After returning home for a while we wait for six to roll around to hang out with Tina. I was enjoying killing time.
When time came around for us to make it to the coffee shop… I was… surprised.
Micheal had their face in their hands, and Gallon was wearing a well fitted red dress with matching lipstick, nail polish, and blue eyeshadow that complemented the look over their gray fur coat.
"I can't believe you still dressed up…" Micheal groaned.
"Hey, I wanna make a point." Gallon smirked.
I was just… genuinely shocked at how well Gallon was pulling that off… seriously… just… what, and how?
"Is that point you dress up scary well in drag?" I asked.
"Point is I can make anything look good." Gallon said with a chuckle.
"Was the make up necessary?" Micheal asked.
"Don't act like you don't love it when I doll myself up~" Gallon teased.
"I mean, you do look really good all dolled up." Tina said, and as I looked over…I…wow…"I didn't overdress did I?" She asked.
"Uh…" I blinked as I saw her wearing literally the exact same thing, make up and all…"I mean…if this were a contest, you'd be wearing it better…" I admitted. "But…wow…" I muttered, and while Gallon did kill in that outfit…Tina had him beat with how it all just…accentuated her female form, but the fluff on her body seemed to be more prominent like she was a walking cloud that you'd want to snuggle into…and considering how much fluff she had I'm pretty sure I could…
"Pfft. You're just saying that because she has massive tits." Gallon huffed.
"Honestly her tit's weren't really the first thing that came to mind…" I said, even though I heard a 'Death by Snu Snu' chant from all of my symbiotes and I wasn't happy about that. "She also looks like a walking cloud that I'd like to snuggle up to."
"Meh. Anyway, so where's this cafe?" Gallon asked.
"Right this way." Tina said, walking down the street with a confident strut to her step…which I followed behind her and…that hip sway was hypnotizing…
"You have a Macro fetish don't you?" Gallon asked, making me jump and blush hard. "Called it."
"I'm gonna get something with lots of espresso to get through this…" Micheal sighed as he walked behind Tina.
"My fetishes have nothing to do with this." I countered.
"Right, sure, that's why the majority of your mates are all like five times your size." He smirked, quickly following behind Micheal.
"They got you there Button, lately you have been really into the larger females. You enjoy being crushed~" Cheat teased me.
"I do not like being crushed." I mentally huffed. "Again, my fetishes don't have anything to do with me respecting the female form." I huffed.
"We're part of you remember?" One of my symbiotes pointed out. "And yes, you do like being crushed."
"Cease!" I mentally whined.
"If I remember correctly your last time with some of the Breeder mama's you were especially happy to be smothered under Jackie's rear as she proceeded to smother you in all that pink fur and you did not complain when the weight came down on you in full force… repeatedly… crotch or face." Cheat said, my face turning a whole new shade of red as she force replayed the memories…
"I'm trying not to get the world's most obvious boner in public right now can we please not!?"
"Well, that's not exactly a hard fix. Can't get a boner if you don't got one~ And I can return it at any time too~"
What the hell?! Also what level of kink-fetish is this now?!
"This is getting weird…" I thought nervously.
"I am weird. Now best run along either behind those three or into an alley for some extra weirdness cause you either can embrace my weirdness or hurry up behind them for coffee and talks." Cheat said.
… Why am I considering that offer in the alley?
"I don't like this…I need to be apart of the thing with my friends but my libido is saying otherwise…" I thought bitterly.
"Ask Tina for help, she seems weird enough." Another symbiote mentioned and I took a deep breath…
"Coffee first…then we'll see if Tina wants some of that weirdness…"
I shook my blush off, running up behind the three of them.
The coffee shop was a really nice, it was a fair sized place that reminded me a bit of sugar cube corner. We took our orders at the register, paid then all sat at a table.
"So, how long have you been in this reality then?" Gallon asked. He and Micheal sitting next to one another, I sat next to Tina. Tina had to… sit on the floor since the chairs here were… a bit small but even with her sitting on the ground she towered over us and the table.
"I've been here for over ten years." I answered.
"Little over Seven years." Tina shrugged.
"Cool. So, any relationships aside from the casual kind?" Gallon asked Tina.
"I am dating an earth pony mare named Lovely Days, who kinda reminds me of…my first love…and while she's a bit of a hard ass sometimes, I love her dearly." Tina said with a warm smile.
"You're dating someone but still… sexually active with other people?" Micheal asked, Gallon quickly wrapping an arm and wing around them.
"Lovely understands this, as she has a special ability she was born with." Tina said.
"Her special eyes?" I inquired.
"Yeah, see she has special magic from her home back on Equis, where she was given the 'Sight of Love', where she can see the color of love between individual's, and after some skill tree shenanigans, see the love of herself with others. And she knows I truly and deeply love her…but even she knew she couldn't keep up with my Libido, so we made some rule's and hashed it out, and while I'm free to happily have sex with whoever wants to, I always come home to her and cuddle up to her."
"... I guess as long as she knows and is okay with it…" Micheal said, looking down and leaning on the table.
"And again, whoever wants to, cause while I'm a revolving door, the final choice is whoever wants to go into said door." Tina brought up.
"And how many times can I use said door?" I inquired…though I realized I said I instead of someone…
"As many times as you want my cute flustered pony." Tina giggled.
Despite my flustered state and such I did notice Micheal still looked… upset.
"So, new topic, what are you exactly?" Gallon asked. "You look kinda like a Zingore from Monster Hunter."
"That is exactly what I am." Tina nodded. "Though I'm what's known as a Den Mother, both the pinnacle of any race's female's in terms of strength, endurance and other things…but also a failsafe in case of an extinction level event as I can always give birth to the maximum amount of infants I can carry without fail."
"... So you're a personified Hyper Pregnancy fetish." Gallon stated.
"Well, I do have a pregnancy fetish, it is not like that at all for Den Mothers." Tina shook her head.
"So, what is it like then?" Micheal asked.
"Being a Den Mother?" Tina asked. "Well…it's normal for the most part, just going about my day and all that, but I…still have an instinctual need to have kids sometimes…and being a mother is the best feeling in the world, even if the adorable little scamps can be a bit bitey at times." Tina explained, giving a sigh of nostalgia at it.
