Chapter 2 - Departure

The train ride allowed me to use my special talent on the S.A.T.S. rifle. I could take a gun apart, inspect the parts, tell if they need repairs or replacement, and put it back together in only a few seconds. My cutie mark was a magnifying glass and symbolized my eye for detail. Anything larger or more complex like miniguns ore magic energy weapons required more time and focus to complete the process.

I sat in a meditative state in my seat on the train, my eyes closed as the rifle's parts swirled around me my teal magic. I took in everything I could. Serial numbers, weight, length, wear on the parts, bullet caliber, and magazine size. It was an old rifle, bolt action, a long, narrow, wooden stock ran the entire length of the rifle. The barrel extended an inch or two past the body. The scope, mounted above the action, was the most high tech thing on the rifle. It was square in shape and had a box crudely attached and wired into the right side. The box was where the S.A.T.S. module, I guess I'll call it, was housed.

The weapon held five rounds of .308 ammo. The receiver looked brand new compared to the rest of the rifle. Shiana probably had to replace the old receiver for safety and functionality. This thing was old; but had been cleaned, repaired, and restored into firing condition only recently. I remember when my father showed me this rifle when I was just a colt. He said it was one of the first guns that Equestria made; that it had been used by our ancestor during the war, and he brought it with him to the Stable when the bombs fell.

Dad said it was once a powerful and reliable rifle, but 200 years sitting in a Stable had made the rifle inoperable. He always wanted it restored, but didn't trust any of the gunsmiths with the heirloom and lacked the knowledge to do it himself. The fact that it was floating around me in working condition was more proof that he wanted to make amends. It made me feel worse for having to blow him off.

A hoof gently shaking me brought me out of my trance. Brush Fire was standing next to me in the isle, "Wake up, we're here." I quickly assemble the rifle and stand up. There were a bunch of other ponies riding the train, but they kept to themselves; they had their own things to do. I forced myself into a stoic silence as we stepped off the train. Auto Banger waiting for us.

"'Bout fuckin' time you showed up. Echagi was startin' to get pissed. What took so long anyway? Were you two fuckin' or somethin'?" I glared at the stallion from behind my mask; if looks could kill, he'd be better off dipped in taint. Auto Banger had a blue coat and a yellow mane and tail with a grey stripe running through the middle. He wore the same ranger veteran armor that our entire squad had, but had his helmet off; Goddesses only knew where it was.

Brush Fire spoke before I had to a chance to tell Auto off, "He's married to Shiana and I like mares. He's like a brother to me. Say something like that again, I will break your jaw" I wouldn't have warned him. Auto joined the rangers just so he could revel in the glory of the title and get laid. I had hated him since training. In all honesty, he was only still in our squad because nobody else wanted him in theirs. That wasn't to say he was a bad ranger, quite the contrary; his attitude made him damn near unlikable.

"Fine, shit," Auto raised his hooves in surrender, "Echagi's just outside of town. We meet up, strap Brush to a sky chariot, get to Dry Sands to get geared up and briefed. Then we haul ass after the alicorns." Brush and I nodded. That was simple enough but a briefing? We all knew what we were going to do; why brief us on what we already know?

An NCR sky chariot was waking for us just outside of the town entrance. Scope sat on the back, cleaning his rifle. He was our squad's sniper; and was a long range fanatic. Scope had grey fur, light purple mane and tail, and orange eyes. He wore the same veteran armor we all wore, his helmet sitting next to him on the cart. Scope was the newest addition to our squad; he had just earned his black armor and was still young.

He looked up at us as we approached a brief moment before turning back to his rifle. His head shot up again; his expression one of shock and surprise. He set the rifle down next to his helmet and jumped off the cart an rant to me; covering the distance between us in just a few seconds. This earth pony was faster than some pegasi I knew.

"Where did you get that rifle!?! I've only seen them in books and inventory logs, but never with my own eyes! How old is it? Well, it's pre-war, so at least 200! Does it still use .30-06 rounds? How accurate? Max distance? Ranger, how did you get your hooves on a Springfield!?!" He sent a barrage of questions my way, keeping his eyes inches away from mine. Was he drooling? Brush Fire chuckled and trotted to the front of the cart to get strapped in. Auto jumped into the cart without a word. I guess help with this situation was out of the question.

"My father had it from the Stable. He said it was one of the first rifles made in Equestria, so I'd guess it's old. It has a .308 receiver. Haven't fired it yet. Before you ask; no, you can't. This rifle is a gift from my father and a family heirloom," I said as I walked around him to the cart. He trotted backwards, our eyes still meeting. I felt a little bad, but I had to crush the kid's dreams. I honestly didn't trust myself with the rifle; let alone anyone else.

"B-but that's probably the only Springfield in the wasteland!" he protested, "Can't I just hold it?" The poor kid was pleading. He saw the rarest sniper rifle in the wastes and he couldn't have it. The fact that I was the one who had it was an added insult to an already grave injury. I felt for the kid, really I did; but this wasn't my rifle to give out. I said nothing, walked around him, and jumped into the back of the cart. My silence was my answer.

