Vivarium

Gamma stopped in front of house 42, panting. Her expression was borderline furious for a moment as she glared at it. She used her magic to pull the strap and stomped around the wagon to the back. Packer had crossed the line the last time they’d passed the house with what he thought was a funny comment about her ability to navigate.

She picked him up with her magic and moved him beside her before dropping him to the ground. He got up with a groan. “I said I was sorry.”

She harrumphed and faced the house. “Let’s just go in and rest, the place at least looked comfortable.”

She walked up the path and collected her meal bar, opening it and taking a bite, as she opened the door and walked in. Packer walked past her and rushed to the kitchen where he opened the refrigerator and took out the wine and cheese platter. He set it on the table and began to nibble at the plastic wrapping that kept it fresh.

He made a face. “This plastic tastes like… rubber, I think.”

Gamma rolled her eyes and set her meal bar down. “Plastic doesn’t taste like anything, that’s why it’s plastic.” She used her magic to break the plastic open and brought the wrapper to her muzzle, sniffing it. Her tongue darted out and licked the wrap and she made the same face. “What the hay?”

“Whatever, let’s just eat some cheese. You know I love cheese. Can you pour the wine?” Packer asked as he slid one slice of cheese to the side with his forehoof.

Two glasses levitated from the counter to the table and Gamma popped open the wine, poured half a glass for each of them, then set the bottle down beside her meal bar. She moved one to Packer, who took it in his hooves and smelled it, then he grimaced.

“What, has it gone bad?” Gamma asked. She sniffed her own and sneered. “Is this…”

Packer took a sip and swallowed with a thoughtful look. “It smells like oil but tastes like wine with a hint of barbeque sauce. I think I’m going to be sick,” he said, setting the cup down and pushing it away. Gamma didn’t partake and set her cup beside Packers. She watched as Packer ate a slice of cheese and hummed.

“What’s it taste like?” Gamma asked.

Packer hummed and chewed before the cheese moved around in his mouth and then he blew a bubble. “It’s bubblegum, but it tastes like cheese.”

Gamma sighed and picked up a slice of cheese and ate it, chewing repeatedly as the texture reminded her of gum, but it tasted like cheddar cheese. “It’s not bad,” she admitted, “but it’s not something I’d brag about having. It’s something different, that’s for sure.”

“That’s this whole experience,” Packer said as he swallowed and took another slice. He ate it and grinned. “Hmm, gouda. It’s creamy, like it should be, but it’s chewy, too. This is so weird,” he chuckled as he blew another bubble, this one popping before it could reach full size. “Aww,” he whined.

“Hold on, I have more food in the cart, this isn’t going to be a filling meal,” Gamma said as she moved through the house and went to the cart, listening intently as she went. “Hello? Anypony out there?” She called out into the dead silence. Only her echo replied. She frowned as she got their saddlebags and returned to the kitchen.

“Why the sour face?”

“I don’t understand,” Gamma said as she pulled out another meal bar, this one for Packer. “There’s an echo out there, but with the width and length of the block, I shouldn’t have an echo at all. It’s like there’s something blocking the sound and bouncing it back to me.”

Packer bit his meal bar open and took a bite quickly. “Maybe that’s what’s happening; we’re trapped in a dome, or something. It would explain why we can’t get out of this place.”

Gamma sat down beside Packer and took her meal bar. “I hope not, I can’t teleport or fly some unicorns, so we’re pretty much stuck on the ground. I also don’t know many spells, I don’t think any of them can break through a barrier that can teleport us around inside of it.”

Packer shrugged. “If nothing else, we just have to wait for somepony else to move in… that sounded smarter before I said it out loud.”

Gamma leaned against Packer. “You’re still thinking, which is more than I can say for some of my boyfriends.”

Packer smiled. “See, I don’t only think about sex.” He finished off his meal bar and chewed with a full mouth.

Gamma looked him in the eyes and leaned close. “Two ponies, alone in a magic bubble, no one can hear them scream.” Packer stopped chewing and his eyes widened. He got up and nudged the giggling mare with his muzzle from the side as he chewed quicker. “What? Did you infer something from what I said? I think I’ll just sit here and think about what you could be thinking until you tell me.”