"You sound like you've had experience." I said.
"Well…" Tina looked down. "I had…about two hundred kids back home, with the loves of my life and…I'm…probably never going to see them again…" Tina took a deep breath and stopped her shuddering, something that looked like she's done…a lot before.
"...How long did it take you to… start to move on and date this Lovely person?" Micheal asked, now looking up at Tina, who seemed… concerned.
"I…well if you mean me not being in a depressed ball of fluff crying myself to sleep every night…it's been three years since then…I met Lovely through the two year mark and she helped me through it the most…then we became a couple from there."
He nodded. "She kept you from getting too… low then?"
"Yeah…the first two years was mostly me trying to distract myself by massive amounts of zombie murder…which is partly why I'm so big cause when you kill and devour zombies that range anywhere from a super Nemesis T-Type to a Colossal Flesh Golem…both Skill Points and Consume sure do help."
"Right… So, aside from your lovers and kids, did you have family before showing up here?" Micheal asked. He looked less… upset, but still thoughtful.
"I had my twin brother, Tony…he's pretty much a male version of me, as he's also a 'True Alpha', the male version of a Den Mother." Tina explained. "We went through thick and thin together…"
"Did you…also share partners?" I just had to ask.
"Only if the partners we had wanted." Tina admitted. "Again, consent and respecting boundaries, two key things our parents taught the both of us that we live up to to this day." Tina said. "Also not at the same time, incest is one of the few thing's we do not want to do."
"Just a few?" Micheal asked. "Sounds like you've done a lot then… more than most I imagine."
"As long as it wasn't illegal or morally dubious we were okay with it…and then there's the few fetishes we have a hard no to cause those are just fucking gross." Tina shuddered.
"I tried to get Micheal here into some more kinky stuff, but he's inching along at a crippled snail's pace." Gallon chuckled.
"Har har." Micheal replied, but managed a small smirk.
"If you ever need advice from a fetish master I'm your gal." Tina offered. "So tell me a little bit about you two?"
"Well, that depends on what you want to know. You wanna know about before or after we both became magic furries created to survive after a magic caused mass extinction event that killed all human life?" Gallon asked.
"That…weirdly sounds like Maximum Ride…" Tina frowned. "But either or is fine, I want to know more about my brand new friends given I kind of…trauma dumped a bit on all three of you."
"Heh, oh trust us, we have trauma of our own." Gallon chuckled. "Well, I'll go first. Back home I was born to two super religious god fearing racist, bigoted, ignorant parents who no matter how much I did as they told, I was always wrong or a disappointment unless I was on the gun range with dad or just not in the house." Gallon started.
"Yeesh, off to a rousing start there…" Tina said nervously. "And I understand having religious prick's screaming at you constantly…"
"Yeah… didn't help I realized around puberty I was gay and I was well aware how they felt about that. Well one day when I was sixteen they dragged me to this anti-pride protest during the town's pride month festivities. I announced my coming out of the closet by walking into the march, finding a cute guy my age and gave them a kiss they happily took. The look on my parent's faces was priceless and I wish I could have had a photo. Would have been the only one I'd have kept of them."
"Fair." Tina nodded. "Spread the love, don't let others say who you can and can't love."
"Yeah. My parents tried to shame me when I got home. I just called them out on all their hypocrisy and bullshit and vented a lifetime's worth of oppression and abuse from them. After that I packed some clothes and such and couch surfed amongst friends houses until graduation. After that, I got a job and finally started enjoying life. Clubs, dates, a few exes, mostly just enjoying life and all the things they kept me from experiencing. I binge watched so much anime that first year." Gallon chuckled.
"And there is a lot of anime." Tina chuckled.
Gallon nodded. "Well, when I was out drinking and clubbing… I think one of the Y Labs scouts put something in my drink because one moment I was dancing in the club, the next I wake up with cotton mouth in a cell. Well they were cells, but they were… cozy, I guess. Bed, blankets, personal toilet, sink, a table. At first when I saw myself I thought I got blackout drunk and someone dressed me in a full on fursuit. But after a few times of trying to pry my own head off and it not coming off I… began to realize I was not in a fursuit…" He sighed. "Around then is when I really began to… feel just how different my body was. The wings, the taste of my own mouth, my legs… shit. I was so confused I didn't know what the hell was going on."
"Yeah…that's definitely something I wouldn't like to experience." I said honestly.
"Yeah… a lot of us upon waking up screamed from the shock. Some went a little crazy. I remember the guards and such were running up and down the place keeping us from hurting ourselves. Especially once our magic began to manifest. Some could create fire, some could read minds, others controlled ice like Frost, knew this one lady who could turn invisible. The shock for me just made me feel… kinda empty. For a long time I just… did the tests. They didn't hurt, in fact they were all largely painless, most was some needle work here and there. Then one day… we woke up and there was a message playing, telling us all of humanity outside the Lab was… gone, and we were all that was left. It looped a few times then all the cell doors opened. For some of us that was the first time we saw sunlight in ten years. For me, two. And… yeah, we were greeted by daylight and a world covered in human corpses."
"Well…that's is indeed something." Tina said honestly.
"Yeah… it was uh… a lot. I mostly walked around for a time, managed to find some old friends who were… not lucky enough to have been turned like me… I buried them. They deserved it. I mourned for a while… then I got started working to make a new home for myself. While I was walking through the old neighborhood I saw the old church my parents took/dragged me to all the time… and immediately knew what to do to both make the most fun for myself, and piss off all my family and the church goers ghosts." Gallo said, laughing.
"Good man." Tina laughed as well.
"Yeah, well I spent a while looting and redecorating, I tossed some bibles out the door… one happened to hit Micheal by accident when I did and I didn't notice. I went back inside to try and pry the crucified Jesus statue off the wall, that's when Micheal walked in and after some talking I let him move in at my roommate. He lived in the attic, I lived in the main area. Never did get that Jesus statue off but I superglued sunglasses to them and I could hear the ghost of the priest losing his shit." Gallon laughed.
