Chapter 2:

The pain...oh sweet Celestia the pain...Fire burned through my body, every inch of me hurt as I've never hurt before, in the distance I could hear screaming, despite the blindingly white light, darkness was eating away at the edges of my vision and I felt myself crash down against something hard and the contents of my stomach empty violently as the light, and pain, faded. I found myself collapsed on my side in the middle of a street, my head was still pounding, my ears ringing. In the distance I could hear someone calling my name, but after a moment I realized it wasn't in the distance, Lily and Paul stood over me, both looking terrified.

“Cane? CANE!” Lily was yelling at me but she sounded so far away. She was glowing green and I could feel her magic wrap around me to lift and carry me. Paul was holding my hoof and studying my pipbuck.

“It says there's nothing wrong with him.” Paul's voice was starting to sound clearer. Lily carried me off the road and set me down on the ground along the side. They were talking to each other, looking back and forth from me to each other and back, but they were just talking and I couldn't make out what they said.

I just lay quietly for a long time, trying to recover myself. Finally I looked up at Lily, still in her human form...it would take time to get used to that, who had sat down and put my head in her lap.

“What...happened?” I croaked.

“Well, it's good news, and weird news.” She said, stroking my mane gently. “We made it through the portal with no problem, it closed behind us within seconds. Paul and I were fine, but you started screaming and collapsed in a heap, you threw up pretty badly all over the road then started convulsing, but you settled down a few seconds later and we've just been hanging out waiting for you to recover.”

“Is that the good news or the weird news?”

“Well I hate to spoil the fun of the good news.” She laughed. “Want to see?” She pulled a small mirror from her pack and held it out, using her magic to slide it along my side so I could see. I was amazed to see my body restored, all the burns and scars I had suffered in the pyro attack were gone, my soft blue coat again smooth and unmarred. “Look what else.” She turned the mirror further down and I saw the familiar, and long missed, double helix mark on my side.

“MY CUTIE MARK!” I yelped excitedly, like a child getting their mark for the first time. I jumped to my hooves and grabbed the mirror from her, holding it so I could see the mark better. “Geeze I never thought I'd see it again, I never realized just how much I missed it until now...” I blinked back tears and grinned at Lily stupidly. “Do I get a cute-ceañera?”

“You're kind of an idiot aren't you?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

She gestured to the mirror and I realized it was floating in the blue field of my magic, not the green of hers. I drew the mirror back to my face and squeed with more excitement than I'd have thought was possible after seeing my cutie mark restored, as I saw the blue horn again restored to my forehead.

“Oh thank Celestia, I didn't want to have to learn how to live without it...” I said, sitting down and grabbing at my horn with my fore-hooves, tugging it a little in disbelief to make sure it wasn't going to fall off or anything.

“I'm glad to see you're up and about unicorn boy.” Paul said, coming off the road. “You look better this way...less war torn, but how?”

“I...don't know. You said when I went through the portal I started screaming?” I asked, looking back at Lily and she nodded.

“Hmm...”

“I hate to interrupt your deep thought, but we should head to town, it's getting late and I don't want to be out on the highway at night.”

“Fair enough.” I said and the three of us started down the road.

“Cane, one thing.” Lily said. “You realize you can't walk around here talking right?”

“The thought had crossed my mind yes.”

“Well Paul and I were talking and we've come up with an idea about that, because according to him, there's no such thing as a blue pony in this world, let alone a blue unicorn pony, so we're going to pretend you're our pack pony, carrying our extra equipment, and if anyone asks about the look we have a whole story made up about it.”

“Yeah, worse comes to worse and you need to talk? We'll just tell anyone who asks that I do ventriloquism with you.” Paul laughed.

“That's fucked up.” I smirked. “But I suppose it would work.” I shrugged.

We reached the edge of town and a guard stepped forward. “Welcome to The Hub...” He paused and studied me curiously, but turned his attention back to Paul and Lily. “This is a clean town now, no drugs are sold, no drugs are bought, and no drugs are allowed in town unless they are under the strict control of the medical staff.”

“Of course.” Paul nodded. “I'm very familiar with the rules of the town. We sold all our stronger medicines to a caravan heading for the Bone-yard yesterday. We don't have anything stronger on us than Stim-Paks and some medicine for the horse if he gets hurt.”

“You won't mind submitting to a search of your belongings then.”

“Not at all, but you have to do it one pack at a time and under our constant supervision, because I don't want any of my stuff 'vanishing' from my pack.” Lily said coolly.

“Not at all.” The guard said. Lily pulled her pack off and the guard went through it. All she had packed in it were a few of the dresses she'd had earlier, a plasma pistol Paul had given her so she had a normal human weapon, and Brutus's shotgun, complete with the bite grip still, which of course was massive for a human.

“What kind of shotgun is this?” The guard asked, holding it out and looking curiously at the bite grip.

“It's for someone who doesn't have hands.” Lily explained. “My father lost the use of his hands, we started making him custom equipment that he can hold in his mouth.”

