Chapters Fallout Equestria: Home Sweet Home
It Always Starts With Beer (Edited)
It Always Starts With Beer (Edited)
It's funny. When I was a completely irresponsible teenager (as opposed to the completely irresponsible adult I am now), and I was doing hormonal teenager things in the Stable, I used to be the easiest lay in the world. It's not something I'm proud of, but on the list of things I'm not proud of, it's only really in the middle. I will also say that when you're locked in an underground fallout shelter full-time, reputations like that circulate, so it didn't take long before I was getting absolutely none at all.
In one of my more desperate moments, flirting with... I don't remember who. Not even sure whether it was a mare or a stallion. I attempted to coax them into my clutches with the pickup line 'my parents aren't home'. This was entirely true, by the way – my mum was several years dead, my dad had fucked off to San Palomino at that point, and my brother had buggered off after him, leaving me with no legal guardians. If there was ever a dream situation for a desperate horny teenager, this was it.
It didn't work, though. Maybe at that point my status as the Stable bicycle was putting people off. Anyway, that's my awkwardly personal and undignified disclosure for the day. I hope you're happy. Let's jump forward to today, shall we?
I walked down the desert highway between the base and Isotope City. Nevada was up about five or so meters ahead of me. He was enjoying his morning walk in the crisp desert air. I was going to miss it when we headed out, but traveling in the desert was a winter thing. I looked up at the stars. The glow of the giant atom over Isotope City was becoming visible as I got closer. It made the town look radioactive. Fortunately the cutie mark on my butt didn't do that, despite the time I chugged nearly a gallon of water a day. Hey. you have to stay hydrated, and I walk to across a desert to get to work every day, I'm sure that stuff isn't nearly as clean as they say it is.
"Hey, Living Tumbleweed I'm here for my shift!" I called as I approached the gate to Isotope City. Yeah, I'm a security guard for Isotope City now. I know, the irony isn't lost on me. To be honest I needed the caps, and the Rangers were starting to lose patience with me, so Rainbow Code suggested I get a job somewhere else. Which was fine by me, because I was coming down with the most horrendous disease: boredom.
"For the last time Atom, that ain't my name!" The living, walking, sentient, bush that was now my employer called down to me. "If you call me that again I'm going to see if I can hit the atom on your butt at a hundred paces." Winchester poked his head out of the shattered window of the second floor concourse.
"Good morning Atom." Caliber poked his head out next to his dad, the helmet spun around on his horn. "Hey I got you a surprise!"
"Hey Cal, what are you doing up? I thought you were working for Sam. That means you get to sleep in now." I waved up to the stallion. Nevada walked up to the gate and started pawing at it.
"Well yeah, but... I wanted to get this to you first thing in the morning," he answered. "So I joined dad for the third watch of the night."
"Sorry to hear. Now are you going to let me in or not? Come on, Cal even got me something. You have to let me in now, Winnie."
"That's enough of that little Missy." Winchester pointed his rifle out of the window.
"Oh come on, Winnie, just let me in so I can start my shift!" The old walking hair ball pulled its head back into the closure. A second later the gate opened. I chuckled and walked in, the gate closing behind me. I walked up the stairs, and Winchester and Caliber were having a conversation. I could have sworn that I heard my name at least once, but I couldn't be sure because the two of them were keeping their voices quiet. I tried to sneak my way up the stairs to see if I couldn't eavesdrop on what the two of them were saying about me. I poked her head around the corner. Both of them were waiting for me. They both gave me this flat look. At least Caliber did, I wasn't sure what kind of look Winchester was shooting me behind all that facial hair. "Hey," I said with a sheepish grin. Nevada ran past me and ran around Cal and Winnie a few times before running over to his favorite spot. It looked like one of them had already put his food in his bowl.
"Really?" For some reason Winchester looked at Caliber. He only nodded once. "Eh, fine do whatever you want, you're not a foal anymore." Winchester sighed. He patted Caliber on the back and walked past me down stairs.
"Hey Cal, you said you have something for me?" I trotted over to the window and leaned against the wall. With a yawn I put my hooves behind my head. It's not like the caravans show up before sunrise anyways, so I could relax until then. I looked at that stallion. He wasn't bad looking today. I guess he did something with his mane or something.