"Hey, you just made him cooler, I mean, let's look at the South Korean statue of Jesus and how he looks like he had nothing but pure protein for his last supper." Tina chuckled.
"Who and how jacked was he?" I inquired.
"Some guy that was a big religious symbol, and he was like…turbo jacked in South Korea." Tina answered.
"Nice." Gallon said. "Anyway, I guess the rest should be covered by Micheal." Gallon said.
Michael took a breath. "Guess it's fair." He nodded. "Well, to start, back when I was human I was born to two loving parents. They were kind, nice… I never saw them wish hate or be angry at people for being who they were… so when I came out to them I was… devastated when they rejected me. Kicked me out of the house that same day."
"Yeah…I know that feeling…one choice made and suddenly everything goes straight to hell…" Tina sighed.
"Like Gallon I tried to couch surf with friends but I was in and out of homeless shelters a lot. Eventually though I got a job and an apartment that rent was too much for what it was, but it was a roof over my head. Once I got settled and even managed some small savings I tried to… get out there. Used a dating app and that was when I met my ex… we only dated for a month but while it was happening I felt… happy… but, I found out he was cheating on me from day one. He had four other people he played with and mostly just used me as a place to crash and free food…"
"Yeah, that makes sense." Tina nodded. "Cheating is horrible, and this is why I always say consent, cause me and Tony have slept with people in relationships but we had both partners consent."
"Yeah… after that I just felt… low. So, one day I walked myself over to Rust Bridge… Leto City's premiere suicide hotspot." Micheal said, Tina and I both in shock. "I stood there for… a while… Shit job, cheating ex, parents I loved rejecting me so wholly I just… Were it not for the Y Labs people kidnapping me off that bridge's edge I'd… likely not be here."
"That's…awful…" I said sadly.
"I…understand…" Tina sighed. "I…had a somewhat similar situation…just less 'cheating ex' and more…horrible break up with the love of mine and Tony's lives…" Tina sighed.
Nodding, Micheal continued. "Like Gallon, I woke up in a cell with my new body. Part of me wondered if I did jump off the bridge and this was my hell. But as time passed that wasn't the case I realized. I was in that cell for three years before the message played and the doors all opened. I tried helping with some others to get a census of us all and what we could all do and just… tried to help. Kept my mind off all the… dead. I spent a while just crashing in my cell in Y Labs but I couldn't stay there forever. Eventually I moved on, and well, you know how Gallon and I met. Sometime after I moved in he made me a promise that if he couldn't find me a partner after a year he'd date me." Micheal chuckled.
Tina and I nodded. "And you two are adorable together." Tina said honestly.
"Heh, yeah, but it actually almost didn't happen." Micheal said, now gaining Tina and I's attention. "Gallon got me a few dates but none of them really worked out or clicked… heh, until Dante. That was actually very close to the year mark. To be honest by that point I was okay with the idea of dating Gallon already at that point, I'd known him for a while and he already took my first kiss."
"We were at risk of being mauled by a Manticore and it was to boost your magic to make a storm and make it run away since they're hydrophobic." Gallon chuckled.
"Still." Micheal laughed. "By then we had been through a lot and honestly, I was looking forward to it… then Gallon walks in this long blonde haired jackalope guy who is just… really adorable and… we hit it off really well…"
"What happened with Dante?" I asked.
"We dated for… five months. He was great, kind, understanding, helpful, and unlike Gallon he knew the difference between archeology and scavenging." Micheal laughed. "But… I still did like Gallon, and Gallon was…"
"I was… self destructing…" Gallon sighed. "I really liked Micheal too. Hell, not gonna lie and say that by that point I wasn't already in love with him but… I promised him I'd find him someone and I didn't want him to think I was lazy in looking for someone for him just to have him for myself… that's when I found Dante working to reopen the public library. Managed to set it up and… seeing them together… felt like I was dying each time and it was all my own doing… I… drank a lot…"
"That's true love for ya." Tina admitted.
I nodded. So that's why he almost drank himself to death… I did wonder why when he told me that last night…
"Yeah. Dante could see that I did want to be with Gallon though, and I missed him a lot, and he also knew how bad Gallon was self-destructing. So, he broke up with me, leaving me a smile, a kiss goodbye and an arm of friendship. I felt hurt… yet, also happy. Heh, can you imagine how weird it is to be both heart broken and so happy all at once? It's a strange mixture of two opposing emotions. I made it back home and found Gallon stone cold drunk and barely able to move. I brought him to his bed and stayed up all night to make sure he didn't vomit in his sleep and choke."
"I remember waking up the next morning. A hangover the likes of which an earthquake couldn't compare to and seeing a really tired Micheal sitting next to my bed. I was confused and… honestly really groggy but, I felt that all wash away when Micheal kissed me." Gallon added.
"Almost got second hand wasted from that beer breath of his but it was worth it." Micheal laughed. "Took a few days for Gallon to clean up but we went on our first official date just in time for the New AD New Years festival. It was the anniversary of the event that killed humanity and left behind only us. Might sound a bit morbid but, we made it a day to remember what was lost, who was lost, and to promise to keep working to rebuild all that was taken from us."
"We've been together ever since." Gallon finished. "Even with all my bad habits and issues."
"Everyone has bad habits and issues." Tina said honestly. "But it's how you and your lover get through it together, your trust and honesty is what helps you get through it."
"Yeah. Little after the… stabbing… incident…" Micheal sighed. "Little after that, Gallon proposed, managed to find this pretty in the Liberte city ruins." Micheal said, showing us the gold ring on his finger. Gallon showed he had a matching one. "It was the first actual wedding since the Event and the whole city made such a huge deal of it. It was really embarrassing."
"Yeah… I still rocked that wedding dress though." Gallon laughed.
"Still can't believe you wore that." Micheal chuckled as they shook their head. "But yes you did and still do look beautiful."
"I can imagine how beautiful you looked." Tina giggled.
"Glad things are working out for ya." I said with my own smile.
"Yeah. We spent two years just… living, life as normal and, well, then the… expedition began to get conceived…" Micheal sighed.
"Expedition?" I inquired.
"We talked a bit about it before when we got unpetrified." Gallon said. "It's when, for me, he vanished for two weeks when he should have been gone for just a few days."