“Wouldn't the recoil break all his teeth?”

Lily took the shotgun, sliding just the trigger into her mouth, using the rest of the bite grip to steady the gun against her cheeks and fired the gun into a tree on the side of the road. She blew a big hole in the tree and knocked off a number of branches.

“Impressive.” The guard nodded. Lily put the gun back in her pack and put the pack back on. He turned to me and again studied me curiously, but just smiled. “Now you little guy.” He said, gently taking my saddlebags off, stroking my back gently as he did, which I found odd, but Paul had said that most animals enjoyed being stroked or scratched as a form of interaction so I just shifted a little while the guard set down the saddlebags and went through them. He looked at the healing potions he'd pulled out of the bag.

“Those are the medicine for him.” Paul said. “You're welcome to try it if you want, it's just the same stuff that goes into a Stim-Pack, just in a bottled form so it's easier for him to ingest. Needles tend to send em running when you stick em.”

He popped the cork from one and sniffed it.

“Here...” Lily took the bottle from him and took a swig from the bottle before handing it back to him. “Happy? Not poison, not drugs, just medicine.”

“Alright fine.” He looked at Ebony and Ivory, Paul explaining they were spares for his own guns that he used for replacement parts, hence the missing triggers on mine, and the grenades, which Lily explained were indeed grenades, disguised to look like simple household decoration to fool unsuspecting intruders of your home, or to throw off attackers.

“Why does your horse have a pipboy? That's expensive tech to waste on an animal.”

“He can carry 500 pounds of equipment, would you want to manually go through everything any time you needed to find something?”

“Fair enough.” The guard shrugged, going through Paul's stuff. This was a much quicker process because he didn't carry any Equestrian tech so it didn't need any extra explanation. He had a large supply of Stim-Packs, a huge bag of bottlecaps, and clip after clip of ammo for Ebony and Ivory, as well as his magazines and some random scrap electronics. “Alright you guys are good to go, just don't misbehave.”

“We'll be on our best behaviour.” Lily nodded and we started inside. Once we were away from anyone in the immediate area I looked at Lily.

“How DID you fire the shotgun without breaking your teeth?”

She just grinned, her mouth glowing magically. “Used it to absorb the shock.”

“Clever.” Paul laughed.

“Thanks.” Lily nodded. “So where are we going?”

“Dinner I think, then we get a motel room and crash out, then plan where to go from here in the morning.” He lead us to a big building in the centre of town. “This used to be a base for a crime boss. He was one of the things that were 'cleaned up' here back in the day. Now it's been split into two sections, one is a restaurant, the other is the town inn.”

I paused outside the door of the restaurant not sure that a normal pack animal would go in with them. “Come on Sugar.” Paul said. “You're not that much bigger than a normal pet, and I know you'll be well behaved.”

I followed him into the warehouse area, why did warehouses always seem to get converted into restaurants and inns? Lots of space I suppose. Lily and I walked over to a booth in the corner and I sat on the floor beside her, Paul went up to the bar, and form the way he kept gesturing towards us and talking to the bartender he was making sure it really was okay for me to be there, and promising I'd be on my best behaviour.

“Aww come on!” A familiar young voice cried. Lily and I both looked up to the doors of the restaurant. A young blond girl came through the doors. She wore metal armour and had two bandoliers of grenades strapped in an X across her chest, and some mean looking mines on the back part of the bandoliers, as well as a pair of pistols at her hips. She was arguing with a tall muscular man. His skin was very pale and covered in small dark spots, his hair was an almost fiery orange in the light of the setting sun.

“Don't you 'aww come on me' young lady.” He rolled his eyes.

“But...”

“Ahh ahh, don't care.” He said flatly. “Just because a bunch of kids are going up to the Yao Guai cave to get eaten doesn't mean I'm okay with you going.”

“We're not gonna get eaten!”

“You're right, you won't because I'm not letting you go.”

A woman followed behind them, chuckling at the conversation. She was tall and skinny, her hair was pink with blond all around the base. She wore clothes that were probably a little big for her lanky frame and she had a mean looking plasma caster on her back. She looked worn and hardened by the wasteland, like you'd expect her to be a constantly angry at the world bandit, but she was laughing and smiling with ease.

“Come on Ruby!” The girl said to her.

“Nope. I completely agree. Yao Guai are no joke, I don't want to put you in danger like that, I don't care what the other kids will think.”

“A...are we looking at human versions of CB, Brutus and Ruby?” Lily asked softly in my ear.

“I...I think so.” I whispered.

They walked further into the restaurant, still arguing.

“What are you two looking at?” Paul asked, sitting down with a menu from the bar.

“Your soon to be best friends I think.” Lily said, watching them vanish around the bar to the far side of the restaurant.

“My what?” He looked over but didn't see them.

“I think that was the human counterparts of my friends.” I said softly.

“Oh...well what are we going to do about it?”

“I don't know.” Lily said. “I want to find a way to weasel into their group but I can't begin to imagine how...lets just eat for now and we'll see what comes of it.”