"Yeah, I was out looking for parts for something special. Anyway. while I was out I found this. I thought that you would like it." He held out a small box. It was wrapped with a bow and everything. I chuckled and held out a wing.
"Right. And it came wrapped too, huh?" He put the box in my wing. Was he blushing? Was I? What the fuck was wrong with me? You would think I was a total spaz. He looked away. "It's fine, I was joking." He nodded with a smile.
"I know, just uh... go on and open it up. I-I think you'll like it, hopefully." He fiddled with his hooves. Nevada had finished his breakfast and had come over to see why Caliber was still up here with us. Cal patted him as I undid the wrapping. "I know that you like these, and I didn't know if you had this one or not." I opened the box inside was a pair of novelty shades. The frame was white, and the eye lenses were colored - one was red, the other black. In the middle of the black lens was a heart, and in the middle of the red lens was a spade.
"Wow! Awesome score!" I put them on. "This is pretty cool! How do I look?" I winked and struck a pose with my new shades on. Nevada barked his content at my new awesome shades.
"Amazing."
"Yeah, I am pretty amazing, aren't I? I love these. Thank you!" I gave him a quick hug and a kiss on his cheek. Was he blushing? Little hard to tell through the shades.
"N-no problem Atom. I-I should probably head back to town, and get to work at the repair shop."
"Sure thing, man! See you later." He walked to the stairs before stopping and turning around.
"Hey Atom, do you - uh... never mind."
"What, mate?" I idly patted Nevada.
"Would you mind having a drink or two with me at the bar later?" He gulped. "I mean, if... you want to."
I shrugged. "Sure, I mean, I was going down there after work anyways. We can call it a date, so you can flip the tab for me and I can get a few extra shots." The was no mistake. I could see him blushing from the other side of the room.
"A-a date." He had such a goofy grin on his face. The fact that I'd just explained to him that I was exploiting him for free booze seemed to have flown right over his head.. "Oh, and I like your perfume." He pushed his helmet up, and went down the stairs.
"Perfume?" I put my hoof to my nose and sniffed. "I'm don't wear perfume." Nevada barked a few times wagging his tail. He was happily content to just lay down next to me. He barked twice at the stairway. "Yeah, he's not bad. Once he gets some gumption he'll be alright." I returned to my slouch, and spent the early morning watching the stars and petting my dog.
***
It was around two in the afternoon when my shift finally ended. I say "around two" because I wasn't allowed to leave until the mouth breathing idiot that was the next shift showed up. Maybe there was a line at the brain cell rental that they all shared. I think that was why Winchester didn't let them guard the gate until the heat of the day. The morons would probably shoot at anything that moved. I hoped he took the bullets out of their guns, just to be safe. Anyways once the buffoon showed up, I headed down with Nevada to the town. There were a lot more ponies here than when I first showed up. Almost everypony was sleeping in the shade at the bar. Almost everypony. Cal was waiting at a table over in the corner. Nevada ran ahead of me into the shade. He looked almost normal when he wasn't wearing the silly jacket and helmet. He scratched Nevada behind his ear before putting some water down. Nevada gulped cheerfully.
"Sup?" I sat down at the table. There were two beers at the table already. I took one, popped the lid open and took a quick swig from the bottle.
"Well I-I uh. Well I was thinking that, um... you don't have an actual gun, do you?" I shook my head.
"Nope! Never really needed one. I've always been able to out-nerve anyone that came here looking to cause trouble." I took another swig. "You know Cal, a little liquid nerve would do you some good too." I grabbed his beer, and after popping the top of slid it over to him. He took a long swig, and put the bottle on the table. I was actually surprised that he took his alcohol pretty well. "Whatcha think?"
"Warm and old." He wiped his mouth. I couldn't help but laugh. He took another swig before continuing. "I was thinking, that maybe, well... maybe I could get you a gun, just in case you know you had to use it." He took another pull. "I asked around, you used to have a toy gun with special ammo right?" He was slamming that thing down, but the Dutch courage was starting to flow.