"Yeah. One day this… thing, we don't know what it was but is storms out of the Hulda Forest, like a bat out of hell… it was like… a mummified corpse, unnaturally long and lengthy, whatever it once had for eyes long since gone and it's mouth in this… toothless black tar dripping hole that sputtered nonsense. English, clear as day though. Magic, bullets, didn't matter whatever we hit it with didn't even tickle it… Then it screamed this… god that scream left me hearing ringing for hours, shattered half of all the glass in the city and any who were too close to it went deaf permanently or even died from internal hemorrhaging caused by the intensity… It walked up to one of the bodies of the Nokori it killed with that scream and those who could still hear, heard it scream one word before running back into the forest. Humans." Micheal said.
"We know the event that… killed humanity off was caused from the center of the Hulda forest, a huge magic build up the equivalent of a magic nuke but… worse." Gallon continued. "Whatever that thing was it could tell what we used to be… it wasn't much to go off of but it was quickly theorized it might have had a connection to the event."
"Well…that…is most definitely something." I said carefully.
"Well…I didn't need to sleep for a good while, thank you." Tina added, wincing.
"I led a team of four, myself included. Humans were usually unable to enter the forest and exit… but we aren't human. Not anymore." Micheal said. "So, we entered the forest. I remember following its trail was easy then… from there, it gets fuzzy. Well, maybe fuzzy isn't the right word… more like, there's a wall or something there."
"Yeah… after two weeks I ran into that first, some magic artifacts, my guns and some ammo. Spent days tracking you guys down, out of ammo and down to my magic gloves and that was when I found you, petrified…" Gallon said. "I just… I remember hugging you, crying into your stone body, hating how… cold you felt… then it gets like that too, fuzzy, but more like there is a wall keeping me from remembering… from there, I just remember waking up, seeing you, the two of us unpetrified and Button Mash here explaining stuff."
"Yeah. That's pretty much everything." Micheal nodded.
"Yeah…at least you were with your loved one in the end." I nodded.
"You both had one hectic life…but yeah, you ended with your loved one in your arms and…that's not something not a lot of people get…" Tina said.
"Yeah. It definitely could have been worse." Gallon nodded.
"Yeah… it's still all… confusing, but all in all, I guess things will work out with time." Micheal added.
Our drinks all soon arrived, and we all kept talking about stuff. I told them about what I know about the places off Armageddon, which isn't much but I knew enough. We enjoyed the conversation then we made some plans.
Gallon and Micheal went to have a date in town and explore around, and I left with… Tina… Heh…
"So, you have partners too?" She asked.
"I have…plenty of partners." I said honestly. "About…half of them are…Breeders…" I sighed.
"Yeah…I heard about Breeders and saw them…when I was here I…felt a disturbance when I heard Breeders…like my brother was forced to accept something horrible." Tina shook her head. "I…really hope Tony's alright."
"You think he's on Armageddon too?"
"I wouldn't be surprised, cause we both got to our Equis from Demon at the same time…I'm sure that we got to Armageddon at the same time just…wrong places." Tina sighed.
"So…I suppose best we go talk to all my partners before we both do the deed…"
"Heh, if you want to do it that badly, lead the way, mini stud~" Tina said, giving me a smirk and a wink.
"All because I'm too horny for my own good…" I grumbled, leading her home. "Though I do have a question, if you'd like to join my Party when it comes to…doing a lot of important things like adventuring and stuff."
"Hm… Well, I won't lie, would be fun to go out and work in the field again fighting…" Tina said with a smile. "Sure. Are Gallon and Micheal joining too?"
"From what Tiara told me…yes, they are." I answered. "And while she said that I should have a team of four, five is also fine, since it would be me, Tiara, Gallon, Micheal and then you."
"Cool."
I walked Tina up into my building and into my home. I saw Tiara sitting on the couch reading through a book.
"Hey Tiara." I said.
"Go ahead, screw the pooch and congratulations in advance by the way." Tiara said.
… wat?
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"Second, wat?" Tina asked in confusion.
"I said congratulations. You're gonna make Tina a mother again." Tiara said, flipping the page.
"O-Oh!" Tina blushed, her tail wagging suddenly. "I've…been trying to keep uh…none baby making…but being a Mother would be…amazing."
"Well…are the other's going to be okay with this?" I asked nervously.
"We all expect you to tell us Barb is pregnant sooner or later, trust me they're not only okay with it we're just expecting this of you at this point." Tiara said flatly.
… Ouch…
"Sorry…" I said sheepish, caving a bit at the harsh wording here.
"Once you get Barb in the family I suggest you get some therapy otherwise you will downwards spiral." She added, making me flinch.
"No need to murder me in front of our guest here Diamond…" I said weakly.
"She's gonna be a baby mamma of yours and she and her girlfriend will move in with us sometime after the kids are born. Lovely will stay with her only but you two will share her." Tiara said, making Tina blush red through her blue fur.
"How are you…?" Tina asked.
"I'm a Time Walker." Tiara said, flipping the page of her book again. "I already know every route you two are gonna walk. I'm just helping you get to the best route available given present events and fluctuations."
… Ever since she told me about that whole… sees all possibilities and such thing… sometimes Tiara scares me when she talks…
"Well…alright." I said sheepishly. "I suppose we'll be right back…" I said, but as I was about to lead Tina to a guest room, Tina picked me up and slung me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Where's the guest bed?"
"You're gonna fuck on Gallon and Micheal's bed?" She asked us with a raised brow.
Oh shit… right…
"... Bathroom then?" Tina asked.
"Master bathroom is in the Master Bedroom." Tiara said.
Five Months Later
"So, ultrasound came back. Looks like I got a litter of fifteen." Tina said as we all met up at the cafe again.
Micheal and Gallon have been in a more tame basic but have been learning useful skills…
I however have been sharing Tina's looks in terms of… roundness. I could almost forget I was pregnant before but now every time I move it's a reminder. Hell even sitting…
"So… if we're gonna be a party, are you two gonna be… at it a lot?" Micheal asked.
"Is that even okay given you both are…" Gallon added.
