Author's Note

After you read the chapter, please vote who you think the traitor/mastermind is here, then feel free to discuss your theories in the comments! As usual, if you've already read it, you can vote for who you thought at this point in the story and please no spoilers.

Also a poll on who is next to die here and who will kill here.

Results from last week's poll follow (not necessarily indicative of what is the case, obviously). The poll will stay open for as long as the site keeps it in case future readers want to vote as they go, so this may change.
1) Crimson Prose with 5 votes
2) Button Mash with 3 votes
3) Tella Prose and Winter Quill tying with 2 votes
4) Berry Brew, Gale, Shadow Beast, Smokey Quartz, Sunburst, and Thunder tying with 1 vote
Glad to see such a spread!

4. Noware To Hide

Tuesday, 6/28/2078
POV: Tella

Tella didn’t like Thunder. How he tried to take control, his sudden tendency to stare at Crimson’s plot, or how he did anything.

But perhaps those things alone weren't that much. His main crime was been born possessing a penis, and she still couldn’t believe Crimson appointed a male as head of security. Sure he was the highest rank military to make it in, and ponies expected it, but she could have come up with something. Since she seemed to like dick so much, Crimson could have just fucked him, screamed rape, and killed him in ‘self-defense’. Everypony knew rape was always the male’s fault, even when it wasn't.

Worse, Crimson approved him owning a female. Sure she did it in hopes of Gale losing her patience and murdering him so they could watch through the security cameras, but the thought of a male owning property offended Tella.

Oh well, it was time to start. She leaned toward Crimson.

“I’m going to murder you, my love,” she whispered where only Crimson would hear. “I’m not even joking. You’ll be stone dead by the end of the day.”

Crimson smirked.

“Fine, let’s go,” Thunder said, not hearing her, taking a deep breath as he eyed Crimson’s plot again for a moment and turned to lead them to the northern warehouses. “I’ll lead the way.”

“Good, then you can’t stare at my wife’s cunt-end,” Tella grumbled. “How about you stop bossing us around too and be a good rape baby?”

“Excuse me?” Thunder paused and glared at them. “Equestria wouldn’t have made it as far as they did without griffons. The New Lunar Republic had bats and the Grand Pegasus Enclave had pegasi, so Equestria would have no air force to speak of without us. You’d prefer we left you all to die?”

“You mean to die sooner?” asked Crimson. “What’s the story behind the ‘rape baby’ racial slur for griffons, anyway?”

Tella smirked. She knew why, and so did Crimson, but they’d both rather hear Thunder say it.

Thunder growled and turned towards the northern warehouses again. His face reddened with fury through his feathers, so maybe he knew why despite being raised Equestrian.

To his credit, Thunder avoided looking at Crimson’s bum when Tella pointed out that she’d noticed, but that only made it more obvious he wanted her. Why couldn’t more hot mares want Tella’s wife instead? Tella could go for a well-oiled pussy pile about now.

Thunder took the search seriously. He kept his pipbuck on, noting the supplies in each shelf, though they didn't always figure out what they were. Sometimes they noted the labels and hoped one of the scientist types could tell them what the buck the words meant when they returned. Tella wished they were searching the other warehouse where most of the food and conventional things were stored.

“So, about you staring at my plot,” Crimson stepped up beside Thunder while he was trying to punch a long-worded entry into the list. “How about we dump this insufferable bitch and you can go bend me over a crate somewhere.”

Thunder’s eyes widened, and he looked at Tella as if expecting her to rage. She didn’t, but only because she was clenching her teeth so hard they hurt and glaring at him. How dare he let her wife flirt with him!

“Can you please not talk like that,” Thunder cleared his throat. “This is no time for jokes, and you're upsetting your wife.”

“Buck her,” Crimson shrugged. “Or rather, don’t buck her. Come on. Me and you, storage closet, some nice throbbing, sopping infidelity. We'll lock the door so this annoying cuck can't bother us. What do ya say, hot stuff?”