"Yeah, back when I was in the Stable and back in Manechester. I use to have this amazing Nerf™ gun, and I got these explosive darts from these to traders I met as soon as I got out of the Stable. They bit it, so I didn't even have to pay for them. Anyway, it's currently in an impound out east where a bunch of Rangers decided to play customs officers. Bunch of jerks." I chugged the rest of my bottle. He had already finished his.
"Yeah well, I wouldn't be able to get that one back, but I did find something while scavenging." He held up a hoof ordering two more bottles for us.
"Wait, you went outside the wall? Really?"
"Well yeah, Sam needed some things, and so he sent me out to get them. Folks is less jumpy these days." He took his beer bottle and started chugging it. I was having a hard time keeping up with him.
"Maybe you shouldn't drink so fast, Atom." The bartender told me. A couple of stupid traders from a nearby table chuckled. Cal and I chugged our beers in one go just to spite them. The buzz was really starting to hit me now. "Atom, don't you think that it smells a little sweet? Maybe you shouldn't be drinking." What? It smelled like it always did here - beer and sweat, maybe something else, it was hard to tell. But there wasn't a chance that I was going to stop. For once Caliber was actually being chatty, and he was buying the beers. After all, this was a date. Free beer and good company - no way was I passing that up.
"I'm fine, now two more bottles of your room-temperature finest." She facehoofed and mumbled something about not coming to cry to her. "
Cal smiled and got started on the bottle that arrived. The last time I was here they were a lot more tight hoofed about all their drinks. I guess they had a lot more in stock now that the caravans were coming in. I did my best to keep pace with him. At this point I was starting to notice the beer goggles kicking in, and he was starting to look less like a scruffy dork and more like a rugged scoundrel.
"Where was I... oh yeah! You had something for me. Gimme." I held out my front hooves for more gifts.
"Sorry Atom, I don't have it on me. It's back at my place, I'm working on fixing it up for you."
"Then take me to your house! I want to see the thing that you have for me."
"You should come to my place see what I have for you little filly." We ignored the greasy trader behind us.
"Well I haven't finished it yet. I just wanted to know if you had used a special Nerf gun before." I put one and one together.
"You got me a Nerf sweet, which one? Tell me! No, show me, show me! I want to see it."
"I don't know why I didn't think you'd figure it out. Maybe I'm a little drunk." He sighed. "I guess that I can show you. I'm heading home to go to bed for a little while." My ears perked up. I was still sleeping on a couch in what might charitably be described as a bombsite.
"Yeah, bed sounds nice!" I walked over the table and climbed on to his back, which was difficult and awkward, given that he was only a little bigger than I was. Take me to the bed!" I cheered. I was feeling a little bit warmer once I had managed to get onto Cal's back. My tail swished side to side trying to cool myself a bit.
"I'd take you to my bed filly, but you wouldn't get any sleep!" One of the traders behind us said, getting a gross guffaw out of his slimy buddies. Cal didn't answer them, he just stumbled around, trying to carry me on his back, while the drink started to catch up to him. I noticed his horn glow for a second before the chair under said trader pulled itself out from under him and he fell to the floor. I spat at him. Drunk Cal was fun Cal. The bar mare only sighed and facehoofed again. She was right though I was noticing a sweet smell. Was Cal wearing cologne? Was I blushing? Was this a good idea? I was beginning to doubt that going with him was a good idea.
"I've got a bit of whiskey at my place." I relaxed. Very good idea. Nevada thought so too, barking and walking next to us, wagging his tail.
Author's Note
Caliber, Atom Smasher, Winchester and the setting were all created by hahatimeforponies and Fallout Equestria the original story was done by Kkat.
Fallout Equestria: Home Sweet Home
One Night Stands Aren't Guaranteed (edited)
The second Cal opened the door, the smell of gun oil hit the three of us like a brick wall. It wasn't bad, it was just... pungent. The second thing that hit us was the cold air of about twelve fans. I sighed with content, my mane blowing back. Cal's short mane was blowing back too, which quickly got annoying. As soon as he walked into the house and shut the door I hopped off his back. The sudden shift of weight caused him to stumble. He recovered pretty quickly though.
I stood in front of the closest fan and just let it blow in my face. "How the heck did you get these things to work? I don't think Winnie is the kind of guy that would take power from the city to keep fans in his house."