"Not all the time." I said, putting a hoof over my swollen stomach.
"I do have restraint." Tina added. "But…it's been a long time since I've been pregnant…it feels…comforting to be like this again."
"Hm… and how has… Tiara, been?" Gallon asked.
"Aside from terrifying?" Micheal added.
"She's…been Tiara." I shrugged. "Being supportive where she can but…she's suffering the most out of all of us with being a Time Walker…"
"She's still rather intimidating…" Micheal said.
"Yeah… she did give me some… odd stuff a while ago with no context." Gallon said.
"What weird stuff with no context?" I inquired.
Gallon pulled the items in question out of his Assistant. It was a silver ring, a screwdriver, a bag of marbles, and a bottle of ink.
"Yeah she gave me all this then said nothing and left."
"That's… weird…" Micheal said.
"Yeah…" I frowned, using Scan to see what the hell those things are.
[quote]Scanning.
1 Silver Ring.
Bag of 14 Glass Marbles.
1 Phillips Head Screwdriver.
1 Bottle of Ink.[/quote]
"Huh…so either you have to infuse those with your special ability or something else cause those are just…normal items." I said honestly.
"Yeah… I didn't ask because she scares me." Gallon said, putting them back into his Assistant. "So, you two are gonna be due in some more months… after that then what?"
"I think the commander said Tina would need some basic training then they can send us on assignments." Micheal said.
"Yeah…and it won't be entirely fun with what she's going to have to do." I said honestly.
"I'm sure I can handle it." Tina said.
"Well, at least I learned that Artificing is a thing here still. So is enchanting so I have been working on some new stuff to make up for what I lost before Micheal and I somehow got here." Gallon said. "I'm even finally getting my pope robe some magic to it."
"Heh… well, if it helps in the field…" Micheal sighed. "I'm working on getting more practical supplies for field stuff."
"That's good." I nodded. "Best to be prepared for the future and know what you want to do while me and Tina are…indisposed for the moment."
"But hey, I get stronger because of this." Tina added.
"Does breast milk add to your defense or something?" Gallon asked.
I failed to not laugh. Micheal almost choked on their coffee.
"Den Mother breast milk is not only the best milk you can get normally, but it's comparable to some pretty good healing potions." Tina answered.
"... So someone had a lactation fetish but wanted to give it a viable use outside perverseness." Gallon said.
"I could have happily gone my whole life never knowing that…" Micheal said.
"If you want to see it that way, that's your choice." Tina shrugged.
"I mean… what else would we think?" Micheal asked.
"Also, obviously, not on our kink list." Gallon added.
Micheal once again nearly choked on his coffee.
"You could…not think of it as a sexual thing first?" I suggested. "Also, I know you both are gay but…you can either become a Hermaphrodite or just gain fully functioning breasts without the extra hole." I brought up.
"... Yeah that uh… no…" Gallon said.
"There are a lot of things I want to do in life and nothing of what you just said was even remotely on that list…" Micheal added.
"Yeah, it's not for everyone Button." Tina added. "Besides, even you told me shortly after acquiring a lover with breasts you got really into them. You sure love mine~" Tina teased.
"I'm just saying, there are new avenues for kinky stuff if you ever get curious." I shrugged, trying to ignore the giant blush on my face from having a whole lot of fluffy boobs in my face.
"I already hate the fact my hips look huge when I wear anything like skirts or pants because of my fur… like hell I want a matching chest…" Micheal huffed.
"Yeah, and while he pulls them off amazingly, we've already been through some super anatomy transformations once that were… an adjustment, rather not go through any more…" Gallon added.
"Eh, that's fair." I nodded. "Sorry but…considering how…commonplace biology changes were before I got here and…all the biology changes I went through in the span of my entire time here…" I trailed off with a sheepish shrug.
"I can get that, my third leg for example I happily took but if it's not something they want, why suggest it?" Tina asked.
"Eh, if bodily mutations are a kink of Button's who are we to shame him?" Gallon said.
"Not really, just letting you know that that is a thing you can do because from what I'm told we are all basically ageless." I said.
"Yeah…that is true." Tina admitted.
"Well, moving on have you two been doing alright being…" Gallon hummed as he looked between Tina and I. He then pointed to me. "Wide as a beach ball," he then pointed to Tina. "And large as the belly of a boat."
"Heh… I've been… bigger actually…" Tina smirked.
"And this is bigger than my first pregnancy…" I admitted.
"You've been pregnant before?" Micheal asked me.
"Well…technically, cause Cheat, my symbiote spouse that is…currently in me, forced herself into me while she was pregnant to get me to relax for a little bit…"
"Wow. You were so stressed your partner basically knocked you up to force you into a break." Gallon said. "Adding that to AO3 tags I suspect exist."
"Whatever that is, but yes they did."
"It was a fanfiction site back on our earth that is notorious for having this custom tag system that… is honestly a hot mess and a meme generator." Micheal sighed.
"Yeah there was some weird tags and some hilarious ones." Gallon chuckled. "So, who is your baby daddy anyway Button?"
I swallowed. Oh boy…
"Uh…the father of Cheat's child that she forced me to carry…was mine…" I said sheepishly.
"Not that one, I mean the one you're carrying now."
"Well the one I'm carrying now is…from a very terrible person that I had to…strike a deal with…" I sighed bitterly. "I'd…rather not get into it right now…"
"Oh… sorry." Gallon said, awkwardly rubbing their neck. "Well… how's been catching up with your kids? You've been hanging around them a lot."
I smiled. I've made good progress with all of them, still, I wanna get as much time with them all as possible cause once all the new babies are born… heh… gonna be a lot of time on nursery duty…
Just wish those abilities that make sleep optional were easier to unlock. Endurance requirements… the hell how do I not meet those yet with all the crap I've done?!
"It's…going well to be perfectly honest with all my kids…but one thing that's been aggravating is how I can't access enough of the Motherhood skill tree, like what the hell…"
"That's a thing?" Micheal asked.
"Skill Trees are weird. Cool, but weird." Gallon shrugged.
"Skill Trees can do a lot of weird but really cool things." I said honestly. "Just…annoys me, like, it says I'm not meeting an Endurance requirement but I know damn well I meet that in spades." I huffed.