“Alright.” Paul said, looking down at the menu. “What do you want to eat?” He asked, looking to me, since I couldn't order for myself when the waiter came along.

“Uhh, apples, carrots, bacon...some combination of those if it's possible?”

“You eat bacon?”

“Yeah, bacon is awesome.”

“But I thought you mostly ate...”

“Bacon.” I interrupted.

“And...”

“Bacon.” I cut him off again and he just rolled his eyes.

“Yes sir.” He nodded, passing the menu to Lily.

“Oh I'm not hungry.” She said, setting the menu back on the table. “After recharging my batteries I don't need to eat real food for probably a month.”

“Fair enough.” He shrugged.

“Excuse me.” A familiar voice spoke up from behind me. I jumped a bit in surprise and turned my head towards the voice, Lily and Paul looking up from the table. CB, or who I assumed was CB, stood a few steps behind me, human Ruby standing just a few steps behind her.

“Yes?” Lily asked, looking at them and smiling.

“I don't want to interrupt...” She paused, clearly trying to think through a statement that had been given to her by the adults. “...But I was just wondering if I could get a closer look at your pony friend? I've never seen one up close, especially not a blue unicorn.”

“Well you should probably ask him.” Paul said. “He's a unicorn after all, he's magic, so he can talk.”

She looked at him intently for a minute, clearly assessing just how much he was lying, but looked at me again. “Is it okay if I pet you Mr. Unicorn?” She asked me.

“Well I suppose.” I answered, making her eyes go wide in shock, even Ruby looked shocked, but she recognized that Paul and I had the same voice and just smiled. “Just be gentle.”

She nodded and took another step forward, reaching out and stroking my mane gently. I pressed against her hand a little and she smiled brightly, getting bolder with her contact. “What's your name?”

“Sugar Cane.” I answered. “What's your name?”

“I'm Clara-Belle, but my friends call me CB.”

“Well it's nice to meet you CB. This is Paul and Lily.”

“My name's Ruby.” Ruby finally stepped forward. “Pleased to meet you.” She shook their hands and patted the top of my head. “I have a cousin named Lily.”

“You don't say?” Lily asked, suppressing a grin. “What bring you to The Hub?”

“My partner and I are looking for a computer expert to help us with breaking the encryption on some hard drives, but no one has been good enough for the task yet.”

“Well aren't YOU in luck?” Lily asked. “Paul here happens to be THE BEST computer guy in the wasteland.”

“Oh really?” Ruby asked, looking at him curiously. Paul blushed a little but nodded. “What makes you so sure of that title?”

“You know when you boot up a computer and the boot up screen shows you the sword come spinning out, then the shield blocks it and then the sword slides in front of the shield and it makes the logo before it switches to the log in screen?”

“Yeah...” Ruby said, unsure where he was going with it.

Paul reached up and unzipped his jumpsuit, sliding his arm out and showing her a tattoo on his arm of the sword he had just described.

“So you have a tattoo of part of the logo, that doesn't mean much.”

“I don't have a tattoo of the logo, the logo is MY tattoo. I wrote the OS for most of the computers in the wasteland with my brother. He has the shield tattoo.”

“Oh really? You wrote the operating system for the 200 year old computers?” Brutus's voice came up and I realized he'd walked up at some point. I had been so lost in CB's scratching my ears and chin I hadn't even noticed him come over.

“Actually yes.” Paul said defensively. “I was cryogenically frozen for 200 years, woke up to find the world destroyed.”

“You just expect us to believe that?” Brutus asked. CB shied away from the arguing adults, clearly she wasn't quite the little spitfire I knew in my world.

“I don't care what you believe, it's the truth. We're offering to help you with your computer problems, but feel free to go back to your table and leave us to our dinner. It's no skin off my back if you aren't interested.”

“Fuck it.” Brutus snapped, turning and marching away from the table. “You two coming?” He called. Ruby rolled her eyes at his back but didn't give us a much better look either.

“Come on CB, it's time we eat.”

“Alright Ruby. Bye Sugar Cane.” CB said, kissing my horn, which almost made me ache to be back home with my CB.

“Bye CB.” I leaned up and kissed her cheek and she laughed and hurried after Ruby.

“The fuck is that guy's problem?” Paul grumbled.

“Brutus is a hot head.” Lily said softly.

“Our Brutus probably would have reacted the same way if he hadn't been the one to wake me in the first place.”

“Even still, he needs help, I offer it to him and he storms off like an angry child.”

“You guys ready to order?” The waiter asked, coming up beside us.

“Yeah.” Lily forced a smile and looked up at him, ordering my food then looking at Paul, who finally ordered a Brahmin steak and the waiter was off again.

Paul seemed very annoyed for the next while and we sat in silence while we ate, not something I'd normally do, but we weren't identical and I knew I'd be annoyed if someone questioned my credentials like that.

