Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Fifty Seven

_______________________________________________________

My legs felt like shit! When I woke up, they refused to move properly, causing me to wobble all over the place. So when I managed to wobble my way out of the room, and rejoin some of my friends, I was already out of breath.

Low Pressure, Molo, and Plasma were sitting at the coffee table with a big bowl of tato wedges. None of them look like they got a proper rest last night.

"You look like shit." Low Pressure stated the obvious. The normally well groomed pegasus was eating tato wedges, dark bags under his eyes and a messy mane. The look was surprisingly not bad for him.

I wanted to be mad at him, but something felt wrong. "I can say the same for you."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Even at my worst, I still look far better than you." Which he was not wrong.

"Still, what's up with you?" I asked.

He sighed. "It's just, you know, I haven't been able to sleep much at all. Ever since my sister got shot like that, I don't know, it was just too real, ya know."

"Low Pressure actually caring about some pony other than yourself." I said with a chuckle. "Well she is your sister, makes sense that you care."

He let out a laugh. "What, care about High Pressure, that's a good one. I mean she's my sister, fuck with her you fuck with me, but that's family business. If she fucks herself over by trusting the wrong ponies, that's her own fault. Fuck, she can become a chem whore for all I care. It's just that she looks way too much like me, and seeing her get shot was like seeing myself get shot. I mean, that was way too real, watching yourself chock up blood."

I let out a long and frustrated sigh as I face hoofed. "You're an asshole, you know that."

Low Pressure smiled at me. "Oh I know, and the stallions love it."

Before I could ask Molo, she lifted her hoof up a little to stop me and said, "Not now, big fucking headache to deal with."

Right, best let her recover before talking about anything with her.

Turning to Plasma, she got up, trotting to the bar, and I followed.

"Ready to tell me what you did last night?" I asked.

"Worked on Cold's power armor a bit." She said with a yawn. "Haven't slept yet."

"Then go to sleep." I told her.

Plasma nodded. "Will do. But let Cold know when he gets up, that his new armor will be adapted for ground combat."

I raised an eyebrow. "Isn't messing with tech, like, against your rules."

She glared at me with tired eyes. "Lottery, I was abandoned by my brothers and sister, wondered the wasteland alone and lost, then spent over a month as a raider cumdump rape toy. Forgive me for being pissy, but I'm of the mind that the codex can fuck itself. The Steel Ranger should have been systematically putting those raiders down like the rabid animal they are."

"Fair enough." I said sympathetically.

Plasma then grabbed a glass of water and finished it. "Now unless your willing to join me in bead and help clear my mind with some rough fucking, leave me alone."

"Also, fair enough, and no, not happening." I replied.

She let out a slightly disappointed huff. "Then I'm going to sleep now."

"Oh, before you go." I stopped her and whispered. "If you're in need of relief, just ask Spell, you two make a cute couple anyways."

Plasma blushed at that, but also looked…guilty. "No… I'm too… dirty for him." She then quickly rushed off, passing Wiretap on her way in.

The older filly raised an eyebrow and then trotted to me. "Why does Plasma smell like cheap perfume, booze, and too many cigarettes?"

That's when I realized that I could not smell a thing. "I'll ask her later, should we see your mom?"

Wiretap looked at the barely functioning clock. "Naw, right now she's likely in bed with one of her guards. Mom's been a bit too stressed out right now, so she's been having them do stuff to her, like bondage and the like."

"You know way too much, you know that." I told her.

She shrugged. "Probably, but I've heard that some fillies my age already have sex, some even sell themselves."

"I don't think that's a good thing." I replied, feeling a bit disgusted by hearing that.

Wiretap poured herself some water, sipping it. "Mom and Auntie think so too, but say that in the wasteland evil ponies just do what they want and good ponies suffer. That's why you kill them, to stop evil ponies and save the good ponies."

I nodded. "Can't argue with you there. Evil ponies do what they want if nopony is willing to stop them. Even then, the good ponies may not have the power to stop evil ponies."

"Six Gun Red did, and she was seen as an evil pony too. I know if I train hard enough, I can become so strong that evil ponies will fear my name." She said with a smile.

"As long as you're prepared for it, I bet you'll become that scarry to every evil ponies." I told her, patting the filly on the head.

But her words reminded me how ill prepared to deal with anything I was. Literally getting fucked and stolen from the first time meeting a wastelander, then falling into Tripwire's hooves. What an idiot I was… and still am.