"Pa? No, that's not like Pa. I figured out how to convert the charge from spark packs and use them to recharge spark batteries." He walked over to a small corner fridge and grabbed a slightly less than room temperature bottle of whiskey and two almost-chilled shot glasses. He put them on a table in the corner. I pouted that I had to leave the fan and join him over there. Sure, there were three fans blowing at the table, but I couldn't put my face directly in front of any of them. I grabbed the closest chair and moved it next to Cal's.
"So, wait. You can charge batteries with spark cells, meaning you could potentially power this whole town with the right supplies, and instead of doing that he put you on guard duty?" I scratched my head. You know, whatever Cal's cologne was, it was going really well with the smell of gun oil. That or I'd already gotten used to the smell. Oh, fuck.
"Yeah, pa said working with batteries wasn't going to help me get any hair on my face. So he put me on guard duty. I still never got any facial hair though." I giggled and put my hoof on his cheek and rubbed it around a bit.
"It feels like you've got plenty of hair on your face."
"Jou know whut I mean, Atum." He laughed a bit as I continued to squish his cheek and move my hoof around. "Ah never gut a beard luke my pa's.
"Eh, you don't need one. I don't think gluing a raccoon to your face is going to make you more attractive." He blushed, and quickly took his shot. My continued mooshing of his face made it kind of a feat, but it was kind of funny to watch. I grabbed my glass and chugged it down just as quick, sacrilege as it is. "I'm surprised how well you can drink your stuff down." I said, grabbing the whiskey bottle and refilling our shot glasses. Cool whiskey was a hell of a lot better than warm beer.
"Wull my pa said drunking would put hair un muh face." We both laughed at how funny he sounded. Or at least I did, maybe he was just ticklish.
"Well I'm not complaining, I was afraid that this was going to be a bit of a bummer date. But you're pretty fun to talk to when you're drunk. Bit of confidence and you'll be drowning in mares. Or stallions, take your pick. I guess you wouldn't be picking? They're... I'm rambling now." I shut myself up with my drink. Cal's was already gone. When'd he drink his? I was getting to that point where I was too queasy to drink quickly. I turned the bottle around, and my eyes went wide for a second when I read '110 proof'. No wonder it hit me like a fucking brick.
"Actually Ah, jus havfe un eye on one mare. Ah don't really cure much about any ov the others," he said with a blush.
"Really? That's good! You should ask her out! Just, when you do, try and enunciate your words. You sound like you've got a hoof in your mouth." I didn't even realize that I was still rubbing his cheek into his mouth. He bopped my nose lightly. I took my hoof away from his cheek and swatted his hoof away.
"Better?" He asked with a playful smile now that my hoof wasn't pushing in half his face.
"Much better. Now, you need to ask this mare out." I tapped his nose and leaned against the table, and gazed up into his dreamy eyes. Oh no. There's the beer goggles kicking in. I briefly entertained the idea that he might be talking about me, and in my drunken kinda horny state my heart fluttered with excitement at the prospect. Really?
"I did." He answered, pouring us both another shot. My stomach sank.
"And what did she say?"
"Well, she said yes." I sighed. Typical, eh? At least I could drown my unexpected sorrows in unexpectedly strong drink. Why was I lusting after this dork? I mean, I guess there's a touch of the puppydog eyes about him."When's your date?" I asked.
"Today, right now."
"What! You're standing up your marefriend to take shots with me. What the fuck, man, I thought you said this was the mare of your dreams. Get out there and get her!"
"The mare is you, silly." He laughed and booped my nose, slightly off-centre. The alcohol was clearly having an effect on his aim. My face probably went from its usual orange to tomato-red in two seconds flat. He laughed and took his shot. I looked briefly at the bottle, then at him, then at the bottle, then shrugged, grabbed him by the ears and kissed him. He smelled and tasted like alcohol, gun oil, and something else that I couldn't quite place. It was a nice blend. At least, at the time I thought so. I quickly took control, my tongue went straight into his mouth. I wrapped my hooves around his head. It took him several seconds before he got into the kiss. His hooves went up and down my side. When I came up for air, both our faces were a mess. I quickly wiped my mouth. His face was glowing red.
"How's the date going?" I giggled like a drunk at how hard he was blushing.
"Amazing." I couldn't help but giggle.