“Hey...” Brutus came over to the table, holding a computer tablet in his hands and I already knew what was coming. “Doctor Cane? I...I'm sorry about the way I reacted earlier. Ruby found you in this old Enclave database.” He held out the tablet and it showed Paul's personnel record from during the war, complete with his picture and the M.I.A. status that mine had been marked with when my Ruby had shown it to me. “So if you would still consider coming to work with us on this I'd be beyond appreciative.”

Paul looked up from his drink, his face saying he was going to be sarcastic or rude, but he caught sight of Lily's serious look and his features softened. “Sure, I'd be happy to.” He said.

“Perfect.” Brutus said, sighing in relief. “Ruby would have killed me if you had refused. I've already paid for your meal and booked you a room at the motel, we're going to head back to the base tomorrow morning if you're okay with that.”

“Absolutely. We were just sort of drifting from town to town anyway.” Lily said, smiling brightly.

“Great.” Brutus grinned, looking at them. “SO I have to ask...what's up with the unicorn? I mean...is he a robot or something?”

“No no, he's real.” Lily said, stroking my mane. “We rescued him from an abandoned Enclave research facility in New Mexico. A place called Stallion's Gate. They were trying to make a pack animal with a coat that would better blend into background for night time travel. Obviously bright blue and yellow weren't what they were going for. The horn is just a manipulation of his skull to give him some self defence.” She said, grabbing my horn and shaking it a little, I was still worried it might snap, but it held firm and tugged my head around.

He flipped through the information on the tablet in his hands for a moment. “Stallion's Gate...The only Enclave facility listed there is a Temporal mechanics facility, abandoned since the war.”

“Yeah, 200 years later and the Enclave is just going to ignore a base sitting full of equipment.” Ruby laughed, coming up beside him and taking the tablet from Brutus. “I did re-purposing work on old bases, turned meteorological facilities into weapons R&D, horticulture into Power Armour producers, if the lights turned on and the toilets worked it was crying out to be re-purposed.”

“Oh, you worked for the Enclave?” Lily asked neutrally.

“Yeah, but don't hold it against me, I was more of a conscript than anything else.”

“Fair enough.” Lily shrugged.

“Hey, could I take Sugar out for a walk?” CB asked hopefully, coming to stand next to me.

“I don't think so.” Brutus said. “You just want to sneak out to the Yao Guai caves with those kids.”

“Nu-uh!”

“I think Sugar needs to get some sleep tonight, probably more than we do.” Paul said. “We've had a long day today and we'll probably have a longer day tomorrow.”

“Aww, alright.” CB nodded dejectedly.

“Don't worry about it squirt, we're going to be travelling together all day tomorrow, and while Paul works I'll be around all the time.” I said to her.

“Yeah I guess.” She said. “Alright, I'll see you in the morning Sugar.”

“And you're not going to try to sneak out to the Yao Guai caves right?” I asked, I was feeling protective, sue me.

“No I won't, I promise.”

“Good, because I don't want to carry back a baggy of blood and guts.”

She just nodded again and moved back, taking Ruby's hand. “Good night.” Ruby said and the two of them started out of the restaurant.

“That's some really impressive voice throwing you can do.” Brutus said to Paul.

“Yeah we've been practising.” I replied. “Might retire from Wasteland wandering and take up performing instead.”

“Might not be a bad idea.” Brutus laughed, patting my head. “Good night.” He headed out after the girls and we were alone again.

“Yeah Paul, you do an amazing job throwing your voice.” Lily grinned.

“Oh shut up.” He rolled his eyes and got out of the the booth. “Lets turn in shall we?” He asked.

“Might touchy isn't he?” She asked me.

“He's just awkward about it, I've been there.” I shrugged.

We got the key to our room and after promising to allow the manager to inspect our room before we left to make sure 'that weird horse thing' didn't shit all over the place, we got inside, only to discover a single queen sized bed, a couch and a small bathroom.

“What is that thing?” Lily asked, pointing at some weird chair in the corner of the bathroom.

“What thing?” Paul looked into the room. “Uhh, that's a toilet.

“A what?”

“Are you kidding? You have indoor plumbing but not toilets?”

“Uhh, no?”

“It's for peeing and pooping in.” He said, blushing a little.

“Really?” Lily asked, looking back at him. “Why would you ever need to do that? What's wrong with a bush?”

“What? Gross.”

“What's gross? It fertilizes the ground, it gives plants essential nutrients. Why would you waste that by dumping it down some porcelain hole?”

“I really don't want to have this conversation.” Paul sighed, flopping down on the couch.

“Whatever.” Lily shrugged, coming out of the bathroom. With a flash of green light she transformed back into her normal form. “Ahh, that's MUCH better. It leaves me so achy maintaining that form for so long.” She got up on the bed and stretched out, sighing.

“Hey shove over.” I said, crawling up beside her and settling into the comfortable sheets, pulling Ebony and Ivory from their holsters and setting them on the bedside table, my saddlebags joining them.

“This is MY bed.” She said indignantly. “I'm a lady, I need a proper bed.”

