Outer Worlds: Equestria

Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 7: Adrift

It wasn’t that I hadn’t been with anyone. Sure, my mother had stressed that I needed to keep my prospects with those that were socially acceptable. She hadn’t said it directly, but she meant that I needed to find a nice, higher class, wealthy, and sociable unicorn. My sex life was something that I had moved away from my mother’s direction fairly early. I figured it was because it was my own way of rebelling.

The one thing about it though was that every experience had been casual. Some of those experiences had even been friends. Baldwin hadn’t been one of those though. He had been gentle in the let down, and he told me that he wanted the experience to mean something. He wanted it to be with someone that he could see building a life with. It was a sweet notion, and I couldn’t fault him for that. I’d imagined what it would be like, but I found that I was actually happier being his friend instead of trying to get him to ram his cock up inside of me.

In several ways the experiences I had were strikingly similar to what had happened with Smog. We lay together, and I looked out at the room. There wasn’t a reason to be ashamed. After all it wasn’t like I hadn’t done this before, but at the same time I felt a twinge of guilt. Before leaving on the Luna Seven most of my exploits were really only known between myself and a few friends. I hadn’t fully accepted that my own limited social status had managed to stop potential rumors from spreading.

Oddly enough I felt myself worrying over what Gilda and Buttersworth would think of me. Sure, we hadn’t really been friends for that long, but I didn’t want them to believe that I was some cockasidal maniac. I honestly wasn’t sure why the idea bothered me now. I had to believe that the reason I was worried was more along the lines that I was completely out of my depth. That wasn’t the only reason though. I understood another part of it.

In some regard my life from before was gone. I had expected that when I signed up to become a colonist. I knew that I would be leaving behind my life, everything I knew, and I would be helping to establish a group of worlds that would become home to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ponies. I knew this, and I knew that I would likely never see my mother again. That of course had been cemented the night before I boarded. I heard the soft snore of Smog, and slowly I got up.

What we had done was casual, but apparently Dragonies liked to do things rough. He’d practically wrecked me, used me, and done things that I hadn’t ever really experienced or considered before. It made me realize that despite the fact that I’d been with a few partners my experiences were somewhat chaste in comparison. I shook my head, looked back at the sleeping dragony, and I realized that he was actually something of a good guy. I didn’t know enough about him to make a full appraisal of his personality, but I knew that he had held out here hoping that those he had been traveling with were alive.

I knew that he could have up and left me at any point, but instead he remained near me. I hadn’t expected him to cuddle against me, and sleep beside me. I honestly hadn’t expected much at all. In my heat addled mind I most likely really only expected to be rutted, and then left to stew in combined juices. As I walked I noticed the slight limp in my step, and I couldn’t lie about the fact that it was a burning and slight pain from my tailhole.

I still felt the drive to breed, the need to be bred, and I felt a little confused. I would have thought that it would have lessened a little after having a round of rutting. I opened a door in the building and saw a bathroom. One constant I’d noticed was that all of the restrooms seemed to be focused on a minimalist aesthetic. There were no tubs, so no soaking in a bath, the toilets themselves were fine, but small. Each one was designed like a normal pony toilet.

They were little metal troughs, with a small button that could be pushed to flood it with water in order to flush the waste down. But most toilets were slightly larger, giving a bit more room. These were designed so that there was just enough space to backup, squat, do your business, and then walk over to the shower. I didn’t need to go, although a shower sounded absolutely wonderful. I found a small bottle of shampoo, and that seemed to be it. Still, it would be better than nothing.

I looked at a mirror, turned around, and lifted my tail. The first thing I noticed was that while everything looked more or less normal I could easily see that Smog had purposefully kept away from my vagina. He’d realized that I was in heat, decided to go along with it, but we’d only engaged in anal. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be pissed or if I should be thankful. The last thing that I wanted to do was bring a life into all of this when I wasn’t ready for it. Then again I wasn’t sure when anyone would be ready for it. I stepped away from the mirror, and I walked toward the shower. I turned it on, letting the ice cold, and sulfur smelling, water hit me. After a moment it began to warm up, but it still smelled of sulfur.

