Fallout: Equestria - Parallelism

"What?..."

A chill runs through my body; panic slowly takes over me.

"Exactly. I'm disappointed in your choice," the voice says in my head. "You've become too attached to this world, even though you know we don't belong here."

"I'm not quite sure who you are?"

"I've already told you. I am you. Only with one difference: I am a true human, unlike you. You've started to change, getting used to this environment and body. And recently, you've even enjoyed eating flowers! It was tolerable... but then you became obsessed with Motley. You lost your head over her, and you gave in to feelings of intimacy with a completely different creature. The more you thought about her, the more repulsive the thought of a relationship with a non-human seemed."

"So you're a different identity in my head?"

"You could put it that way. I understand as much about it as you do. Remember the supermutant we met in Sierra Madre, who had two personalities; it is true that intellectually they differed from each other as much as heaven and earth, and each had his own memories. With us, as I understand it, the situation is different."

"I don't understand why you sometimes speak in the singular, and sometimes in the plural, we?"

"It's easier, in my opinion: you and I have the same past, the same principles and views, so I sometimes speak of we, for you are part of me and I am part of you. We are one and the same. And yes, despite being uninformative—you have the same knowledge as I do— say this to you so that you will calm down at last."

"How did you emerge?"

"I can't say exactly. I began to realize myself gradually from the moment you first danced with Motley then in the restaurant. The human essence in you, the true human being that is me, didn't want to put up with the idea of having to spend the rest of my life not in a human environment. You hadn't made that decision yet, but the scales were tipping more and more in that direction. Then I started to feel like I felt like an observer. I couldn't control myself. I didn't realize... until now. I realized that the body was being controlled by another... Daniel."

"Are you saying we're only different because of one desire, but the rest we have everything in common?"

"Yes. Like I said, I tolerated any change in us. Thought you'd still wise up and give up trying to have a relationship in this world. Take responsibility. I tried to... somehow resist it. That time we danced with Motley... what we felt... How hard it was for me to fight my attachment to that pony—because of hormones, I think. Eventually I realized where it was going to lead."

"Now I understand why the feeling of unnaturalness associated with being attached to another creature and wanting to strengthen that bond disappeared. It was as if I had lost a piece of myself."

"Then the human nature that is me has already separated from you and formed as an independent identity in our bodies. You could say we both have the personality of a human being: you are the corrupted personality, while I am the pure and untainted one. There is nothing wrong with the word 'tainted'. It's simply denoting that your perceptions and feelings have changed, adapting to this world. To me, this world of magic and ponies will always be unfamiliar and strange, though partly beautiful and wonderful."

"Why exactly am I the one controlling our body?"

"I don't yet know how it can happen, but apparently you and I can either forcefully override it or do it consensually. I haven't tried to check—it's no use to me right now, so you're at the wheel. The first reason is that I am a person with a purely human perception, and I can't use the altered body as effectively as you can. It won't feel the same—like wearing clothes you'll never get used to, no matter how hard you try, and you'll feel uncomfortable and uneasy in them. This body feels like your own. The second reason is that if I take control of the body, it will be too noticeable in my movements. And that fact will make others suspicious..."

"Hey, Daniel?" Some pony waves his leg in front of my helmet. "Are you okay? You just stand there like a pole and don't move."

The dark gray pony named Blaze looks at me in surprise.

"Huh?.. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I shake my head slightly.

"Good, now show me what's what, because this place scares me a little," he says, cautiously looking around, occasionally lingering his attention on active and living plants. Mushu's green stalks wriggle slowly, almost imperceptibly, snow-covered in the snow.

I nod.

"Follow me and don't be afraid," I utter, and we move toward the lab.

"Enough talking," the other me says to me. "We seem to be conversing with you as normal chatters. So I won't distract you, I don't want to get killed over this kind of stuff with all your attention focused on me."

"It's a calm environment now, we can talk. What's going to happen to us next? I'm not going to tell anyone about you."

"And you don't have to. We don't need suspicion. Now you're hiding not one secret from Motley, but two—your true appearance from the past and your second identity. However, one follows from the other. You'll be doubly crazy in her eyes when you tell. She'll hate you for lying and turn her back on your lunacy, which will only be confirmed by your split identity."

"Why are you trying to hurt me? You think it's so easy to keep it to yourself? I'm even worse now!"

"We share a body, don't forget. I want to come home as a human. Oh, and besides, I don't wish you any harm, I just want to change your choices regarding your potential love for a pony. Just think how she'd react to the truth about us. Crazy liar. I'll be there for you in that case. It's so weird to see and feel everything and yet be unable to affect your body. It's like being trapped in a memory orb, only with the ability to mentally communicate with its owner. We're not so different, because we share the past, the present... and the future. I see what you see and feel what you feel, only I can ignore it all. Don't worry, I won't try to take control of your body like I said before. I'll just observe and help you on occasion in battle. Two heads are better than one, aren't they? Especially when they think basically the same way. What an extraordinary turn our lives have taken after all, isn't that right, Daniel?"

"Definitely, Daniel... Fuck, that sounds so weird!"

"Tell me about it..."

***

I introduce Blaze to Professor and Mushu. What amazement the dark gray pony feels at the sight of the brain center of the huge stalks! Mushu isn't too talkative as usual. Nor, in fact, is Professor. After exchanging a few kind greetings, we haul the equipment Professor needs upstairs and load it into the Vertibuck. Blaze and Professor aren't tired, so Motley and I carry almost nothing. The crimson-red stallion is really good with magic: he can levitate objects larger and heavier than himself several times without much effort.

It takes about an hour to load. The scientist, as expected, views the flying mechanical bird with interest. Mushu shows curiosity as well, trying to touch it with one of her stalks. Blaze is a little startled by this, as if Mushu is about to pull the thing in and eat it. But once the green plant's curiosity has dissipated, Blaze calms down and proceeds to tell the crimson-red unicorn about the Vertibuck's capabilities and characteristics.

I'm sitting in the interior, littered with equipment, boxes of flasks and other items for research and experimentation. Motley is nestled next to me; she is dozing.

Before takeoff, we said goodbye to Mushu.

The first order of business is to go to Phoenix Threshold so Professor can see Sunny Waterfall and let her know that he needs to get some rare equipment from Vanhoover. I'm too lazy to go anywhere, so I tell the scientist to have the necessary equipment delivered to the Oasis of Vanhoover, the Bottomless Chest store where my acquaintance Bluerise works. After a while, Blaze will take it from there by Vertibuck. The scientist agrees without hesitation.

I just want to take a quick shower, lie in a warm, soft bed, and sleep it off.

It was already light when we left Green Island. After talking to Sunny, the crimson-red pony returns to Venture, informing me that she has passed on her thanks and now has no doubts about my abilities.

There is a reason Prince, the Vanhoover's Father, asked me to interact with the citizens of the city directly. They must have faith in my skills.

Soon we arrive by Vertibuck in Heavenly Harbor. We are greeted by Caroline—the others are already sweetly asleep.

Stay awake... Awake!

She's not in her Stable body of the pony-like robot, but directly controlling one of the standard security robots. It's rather unusual to hear her voice so rough and deep and stallion-like. She informs me that 'Berry' helped tune her frequency to amplify the transmission signal. Caroline can now control her robots throughout the Vanhoover region with no problem. Her main body has already left to search for the missing master group that Troy Steelmane spoke of in his letter.

Upon arrival, Motley goes straight to our apartment, and I show Professor the lab and hydroponics room, which can be partially rebuilt with equipment from the lab. The latter is more than satisfied with the place for research. After informing him that he can take any sleeping room he wants, I follow Motley...

Blaze, whom I woke him up in the middle of the night, also heads to bed. Caroline helps Professor unload the equipment and do some repair work. Not wanting to sleep so much, I'd gladly join them just to dig into some equipment or gadgetry.

Motley's gear and duffel bags lie in the middle of the room; from the shower comes the sound of pouring water. The pegasus is taking a shower. Naturally, I join her, almost falling asleep there.

I'm tired, and I don't feel the need for lewd games, and neither does she.

After showering together, we go to bed. We crawl onto the bed, snuggling together—I cover us with a soft, clean blanket.

***

I open my eyes languidly. Motley is still sleeping peacefully, snuggled up against me.

Oh... That feels so good.

"With another creature? Uh-huh. I don't think so, though I agree it's nice to sleep with someone in your arms."

"Shut up, let me enjoy it."

"She almost died in The Island yesterday because of you. Her life is on your shoulders now."

"Shut up..."

I linger in the pegasus's warm embrace for ten minutes and carefully slip out of it, getting out of bed. The second identity bothers me when I'm around Motley. He's bored, so he taunts me. I leave the apartment and decide to check on Professor.

It's evening time by Equestrian standards.

Just as I get down to the residential level, a small orange hurricane comes at me, enclosing me in a hug for a few seconds and blurts out, "Play-play-play-play-play!"

"Nara, not now, I just woke up after a grueling ride," I say sleepily. "I want a cup of strong coffee..." an attack of a very contagious disease comes over me: I yawn widely, "...to brighten up. The brain's not working at all."

"I want on your back..." the little pony becomes depressed.

I roll my eyes doomfully.

Without further ado, I put the filly on my back with my telekinesis. She shrieks happily and we head to the dining room.

"Tell me," I begin, "were you interested in watching Berry and Caroline? Or rather, their work?"