The door to the other room opened up, and a messy looking Cold Trails trotted out, Wiretap passing him another cup of water as he got to us.

"Plasma wanted me to tell you she's modifying your power armor. Making it for ground combat." I told him.

"Oh, okay." He said calmly, then his eyes opened wide, and he became very awake. "WHAT!"

"Keep it down!" Molo shouted back.

Cold Trails whispered to me in a serious tone, "there's no way Chain Lightning will let that happen, fixing is one thing, but modifying! Plasma is going to get herself killed!"

"I don't think she cares anymore, anyways she's asleep right now, so we have time." I explained.

The panic on Colds face calmed, and he seemed to grow more suspicious. "That mares been too much of a night owl. It's making me worried."

"You and me both." I sighed.

"Me three!" Wiretap added.

The two of us looked over at the older filly, then at the rest of the company here.

"You know, maybe we should get Wiretap out of here. Bad influence and all." Cold Trails suggested.

Nodding in agreement, I then also suggested "let's check on Ben Day, and let's hope Cable isn't driving anypony up the wall."

"Must we?" Wiretap asked, clearly not liking the idea of seeing her half sister.

"If we can avoid it, but like your mother said, she is not in a position to just ignore her." I tried to explain.

Cold Trails sighed. "Even in the wasteland, we can't get away from politics."

Leaving our penthouse, we trotted over to the guarded room, the two deadly looking ponies nodding us in. Expecting a mess, we were surprised to see Margaret floating around, holding several plates of food. At the penthouse kitchen was one of the other miss nannie robots, making pancakes.

"Oh, good timing." Ben Day said as he trotted over. "We're about to have breakfast. The last time I had pancakes was when I turned six… which was like… almost two hundred years ago." The alicorn frowned, likely remembering something now long gone.

"Must still be difficult." Cold said in a sympathetic tone.

"A bit, but I have more memories being a higher functioning drone then as a foal. It makes it easier to not go crazy. Though it still feels wrong being a mare." Ben Day said matter of factly. "Now come, let's eat… unless you two have already eaten?"

Cold and I shook our heads.

Following Ben Day, we trotted to what was a meeting room. My own penthouse had it, big table and all. But before we could enter, a little red filly rushed out.

"Matrix, wait!" Spell Circuit called out.

"Oh dear, fillies are always a hoof full." Margaret said. "I can't help but feel this is my fault."

Spell let out a long sigh. "No, I shouldn't have brought up Redeye." He then looked over at me, shame across his face.

Cocking an eyebrow, I asked my friend. "What happened?"

"Just stepped on a landmine. That's all. Say, can you bring her back, it's not fair for her to not eat because of me?" He asked me.

"Alright." I said, looking over to the room she ran too, and trotted over.

The room I entered was a mess, more like an animal nest than where foals slept. But then again, there were a lot of them.

In a corner, head buried in a book, was the filly, Glittering Matrix.

Trotting over to the filly, I attempted to see what she was reading, but there were so many letters it made my head hurt. "You're lucky… being able to read." I told her, but she ignored me. "My Ma and Pa tried to teach me, but the lesson just didn't stick. Like I was looking at them backwards and upside-down."

I then sighed. "If I could read, then a lot of this mess were in wouldn't have happened… maybe. Unfortunately I'm still not all that smart. If I was, maybe I'd have listened to my Ma and Pa more." I then lowered the book, and looked into Matrix's piercing blue eyes. "What did Spell Circuit say?"

She looked away, avoiding eye contact. "Just stupid stuff."

"Like?" I pressed.

"Like he knew Redeye… that he knew my…" she slammed the book closed. "Redeye was a liar, always lying, always making promises he couldn't keep! No way he was ever good."

Well Redeye was the scourge of the wasteland, so that's not hard to believe.

"And what was this lie?" I asked.

She spent a moment looking at me, clearly unsure if she should say anything. "You're going to be like the rest, you're not going to believe me."

I let out a chuckle. "Dear, you wouldn't believe half the things I've seen. Frankly, I'm not even sure If I've just gone crazy and have been hallucinating most of it. It's possible your just another hallucination."

Matrix looked me in the eyes, a bit confused by my statement. "Miss, you're weird."

"There's worse things than being weird. Far worse things." I told her with a smile.

She then took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll tell." She fidgeted with the book for a long moment before saying. "I can remember everything."

