Gearing pulls out a few leather harnesses and straps from one of his bags and holds them up for Handy to see. He’d obviously already been thinking about, and planning about, this for at least a little while. “I’m going to connect you to a couple points on my own equipment harness. That way it’ll not only be easier to hold and carry you, but it’ll be more comfortable for me to do so. Just holding you with my forelegs is fine for a short trip, but after a while your own weight is going to start causing you to bruise yourself against my hide… Like . . . Sleeping on a rock or something.”

Handy looks at him and the harness supplies for a few moments before nodding in approval at the logic of it. “Hey, thanks Gearing. I appreciate that kinda forethought about me.”

Gearing grins then hops over and starts using the straps and things on Handy, quickly wrapping him up in a harness that’d make any cliff rappeller proud.

Swift flutters around them a bit as she watches, and puts a hoof to her mouth as she’s not quite sure which she likes more. On one hoof, they aren’t arguing and fighting each other constantly anymore. But, on the other hoof, they seem to be getting along a little too well sometimes for her liking. Especially recently. And then it dawns on her that it has been happening more and more frequently. This thought makes her have a vivid mental image of a bromance taking place in a workshop while she has to sell whatever crap they make or fix. It is so clear in her mind, the nightmare is nearly a hallucination as she can practically smell the dusty shelves around her.

She gets a shiver down her spine.

As Gearing holds up the last connectors he says, “Okay, these’ll go on, and then we can go-”

Swift interrupts his train of thought as she snaps over, gets between them, and wraps Handy up in a hug as she shoves him away from Gearing by a couple inches.

Both bucks are startled by the random interruption. Handy even more so, but then he smiles and hugs her back as he asks, “What’s that all about?”

Swift slowly turns her head towards Gearing, and scowls daggers at him. The unfiltered hostility causes Gearing to give her a crooked smile in response because he has no idea what could have gotten into her. She squeezes Handy a bit more, making him more than a bit uncomfortable, as she stares at Gearing. “My Husband.”

“Huh?” Gearing asks.

“My Husband… you… you…” Her ears slowly droop as she realizes how absurd her jealousy would sound if she actually said anything about it out loud, and she looks off to the side and says a bit quieter, “You… take care of my husband… don’t drop him, okay, Gearing? Or… I’ll kick your ass…”

Gearing smirks as he tilts his head. “Don’t worry. I won’t drop him. That's what these are for. And if I think he’s going to slip at all, I’ll land as quickly as I can and fix the problem.” He smiles at her and gives his head a light shake. “Don’t worry, Swift. I won’t lose him.”

She stares at him for a moment before turning her attention back to Handy. “You better not.” Then she grabs Handy’s face from where she has been smooshing it into her chest, and gives him a deep kiss. Afterward she flutters away and watches as they finish whatever else Gearing needs to do for them to go.

Gearing walks up and smirks as he holds the straps up again. “Okay, so, are we ready to go, or do you need a minute to remember what words are again, Handy?”

Handy looks at him and grins as he says, “Sure! Super ready!” and just grins at Gearing with the stupefied expression of a buck who has just had his first kiss.

Gearing looks up at Swift, who just motions towards Handy to let him decide. Gearing shrugs, hops over next to him, and attaches the last couple things to him. Then he connects the points to himself and his gear to hold onto Handy as he flutters up and over Handy. He had to be careful given Handy’s pneumatic hammer, but that’s not a complete deterrent. Especially after he makes sure it’s properly secured to Handy. Gearing’s had to grab and carry wonkily shaped things in the past, so this isn’t too far out there for his realm of experience.

And, a moment later, Gearing takes off, straight up in the air, after wrapping his forelegs down and under Handy, just behind his forelegs.

Hovering there for a moment,only about fifteen feet above ground to double check the weight and such, Gearing looks over at Swift for her approval. And, seeing first hoof that he can carry Handy, and all of their equipment, with no real apparent strain, she nods, and then turns to head towards the mountain range that makes up the bowl around Hoofington. And the pair of pegasi quickly start ascending.

As they are climbing up higher, with Swift in the lead, Handy suddenly starts wiggling a bit. “He-hey! When did we start flying!? Why am I flying!? How did you- Why did- Ground. Hooves. Need ground! Dirt yes, air no!”