"A little," the pony answers uncertainly. "But I'm not good in that kind of stuff at all. I got bored quickly. I wanted to look you up, but you were busy and the next day you were gone," she says chagrined.

"Yeah," I snort. "Goodbyes are hard. It's easier to go unnoticed. Less pain you'll have to feel from it then."

"But I still felt hurt that you left me like that," the orange pony says pitifully.

"If you don't get upset that I'm leaving, I'll give you a notice."

"Okay," Nara mutters reluctantly.

Sweet little pony... I'm so sorry for what she's been through. And that I have to turn her down when she needs me.

"It's not just Motley who's attached to you, is it? Until you find a new home for Nara, you're responsible for her smile."

"Piss off. I know without you."

"It's easier to go unnoticed. I totally agree with you on that one. I feel sorry for that little pony. She looks so fragile, helpless and alone, without her parents; she's probably seen them die. She went through a lot of nightmares and horrors in her Stable all by herself. How much like this we have seen in both worlds... Orphaned kids. So many."

"Something can be worked out about Nara. She's still troubled by the past. Walnut, when purging Nara's Stable, said it would be better to erase her memory: it would be easier for her. But we've decided to leave that choice to her when she's used to society and can judge her actions and their consequences. I have no right to decide such matters."

"But you will need to decide on her living arrangements... before she becomes completely attached to you. You're at an impasse, my friend."

In the kitchen, the pink earth pony with a lingonberry-colored mane stands at the stove, preparing our breakfast—or rather, dinner already—by stirring something with a large spoon in a huge pot.

"Good evening, Daniel," she says, noticing us. "Hello to you too, Nara, why didn't I see you when Professor showed up? I was worried you hadn't had breakfast and lunch. I noticed a few foods missing from the lockers, though, and I already wanted to let Daniel know about it."

"Flow," Nara burrows her face into my mane, "I figured it was okay to get some food myself..."

"No, it's fine, I just needed to make sure you weren't hungry."

"Yes, that was me. And I'm not hungry. It's just a new pony..."

"Scared of him?" I ask the filly.

A muffled and timid 'uh-huh' is heard from the back.

"Well, let's go check on him together, I'll introduce you. What about you?" I look at Flow. Nara rests her head on mine.

"I already made my introduction to him at breakfast today," she smiles weakly.

"Fine. Let me just make myself some coffee, and we'll dash out of the kitchen so we don't disturb you. Uh... Not fully awake yet."

The pink mare nods. I brew some strong coffee, pouring it into a cup. Grabbing the cup with magic, exuding the invigorating smell of fragrant and hot coffee, I drag myself and Nara away from the kitchen.

We waddle to the technical level and head to Professor's place. As we pass the armory, I see a dark gray stallion standing on his hind legs, front legs folded and leaning against the wall. Blaze is having a conversation with someone. I assume with our griffon... who is also gray in color.

"...such a difficult opponent I faced in the Arena. He was difficult to defeat, but I did it," he says proudly. "Oh, good evening, sleepyhead," he says, noticing me. "You have a good day too, Nara. Haven't seen you all day: I take it you were afraid of a strange pony?"

"Uh-huh..." Nara says once again a little shy and quiet. She's still uncomfortable talking to new ponies. Blaze smiles weakly and shifts his gaze to me.

"And I thought I'd have a few words with your armorer here. I don't have anything better to do right now anyway."

"And what do you talk about?" I inquire.

"This and that," Ferris answers in his place, not taking his eyes off his workbench of disassembled weapons. "Finding out how he dominated the stallions and mares in the Arena. So... what else interesting things happened in Vanhoover?" he asks Blaze.

"Well, you know, I heard a lot of things," the stallion says in an ingratiating tone. "For instance, about a betrayal in the Falcon family seven years ago. It was said that someone in his own family killed Father, and then he was hunted down and killed. And this turkey had a name strikingly similar to yours... What do you think, Ferris?" Blaze's face breaks into a mischievous grin.

"Just a coincidence," the griffon replies without hesitation, as if he really and truly has nothing to do with the Falcon family at all.

"Really?" Blaze asks rhetorically, and his grin grows even wider than before. "So many griffons in Vanhoover with the name Ferris? That betrayer was still an excellent weaponsmith and was great at his craft, like a damn wizard..."

"I've heard a lot about him too. They say he was unrivaled in his craft. I admire and emulate him. The fact that we have the same name only gives me hope that I can at least partially achieve the skill that my idol possessed."

"I believe. Totally," Blaze stretches out with irony.

I, pulling Blaze aside for a moment, ask him not to mention Ferris' name in Vanhoover. He nods understandingly and returns to the conversation.

I didn't tell anyone that Ferris belonged to the Falcon family and was a blood relative.

I step over the threshold of the lab. Sitting on my back, Nara looks with interest and curiosity at the softly beeping equipment and instruments, as well as the gurgling multicolored liquids in test tubes and flasks of various sizes and shapes. Noticing a crimson-red unicorn in a lab coat standing at a work table with various reagents and doing experiments on them, the pony on my back gets tense and alert, hiding behind my head.

"Work's boiling, I see," I look around interestedly.

"Good evening, Daniel," he greets in his quick tone without looking back. "Yes, the research and experimentation continues. Every moment wasted or missed can be costly, for as we know, none of us are immortal, so I work tirelessly."

"Has all the equipment from the lab been repaired yet?"

"Yes, with Caroline's help."

It's a shame I missed the opportunity to practice my magical repair skills.

"She is very curious for an artificial intelligence. However, I must admit: quite advanced, largely due to the hardware her neural network resides on. I just gave her access to my research results. Still analyzing them, but has already helped me with some tips. Truly a quality AI."

"By the way, I'd like you to meet a little person on my back." Professor turns around and looks at me, then looks at Nara with interest. "She's a little shy when there are new faces. Nara has lived alone for about a year surrounded by creepy mutants, and it's hard for her to see others as potential friends instead of the usual threat."

"I understand her attitude toward the newcomers. There's nothing to be surprised about. It's nice to meet you, Nara. You can call me Professor."

"You have a funny name," she mutters quietly.

"No," the pony laughs. "It's a nickname. It's gotten so used to me that I don't actually use my real name."

"And where did you get that nickname?" I inquire.

"A long time ago... I can't remember such trivia anymore. I think some DJ jokingly said that about me once. I forget his name. He had a lot of listeners and they started calling me that. Anyway, it doesn't matter now. I've been called that nickname more often by the zebras."

"Zebras? You mean you were in their country?"

"Well, more like in what's left of it." Professor shrugs. "Comparing our situation and theirs is like comparing mustard and shi... dirt. They are also scattered, but most are divided into relatively civilized, though extremely warlike, tribes. Relatively, because they've taken a step back, become even more superstitious than before. Believing that a new Caesar will come, unite the zebras, and finish what they started: something to do with Princess Luna... or Nightmare Moon. Living in constant restlessness, for they are surrounded by dangers, deadly predators, unfriendly plants, and other children of radiation and alchemy that might interest a sophisticated scientist like myself. And we have the whole list, only they're more varied, colorful, and deadly."

"Is that why you have such strange armor made of various skins?"

"Right... Most of the hides on it are tough, others are more flexible, and others give some effect like a little heat resistance."

"Why aren't you wearing it now? Like you did then, when we met?"

"It's relatively safe here. If anything, my modified plasma pistol, a couple of unique items, and a set of my own spells are enough for me. The armor isn't that important, it mostly protects me from the harsh weather, both cold and unbearably hot and humid."

"What have you been exploring in zebra territory?"

"Like I said— flora and fauna. Many curious specimens useful for my work can be obtained there. There are certain species of mushrooms that enhance thinking, they were part of the Mint-als—by the way, and I use them often when I get stumped in my work. And then there's mushrooms that will send you on a fascinating spiritualistic journey..."

"You're into alchemy?" I wonder.

"You could say that. Genetics and alchemy are virtually identical concepts. The only difference is that the former studies mainly the structure of nature, while the latter emphasizes its features. I have been in zebra land for almost twenty years and have become well versed in alchemy. The knowledge I have gained will be useful to me in my work. All knowledge, of course, no one can memorize—that's why I keep a diary and audio logs. I have an entire data storage device in which all the recipes, formulas, and other information I need for my work are recorded. That's what I use the PipBuck for—if I need to use the data, I plug it into this overhoof device or terminal, so it's easier to use."

"Is there so much data that it doesn't fit in the PipBuck?" I wonder.

However, my Pip-Boy can't hold The New Features blueprints because of my personal notes: I had to use the spare PipBuck. No wonder Professor has a separate storage device.

"I've been doing this all my life and I record all my information on a separate storage device. You could say it's my personal digital library with all sorts of information. I use PipBuck more often as an audio diary... or in combat."

"Yeah..." I say with some amazement.

He's really giving his all to his dream. Just like Lilac who collected notes and created maps of the Griffon Kingdom. All her life. She was engulfed in it like Professor is engulfed in his research on flora and fauna.

"So you can make potions for us? You know, healing potions, for example?"

"That's foal's play compared to the field of research I do. It's much cheaper for me to buy the raw materials and make the necessary potions myself than to buy them from a store. In my spare time, I'll be making healing potions. Or some rarer ones..."

"Like what?"

"For you as a fellow unicorn, there's a potion that allows you to survive magic burnout without severe consequences, restoring it almost instantly."

"Wow... I wish I had something like that. Can you make it anytime soon?" I look at Professor with eager interest.

