Altered Equestria

Reins

Mid-day

Reins; rumor was that Reins was a prototype city made during the first couple decades of the Golden Age of Technology. An arcology, supposedly the first of Equestria's offshore colonies. If anypony wanted in or out of the city they'd have to take either the seatrain or the airships which cost a bit of Creds.

To be fair though, not many actually want to leave. Most of their needs and desires are met by the local corporation branches scattered throughout the cities. Then again; that's how the major corporations around the world want things. Since before the Golden Age ended the corps understood that it was adapt or die. Their product had to keep changing, shifting - mutating to keep everypony interested in what they wanted. City denizens feed the machine and the machine takes care of them; it's a parasitic, symbiotic relationship, but it's a relatively healthy one.

The thing is though, despite how healthy the relationship currently is; the corps aren't satisfied with it; they want - need more, and the only way they can do that is by eating each other. For the corporations; espionage, theft, kidnappings, murder and the like are just file folders in a systemized architecture of success.

But that's for another time.

Right now, focus on a minor shop in Reins. Its name; Ashtrail Industries, a three floor building composed of a basement, shop, residential area. Up until three years ago, the building was named Ashtrail Firearms, but that changed when current Owner, Pygmy, renamed it do her sons innate talent for building things other than firearms. Because of that talent and some renovations, the shop was composed of both a Gunshop and a Cyber-Lab. As for the basement? It's been the shooting range ever since it's owner was a filly. They kept it that way, just did some changes to spruce it up a bit.

All that said, Pygmy's son, a young Black Ashtrail, just sits in my lab and stares at the table - well technically he stares at the mare on it who's sound asleep.

… It's not nearly as weird as it sounds.

He's merely waiting for her to wake up again. He'd put her under for a good few hours while he'd been working on her, and now it's time for her to come back out of a medically induced coma. It doesn't take too long by the way, but he does keep an eye on her vitals just in case. When she comes back she's a bit dazed, looks like she'd been sleeping for a good day or two.

"Wha~" Those are her first words when she starts to shake off what was pumped into her hours ago. "Wha happened?" She looks around, stares at the stallion for a moment with that same dazed look before turning elsewhere. "Where am I?"

"Ashtrail Cyber-Labs." He tells her as she looks back to the stallion in confusion before shaking her head. He just uses one of my wings, reaches into table cabinet and pulls out a small flashlight. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm sleepy." He just gives her a small smile as he steps up to her, point the flashlight in her eyes and check them.

"Yeah sorry about that." He tells her. "But I'm not really surprised. That feeling tends to happen when you're under for a while." He admits. "I'm just happy I didn't have to up the dosage to keep you out."

"Why?" She asked in a dreamy, almost cute way.

"Well you wouldn't want to wake up and find yourself being cut open would you?" That made her eyes focus on him surprise on her face.

"Cut… cut open? You mean it's possible I could have —"
"It happens sometimes." He admits. "Not just here but at the clinics and with the street doctors." Especially with the street doctors. Sometimes a pony just wakes up and their brains start processing everything that happens to them before they go back under; he heard some street doctors didn't even use anesthetic to keep their patient sleeping. He has no intention of telling her that though; she might have a heart attack if he did so he'll keep that to himself. "I'm happy to say that you were a perfect patient though, you didn't wake up once."

"Thank the goddesses…" The mare mutters as he pulls the flashlight back and lets her look at herself. "Does… this mean that we're done?" Black just gives her a smile.

"Yes the surgery's over Ms. Swift." Gesturing to her legs - the lower pair as she takes a moment to look at them. He's asked her about the injury before he'd gotten started. She'd been in an accident — a car crash, and lost her two back legs. The damage had been extensive; said that the Doctors told her that her hind legs were crushed beyond repair - said she'd never walk again. That was two years ago, and now, it looked like the accident had never happened. "Do you want to test them out?"

Ms. Swift doesn't say anything for a moment as she simply stares at her legs. The mare twitches, and her legs follow. All four of them. Her breath hitches at the movement, looking to her surgeon as he nods his head and step back to give her some room. Another twitch and the legs still move. With a bit of caution she eases herself off the operating table and onto the floor. Front hooves first, hind legs next. "I'm standing." Whispering in bewilderment the mare looks at her legs and back to the surgeon. "I'm standing." She steps forward, hind legs are a bit slow to follow her commands but she's moving. "I can walk again!" Ms. Swift starts to tear up and on impulse he uses a wing to catch the few that fall down her cheek. Unprofessional? Yes, but she didn't seem to care. She welcomed the touch. In fact she welcomed it so much that she rushed forward, stumbling for a moment as she tackles the stallion.