Gearing chuckles and gives Handy a bit of an encouraging squeeze as he says, “Handy, you’re fine. Even if I let go of you, you’re not going to fall. You’re locked in with the harness on you. And, even if I did let go and that freakishly failed, your wife’s right there and she’ll catch you.” He tilts his head down and to the side and gives Handy a smile where he can see it as he says, “We got you. You’re in good hooves.”

Handy moans a bit as he looks down and the same nauseating feeling quickly strikes again. So he quickly closes his eyes and forces his face in a different direction. “If you drop me, I’m going to curse you with every deity I can think of before I splat on the ground…”

Gearing chuckles. “If you forget, I’m already cursed by a couple deities… And that’s the reason I’m going to be able to haul you to 68, non stop flight. So let’s not bring any more into this, shall we.”

Handy looks at him as he squints his eyes like a distrusting foal. “Promise you won’t drop me.”

Gearing chuckles as he says, “I’m not sure how much you trust me or anything I say… but… I promise I won’t drop you.”

Handy closes his eyes and tries to relax as he groans. “I’ll… take your word for it…”

Gearing chuckles and gives Handy an extra squeeze to let him know he’s actively being held.

After a bit, Handy asks, “So, how long is this going to take? Half an hour?”

Gearing chuckles. “Sorry, Handy, I’m not Rainbow Dash and never will be. It’s going to take a few hours at least.

Handy groans, “I was afraid of that…” There’s a pause before he asks, “What if I have to go to the bathroom?”

Gearing chuckles and says, “Well, you could always do what pegasi do.”

“And what's that?”

“Just find someone you don’t like, and rain on their parade!”

“Really, Gearing?!” Handy asks with his eyes open to their max. “You guys just piss on us?!”

“That’s disgusting, Gearing!” Swift comments as she flies closer and casually takes position to fly off to their side to look at both of them.

Gearing looks over at her and grins as he asks, “What’s the matter? Never just sat on the side of a cloud and let’er fly? Maybe onto some assholes below that you don’t like?”

Swift directs her attention elsewhere as she raises her nose up at the idea. “I use a bathroom when I can, like a civilized pony!”

Gearing laughs as he asks, “Whaaat? Even when you’re feeling kinda woozy and feel something oozey?”

“Don't say it, Gearing,” Swift snaps.

“What?” Handy asks.

“Diarrhea…. Diarrhea~” Gearing replies sing songy causing Handy to facehoof.

“That’s gross. Gross, Gearing.” Swift says as she scrunches up her nose in disgust.

The little pegasus in Gearing’s head giggles, ‘I guess classics live on. She got that reference too!’

“Oh come on, you know it’s fun. Sitting on the edge of a cloud and letting it fly,” Gearing says with a chuckle.

Swift looks at him and gags, “That’s so bad…”

Gearing giggles a bit before he sings out, “Chocolaaate raaaaaaiiiinnn~”

Handy snickers but at the same time groans. Gearing’s not sure if it was an attempt not to laugh that was made even harder by his current cold, or what it was, but it amuses him all the same.

Gearing gives them a wicked grin as he says, “And I'm not talking about some of Discord’s sweet shenanigans…”

Swift flies closer, but flying backwards, as she waves her forehoof at Gearing. “Oh that’s just nasty!”

Gearing shrugs. “Hey, they did it all the time back in the war.”

“Really?!” Handy asks as he looks up at Gearing. “You guys seriously just shit on us? All the time?!”

“Nuh uh,” Swift replies quickly.

‘She’s ruining the fun like she was there. Ruuuude,’ the little pegasus in Gearing's head comments as he gives Swift a dirty look.

“Sure did,” Gearing pipes up. “Where do you think the term ‘pissing on somepony’s parade’ came from?” Gearing asks with a chuckle. “Golden showers!”

“Oh that’s fucked!” Handy blurts as he’s trying to recoil from Gearing, but can’t quite do it at the moment as he is, for all intents and purposes, a captured audience.