“Are you kidding? This thing is huge, there's room enough for all three of us in here.”

“I'm good to sleep on the couch.” Paul laughed. “I can't believe I'm sitting on a couch, looking at a unicorn and a...Changeling...?” Lily nodded. “Changeling stretched out on a bed. I would have assumed I was crazy. I suppose I still might be, though the other people have interacted with you in at least some way.”

“Don't worry, you're not crazy,” I said, “and even if you are, just enjoy it, it's not like monsters are trying to eat your skin or anything.”

“You're a strange buck.” Lily sighed.

“Paul was thinking the same thing.”

“I was.” He admitted. “So are you sure about this job?”

“Absolutely. The hard drives they have were taken from the cryo facility you were in. If the power hadn't failed Brutus would have been the one to wake you up.”

“What's so special about the hard drives? Data that's 200 years old hardly seems helpful to anyone.”

“I think the data is booby trapped.” I said, sitting up. “I know that Venture had plants in The Collective that fed him information, but I think the hard drives probably hacked the computer systems and delayed our response time when the Pyros attacked.”

“So why would we want to crack the hard drives?”

“At this point the damage is done. The hard drives have been interfaced with the system for months, all we can hope to do is break into them and get the information out that I couldn't get from my world and hopefully find our way to Venture and Castor before it's too late.”

“It's hard to believe that my brother could have turned out so evil.”

“I'm still having trouble dealing with it and I met with mine face to face. Fought him even...it's not an easy process to go through...”

“But, even if it's as a prisoner, you want him back because he's your only link to the past.”

“Exactly.”

“So do you think my brother was working on a dimensional teleporter too?”

“Well it's not outside of the realm of possibility, but I have found that things around here are different enough that he could be working on lots of things...THAT'S IT!”

Lily, who had been starting to doze off beside me, shot up in the bed when I yelled. “What's what?!” She demanded, horn glowing brightly, ready for a fight.

“I know how I regrew my horn and healed my injuries!”

“Oh? Care to fill us in?” Paul asked. Lily sat up straight, her horn dimming again and looked at me curiously.

“I don't know if it exists in this world, but in our world there are high end security systems that use genetic encoding to encrypt files, or seal a safe, or a case for secure transport. Venture used genetic encryption to secure his computers and to help run the Crusader computer, using his own DNA. It's why he needed CB to run the computer, because she shares some of my DNA, which is so close to his, so the genetic encoding must have run through the mega spell too. We passed through it, it recognized that my DNA was really similar to my brother's and it reset me. Fixed my wounds, fixed my horn, the whole package. So I'm back to my awesome self.” I grinned.

“Well I suppose that makes as much sense as anything.” Lily shrugged.

“When I find Venture, I'll beat the right answers out of him.” I suggested.

“Also a plan.” She laughed.

“I need to relieve myself.” I said, getting up off the bed. “And I'm going outside to do it.” I added, looking from the bathroom to Paul.

“Do whatever you want. You're an animal, they don't care, just don't ruin someone's flowers.”

I smirked and headed outside. It was nice and dark out now so there weren't a lot of people around this area. I went around back and did my business on a nice patch of dirt away from anything and behind some barrels so no one would notice and be sickened or anything, since humans seemed so sensitive to the subject.

“Shh, quiet...” I heard voices echoing through the alley and I looked around, my EFS picking up at least 12 indicators beside me. I moved out of the alley and saw a group of kids a hundred yards or so ahead of me, going through a gap in the wall and vanishing out of the city. Under other circumstances I would have gone back inside, but CB was the last one out.

“Dammit girl, what did I tell you?” I grumbled, hurrying after them. I had to wait for almost 10 minutes before I was able to use my magic to boost myself over the wall without anyone noticing and by then I could just barely see the group in the distance, heading up the highway and towards the Yao Guai cave.

“I'm going to kill her.” I growled, rushing down the road as fast as I could. The kids reached the cave entrance and vanished inside a few minutes before I caught up. The entrance was very dark so I reached down to turn on my pipbuck flashlight when a number of screams echoed through the cave and I saw the green indicators moving rapidly back and fourth, four red indicators appearing as well. If I understood Paul's explanation, Yao Guai were some kind of mutated bear, so I was surprised I didn't hear them roaring too. I pulled back from the entrance as children raced out, scattering around. Problem was they weren't being chased by mutant bears...they were being chased by other humans, with mean looking guns and some weird tattoo on their foreheads, and worse I didn't see CB in the group.

“Fuck it! Just shoot em!” One yelled and they levelled their guns to open fire.

“HEY!” I yelled and leapt at them, bucking one hard with my back legs, I heard a sickening crunch and felt the body give heavily from the impact, his body flew sideways into another of the attackers and the two tumbled over the edge of the cliff, plummeting into the raven beyond.