I raised an eyebrow. "Ya, and? I remember lots of things, even some things I wish I could forget."

"No, you don't get it." She said, clearly frustrated.

I probably didn't, so maybe a different approach was in order. So I whispered, "Will-o-Wisp, can you help me?"

A blue glow covered the room as the blue flame appeared and danced between us. Matrix's eyes became wide in awe.

"Took me over a month to realize I wasn't seeing things. Will-o-Wisp here was given to me after breaking a curse left behind by the necromancer… I think he was the villain of the Long Winter that Storm Rider fought. Anyways, she's helped me out a lot. You can imagine how others would think if I said this all to them when they couldn't see her."

I lifted my hoof up, and Will-o-Wisp jumped over to it and danced on it. "So, I may not get it, but I won't deny what you tell me."

She nodded. "Alright. What I mean is… I can't forget anything. I see it, I remember it. My mothers screams as I was born… and when… she died. Father… always being cold around me, unless in front of others. All the things he talked about in private, when he thought no pony was listening. All the things in his private terminal, everything. The sound, the smell, even the feeling of his cape. I remember how it felt when he wrapped me in it when my mother died. It was the only time he cried, and the last time he was ever honest again."

Matrix put her hoof on the book. "I can remember every word in this book, every line, and what page it is on." She then looked up at me again, as though seeing through me. "I remember how the adults hate me, think I'm weird. Even… father was frightened of me. It's why he showed all the other foals love… even if it was a lie."

I couldn't stop myself, and gave the filly a hug.

"Wh… let me go!" She demanded.

"No!" I protested. "We all need a hug, including you. Anyways, I bet those adults were loathsome slavers, not even worth your pity. And I don't care who your father is, you're an adorable filly, that is all that matters!"

I felt something wet on my chest, and looking down I saw that Matrix was trying to, and failing in her attempt to not cry. So I patted her on the head as I continued to hold her. "It's okay, let it all out."

"Why… why couldn't he hold me again!" Matrix said into my chest. "D… daddy, why were you so set on dying? I didn't want you to do any of this, not for me… why couldn't you tell anypony the truth, that you wanted to see mama again… that you… you… regretted everything!"

We stayed this way for a few minutes as Matrix cried into my chest. The daughter of Equestria worst villain, nothing more than an innocent little filly who wanted her father to hold her. I didn't want to believe her words about Redeye, I wanted to keep believing he was some evil pony with nothing redeeming about him.

But he was just a pony, like me.

I could have so easily been blinded by love and have followed Tripwire when he offered to join him. Could have done so much harm in the name of the greater good. I could have been just like Redeye, paving a road with my good intentions right off a cliff.

Once she had settled down, I brought her back to where everypony was eating, Margaret giving Matrix an extra helping of pancakes.

Sitting next to Spell and Cold, my closer than a friend pegasus had syrup all over his face, smiling with a look of pure joy. Raising an eyebrow, I then looked to Spell for an explanation.

"It's his first time having pancakes and syrup. As you know, most of the food up in the clouds has no flavor, and barely any texture." Spell explained, then said to me, "thanks for bringing Matrix back."

"It wasn't much. She just needed somepony to talk to, and vent on." I then looked over at Crown and Flashed. "So… have you-"

"Talked, with my…. Daughters… no, not quite." Spell said ashamedly. "I just don't know how to… I've never read a book about parenting or what to do in such a situation. The other foals I'm fine with, it's easy to talk to them, and I actually like telling them thing… but with those two… I don't know."

I couldn't help but feel that if Molo was able to reconnect with them, everything would have gone smoother with Spell. Only if Catalyst hadn't poisoned the well. Only if I didn't force their meeting after learning that.

"Just give it time, it's a lot to take in, for all of you." I said just as a pancake was placed in front of me.

"Ya, not to mention everything else that's going on. I don't think I can deal with any more surprises and drama." Spell said, now looking considerably tired.

I let out a chuckle. "I get that. With everything going on, I'm half expecting to run into some distant relative of mine, and learn some dark history about my Ma and Pa."

A loud burp came from Cold Trails, which was rather disgusting. "Hey now, don't jinx yourself." He warned, then knocked on the table.

Spell and I instinctively copied Cold, lightly rapping on the table.

