Chapter 1 - Getting ready

I lurched awake, breathing heavily and sweating. The branding on my neck stung and throbbed. It had been almost five years since I had gotten it; every time somepony mentioned the Wolf Pack I experienced phantom pains on my branding. I reached my forehoof to rub at the spot until the pain faded. I was laying in my bed at the house Shiana and I owned.

She had survived and I thank the Goddesses every day for that. We had gotten to know each other more over the years. Our relationship had blossomed to the point we got married. A traveling pastor had come to Junction Town a few years ago and told Shiana all about the pre-war ritual. As a result, I was wearing a silver colored wedding band around the base of my horn.

The ring was make-shift; created from the round end of one of Shiana’s wrenches. After she lost her leg, she was forced to retire from military service. Having nothing else better to do, she picked up a wrench and screwdriver and started tinkering. She found out she loved and and never look back. Our home was filled with her projects, ranging from an electronic alarm clock to a stove. There were things that unicorns could do that she couldn’t, but that didn’t discourage her at all. It was just another reason love her.

The griffon in question was standing at the door to the bedroom. She had her patented “you ok?” look. She gave me that look cence the Wolf Pack situation. Shiana was one of the few that knew everything that happened. She had light grey feathers speckled with black, darker gray fur, and orange eyes

“Another dream, more phantom pains. I’m ok,” I said to her, still groggy from sleep. I closed my eyes and rubbed them with my hooves. When I opened them again, Shaian was standing at the side of the bed, staring at me with a frown. “Really, Shiana. I’m fine. Just a nightmare.” She leaned forward, her face inches from mine, her eyes boring into me. I chuckled and placed a kiss on the top of her beak, “There, see?” She kissed me back and hobbled back to the door. My eyes lingered on her flanks for a few seconds before lowering to her stump hind leg. I really had to make that trip out to Dice once I got enough time off. Rumor had it that their cybernetics were the best in the wasteland.

Shiana turned her head to face me before walking down the stairs. “You lookin’ at my ass or my stump?” she spoke in a faux anger. The look on her face matched her voice but her eyes were nothing but playful. I chortle at her and tell her I was looking at both. “Whatever. Recon and Brush Fire are here. They wanted to meet up before you headed out.” They did? How nice of them. But why were they here so early? A quick glance at the clock next to my bed showed that it was 10:35 a.m.

“10:35?! Why didn’t you wake me earlier?!” My squad was supposed to head out soon and I just woke up! I jumped out of bed and ran to the closet that we had scavenged. Inside was a variety of ranger armor and outfits. I hastily grabbed my veteran armor and began putting it on. “Where’s my helmet? I need my helmet. And my mask! Shiana, stop laughing. I need to leave soon!”

“They’re in my workshop, silly. I’ve been working on them since last night. Just finished too. I came to check on you when I found Recon and Brush at the door. They’re downstairs. Go chat with em and I’ll go get your gear.” She said before stepping past me and leaving through the window. I had finished strapping on my combat armor and was levitating the brown duster to me before I left the room. For future reference, don’t try to walk down the stairs while trying to put on a duster. The result will be scrapes, bruises, possibly broken bones, and getting laughed at by your sister and her marefriend.

Picking myself up and brushing dirt of me, I turned to the two chuckling mares. Brush Fire was a red pegasus with a orange mane and tail with yellow streaks. Her eyes were matched the streaks in her mane. She was wearing her veteran armor, a black, pre-war Los Pegasus Riot combat vest, underneath a brown duster, faded blue pants, simple leather boots on our hind hooves, and armor plates on our lower forelegs and hooves. Her helmet, a pre-war combat helmet with a red visored ballistic gas mask, sat on the table next to where she sat.

Recon, my identical twin sister, sat next to her. We shared our beige colored coat and brown manes and tails; but her eyes were blue and mine were teal. Another easy way to tell us apart was the horn on my head. I was an unicorn and she was an earth pony. Recon was wearing her trooper armor, khaki combat fatigues with a armored breastplate adorned with the NCR’s symbol, and brown combat boots, with a bandoleer across her chest that held extra ammo and other miscellaneous supplies. On her head sat her 1st Recon beret; red in color with the 1st Recon’s symbol, a bear skull in front of two crossed rifles. Their motto, “The last thing you never see,” was at the bottom of the symbol. I’d like to think I was a good markspony, but Recon’s accuracy with a sniper rifle was scary sometimes.