"It would take a special plant, the seeds of which I have with me."

"You carry the seeds with you, too?"

"Of course, in a special small container. Most plants are necessary for the job because they have unique qualities. The hydroponics of this bunker will be able to nurture a couple specimens. With magic, I can accelerate their growth by several degrees. True, only in small quantities; and their growth rate will depend on the natural process, but it is still useful when you need to get the harvest soon. Still, my magic is adapted to this; I practiced in this very field when I was still a young foal—I have a talent for it. I'm most inclined in working with plants."

"A very useful and rare magical ability," I say impressed.

Even though this is the first time I've heard of it. Amazing and extraordinary is this world of magic. I can't stop being amazed when I hear something like this. Of course, there are special plant growth stimulants, but to promote this with magic alone... "I hope to hear an entertaining story about it someday over a glass of whiskey," I smile.

"Maybe when we have some free time to talk." A shadow of a smile slides across the scientist's face.

"And thanks for agreeing to make potions for us."

"That is as small and tiny as a seed to me, because my business is with flowers and berries, which are more important things. Pardon the pun. And now I must get down to business," the crimson-red stallion returns to his occupation.

We leave the lab so as not to distract Professor from his work.

"He's so interesting," Nara exclaims on the way to the living floor. "How many fascinating stories does he know!"

Well... I've actually had quite a few adventures as well.

"Just better not get carried away with it, or you'll be blabbing about your origins."

"Oh, don't start..."

I mentally groan. A sly and mischievous 'he-he' is heard in my head. Teasing and pestering myself... Well, it's not so weird when you have a split identity. Or maybe I'm just crazy?

"No, I doubt you're schizophrenic, or that I'm your imaginary friend. We can check it out. Here, let me take the wheel..."

"No, no, I believe you."

***

"And what are you guys doing here?" I enter the main hall of the residential level. Sitting relaxed on one of the couches is the chubby lemon pony with a green mane, sipping a Sparkle Cola and watching the sparring between Motley and Blaze in the middle of the huge room with fervent interest.

"Oh, hey, we're practicing here," the beige pegasus is distracted for a moment—the mutilated pegasus takes advantage of this and takes over.

"Have you forgotten the cardinal rule of a fight?" Blaze asks with a smirk, immobilizing the pegasus.

"No," she replies. "You apparently forgot something yourself..." at those words Motley releases herself and grips the pegasus in a grip. "The best moment to overpower an opponent is the moment of his false triumph."

I take a seat next to Lemon on the couch, and Nara settles between us.

"How did it start?" I inquire of Lemon.

I keep my eyes on the fighting ponies, constantly taking the initiative from each other.

"Just as Blaze showed up here, Motley showed up too. They started a conversation, which then turned into a demonstration of the techniques Blaze had mastered. I grabbed something to drink: the thrill of the spectacle made my mouth dry."

"I agree, it looks absolutely gorgeous," I say dreamily, admiring the pony's graceful movements.

"I couldn't agree more. Motley's gracefulness is unmatched by any pony. It's a weakness you and I have."

"Danny!" I turn at the source of the outrage. "You said you'd play with me. Let's race like we did back then: me the driver and you my race car..."

Lemon chuckles suppressedly.

"What are you laughing at?" I smile, looking at the lemon pony. "A heavy and clunky tank will never catch up to a fast-paced race car..."

I don't have time to finish the sentence, bumping into the threatening gaze of Lemon, who is already reaching for me with her forelegs to strangle me. Wasting no time, I leap off the couch, magically grabbing Nara and placing her on my back.

"As expected, Orange Whirlwind comes out in the lead, leaving Huge Lemon Ball far behind!"

Nara squeals with delight, and Lemon shouts angrily, playing along, trying to catch up with us. But because of her weight, of course, she can't. I'm giving in.

"Come on, step it up, my car!" Nara squeals with joy, "I can hear the wheels of the Heavy... I mean, the Huge Lemon Ball is rolling behind me!"

I hope Lemon isn't too offended...

***

The games were over. I let Lemon catch up to us a few times. She was wallowing and rubbing my head hotly with her front hoof, messing up my hair. Nara was having fun. We were all having fun as the 'racing competition' devolved into a standard game of tag, even though the little pony stayed on my back. I doubt we would have been able to horse around so spectacularly without that filly. Besides, the goofing off could be justified by the fact that it was all for the little pony!

Motley and Blaze had some more friendly fights for a while; the number of victories was almost equal. But my pegasus still won more often, as she figured out Blaze's moves and techniques pretty quickly and used them against him. They joined us when our 'races' turned into sledding. Motley got into the game at once and without a second thought, for she herself liked such pranks with a lot of action. We ran all over the bunker, having fun and laughing uncontrollably.

Flow, having finished her chores in the kitchen, came out to watch curiously and later joined us, too, having decided to participate. She loved it. Free to run around and not worry about being bound somewhere. I doubt she'd ever had as much fun in her life as she had today.

The others chose to stay on the sidelines—only Caroline didn't mind having fun and participating in this social interaction. However, all the robots under her control didn't allow her to pursue 'victims' with the necessary efficiency, and her main body had gone east at my request in search of the Steelmane family's missing recon team, so she was only watching us with curiosity.

After a fun chase, we tiredly head out to dinner. I check with Lemon just in case she was offended by the weight joke. She says she got over it because of my real feelings about it. She is touched that I thought about her feelings.

"Of course she knows your real feelings. You even fucked her."

Professor and Ferris and the pet eagle Edge aren't hungry—they had a big lunch during the day, so they limit themselves to the sandwiches Flow brought them, since they were busy doing their own thing. Dinner is just me, Flow, Nara, Lemon, Motley, and Blaze.

Lemon and Blaze occasionally tease each other. Surprisingly, Blaze doesn't joke about her weight. Lemon says he is sympathetic to her problem. She's taken a liking to him.

After dinner, everyone goes to their rooms. Nara asks me to read her a bedtime story... She takes me by surprise with this request: I've never done such a thing. With a little help from Nara, I manage to tell a manageable bedtime story; I'll be honest, it's complete nonsense, but Nara tells me it's not bad and recommends that I keep practicing.

I am skillfully teased by a little girl.

Once Nara falls asleep in her room, I quietly leave her and head to my apartment. I don't feel like sleeping yet—I got a good night's sleep during the day. It's almost midnight now, and there's no activities except learning spells.

The beige pegasus is dancing in our bedroom. Slow and enthusiastic. Nothing distracts her. As if she's not distracted, for she notices my presence immediately.

"Are you sleepy?" she asks, moving gracefully on her hind legs across the navy blue carpeting.

"No."

"Wonderful. Neither do I. Do you like what you see?"

"You bet I do," I lick my lips involuntarily as I watch her movements.

"Then sit next to me and... enjoy it, honey."

"Oh, I think I'd better take my leave... and refrain from commenting."

I close the doors and lie down on the soft couch in anticipation.

"No," she continues without stopping the dance. "Sit differently. So that I can see all of you."

"Oh..." Taking an upright position, I rest my back against the back of the couch and spread my legs so that the pegasus has a good view of what's between them. "You like it?"

"Just what I need. Now... don't be shy about anything," she says, standing one pony away. The white light of the lamp falls on her jiggling rounded rump.

I can feel the tension rising underneath, a burdensome itch arises. Motley smiles contentedly. She graciously spreads her beige wings and covers herself with them. Turning to me, she covers her belly and lower belly with them. Her rump continues to sway lightly.

"Come on... I told you," she says in an affectionate voice, "enjoy... Besides, I wonder how a unicorn does it."

I smile slightly. My horn shines with a blue light. A magical haze of the same color wraps around my visibly tense organ, squeezing it tighter. I sigh in relief. Now I can ease the itch.

My telekinesis magic mimics full-length reciprocating motions. Motley bites her lower lip. She raises a languid gaze of multicolored eyes to me.

"Magical. Just..." the pegasus says, "take your time. Do it slowly. Try to get into the rhythm of my movements."

Motley turns her back to me again, folding her wings. Her brown tail presses against her crotch. She stretches her front legs forward and arches her back like a playful cat. She sighs with pleasure, jutting out the rounded cheeks of her beige rump. He sways from side to side. Hypnotizing like a pendulum.

The careful curves of his hips... Lovely beige legs... It's all in motion.

Her tail is relaxing—swaying after the rump, trying to keep up with it. Now there's an occasional glimpse of what's under her tail.

"Admiring me, are you?" her voice is heard from the front.

"Lovely cheeks..."

"What about what's between them?"

The chestnut-colored tail wags to the side, revealing a view of the dark beige underbelly and the plump round muscle underneath. The mare's labia glisten with fresh moisture.

The sweet, heavy tension beneath me intensifies; I involuntarily quicken the pace of my magic movements. I want to rub my nose against it.

I let out an intermittent sigh.

"You just don't have the words," she giggles sweetly.

The swaying doesn't stop. Her dainty legs spread wider, and her moist pink clit grows slightly larger with arousal, pushing the folds of her dark beige labia apart. A clear droplet gathers on it, which now slowly pulls itself to the carpet and stretches into a long, thin thread.

"I can see better now... And... Slow the pace of your magic. I can hear in your breath how much you like my pussy. Easy."

She lifts her hind legs up easily, and, locking them together, stretches up toward the ceiling, resting fully on her front hooves. Her lovely athletic tummy is up and down from her breathing. I can see the rounded outline of her udder with two nipples, the wonderful fur on her chest. Her upturned smiling face looks up at me from below.