_______________________________________________________

With breakfast in our bellies, both Cold and I left the foals behind. Wiretap stayed behind to help, Spell Circuit. And I think she was starting to like having a few foals her age around, even if she did have to deal with Cable.

Ben Day decided to come with us, as we were heading down to the clinic. It's been almost two hundred years since he had seen a doctor, and Ben Day felt it was better late than never. We were heading down ourselves to get our dose of painkillers, and a change of bandages.

Fortunately the doctor was in, and was not all that busy. Leaving Ben Day outside, since he was getting nervous and worried about knocking things over, we entered.

"Right, I'll be with you in a bit." Doctor Helga told us. On her table was Silver Bristle Brush, legs spread apart as she was being examined. Fortunately Silver was being aimed away from the door, so neither of us had to see inside the Unicorn mares cunt.

After a too long of a moment, Doctor Helga let Silver close her legs. The older griffin then huffed in annoyance. "I swear, you must be a mutant, nothing else explains how you're healing like that."

"Then can I go?" Silver asked coyly.

"No!" Helga said flatly. "Last time we let you roam about unsupervised, you tried to start a public orgy." She then pinched the bridge of her beek, clearly frustrated. "If you weren't completely immune to disease, you'd be a fucking trotting biological disaster. At that, it's also good that you're sterile, because I'm sure you'd become a broodmare to boot. Celestia knows, we don't need more of you wandering around abandoning foals just for chems and a fuck."

Silver just giggled at Helga's tirade. She then looked over to us, her eyes widening at the sight of Cold. "Oh my, the dashing knight!" She said hopping off of the table and to us.

I got in the way, placing a hoof up to stop her. "Down bitch, go take a cold shower."

She then grabbed hold of my hood and nuzzled it. "I don't mind mares either."

Thankfully Doctor Helga grabbed Silver and put her back on the bed. Strangely, it looked like her tattoo had grown, there was now a second heart inside the original, along with some patterns around it. "Why must I foal sit your nympho ass." She then looked over at me, "good to see that your motor functions are starting to work right."

I moved my legs, only now noticing that they weren't slow anymore. "I guess all that trotting worked out the kinks." I said before changing the topic. "So why not have somepony else look after her, or keep her locked in a room."

Doctor Helga looked at me like I was an idiot, which she had some right to do. "Everyone has their claws full, and last time I let my assistant keep an eye on Silver here, I found Quacksalver balls deep in her. That was the last fucking straw for him, so I'm down an assist. As for locking her up, it has proven… difficult. We don't know how, but she always gets out."

"Right… I think I get it. We can come back another time once your free." I said, feeling sorry for the doctor.

Silver was about to speak, but Helga closed her muzzle shut. "No, the best time is now, before more injured ponies are brought in from the fighting. As long as one of you keeps an eye on the horny bitch here, I can do my job. That all said, how are you holding up, Lottery?"

I shrugged, "it seems that pain and numbness has been keeping my head clear. I mean the urges are there, but ignorable. Though I do catch myself acting like a whore occasionally."

Helga nodded. "Makes sense. That cures may be potent, but it can at least be suppressed. Send Plasma to me when you can, I can't imagine she's doing as well as you are."

"I wish she was. If I wasn't numb to everything, there's a few times she might have drawn me into a make out session." I let her know.

"Not the worst problem I say." Cold Trails commented, getting a glare from Helga and I.

"WelI we managed to get some medicine from Rattlebones to suppress the urges, if only a little. Has no effect on Silver, but that might be more to do with her not even trying to resist the curse. But for you and Plasma it should help." Doctor Helga told us, before asking, "Now who's getting their bandages changed first?"

It was good to know that we finally had something to help fight this curse. Just looking at, Silver Bristle Brush made my skin crawl. The poor mare had nothing but sex on the brain, even looking in her eyes I could tell, and that fait awaited me if the curse is never lifted.

Looking back at Cold Trails, he shrugged and said, "maybe let Ben Day go first?"

"Who?" Helga asked.

"Our friend, let me get him." Cold answered before trotting to the door.

A moment later, Ben Day came in, looking nervous.

Doctor Helga sighed. "I don't know what you want me to do with her, alicorns can regenerate. So unless she's got a metal pole in her head or some shit, she's fine."

Ben Day looked dejected as he said, "s… sorry. I forgot I could do that. Though it would be safe if I let myself get checked out."

"Now don't go sulking." Helga said, then pointed at the table to sit down on. "I'll look you over quickly, Not that it will amount to much."