"I can walk again! Thank you! Thank you!" She's hugging him, practically crying into his ash colored fur. She trembles and he awkwardly pats her head. Whispering how welcome she is and not to mention it over and over again. "Thank you…"

"Am I interrupting something?" From the doorway a new mare's voice calls out and they both look at her. It's the shop owner, the stallion's mom; she's a relatively tall pink unicorn, with a two toned purple and blue mane pulled into braid with the rest halfway covering one of her yellow eyes. She carries a few scars from her previous occupation as a merc, but even with them, she's still relatively attractive. Least that's what his friends say. To be honest, it's a very disturbing thought actually; to know his friends thought that way of his mother. Regardless Pygmy Ashtrail has the biggest smug look on her face as she stares at the two. "If so I can come back later."

… Black doesn't get what she's implying.

He just looks down to Ms. Swift for a moment as she just stares up at him. Hr coat turning a bright shade of red after a quick minute, breaks the hug and stumbled backwards. She starts to babble an apology before she stumbles again, falling under her feet with a quick yelp. She doesn't hurt herself though; her Cyber-Surgeon moves to grab her so she doesn't knock anything over.

"I gotcha." He tells her and help her back up. "Careful next time, you're still going to need some time to get used to the new legs."

"R-right of course." Swift muttered as Pygmy and her son lead her towards the door.

"You'll need a few weeks to months of practice to get used to them, but afterwards you'll be all set." He tells her and she simply makes a noise, taking slow steps as she followed through the rest of the shop.

"I can feel…" Swift muttered as she looked back at her hind legs. "I can feel them." She turned to the again.. "What did you do - I mean how can my legs look normal - how can I feel my legs?"

"Easy easy." He stops her before she tries to continue. "It's Synthweave. An artificial covering that resembles the skin. As for the feeling; it's a combination of sensory impulse lines located directly under the weave to provide a sense of touch." I give her another smile. "They work by sending signals by connecting to the nervous system and the brain registers the incoming signals as sensory stim—"

"Sweetheart." Pygmy cuts him off, giving a humored look. "You're about to do the thing again."

"Ooh right sorry." He mutters quietly. Black well, he likes tech, a lot actually. He's not a Cyberware Enthusiast, but when he got exposed to tech or starts talking about it, he tends to blab. Either his mother or his friends usually found themselves stopping him before he got too far into his explanations though. "Uh… basically it allows you to feel stuff." He states as they brought the mare to the lobby.

"I see… thank you." Ms. Swift responds as she looks back to her legs for a moment. "So um… what did you do with my old legs?"

"You know, not everypony we augment asks that." He admits. "Usually they just don't care cause they got the better version on them now." Honestly he doesn't know what the others do with them, but he doesn't keep them around. 'I mean that would just be weird… well more creepy weird but yeah.'

"My son put them in the furnace a while ago." Pygmy admits. "They're ash now."

"So that's what you always do with old body parts?" Ms. Swift asks.

"It's what he does." Pygmy admits.

"Swift!" Hearing another voice we all look to see another mare pulling herself up from a chair and trotting over.

"Swell!" Swift calls out as she approaches the mare, still wobbling a bit but her progress is amazing.

"Y-you're waking again! I thought—" The mare hugged her counterpart, whatever she was going to say being reduced to unintellectual babbles as the mother and son look on. "Are you ok, you were in there a long time."

"Im fine sis. In fact I've never been better." Swift told her as her sister looks her over. She wiggled her hind legs, telling them to move and they responded to her commands. It's a nice sight.

"You guys were able to fix her legs, but I thought—"

"I didn't fix them." Black admits as he look at Ms. Swell. "They were to damaged for anypony to repair, had to do a full limb prosthetic limb replacement."

"But the doctors…" Swell began. "They said that the damage was too extensive. They said that even cybernetics would be impossible. We've even gone to other surgeons and they said the same thing."

"None of them were *my* son." Pygmy states proudly as she looks to him. "Doesn't matter how extensive the damage he can fix it with tech. I don't think there's a pony out there that can outdo him when it comes to equus augmentation."

"She exaggerates." The stallion states and rolls his eyes. "Anyway Ms. Swift will need some time to get used to her new legs, till then she'll have some trouble walking in a straight line. She'll be fine if you don't push her too hard though." Black states as he looks at the sister.