Completely open in front of me. So close and so far away...

"I love," the pegasus licks her lips, "the way you... play magic when you look at me. It's turning me on..."

Her hind legs move in the air, spread wide and elegantly apart, exposing her crotch; crossing over each other. She springily stood on her right front leg only, gently bringing her left leg to the side, and vice versa. On her front legs, she takes a few graceful steps toward me, getting closer. Laying down lightly on her back, closing her hind legs together.

A condescending smile graces her lips. The pegasus smoothly turns from side to side, not forgetting to shake her slim hind legs vigorously. Their movements have made the inside of her thighs slick with moisture in some places, which stretches from one thigh to the other in threads that glisten in the white light like spider webs.

My mouth dries up from the fascinating sight, wanting to wet it with this moisture. To gather it with my tongue from the wet fur of her thighs.

The pegasus rises on all four hooves, her crouch against my tense and throbbing organ, covered in the blue haze of my magic. Her slim thigh, with a cutie mark in the form of a swirl of fall leaves, rubs against it in an undulating motion. Her soft, short fur tickles it pleasantly. A drop of lube that has dripped onto it falls onto her cutie mark, moistening the point of contact a bit. Sliding down her rounded thigh feels more pleasurable.

"I love being examined so intently," Motley purrs, looking into my eyes. Her gaze drops to the thigh she's rubbing against my organ. "Enjoying me. Such an eager viewer deserves a reward."

She deftly hops onto the edge of the couch with her front legs, spreading them to the sides of my pelvis. She tries to keep her balance by turning her rising and falling belly toward me. Her hind legs stretch up to the ceiling and her sweet nose rests against my hard twitching cock. I can feel her hot breath below. Her hind legs spread slightly and rest gently on my shoulders. The mare's body moves toward me. She bumps her warm, wet crotch against my nose and sighs in relief.

I inhale her scent deeply. A maddening shiver of arousal runs through my body. I feel the tight embrace of the pegasus's soft lips around the tip.

***

25th of the Month of Heather, Greenday. Sixty-second day of my stay.

The next morning—in fact, it's almost noon—Caroline reports that her body has unexpectedly suffered damage that cannot be repaired without outside interference. Her main body's motor systems were damaged in a fall off a cliff that she was unable to prevent. She can now only analyze the surrounding terrain.

She reports that before she lost control of her mechanized body, she saw a group of structures among the rocks. They are probably the exterior of a mining facility, given the cargo mounds of waste and recycled rock near the pillar-shaped buildings connected by special conveyors.

Most likely a mine.

Lemon doesn't want to go into the mines, so he stays in Heavenly Harbor trying to play with Nara. I convince Ferris to come with us to explore. He refuses, saying that the masters will recognize him, but still agrees when I say that there is no confirmation that the group of the masters are still alive or have even been there. Oh, and we can't lose our fighting spirit, because you can't get very far with one meat hunt.

Motley decides not to use the Enclave's power armor within the Vanhoover region so as not to arouse suspicion. Especially now that we're going after the missing Family members.

We gather the necessary gear and head to the mine to repair Caroline's body and scout out the mine itself. Blaze happily agrees to take us there.

After struggling to find a more or less suitable place to land, Venture lands among the mountains, the tops of which are covered with a perpetual layer of snow. Caroline's body is a short walk from the landing site. After dropping us off, Blaze flies back to Heavenly Harbor.

We get to Caroline's body, which turns out to be difficult due to the difficult terrain—steep cliffs. Ferris and I set about adjusting and repairing the propulsion systems, while Motley takes a look around. Thanks to our teamwork, Caroline's body is able to complete its own repairs after a few minutes, and we head for the mine together.

Barely approaching the group of structures located in the gorge, we come under heavy fire. The red dots appear suddenly. There are about half a dozen of them, and I don't even have time to see them. Before I can hide behind the rocks, a bullet hits me, tearing off a small piece of armor on my front leg, but it doesn't hurt me. The others aren't hurt, as I'm walking ahead of them, so they're less likely to get hit.

"Wow," I say, taking cover behind a rock and looking at my companions through the red visors of my helmet. We're being shelled and not even given a chance to look out of cover. "How warmly we've been greeted. No one got hit?" Everyone shakes their heads negatively. "Fine. Ferris, can you back off discreetly to scout the situation and cover us with sniper fire?" Thoth nods and rises sharply into the air, heading for one of the rocks. "I'll teleport to another position and you stay here until I signal." Caroline and Motley nod.

I concentrate the magic in my horn and focus on the teleportation spell, intending to move to the rocks opposite of us.

A moment, and I'm on the other side. Ferris comes on the radio.

"Robots," he reports briefly. "Two Sentinels, three turrets on the roof of one of the buildings, and one combat Protect-A-Pony."

"Deal with the turrets, then the others. We'll help."

I contact the radio in Motley's helmet, "Throw a frag one. Then I'll distract them on me and it'll be your turn."

The pegasus throws the grenade upward. In an extended arc, the grenade crosses the rock obstacle and reaches the mine grounds. There's a rumbling explosion that, judging by the scraping of metal and muffled pops, causes damage to one of the robots, and then a shot from Ferris's anti-machine rifle goes off, hitting one of the turrets.

I load Whispering Night with armor-piercing rounds, set the rate of fire higher, and peek out from behind cover, aiming at a Sentinel that stands between the pillar-shaped buildings. I fire at the top of the robot, knocking off half of its head, and then take a few accurate shots at its legs, piercing them. This disorients it for a while. Just then, it's hit by a large-caliber bullet from the anti-machine rifle.

I immediately hide behind a rock from the robots, who open fire on me, leaving Motley and Caroline alone for the moment.

No words are needed.

The pegasus flies high into the air and dives at the remaining Sentinel, striking it with its energy-magic rifles, one of them orange and the other a standard, green-colored one. Caroline quickly runs out of cover and strikes the combat Protect-A-Pony with a blue beam, melting a small part of its body. This is the first time I've seen her in combat. The shot is spectacular and powerful. Seconds later, Ferris hits the last turret.

Still, it's nice to work as a team. If only no one died—then I wouldn't be traveling alone at all.

"Well done!" I shout, climbing out of cover and into the mine. Motley lands next to me, followed by Ferris. "Let's get a move on. Let's check out the main building."

***

Inside the main building, we get into a fight with a few more combat robots. We even manage to use the EMP generator implant in my right leg a couple of times. But in the last fight, Ferris is a bit unlucky—he almost gets shot in the head, and the bullet goes off at a tangential angle, leaving two holes in his helmet and grazing his cheek. My helmet gets damaged, too, so I have to take it off and get to work fixing it.

"Oh shit!" he blurts out as he takes a small wound. And takes off his helmet, letting us admire the thin bleeding wound. "Ugliness was the last thing I needed."

"Let's fix it," Motley says, approaching the griffon. She removes her helmet and pulls out some medical supplies to treat the hapless fighter. "And in general, scars adorn griffons."

"Griffons don't wear adornment at all... Ouch!" he shrieks as the pegasus tries to disinfect his wound.

"I'll scout the area for now," I say as I take off my helmet and smile. "Caroline, keep an eye on those feathered chickens. I don't see any more robots in the vicinity though," I glance at the compass once more. "Caution wouldn't hurt, though. Don't go anywhere until I return."

"Will do," Caroline replies.

"Caution..." the griffon hums.

"Don't move," the pegasus says reproachfully. Ferris pays no attention to her.

I leave the warehouse room in silence, filled with disabled mining robots. On the way, I use magic to repair the damaged parts of my helmet.

A quick examination reveals that some of the staff here was automated. They must have been directly involved in gem mining. The other, which was before the war, was engaged in maintenance of robots and accounting.

There is a rather strange fact: two hundred years later, the electricity is still working properly here, but only a part of the robots is in working condition, namely the combat robots. Which is not surprising, given the value of gems, especially before the war with the zebras, when much depended on this resource, and security measures were not superfluous.

But how did the Steelmane family scouts slip past? And how in two hundred years had the gems from the mine, lying in locked storage rooms, not been looted? Maybe because they couldn't get to them? No... there's a lot of stuff lying around, covered in a thick layer of dust. It's all rather strange.

As I ponder this, glancing occasionally at my helmet, I don't notice that I stumble into a technical room with a lot of panels with toggle switches and flashing computer equipment. Here is also the main supercomputer of the mine, from which, apparently, it is possible to coordinate the work of robots—both mining and combat. It's also the hub where I can monitor the status of utility systems.

But the most colorful phenomenon in this room is the riddled corpses of a mare, a stallion, and a griffon. All of them are wearing warmed-up versions of battle armor and are fairly well armed with shotguns and rifles. Some of the equipment has been damaged by bullets—which explains why there are only guards roaming the mine's administration now: the visitors have damaged the control systems of the worker robots.

I examine the corpses. They had time to unholster their weapons and defend themselves with them, judging by the scattered shell casings. I don't immediately notice the remains of two turrets hanging from the ceiling, one completely riddled with bullets and therefore malfunctioning, and the other, judging by the damage, having failed over time due to a malfunctioning power supply. It can be assumed that the defense system was activated accidentally by the unlucky scouts, for which they paid with their lives.