Packer swallowed the quarter chewed snack and pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and laughed as they fell over. “I don’t think I can wait to make it to the bed,” he said, panting heavily as he readied himself over her.

“I never said we had to. Let’s break this house in,” she giggled as he rolled her to her back and nibbled his way down her body. “That’s the stallion I- eep!”

…

Gamma awoke with a snort and lifted her head, bumping it on the underside of the table. She fell back down and groaned for a second before scooting back to clear it before she sat up. She yawned and shook her head as she got up and looked down at the sleeping stallion still half under the table.

She smiled and giggled, remembering the things he’d done to her and how she’d repaid him. She could still taste him when she pressed her tongue to the top of her mouth. Leaving him to rest, she went upstairs to the bathroom to pee and check herself in the mirror. “I don’t have a brush,” she said to her reflection, “or makeup.” She checked herself over and smiled. “I’m still pretty.”

She flicked her tail and giggled to herself. “I swear I’m going to have that stallion’s foals. He’s the one,” she stomped her forehoof, grimacing at the loudness of it. She turned to leave and went to the master bedroom to poke around. The dresser was full of clothing and when she sized some of them, they were her size.

Gamma smiled and slipped on one of the vests that felt soft and warm before grabbing a set of socks. She was going to slip them on and wake up her stallions before she remembered their predicament. She replaced them in the drawer and left the room to start some coffee, which woke Packer in the same way she has woken up.

She laughed as he crawled from under the table to rub his head. “Morning, honey. What’s the plan today?”

Packer shrugged and sat down at his spot. “Wanna try to escape some more, or should we try to tough it out? Clipper has to come back, eventually. I mean, we don’t have any supplies to make it a week and the grass isn’t long enough to graze on.”

Gamma waited as the coffee brewed by the counter. “We can just nibble and let it grow.”

Packer turned to look at her. “All the yards have one inch cut grass, but there’s nopony here to maintain it. It should at least be growing wild somewhere, but it isn’t. Besides, you know just as well as I do that grazing on grass only is a great way to get malnourished and sick.”

Gamma raised her forehoof, placatingly. “I know, I was just asking the expert. Besides, this house isn’t all bad. The dresser is stocked with fitting clothes, some I can’t wait to show you,” she giggled and patted the vest, “and it’s a house, still. It’ll keep us warm when it snows and--”

“I can’t be here that long!” Packer shouted, startling the mare. “I have obligations, and so do you! We have to go, Gamma Ray. Let’s just eat something quickly and go home, before something else happens.”

Gamma watched him for a second or two, then nodded, pouring two mugs of coffee. She passed one to Packer and took a sip of her own, frowning and looking in the empty cupboards for sugar. She groaned and moved to the table, sitting beside her lover. “There’s no sugar.”

“Well, that’s another reason to get a move on.” Packer drank his coffee and got a meal bar from his saddlebag to snack on while he checked over the cart while Gamma sipped her coffee in silence. “Gamma!” Packer shouted from outside.

Gamma set her mug down and quickly cantered through the house to the front door and left to see Packer staring at a small trunk set in the middle of the street. He looked at her when she arrived and then ran down the street to the end, checking for tracks or life.

Gamma opened the lid with her magic and looked inside. “Packer, it’s…” she started as he turned to gallop back. “It’s just…”

Packer stood next to her and looked into the trunk. “It’s supplies,” he said as he moved some of the packed items around. “Toothbrushes, grooming brushes, mane brushes, files,” he reached a divider and motioned for Gamma to lift it and they saw packages of food. “And enough food for a couple days, maybe.”

“What the…” she looked around and bit her lip before whispering, “what the fuck is going on here?”

Packer’s ears perked and he smiled at her. “Woah, somepony has a potty mouth.”

She bumped against him, making him stagger away. “I know I do, I just don’t swear because of the children. I don’t see any children around, do you?”

Packer shrugged. “After last night, all that noise you made, I hope not,” he chuckled and was shoved again.

“Keep that up and maybe I’ll close down shop for a couple days.” She flicked her ears to imply her seriousness.

