Beta in Equestria: Return of the Night

12 Considerations

By UB

        "I.. I CAN'T be.. we never.. " Mike stammered looking up at Angel, having fallen to the ground, his legs failing him from the news. "I'd bloody well remember having sex with Apple Berry!" he then blushed and looked away "I've certainly thought about it enough times". Sigma, though he knew no one could hear him except his now-unconscious dungeon mate, and Angel giggled.

        "Mike.. I think... I think she may have accidentally ... commanded you." Alpha said very carefully. She didn't want Mike to be angry at Apple Berry. She actually liked the mare.

        Mike sat there silent. He pondered her words. He considered the only night Apple Berry could have done anything with him. He worked hard to remember through the drunken haze. He used all his mental processing power plus every last new nanite he had."she... She brought me home from the party... I was OUT.. like OUT OUT" he began, slowly putting events back together.

        Angel smiled and nodded. "Yeah I've had that midnight cider, it makes Jack Daniels look like weak, dirty water... but god does it taste good!" she added.

        "S.. she..." he recalled her beautiful flank, how it shone in the moonlight as she carried him home. She put him to bed, and... 'She... walked away after putting me in bed. She..." she looked at him... 'so much love and desire in those beautiful two tone eyes' he realized. "she really loves me..." he whispered so quietly that only Sigma through their link could hear him. Mike then heard her voice.. and he whispered her words "... Beta... I command you to make love to me..."

        Angel looked at him. She had no words. She knew it was only a memory... but... "those words..." Her eyes filled with tears and whispered "I have no chance..." 'Get yourself together Alpha!' she chided herself. 'You knew he had to move on when you ran away, never giving him hope, or a message.. anything. You KNEW that!' her inner beration held nothing back. She leaned against the bed for support. "I'm so sorry Mike.."

        Looking up from his internal reverie, never having managed to break the memory wiping effects of a command before, Mike was shocked to see Angel leaning on the bed crying. "Sorry.. for what?" but he already knew. 'I just.. I NEED to hear the words'.

        Angel understood... she needed to say them. "I... I'm sorry... Mike I abandoned you when I couldn't handle it anymore. I ran away. I never left you any clues because I knew THEY would find them..." She began. the torrent of words falling from her maw like rain on the parched savannah, and Beta drank them up. He needed to hear her story, and she needed to tell him.

        "As you know, we were at an ammo plant to kill a bad guy. and I begged you to let me go. I knew that you couldn't have your memories downloaded and watched like some perverse television program. I can feel what memories they take. I know what they look at... " she paused to drink some water. She had food brought to her room. She talked while they ate and dressed. Mike realized that he was in her private quarters.

        "Well, they're a bunch of fucking perverts!" She swore, biting off a piece of bread. "they always looked at my shower memories! Whenever I had... alone time..." She paused and blushed. Beta understood. He and Alpha had similar personal needs, and they shared a knowing look.

        "Anyway, After you let me go I traveled the countryside. I ate what I could to survive." She blushed and gave Mike a look "Yes hun, I ate some rabbits... but only a couple.. I AM a fox after all" and she stuck her tongue out at him. Beta chuckled and smiled. "But it wasn't enough... They.. They made me so that I over produce nanites." Beta nodded. Alpha, the physician and tentative ‘mechanic’ was expected to use her nanites to heal others... like what she did with him earlier. He tried to only think about the healing aspect of what she did.

        "I was wasting away. I was starting to leave a trail of dead nanites. I couldn't turn it off.." she looked haunted. "I... I'd eat and ... nothing... " she held her belly. Beta noticed she was a little overweight. He imagined it was so that she never felt that starved again. He understood.

        "I.. I was chasing this little white rabbit" she continued "with the last of my strength into this mountain. He.. He seemed smarter than any other normal rabbit I've ever seen. it was.. strange. He was holding this big carrot. I swear he flipped me off at one point in our chase." she chuckled.

        Mike murmured "sounds like that little bastard Angel"

        "Who? Angel asked, unsure who he meant.