My magic squeezed out a glob of the shampoo, and I noticed that it smelled quite a bit like red licorice. A soft smile crossed my lips as I lathered it up on my mane. The smell was one of the happier memories for me. Red Licorice was one of the few things that I could remember that was associated with my dad. He wasn’t as concerned about social status as my mother. In truth, he had practically said to hang the entire social elite shit, and that we needed to do things that were important to us and for the betterment of all.

He’d give me a few pieces of red licorice while I’d hang out with him. Mother would talk to him, occasionally, but usually it was to attempt to pressure him into using his status to connect her to the more social elite. He’d decline, there would be various harsh words, and then he’d spend time with me. He’d told me something once that secured him as somepony that would always be my parent. I remembered it, he’d lifted me in his magic, and he’d carried me behind him as he worked.

“Slim,” he said, “I want you to remember that no matter where I go, what may happen to me, or what may wait for any of us that I will never be far from you. You will always be okay because you are my daughter, and we are special because we have the luck and blood of a very special pony in our family.”

I remember him setting me down, and looking at me, “If the heavens fall, if the entire civilization that we’ve built crumbles to dust, you will be okay.”

I remember that a few months later he had gotten into an elevator, and something went wrong with it. It dropped, twenty stories straight down. I had bawled my eyes out, but my mother never did. She had held me, letting me cry, but she never cried over it. I washed the shampoo out of my mane, letting the memory fade. As I finished the shower, I turned off the spray of the water, and I noticed something incredibly important that I didn’t see before I decided to take a shower. There was no towel. I would end having to drip dry, and that was because I couldn’t have been bothered to learn a drying spell.

I heard hoofsteps, deep ones that sounded like a large stallion, and I looked out to see Smog. He took a look at me, nodded, and then focused on me for a moment. I felt something around me that practically sucked up all of the air, and a second later it was gone. In its place was a drier me. Well a drier and fuzzier me. My coat and mane had decided to frizz out when he breathed on me. He nodded, and looked around.

“Enjoy your shower?” he asked, “I had wondered if the plumbing worked right in here.”

I gave a nod, “It was nice,” I said, “So, ummm…”

He shook his head, “Yeah, let’s don’t,” he replied, “It was fun, it helped you out I’m sure, and we both enjoyed it. Anything more than that is just hormones talking.”

I shook my head at him in disbelief. Sure, I had no intention of starting a relationship with him, but I had hoped that he would be a little let down by the idea that I didn’t want one. Instead he was more than fine with something casual. He smiled at me, “Looks, it’s not that I don’t think that you’re a cute mare, you are,” he said, “But if we’re honest I was, and still am, in love with a mare that I hope is still alive.”

I looked at him, “Was, was she here?”

He gave a nod, “Yeah, Doctor True Heart,” he said, “She’s a damn good pony, would work on others even if they couldn’t pay. When the marauders got in she came up with the plan of sealing the gate between the landing pad and the settlement. We got over here, and then something caused the wall to fail on this side. That caused us to scatter into buildings. I tried to get her to come with me, but she had to go with the wounded.”

I studied him for a moment, and I realized that he was being honest. This Doctor True Heart obviously had meant a great deal to him. Was I still upset by the idea that he was fine with a completely casual idea and didn’t seem upset about the fact that neither of us wanted an actual relationship? Okay, sure, I was annoyed, but not exactly upset. If I was going to be honest I wasn’t sure there were too many ponies that I could honestly say I wanted a relationship with. I knew that any relationship I had would have to be with somepony that understood that I most likely wouldn’t be able to sit still. I wanted to make a life for myself, I wanted to explore, and I wanted to help other ponies.

If I could find a stallion, or mare, that would be fine with that, even if they were somepony that had to linger somewhere, then I’d be fine with having a relationship with them, and I’d call the place where they lived my port of harbor. I’d return to them, I would always return to them, and we could have a life of raising foals. But finding somepony like that was almost like looking for a pear in a bushel of apples, or maybe an apple in a bushel of pears. Sure, you’d find it, but it’d take a lot of dedication, a lot of time, and not giving up hope.

Somepony like that wasn’t likely to just be milling around either. Oh, I suppose that I could have a sort of friends with benefits relationship, but what would happen when he, or she, got tired of it? Sex is great, and it feels good, but sex is just sex. If a pony doesn’t have the intimacy that goes with it, then it’s just a little bit of fun that doesn’t mean anything. That was one of the reasons I didn’t start anything with Baldwin.