I smirked and felt my heart twist as I thought of where to take this. "How do you feel about terrible, awful, no-good ideas?" My hoof ran down his chest to his stomach, and didn't stop. Hello, sailor. "Go wash up. You're gonna need it. I'll be in your room," I whispered before giving him a peck on the cheek. He gulped, then grabbed the bottle and chugged what was left of it.
"I sh-share a room with P-Pa... he was always w-worried after Ma vanished."
"Is he in there now?" Cal shook his head. "Then, I'll be there while you freshen up. Or I'll ride this bike somewhere else." He practically jumped out of his chair. I stifled a laugh before stumbling my way to his room. I found a tape deck in the corner. Music does define the man. After sifting through the holotapes, I was sorely disappointed. Country, all of them. Every last fucking one was Country. This had better be Winchester's collection. Shit. I snuck one of my own tapes into the changer and left it on quietly so he wouldn't necessarily notice, then went over and flopped on the bed. It was Cal's pillow – I could tell from the smell. This was oddly nice. It wasn't so late that I was liable to fall asleep on him, and I could indulge in rolling around in boyfriend smell. Oh fuck, was I thinking about him like that? Already? Shit. Shit balls fuck.
Two songs later, he still hadn't emerged, so reluctantly, I got up and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Y'alright in there, mate? You fall in?"
"I'm... I'm okay!"
I pushed the door. It wasn't locked. He squealed and covered himself with his hooves. He was wearing a shower cap and operating some goofy crank-powered shower thing. Bless. I smirked and looked at his attempt to preserve his modesty.
"You do know what I'm about to do to you?" Speechless, he looked down, then blushed. "You've not done this before, have you?" He shook his head. I sighed, and chuckled. "Take that thing off and get over here, will you? Bed's getting cold." He followed me back to his room, and lay down beside me."Finally." I rolled on top of and kissed him this time he didn't waist anytime wrapping his hooves around me. My wings were already stiff and out. His hooves brushed my wings softly. I moaned, and was impressed. The ponies that had the guts to touch my wings were never gentle. And the stallions that I've laid with before that would actually have been gentle had the brains and lacked the guts to touch them. Normally I would have bucked his head off his neck. But right now I was to busy bucking in the other way, and fuck this was still the foreplay.
"Your amazing." He panted after I broke the kiss.
Now, after teasing you with the digression about my teenage sex life earlier, I'd like to think I have a bit more dignity these days, so I'm not going to give you any of the hot and juicy bits. He was shockingly competent, though. I wasn't expecting that kind of endurance from a tech dork who does a lot of sitting, but maybe I was just very tired. Still though it was easily in my top ten. maybe top five.
"There's no way that you're a virgin." I snuggled up to him, for the first time all day feeling completely content.
"What's a virgin?" he asked in a sleepy voice. He pulled me close to him and nuzzled my cheek.
"Holy fuck, you are a virgin." I smiled, before looking over my shoulder and kissing him. "Or at least, you were. Or far too drunk for this." I wiggled up against him and pulled the covers over the two of us. I'd have to ask him when he was sober. He felt so nice. "So that thing that you were talking about back at the bar. What were you talking about?"
"I'm making you a gun." He put his hooves around me and held me close. "It's in the first drawer on the table you put your shades on." He pulled me closer and kissed me one last time before falling asleep. After a performance like that, I really couldn't blame him. I quickly joined him.
"What's going on here?!" Okay, so, falling asleep cuddling Cal is amazing. Waking up to Winchester yelling at the two of us, not so much. Especially since I had a raging hangover, and from the way that Cal was acting, I think he was paying the piper too.
"Relax, I was just deflowering your son, and we've both got splitting headaches, so please try and keep it down, okay Winnie?" I kissed Cal on the forehead, and as an olive branch, offered Winchester a wink and the most winning smile I could muster in my state.
Moments later, me, Cal and Nevada were out in the street on our arses, having my jacket and glasses and his helmet pelted at us. I guess ol' Chester wasn't best pleased. Cal walked next to me as the three of us made our way out of Isotope City. "So, did I accidentally get you kicked out of the house?" I asked as we walked along the road toward the base. I took a pull from my water jug, then gave it to him. He took a few sips.