        "Angel.." Beta started, smiling "he's.. well he's less a pet and more an abusive... sibling? of Fluttershy" then he went quiet. '... fluttershy...' Seeing this ... fluttershy, was a sad point for Mike, Angel continued on.

        "So I followed him into this hole in the mountain, Deep inside the hole I saw this bright light. I reached forward to touch the light... and the next thing I know I'm waking up in Equestria. When I looked around I saw all sorts of fruit and vegetables around me. I was so starved I ate everything." She laughs "I felt like you!" and she pointed at Mike's ears.

        "You probably know the rest. I got better, I was found by a royal guard patrol that included Big Mac and Sargent Nut Stomper" She purred when she thought about the Sarg and Big Mac, and the nights they occasionally spent together. Beta looked at her with a raised eyebrow and ear, the other was only half erect, the other half flopped over 'Dammit he's too cute to be allowed' Angel thought.

        "So.. yeah stuff happened and I became the royal physician to princess Celestia. She pretty much gives me a free reign as long as I come running when called, which isn't often. Otherwise I'm responsible for the castle." She said, waving her paw as though nothing could be more mundane than a royal pardon and being made the official physician to the queen.

        "Oh yeah" Angel asked, just thinking of it "I heard you met up with old Nutty.. how is he? where is he? he usually visits me when he returns from a missio....oh no..." seeing Mike's expression fall she guessed something bad had happened.

        "He..." Beta began, slumping on the floor. "He... sacrificed himself to save us and the foal. He.. He's..." and his Angel of mercy swept down upon him and held him tightly. He told her the story. All of it from arriving to Equestria in the forgotten glen to when she... "You slammed me, FACE FIRST into a STONE floor!" he snapped, causing her, and Sigma to giggle..

        "Mike... who are we? Who am I to you... who are you to you?" Alpha asked. she needed to know what Mike thought. Was she Alpha or Angel in his mind.

        "I've had a lot of time to think about that since leaving Sweet Apple Acres." Beta answered thoughtfully. "My ... My NAME... My name is Michael Beta Tracker." Alpha nodded.

        "I...I'm Alpha," then she smirked "Angel of mercy" They smiled sadly at each other.

        "We... It doesn't seem right using those names now that we're the last ones." Beta said. "I'm.. I'm honestly ok being Beta." and Alpha smiled at him.

        "You always were the faster learner" she chuckled "Yeah, you have had a very busy month... sounds like you have a good life in Ponyville with that little hayseed pony" she said with only a little bite in her voice. Beta knew she still loved him but His heart belonged to ... somepony. He wasn't sure who at this point. He cared so dearly for both Apple Berry and Sigma...

        "Holy shit, SIGMA!" Beta said, shocked he'd forgotten about his lover.  "Where is Sigma? I feel like he's under me.. WAY under me"

        "Shit" Alpha said "I um..." then blushing "I was supposed to give a report and I kinda forgot with the ... yeah... shit!" She then rummaged around her room looking for parchment. "Gah I hate parchment.. who the hell uses parchment!" she swore and Beta laughed. "Shut it, I need this particular form so that I can get your boyfriend out of prison! Blowing a five meter hole through a wall, not to mention the shredding he did to that door, putting aside completely that he was laying in a POOL of cum.. ON DUTY no less..." she counted off the charges as she continued to search.

        After a few minutes or searching and swearing, Alpha held up a piece of parchment triumphantly. "HERE!" then she filled out the form very quickly. "Ok... down to the dungeons. I'll send word for Big Mac to join us. I'm sure he's done... 'negotiating' with Shining Armor for your.. um.. existence." she said. "If he doesn't..." she added darkly.

        "But... what about the queen?" Beta asked.

        "Nah, she doesn't need to know every detail, and lets be honest, you're here by the will of Luna... she'd probably kill you herself." Alpha laughed, then saw Beta's dark continence.

