the feeling a "hug" wouldn't work this time. I weighed my options- I could go talk to her, and probably get a cold reaction from her; or I could leave her some room, and-

BLAM!

I sprung up, my guilt forgotten and replaced with an anxiety for my new "companion", and ran back around to find the powder-blue pony with a clumsily-held pistol (looted from the helmeted pony himself) smoking against the pony's skull- with a bright red hole in the pony's head, the helmet rolling down the dunes. She sobbed still, tears streaming down her cheek, and she was quivering.

And it hit me.

She'd never taken a pony life before.

And I'd forced her into her first kill.

She dropped the gun, her sobbing beginning anew, and as she sat back, head buried in her hooves, I had the overwhelming urge to take the gun and shoot myself in the leg for pushing her to do something that hurt her so badly. I knew it was right; I knew it had to be done, that the pony would have murdered someone else, and that he didn't deserve to live. This was the wasteland, compassion had no place.

That didn't make me feel any less like a screaming douche.

I'm REALLY not a good pony.

~~~~~

Silence once again prevailed, hanging in the air like the Canterlot cloud. I had already looted the corpses (Charm refused to take part in that. I was in no mood to put her through it) and she had set to making a fire far away from me. I couldn't blame her- I felt awful, despite knowing that by all accounts it had been the right thing to do. We had essentially decided to camp for the day, despite it only being a few hours after twilight, and neither of us had the stomach to resume on our lonesome road to Tenpony I gave her a wide berth, and she didn't complain- I knew I'd screwed up, even if I was sure we had made the right decision, and we figured that perhaps the two of us just needed to breathe. She scavenged a few items of canned food (how in Tartarus does she continue to find these things?) and some less-than-pristine water while I pulled some old cardboard boxes to the campfire to try to make it slightly more comfortable- I didn't really care about comfort, but I felt like I owed it to her.

And probably far, far more.

I'd tried to be objective, to make the decisions that would keep us safest. Keep ME safe, I mean. But this had felt different. I'd seen ponies shoot random ponies before- I'd done it more times than I could count- and I'd always been able to justify it. But I'd never had someone take their first kill ever in front of me; never seen their tears, or the regret in their eyes; never heard them sob and choke over somepony They'd never even seen before's life. This pony had obviously come from a hard place, her entire family and home gone. And the only pony who'd ever talked to her in the wastes, ever shown her even the tiniest amount of kindness, had just screamed at her, broken her down, corrupted her, and made her take the first step to the same darkness that the wasteland thrived on.

I tripped over something buried in the sand while a prisoner to my own thoughts- it was a bottle of Wild Pegasus Single-Malt Whisky. The good stuff- the STRONG stuff. I trotted over to the fire, regarded the whisky with a plaintive stare, and sighed, using my tough teeth to pull the lid right off. I put it to my lips, and took a deep, hearty swig- the burn felt AMAZING. The flavor was perfect, not too much pete and not too much smoke. I gulped the muzzlefull down, and sat on my haunches with my back against the fire as a pleasant warmth spread through my belly and my limbs. I was tired, possibly a little dehydrated, and miserable, so the instant it hit me I found myself chuckling low. "Wow."

Victory Charm saw me, and cast her eyes down. I saw her, and the buzz immediately made my next decision easier.

I scrounged around in my pack, pulled out a shot glass, and poured her a shot of whisky. I sat it down in front of her, and looked at her with what I intended to be a blank stare. It obviously wasn't, as she looked even more ashamed and sat down hard. She regarded the whiskey, and to my astonishment, downed it with not the slightest bit of trouble. My muzzle dropped, and she smiled- the first smile I'd seen from her since the day before with the bear creature. She stood, wobbling, and blushed luminously. Her face broke into a wide grin, and I felt my own cheeks burn with my own stupid smile.

"Got any more?"

~~~~~

The two of us laughed. Not the stilted, polite laugh you give to someone in return for a horrible joke while trying to make them feel good about it. A genuine, hearty laugh shared between... two ponies.