"Right, of course." Swell beamed as she looked at her sister. "Well sis are you ready to go home?"

"Um hum. Thanks again Dr. Ashtrail." That earned her a chuckle.

"Black will do; and come back any time if you feel your legs are acting up." He tells her as they start on their way.

"Of course, goodbye." Black and his mother just wave the pair off as they start to disappear. When they're out of sight though Pygmy adopts another smug look as she looks at her kid.

"She likes~ you." Black just rolls his eyes.

"She was just happy to have her legs back mom, that's all." He counters before stretching his wings. "I swear, you think every mare I meet likes me."

"Well you are growing into a handsome stallion. You're bound to start turning heads at this rate." She wasn't exactly wrong. Her son, was growing up to be quite a looker. Sure his muzzle hadn't fully grown in yet and he wasn't that buff as the "ideal stallion", but he stood a head taller than she was, and bore large great wings. His white mane framed a pair of glasses and eyes of gold. "And at this rate I'm going to have to keep the shotgun out."

"Yeah right mom." Yawning into a wing Black takes a moment before walking back inside with his mother. "Either case I think I'm done for now. Nopony else seems to be waiting for replacements or check ups."

"That's true." The mare takes a moment to mess with what appears to be a bracer on her hoof, bringing up what looks like a holographic display that she started to browse through.

Spelltech Bracer, it was a device made some centuries ago. Despite the name it was more a small mana powered computer terminal, though through an earpiece a pony could also use it as a phone or radio. Just about everyone - every pony or griffon or kirin had one, so they weren't too uncommon. Trick was making them. They required a very specific set of skills for a pony to make them and an even more specific set of materials that couldn't just be bought over the counter.

Not going to lie; Black *really* wanted to get the materials to try making one…

"You want me to make some lunch? You should be hungry after all that work you did on her." Mom states as he just smiles.

"Honestly I'm starving." The two of them make their way behind the counter and head upstairs. Entering the residential part of our home, Pygmy just starts messing with her bracer, bringing up a holographic screen and started to flip through it, her eyes looking through the mail she had received while Black just drops down on one of their couches and start to relax.

"Bills… junk… junk… ooh that dress I bought on the net is being shipped today." Black recognize the glee in her voice.

"When will it get here?" He's almost dreading that answer. Seriously the price of that thing…

"Few days from the looks of it. I was beginning to wonder if they'd run out of stock." Black just gives a brief almost muted noise.

"With the price on those things I wouldn't be surprised if they still had a bunch in stock." He mutters.

"What was that sweetheart?"

"Nothing mom." Black say a bit quicker than he'd like. "Talking to myself." Picking up a nearby book he starts to browse through it with a smile. The books one he's read through a few hundred times now. It's a space odyssey about a ragtag crew that seemingly gets into trouble everywhere they go. It's a good book… the only problem is that it was discontinued a long time ago. So there's no sequel to find and look through. His favorite character is this mare named River, she's a bit weird but that's just because she's been experimented on for years now.

"You did good today Black." Pygmy states as she finishes her browsing and starts looking through the fridge for something to make. "Thanks to you a mare's able to walk again."

"She didn't deserve losing her legs to begin with, all I did was give them back." He admits as he turns a page in his book.

"Just like that little filly who had Osto… Ostogen- that brittle bone stuff." He just flips a page in his book.

"Osteogenesis imperfecta." Pygmy makes a noise.

"Right that; and then there was that stallion who'd gone blind… that pony needed a new lung, that grandmare who suffered from severe memory loss." Ok he had to cut her off right there.

"That last one doesn't count mom." He looked up from his book with a smile. "All I had to do was give her a few neural implants and she was good to go."

"By~" She trails off as he snorts.

"By reinforcing and augmenting the synapses in the memory centers of her brain, making it possible to recall knowledge she had unintentionally locked away in her mind." The stallion shrugged. "No big deal."

"No big deal he says." Mom chuckles to herself. "Mares and gentlecolts - I give you my son the super genius, Black Ashtrail." She shakes her head. "Swear you have a gift sweetheart, and it's great that you use it to help ponies."

"Well I am an Ashtrail after all." He reminds her. "And we help ponies, that's our motto."

"Really?" Pygmy makes a noise. "Strange last I checked our family motto was 'You won't find a better place to buy your guns on this side of Equestria' … hm I might need a few memory implants myself."