“I wish you wouldn’t flirt like this,” Thunder blushed.

“Oh, so you’ve let her flirt with you before?” demanded Tella.

“Let her? No!” Thunder blinked, puffing out his feathers defensively. “As if I can stop her! It’s not like I’m responding to it!”

“Yeah you are,” Crimson smirked before she leaned and looked underneath Thunder. “What a perverse asshole, getting a boner just because a mare offered to let you ram her soggy cunt.”

“Seriously, the nerve of this guy!” Tella agreed, shivering in anger now.

“Wait, what?” Thunder looked confused, but they couldn't expect a male to be otherwise.

“Oh, things are really heating up,” said a voice from a screen nearby. It was Paper Cut. “Did you raise Thunder’s flag pole? Though I guess he’s not standing on his hind legs, so it's not really a flag pole. Then again... I have seen flags hung sideways... okay sure, we'll call it a flag pole.”

“Shut up!” Thunder was red in the face from rage and embarrassment, forgetting for a moment about his list. “Damn it, now you got that thing started!”

“No, wait!” Paper giggled, waggling her plot end at the screen. “I wanna join in!”

“Only if you’re into snuff,” Thunder growled.

He probably meant that as a threat, but didn’t understand the company he was in.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that,” Paper Cut giggled. “I bet you wanna [REMOVED TO CONFORM WITH LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL CENSORSHIP LAWS] all over us!”

“Whoever programmed her definitely read my books,” smirked Crimson. “I’ll give them that. She’s accurate in ways I wouldn’t expect anyone but me to be. She’s literally used quotes that I thought about using in a story, but hadn’t yet.”

“Aw, thanks,” blushed Paper.

“Can you please not congratulate it?” growled Thunder.

“Can you please keep your dirty cock away from my wife?!” Tella felt her blood boil with rage, unable to let go of her reasonable reaction to his inappropriate behavior.

“Yeah, you better stop her, Telly,” advised Paper Cut. “Once she tastes that barbed griffon dick... well I guess she’ll kill him, so it won’t matter.”

Tella paused and stared at Paper Cut. That was an odd comment.

Still, it might be fun to take a moment to tease Crimson about it. Besides, Tella promised to kill her when they left for their search. Tella looked at her pipbuck to confirm, deciding it was time to initiate a creative divorce.

“Oh I can’t stay mad at you,” smirked Tella as she staggered over to Crimson.

She lay a huge kiss on Crimson’s muzzle, and Crimson got the idea by returning it. Crimson grabbed Tella’s sides hard enough that her hooves dug into her ribs, and Tella pushed her up onto her haunches against one shelf. There were several long moments where the only audible sound in the warehouse was the moist making out.

“Excuse me?” Thunder asked, staring. He pushed his hind legs together in frustration. “Can you please kiss and make up later so we can stay on task?”

“More like kiss and make out,” chuckled Paper Cut.

Tella slipped a hoof down Crimson’s belly, rubbing the rough bottom against her slit, twisting to give her labia a nice tug. Crimson responded by pushing her hips forward, and Tella slid her hoof away to push their bellies together instead. She raised one of Crimson’s hind legs over her shoulder as she stood on her hind legs and scissored her wife against the shelf. The sound of their wet slits sliding together was even louder than their continued kissing. Just for spite, Tella changed her angle to make sure Thunder got a direct view of their wetness colliding and femme honey drooling down their thighs.

“By Guto’s sweaty ball sack,” grumbled Thunder, shivering and unable to take his eyes off the good clean married dyking out. “Why are ponies such rabid sluts? I'll finish the search and come back when you two are done, and I’m not mopping up your mess.”

Thunder turned to leave, panting, his griffon girth swinging in frustration beneath him. He probably wished more than ever he’d gone with Gale’s team.

“Now what kind of mare,” Tella whispered between slurps once Thunder was out of ear-shot. “Would make such an evil plan as this and not tell her own wife?”