"N-n-no I-I j-just think he n-n-needs to calm, calm down. A-a-a bit." He gave it back to me.
"Well that's good, because there's not a lot of space on the couch I'm sleeping on right now." He just shyly nodded. "We'd have to cuddle really close to fit." I gave him a playful smirk. He stopped dead in his track his whole face was red. "What's wrong? C'mon." I looked behind me. He looked like the same puppy of a stallion that I met when I first arrived at Isotope City. "Oh, you're getting embarrassed now? After what we just did?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
"I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry?"
"Don't be sorry, just come on." Nevada barked from somewhere up ahead of the two of us. We continued under the stars in the cool desert night.
"A-a-Atom, c-c-may I-I. Uh..."
"Spit it out." He gulped.
"Can I give you a good night kiss?" I burst out laughing, then immediately stopped myself.
"That's it? Doofus. Just do it already."
"A-a-a-are you sure?" He asked fumbling around.
"Come on, man, I'm wait-" His kiss cut me off. I leaned into him. For a few seconds, the world melted away, then came back with perfect clarity.
"I-I-I'll see you l-later." He asked. I'm not what you'd call romantic, but this flustered, sweaty, stammering boy seeing me home in the moonlight has me tempted.
"Yeah." I answered with the stupidest spazziest grin.
***
I sat there on the couch, my hooves resting on the bump that had been growing for the past three months. Cal sat quietly beside me. Rainbow Code, my big goof of a brother, kept trying to say something and failing, like I was a delinquent teenager who'd just come back with a tattoo, and he was trying to be understanding and supportive but still deeply concerned. I mean, I was a delinquent teen back in the day, but cripes, man, I thought we were over this. . Ivy Bells, his wife, was having to work to keep from giggling uncontrollably. And her mum was here too, like, she was just around at the time.
"So you and Caliber...?" Ivy asked, barely able to contain herself.
"Yep." I answered her flatly. I went to explain further, but all I managed was a gesticulation of the hooves that was kind of like an expanded shrug.
"Now that there is a foal in your future, what path shall you take??" Babylon asked.
"W-wh-what? I-I-I don't kn-know. I-I mean I'd like."
"It's fine Cal. I was planning on giving it a trial run. I was a fucked up filly. I want my foals to have it better. That means they're going to have both parents." I grabbed Cal's hoof. He squeaked.
"That's nice, but are you..." Rainbow cringed and huffed. "Are you able to handle this? Is he? " He looked at Cal like he was some injured mouse I'd left on the back door. "Really? Are you sure about this."
"It's not like I wanted this!" Cal's ears flopped back, and he cowered a bit on the couch. I grabbed my pillow on the couch and threw it at Rainbow Code. He flailed. "Look what you fucking made me do. You jerk." I let Cal go and nuzzled him. "I mean, you're a good stallion. A little unpolished but nothing I can't fix with some positive reinforcement. I'm sure that you'd be a great dad, it's just I wasn't really planning on settling down. Y'know?"
"Positive re-re-reinforcement?" He gulped.
"Do you want a kiss?"
"Wh-wh-what?"
"Do you want a kiss, yes or no?"
"Y-y-ye-"
"Yes or no?"
"Yes." I kissed him it was a nice long kiss. I pulled away gently pulling his bottom lip a little.
"See? Positive reinforcement." I smiled at his dazed cute smile. He was like little puppy getting its first treat. Rainbow Code huffed and left the room. Ivy sighed.
"He'll come around. I'm sure he's happy for you. He's just... concerned."
"When is he not?"
She looked over a pair of imaginary glasses at me. "I'm sure you know about the family disease better than I do."
"Disease? I mean, I was nine when they buggered off, so they didn't exactly stop to give me medic history."
"This might take a while." Ivy said with a sigh.
Fallout Equestria: Home Sweet Home
My first born was a unicorn colt. He looks just like his dad except for his mane, which is a lighter green than mine. I named him Cherry Bomb. He took more after the cherry part than the bomb part. He has a small cherry farm in the corner of Isotope City's farming district. I couldn't tell if my peach farming ancestors were happy that one of their descendents was a farmer again, or turning in their graves because he was a cherry farmer. Sorry, Mum. Cal and I had a second child shortly after Winchester retired - another unicorn. She has my coat and her dad's mane. Cal named Peace Maker, which is only fair. Nevada loves 'em too – Peace is getting a little big to be riding around his back, especially at his age, but there is no stopping them.. They're nine and three, and they're the pride and joy of my life. We're going to get off this topic of my kids, or else we're going to be here all day.