"Stamina and endurance are two different things~" Tina teased.
"So, how do you get Skill points to get Abilities?" Micheal asked.
"Dungeon's, either through killing bosses or chests, going out and killing enough enemies, finishing a job for the New Foundation, stuff like that." I explained.
"Huh… so they're like… loot and currency?"
"For the most part yeah." I nodded.
"Huh. Alright. So it's a grind to get them then. Kinda wish this reality had a normal exp based level up system but oh well."
"Heh. You always did love RPGs." Gallon smirked.
"Still do. Just wish we had the time to play some." Micheal sighed.
"Eh." I shrugged. "But the Skill Trees are…massive." I said carefully. "Like…I've gotten a lot of Skill Points over the years and I haven't really gone through even a quarter of what I want…"
"Huh. Wonder what happens if you complete a Skill Tree? Think you win a prize?" Gallon asked.
"Well, I don't know anyone who has a completed skill tree. They're rather vast and there's so many of them." Tina sighed.
"Well, guess only time will tell. Any recommendations? Gallon and I were just told to get Scan once we gain our first Skill points but are there any you recommend?" Micheal asked.
"Honestly it depends on what kind of build you'd want." I mentioned. "Like me, I could have done anything but since I got Cheat, who's a Berserker Armor Symbiote, I decided to go into the Rage skill tree for the most part." I explained. "So it's a little hard to figure out a 'recommended' build and all that."
"Do you have to go with a specific build?" Gallon asked. "Sounds limiting."
"I mean, you can use it all willy nilly but I doubt Micheal would take kindly to such things." I joked as the two groaned at my attempt at a dick joke. "But on a more serious note, you can spread out your skill points as far and wide as you want, but a lot of things need specific amounts to go into and if you go too far into one skill tree other's will be more difficult to…I believe just completely unavailable to you."
"Hm. Well I imagine you have more experience in spreading things out than us." Once again, Micheal almost choked on their coffee. Tina spit her drink out and roared with laughter as I turned beet red. "Now that is how you make a joke." Gallon smirked at he drank his tea.
"Yeah yeah." I grumbled, trying to get my blush to recede.
Six Months Later
"I'm awake!" I yelped as I jumped up. Fuck, last thing I remember I was-
"Morning." I turned, seeing Maud was holding the sleeping baby I birthed, the little baby was human, but had small wings, a small horn, and brown pony ears on top of their head. My daughter, Code Breaker. "You slept like a broken light." She chuckled.
"Sorry…" I yawned. "Ugh…that took…a lot out of me…"
"Well on top of Code Breaker you have been helping tend to all your newborns." Maud said. "Not surprising you fell asleep for three days."
"Three days?" I asked in horror, keeping my voice down as I didn't want to wake up Code there.
"Yup." She nodded. "You were up helping change, feed, tend to and play with all your new babies so, doing that nonstop for several weeks would get to anyone."
Damn. Guess I pushed those abilities past their limits for what I have…
"It's…still annoying how I'm not allowed to have any Motherhood skills to make this easier…" I groaned.
"You get used to it." I heard Tina, which I looked over and saw she was nursing all our pups…so many little fluff balls with wings and horns…one was even a centaur…
"So, with the babies a month old already, are you two gonna be ready to get back to work?" Maud asked.
"Maybe." I said honestly.
"Well…" Tina looked down to all the pups.
"They'll be ready." We all turned to see Tiara walk into the nursery. "If hesitant."
"Hesitant being a…mild version of it." Tina admitted.
"Yes, but it has to be done." Tiara nodded. She then walked over to Tina, and whispered something to her. Tina turned so… pale.
"H-how do you…" Tina muttered.
"Don't worry about it." Tiara said as she pulled away. "Welp, I'm heading out. Need to do something before you two get back to work." With that she quickly left.
I walked over to Tina, concerned at how… upset and… scared she seemed to be.
"Uh…what did she tell you?" I asked worriedly. "Cause you look…extremely scared and upset…"
"I- nothing… it's nothing. Guess I'll sign up for the basic training tomorrow then… do you think the others can care for my kids while I'm out?" Tina asked, avoiding my question.
"Yeah, Philomena would be happy to." Maud said.
"Sorry…" I said sheepishly to Maud. "Don't mean to add more to your…already big plates…"
The next day I took Tina to the guards training halls. Once she began she kept to it almost religiously, even doing the practice exercises at home.
Over the next few weeks she's done this. And while she is still caring for her kids… I noticed it's nowhere near the time she used to spend with them…
"Okay Tina, seriously, what the hell did Tiara say?" I asked Tina bluntly. "Ever since Tiara whispered that thing to you, you've been going insane with training and…spending way less time with our Kids…"
"I… I'm just prioritizing…" She said, lifting what must have been three ton weights in the new workout room she installed.
"No, no you're not." I frowned. "Take it from someone that…did this before, this isn't 'prioritizing', this is an obsession…" I said carefully. "Does Lovely know what your doing?"
"That I'm working out and getting ripped? Yes, she thinks I look sexy." Tina said.
"Not that." I rolled my eyes. "I mean about this." I motioned to the disheveled look she was getting. "You look tired, disheveled, and acting like if you stop for a moment everything will go to hell…and trust me, I looked in a mirror when I did this exact thing before…"
"I don't want to talk about it." She huffed, lifting the massive weights again.
"I didn't want to talk about it either but at some point you have to, either by choice…or by force as I've had to experience like…twice."
"You want me to talk, fine." She growled, dropping the weights as they crashed through the floor. She then sat up and looked down at me. "I'm a failure. I'm a worthless failure who put her own libido and lust ahead of actually being the hero my Equis needed me to be, and as a result, everyone died!" She snapped. "The zebras, the minotaurs, the changelings, kiran, hippogriffs, griffins, because I put being a mother to my kids and a baby factory to satisfy my lust and stay with my lovers first I let that whole planet die. And when I met the one murdering everyone, Pain's chosen champion, someone who hated me more than anything, they took one look at me and laughed because they didn't see a hero, they saw a pathetic whore who spent all those years literally screwing around rather than helping people and getting stronger. She, even when I did land a hit on her she turned it on me and regenerated like it was nothing! I was outmatched, outclassed and lost long before I ever knew what was happening… Voodoo said he was gonna send me, my family and such to the world Tony was on… to be safe there because at that point… There was no saving that world… I failed. Next thing I know I woke up here in some factory without my kids, my lovers and without my brother. So not only did I fail and get a whole planet killed I get possibly separated from my family…. Forever…"
"Did you know any of that was happening?" I asked, causing her to shake her head. "Did you try getting stronger before?"