“Sounds like either of us, really,” Crimson smirked. “Seriously, who knows? Both of us would act the same whether this was our plan or someone else’s. Even if it was our plan, we’d ask not to know everyone’s rules to raise the difficulty.”

“Tsk,” Paper shook her head. “As if I’d tell the traitor everyone’s rules. I didn’t even tell them theirs before they got here. Only told them the one rule they requested somepony to have.”

“You told me most of your plans,” Tella mused as she continued grinding. “How you drugged the water supply so all new births will be female, how you altered the cryo-rehab programs to make the residents more subservient… you even told me your diabolical plan to replace every third spoon in the dining hall with a spork. But did you tell me all of them?”

“You haven’t told me a single one of your plans,” Crimson peered back. “I guess you just haven’t had any? You were never the ‘big picture’ type of psycho.”

“Well,” purred Tella. “I did just think of one plan.”

As Tella slipped one hoof up to her mane, Crimson tensed, knowing what she kept there. She didn’t have time to push Tella off before she had the dagger in her teeth and against Crimson’s throat. Crimson clenched her teeth too, but continued smiling and didn’t even pause their gash-grinding. In fact, both their hips rolled more violently against one another.

“I know you’re behind this,” said Tella round the knife, not that she wouldn’t make the accusation whether she believed it or not. “How else would that Paper Cut know you always kill the stallions you buck? I mean how many ponies actually knew that? And calling you a ‘spy for the NLR’ isn’t that much of a stretch, even if you pretended to have been coerced.”

“Uh-oh!” Paper Cut played along. “Will the traitor be killed off? Or will Tella murder her beloved wife for no reason? … this would be more impactful if she wouldn’t be happy either way.”

“No reason?” Tella hissed. “Getting off is plenty of reason!”

“Midnight Sparkle knew,” panted Crimson, a hoof against Tella’s chest as the other braced herself against the shelf behind her, which creaked from their movements. “Which means somepony that works for her might know. Don’t you remember how she used to tempt under-achieving guards into banging me because she knew I'd kill them? She thought it was hilarious. Besides, I wouldn’t put myself in my own game.”

“No, that’s wrong,” Tella chuckled, having more fun than she expected accusing her wife and ignoring any valid points. “That soul gem in the back of your neck makes you practically immortal, except to me. I’m the only one that knows to smash it to keep the doctors from growing you back.”

“Yeah, that was a poor argument,” Crimson admitted. “But even if it was me, do you really want to be the protagonist in this game? Seriously, don’t use that catch phrase again.”

“Urgh!” Tella pressed the knife blade hard enough that blood trickled down Crimson’s neck, ready to slice if she tried to push Tella away. “Since we entered this stable, we’ve only killed a few ponies in self-defense or for legit criminal reasons. That won’t ever get my pussy churning like the screaming death of an innocent! The only thing hotter... is the betrayal and slaughter of somepony that trusted me, so I’ll enjoy you a looong time. I'll keep your unpreserved corpse to buck in every stage of decay until it falls apart in my hooves.”

“Wow,” Paper mused. “That was… a vivid threat… I’m taking notes. Hey Crimmy, make me do that in the next book, okay?”

“And how many innocents will you kill before you get caught without me here?” Crimson wasn’t perturbed by the image. “What have I told you about being sure you can get away with the murder? We have to think long term, get ourselves entrenched before we lay down the new law.”

Crimson kept a smile on her face, but she sweated from more than their continued grinding. She wasn’t treating the death threats as flirts for once, which showed she took them seriously.

“Are you actually scared?” grinned Tella. “Is it because I’m the only pony here that knows to crush your soul gem in a lab compactor when I’m done to keep you dead? Or maybe I’ll hide it in my cunt and use your trapped soul as a sex toy.”

“It probably scares her more that you might kill her faster than she wants,” Paper Cut had one hoof in a bag of popcorn and the other between her own hind legs rubbing herself eagerly. Who knew if an AI could feel it or if she did it for atmosphere, but Tella appreciated the effort and accurate sound effects.