Their bags are full of things: food, water, ammunition, medicines and other small things necessary for survival. They didn't have time to explore all the administration offices and warehouses, deciding to find the light switch first. Well, at least we know what happened to those poor souls. Bad luck for them.

I continue to repair the damaged parts of my helmet with magic.

I walk over to the supercomputer and decide to check it to make sure the scout team has reactivated the mine. Flipping through the log files, I become convinced. After a long two hundred years, almost three weeks ago, they used this supercomputer and activated all of the mine's protocols; not a minute later, the terminal received a notification that the robot miners' systems were malfunctioning. It didn't take much skill to disable the remaining guards. Based on the information provided, there are still serviceable units in the mine area. Having disabled them, I'm heading back to my team.

Continuing to fix my helmet, I return to the room with the robot miners... And there's no one there. Not Caroline, not Motley, not Ferris. The blood-stained absorbent cotton that Motley used for healing is lying on the floor.

"I told them to stay put," I mutter grudgingly. I glance at the compass and find no hostile or neutral markings nearby. Clear.

"Guys?" I shout out. But all I hear in response is my own echo. "Where'd you go?"

Nothing in response.

I put off fixing my helmet, pull out my Whispering Night, and move slowly down the hallways, at one of which I pause for a few seconds, looking interestedly at a pile of trash in the corner. As I get closer, I can't see much in it, just ruined clothes covered in a layer of dust. And yet why is a whole set of warm clothes lying here? Who left it here? It's like someone just dropped the whole outfit here.

My gaze slides to the wall, and I notice the ruined wallpaper, but not by time... A barely visible claw mark covered in a layer of dust. I take another look at the abandoned clothes and notice the faint remnants of rotting flesh on them.

I get a bad feeling. A lump rises in my throat.

After a few minutes of restless and anxious searching, with a glance at the compass, I spot a neutral marker. It's Motley. Her face expresses alarm.

"Oh, Danny, I finally found you," she says, hugging me. "We're in trouble. Ferris is missing."

"How did you manage to lose him?" I wonder.

"After I fixed him up, he decided to go for a bathroom break and didn't come back. We went looking for him. Caroline and I split up so he'd be easier to find."

"Why didn't anyone respond to my scream?" I wondered. "It should have been heard throughout the building."

"We... at least I didn't hear anyone screaming," she puzzles.

"Something strange is going on here. Let's go find the others."

***

Motley and I look around the kitchen, and she suddenly strikes up a conversation.

"You know what," she says stiffly. "I realize this isn't the best time, but I've compared some of the stories you've told with the facts I've learned during my few years in the Enclave Intelligence. And a lot of things don't match up," she rewards me with a stern look.

"Like what?" I ask, looking at her in bewilderment.

"You've told me about your adventures, but I haven't seen anything like this in the Enclave's reports regarding the surface. There are a few similarities, but not many. Don't take me for a fool, tell me what all these vile lies are for?" she asks grudgingly.

"Uh..." I squeeze out, confused by the unexpected question. It's like an icy wave sweeps over me.

My body shivers and my legs shake.

Is this the moment when I have to come clean? Or lie to her, but I just can't tell the truth or lie to her. No... I don't want to do either of those things right now! I just can't. Who knows how she'll react? I don't know why I told her about my adventures! She's a recon officer! And the Enclave must have gotten wind of me, since my story is rather unusual. So why can't I remember anything like that about telling her an overly long story from which it could be inferred that there was no such thing in the Equestrian Wasteland?

"So you lied," Motley says disappointed. "Thought you were being honest with me."

"No, I wasn't lying, it's just..."

"Just what? Just what?!" she almost yells at me and tears appear in her eyes. "I've already been lied to once... about my father's death! And did you see how that turned out? Awful! It's worth it for me to remember what you told me and realize it was all lies..."

Every word she said was like a nail driving into my heart.

"I didn't lie!" I can't stand it. "I never lied."

"So what was it back then in Vanhoover? What were those stories you were telling me!"

"That... I... I mean... That I..."

"What, what are you trying to say! Another disgusting lie?!" her face reflects anger, frustration, and pain.

My heart bleeds. It hurts me so much to see her like this, but it's equally vile and disgusting to me that she thinks I lied to her. I take a deep breath, pausing for a moment.

"I'm not a pony," I exhale heavily, letting out a barely audible sigh. Motley is shocked. "I've been one for two months at most. These stories... you've never heard of them because they're from another Wasteland. From another world. I am from another world. A human imprisoned in the body of a pony."

"What kind of nonsense did you just give me just now?" the pony's surprise vanishes, and her face contorts with pain and anger once more. I involuntarily stare back. "What the hell is this nonsense! That's the worst excuse I've ever heard!"

"No, it's true!" I stomp my front foot in affirmation. "I-I kept that fact from you, since I thought.... I don't know what I thought, but I figured you'd think I was crazy and hate me. I didn't want to upset you-"

"You already did," she whispers. "You... You weren't a pony? Why... you..." the pegasus utters with effort, looking up at me. Her eyes are wet and she's about to burst into tears. "I fucked an alien. Several times! Uh... it's just disgusting and awful! I..." the pony sobs, and then cries.

Everything swims in front of my eyes, and they fill with tears.

This is what I was afraid of. Everything inside me shrinks and collapses into a black void. This...

"You're just awful! That's even times worse than lying! Hiding something like that!"

I can hear her crying. What she's saying feels like a needle stabbing into every cell in my body. I feel terribly broken and depressed.

Fool... Idiot! I'm a total asshole! Why didn't I tell her right away? Why did I hide it? If I'd told her the truth, she would've just said no, and we would've lived happily ever after.

I want to go over to the pony to settle the conflict, but I take a step closer, a burning sensation appears on my chest, and then a sharp and jarring pain pierces my body. Looking at the sore spot, I am horrified—my armor and my organs are melting.

Because of the veil of tears in my eyes, I couldn't see who did it. It's just me and Motley here...

Why did she do that? But it doesn't matter anymore. I'm dying anyway. The shot was powerful—it pierced the armor and my insides, making a liquid bloody mass.

Luck played tricks on me one last time, delivering a devastating blow to my heart. I hadn't expected such a reaction from Motley, though I'd feared it. I thought we'd just part ways when she found out the truth about me. What she said was the worst thing I'd ever heard.

There's a reason my human part told me not to get involved in this world. Why is he silent at a time like this? Surely also stunned...

My consciousness sinks into darkness. Total darkness.

***

Am I still alive? Why? Have I survived death again? It just can't be...

I slowly open my eyes and stare at the cracked ceiling, tears drying on my cheeks.

What happened? Right... Motley shot me when I revealed the truth about myself to her.

I was hit by the orange plasma of her energy-magic rifle. My insides began to melt then... But why can't I feel pain or hear my other self?

I look around. This is the place where Motley shot me. Looking at the body, I find no wounds or injuries, and the armor is only a little ragged from the recent battles with the robots.

Rising heavily from the floor and picking up Whispering Night, I walk down the hallway. It isn't long before Caroline finds me.

"Great, you've finally come to your senses!" she says cheerfully.

"What... happened?" I ask indifferently.

I don't care about anything anymore right now. Life has already been shattered, and so brutally at that, and now there's no reason to rejoice...

"You are all under the influence of psychotropic substances," the artificial intelligence simply explains.

"Say that again?" I brighten up.

"You inhaled hallucinogenic gas."

"When?" I wonder.

"According to my instruments, about an hour ago."

"Fuck. What... What happened?"

My human nature is finally asserting itself. Human-Daniel is back with us.

"What are you talking about? Wait. Was it a hallucination?" he says stunned, as if reviewing my memory of the conversation with Caroline. "It was like it was real..."

Wait, let's hear more from Caroline.

"How did this even happen?"

"I can only assume that the gas started to affect the three of you when you took off your helmets. Their air-filtration systems prevented the gas from affecting you before then."

"How do you come to that conclusion?"

"After Motley provided first aid to Ferris, he suddenly ran down the corridor shouting something, I couldn't make out exactly what. Motley was surprised by this and ran after him. Even though you ordered me to stay put..." there's an awkwardness in her hesitation, "...I followed them. I was sure that's what you would have asked me to do." I nodded, smiling weakly. "Thank you for understanding the reason for the task violation."

"You did the right thing, acting on the circumstances. That is expected of you. Let's move on. Where did Ferris and Motley run to?"

"I managed to follow Motley, but I lost Ferris. Equal to Motley, he was fast-" there is a sense of guilt in Caroline's speech. "Later, when I was returning to the kitchen to find you and report the strange behavior of your friends, I met you and told you about it. But you also responded strangely, asking only about Ferris's disappearance."

"Wait, you didn't hug me?" I marvel.

"No," Caroline replies somewhat uncertainly. "You must have been gassed by then. The strangeness in your actions was evident even then. I tried to reach out to you, but you didn't respond to me."

My heart sank.

"So you heard what I said?" I say barely audible.

Horse apples...

"Holy shit..."

"No." I let out a sigh of relief. A mountain off my shoulders. "I left you immediately to find the source of the weirdness. After comparing what I saw and deciding that you were all under the influence of the gas, the first thing I did was go to inspect the technical area, the ventilation systems of the building. After examining the equipment, I found the reason for your strange behavior—there was an extra module installed in it—an almost empty container with a dark purple liquid. It's labeled 'Twilight Demon'. Designed for spraying hallucinogenic gas down ventilation shafts," she shows me a round gray container the diameter of my leg, then puts it back into one of the compartments of her body. "After removing it, I tweaked the ventilation equipment so that it would gradually clear the gas from the building. After spending some time fixing that problem, I set out to find you."