"Oh thank you." Ben Day said as he trotted to the bed and sat down. It was a bit ridiculous with how big he was, dwarfing all of us in the room.

Pulling out some kind of wooden stick from her coat pocket, Helga cleared her voice and told us. "Might as well explain a few things." She then made Ben Day open his mouth, wide. "First off, as a byproduct of their artificial bodies, artificial alicorns have overly white and overly straight teeth, but unfortunately they are meant for ponies of a smaller size, like you two. Makes chewing hard when all your teeth are pushed to the front." Pulling out the stick, she then hit Ben Day in the knee with a small rubber mallet she pulled out from nowhere, getting no reaction from it. "Also, most artificial alicorns have no natural reflexes, and if they need to move about quickly, they move like a pony that spends all their time reading books not running." Helga then poked Ben Day below the chest, causing him to stiffen up. "Also, an artificial alicorn has a rather unstable internal plumbing. Likely because they can feed off chaotic magic, but that leaves them vulnerable to bouts of diarrhea when they do eat like a normal pony."

Helga paused for a moment as though realizing something. "The artificial alicorns are also sterile, likely due to the taint that made them." She then looked over at Silver. "Didn't you say you were sent to the Goddess?"

Silver shrugged. "That's what the others told me."

"Wait, you can't be suggesting that?" I asked out loud.

"Wait what's going on?" Ben Day asked in a confused tone.

Helga then took a step back and pointed at Silver. "Ben Day, could she be an incomplete alicorn?"

"A what, no, the mother never… Umm, let me check" Ben Day looked at Silver for a long moment, then touched his horn with hers. His cheeks then flushed red and he jumped off the bed and away from Silver. "Wh… what's wrong with her?"

"So is she or is she not one of yours?" Helga asked.

Ben Day nodded. "Yes, somehow, but what's wrong with her? Her mind is… weird."

"She's cursed. It affects her mind." I said as simply as possible. "Do you know why she's like you?"

"Maybe… I think that Mother… the Goddess sometimes would make sisters who end up as the… rejects… yes that's right, the rejected. And would use those ponies to spy on other ponies." Ben Day explained, sounding unsear of it.

"Rejected, care to explain?" Helga asked.

Ben Day scratched his head for a moment. "I think… they were resistant, or already mutated. Not good for making into a sister, despite being a unicorn. It was a more recent problem… I think. They… right, I remember now, the Goddess forbidding us from picking up unicorns from nopony zones."

"No… pony zones?" Cold asked in a confused tone.

"Places where no ponies can live due to radiation levels." Doctor Helga explained.

Ben Day nodded, "ya, where no pony can go. Places with lots of radiation, even taint. The Goddess told all the sisters that if we find ponies living in those places, ignore them. They are all considered rejected, their bodies don't change, only die if forced… some still lived, but mentally they… well not there anymore."

"How is that even possible, living in such a place?" I thought out loud.

Helga let out a long groan. "Ya, that explains everything now. So even the Goddess didn't know what to do with a Waste Pony." I cocked an eyebrow at the doctor, and she further explained. "They're a kind of mutant. Looks mostly normal, but are practical like living ghouls. Some theorize that their foals were born from ghouls, but no creature knows for sure. They don't need to eat or drink as much as normal ponies, and actually enjoy bathing in radiation. Fortunately they stay in their irradiated shelters, so it's rare to see one. If Pecan had dent trotted onto our doorstep, then I would still be a skeptic about their existence."

"The Zony, she's a… waste pony?" Cold asked.

The griffin nodded. "She didn't know it at the time, but after her son was born I finally put the pieces together. The blackish tongue and internals are likely a trait of being a waste pony. Her eyes even glow when she's around radiation." She then looked at Silver, who was fidgeting in her seat. "I guess this is what happens to a waste pony when the Goddess tries and makes an alicorn out of them, cures notwithstanding."

Looked over at Ben Day, Helga then asked, "care if you take her off my claws, since she's technical one of yours?"

Ben Day vigorously shook his head, still blushing profusely. "N… no! What that cures is, I don't want it spreading to the sisters."

I saw Helga then physically shiver. "Right, I rather not see a horny flock of alicorns. Well can you at least make sure Silver doesn't do anything, I still need to help those two."

With a head nod from Ben Day, Helga got to work changing our bandages.