“He’s lying, Handy! He’s just fucking with you!” Swift says as she flutters around in front of Gearing. “That’s just a bad rumor somepony started to weird earth ponies out and make them look up!”

Gearing looks at her and grins. “Yeah, but the funny thing is… with them looking up, if any pegasi actually did drop it right on them, they’d get a face full of it at terminal velocity. Right up the snoot!”

Swift gags as she flutters away. “Ooohhh that’s soooo gross, Gearing!”

Gearing giggles as he shrugs. “Hey. It might not have happened that often… but you better believe me that a fly by road apple was a real thing…”

Swift gags again. “There was a senator that got nailed by a swarm of it, wasn’t there?”

The little pegasus in Gearing's head scowls at Swift. ‘Okay, seriously, that was a pretty obscure reference and the Ministry of Image did a good job of burying it like they did anything that didn't show absolute unity between ponies, so what the hell is up with this mare? Where's she getting her information and why isn't she sharing?!’

Gearing nods. “Yeah, asshole was corrupt to the core and was screwing over a group of cloud workers pretty bad. So they staged a protest…”

Handy looks between them and his eyes go wide. “You’re kidding me?!”

Swift gags again. “‘Fraid not…”

Gearing starts laughing hard. “Yeah… Crop dusted him and his whole entourage. And they made sure it was nice and nasty too… One of them was lactose intolerant and spent the whole day up until that point eating ice cream sandwiches …”

Swift puts a hoof to her muzzle as she gags. “Oh god, Gearing, Stop…”

Gearing laughs as he shrugs. “Well, after that, they did put in a few laws about such things…. But, yeah… it was bad enough that it started the whole wive’s tale about pegasi shitting and pissing on the ground bound.”

Handy looks up at him and thinks for a few moments. “Okay, but… really… how did you go to the bathroom, then? I mean, considering gravity?”

Gearing chuckles as he intentionally shifts his eyes around and makes himself look as shady as possible. “A mystery that’ll never be solved…. Muuahahahh.”

Swift frowns as she hovers off to the side. “Handy, pegasi can make things from cloud. Rather solid. Plumbing was all over the place. In fact, far more of the pegasi had access to central plumbing and waste removal than those on the ground did.”

Handy looks at her and his jaw drops. “No way!”

Gearing nods. “Yeah, actually… But, don’t think of it as being too much of us being hoity toity… It really was a matter of necessity, and convenience factors. Because otherwise we’d have to go to designated areas to do the deed. To avoid some poor sod below us getting ‘fertilized’. And then there was also the point that it was relatively easier to install, since cloud excavation is usually easier than ground and rock.”

Swift nods as she adds. “Yeah, and with how fast things were growing and expanding, some places were still set up like old times. So there were towns that had trains going through them on the regular, but instead of centralized bathrooms with fresh running water, they had outhouses… some of the more rural areas had stuck that way too.”

Gearing shrugs as he says, “Basically shitting in a hole in the ground. Not much different than what others had to do. But they chose to stay that way. Right up until the end as far as I know. Which is why pegasi had a near 100% conversion to indoor plumbing. Before most earth ponies had it, at that.”

Gearing tilts his head to look at Handy with a warm smile. “Precisely because we were trying not to shit on our ground bound brother’s and sister’s parade.” Gearing chuckles as he goes back to looking ahead. “I mean, we still joked about it though. But only a few really pissed off individuals with some kinda vendetta actually did it. Hell, it was even considered poor form during the war. Even as easy as it would be to fly over a tench and let’er fly onto those stuck in what might as well already be a latrine.”

Handy looks at him for a few moments then looks over at Swift. “Is he fucking with me again?”

Swift chuckles and shakes her head. “Nah, hun. He’s actually being serious this time. The system made by the pegasi to control their waste was pretty extensive. Other options were to fly to the surface to take care of business behind a tree or something and, really, who had time for that with everything else going on?”

Gearing looks over at her and raises an eyebrow before he nods. “Yeah… true… I mean my house didn’t have indoor plumbing when I was growing up, but that’s because we were out on ‘untamed clouds’ and, really, we didn’t need it. But later on, when I had my own place, they all did.”

Handy looks at him for a moment and asks, “Well… why didn’t you have bathrooms anyway? I mean… for others at least?”

