I was prepared for any question she gives me, this might be an advanced simulation that will squeeze every bit information out of my head or making me blurted out something without me thinking so I boost up my mental defense to 11.

“Do you remember your name?”

O-KAY, maybe I’m not in some sort of fake reality machine because whoever made this clearly doesn’t know who they are supposed to be interrogating but hey it might be some other way to drop my guard down.

“Xandrich.” I simply said, even though it was my code name, I and my buddies were often calling each other by our code names rather than our real names to keep our identity secret.

“Xandrich, huh? That’s a …uncommon name,” she muttered way louder than it should have. Writing down on the newly gained information down on the clipboard “How about your parents, do you know their names?”

Hah, I knew it! They would use my parent’s information to track mine down. A couple of my personal enemies already did that trick on me in the past and the results are fruitless, because my connection only limited to my teammates, my sister and couple of those who blended in with the society, there aren’t many people that actually important to me so that ‘do me a favor or your family’s dead’ trick won’t work on me.

And because of that reason every time we get a mission Theo always send me to do some recon stuff, meaning it always me who has the first step to hell. At least I can steal a couple bunch of shit without anyone knowing.

That includes a latex based creature that can shapeshift into different things, but mostly demi-human, from an illegal lab and somehow ended as my best friend, but hey who the hell needs to know, right?

“Why should I? They’re both dead anyway.” I said with a sniffle. 'Darn dust, this pony nose is sensitive.'

I think that caused an impact more than I thought all of the room occupants let out a loud gasp and look at me with eyes full of concern and sadness, the worst of them is Redheart. The clipboard and quill dropped from her hoof, her eyes are at the edge of bursting out tears with how watery they look.

Without any warning, she gave me a hug that was way gentler than Pinks’s. I was starting to get used with the random hugs from them, still, it was a pain in the ass to hold back a solid right hook.

“I am very sorry dear.” She whispered, “I didn’t mean to make you remember those horrible times.”

The other join in for a group hug even Red that was frightened from the accident earlier joined, even though he was a bit hesitated. This continued for about a couple of minutes before awkward coughs from me.

“Could you guys get off? This is getting uncomfortable.”

“Nu-uh we’re not getting off until all of your sadness go bye-bye. A sweet colt like you shouldn’t be thinking about bad things.” Pinks protested, determined to cheer me up.

“It’s not a big deal actually, really. They’re already gone since I was younger so I really don’t know much about them,” ‘No, I watch them die right in front of me.’ “Besides, I still have others that can take care of me.”

That doesn’t stop them from hugging the crap out of me. After a couple of antagonizing minutes of being the center of the group hug, they released me from my fluffy jail. I’m starting to doubt that this is not some sort of simulation because I can feel their fur, is not as soft and fluffy as Pruto's but I can feel them as clear as a rain.

‘Thank god, I thought I was going to be suffocated to death.’

A loud growl filled the room, almost like the same growl from Theo when he caught me red-handed fiddling around with the main console, I frantically look around the room for the possible thing that emitting the sound.

As I search around the room for such thing, I notice the other room occupants are staring at me. I was about to ask why are they looking at me but my stomach decided to speak for itself.

Looks like those apples aren’t enough to fill the hole.

That alone earned a round of chuckles and giggles from the ponies around me, “Oh is our cute widdle colt is hungry for a yum-yum? Don’t be worry because Aunt Pinkie got something to fill up your tummy!” Pinks, the now named Pinkie if she speaks in the third person for a moment there, said. The way she said that is rubbing me off the wrong way.

She reach inside her cotton candy-like mane with her hoof and pull out a cardboard box that was way too big to fit in her mane, “Six freshly baked cupcakes with extra frosting, I know colts like you couldn’t resist treats like this so eat it slowly or so you don’t get a tummy ache!”

As soon as my eyes landed on the heavily covered cupcakes with strawberry frosting I immediately hate it, the only thing I hate more than the shit-flavored paste MRE HQ gave us is overly sweet food. The first cake I ever had in my entire life is on my fifth birthday and that is the last time I eat cake, I don’t dislike the bread part of it but the thing I hate about it to this day is the frosting part.

They tasted like if you mix sand with whipped cream, it has a crunchy/rough texture that lingers around your mouth longer than it should have and when that thing touches the upper part of my mouth it gets me very uncomfortable.

Plus the cupcake frosting is colored pink which reminded me of my shameful ‘phase’.

I was about to decline but my stomach rumbled once more, making me rethink my decision “Alright if you insisted.”

I was about to grab one of them but stopped midway and think ‘How the hell am I suppose to grab it with my hoof?’ I’ve seen the nurse somehow write with it but still wondering how she did it. I discard this little question for later because there is no way I can grab it without keeping my hoof clean from the frosting.

‘I wish I still have my hands…oh wait I’m a shapeshifter! Silly Alex how could you forget that?’

I turn my hoof to a mechanical hand and use it to pinch the cupcake and lift it, ignoring the slack-jawed stares others gave me. Flicking my free hoof to reveal a sharp blade, I use it to separate the top part with the rest of it and discard it to a nearby trashcan.