"But who would want to install something like that in the ventilation system?"

"That's something I never found out, but I think you should look at the partially recovered pre-war record found in one of the terminals on the technical level. The other files in the memory bank I was unable to recover."

"And why this particular file?"

"It was the last one written to the terminal: when you delete something from the memory bank, the remnants of the code will be retained in the system, provided nothing afterward is written. And the files were carefully deleted, so I was only able to recover a minuscule fraction of the information in that recording. Making a logical chain out of a set of words and their scraps, I couldn't."

Caroline uploads the partially recovered recording to my spare PipBuck. I look through it. Almost all of the words refer to ventilation system reports, numbers, dates... They don't provide the necessary information, and are also incomplete. Only the last few lines catch my attention, "...gov..rnm..nt... inspecti..n once ag..in for unkn..wn re..sons... Req..ested insp..ction of... the v..ntilati..n equ..pment... No ord..rs fr..m ab..ve, th..ugh... so why w..uld... Kn..wn name of repr..sentat..ve: Eric Frost."

The words spoken by Captain Sun of Northern Soul come to mind, "There was turmoil, murder and betrayal in the ranks of The Controllers at the time, and even Eric was involved... After that there was complete silence. No rumors, no orders from The Controllers - nothing, sir."

Captain spoke well of Eric as a talented professional with great potential. There was no match for him in the training group. There were suspicions that he might have been the traitor and murderer. Eric, was avenging your wife's death more important to you than the well-being of all the ponies that drove you to betray Equestria and murder?

I'm already talking about betrayal as something common among good people. Maybe it was the effect of what I saw.

What did you see?

Motley betrayed my feelings as soon as she knew the truth about me. Then she shot me. Didn't you see that?

Oh, shit. No, I didn't see that. I couldn't get through to you for a while, and then it was like I went back in time. I was human again, and there was Brisa, and her death, and then she was haunting me in the guise of a ghost and blaming me for her death. And what I saw was fucking realistic, yet I didn't remember coming into this world or our split into two personalities at all.

So not only do we have our own dreams, but we also have hallucinogen-induced nightmares.

I can assume—you've probably realized this yourself—that we see our own fears. Yours have to do with confessing to your beloved Motley, since you've grown very attached to her and are afraid to reveal your cards, appearing to be a liar and a madman... madpony, and mine have to do with Brisa. It's as if my fears and worries about it have returned.

"Daniel, are you okay? Why aren't you talking? Were you able to make sense of those scrappy words and sentences? What's your verdict on the dataset?" Caroline asks, staring at me with a look of metallic 'eyes'.

"Uh, yeah it's... I was digesting the information. I've come to the conclusion that the hallucinations were related to our fears."

I let out another sigh of relief. The sudden blissful weakness makes me want to sit up. For a moment it feels as if the world had seemed all wrong up until then, and now it's all dreamy and pleasant to realize that all I've seen is my own fear—the worst of Motley's reaction to my confession. I remembered, however, that I had not told her too notable or distinctive adventures. Usually it was my peaceful times in the Stable... Vault 101.

"What's about with the restored data?"

"Oh, nothing, a greeting from the past. There was a name on there that I've come across more than once. There's unconfirmed information that he turned out to be a traitor and murderer. The information is sketchy, so like I say, it's unlikely."

"As I told you before. That's what makes you special. You don't see the whole picture of what's going on, and then you make it up and distort it with your brain. Only those with imagination can make things up based on scraps of information."

"That's the point of progress. We can never know anything for sure and we only use what is available to us. And look what the ponies have accomplished..."

"Nearly destroyed themselves," the AI remarks.

"Well," I hum, smiling, "progress is the result of trials and mistakes. Something can work out successfully, and something the other way around can be disastrous. And in general, there's never a one-sided result. The stick has two ends. Besides, the ponies haven't completely destroyed themselves! Maybe this fatal mistake will teach them something. Okay, let's go find the others."

My body is pierced with cold terror. I realize what it's like.

I, uh... killed Brisa while hallucinating. I'm in the same situation again. Only now I'm responsible for Motley and the others. I could have killed them, too. History could repeat itself.

Okay... don't shake. The gas triggers our greatest fears, conscious or latent. And its name, the Twilight Demon, may be based on someone's culture or mythology: something like a god or demon of fear or torment. And Motley was under its influence. And knowing how worried she was about what she'd done the year before...

"Holy fuck!" I shout and rush down the hallway, forgetting everything. "We need to find Motley now! Split up so we can find Motley and Ferris faster."

***

I almost gallop around the abandoned and dusty rooms and spaces. At some point, I pick up a strange sound. It is intermittent, quiet, and resembles sobs. Entering one of the office rooms, I find the silhouette of a pony curled up in the corner. The pony is wearing familiar gray armor with a battle saddle and energy-magic rifles mounted on it.

My heart pinches.

"Motley!"

I run over to the lying and sobbing pegasus, sit down beside her, pick her up and cuddle her to me.

Her eyes are red and swollen from crying, her whole face wet. Her eyes are depressed and staring into the void. Her body is as listless as a rag doll in my embrace, as if she doesn't feel anything around her.

"Why did you come back?" she says in a tired, pain-filled voice. The question jolts me out of my daze. I press the pony's head against my neck, under my chin. "You left me, didn't you? By... expressing what... you really think of me..." she says surreptitiously, swallowing back tears. I comfortingly stroke her head.

"Calm down sweetie, it wasn't me," I whisper affectionately, holding back tears.

My heart bleeds at her torment.

"It was you... the same voice... the same face... the same blue eyes..." Motley mutters intermittently. "There was so much... reproach and disappointment... for..."

"Hush, hush..."

"...that you developed feelings to such a... horrible pony. Impulsive silly mare..."

Motley can't sob anymore, she's cried all her tears, lying here in the corner all alone and dark.

She no longer just doubts the rightness of her actions, she hates herself for them.

It's hard for me to get through to her now: the gas has just stopped working.

I kiss her on the lips. She doesn't respond for a few seconds, but those seconds last for hours for me. She finally focuses her gaze on me, looking into my eyes. A realization arises in her eyes. She breaks our kiss with surprise on her face.

"Danny? Those words..." now her gaze is full of bewilderment.

"I don't know what you heard, but it wasn't me," I interrupt her affectionately.

"But..." her gaze running from side to side.

"It was a hallucination, angel. You were imagining things."

"A hallucination?"

"We inhaled psychotropic gas when we took off our helmets. Remember when Ferris was injured by damaging his helmet?" The pegasus slowly nods. "So, I left you at that point and never saw you again until that moment."

"You ran past me after Ferris, and then you split up and I ran exactly after you, after which we struck up a conversation at some point, and you... So none of this was real?"

The beige pony wipes her wet face with a hoof.

"Yes. I take it you were seeing your inner fears or anxieties. I don't know how to explain it exactly. I inhaled that gas too, and experienced those still mental anguish."

"So those words were inspired by my imagination? And you... still... care about me?"

"Oh..." I look up to the ceiling doomedly and pull her close to me. "You're my best pony, and let anyone try to say otherwise—they'll be wearing their ass instead of a hat. I guarantee it." The pegasus chuckles weakly and snuggles up tighter, hugging me tighter. "I understand what you just went through, I only regret not being there in time."

"It was... The important thing is that it's over."

I don't want to let her out of my embrace, but we need to go find Ferris.

"Come on, we need to go find another feathered bird," I say.

"Hmm..." she murmurs unhappily, snuggling into my neck. "I don't... I don't wanna let you out. I'm scared."

I think Ferris himself will get over the fears he's been through. I hug Motley for a while longer.

"Thank you... so much," comes from her.

***

"Danny," Motley addresses me slowly. I look at her questioningly and expectantly. "I'm sorry to ask this now... I realize that it may be extremely difficult to answer this question, but... what did you see in your hallucinations? You don't have to answer that, it's just. I can't stop thinking about it."

Here's a question. If the vision wasn't about my true origins, I would have told her to settle the matter once and for all. But... Now is not the time. But what should I tell her? I don't want to lie, but it's impossible not to answer either. That would sound crazy right now.

Oh, I've got a solution!

"Brisa haunted me as a ghost. Blamed me for her death." Technically, it's true.

"Well... you sneaky bastard. Used my own anxiety."

"You were hallucinating then, too," she says. "Oh, the great sky..."

"Yes, that's true. And. I'm terrified that I'm back in the same place... with a pony I care about in a similar situation. What if I would have killed you?"

Motley hugs me. Tight, tight. She can probably feel me trembling.

"It's okay. It didn't happen."

"But it was close..."

"Okay, don't think about it. This isn't the time or place."

Almost at the same moment, Caroline shows up.

"Wonderful, you found one of your own. But I didn't find Ferris, even though I checked every building in the mine area," she begins guiltily, and then cheers up a little. "Instead, I found a freight elevator into the mine."

"So what are we waiting for?"

***

On the walls of the mine I see multicolored bright stones, called gems, sparkling from the light of the lamps on the walls. It takes a moment to realize that these stones are the basis for almost all energy-magic weapons and technologies. There are so many of them here that there is enough for Vanhoover: the miners did not manage to exhaust even a small part of the mine. We can assume it was opened shortly before the apocalypse.