        "She's weak... very weak." Beta said almost sadly. "She has been pushing herself too hard for too long..." He added. "She needs her sister, she needs help."

        "Well, let me tell you Twilight Sparkle is no slouch."Alpha said as they prepared to leave for the dungeons.  When they left her room she snapped at a guard and told him to get Big Mac and to meet her in the dungeons. "Yes Ma'am"

        "She is Celestia's new prime student and she is amazing!" Alpha continued when they were alone again.

        "Purple unicorn, so high," Beta asked his paw at the level of Twilight Sparkle's head "kinda book wormy, seriously needs to get laid?" Alpha giggled and nodded. "I met her... and I agree. I don't know what it is about this place, but I can sense people's potential here!"

        "Interesting" Alpha said. "Maybe your instincts are stronger here. You are natural born after all."

        Beta stopped cold "... what?"

        ‘shit...’ “Mike I don't have time to explain. Just know that Father loved you above ALL of us for good reason... and I can't really tell you now." Beta began to protest but they had just arrived at the dungeons. "Please Mike... I promise it's only good. Just.. know father loved you."

        "I know. He..." Beta tried to explain the night he escaped and Alpha stopped him again

        "I'm sending you and your boyfriend back to Ponyville along with Big Mac. You don't belong here. I promise I will visit however. I need to look after Berry" Alpha said and then handed a parchment to the Guard.

        The guard levitated the parchment, unfurled it and nodded."Yes Ma'am. He's been mostly quiet. We put the other prisoner next to him because we like to conserve space but... um... there was an incident. I don't know HOW.. but... he broke through his horn restraint!" Alphas eyes grew wide

        "WHAT?!.. HOW?" Alpha asked in complete shock. "I designed those! No pony should be able to do that!

        "Some kind of surge Ma'am" The guard replied "But.. he didn't leave his cell.. and he's blown those bars well to hell! Beat the crap out of his neighbor too... not that I saw that" He said with clear disdain for the 'victim'. "That asshole... pardon me ma'am" he quickly corrected himself. "But Ma'am.. he's..."

        "I know who he is." Alpha said darkly "And his more recent crime directed at me. don't worry that pony won't be a guard for too much longer. he has a complaints list longer than Celestia's mane." Alpha said harshly.

        The guard smiled viciously and nodded. Sigma wasn't the only one who had a history with that particular pony.

        They went to Sigma's cell. "Hi Sigma... miss me?" Beta said smiling at Sigma. Sigma was re-reading one of the books that were in his saddlebags.

        Sigma looked up and smiled warmly "Hello Master. Um.. can I leave now?" He asked sweet and innocently, as though he were left at daycare and not in the dungeons, in the middle of a magical blast crater with a unconscious pony in the cell next to him. Beta's affection for Sigma greatly increased, if that was possible.

        Alpha smiled looking between Beta and Sigma, and Sigma's nonchalant attitude. "Heh I always liked Guardspony Sigma. Beta you have excellent taste in men" and she punched him on the arm.. hard. She didn't feel like being magnanimous. It hurt that Beta cared for others like that... that she wasn't on the receiving end of his affection. Truth was she could have left with Beta and his small party but she needed time. Beta understood that, as he needed time himself.

        "Um... Master?" Sigma asked timidly, his soft pink fur still matted with dried fluids. Beta saw the state of his coat and mane and was mildly upset.

        "They didn't even hose you down?" He asked, too upset that they would leave him in a cell for HOURS without even the basic dignity of a way to clean off his coat. Sigma just shrugged as though this kind of disrespectful treatment was normal for him. Beta just looked daggers at the prison guard, who had the good sense to lower his ears and head in shame, and mumbled something about 'just following orders.'

        "I.. I have quarters in the Elite wing.. um.. Sir" Sigma said, blushing. He had been before Celestia and felt less intimidated than standing before Beta in his current state. Then Beta walked over to him and kissed the top of his nose and whispered to him "It's ok hun. Take care of yourself first."