“You can’t resist me, and we both know it,” he said, moving to close the trunk. “C’mon, let’s get this inside and we can sort it out.”

Gamma used her magic to lift it onto his sturdy back and they walked side by side until she topped and returned to the cart. “I wanna get some things,” she announced as she got the homework. She returned to his side and help him set the trunk inside the kitchen. They spent an hour sorting everything before sighing. “This isn’t enough food to keep us healthy. I don’t see any hay or such, do you?”

Packer shook his head as he looked the boxed and packaged items over. “No, but we have enough toothpaste to last us a month. Who the heck is setting us up here?”

Gamma shrugged and picked up the food before trotting past Packer to the kitchen. He got up and followed her as she set things around the room. He nibbled her ear and when her tail flagged he kissed her and moved around her. “Packer… what are you doing?”

He mounted her and nibbled her mane. “Just breaking in the house a little more.”

She laughed and went along with his lust and when he was spent and climbed off her she gave him a kiss. “You insatiable stallion… but I barely got started.”

He blushed. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that. It just felt right.”

She kissed him on the lips. “It’s okay, I don’t mind. I got more than enough last night, after all. I don’t mind you releasing once in a while inside me… just don’t use me like some tool, okay?” She gave him a peck and then returned to putting the food away in cupboards.

“You make me feel like a real stallion, you know that?” Packer said, looking at her lovingly.

She tittered and flicked her tail. “You know I love you,” she said before finishing her task. “Let’s find homes for the rest of the stuff.”

“So, do you think of this place as home?” Packer asked as she followed Gamma. He leaned close and nuzzled her.

“Not a chance. This is just… a trap that we have to figure a way out of. Until then, it’s a house we’re staying in. I want to hitch up and try to leave again, okay?” Packer nuzzled her again and she giggled. “Affectionate, aren’t you?”

Packer nodded and kissed her, his hoof cupping her chin. “I… I think something’s wrong,” he whispered and glanced to the kitchen. Before she could ask he kissed her again and then moved in close to whisper. “I want you again, my body’s ready. This isn’t right. I want you too much,” he said.

She didn’t feel offended, instead she felt worried. She nodded and kissed him on the cheek. “Well, let’s go for a trot before we waste any more time. I’ll hitch up and pull you so you can rest,” she said as she passed him. She felt his breath huff against her side as she passed him, but he followed her out the door and to the street where he sighed.

“What the fuck,” he said once they were in the street. “I was ready to mount you again like some horny teenager.”

Gamma raised an eyebrow. “And that’s bad because?”

Packer shook his head. “You don’t get it, there the refractory period. I should have been done for at least an hour, maybe two. Instead,” he shook his head. “I think it was the wine. I had a sip to try it again, and it just hit me as soon as you left the kitchen. I might not be that smart, but I know when something isn’t right.”

Gamma looked at the house and frowned. “I think we should go.”

He nodded and climbed into the wagon. Gamma hitched up and started to trot before stopping. “Darn it, I forgot the homework.”

“Forget the homework, mare! Just get us out of here.”

Gamma started trotting again, this time taking a right and continuing on. Without taking any turns, they crossed house 42 and kept going, turning at random now. Hours later, after having traded places, they stopped in front of house 42 with a grunt of frustration. Packer unhitched himself and stomped into the house and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Gamma followed him in, eventually. She grabbed the empty trunk and pulled the curtains from the wall, stuffing them in. Packer watched as she left the house and then hurried outside when there was the sound of a crash. He watched her throwing the trunk against the front door of the house across from them. When the door had broken open, she set the trunk inside and pulled wallpaper from the walls and some pictures, too.

“What are you doing?” Packer asked from the street.

“Starting a fire!” She shouted back and her horn lit. Magic built in the trunk and after several seconds a small fire started. She began tearing paper from walls inside the house before leaving and trotting to her boyfriend. “Anypony in Manehattan will be able to see that.”

Packer looked at the growing blaze and shook his head. “I hope we don’t get in trouble for arson.”