Are you surprised yet? I know I was. Me? A proud parent? Who'd have thought. Things were going well, though. Safe job, safe home. I was beating my brother in the kids race, too. In fact I was strongly considering giving Good Friday another cousin to play with. Might be tricky, since our house only had three rooms. Peace Maker slept between the two of us and Cherry Bomb...
So, around the night that I was gonna spring this on Cal, Cherry wasn't sleeping well. He'd been having problems sleeping for nearly half a year now. I was going to have to take him to the base to have him checked on. I'm sure we could do that sometime next week. I'd have to take him before any signs of pregnancy started showing. The doctors there were a pain in my ass about my last one.
We lived in the dugout that I had collapsed when I had first visited. You wouldn't recognise the place if you saw it back then. Opening the town up was really working wonders for doing up the place, and Cal and Sam had gotten together a proper power solution. Air conditioning! We had sweet, sweet air conditioning! Sort of, we had fans. Better than nothing.
"Cal, I'm home!" He was sitting at the table hunched over working on something. He was completely dead to the world. Whatever it was that he was working on had his complete and absolute attention. I smiled and quietly snuck up on behind him on my tippy hooves until I was right behind him. "Caliber. Hello." I spooned him.
"A-at-atom!" He tried to jump but couldn't with my weight holding him down. (Not a word.) "Wh-wh-what are you do–do-doing home?" I giggled as he tried to calm down, before softly nuzzling him and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. He nuzzled me back. "Atom yo-you're... you're in heat." He gulped.
"Yeah. I am." I wiggled my eyebrows, continued spooning him, and kissed him again.
"Atom you're suppose to take... y'know. You know what happened last time." He somehow managed to turn around and was now holding me up. I just leaned into him and nodded. Of course I knew. I could never forget. Giving birth to Peace Maker was the hardest thing I'd ever done, and she came out of it worse than I did. Poor thing spent the first few months of her life in an incubator.
"I want another." I said softly. I held onto Cal like a filly would hold onto a comforting stuffed animal.
"Atom." He said softly wrapping his hooves around me.
"Please, Cal. I want a big family. I love the three of you so much, but I want another one." I kissed the side of his head and swayed as I held him. "I can make it through one more." Oh boy. I should probably explain. Dad confirmed it after Cherry was born. The mares in the family have iron problems. He was never able to be sure, but he thinks that it might have cost Mum her life. I was having to take vitamin pills for my last pregnancy, and I'm still having the odd senior moment, but they didn't need to know that. It would just worry them more. Besides, I'd never be able to get another foal if they knew.
"Atom." His voice was soft. "Please."
"Cal, I love you. Please. One more foal. Please."
"I-I-I guess." He swallowed hard. "Th-there's a place up north. Called Tenpony Tower. If you p-promise me to go there for the pregnancy then okay. They have the best doctors in the wasteland up there." He held me close to him. His voice was soft. He broke the hug, and looked at me. He was crying. "Just be safe okay? We need you Atom, our foals and me."
"Sweetie, I know what Tenpony Tower is. Look, I'm fine. It's fine. You do remember who you're talking to, right?" I kissed him and wiped his cheeks. "I'm fine, I'm fucking invincible."
"Yeah, you're fucking amazing." He leaned in and kissed me. It lasted a good ten seconds before he pulled away I smiled.
"Well... let's hurry up. We've got about an hour or two before Cherry and Peace come home." I smiled and let go of him. The two of us made our way to our bedroom.
***
Not one of my best performances, I have to say. We had to stop because Cal started crying again, and that's generally not what you want to happen, so I gave up and took a rain cheque. I think he slept easier as a pretty direct result. Peace Maker was asleep between me and Cal, and Nevada was asleep at the foot of the bed. It was around midnight when a loud noise from the main room of the house woke me up. It sounded like somebody was moving the furniture around.
"Ugh... what's that?" I asked groggily.