Gearing shrugs as he says, “Like I said, we were out on untamed clouds.” He looks down at Handy. “It’d be the equivalent of some pony moving out to the middle of the boonies and building a log cabin in the woods. We didn’t get visitors often. Except the mail mare. But beyond that if we were going to go hang out with anyone we went to their place or met them somewhere else.”

“Huh” Handy says as he looks at Gearing for a few moments in silence. “So, were you just not a very social family or something?”

Gearing frowns a bit as he says, “Well, my mom was. But… I was really agoraphobic as a foal. Didn’t want to go out or be around anyone. Rarely left the house for a long time.”

Handy blinks a few times before he asks, “Wait… you were scared to go out? As a foal?”

“Terrified, actually,” Garing corrects as he has a bitter expression cross his muzzle that Handy can’t help but notice.

As they continue flying along their route towards the mountain, Gearing and Handy talk the whole way. About various topics ranging from nonsensical to deep. And, of course, with Gearing making jokes or poking fun at Handy and others. All the while doing his best to keep Handy’s attention on him, and not how far the ground was far below. And, with Swift’s help, they manage to do a pretty good job of it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gearing keeps flying in a straight line as Swift flies around giggling like a mad mare. The trip to the mountain range had been rather uneventful, aside from Handy learning more and more about Gearing and the way the world was before the war. But, once they got to the mountains, things started changing.

First there was the group of oversized vultures perched along a ravine that they decided to go through. A crag that had developed between a few of the peaks that turned into a deep crack. They figured that it would both make things a little faster and also keep them lower to the ground and away from the clouds, a thought that Handy very much voted for. But those oversized scraggly birds apparently hadn’t had a meal in a while, judging by how lanky they looked and how some of their feathers seem to fall off all on their own as they took flight after the trio. They weren’t raptors or other types of birds of prey. But, apparently, they were either territorial or just really really hungry. For whatever the reason they started trying to swarm Gearing, Swift, and Handy.

Swift, of course, took her job of protecting the other two very seriously. And even if she didn’t have her honor and pride to worry about, Gearing held her husband. And she very much wanted to make sure that no matter what he wouldn't have anything happen to him that would make him lose his grip on Handy.

So in short order the flying birds started falling out of the air as she zipped around and started clocking them in the head with her power hoof. When nearly half of the birds lay looking like mange infected ruins across the rocky landscape, the rest of them decided to give up on the chase. Morbidly enough, several of them had gone down and wasted no time on eating their fallen comrades.

But at least they seemed to have the common courtesy to only go after the ones that were no longer moving and let the ones who were die in peace.

After that there was the swarm of flying bugs that looked like some horrible cross between a bumblebee, and a wasp, that had drunk some souped up concoction that made them grow in size to be about a quarter size of a pony. And, to make matters worse, they had the life self preservation skills of a rock. Even Swift had a hard time dealing with them. And a few even managed to get through, and thankfully, for Handy at least, they seemed to focus on the overly shiny pony flying away. Several had landed and stung Gearing’s back, only to recoil by the unexpected fact their stingers didn’t penetrate. But that didn’t stop them from trying again as they bit and stung Gearing’s back and wings. And Gearing ended up in the comical position of taking Handy’s sledge from him, and smacking his own back to swat the little annoying pests. Which splatted with a satisfying crunch when caught between Handy’s sledge hammer and his own back. But still the situation left Gearing not very happy. He was smart enough not to trigger the pneumatic part when he hit himself, but he still had bits of dead whatever these things were all over him. One made the mistake of going for his face, and he just bit the stinging creature's head off and spat it at the next one. And, as much as that might have intimidated any other species: These things didn’t care.

Fortunately their flying ability seemed a bit sloppy. And they weren’t very maneuverable. They could fly in a straight line well enough, and they could turn, but doing both at once seemed to be a problem for them. Like their bodies just weren’t designed for those kinds of maneuvers.

So Swift had a field day having a mid air rodeo by dodging them and smacking them from the sky with near miss jabs. But, this became more of a problem and she was definitely tiring out by the time a couple dozen had been sent to the ground below. And, frustratingly to the group, not all of those that fell actually died from the impact. They actually got up and started chasing after them on the ground. And, they realized, in all likelihood the only reason they weren’t flying after them again is because their wings had been crippled.