“Oh yeah,” Crimson chuckled. “My sweating and shivering is definitely from that and not from the fact that I’m seconds from orgasm against my hot murderous wife.”

Tella could see different in her eyes. She always knew when a victim was lying by looking into their eyes. Crimson’s eyes had something Tella never saw in them before, a sincere fear of death. It was then she knew she would definitely slice this bitch’s throat and drink her life from the tap.

But it had to wait a moment, since Crimson creamed all over her. Tella couldn’t hold back as she felt Crimson’s profuse honey rolling down her thighs and went off herself. The mixture left a thick puddle of femme cum on the floor beneath them.

Unfortunately for Tella, while she was rolling her eyes back, Crimson pushed the knife away with her magic as she clobbered Tella from behind with something blunt. She lost her grip on the knife, which clattered to the floor, and felt the stabbing pain wash through her as she fell. She really should have thought to check for hovering objects behind her, but she was too excited staring into her eyes to even notice Crimson's horn glow.

Had Crimson not pulled one of her hind legs out from under her, Tella wouldn’t have fallen over from the pain, since it only intensified her already rocking orgasm. Regardless, by the time she gained her senses enough to grab the knife again, Crimson had pinned her to the floor. Their wet bellies stuck together as she held the blade against Tella’s throat instead.

“Do I get a reward for not warning her that you were magicking a blunt object behind her?” asked Paper. “I swear, I just can’t be trusted by anyone.”

“What have I told you,” panted Crimson, ignoring Paper. “About watching it when you cum on a victim that isn’t restrained? Still such an amateur.”

“Do it,” moaned Tella. She was still rolling on her buck high, just as aroused at the idea of Crimson unexpectedly murdering her instead. She was surprised Crimson hadn't done this sooner in fact; maybe she was saving it for a special occasion.

Crimson smirked, panting as she stood back up. She kept the knife with her, but walked away from where Tella now lay on her back. It was then that Tella realized what Crimson had hit her from behind with. It was a ‘wet floor’ sign, which Crimson dropped in the middle of the puddle their collective climaxes had formed. How convenient.

“Well that was anti-climactic,” complained Paper Cut. “Figuratively anti-climactic, it was full of literal climax. And the slippery-when-wet joke at the end has potential!”

“Yeah, shut it,” said Crimson, returning to place a hoof on Tella’s chest after tossing the knife out of sight over one of the shelves. “I’m gonna sit on your face now.”

“Knock yourself out,” smirked Tella. “But I’m still gonna murder you before this game is over.”

"Oh I'm sure one of us will murder the other before this game is over," grinned Crimson.

“We better,” purred Tella. “I’ll be furious if anyone else kills one of us first.”

POV: Cream Heart

Cream was glad her search area was the warehouse with the food, because the plan forming in her mind required this. All she had to do was find a hiding place for her and Button and bring a few weeks of food there. They didn’t have to worry about who the traitor was if they hid from everyone else. Of course the 'must be alone for 8 hours' complicated it, but maybe they could find a pair of storage rooms that were adjacent and each hide in one.

Though she wished they’d been able to go search the area alone. Still, Figure and Berry weren’t the worst to explore with. They didn’t seem like they'd do something like this, and if there was only one traitor, the chance of it being one of a happily married couple, both of whom were pregnant, was slim.

She also needed to be alone with Button for another reason. Could she go through with that? She had to if she were to stay alive, and for Button to stay alive; he wouldn't last without her to protect him. She hoped Button would forgive her and not grow up deranged because of it.

Figure and Berry didn’t speak much as they headed to the warehouse entrance opposite the one the Overmare’s group went to. Berry always stayed on the opposite side of Figure from Cream and Button, almost like she was afraid of them. Figure looked around with wide eyes as if freaked out by more than the game. Cream couldn’t help but wonder what extra rules they might have.

“Well,” Figure chuckled awkwardly as they entered the warehouse, trying and failing to remove tension. “At least starvation won’t be how we go.”