I open the bottom part of my mask by folding it aside and threw the other part of the cupcake, along with the wrapper cus why not, to my mouth. It tasted really really good, the flavor is well balanced and the texture is perfect, it has a buttery taste with a hint of cinnamon, not bad for a simulator.

I repeat this with the other cupcakes, removing the top and eat the rest.

Whipping away the leftover crusts on the corner of my mouth, I unfold the bottom mask part and gave a quick thanks to Pinkie, who strangely staring at the trash can with a blank face, before turning my attention to the nurse “So Nurse Redheart, was it right?” she nodded “You mind picking up where we left off?”

“Err…certainly dear.” She picked up the quill and clipboard from the floor “Again, I’m sorry for bringing up your pare-“

I'm really getting tired of them giving me their pity stop her with the universal ‘hold up’ sign with my still extended fingers. “Just…can we do not talk about them?”

“Y-yes, yes of course.” She cleared her throat, trying her best to not stare at my hand. “How about your herd mothers, do you know any of their names?”

‘Wat.’ “The heck is a ‘herd mother’?” I asked.

She had this uncertain eyes while she looks at me when I ask her that question, is it suppose to be a common knowledge? “It’s what you call the other mares that married to your daddy an-“

“Waaaaiiiit, wait, wait. Let me stop you there.” I cut her off “You’re saying that polygamy exists here?”

“Yes dear, didn’t your school teach you that? It’s a common knowledge among the society.”

Yeez, whoever made this simulation must be pretty sad, well sadder than me, and hoping for a harem of his own. Sure there are a few races that only consisted of female but polygamy is uncommon but not unheard of, it’s heavily frowned upon in the civilization, except in a couple of certain places, and some country has a law against it. But that doesn’t stop some people from forming a harem behind the closed door.

“No, there is only my dad, mom and big sister in my family, and as far as my knowledge my school doesn't teach me whatever a mother herd is,” I said. They stared at me like I grown a second head, well I can but I was speaking metaphorically. "What? is it that rare for a guy to marry a single girl?"

"Well actually yes dear, because of the male to female ratio is heavily unbalanced all across Equestria its a very rare thing to hear. On average stallions will claim four to six mares as their mates, a relationship like is what we called a 'herd' hence the name 'herd mothers'." Nurse Redheart explained. "To think that a stallion is married to a single mare existed."

I gave my best poker face to her as she said the last sentence, "Nope, don't have anything like that, never knew something like that exists. Dad already got his hand full with us, there is no point marrying others." 'Equestria? what kind of name is that?'

"Is that so? I'm sure if he married more mares he wouldn't have any trouble raising you and your sister." I questioning the logic behind that.

"Y'know what, I'm getting uncomfortable with this whole polygamy stuff so can we move on to the question so I can get home before dinner?" I asked, while the dinner mostly consisted of the MRE paste that most likely someone else shit mixed with dried veggies HQ gave us, I and my teammates agreed to cook it into something more edible, tonight it is my turn to cook so I rather not miss it. Speaking of food, the mare that gave me cupcakes, Pinkie I do believe her name, is now staring at me as if I just kicked a box full of kitten so I voiced out my thought about her "And I don't like the looks she gave me so can we get over this quickly, please?"

Nurse Redheart gave her a glance before returning her attention to the clipboard "Yes of course dear." I'm starting to hate when she called me that "Do you live with your relative, aunt, uncle or others?"

"Don't have any of those either." I do actually, they're just over the sea but she doesn't need to know for their sake of safety "I live with my sister and friends."

"Now next question, do you know where it is or the address?"

"Classified," I replied without thinking.

She gave me a perplexed look, same goes with the other in this room, clearly not expecting that answered "W-what was that deary?"

"Classified." I repeated, "As in 'you do not need to know' or 'not allowed' classified."

She stares at me like that for a moment before regaining back her smile from earlier "Don't be shy dear, as soon you're discharged from here or in a condition to freely move around we will escort you back to your sister."

I know I somehow got put inside a child avatar in a simulation but by god I can't handle being treated like this, nevertheless I should keep my cool so I don't accidentally leak an information, even the tiniest amount can reveal where my Base is "No, don't worry about it I can get there myself. Just give me my clothes back, show where the exit is and it'll be the last time you see me."

Her smile faltered a bit "B-but don't you know how dangerous it is to be all alone?" she urgently said "Colts like you shouldn't be walking all alone without a mare accompany, there are some terrible ponies out there that will do...unspeakable things to you, an-an-" the rest she just rambling off, listing 'horrible' things that would happen to me.

And most of them are pretty childish compared to what I've been trough. Shot, burn, frozen, stabbed, punched, kicked, suffocated, raped, gang banged, mind raped, anything that could potentially kill me, break me or something like that, you name it. I was probably the most durable unit the military could have ever gotten.

I had enough of her rambling so I end it by extending my hand to shut her mouth up, it took her a moment to realize that I had her mouth shut.

"You clearly don't know who or what I am."

Author's Note

Sorry guys for the late update, I should have mentioned this on the previous chapter but I forgot.

To make it simple, I will be working on both of my stories a lot longer than usual, not because of a family issue or anything but because It's still summer vacation for me.

I don't know why but my mind is most active in school than at home so most of the time at school I use it to write the stories.

so anyway, schools out, I became less productive after the exam and I moved up a grade.

yay me