"Is somebody really trying to rob us?" Cal sat up. Nevada jumped down and walked out the room. Cal and I got out of bed. I grabbed my gun.
"I'm not sure that there's anypony stupid enough in the world to try and rob my house." I rubbed my eyes. "It's probably someone going door to door, they've been getting pretty bold lately. I was grabbing my jacket when Nevada came back into the room wagging his tail. "Well boy? Who was it?" He wagged his tail and walked over to me to be petted. Once he thought that he had been thoroughly rewarded for getting out of bed he hopped back up. After doing three circles he went back to sleep in the same spot. "Cal, go back to bed, I'll take care of this." I tossed my jacket back down to the floor and put my gun down. I wasn't going to need them. I stumbled out of the bedroom into the main room of the house. Just like I thought - Cherry Bomb was sitting like he'd been caught stealing cookies, with the couch half way blocking the door. I sighed, and offered him a weary smile. "Hey, Cherry, sweetie. It's a bit late for moving the couch, isn't it?"
"I'm sorry mom," he said looking down. "I didn't mean to wake you and dad."
"Yeah. I didn't think that you wanted to wake us up." I walked over and sat down on the couch, and patted the spot next to me. "So Cherry what's up, why are you barricading us in?" I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up enough for this. He just swallowed and mumbled something. "I'm sorry Cherry, I'm not awake right now, could you please speak up a bit?" When he didn't, I put my wing around him and pulled him close. Thank fuck for motherly instincts, 'cause I have no fucking idea what I'm doing. "Does this have something to do with you not sleeping?"
"Yeah." He nodded. His voice trembled..
"What's wrong sweetie? Whatever or whoever you're afraid of, just tell me. I'm the top pony in town, if somebody is messing with you this bad, tell me and I swear Cherry, I'm going to put a damn stop to it." With a quick pull of a trigger. No one is going to fuck with my kids and get away with it. He mumbled something again, shaking a bit. Whoever the fuck was responsible was going to get turned to fucking dust. "It's okay Cherry, you can tell me, I'll take care of this, as the sheriff and your mom." I tilted his head so he was looking me in the eyes. He looked like he was just seconds from tears.
"I-I don't want you to go." Okay, what? I'm sleepy but I'm not sure that even awake I'd be following this.
"I'm going somewhere?" I tilted my head. "Cherry, sweetheart I'm not sure I'm following you."
"I-I-I'm nine. And that's when mommies and daddies go away." He started crying. "I don't want you to leave."
I squinted. "Who told you that?" I asked pulling him into a hug.
"Your dad left you when you were nine, daddy's mommy left him when he was little, and I-" He didn't finish his sentence before breaking down. Fuck. How was I supposed to deal with this? If he was being bullied, I could fucking dust the fuckers that did it. Excessive, maybe, but very pragmatic. If he fell down I could give him a healing potion and a bandage. This was... trickier.
"Cherry, I..." I said holding him close. "My dad was a shitbag, hell he... still kind of is. And Cal's mom ain't much better. But I want you... I need you to understand this." I nuzzled the top of his head softly. "Your dad and I are never going to abandon you or your sister. If you were being hurt I'd protect you, if you were hurt I'd help you, I don't know what to do for you right now except promise you I'm never leaving you, I'm never abandoning you, and I will never hurt you that way. Okay?" I quit nuzzling him and lifted his chin a bit. He swallowed and kept crying, but he nodded. I had a bit of a sniffle going myself. I gave him a gentle smile and let him work it all out of his system.
"I love you mom." He wrapped his hooves around me.
"I love you too, Cherry. Now, it's..." I chuckled and coughed. "It's midnight? Let's put the couch back and go to bed, okay?" He nodded. I got off the couch an put him on my back before pushing the couch back into place. Then I walked back to my room. Cal was still awake, and Cherry had already fallen asleep on my back.
"Is he okay?" Cal asked in a whisper.
"He's... fine now." I whispered back putting him on the bed next to his sister, between Cal and me.
"You're an amazing mother."
"I'm glad you think so." I smiled back. "Not too shabby a job yourself." I reached around our children and hugged them, and he did the same. In a few minutes we fell asleep, all cosy and warm, with our kids nice and safe between us. Home sweet home.