“The fuck?!” The one closest to me turned to see what had attacked her friends and as she saw me I dropped into S.A.T.S. too late realizing I had left Ebony and Ivory back in the motel room. So I had to improvise. Targeting the arm holding the assault rifle I dropped out of S.A.T.S and lunged forward, biting her arm hard and wrenching it to the side. She screamed and again I heard bone snap. The gun fell from her hands and I caught it in my magic, bringing it to bear and, remembering Paul's explanation of how human guns worked, fired three rounds into her head.

I still didn't like killing but I had more important things to worry about because CB still hadn't emerged from the cave. I dropped back into S.A.T.S. and emptied the rest of the clip into the last attacker before he could fire on the fleeing children. As he fell I grabbed the carbine from his hands as it left his hands and I took off full speed into the cave.

Luckily the cave wasn't a complex maze or anything. I saw two green marks and three more red ones, and I heard CB struggling and crying.

“Please let me go! I have to get home!”

“Oh don't worry little girl, you're going to your NEW home. Little girls like you bring LOTS of money in our line of work. The only thing better than a virgin slave is a YOUNG virgin slave.” A female voice laughed.

I hurried through the hall as fast as I could without tipping my hoof that I was coming.

“Please stop!” CB sobbed and I put on more speed, stealth be damned.

“Don't worry dear, just one hit and you'll never worry again.”

I rounded the final corner just in time to see CB, held firmly in place by a tall skinny man who was laughing manically as a woman knelt in front of her. CB's armour had been pulled off and she just wore a simple shirt and jeans, probably her normal clothes under her armour. The armour and her weapons lay against the far wall. She had a mask with a canister attached to the back held to CB's face and for a moment I was terrified I had found the human Pyros.

CB had stopped struggling and had basically gone limp. I realized there was a little boy already laying barely conscious just a few feet away.

“STOP!” I screamed, drawing the attention to myself.

“The fuck is THAT?” The man holding CB demanded, looking at me in shock. He dropped her and she just collapsed in a heap on the ground.

“I don't know but it'll sell for a fortune.” The woman said, standing back up and reaching for a gun on her hip.

I fired the carbine and her hand shattered. She fell back howling in pain. “KILL IT! FUCKING KILL IT!”

I dropped the one that had been holding CB before he could begin to reach for his gun, the other that had been standing by the fallen boy managed to draw and fire at me but it went wide and a quick trip into S.A.T.S. put a bullet into each leg, two more into his chest and one last one into his face, leaving me with an empty carbine, leaving just me and the woman.

“There's a special place in hell for monsters like you.” I said, stepping over her, pulling her gun away from her waist, which she had been struggling to free with her good hand. I lifted CB and the boy up with my magic and set them on my back, also grabbing the canister she had used on CB and probably the boy.

“W...What are you?” She whimpered.

“What do I look like?” I asked flatly. I grabbed the woman and lifted her with my magic, pressing her to the ceiling. She screamed in terror and grabbed at a stalactite. I released her from my magic and she gripped tightly to the stone spike, trying to keep from falling. I pulled the proxy mines from CB's bandolier and armed them, setting them on the floor directly below the trapped woman.

“I hope you have a good grip up there.” I said, picking up CB's armour and walking out of the cave as the woman cried for mercy, then for help. As I exited the cave I heard her scream and then the Beep Beep BOOM as the mines exploded, the whole area shaking and a massive dust cloud blowing out the entrance.

“S...Sugar Cane?” I heard CB mutter.

“Don't worry sweetie, we're gonna get you home and get you help.”

She just groaned and grabbed my mane, gripping it tight as I hurried down the path back to the highway.

Once I was back on the highway I raced back to the town as fast as I could, using my magic to keep the barely conscious children balanced on my back.

I came up to the city and went around the side to avoid the guards, and leapt up over the wall with a magical boost, coming down and tearing off to the motel, both children had completely lost consciousness by now.

I crashed through the door to our room, again scaring Lily out of her sleep, but this time doing the same to Paul. “Help help help help!”

“What the fuck?!” Paul yelled, jumping up, his pistols coming up to point at me. “Sugar? What happened?” He asked when she saw the children.

“They snuck out to go the cave, they got attacked by a group of bandits or slavers. Most of the kids got away but these two got cornered and drugged with this.” I threw the canister to Paul.

“Shit, this is Jet.” He said, looking at the canister. “It's a really powerful drug, and this is a dose meant for an adult. We need to find the others and get the kids medical attention.”

We were up and outside again fast. “Lily go find Ruby and Brutus.” Paul said to her when she joined us a moment later, back in human form and straightening her dress. “We'll take the kids to the medical centre.” We started off but Ruby and Brutus were already out and looking for CB.

“GUYS OVER HERE!” I yelled before I thought, hoping they'd just think it was Paul.

“What happened?!” Ruby asked, coming up to us.

“I was taking Sugar out and we saw the kids sneaking out of town through a hole in the wall.” Paul said. “I didn't know what room you were staying in so we followed them. The Yao Guai cave doesn't have Yao Guai in it, it had slavers in it...” We were already inside the medical now and Paul was explaining to the nurse and the other two all at once. “CB and this guy were cornered in the cave, the slavers dosed them with Jet just before we caught up.”