She was right though. The warehouse shelves were stacked high with food packets of all kinds, and the magical seals on these meant they’d be good for centuries even if never refrigerated. Somepony could find one laying in the dirt 200 years from now and eat it without worrying about getting sick. Though whether it'd taste good was another thing entirely.

“Yeah,” Berry said. “We should take back a meal for everyone. Maybe it’ll relax them.”

“Unless they turn out to be poison,” sighed Figure. “In which case they’ll accuse us.”

Cream hadn’t thought of that. Maybe she should eat some of every meal before giving it to Button in case it was poisoned. Not that it would help if it was a slow-acting poison.

“So you two are married?” Button asked the other mares. “We had sex ed in school before the attack. So you two just rub yourselves together or something?”

“Button!” Cream blushed and face-hooved. “That isn’t a question you ask ponies!”

“Eh-he,” Figure Eight laughed nervously. “Something like that. And um... you know... toys and potions.”

Berry smiled awkwardly, but said nothing.

“Oh,” said Button. “I didn’t make you mad, did I?”

“What?” asked Figure. “No of course not, just like your mother says... you know... careful who you ask things like that.”

Berry looked forward and didn’t respond as if just wanting the conversation to end.

“Um, did I make you mad?” Button moved over to Berry.

Berry almost jumped out of her skin when he got close. She looked panicked before running ahead of them.

“Uh okay,” Figure blinked. “I-I’ll see what’s wrong. Can you two stay for a sec?”

As Figure ran ahead of them too, Cream saw her chance to look for a good hiding place. She tugged Button along and walked across the warehouse into different aisles.

“Sorry?” Button called after them, then looked at Cream with concern. “Uh, where are we going Mom?”

“Come along Button,” Cream smiled at him, trying to be comforting. “We’ll find a place to be alone, just to be safe.”

Cream went to the middle of the warehouse between the areas their group and the Overmare’s group searched, and there found what she was looking for. There was a storage closet, packed inside with boxes they could hide behind. Right next to it was a unisex bathroom which had also been packed with excess boxes of what wouldn’t fit in the storage closet next to it. They could arrange those boxes to hide behind as well. She wasn’t sure about the equipment in the boxes, but it didn’t look like anything the group would need during their stay.

“Oh thank Break, this is perfect,” Cream sighed.

“Perfect for what?” asked Button.

“Button,” Cream said. “You heard what they said; we don’t know which of them is a danger to us. So I think we should hide here in the storage closet and... I can hide in the bathroom next to it during our eight hours of alone time. We have food packets nearby to eat. Is that okay?”

Cream didn’t want to ask if it would interfere with his rules lest he tell her what it was without thinking, but wanted to make sure. He looked nervous and sat up on his haunches, tapping his front hooves together as he thought.

“I-I don’t wanna be alone,” Button breathed heavily.

“Sweetie, but we have to,” said Cream gently. “You heard that monster’s rules.”

“O-okay,” Button teared up. “B-but you gotta stay close even when you go to the bathroom! Like trot along the wall between the rooms and stay against the wall nearest the storage room! Um... just cause I want to hear you, no other reason! It has nothing to do with my rule!”

It was a good thing the rule was he couldn’t know someone knew his forbidden action and not that she couldn’t know his with him not realizing it. Otherwise they’d both be goners; he was terrible at this.

“That makes sense,” Cream smiled. “Let’s um... go into the storage room and hide.”

Her relief petered out as she opened the storage room door for him, knowing what she’d need to do now. She took a deep breath as she closed the door, not locking it lest it give away that somepony was hiding here. She moved the boxes around inside, making an alcove they could crawl into on the side closest to the bathroom.

Cream took a deep breath. Once she finished, she turned out the light inside the store room. She tugged Button towards their alcove.

“Come on now, you first,” Cream offered.

“This is a boring way to win an arena match-type game,” sighed Button, but did as she asked.