The cart was empty, which was strange. NCR carts usually had seats along the walls but this had only the wood floor. Auto sat in the middle of the floor shuffling a deck of playing cards. Scope jumped into the cart and sat at the back with a huff, muttering under his breath. I hoped he'd get a grip soon. I sat near the front of the cart and leaned against the wall. The place across from me was distorted from Echagi's stealth field. She removed the hood of her stealth cloak and glared at me.

"You are late," she said. Welp, I'm in trouble. Echagi, a zebra mare with emerald eyes and a long mohawk mane tied into a ponytail behind her ears, is our squad leader. She had the same black combat armor, but replaced the duster with her stealth cloak, and never wore her helmet. She had knives of various shapes and sizes strapped all along her armor. She specialized in stealth and silent take downs. She was twirling her favorite knife around her hoof. Oh yeah, lots of trouble.

I sighed and hung my head in defeat, "I know. I'm sorry. I got held up earlier," I told her. Our mission was in jeopardy because of me; she had every right to be mad. "I spoke to my father in the first time in... a long time. Held me up. Sorry," She stopped spinning her knife and leaned toward me.

"Hmm... You spoke more than usual. And actually apologized. What's on your mind?" I looked away from her. She already knew what was on my mind; why ask? "Ranger, look at me. This isn't the usual dark cloud around you. Something has you in a bad mood, and I need to know if will interfere with the mission," she said sternly. She was right, but I didn't like letting myself be vulnerable; especially around Auto. He'd just find a way to ridicule me about it. Scope wouldn't understand; he had been sheltered in Tenpony Tower most of is life. I was honestly confused why he wanted to be a ranger. Echagi was different though. I trusted her, but not those around us.

"We'll talk about it. Later. Not around others," I told her. She narrowed her eyes at me, "I promise. Before we leave. We'll talk." She nodded at that and leaned back. She pounded on the wall a few times to signal to Brush Fire to get going. Brush lifted us off and moved as fast as she could. The six hour trot from New Apploosa to Camp Dry Sands would be cut down to a few minuets with the sky chariot. There was nothing much to do but wait until we landed.

We all sat around a table in the command tent at Camp Dry Sands. Our focus was on Captain Steel Horseshoe. He was going to be the one to brief us on our mission. He was a former Steel Ranger, had a light gray coat, dark blue mane, and slightly lighter blue eyes. Along with the standard NCR trooper armor, he wore a short camouflaged cape over his right foreleg, and a green beret. He stood about a head and a half taller than me and had a large muscular frame. He was defiantly intimidating and had a scowl that could make your blood run cold in he looks at you with it.

"Echagi, you and your squad are going to be sent to the Commonwealth after a wing of Follower aclicors. The Followers are hoping to make contact with a local organization that are trying to improve living conditions in the area. Reports on the Commonwealth are vague at best, so your team will be going in blind. We know next to nothing about the area. Your primary objectives are as follows; protect the alicorns, ally yourselves with the Minutemares, and make the Commonwealth a better place," that seemed simple enough. Making the wasteland less of a shit hole was my favorite thing to do.

"Your secondary objective is to find out why we can't make contact with the region. Best guess would be to check out the S.P.P tower," that would be more complicated. I could clear out raider bases no problem; but complicated machines and computers? That was out of my league. Scope tinkered on terminals almost as much as he did his sniper rifles. He should be able to figure it out; at least I hoped he could.

"Is there anything you have questions about?" He was met with silence. "Good. Get yourselves to the armory and gear up. After that, you'll be using a Vertabuck to catch up to the alicorns. It will also serve as a means for quick exaction should the need for one arrive. Remember, we don't know what you're facing out there. Prepare for anything. Good luck," he turned and trotted over to some other officers to discuss things that I had no interest in. We all exited the tent and made our way through the maze of other tents and shacks in silence.

"What do you think it's going to be like out there?" Scope asked, trying to make conversation. We had found the shack we were looking for and I opened the door. Auto pushed me out of the doorway and ran into the building. I glared at him from behind my helmet. I pushed the door open and waved the rest of me team through.

"I'm not sure, Scope," Brush Fire responded, "Horseshoe said prepare for anything. He could have sent any ranger squad out to the Commonwealth, but he chose us. I personally think that whatever we decide to bring along would be enough." She patted Scope on the shoulder and took her place in in the small line to see the quartermaster. Auto was already putting on his twin light machine gun battle saddle.

The quartermaster's call of "next!" brought my attention back to the line. Brush Fire had walked up to the old stallion sitting behind a cage. The cage had a small opening to allow him to give the equipment asked for. He was an old unicorn stallion with an orange coat, a greying mane and tail that still had some of its original yellow color, and light blue eyes. He wore simple NCR fatigues. He was walking back with the order that Brush had given him.

"Two 10mm submachine guns, one 9mm pistol, and one custom 12-guage riot shotgun; 200 rounds for each. Look after 'em this time, yeah? I just fixed 'em from last time; three weeks of work. I don't know why you neglect weapon maintenance when you have Ranger that can fix even your guns," Brush Fire was notorious for using her guns as clubs when she runs out of ammo, which was a lot. This lead to a lot of work for me and the gunsmiths. After taking he guns, she walked over to Auto and began shrugging into her battle saddle.