The nurse had gotten the doctor from the back and Ruby helped them move the kids to examination tables.

“What happened to the slavers and the other kids?”

“The other kids got away...” Paul said slowly and I grunted softly. “The slavers are all dead.” I cleared my throat a little and nodded my head at the same time so he'd know he was right.

“They dosed the kids with Jet?” The doctor asked and Paul pulled the empty canister from his pocket and set it down on the bed CB lay on.

“Shit, get em addicted early. At least it's just one dose, strong as it may be. Who's the other child?”

“No clue, he was already unconscious when we got there. His hair cut and the clothes make him look like he might be from the legion, though he looks Native American, which I wouldn't have thought Caesar would take.”

“I wouldn't have thought they'd have let their children this far off the leash.”

“Well after the Hoover Dam incident they haven't had quite the control and influence they used to so it's entirely possible that his family got out with their lives, and I think when he really started ramping up his army for the battle he was taking anyone and everyone willing to fight, regardless of race.”

“We should try to find his parents.” Lily said. “They'll be frantic when he doesn't come home.”

“The detox process for Jet isn't an easy one, this will take all night...and it's not cheap.” The doctor said.

“I have the money.” Paul and Brutus answered at the same time, looking at each other, then back to the doctor. “We have the money.” Paul said again.

“Fair enough.” The doctor said. “Why don't you go try to find this boy's parents and leave us to our work?”

“I'll stay here.” Ruby said, sitting beside the bed. “I can't leave her.”

“So long as you stay out of the way.” Brutus said to her and she just nodded.

“Wait...” CB called weakly as we turned to leave. “Sugar stay?” She asked. I paused and looked at Paul.

“I don't mind, it's not like he can help look anyway...”

“Come here Sugar.” Ruby said, patting her legs and smiling. I couldn't help but feel like I was being talked down to, but at the same time, they thought I was a pet, and I know I'd talked to pets like that in the past. I walked over and sat down between Ruby and the bed. CB gripped my mane again and sat back.

“How do you feel sweetheart?” The doctor asked CB.

“Melty...The roof won't stop moving...” She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out for a moment. “I cay tatht eerds...” She said, running her tongue against her teeth roughly.

“You can taste words?” The doctor asked and she nodded and he actually smiled a little. “This isn't a bad thing.” He said to Ruby, who looked very worried. “She didn't get a very heavy dose if this is the worst she is, though it worries me that the little boy hasn't woken. He may have gotten a much larger dose...It might be best to just let her ride it out and focus on treating the boy.”

“Are you kidding? I've been high on Jet, it's no picnic.” Ruby snapped. CB was laying on her back, grasping at invisible things in the air and giggling to herself, her other hand still firmly gripped into my mane.

“And yet the process to bring her down will take two hours at least to do so, during which time she'll still be high and still be suffering the effects, it'll also leave her violently ill and unable to keep food down for a day or two, and she'll suffer from migraines for the better part of a week until the drugs used to purge her system are themselves completely purged from her system naturally. OR we leave her to ride out the drugs for a few extra hours, but she's back to her old self by morning with a hangover that she'll sleep off when she crashes and she'll have some crazy stories to tell people.”

“Yeah but...” She was cut off by CB grabbing her sleeve and tugging on it.

“Ruby...Ruby...Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby.” CB chattered, looking at her expectantly.

“What is it sweetie?” Ruby asked, taking CB's hand in hers.

“Sugar can talk.” She said, pointing to me and looking at Ruby seriously.

“I'm sure he can CB.” She chuckled.

“HE CAN!” She yelled, much louder than she needed to.

“CB, that was just Paul, Doctor Cane, throwing his voice so it SOUNDED like Sugar was talking. He's just a pony. He can't talk.”

“Come on Sugar talk!” She said, looking at me expectantly. I just looked at her blankly and she cried out in frustration. “He can use magic too! He saved me with magic!”

“CB you're sick. You just saw Lily and Paul using their plasma or laser guns and you thought you saw magic.”

“Nu-uh! They weren't there! It was just Sugar! He blew up the slaver lady.”

“I know, I'm sure it was amazing to see. He's a magic talking unicorn and he saved you.” She nodded.

“You never believe me.”

“You just told me you could taste words.”

“Tastes like chocolate.” She muttered. Her moment of lucidity passed and soon she was back to muttering to herself and gripping listlessly at my mane. Time dragged on sitting silently in that small room, unable to talk to anyone, unable to do anything besides sit...I shifted a bit to get more comfortable and rested my head on the mattress beside CB, who was trying to count the number of holes in the ceiling tiles, while said tiles were completely smooth, and I tried to get some sleep, which wasn't easy with CB's hand in my mane constantly changing grip, tightening, loosening, tugging a little too hard sometimes.