        Half an hour later SIgma met Beta and Big Mac in the upper courtyard where the Galloping Gala often took place. It was a very impressive piece of architecture as it was a sizable walking garden all on an over sized balcony suspended between three towers.

        Before they left, Beta looked over at Alpha "Alpha... Angel... do you have... what you needed from me?" He asked without ire or anger. He was sincere in his inquest.

        "yes Mike.. thank you." Alpha replied and blushed more from shame than embarrassment.

        "I... I didn't know they did that to you." Beta began  then stopped. She nodded. She didn't need to hear more. She knew why he was mad... 'He would have given it to me freely if I had asked... if I had been patient.' she chided herself for the umpteenth time.

        Still Beta felt a need to close the topic in a better way than he had done. He stood close to Alpha and whispered very quietly "but I thought that you could mate with anyone.. thing... like me"

        Alpha responded quietly with sadness in her voice "vixens only go into heat a couple times a year Mike, only you and your damned super balls can mate with anything... I.. can't" Beta blushed, and Alpha laughed

        "father wanted me to by that way" Alpha added a little more upbeat "Be able to mate with anything that is" she clarified seeing Beta's confused face.

        "How do you know?" Beta asked, surprised she'd know such a thing.

        Alpha taps her head "He uploaded all his notes before that last mission. He knew I wanted to leave and he gave me information I could use against the project if I survived.. and wanted to." She said sadly. She wasn't exactly surprised 'father' was dead.. but that didn't make her any less sad about it. Even though Beta had clearly been his favorite for many reasons, he never once treated any of the other furries any less loved.

        "He really was a father to all of us wasn't he?" Beta asked. Alpha nodded.

        Beta looked at Sigma and Big Mac on the chariot and he headed to join them. Pausing as he got on, he looked at Alpha and asked "So why the escort?" Alpha just smiled.

        "What makes you say it's an escort?" She asked in return, crossing her arms.

        "Because both Mac and Sigma know the way to Ponyville." Beta replied, leaning against the short wall at the front of the chariot. "And you know darn well Sigma can probably do the wing charm by now." Beta retorted. The two pegasus ponies in the harness looked at each other and smiled. They knew this one was very very clever. Sigma and Mac, of course, knew it was an escort and why. But they were curious about how truly clever Beta was.

        "You want to make sure I arrive at the Apple farm." Alpha waved a paw for him to continue. "You want me to know you know where I am, and that you can get me in any sense when you need." She blushed, knowing his implications and nodded. Beta paused realized the real reason. His throat caught, tears threatened him yet again, but he wasn't going to show that much emotion to his former mate. "And... you want to make sure I'm safe..." he said quietly as Alpha walked over to the chariot, leaned inside, placed one paw tenderly under his chin and gave him a slow, tender kiss.

        "Yes I do." she said softly. "You are still the most important person in my life Mike." Beta nodded, one tear falling. After everything I said, after raging at her ... she still ... cares...' He reflected. Alpha then stepped back. Beta did the same and pounded twice on the chariot, and they were off.

        Once out of sight of the castle Beta slumped down where he was, his back against the front of the chariot and hugged his knees. He was feeling horribly emotional. Part of him wanted to hate that bitch Alpha for what she'd done to him. But part… most of him couldn't. He understood, logically at least, her reasons. She must have been in season, a rare event for vixens unlike many other mammals. He was the only creature in all of creation that could impregnate her. She had him where she needed him, and she could control him... logical... and cruel.

        Beta put his head against his arms and began to cry. Sigma and Mac got as close to him as they could, trying to nuzzle and comfort him. He reached up and hugged them so hard they choked. He let up and they sat down next to him. Still holding his former and current lover Beta, between sobs, told them what had happened. Their indignation made Beta feel a little better. But he still didn't stop crying until they were nearly to the farm.

        Beta had never had this kind of emotional support in his life, and he was grateful beyond words it was here now when he needed it most. If friendship wasn't magic it was at least the sort of thing that kept one alive in the darkest of times.