I let Cold go first, and got to see the extent of the damage he suffered. I had heard his cuts were clean, and when the bandages were removed, it was, reminding me of a clean cut of meat. I almost threw up seeing it as Helga cleaned the stumps, spraying healing potion over them afterwards before reapplying the bandages. Once it was done, Cold was given two boots to go over the stumps.

"Do your best to not further fuck up those legs, and we will get you better prosthetics soon. Still a shame about your wing." She told him.

Cold nodded. "Thanks, but If I never fly again, even if I do get my wing back, or something like that… I don't think I'll care."

Putting his prosthetic boots back on, she then jabbed Cold with med-X. "Well I can't say that's the most healthy way to think, but it's far from the worst. Here, there's a few old Talons here who've lost wings, and I can have you meet up with them. Don't worry about being out of place, they love having new drinking buddies to talk about the past with."

"Maybe…" Cold said, sounding unsure about the suggestion.

Doctor Helga then ushered the pegasus off her table. "Just trust me, I've been a doc for mercenaries for far too long, and know what helps in cases like these. It may also help seeing Mint too, she may be a bit too touchy feely for my liking, but she's not a fraud." She then looked at me and pointed at the table.

Taking my turn on the table, the braces came off, then so did the bandages. After a quick scrubbing with a rough sponge that popped the boils and made a Celestia awful smell, she then washed my legs off with water. I was pleased to see that my fur was indeed coming back in, if a bit rough. Though the rings around each leg were still there, at least they didn't look that ugly.

Still the skin on my leg looked like a misshapen mass of flesh, as though there was too much skin there. Examining it, Doctor Helga clicked her tongue, which didn't sound good. "Looks like a bit too much regeneration is happening, I may need to remove some in a few days to prevent sagging."

"What!" I said in shock.

Doctor Helga shut my mouth with a talon. "It will be fine, this is actually fairly common, it's just annoying to do. And actually fortunate since we can use the excess skin to help others who lost theirs." She then let go of my muzzle as she pulled on the skin on one of my legs, it stretching out a fair bit. "Trust me, trimming this will be easy and safe. So just focus on getting better, okay."

I nodded, feeling less concerned now. Doctor Helga had never done me wrong before, so I won't stop trusting her now.

After my legs were re-wrapped and the braces put back on, I got my dose of med-x. "I could get used to that, it just feels good." I said as the wave of numbness washed over me

"And that's why I keep everything locked up." Helga said as she threw the used needle into a bin. "Anyways, the two of you are healing well. No infections, or bleeding. Cold, like I said, we should have proper prosthetics for you by the end of the week, so just bear with what you got for now. And Lottery, I know it's annoying to wait, but if things go well, you will be off the medicine in a few days, after that we can talk about the potion."

The Doctor then turned to Ben Day. "And you miss… you sir, let me know if either of these two are being idiots. Unlike you, they can't regenerate."

"And what about Silver?" I asked.

"Well now that we know what is wrong with her, all that's left is finding out how she keeps getting out of her room." Helga said with an annoyed tone.

"It could be teleportation?" Ben Day suggested, and we all looked at him. "Well technically she is an artificial alicorn, so she could have the same abilities."

Helga hit her own face with her claw with a smack, and left the claw there. "That… that would explain the rest… I'll tell Grizzly about this later. Now you all just go."

Leaving the clinic, I found my legs feeling stiff again, but not as bad as yesterday. Cold also trotted smoother than before, though still looked awkward with two boots on one side.

"Say, are you two doing anything?" Ben Day asked us.

"Not yet, but I do have a few things to take care of." Cold answered. "Though I'm no longer part of the Enclave, I still have a responsibility to my comrades that came with me. Along with the civilians who we dragged along with us. Not all of them are pegasus first, and some are a bit too interested in non-pegasus. So I'm helping Chain Lightning with them."

"Same... well not really." I said, feeling a bit nervous. "Molo's clearly not doing well, same for Plasma. But most of all, I need to talk to Mint about myself."

Ben Day let out a chuckle. "I guess we all got ponies we need to look after. I'm actually starting to understand why Auntie was so stressed all the time... Well see you later, you know where to find me." He then spread out his wings and lifted off.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say he flew off to mock me." Cold said, clearly trying to not sound bitter.

"How about we meet up later, do that date thing you told me about?" I asked him.

A slight smile formed on his muzzle. "Ya, let's do that."

_______________________________________________________