Well, now the Vanhoover energy crisis is solved. The gems will make it easier to experiment with alternative energy sources.

There's a faint odor of decay in the mine. Motley and I put on our helmets just in case. I've just finished repairing my own. The source of the odor is the not yet fully decomposed remains of ponies, mostly raiders and mutants. By the degree of decomposition of the bodies we can say that some of the remains have been here for about a month, and others for a century, which makes the place gloomy and dreary, causing unpleasant chills.

The corpses have only one thing in common: they are all boneless. The thought of it makes my nerves fray.

"Keep your cool."

If only our feathered friend wasn't among these bodies. I'm starting to get visibly worried.

"They're all boneless," Motley suddenly pitches his voice, distorted by her helmet.

"I know," I say, looking at yet another pony's remains. Raider's armor and all of his belongings are on him, only the skeleton is missing. Caroline stands beside me and examines the remains.

"Even the raiders wandered in here somehow."

"So how did they get through the hallucination..." Caroline is about to reply, but I interrupt her, remembering. "Yeah, yeah, I forgot that the gas atomization started when the ventilation system was turned on. Apparently, before the apocalypse, someone wanted to take over the mine with the gas, but the container of it was either forgotten to be removed or thought to be used again if necessary."

"No way..." the pegasus utters quietly, I can barely hear her.

"What?" I turn to her. The helmet of the rare Mark III battle armor turns in my direction.

"I heard about this once... About bone vampires."

"About who?" I wonder a little.

"Bone vampires," Motley repeats. "The pegasi above, beyond the clouds, have it as a spooky thing to keep curious mares and stallions from exploring the surface. I can still remember my mother scaring me with them, saying that if you go down to the surface you'll be caught by bone vampires and eat your bones. That's the scare story today: it's believed they've all been caught. The only good news was that they were sterile, which is why it was possible to do this. However, one seems to have been missed," the pony's voice gives off fear and worry.

"So where did they come from and how dangerous are they?" I ask and pull out Whispering Night and ask Caroline walking ahead of me to be extremely vigilant.

"There is little information. All we know is that before the war, the Ministry of Peace and the Ministry of Arcane Sciences were going to breed special sterile creatures to control and use in the war against the Zebras. I have to say that the end result was positive, except they didn't get them under control in time—the megaspells fell. The creatures escaped from a lab near Hoofland and scattered across the Equestrian Wasteland. It's extremely difficult to find. Fortunately, there are only a few of them, so many ponies didn't even know they existed."

"Is one bone vampire really that dangerous?"

I'm liking this less and less. If this creature is extremely difficult to find, let alone kill, how are we going to deal with it?

"They have extremely tough skin that armor-piercing bullets can't penetrate, walk on all fours, have an oblong body shape, have sharp and long claws on their front paws that can cut through almost any armor like a knife through butter, and most importantly, they can visually match the terrain with their skin by adopting the appropriate color of their surroundings. Like chameleons. They are also very fast and agile, making them hard to hit. They prey mostly on single victims, attacking them by injecting a special acid, making the bones liquid, and then sucking them out."

"And we're in the lair of one of them right now."

This is fucking marvelous!

"Absolutely."

"So how do we deal with it?" I wonder, holding back anger and worry. Luck, how I hate you sometimes! "Do bone vampires have a weakness at all?"

"No... Unless you count the remains without bones, suggesting he's somewhere nearby."

"This is no time to joke," I say. "Ferris is in trouble if he hasn't been sucked out of his bones yet. And keep your eyes open!"

I'm reminded of Troy's phrase about having my eyes on my knees as well so I don't miss anything. Huh... that describes the current situation of having to keep an eye out for an overgrown fucking chameleon lurking among the terrain, sucking bones like a milkshake from a straw, which is impossible in principle—but this is a world of magic that can hold even stranger surprises. One thing I'm curious about: why didn't he attack us when we were in the mine? He could have killed us several times during Motley's explanation.

***

"Get the fuck off me!" I hear a desperate cry from somewhere in the depths of the cave.

The voice is familiar. It's Ferris, and he's still alive. Good news.

There are several distinctive deafening thuds of his unique Stone Eagle large-caliber pistol. Ferris showed up in that cave almost as soon as he inhaled that gas. So why didn't the overgrowth-chameleon touch him? There were plenty of possibilities.

We run toward the screaming and gunfire. A few turns later, we're met with difficulty—due to the cramped space—by a griffon flying in our direction with a face twisted with fear.

"Run the fuck away! Idiots, don't just stand there like statues!"

I activate VATS and aim Whispering Night at the earth-colored silhouette running after the griffon, firing an armor-piercing bullet but missing, hitting the monster's hind paw as it's about to change position by jumping onto the wall. It cries out, falling flat on the ground. Almost immediately, it jumps up on its paws and temporarily retreats.

As I had feared, it is not marked on the compass. At least not at this significant distance. I'm sure it'll use a different tactic because of the new opponents.

Motley and Caroline try to blast him with their energy-magic weapons as he retreats, but the bone vampire is very evasive, even when wounded. He doesn't run in a straight line, but wiggles, jumping from wall to wall, floor or ceiling.

"Oh, fuck..." Ferris breathes heavily, standing beside us and pointing a rifle with a scope in the direction the bone vampire disappeared to. "What the kind of mutant is that? Can that shit even be shot?"

"We're just as scared as you are after the stories Motley told," I reply. "How did it not touch you when you ran away from us after inhaling gas?"

"What gas?" Ferris marvels, glancing at me for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"Some time after you took off your helmet, you were affected by the hallucinogenic gas, so you ran into that mine. The effects should have worn off by now. We were looking for you."

"So it's like I was doped up?" he clarifies, looking at me again. I nod. "Good stuff. And I thought it was real, and I almost built a house of bricks out of fear. But that doesn't compare to the fucked up shit I just ran away from."

Such a torrent of swearing is rarely heard from him. He is truly terrified and nearly loses control of himself.

"How are you still alive?"

"I don't know, I've seen things... Anyway, never mind. I'm like, I look and I see the walls of a cave and gems on them. I then looked around, but I could constantly hear some rustles following me around. Even though I kept turning around and these noises instantly subsided, I saw no one. At first I thought this place was weighing so heavily on my mind. This something was constantly following me, so I got used to it. After a while, I found this weird rifle on some remains. And do you know what it is?" he looks at me, glowing with joy. "It's another Apostle! It's called 'The Judge'."

"What a stylish look," the griffon continues dreamily. "Mmm... I'm in love. So, the rustling and shuffling sounds got closer and closer until this something got close enough that I could make out a moving monster the color of the local soil. It had such a creepy face, fangs around its mouth, and those yellow eyes at its sides staring at me... Fuck, I almost shit myself when I started shooting at it and running away. And then I found you. Are you sure you're not hallucinating this too? Fucking scary thing..."

"Unfortunately, no, because we see it too, and everyone but Caroline has seen different hallucinations."

"What do we do?" the griffon inquires. "How do we hit that thing? It's going to come after us. So we have to kill it anyway if we want to get the hell out of here!"

"I don't know... gotta think."

"Don't worry. Think. Think, you lazy head, think, how do we defeat him, this overgrowth-chameleon that's many times worse than a Death Claw?"

He has no weaknesses. He's fast, he's tough, his hide is as strong as steel. You can only see him at point-blank range or when he's attacking. What else? How do you fight a thing like that?

"Let's think this through before the bone vampire decides to attack us. That scientist at the Think Tank, who was still obsessed with animal experiments, would freak out with joy if he was allowed to study this bone vampire. Sucking the bones out of every victim. That's so bloody fantastic."

And then something clicked in my mind.

One weird thing. Why was he afraid of the activated robots? I mean, he could have no trouble breaking open those rusty buckets like tin cans and getting to us. Maybe he's afraid of robots. No, he saw Caroline, but he ran in our direction until we started shooting at him.

"Remember the bodies in the control room that Troy sent us after? We didn't notice they were missing any bones. These Steelmane scouts reactivated the building, and among the reactivations was the ventilation system. I take it it was in the mine at the time, so it didn't get to them."

But they'd been there for a long time... I guess the bone vampire stumbled upon the mine facility relatively recently after the bombings and turned it into its lair, killing any stray victims who weren't lucky enough to be in the vicinity of the mine. Still, why didn't it get out and suck the bones out of the recently killed scouts? It could have left the mine, hunting for new victims in the Wasteland. Most likely it was, since the place is quite distant, and it has to search for prey by itself.

"Could it have been sleeping? Some animals hibernate for long periods of time. On the other hand... Ferris mentioned hearing rustles that got closer and closer to him as time went on. It was being ceremonious with him for some reason."

Motley didn't mention anything about prolonged hibernation when it came to bone vampires, so that's unlikely. The fact remained that the creature hadn't attacked Ferris for a while, but when the hallucinations left him, the bone vampire had come closer and closer to him. And for a very long time at that, which suggested...

Oh, fuck!

"Oh, fuck!"

This can't be true! It's unlikely, and Luck is unlikely to do that to us, but it's worth a try—besides, we don't have any other options. We need to slow this mutant down somehow to be able to damage him before he decides to retreat to lick his wounds. At least he doesn't have instant regeneration, otherwise I'm going to tell this Wasteland and Luck to go to fuck themselves.

"Caroline, please give me that little container of hallucinogen," I ask.

"What do you intend to do?" she utters, presenting it to me.