"Well…kinda, I worked on and off as a bounty hunter dealing with packs of monsters." Tina admitted.
"A thing I learned about Den Mother's is that they instinctively want to have kids, that they are meant to be mothers, as the name implies. And sure you are far stronger…honestly, from what Armageddon told me about Pain, she would have probably murdered that reality whether you were there or not, she just gave her 'champion' some bullshit excuse that wasn't your fault in the slightest." I explained. "Plus…technically, you were becoming stronger through having kids as Philomena has told me."
"But…I still failed…I should have gone out and tried to be a hero, I should have been the one going out to protect my Den from all the monsters that would have hurt my kids…" Tina teared up.
"And I should have been here for 10 years spending time with my children instead of running off to get knocked up by some bastard that wants to destroy reality with a stupid war, but Tiara told me that it was the only way I could have come back safe and sound, back to everyone here…" I answered. "We can't do everything…we can't be everywhere…you were right where you needed to be, with the ones you love, taking care of your children…and it hurts me to have seen so many times you trying to take care of our kids but you looking like you were tearing yourself apart between wanting to be with them and making the same mistakes I made." I said carefully.
"I…I still failed…I failed so many people…" Tina cried.
"So did I…but we're here, still alive, still well…and we have a family here…I don't want you to feel like a failure like I do every day, walking around meeting my kids that originally thought I was some stranger…" I sighed.
"I… I don't want that either but I'm scared. Because I know if I stay with them just a little longer than I'm forcing myself to know I'll make the same mistakes again and then what?"
"Because you have people that will help you with this fight." I answered. "I'm…I'm scared as well, as the fact I want to go back out on adventure's to try and get stronger to do what's right…I'm scared that I'll be missing years of my life away from my family, maybe a year, maybe ten years again…maybe a hundred…I'm scared of it, but the only way I can do this is with the trust in my family, trust in my friends…and trust in myself that I will come back, that I will be the father they wanted…that I will be better after all this nonsense…"
"... I'm still scared… I saw the bodies, I saw what Greta did… what she can do… God if Pain is here… she might be too…"
"I mean…Pain is Armageddon's Aunt so…" I said sheepishly as I shrugged helplessly. "But listen, we're both scared, we both don't want this all to end poorly…but we have each other, and that'll help us out in the long run alright?"
"I… I hope…"
After my talk with Tina I found Tiara on the roof. She was smiling which surprised me.
"You want to talk?" She asked, looking up at the moon.
"Yes, cause I'd like to know why you have become…so terrifying as of late and making me surprised to see you can actually smile after all this time." I brought up.
"I learned to appreciate the peace of an unchanging object." She said. "So still and unchanging. It's peaceful."
"Right…" I said carefully, sitting down next to her. "So…about you scaring Tina to force her into the same mistakes I made?"
"She needed a push to get started on making up for her shortcomings. Her faults and her mistakes. She's… invaluable to you, Micheal and Gallon." Tiara said simply, still looking up at the moon.
"But don't you think that was…a little too harsh?" I asked, looking up to the moon to see what was special about if or if Tiara was just looking at it cause it was pretty
"I could have been harsher." Tiara said. "I could have said something that really would have turned her into you, made her terrified to ever have children again. But she needs to get better, not trade one issue for another."
"Says the one that tried to force that exact thing on her."
"No. I said what would get her to start. You talking to her earlier is proof what I said didn't push her too far. You two are going to work out a system to get better. To be at home and at work in equal amounts to avoid your fears and enjoy your desires."
"No, you said what nearly drove her away from our kids and into self destruction in fear of failing. If I wasn't there she would have turned into me." I frowned. "But yes…we will have to figure something out here."
"No. Trust me, what I said was tame compared to what could have been said. Sometimes in order to heal, something must break first. Otherwise the issue can never be fixed."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah yeah, you're going to be right now matter what I say." I grumbled, seeing this conversation going nowhere fast cause the hell can I say to someone who probably heard this exact thing millions of times before?
"I try to be… if I'm not, then it means worse things will happen…" She sighed, closing her eyes. "Promise me, Button…"
"Promise you what?" I inquired, wondering what she wanted me to promise cause this whole thing was about her going too far from what I just witnessed from Tina's own tears and fear.
"Promise me that after tomorrow, when our first mission out in the field is done you'll remember that I love you, and everything I do is to help you."
"Tiara…that sounds like you're going to stab me in the back and force me to respawn to Mother knows where…"
Tiara chuckled. "No, nothing like that… but… it might feel like it…" She said, and I finally saw her shed a tear.
Tomorrow came and I was with everyone. Gallon was sporting their Pope Robes but I could tell there was some magic in it now. He also had some kind of rifle in his hands.
Micheal was dressed in a simple leather vest, sporting a satchel that was clearly full, and I noticed he had a handgun holstered across his chest.
Tina was dressed in some basic New Foundation armor, fit for a Den Mother of her species and size.
And lastly, Tiara was dressed in the Time Walker's cloak. On her it felt… surreal.
"Everyone ready?" Tiara asked.
"More or less." Tina said.
"Same." Micheal said, Gallon nodding.
I gave Tiara a look. "I'm as ready as I can be." I said carefully.
"Alright. Job is simple. Tina, Gallon, Micheal, you three are on the search for Antizine. New Foundation uses it to synthesize vaccines for the local virus. Look for clinics, hospitals, army places. Find anything else of use medical or arms wise you can keep some, turn the rest in for pay and Skill Points. Button and I are on the search for Prize Pods." Tiara said.
Before I could say anything she was already off and I… followed.