"Next! Well, if it ain't Dirt Mound. Still got your sniper I see. Yeah, yeah, you wanna be called Scope 'cause it 'sounds cooler and fits your occupation' or somethin' like that. Anyhow, you already have your rifle so you still need your back up. One 5.56 markspony carbine comin' up," he left the counter to find the gun while Scope grumbled about name choices. The quartermaster returned shortly with the carbine and ammo. "Same as Brush, 200 rounds each. You come back safe now, nephew. Next!" Scope thanked his uncle and walked over to the others.

"Echagi... Just your pistol huh? You never ask for anything else, even after all these years. I like consistency. Be right back, " he walked away from the counter over to a pistol rack and grabbed the only zebra made weapon in the armory. "'Ere ya go. Since ya hardly rely on it, I'll only give ya 130 rounds. Good luck out there. Next!" Echagi placed her pistol in her foreleg holster and left the line. It was my turn.

"How ya doin', old timer?" I say as I approach. He and Dust used to be drinking buddies. Dust dragged me along almost everywhere with him when I trained under him; especially the bars and taverns. I had gotten to know a lot of Dust's friends, including Muddy Puddle. Muddy used to be a trooper and was a childhood friend of Dust. He was forced to retire out of combat due to old age but insisted that he still serve the NCR; so they made him a quartermaster.

"Well, the silent one speaks! You in a good mood or a bad one? Bah, you ain't gonna tell me anyhow. Ya already have yer Sequoia and ammo fer it; but what's that on yer back, now?" Muddy asked as he noticed Dad's rifle.

"Gift from Dad; uses .308 ammo. Some AP and explosive rounds if you got them. And, of course, my lever action," I told him. His eyes widened at the mention of my father. He was one of the few that knew about my family issues, so he said nothing more on the matter and left the counter to collect my guns and ammo.

"One trail carbine, one .45 pistol; 200 rounds for each plus the .308 rounds for the rifle. I need payment for the specialty ammo, but I didn't have much; only five explosive and 15 armor piercing for 230 caps," shit, that's expensive. I'm honestly surprised that Muddy had any specialty ammo at all. I wasn't happy about the price, but I doubted I'd get the chance for ammo like this in a long time. I counted out the caps and floated the over to Muddy with my magic.

Pocketing the ammo and putting the guns in their holsters, I turned to where my team was only to find Echagi waiting there. "I told them to get the Vertibuck started and ready for take off. While they do that, we talk," she said with enough sternness that showed I had no choice in the matter. I nod and follow her out of the armory shack. She led me to a more secluded area of the base and turned to me. "Well, talk."

I sighed. There was no way to avoid this, so I might as well comply, "After years of fighting with my father about a lot of things, we finally decide to talk things out and make amends. But I have to go to the Commonwealth; a secluded region that we know nothing about for an unknown amount of time. My dad is stubborn. For him to make the first move to making things right between us took a lot of thinking, reflecting, forgiving, and pride swallowing. And I had to blow him off because the NCR are upset that the Followers of the Apocalypse had the balls to head out that way first," I take a deep breath to calm my racing heart, " I'm not happy. I want to stay and make my family whole again.

"Not to mention that few that know about my ties to the Wolf Pack want to put a bullet in my head. The only ones that don't want me dead when they found was my family and you. The NCR doesn't trust me. After years of loyalty and sacrifice, they're waiting for the one slip up, that one mistake, this one reason for them to truly believe that I'd be a threat so they can get rid of me and dump my body in a ditch to be eaten by any hungry wasteland creature that comes across it!" I voice raised as I ranted, eventually ending in a scream. Echagi placed a hoof on my shoulder.

"You know that's not the case. You are to valuable to the NCR to just be thrown away because of suspicion. The good things you've done for everyone in the wasteland outweighs the doubts. You are a good pony, Ranger. There is no possible way the NCR would do something like that. You know deep down that you're just overthinking a lot of things. Will you be OK? I wished I knew about you internal struggles before deployment. We clould have found a repla-"

"NO! No, I'll be fine," I quickly cut her off, "I have a lot on my mind, sure; but I can do this. You're right, I'm just over thinking. I'm not one to let my thoughts weigh on my mind. I'll be OK. The others are waiting for us. We're behind anyway," I say and begin trotting toward the Vertibuck. Echagi Wanted to say more, but she knew what I said was true. We were late enough as it is. We had to go.

Brush Fire had the propellers spinning and ready to take off. I jumped in the open door and took a seat. Echagi entered shortly after me, "Alright, Brush, Let's get going."

Brush nodded and the Vertibuck began to lift off the ground. We'd be able to catch up to the alicorns in now time with this thing. The mission had begone.

Author's Note

Huge thanks to Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria and Crazyperson for allowing me to create a spin off story based in Commonwealth. This one came out a little later than I would of liked because of Destiny 2, but I'll try getting chapters done quicker.