“Are you OK? That tumble looked petty nasty,” Brush Fire spoke with concern. She had been my partner since ranger training and was one of my best friends. “It was funny too,” Recon added. Leave it to her to add a smart-ass comment. Brush Fire turned to her, a frown on her face, “You shouldn’t be so mean to your brother,” she scolded her like a child. It made me chuckle.

“She’s only mean because she knows she can get away with it,” I say, taking a seat across from her.

“That still gives her no right! Your sibling relationship isn’t healthy. You should be nice to each other,” Brush Fire stuck her nose up at us, continuing on about how we should act.

Recon and I shared a look. “Can’t you do something about this? She’s your partner,” Recon said to me.

“Don’t look at me,” I retort, “She’s your marefriend.”

“Oh, so that’s how we’re gonna play? Fine,” Recon turned to the still prattling Brush Fire. “Ahem, Brushie?” she said, the use of her special nickname caught her attention and thankfully stopped her rant, “Bite me.” Brush Fire gasped in shock, a surprised look on her face. Her look of surprise morphed into one of malice. I got the feeling I wouldn’t like what happens next. “Well, since you asked so nicely,” Brush Fire’s voice was low and dangerous. Uh oh.

“Wait wha- ow! Brush, what the hell?! Get off me! Don’t you dare! OW!” Brush Fire tackled her, puttering her into a submission hold taught to rangers for apprehension of live targets. Brush sat atop Recons back, her legs wrapped around Recon’s to prevent movement. She had one of Recon’s ears in her jaws.

“Wassa’ ma-er? I ‘ought ya ‘riked me bitin’ ya,” Brush Fire mumbled behind a mouthful of ear, causing Recon to blush. She called to me for help, but I was laughing too hard. Recon started thrashing about underneath Brush Fire in an attempt to break free of the hold. The lighter pegasus mare may have had Recon in a submission hold, but her superior earth pony strength meant that she wouldn’t stay for long. Recon was able to get her hooves under and lift herself and Brush off the ground. “Alright, you want a rough ride?"

Recon began running around my house, taking sharp turns and about-faces to throw Brush Fire this way and that. Brush Fire made noises that were best described as a mixture between laughing and screaming. To my dismay, their rowdiness was also destroying the house! I frantically caught the object thrown about in my magic: a lamp, a picture, a clock, a chair; if Recon sent it airborne, I caught it.

“STOP,” I yelled, “If you break anything, Shiana would be pissed. You do not, I repeat, do not, want Shiana pissed.” I looked the items over in my magic, checking to see if they were broken, and gently placed them back where they came from. My warnings about an angry griffoness worked. Recon stopped abruptly and sent Brush Fire flying over shoulder with a shout of surprise and crashing into a restored dining table.

I winced at the broken table, Recon next to me muttering a string of curses under her breath. Brush Fire groaned from her position on the ground. “Now would be a good time to leave. Before you break anything else,” I say, “Brush and I need to leave soon anyway, right?” Brush Fire nodded and stood up.

I walk around the destroyed table and toward a small safe. Shiana had been paranoid and rigged a spark battery to the safe to electrify it. She was paranoid about thieves, and being a ranger made me a bit of a target. I deactivate the safe and using one of the two keys that can open it. Inside the safe was a small bag of caps, a slightly larger bag of NCR bits, two Sequoias, four boxes of 45-70 ammo, and Shiana’s hand cannon. One of the Sequoias was mine, earned for 20 years of honorable service. The other was Dust’s destroyed Sequoia that I kept as a memento and good luck charm. I grabbed the Sequoias and placed mine in the holster on my foreleg and Dust’s in one of the pockets in my duster. I also grabbed the ammo.

“That reminds me, Dad’s coming to see you off.” Oh, wonderful. Father and I didn’t talk much after I joined the Wolf Pack and our relationship got worse after their betrayal. Today wasn’t going well at all. “Don’t make that face, Ranger,” Recon scolded me when she saw my scowl, “Please, Ranger. He wants to make amends.” I huff and walk out on the street, Recon and Brush Fire following me.

“He has a lot to make up for. I wasn’t the only one he treated like shit. MP hasn’t even mentioned Father since he joined the Followers. And you. When are you going to tell Father that you and Brush Fire are together?” my voice was cold. MP, short for Military Police, is my younger brother. Father had a stupid thought of, “If I name my children after the position the in the NCR military I want them to serve in, then that’s what they will do.” It didn’t work out that way for MP. When he decided that he wanted to join the Followers of the Apocalypse, Father threw a fit.