"You know what I mean mom." Black snickers. "We help ponies, it's what we do… and your memory's fine you don't need implants to make it better."

"You just don't want to augment me." She pouts.

"I augment those that need them. You don't need them." He tells her.

"And if I did?" Black just shrugs and goes back to my book.

"I'd augment you free of charge." He tells her as she just perks up.

"Really?" She returns to the table, two bowl floating beside her as she drops down on the second across from her son. "Free of charge huh? Why, because I'm your mother and you love me?"

"No, because any money I'd get from me augmenting you goes straight back into your pockets."

"Damn right it does." The mare gave him a smug look as she notices something. "Oh looks like you have a call." I look down, stare at my bracer and notices that it's releasing a small audio buzz as it glows.

"Hm, guess so…" Tapping an earpiece he just wait as it spread a holographic image over my left eye. "Hello?"

"It's good to hear from you Black."

Hearing the voice Black smiles for a moment, as he leans forward. "Hey Ion, what can I do for you?" Ion was Black's Job Counselor, helped him get into internships programs and job offers.

"I've got some good news, you remember those internship files I helped you fill out?

"Ion? what does he want?" Pygmy asks as she raises an eyebrow.

"He's asking about my internship papers..." Black stated as he just turns a page in his book.

"That Pygmy, how's she doing?"

"Mom's fine, but yeah I remember. What about them?" Ion just makes a noise on the other end of the call.

"It turns out that somepony wants to meet with you, give you a shot."

Whether he intended it or not Black's tail started to wag as he puts down his book.. "You'd better not be pulling my leg Ion."

"I wouldn't joke about this kid."

"What is it?" Pygmy asked.

"Ion says there's a place I can Intern at." Pygmy's yes brighten as she stops eating.

"That's wonderful news! Where at?" She asked as Black shrugged.

"Where can I intern?"

"E.I."

Black's tail went stiff as he heard the two letters. His heart stopping for a moment as well before it started itself up again. "E.I. as in Epona Industries? The company that does everything from cybernetics to pharmaceutical drugs and aerospace?"

"The very same."

"How— I mean how did you get me an internship there?" He heard Ion chuckle.

"I didn't do anything but help you with the paperwork. You're the one with the skill set they were looking for. Anyway someone there saw something they liked and decided to give you a shot at their paid internship program. You still interested?"

"I… Yes! Of course I am, but where do I… what branch wants me to intern?"The stallion started to sputter before Ion cut him off.

"The Manehattan Brranch."

"I— ok I— I can't go to Manehattan!" Yelling suddenly Black failed to notice his mom starting to mess with her bracer. "That's back in the mainland, I can't go to Equestria!"

"Oh yes you can." Pygmy cut in as she continued messing with her Bracer. "Ticket~ already~ bought." The mare stated with a smile. "You're all set for a flight tomorrow morning."

"Mom!" The stallion shouted as his mother's smile began to slip.

"Black Nucleus Ashtrail do you know how many ponies would kill to go work for Epona?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "A lot! And they're giving you a chance to see what they have to offer. I am not letting you miss this opportunity." The mare gave her son a look of finality as he opened his mouth to say something.

"I… ok…"

"Good now that that's settled, I'll see you in Manehattan."

"Ion - wait…" Black heard Ion hang up as the earpiece started to fizzle out into blocks of orange. For a moment he said nothing as he stared into space. "I… I'm going to Manehattan." He said after a while. "But what about our shop?"

"We'll have to close your cybernetics lab for a while." Pygmy admitted. "But I'll be able to manage the gun shop in the meantime - still got plenty of buyers around here."

"Well yeah but—"

"No buts Black." Pygmy stated as she gave her son a smile. "This is a golden opportunity for you. You show them what you can do and you might be able to get signed on full time. You'll finally be able to get out of this one trick town."

"But I like this one trick town…" Whining Black looked down as his ears dropped to the sides of his head.

"I know you do honey… I do too, but the world has more to offer than this. We get by on your cybernetics and my weapons dealing… but just working here— it's a waste of your skills." She reached across the table and grabbed her child's hooves. "There's so much out there, so much for you to learn. I don't want you to miss out on it alright? I want to see you blossom even further than you already have. Ok?" Going quiet Black just looked down and took a breath.

"Ok mom." Black gave his mom a light smile as she hugged him. "You sure you'll be fine without me for a while?"