Tiara flew over the infected and I ran across rooftops and managed a few flying goes for a bit. We went rather far, reaching a coast that smelled of the salt water sea.
On the beach here, Tiara finally stopped.
"Alright…so when should I expect the ambush?" I asked, being way farther than the others with the vague possible threat Diamond gave me yesterday…I want to trust her but this is rather suspect.
"... I am sorry Button, but if I don't do this, you won't be strong enough when you need to be…" Tiara said. She rapidly spun on her back hoof. I saw her eyes flash a neon blue and…
…
… I… I can't move?!
"How flashy." I felt a chill as my frozen stuff body heard the voice of someone I did not want to be around… Alex.
"I have the materials and my end of the deal set up already. You just have to do your part." Tiara said, from her Assistant she pulled out a bird cage, inside was a small Phoenix with green, yellow and red feathers…
I… remember… Mango. I thought we left her back on Dechamore…
"I'm sorry girl." Tiara said, walking the caged Phoenix up and placing them next to me. "... I'm sorry Button…" Tiara said, planting a kiss on my cheek.
She then walked over to Alex. "The documents?" He asked.
Tiara handed him multiple packed files. "As per our agreement…"
"Been a while since I've made one from scratch like this. Usually I ask for a human as a baseline but I can work with this just fine." Alex said, giving a small smile as they put all the documents into their Assistant. He then walked up to me his eyes… changing. Splitting. Two becoming four, four becoming eight as his mouth seemed to vanish, his hands grew and split as runes and markings covered his skin that was turning an ash gray. "Now then, don't worry, this will only hurt with all your being."
He placed his now multiple hands onto me, and I felt nothing but pain… pain… and I could not scream…
I woke up with… a dry mouth. My whole body felt numb and my mind was groggy. Ugh… ach… what… what…
"What…what happened…what did Tiara allow?" I mentally asked anyone that was still in my head…
I tried to push myself up. My body was numb but moving made it ache. My hooves felt cracked and split… oddly, that part didn't hurt. They just felt wrong… weird.
I managed to open my eyes, the sunset behind me might as well have been floodlights it hurt just to see… when my vision cleared I saw not a hoof, but talons. Similar to those of a griffin or maybe a hippogriff… what?
"What…. what the fuck?" I thought in shock… "What happened to me?"
Forcing myself my body felt… off. Looking down, both my front legs now ended in talons, the new limbs moved and bent like hands. I felt more limbs where there shouldn't be any even my hind legs felt… wrong.
I managed to make my way to the water, and what I saw…
My horn was… a bit longer. My face seemed normal, but my eyes were now a bright orange. Two small green and yellow feathered wings sat on my head just behind my ears, the two poking out of my mane.
My back has six pairs of wings. The top most were red and orange, the middle pair were brown and looked like my old ones, and the last ones were a mix of metallic gray and crimson red.
My lower barrel down was replaced. Gone was my brown fur, replaced by red and orange feathers that lead down my new legs that also ended in more traditionally bird-like feet.
My cutie mark was gone… just a mess of green feathers where it should be…
I…I felt my right eye twitching, the water I looked at starting to boil as my shock and horror…was replaced by betrayal and rage…I saw my tears falling to join the boiling salt water as I roared in rage and despair, as it felt like my heart was ripped out and trampled on by the one I loved…
In my scream, Magma boiled out from the water around me and shot into the air. The molten rock landing on me with heavy wet slaps… but they didn't burn me… if anything it felt like… slime, or maybe a wet towel?
I brushed it off me, feeling…
…Cheat?
…
…
Cheat?!
…
…
…
Cheat!? Violence!? Java!? Keven!?
I called to my Symbiotes… and no response came…
It felt like the very ground around me melted, the very air was boiling just from the pure heat of my rage as I lost three friends and one of my loves…
As fast as it came… it left me. The rage… replaced by loss…
"Hey I think I see- Holy crap!" I turned, seeing Gallon on the Beach's end, Micheal behind him as the two shared a shocked look at seeing me and Tina arriving behind them.
"... Button?" Tina asked.
I fell to my knees…seeing the three of them…I weakly gave a wave…but the loss…betrayal…i…i just started to wail in anguish…
The three quickly circled me. Tina hugged me as Micheal and Gallon looked me over.
"Button… are you…" Micheal started.
"A Nokori?" Gallon finished.
"I..I don't know…" I cried. "We…we need to get back to town, I have some arrests to make…" I said, even though I was stricken with such unbearably painful grief…I had work to do…
"You are in no mood to do work right now Button." Tina said quickly.
"No! I…I need to do this or else…" I sniffled and tried to get tears out of my eyes. "I need to do this before it's too late…"
"What even happened? Tiara vanished from the Party listing and you just…. Blipped out for a few seconds." Gallon said.
"Where is Tiara anyway?" Micheal asked as he, Gallon and Tina all were looking around.
"She…she betrayed us." I said weakly, causing the three to gasp. "I'd rather her have actually stabbed me than what she pulled…"
"Okay… okay that's a lot to take in. You said arrests, plural… who else was out here?"
I… fuck… what? Who was it? I… I know she was with someone but why can't I…
She… or they… one of them messed with my head…
I can't remember who she worked with…
"I…I don't know…but I know she has an accomplice, and I'm going to get that information out of her."
"Okay, okay but you really should… see a doctor or something." Gallon said. "Whatever happened to you… maybe they can undo it…"
"Unless he is like us…" Micheal said. Gallon glared at him. "Sorry! But look at him! It's like some weird new take on us and if he is we both know there is no reverse for this. It affects the soul itself."
"We'll talk about it later." Gallon huffed. "Come on Button, let's get home. Can you… walk or?"
I tried to stand… my legs felt fine but the new… ends felt… different. I managed a few steps before accidentally tripping over my own new feet.
"I got you." Tina said, picking me up and giving me a hug as she held me. "I got you…"
"All she kept telling me was that she loved me…but she sold me out to…someone, that did this to me with my pet Phoenix Mango…but now…all I have is two missing pieces to my heart as…all my Symbiotes…Cheat…are just gone…" I muttered, just burying my face into Tina's fur.