It didn’t help that Father was from Stable. Stable 50’s experiment was based on sexuality. From the files and recordings recovered, Stable 50 started out as normal stable, but eventually devolved into a fanatical heterosexual community. Father grew up believing that if a stallion didn’t like mares, tat that stallion was sick and the only cure was brutal beatings. Finding out that MP didn’t want to “live up to his name” and he liked stallions; Father damn near shot him. I stepped in and told him off. That started the rough relationship between my dad and me.

Recon refused to meet my eyes, suddenly finding the dirt more interesting, “I thought so.” He has been living the wasteland, where nobody gives a single fuck about who you’re fucking, far to long to still believe what he was told in the stable.

“Brush, when do the alicorns leave?” I felt bad about being so harsh to Recon, so I decided to change the subject. My squad was going to be sent out to the Commonwealth after a group of Follower alicorns. The Followers were hoping to make contact with a local group and spread their influence. The NCR liked this idea so much that they wanted in too. Our task was simple: protect allies and make new ones, establish NCR presence, and make the Commonwealth a better place. The unfortunate part; the NCR didn’t tell the Followers we were coming too.

“The left an hour ago,” Brush answered. I wasn’t sure why The NCR decided to keep this secret from our allies, but I had little time to dwell on it. If they left an hour ago, we were already far behind. The could fly a great distance at high speed. Brush Fire pulling a sky chariot would be our best bet at catching up. The alicorns could handle themselves, of that I had no question; so why send a squad of rangers just to act as assistants? There was more to this they weren't telling us.

“Then we had better get moving. Shiana should meet us at the train station. We can leave when I get my hel-” I was cut off as a small form crashed into me and we were sent tumbling through the street. I had landed on my back, my spinning eyes focusing on the foal sitting on my chest. He had an angry look in his green eyes and was out of breath from the run.

“You were gonna leave without saying goodbye, weren't you?!” he screamed down at me, “You were gonna leave and get hurt and die and all without saying goodbye,” he wailed, tears forming in his eyes now. My baby brother, a dark brown colt with a orange mane named Trooper, had ran halfway across town to tackle me. I laugh and ruffle his mane.

“You run through town like a mad pony to say goodbye to me? And who told you I was leaving, hmm?” I lift Trooper off me and stood up, “I’d never do that to you, lil’ buddy. And what was that about me dying?” I narrow my eyes and lean forward. Trooper starts stammering, trying to think of something to say. I chuckle and lift him onto my back with my magic.

“I told him, son,” a familiar voice spoke from behind me, deep and gruff with age and experience but soft enough to be kind. My father was standing in the direction Trooper had come running from. “I was going to come see you anyway, and Troop refused to stay behind,” he said with a small smile on his face. Usually he’d be accusing me of some horrible thing that led to an argument, but he was being civil. Maybe he really did want to make amends. “Listen, Ranger. Before you leave, I wanted to te-”

“Save it,” I cut him off with a frown, “Recon already told me. I’m glad you want to talk, really. But if you want things to go back to the way things were before… everything; then you have to talk to MP first. Reconcile with him, then we’ll talk after I get back.” Our rough patches started over MP and got worse over time, so I thought MP should be the start of making things better.

“After you get back? You’re going to leave without giving me a chance?” his voice was filled with hurt and sadness. I felt terrible, but I didn’t have much choice. I sigh and turn to him. His face matched his voice. His tan mane had began to go gray with age, his yellow coat was matted, there were bags under his bloodshot green eyes. He looked tired, likely from staying up all night working up the courage to do this.

I walk up to him,look him in the eyes, and wrap my hooves around his neck in a hug. I may not have had the best relationship with my father, but he was still my dad. He was surprised at first, but quickly joined the hug. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you want to make amends,” I meet his eyes again, “But I have no time. We’re already behind and I need to meet up with the rest of my squad. We’ll talk when I get back. I have no idea when, but I will come back. OK?”

“Make sure you do, son. I’ll be looking forward to it,” his eyes were full of hope now. I pat him on the shoulder and turn back to the train station. The train should be arriving soon. Shiana was flying toward us; my helmet in her claws and a scoped hunting rifle on her back. I floated Trooper off my back and turned to Shiana as she landed.

“It took a while, but I managed to wire some old PipBuck systems to your mask. Along with the standard Low Light Visual System, I hooked it up with E.F.S.! The mask was easy because it already had electronic systems,” she grabbed the rifle off her back, “Now this was a little tough, so Recon had to help me; but we managed to build a S.A.T.S. scope!” Where did she even get a PipBuck? And why did she think I needed S.A.T.S.? Nevertheless, I took the offered rifle and strpped it to my back.