Gamma laughed and sat down. “Clipper will have to come to put out the fire, especially before it spreads to nearby houses on this block. When we’re freed, I’ll just make the case that we were foalnapped and held against our will in some cursed living community.”

“Do you think that’ll hold up in court?”

Gamma watched the fire growing inside the house and shrugged. “I’m not going to be some lab rat, or whatever this place is.”

Together they sat in the early morning light, watching fire consume a house, then a second. They went back inside house 42 to get some water when Packer noticed the back door was open. He looked out to see a bale of hay and he smiled. “Honey! There’s more food back here,” he said and rushed out to take a bite straight from the bale.

Gamma hurried behind him and grinned, following suit and chewing happily. “This is a nice surprise,” she finally said when she had eaten a few bites with him, “but let’s not get too excited. We have to be ready for the firefighters and police to show up.”

Together they went back through the house and out front, stopping in their tracks just past the threshold. “What the flying feather!” Packer shouted as they looked at the intact and undamaged houses across from them. There was a bale of hay in the street, now, too. “Wait here,” Packer said as he ran back and then returned. “The hay from the back is gone, it was a distraction while whoever it is fixed this.”

Gamma growled and ran to the hay, turned, then bucked it firmly, tossing it over itself but doing no damage. She lit her magic and tossed the bale at the opposite house and prepared to set it ablaze before Packer stopped her.

“Honey, this isn’t going to work and it’s just going to cost us food. Food we need. How do we know this won’t be punished, burning our food? What if this is all we get until we’re rescued? We have to think before we react, okay?”

Gamma turned her glare on Packer before she exhaled and relaxed. She moved closer and picked up the bale and walked it to their front yard, dropping it by the front bay window. “You know what, whatever!” she snapped. “If this is some kind of game, then so be it. I’ll fight as long as I have to, though. I won’t give up my freedom to Clipper or whoever he’s working with.”

Gamma stomped into the house and watched Packer return to his cart, pulling a shovel out with his mouth. He moved to the next yard and began digging in the lawn. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with him so she went inside and sat on the couch. She noticed a remote and picked it up. “So, television. Radio you can watch, huh?”

She looked over the controller and hummed at the many buttons. She decided to press the green one at the top first. The television turned on, but it wasn’t radio she’d expected. It was a mess of swirling lines interlocking and merging with one another in an insane pattern. There wasn’t any sound at all. She found the one marked volume and turned it up, only to have her ears press to her head at the static.

“How do I tune this thing?” She asked and began pressing different buttons until the pattern changed and the static morphed into something else. She didn’t like what she saw, it was beginning to give her a stomach ache, so she kept changing the channels until she gave up and turned it off. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it.”

She longed for a book, a real radio, or even a mare to gossip with at that moment. Not that she didn’t love having her boyfriend, but she needed a mare, too. A friend to bounce ideas off of and to talk about personal stuff with.

With a groan she rolled to her hooves and went to the kitchen to eat some bubble gum cheese. She thought over the previous night and then glanced at the wine bottle, wondering if Packer was right. She longed for a good release and didn’t know how long it would be before he was done digging holes. She shook her head and put nuaghty thoughts aside. Her tail was already going to be sticking to the back of her leg in spots, she didn’t want to have to bathe in this strange house yet, if she could help it.

She picked up the homework and began to finish her grading task when the sound of hooves ticked her ears. “Hon, I scratched a message into the neighbor’s lawn. A simple S.O.S., but it’s something,” he said walking to the sink and rearing up to wash his forehooves. “It’s weird, the ground isn’t like any soil I’ve ever seen. It’s dry and flimsy, so I was able to dig pretty quickly.”

Gamma hummed in acknowledgement as her pen marked on the paper. “That’s nice, dear. We’ve managed to use about three hours today, though. What would you like to do for the rest of the day?”

“How about that television? I’ve never thought about watching radio before,” Packer said.

“It’s nothing. I tried it and it didn’t make any sense. It’s just lines and noise like static.” Gamma said as she set a page aside and began the next.

“Well, poo. Let’s have a snack and talk some more! I love a good story and I love to learn about my favorite mare.” Packer eagerly said as he sat beside her. She giggled and set the papers down, ready for some conversation.