"You have *hic* got to be kidding me.," I blurted, sufficiently drunk that my words slurred. "Y- *hic* you seriously just *hic* bucked him like that?"

A warm, high-pitched giggle emanated from Victory Charm's lips as she expertly downed another shot of the powerful, amber-colored liquid. "Right in the face!" She giggled harder, and I laughed right along with her. "His heeee stupid mistake, tryin’ to grope me!"

Another shot for me! Another shot for her! The bottle was only half gone, but the two of us were completely and utterly schnockered. The sun was obviously going down, as the darkness slowly crept up on us as we drank our worries away. "Sounds like *hic* he got what he des-*hic*-erved."

She sighed, a wistful, nostalgic sigh. "Yeah, hehe, he was a dick. But hey, I've had worse."

The air was much less like a cloud of corrosive smoke, and much more like someone had set fire to an alcohol factory. We continued to laugh and drink, until the only thing we could see was the glow of the campfire and our own blushing faces. Ponies may not be the best at processing alcohol.. but ... well.. that just meant it worked better!

I found myself staring at the bottle. I looked at her, somehow perfectly agile, and hiccuped again. "How are you *hic* still standing? I can b-*hic*-arely sit up!"

She chuckled, trotting right over to me. She'd drunk more of it than I had, and somehow had perfect motor control. Her voice turned sultry, and she said "It's all about how you drink it. Gotta drink it sl-slow, and hold your b-breath. Heee, this is strong stuff!" She stepped closer to me, so close I could feel her hot, alcohol-scented breath, and she picked up the bottle with both hooves and tilted it back into her muzzle. she swished it around, and smiled at me with a heart-melting grin. She got closer, and closer, until her nose touched mine...

...then gripped my shoulders, and forced me into a kiss.

My eyes went wide and I gasped, confusion the only thing I could think, as her tongue pushed mine down. She closed her eyes, gently filtering the whisky into my throat, and keeping me from taking a breath after the whisky was gone. I felt the burning of the alcohol, and... something else, as my muscles seemed to be steeled by intoxication.

She pulled off, a deep, luminescent blush blossoming across her muzzle, and she licked her chops.

I looked at her, blushing myself, and stammered out "I-I like... *hic* stallions."

She looked like she got hit with a wrecking ball. "O-oh. I'm so s-sorry! i got c-carried away!" She cursed herself and I stood- hey look, I COULD stand up!- and trotted over to her, wobbling hard from side to side and stumbling over my own hooves.

"N-nono it's f*hic* fine. Just, yknow. I l*hic* like stallions. That's all." Beat. "H-h*hic* hey, what was that all ab-*hic* bout?"

She blushed hotter and hotter- I was sure she was going to burst into flames at this rate.
"I-I don't know, you’re the first st-stallion I've ever seen that didn’t t-try to shoot me." Despite the stutter in her voice from the whisky, this time I knew it was embarrassment. "Th-Thought it would be a good id-dea."

I laughed, falling over on the sand as she flushed. "B-Blood Drop?"

I blinked hard. "Wh*hic* what? I wasn't laughing at y..." I felt cold steel pressing against my neck, and looked up to see a very angry looking black-maned, olive-colored unicorn, horn glowing, with a ten-mil against my neck. I was too drunk to hit them, and too shocked to react.

I suddenly remembered this pony. And remembered him sobbing, begging for his freedom before a bomb collar was snapped to his neck.

"...Olive Loaf?"

A vicious grin spread across his face. "Hello, Blood Drop. Time we had a chat."

Ah, buck.

****************

Level Up: New Perk - Confirmed Bachelor: You do ten percent more damage to members of the same sex. In addition, you will sometimes receive unique dialogue options with other members of the same sex.

Companion Perk: Victory Whisky: Thanks to Victory Charm, you've learned the best possible way to drink Wild Pegasus! +5 DT when under the effects of whisky, and are immune to the negative effects of whisky and whisky addiction.