“Now before you start going on about how you don’t need anything to help you aim,” Shiana, I love you but I hate it when you read my mind, “You don’t need help aiming. You have fantastic aim. With more than just guns,” I quickly cover Trooper’s ears and glare at her. Not while children are present! “Anyway, You’re a good shot and you know it, but you’re not so great at sniping,” OK, that was fair I suppose. I was a good shot, but sniping was not my strong suit.

“Where did you even get a PipBuck to cannibalize for this anyway? Those things are super rare. Why not just give me the PipBuck?” That would have saved them a lot of work and hassle.

“The PipBuck screen was busted beyond repair,” Dad answered.

“Just accept the damn gift, Ranger,” Recon snapped.

“Because that would have been no fun,” Shiana huffed.

“You hate how PipBucks look,” Brush Fire deadpanned.

“I dunno,” Trooper said innocently.

They all spoke at the same time; they all had valid reasons, except maybe Trooper. I looked at each of them before saying a simple ok. I take my helmet from Shiana’s outstretched claw and place it over my head. The visor was made by enchanted red glass that was clear when see through the inside of the mask. A compass was set at the lower left of the left lense and numbers on the lower right, both white in color.

“Alright, the green lines on the compass are friendly, red are hostile, and yellow are neutral,” Dad started explaining the new functions my helmet had, “The numbers on the left are how much ammo you have. Above the ammo counter should be the S.A.T.S. spell charge. Above the compass should be your-” Shiana cut him off.

“He doesn’t have all that. He would if he wore a PipBuck, but he only has the compass and ammo counter. The S.A.T.S. charge should be in the lower left of the scope. It’ll be transparent so it doesn’t make aiming through the scope a liability. Following so far?” I nod, “Good. No health monitoring because you don’t have the thing on your hoof. I trust you don’t need it to know how close to death you are.

“To activate S.A.T.S. you need to plug this little wire here into the IR/white light lamp on your helmet. That’s also where we hooked the E.F.S. by the way. It’d be a good idea not to let that take a bullet,” Well, that was self explanatory. Dad took over explanation again.

“S.A.T.S will freeze time. The target will be divided into segments that give a percentage on your chance to hit. It’s mostly thought controlled, so just think about navigating the segment, selecting your shots, and firing. Really self explanatory. I would offer you a test run, but the train’s pulling into the station now,” I turn to the station to see, sure enough, the train was pulling up. I had been so focused on their explanation that I somehow didn’t manage to hear the train rolling into the station. My father placed his hooves on my shoulders again, “You should be able to figure it out on your own. Be careful out there, Ranger. Good luck.”

He pats me on the shoulder and takes a step back. Shiana quickly wraps me in a hug that I gladly return. She says nothing to me; she doesn’t need to. Her presence is enough. I let her go and turn to Trooper. I ruffle his mane and say, “See you later, little buddy,” before turning to Recon.

Recon just gives a simple, “Look after yourself, little bro,” before sharing a quick look with Brush Fire. Recon begins walking off to tend to other duties she had to do for the day. Dad followers her shortly after and Trooper gives a wave before bounding after his heels. Shiana stays to see me off.

I turn to Brush Fire as she puts on her helmet. We share a look, a silent agreement to watch after each other and make sure we come back to our loved ones. We turn to the train in unison and walk forward. We enter the train car and sit across from each other. Brush Fire takes her helmet off and looks out the window. I take the rifle off my back and look it over.

We won't be on the train for long, only to New Appleoosa to rendezvous with the rest of the squad before heading out. Wouldn't be long at all.

Ranger- Level 34

Strength- 7
Perception- 5
Endurance- 9
Charisma- 4
Intelligence- 5
Agility- 7
Luck-5

Tag Shills-

Small Guns +15
Unarmed +15
Repair+15
Medicine +15

Traits-

Trigger Discipline-
You prefer to conserve ammo. You fire 20% more slowly than most wasteland ponies but are 20% more accurate.

Hot Blooded-
Pain pisses you off. When your health drops below 50% you gain +10% damage, but you suffer -2 to your Agility and Perception.

Author's Note

Not much to say other than the thank yous to Kkat for FoE, Crazyperson for letting me write this, and you for taking time to read. I hope you bare with a novice writer as he attempts to write a grand adventure. Feel free to give any advice or critism along the way.