Button went behind the boxes, Cream following, and pulling one stack over the entrance point. She had laid cardboard over the top to give the impression that the whole corner was a stack of boxes. She sat there, flush against Button, and for a few seconds they listened to one another’s breathing.

“Can I still play games on my pipbuck, Mom?” Button said so loudly that it made Cream jump. “Otherwise I’ll die from boredom! I might get so bored we both die!”

“Shh, let’s be quiet when we’re in here,” Cream whispered. “And of course, but with the sound off and the screen dimmed. If we hear anyone come in, we have to turn the screen off and stay quiet.”

Button flicked on his pipbuck and punched buttons; at least he’d be happy in the cramped space so long as he had that. She didn’t look at what he was playing; her own thoughts distracted her.

“What are you doing in there?” a whispered voice said from the other side of the storeroom. A dim light flicked on from outside the boxes.

Cream almost jumped out of her skin again, then realized it was Paper Cut on the view screen. Did they have a monitor in the storage room of all places?

“Shhh!” Cream said. “We didn’t break any rules! Drawing attention to us is interfering in the game!”

“Fine, fine,” Paper said. Cream didn’t need to see her to know she was rolling her eyes. “As long as you follow ALL your rules, you bad little milf.”

The screen flicked off, but Cream wondered if Paper was still listening. In fact, Paper could probably still see them. The cameras in the stable had infrared and x-ray functions on them, even if security were told to get approval to use them. Paper didn’t care about approval though. Cream just really hoped nopony would be masturbating to what was about to happen.

Paper was right about one thing though: she couldn’t keep putting it off. She took a deep breath and prepared herself, looking at Button, too absorbed in his pipbuck to have even noticed Paper Cut..

“Button?” Cream asked. “Can you pause that? I would like to... do something.”

It would have been easier if he didn’t know what this was, but his comment to the lesbian couple earlier told her he did. Damn schools taught it too early because they wanted foals making more foals as quickly as possible so they could have more dead soldiers later. If he hadn’t known, she might could have played it off as a game until she could explain why she did it later.

“Aww,” Button sighed, but paused it and flicked the screen off. She felt him fold his front hooves disdainfully, though she couldn’t see him in the dark now.

“I’m sorry for this, Button,” sighed Cream.

“Um, what are you talking about Mom?” Button sounded more confused than scared.

There was no good explanation, so she just went for it. She writhed to readjust herself, smushing her plot against the wall so she could get her head down to about where his hind end should be. She felt along his hind legs with a hoof and hesitated a long moment before diving her nose between them.

“M-Mom?!” Button shouted. Maybe she should have warned him a little.

“Shhh,” Cream reminded. “Please... let it happen. It'll feel good, I promise.”

Button got still as he felt his mother’s nose poke around at his small colt bits. He panted as they responded quickly to his mother’s warm breath. She ran her tongue out, sliding it over his sheath. His bits spilled out within seconds of feeling the warm dampness of a tongue against him.

“Mom...” Button squeaked.

She moved a hoof to massage gently at his sack, then pulled back his sheath and slipped her lips over his tip. The young colt didn’t taste too musky since he hadn’t hit puberty, though it wasn’t pleasant to slurp her son’s bits all the same. Cream felt ill as she bobbed her head, gliding her lips down the base and back again, but tried not to heave. Even without seeing it, she could feel every curve of her son’s shaft against her wet lips.

“Wow, Mom,” Button squeaky-whispered. “W-why are you... blowing me Mom?”

Cream blushed so hotly that she felt as if she might pass out. She didn’t know he knew words like that before today. She pulled her lips back long enough to speak.

“I-I’ve wanted to for a while, sweetie,” Cream claimed. “And while we’re here... I want you to be comfy is all. And it... might be the last chance I get to um... admit how I feel for you.”

“You should just told me you wanted this,” Button moaned louder, but quietened when she put a hoof gently on his muzzle.