"I'm going to perform a miracle," I say, opening the container. "Ferris, step back just in case." He obediently obeys.

"Motley, can you please quickly convert this container into the likeness of a grenade or mine so that when used, the liquid will spread around? Caroline has the necessary tools and will help you. Can you use the materials of a regular frag grenade?"

Motley nods, takes the container and gets to work.

"What do you have in mind?" the griffon asks, looking at me sideways.

"There is a thought. But such a coincidence is unlikely, so when the grenade goes off, get ready to shoot the bone vampire. Before that, aim properly, and I'll be the bait for it to attack me."

"Daniel?" Motley looks at me with concern.

"If you make a remote-controlled mine, it'll increase my chances of survivi-"

"Caroline," the pegasus interrupts, turning to the AI, "can I borrow a couple parts of your body?" Caroline nods. "So, here's what we're going to do..."

Shit, somehow I'm not sure this is going to work. It can't be solved that easily. The Wasteland isn't going to show us that much favor.

After a few minutes, Motley holds out a container of explosives to me, explaining that Caroline will be able to detonate it from a distance.

"So here's the deal: I'll go ahead alone to engage the bone vampire—it won't refuse a lone victim. I'll set up a mine, and as soon as the bone vampire is within range of it, detonate it. You'll know when to detonate and fire the moment you see a flash of my magic. I have to teleport behind you so I don't get hit by the shots."

"So much confidence..." Ferris stretches out.

"If I catch a bullet from you, my feathered friend, then be warned, you'll get a bullet back," I threaten. He doesn't say anything back, just a faint smirk.

***

I concentrate the spell by selecting a point of travel. All that's left is to 'unleash' this concentrated magic. Two yards ahead of me there is a landmine set up, my friends are twenty yards behind me. Hopefully my magic will be enough to teleport to them. The bone vampire, meanwhile, is already moving towards me. I can't see it, but the faint scratching of claws on the surface of the mine gives away the monster's movements.

All that's left is to choose the exact moment to teleport to signal Caroline.

Come on. Come here. I won't hurt you, I promise. Though, I can't promise for my companions.

The rustling is getting closer. I stand aside, whistling a tune and looking around carefree. I hope the bone vampire takes the bait. I slowly turn my head in the direction of the sounds and see a prominent silhouette lurking on the ceiling. Two yards away from me. Right above the mine.

"Now!"

I complete the teleportation at the moment of the explosion, unleashing my magic, and disappear in a flash of light. I find myself just behind Motley, who is already firing her energy-magic rifles at the bone vampire. Caroline fires a devastating blue beam into the cave, hoping to hit the creature. Ferris opens aimed fire with his new rifle.

The gunfire subsides as the bone vampire lies motionless where the mine exploded. Ferris let out a sigh of relief.

"My heart sank, I kept wondering if we were going to kill the fucker or not. Apparently we did."

Motley looks around and finds me and hugs, whispering with joy and concern that everything worked out and the most important thing is that I'm alive.

We walk over to check on the creature we just killed. Ferris doesn't come close, just in case, so as not to inhale the hallucinogen in the air. The bone vampire in its natural gray coloring lies in a puddle of murky-green blood mixed with the remnants of a dark purple liquid. It sizzles and eats away at the monster's skin. The damage is worse in the places where the psychotropic liquid hit. The rest of the body is charred by the shots of energy-magic weapons, there are also dents left by the shots of The Judge—they turned out to be shallow, in them can be seen flattened armor-piercing bullets.

"Most importantly, the thing's not breathing. We were right."

Luck... You're a bitch. You like to get on my nerves before you throw me into a blissful ecstasy when everything's resolved by a miraculous coincidence.

Hell yeah, we did it! We couldn't have done it without that hallucinogen: if the scouts hadn't accidentally activated it in the ventilation system, our bones would have been drunk long ago. Most importantly, the monster turned out to have a weakness we couldn't have foreseen.

Eric, I don't know your motives for using the Twilight Demon on the mine personnel, but thank you for choosing that particular gas, a component of which had a devastating effect on the creature.

"How did you know the substance was harmful to the bone vampire?" Motley wonders.

"Well... get ready. I'll tell you now... In one of the rooms, I discovered three corpses of the Steelmane family's scouts. They had activated some of the equipment and systems here, among them utilities and defenses. The robots killed them weeks ago. The bone vampire had plenty of time to get out of the mine and suck out their bones—the boneless remains I found upstairs in the main building. But it didn't. Why? Because when the ventilation systems are activated, the substance spreads throughout the main building. Obviously, even in gaseous form, it's physically damaging to the creature. That's why it was trapped in the cave. Ferris was untouched only because the gas was still on his body, gradually dissipating and weathering. Even though its concentration was too low to affect him, the bone vampire could feel the gas. Here I decided to use the remaining liquid to slow or disorient the creature."

"Amazing coincidence," Ferris says, standing back up, "An item left behind by someone in the past came in handy now. I would never have believed such a thing if I hadn't seen the result with my own eyes. And yet, something like this... Yeah. So we've completed business here, then, if you've discovered the Steelmane scouts?"

"I suppose so," I reply, looking at the corpse of the bone vampire. I will remember this coincidence for the rest of my life.

***

"Oh, look who's here," the dark gray pegasus with the blue mane smiles. "Come on in, sit down, I was just taking a little break," Troy Steelmane points to a chair near his desk with a roll of drawings and various documents on it."

In front of him lies a newspaper with the latest Vanhoover news. I've been transported by the Venture, piloted by Blaze, to Troy's Workshop, located in the main factory of the Steelmane family.

I obediently sit down.

"Well, what are you doing here? Is there something else you're not clear on from what I wrote in the letter?" he gets up and brings two glasses and a bottle of expensive whiskey to the table. He fills the containers with a delicate yellow clear liquid and moves one glass towards me. "Have a drink, I think you'll appreciate it."

"There's nothing wrong with the letter," I say, levitating the glass of whiskey toward me.

It tastes lovely.

"So you just decided to check up on me? That's nice," he says with a touch of sarcasm. "I know you didn't just come to me for friendly conversation or love, or rather, flew in on your metallic bird," he sips from his glass. "By the way, I have a more detailed understanding of the Vertibuck blueprints and can boost her heart, making her more powerful, and also tweak a few systems to make her more slick and agile in the air. But I need some more time to double-check the calculations."

"Wonderful," I say with a smile, taking another sip. He finishes the contents and sets the empty glass aside. I drain mine as well and set it on the table.

"So what are you here for?" he inquires.

"Found your scouts," I say after a short pause. Troy's eyes widen and a smile appears on his face.

"I never doubted you, my friend. That is marvelous news! You've made quick work of it, considering you were just recently seen on Green Island. You've been mentioned in rumors more often than not lately."

"I have my methods," I smile. "Unfortunately, the scouts were already dead. But they stumbled upon a mine. And here's the surprise: since it was discovered relatively recently before the war, it's still full of gems. It has the right conditions to grow new ones. Plus, it's partially automated."

Troy's jaw drops. Naturally, he's saddened by the deaths of the scouts, but it's more than compensated for by the find.

I tell Troy what happened in the mine. Of course, I omit who exactly was with me, simply stating that I was not alone. He listens interestedly to the story about the hallucinogenic gas and how I used it to defeat a bone vampire. I also tell him a bit about them, somewhat rearranging Motley's words. After the story, I give Troy the coordinates of the mine.

"My friend," Troy begins. "You've done Vanhoover a great favor. This is amazing... This will solve our energy problems for decades. From the entire Steelmane family, I thank you! The gems will be enough to use the factories more efficiently and create new technologies without looking at the gems' quantity. And at the same time, increase the assembly speed of the cargo vertibaks. Shit, get over here," he gets up from his chair and walks over to me, making me get up too.

"Emotions are running high right now, so," he wraps me up in a tight hug, causing me to be in a bit of shock. "You did good! Thank you sincerely, from the bottom of my heart."

He releases me from the hug and returns to the chair, before pulling out his checkbook and writing out a certain amount of caps, signing it, and handing the check to me.

"Here you go. I think the fee from my personal accounts for something like this will be enough. One more thing: you can fill up your Venture with gas anytime you want, for life. Absolutely free. Think of it as a small percentage of your gem mining profits. I'll be sure to tell my father about your heroic deed. He'll be thrilled."

He winks at me.

"And I hope he gives a recommendation for the title of a King. I think we've solved the city's biggest urgent problem. He just has to give it to us."

I glance at the amount on the check—fifteen thousand caps. That's a lot. Doesn't compare to the price of killing the head of the Crater Raiders, but still. Fifteen grand and a lifetime of vertibag refueling. That's a good price.

"And now," Troy says, "I'll have to bow out and have a word with my staff about finding the mine."

***

Blaze on Venture drops me off at my casino. I still couldn't get used to the idea that I had my own big business. By the way, Blaze was interested in our story when he picked us up from the mine. He was also pleasantly surprised by Troy Steelmine's generous gesture.

I head to the Glass Key to give Bland, my deputy, a check to use the amount to benefit the casino. Once there and finding him in the casino office space, I question him about the state of affairs and request a number of more progress reports before handing him a check with a decent amount of cash. I'm about to leave, but he asks for my approval as well as my participation in a certain case. Surprised, I ask him what it is about. His answer shocks me, to say the least.

He leans in to my ear and whispers, "We're going to rob the most important casino in Softhooves. Do you agree to participate... or not?"

Well, fuck me...