Okay, the actual reason I didn’t start something with him was because he let me down, real gentle like, but the other part was that I realized that I had something with him that I didn’t always get to hang onto with my other male friends that I slept around with. I had an actual friendship that didn’t come with the expectation that I’d suck a cock, ride the pony, or enjoy a little flankspank. I suppose in a way it was weird that I respected him more for that, but I did. It was refreshing to be able to be myself around him.

I could do the same with a few other friends, but not as many as I would have liked. Most of the time I had to wear the mask of the rebellious heiress that was sleeping around and slumming around so that I could upset my mother. It wasn’t completely untrue, but it also wasn’t all that there was to me. I was more complex than that. At least I wanted to believe that I was more complex than that.

I sighed and walked out of the shower, now dry, and frizzy, and looked at Smog who looked far too pleased with himself.

“Do you have any idea of where Dr. True Heart could have gone?”

He looked at me for a moment, “Ummm,” he said scratching his chin, “If she could get the wounded out she would most likely head to either Starlight Bay or Fallen.”

I studied him for a moment, “Both of those are settlements?”

He nodded, “They are,” he said, “And it’s been a few months since marauders got into the settlement.”

I studied him, “You’ve been cooped up for a few months?”

He looked at me, “On and off,” he said, “I’ve been trying to get into the other buildings without making a lot of noise. I wanted to find her, hoping that she had enough supplies to last, and I wanted to get her out of here. The only reason I haven’t been trying to rip into the buildings is because if she’s still here I don’t want to bring any mantalings or marauders on her.”

It made sense. He wouldn’t want to bring any more trouble on her than he needed to. Sure, sneaking up on those things, and shooting them in the back of the head, was more than enough to put them down. But that meant sneaking around, and attempting to do so without being heard. For all I knew she likely had ponies that were sick, or couldn’t move very much because of injuries. Plus, if she was a doctor that meant that she might not be skilled in fighting.

I studied him, “We’ll help look for her,” I said, “There’s a place I’ve got to get into, a lab of sorts, but from what you said it’s likely on the other side of that sealed gate. That means going around and attempting to get through the opened gate.”

He looked at me, “If you’re going to do that then you need to get to either Starlight Bay or Fallen. Either one of them will have some upgrades you’ll want for your weapons, and you need some armor.”

I nodded, “Which place is closer?” I asked, “Because that’s where we’ll head.”

He looked at me, “Fallen is closer, but it’s run by a salvage company called the Celestial Salvage Company. They’re pretty much a group of outlaws operating under a corporate name,” he said, “It more or less gives them some leeway when it comes to what they can, and can’t, do.”

I looked at him, my mind considering what he had just told me, and then I began to giggle. Ponies figured out how to use the idea of being a corporate entity against the Conglomerate that made up the board. I wasn’t sure why, but I had to go and see these ponies. I wanted to meet them, maybe even work with them. I slowed myself down as I thought about it. There was a part of me that still acting out, and even though I didn’t want to admit it to myself I couldn’t deny that it was true.

I couldn’t deny that my mother would have a massive fit if she found out that I was hanging out with ponies that were doing less than legal activities, and I could almost see her face scrunched up in anger. I could hear her practically screaming at me that I was wasting my life, I was dragging her good name through the mud, and I might as well toss her out of her home and onto the street for all of the good that I was doing for her.

Dad would simply ask me if those ponies were doing more good than bad for others. If they were doing more good he’d say to be smart about it. Either way I would need to possibly upgrade my weapons, and I would need to get more ammunition. If Fallen was closer, and they had the weapons we needed, then I saw no reason not to attempt to get there. I checked my rifle, seeing that I had several shells for it, the revolver that I’d found on the marauder back on Equestria II was unfortunately empty, and I hadn’t found any more bullets for it. I knew that Gilda had plenty of bullets for her rifle, I was sure that Buttersworth had some bullets for his revolver.

If Smog could breathe fire then there was a good chance that his flames would be enough to protect him, but it wasn’t an absolute guarantee. We walked down, and I saw Gilda checking the rifle, and she had done something to it. At first I wasn’t sure what, but then I realized that she had added a scope, lengthened the barrel, and added what looked several small plates down the length of the barrel that each had a small set of runes. She looked at me, and then gave out a small peep.