Eventually I fell asleep beside her, I don't know how long I was asleep but when I woke up, to my mane being tugged on too hard, I opened my eyes to see CB's face almost right against mine. She grinned and went “Boo!” Then she fell back giggling. I saw an old man sitting beside the boy's bed, looking deeply concerned, the boy was still asleep, but he was hooked up to an IV and a couple extra machines. I sat up slowly, Ruby wasn't sitting beside me anymore, now it was a very tired looking Lily.

“Hey.” She smiled, “You're never gonna believe who we found. That young man's name is Xem, that's his grandfather Xeha.”

“You're joking...” I whispered, looking over at the other bed in amazement.

“I couldn't make this shit up.” She laughed, yawning and slumping back in the chair.

“I knew you could talk.” CB said quietly, still looking up at the ceiling.

“Of course I can talk CB.” Lily said, looking over at the bed.

“Wow you can...SO CAN I!” She gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand. “Hey Mister...can you talk?” CB asked Xeha, looking over at him. “We can all talk over here...”

He looked up at her and shook his head sadly, looking back to Xem.

“Oh, I'm sorry Mister.” CB said, turning back to look at me. “He can't talk Sugar...I feel bad for him, can you help him talk with your magic?”

“CB, you should try to sleep.” Lily said. “You have had a VERY long day, and we're supposed to be going to your home in a few hours.”

“Not tired...” She said simply. “Sugar...you're cute.” She fell back giggling and sighed. “I feel sick.”

“It's just the drugs wearing off.” The doctor said, coming over to check on her. “Are you still seeing things? Or hearing things?”

“Uhh, no not really...The room is just kind of spinning slowly.”

“Does that mean she can leave soon?” Brutus asked, coming up behind the doctor.

“Yes, I should think in the next hour or two, but she probably shouldn't walk too far.”

“Oh that's fine, Sugar can carry her.” Paul offered. “He normally carries heavy equipment and weapons, I'm sure a 10 year old girl is nothing.”

“I'm 12...” CB said defiantly.

“My mistake.” Paul smiled. “What do you say Sugar? Got any problem carrying her?”

“Of course not.” I answered.

“SEE! HE TALKS!” CB yelled, pointing at me and looking at the adults expectantly.

Brutus laughed and came over to the bed side. “CB, it's just Paul talking and making it SOUND like Sugar is talking. It's called ventriloquism.”

CB looked furious that no one believed her and I felt kind of bad, but we had to keep the charade up, we didn't want to cause a panic or draw unnecessary attention to ourselves.

“So CB, why don't you get a little more rest and we'll get our stuff packed up and buy some supplies and we'll head back soon?”

“Can I sit up front?”

“Probably not a good idea, you should sit in the back with Sugar. He'll probably be thrown off being in a moving machine.” Ruby said.

“A moving machine?” Paul asked. “We're not walking?”

“Please, walking is for chumps.” She replied. “Go pack up and meet us back here in two hours.”

So we headed out, back to the motel we got our few things together, the manager inspected the room, glad I was so well behaved, and we were on our way back to the medical centre.

Xem was awake now, talking quietly with his grandfather in another language. The young boy looked exhausted and sickly but it was obvious that his grandfather was relieved to see him awake.

CB was standing beside her bed getting her armour back on with Ruby's help, though her bandoliers were currently sticking out of Brutus's pack. Once her armour was on she walked over to the other bed and smiled a little at Xem. “I'll come see you next time I'm in town okay?” She asked.

“I'd like that CB.” He nodded. “Just not any time soon so I don't get sick all over you...”

“That's fair. I'll see you later Xem.” She said, looking at the other around her, then shrugging and kissing his cheek, moving back to us. He blushed furiously and went back to talking to his grandfather.

“Anything you want to tell us CB?” Brutus asked curiously as we walked outside. I knelt down and CB got up onto my back, sitting carefully and wrapping her arms around my neck. I probably could have done without her in the armour, which dug into my neck some, but it wasn't so bad.

“About?” She asked innocently.

“About that little display of affection.” Brutus said bluntly.

“Oh...no not really.” She shrugged.

“Wanna try that one again?” Ruby asked.

CB sighed and just fell silent.

“Fine, but we're talking about this when we get home.” Ruby said, starting for the back of town.

“Where are we going?” Paul asked, looking around curiously.

“To catch a ride.” Brutus grinned.

We rounded a corner and came face to face with a massive metal machine. It had been painted ruby red with a big white area on the bottom that looked like a pattern, but I couldn't quite tell what. It looked like a sky wagon, but it had wings with rotor blades on each side, and some mean looking machine guns mounted under the wings, close to the hull of the ship, as well as what looked like empty missile racks and along the sides were unmanned turrets in transparent

“Wow...” Paul said simply, whistling a little.

“Perks of abandoning the Enclave without telling anyone...it lets you take a parting gift or two. All aboard the Vertibird Ruby Star.” She said proudly, looking in confusion when Lily fell to the ground laughing.

Footnote: Level up

Perk Added: Strong Back: You are able to carry an additional 50 Lbs. of equipment.