"Course I will, I mean even with you gone I won't be alone. I mean Anima will be here to keep me from getting lonely."

"Yeah he will…" The stallion blinked for a moment before groaning. "Oh damn it."

"What's wrong?"

"I forgot to let Anima out after he ate." The stallion muttered. "Poor guys probably going stir-crazy in his cage."

"Well you were pretty busy earlier today. I'd be surprised if you didn't forget to do something." Black grumbled under his breath as he picked himself up for a moment.

"I'll be right back."

"Take your time, food needs to cool a bit anyway."

"Right…" Walking over to his room Black pushed the door open without so much as a thought and the moment he did, he was greeted with what sounded like chirping. A red and white bird rested in its cage, just waiting to be let out. He smiled at it. Using a wing he waved at his pet before walking into his room.

His rooms a bit of a mess; one tettering at the boundary between a techies workstation, and a bedroom. There's plenty of building tools scattered about and small creations - trinket's of fused steel and alchemic magic. Likewise there are texts on old magic and science stacked around and papers lie scattered with scribbles. His room almost always smells of something - a byproduct of the union of unnatural chemicals they reside on a table. This week it makes his room smell sweet, but he actually he chooses to pay it little attention at the time.

"How's it going Anima. Sorry I'm late." Releasing Anima from its cage is lets out a small visible burst of static before it started to fly around the room. "Was really busy this morning, had to do pair of full leg replacements for Ms. Swift Hooves. Took me a bit longer than I thought it would." Feeling the bird land on his wing he smiled before patting it's head. "Sorry for forgetting about you earlier. I promise I'll make it up to you when I get back." Anima simply chirped before Black chuckled to himself. "See I gotta leave you and mom for a bit. Got an internship with Epona so I'm going to go to Manehattan." Anima chirped again as the stallion shrugged. "Yeah crazy right, I wasn't expecting them to answer when Ion and I sent out those internship papers. Most I was expecting was Gringlot ya know." Another chirp. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning apparently, but I'm not sure when I'll be back." Another chirp. "Yeah I'll be careful, and don't worry if anything happens to me, you know how to find me." The stallion smiled as his bird nuzzled him. "Love you too."

"I'll never get over the fact that you can communicate with that bird." Looking to the doorframe Black could find his mother smiling at him. "Animal tongue really is impressive."

"It's not that I can really communicate with animals mom." The stallion muttered with a smile as he let Anima fly around his room. "It's more like I can understand their feelings. There's a difference."

"So you say. It's still something amazing, not many can pull that off. Be really helpful with dealing with the dogs and try peeing on our walls." All Black did was chuckle for a moment before smiling.

"Sorry mom, no can do. Believe me I've tried, most I can do is get them to stop doing it while I'm outside."

"Boo~." Pouting his mother plopped down on his bed as she patted a spot next to it. Without a word he obeyed and say across from her. "You haven't been taking care of your mane." The mare noted as she ran a hoof through it.

"Sorry, been so busy working, I haven't really had the time to." Shaking her head his mom used her magic to open one of his drawers and pulled out a brush and comb. "You don't have to ya know, I'm old enough to do it on my own now."

"Maybe, but you haven't so far." She noted before she began brushing his mane. For a while neither said anything, simply enjoying this moment together as they listened to the rain outside. "So~" The mare began.

"So?" Black repeated.

"Meet any cute mares?" The stallion just groaned as he glanced back at his mom.

"Mom…"

"What I'm serious. You're a handsome young stallion Black." The mare stated as she continued working on his mane. "I know there are some mares out there interested in you."

"Name one." He seriously doubted that she knew a mare that was interested in him.

"Velvet Spanner." She didn't even wait five seconds to respond.

"What- no way." This time actually looking at the mare Black gave her a surprised look. "There's no way I'd try going after Ms. Velvet."

"What's wrong with Velvet?"

"She's married!" The stallion stated as his mom just shrugged.

"She's interested."

"No mom, just— just no." The stallion grumbled as he shook his head for a moment. "Try somepony else."

"Willow Shades." The look he gave her was more confused than anything.

"Really?" The mare just nodded her head as she adjusted the comb to continue working.

"Really. She's always stopping by the shop to see how your doing, and she gets so disappointed when she finds out you're still out." Pygmy smiles as she just stares at the mess of white that was his mane.

"Ah hell…" The stallion grumbled.