She felt the eager young flesh twitch inside her muzzle with each stroke of her lips. He wasn’t a bad size for his age; quiet respectable in fact. Unsurprising for a colt, he was quickly ready to pop, so she doubled her efforts in hopes of getting it over quickly.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. A few minutes of head-bobbing once a day for him to pop, and it wasn’t like she was raping him or anything. In fact, he seemed rather casual about it. She thought he was grasping her head at first, then realized he’d pulled up his pipbuck again to continue playing on it while she went down on him.

“D-does this mean I can buck your pussy too Mom?” Button asked with a quivering voice. “I-I’ve wanted to ever since I learned that I came from there…”

Damn it. Cream didn’t want to even hear those words in his voice, but made herself nod even as she grew dizzy from her shame. She couldn’t risk him figuring out she didn’t want to do this, so it was best to do what he wanted so he wouldn’t put much thought into it. If he figured out that it was her rule to get him off daily, she didn’t know what she’d do.

Button arched his back against her, grasping her head with the leg his pipbuck was on, somehow managing to punch controls on it with the other even while humping with reckless abandon.

He may have known what a blow job was, but he showed little knowledge of a mare’s gag reflex as he pushed down into her neck with no regard for it. She gagged as he rammed her throat full of throbbing incest meat, both from the deepthroat and becoming sick at her own disgusting actions. Still she swallowed over his shaft the best she could and tried not to vomit, wanting to get him off and get it over with soon.

“Yeees,” Button groaned as his movements became erratic. “Wow Mom, we're gonna buck so much from now on! You’re not on foal control, right? I should get you pregnant!” He seemed to enjoy saying those things now that he knew she wouldn’t get onto him for it.

Cream forced herself to swallow his load as he blasted it down her throat, scarfing it down quickly to taste as little of the bitter mess as possible. As she pulled away, she gagged it back up onto the floor as the rest splattered warmly on her face.

“Wow,” Button panted. “L-let’s rest awhile before I buck your pussy, okay? Can I buck your butt too?”

“What’s going on in there?” a voice demanded as the storage room door opened.

It was Thunder’s voice, and he HAD to step in just in time to hear that last comment.

“Button?” Thunder asked in confusion. “What are you doing? Are you with Figure or Berry? Where’s your mother?”

“S-sorry Mom,” Button whispered.

Cream sighed. She pushed the stack of boxes out of the way and stepped out. So much for the perfect hiding place now that Thunder knew. She remembered what was still drooling off her muzzle too late and wiped it off with a hoof.

“You?” Thunder stared. “I-Is this something you do with your son a lot?”

“It’s not like that, I-” Cream started, but then paused. “W-where’s the Overmare and her wife?”

“They’re... not here,” Thunder said with a dismissively gruff tone.

Cream’s blood ran cold. Was he saying... surely not... but why else would they not be with him? He’d killed them and now he was hunting down the others! He was here to murder her and Button next! And... did he have a boner? He planned to rape her! Maybe Button too!

“More importantly,” said Thunder, stepping further into the closet.

Cream couldn’t make out the rest of what he said over the sound of her own heart thumping in panic. She grabbed the nearest object in her muzzle, a metal pipe stored in a stack on one side of the storage room, and slammed it down on his head.

Thunder winced and staggered, but his military response kicked in, ramming his head forward against Cream and slicing upwards with his beak. He instinctively went for a full neck slice, but missed and only left a gash on her face. She screamed and stumbled back, her fight-or-flight sense kicking in too hard to feel pain, but felt the warmth flowing down her face.

“Mom!” Button cried out as he ran to her. She tried to cover him with her body.

“Help me!” Cream screeched as loud as she could, not knowing what else to do. “Berry! Figure! He’s gonna kill us!”

“What the hell is wrong with you ponies?” growled Thunder, then blinked. “Did I cut you? I didn’t mean to, let me see...”

“HELP ME!” Cream shouted so loudly she gagged. More of her son’s load drooled down her muzzle, but she didn’t have time to be more humiliated.

Paper Cut peeked out of the screen again, casually putting a hoof-full of popcorn in her muzzle.

Surviving Participants: 16