“You okay?” I asked, “Is everything alright?”

Buttersworth looked at me, the tired smile on his face, “We didn’t realize that you had entered your estrust,” he said, “And also, you are not a quiet individual.”

I closed my eyes, gave a small curse to myself, and then looked at them, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make either of you uncomfortable,” I said, “I really didn’t.”

She looked at me, moved near me, and put her claw on my shoulder, “We didn’t mean anything,” she said, “If’n you found your special somecreature, then that’s all that matters.”

Smog chuckled, “Not quite,” he said, “I was just willing to help her get through something uncomfortable.”

She looked between us, “So, you’re not together, together?”

I shook my head, “No, it just happened. Consider it a momentary lapse in judgement.”

Buttersworth looked at us, nodded, and then prepared, “I personally see nothing wrong with it,” he said, “We are alive, and it is an expression of being alive. To deny that part of life is to deny all of it.”

I looked back at the runes on Gilda’s rifle and then looked at her, “How did you make the alterations?”

She grinned, “There’s an Auntie Frosted Cakes vending machine, and it had the modification parts needed to upgrade it,” she said, “There wasn’t much, but now the runes will change the bullet into one with an acid liquid core, and it will actually shoot harder than before.”

I smiled, “Huh, so, it can be modified?”

She nodded, “Yeah, but the modifications are pretty cheaply made. If I wanted to add something to them it would likely break these, and I’d have to clean out the bits and pieces from the extended barrel in order to add the new modifications. It’s not hard, just annoying.”

I gave her a soft nod, “Okay, we’re going to go out, deal with those things, any marauders that we find, and then we’re going to see if there is anyone else alive here. If there is we’re going to help them get to a different settlement, or we can offer them a ride off world when we leave.”

Gilda looked at me, “Okay,” she said, “I’m good with helping folks.”

Buttersworth nodded, “It should be a noble thing to aspire to,” he said, “Let us see what awaits us.”

Stepping out I saw the body of the Mantachangling that Smog had cooked. It’s chitrin looked burnt, its mouth hung open in an unending, and silent, scream. There was little doubt in my mind that it had suffered horribly before dying. We moved around, and none of us could see any more of them right away, but I did see something. It was oddly shaped, moved slowly, and its eyes were a soft glowing red. When it saw us it let out a roar, began moving awkwardly toward us, opened its mouth, and belched what looked like flaming spit at us.

The flaming spit hit against a sign, catching it on fire, and the creature snarled at us.

“What is that?” I asked, “It looks like someone tried to combine a dragon with something else.”

Smog snarled at it, unleashed a stream of flame, and the creature screamed. But when the flame ended it was still standing. It looked wounded, but it wasn’t dead. Gilda fired a shot, catching it in the head, and the creature fell. I watched as the acid began eating away at the hole that formed.

“Okay, whatever those things are, acid works on them.”

There were two more of those things, and one them was easily twice as large as Smog. We put them down with both my rifle and Gilda’s. Moving from them and further down I saw a large mantachangeling. It was far taller than Smog, bigger than any of us really, and it was currently holding half of a marauder. I looked at it, wondering exactly how it could be so big when it stopped and began to sniff the air. It turned toward us, and then it dropped the dead marauder. I took aim, fired, and hit a glancing blow on its head. It let out a deafening roar, and it began to gallop toward us. Gilda fired, hitting it in the chest, making sections of its natural armor disappear, but it did little to stop it. I activated my Eye Dentity Scanner, and time slowed. I saw its mouth opened, aimed, and selected inside of its mouth for two shots.

The rifle fired, and the back of its head exploded off. It fell and a changed leg hit me. I stumbled, and looked at my foreleg that had a deep wound in it. I felt someone lift me, “We don’t have a choice,” Smog said, “There’s a first aid station about fifty meters ahead.”

I looked at the wound, how it went clear to the bone, and I was in disbelief. If it wasn’t for the pain I wouldn’t have believed it. I floated out the inhaler, but Smog stopped me, “No, part of its leg is in there,” he said, “We have to get it out.”

I shook my head, pain rushed through me, and I tried to be here, in the moment, to use my gun, but instead the world went black.

You’ve unlocked Faithful Companions: When activated your companions will provide extra cover, search out useful artifacts and medicines, and even carry extra weight for you.