"What, she's not a bad catch. She's pretty, she's young. She's smart." Black just shrugged. Mom was right, she was all of those things. But…

"She's practically plastic." Glancing at his mother Black sighed. "Seriously she's got more implants than one of those playcolt mares Glide has pictures of."

"Well you have me there." His mother admitted with a shrug. "Certainly looks like she could be a playcolt mare." The mare admitted before shrugging. "Still you know she used to be always insecure about her looks. She just decided to do something about it. Granted she could have tried some other methods that didn't involve what had to be trillions of bits in plastic surgery and body sculpting, but I swear even without it she's a good catch. Bet she could make you happy~." At that Black released a sad smile as he shook his head. "It's just a thought you know. When you take over the shop your going to need a wife to help make me grandchildren."

"Sorry mom, but you're going to have to wait a while before that happens."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not looking for a marefriend - besides you're not nearly old enough to worry about having grand-!" Stopping midword Black yelped as his mother pulled at a particularly thick knot in his mane. "Ow ow ow!"

"Sorry sweetheart." His mother muttered as she worked her way through the mess of her son's mane. "Your mane wouldn't be so tangled if you took care of it more often - or got it cut."

"But I like my mane long~" The stallion whimpered. "Feels natural."

"I bet it does." The mare muttered as she continued her work. "Now back to my previous question… have you met any cute mares?"

"Mom~" The stallion started to whine.

"I'm not dropping this." Pygmy admitted.

"I know." He grumbled as he stared off into space.

"So have you found any?" The mare pressed as the stallion shrugged and started to think.

"Well… I don't know, maybe?" He grumbled again.

"Have you slept with them?" That earned her another look, this one of pure surprise, and a hint of disgust. Seriously, was she about to ask him about his sex life - or rather lack of.

"Mom!"

"I know how this goes sweetheart." Pygmy stated without a hint of playfulness. "That time of year - adolescence kicks in, and hormones are high. Even if you don't start developing feelings for the opposite sex. You start to develop certain… urges."

"Oh sweet Equestria we are not having this conversation." This was quickly becoming a conversation he wanted out off.

"All I'm asking for is a yes or no sweetheart. Have you been sleeping with any mares out there…" The mare paused. "Or stallion's if your into that."

"I— I mom no!"Shaking his head Pygmy had a moment of trouble trying to work on her son's mane.

"No what? No you haven't been sleeping around or no you haven't been sleeping with stallions?" The stallion snorted.

"I haven't been sleeping with stallions."

"So you have been sleeping with mares." Black just looked at the mare.

"No!"

"Boo~" Pygmy stated as she worked on another knot in the stallion's mane.

"Mom~" Black grumbled as he took a much needed breathe.

"Hey I want grandkids someday, and I'm not getting any younger you know."

"You're 38!" Black countered as Pygmy frowned.

"Not. Getting. Any. Younger." Finishing her brushing the mare nodded to herself as she set the tools aside and look at her work. Reaching for a blue hair tie the mare pulled his mane back and tied it back. "Done." Watching her son sigh in relief she shook her head as he cracked his neck.

"Thank mom." Looking over to his table he walked over to his table before using his wings to lift up two pairs of engraved green earrings. Fastening them onto his ears the stallion did a quick shake before looking to his mother and smiled. "So… anything else you wanna talk about before I start packing? Anything that doesn't involve my non-existent romance/sex life." At that the mare went silent as she looked at her child before another smile crossed her face.

"You've really grown you know that." She muttered after a while. "Looking at you, it's hard to remember you're still the same little foal that used to take apart my electronics - I mean you still do, but you've learned some level of self control." Black made a noise as she shook her head. "You've become a fine stallion Black."

"I have you to thank for that." Pygmy got a hug as she smiled.

"Yes. Yes you do… be careful ok? Promise you'll be careful?" The mare asked, a worried look on her face as she breaks the hug. "Manehattan's a big city, anything can happen."

"I know mom, and I promise I'll be careful." Pygmy just smiles as she looks at her offspring.

"Also; bring a gun." She said with a tone of finality that brought the return of shock to her face

"Mom!"

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Why do I need to bring a gun?"

"Self-defense." She just smiled at her son. "Duh." Pulling herself from the bed the mare stretched for a moment before stepping towards the door. "Anyway I'll give you some privacy to pack, you have a long flight tomorrow." Pygmy stated as Black just pouted, watching his mom leave before staring off into space and leaning back on his bed.

"I'm really doing this… I'm going to Manehattan."