…

Gamma awoke the next morning with a foreleg holding her close. She smiled and gently moved Packer’s leg from her barrel as she scooted from bed, glancing back at the wet spot she’d left after their night finishing off the wine bottle. She felt great, all things considered, and was ready to cook a breakfast for her stallion to reward him for doing things to her she’d never imagined a stallion doing.

She blushed as she remembered some mares doing some of the things he’d done, and somehow he was better than them. She really needed to get home to have some filly talk.

She went to the bathroom to take a shower and freshen up, then dried herself with one of the many towels provided before she went about making breakfast. She heard Packer coming down the stairs and quickly ran a hoof through her mane and patted her cheeks, hoping it would brighten her smile even more than it already was.

“Good morning, love,” she said happily as she presented him with two eggs, some baked hay, and a glass of juice.

He sat down and yawned loudly. “G’morning, this looks amazing…” he hesitated and looked up at her. “This is almost two day’s worth of the rations we’d talked about.”

She grabbed her plate and set it down beside his and sat with him. “I figured it was worth it. After everything you did to me last night, after what we did to each other…” she looked him up and down before sniffing him. “You didn’t wash yet?”

He sniffed his foreleg and grinned. “Honeysuckle, hay, and,” he sniffed again, “what did you have for lunch, again?” he asked and fell over laughing when she shoved him. He got up, grinning like a madmare. “I don’t want to just wash your scent off me, it’s how other fillies know I’m taken.”

She was flattered, but grossed out at the same time. “You should really wash, I know where your foreleg was last night and you should keep good hygiene for when we’re rescued.”

He scoffed and leaned down to nibble his eggs. “It’s not like I’m going to flirt with the neighbors.”

She used a fork to lift one of the eggs to her mouth and ate it at once. “If we had neighbors, I wouldn’t be so worried about staying here.”

They ate in silence and when they were done they cleaned up and gathered the bed sheets to wash. “They have a washing machine out back,” Packer said as he carried the load in a basket on his back. “We can fill it with water and let it do the work.”

Gamma was right behind him and followed him out into the one inch manicured lawn. They found the new generation washing machine against the back of the house, it’s short brick shape with a lid being the only thing that didn’t fit right with the rounded outdoor table and two bench seats.

Gamma noticed there was a single tree in each yard that bore almost no leaves.

They loaded the washer and added a little soap, then closed the lid and pressed the on button. They flinched back when it kicked on and started humming. “So, that’s it for laundry.” Packer said, moving to one of the benches. “Now what?”

They sat opposite one another and looked around. “Wanna raid the next house over for stuff?”

“What for?” Packer asked. “The houses are probably all the same and there wasn’t anything of use before the trunk showed up.”

Gamma glanced up and cocked her head. “The sun.”

Packer chuckled. “You want to stare into the sun? Sure, let’s go blind in addition to being trapped.”

Gamma shook her head and got up. “No, let’s follow the sun! It can lead us out, maybe.” She looked at his skeptical expression. “It’s better than trotting around forever in empty streets.”

Packer shook his head. “The fences are almost four ponies high, each. If we climb them we risk falling and breaking a leg, then where would we be?”

“Then we stick to the streets!” Gamma snapped back, moving to him. “C’mon, let me have this.”

Packer groaned and got up, then nuzzled his mare. “You got it, babe.”

They left the house and began walking down the street, following the early morning sun. They walked for nearly ten blocks before they crossed house 42 again, but went on, just in case. When noon came around, Packer had had enough and when they passed the house again, he went in and returned to the backyard to gather their laundry.

Packer went to the wall and reared up to bite the hanging lines and pulled them across the yard to hook them on their post. Gamma returned an hour later with her head hung low to see Packer sitting at the table with a frown. “So, you went on without me?”

“I had to try.”

“What if you’d gotten out? Would you have left me here to die?” Packer asked.

“What? No! I would have sent help, just like you would have done if you’d gotten out,” she moved to the table and sat down, resting her head on the table. “We can’t get out. We’re trapped.”

“At least we have each other,” Packer said, quietly.