After they had gotten far enough away from whatever hive they had, the bugs had thinned out enough, thanks to their combined efforts, that they finally stopped having to deal with them. Though that wasn’t for a lack of trying on the part of the insects.

And then there were the bats. Giant bats. Ugly too. And they came after them even though it was broad daylight. As they were flying along, Gearing’s shoulders were giving him a lot of uncomfortable signs that something was wrong. And, most importantly, that he knew on some level they needed to stay away from them. They might just look like oversized fruit bats. But something about them really weirded him out and made his withers crawl. And he wasn’t the only one. Swift ended up having to fly at high speed, bucking and swinging and hurdling in a variety of directions as she tried to knock as many of them out of the air as possible.

After a while of being harassed by the bats, And Swift seemingly almost getting cornered in the air by the flying monsters, Gearing yells at Swift, “I’m just gonna start blasting these fucking things!” And he starts pulling out his large revolver.

Handy reaches up and puts his hoof on the holder as he looks at Gearing wide eyed. “Gearing, please, no!”

Gearing stares at him and waves a hoof at Swift, “They’re trying to eat your wife!”

Handy waves at him. “I know, but, Gearing, I’ve heard that thing go off before. At a distance it felt like it was going to rip my eardrums out. If you fire that thing with my head this close, it might really make me go deaf. Permanently. I’m begging you here, don’t use that damn thing!”

Gearing looks at him and frowns as he says, “And what else are we gonna do? You’re not good with guns and we can’t have you shooting your wife down!”

“Well what bright ideas do you have?!” Handy asks as he looks at him. But then his eyes go wide as Gearing smirks at him. And Handy instantly starts feeling a cold sweat coming on. “I shouldn’t have said anything…”

Gearing yells over to swift. “Let's switch! You carry Handy and dodge these assholes, and I’ll just crush the fuckers!”

Swift pants as she’s zipping around, “I don’t know how much more dodging I can be doing at this rate. These fuckers are relentless!”

Gearing starts undoing a couple hooks from himself as he says, “Just get some leeway, and then charge my way. We’ll pass off Handy and I’ll take out the ones chasing you!”

Swift zips away, with the bats after her, then she arcs around and starts heading straight for Gearing, but then she rolls over, flies upside down, and starts going under Gearing.

Handy looks up at Gearing and he already has tears in his eyes as he asks, “You wouldn’t…”

Gearing quickly undoes the last strap connected to Handy, and smiles at him. “You’ll be fine. We got you.” Then he lets Handy go, but the way he does it with such a casual flick almost makes Handy get thrown back the direction they’d come from and slows his forward momentum as a result.

Handy only has a moment to process that he’s not being held or supported, by anything, before he starts flailing and screaming. And a fraction of a second later, Swift’s sweaty forelegs grab him as he’s suddenly yanked and goes a different direction, as she turns and goes up and behind Gearing.

Gearing flies straight ahead, right in the thick of them and blatantly offering himself as a tempting target to the bats, as he pulls out the new shotgun that he’d gotten from IronShod.

Without even trying to change direction, Gearing points the shotgun in front of himself, and starts unloading with the modern marvel of death and destruction at their tormentors. The large pellets coming out the front end making a cone of death tear holes through the bats without slowing down, blowing several bats into bloody chunks that are barely identifiable with each pull of the trigger. Other bats get pieces of themselves blown off, and still others get a series of holes in their wings making them look like they got in a fight with a paper punch. As Gearing is passing through the wing cloud, with his wings outstretched, he makes no attempt to avoid them.

Mass Augmentation Matrix: Deactivated

Gearing cuts a path through the swarm of bats, his wings slicing through flesh and wing easily as he angles his wings and lets the edge of them do what they do best. And before he turns around, after kicking his implant back on, a good portion of the bats are already falling to the ground. A few turn around and try to get him, a couple others even manage to latch onto him. But, a few stubborn and insistent ones keep chasing after Swift and Handy. Gearing spins around and tries to intercept them as he’s flinging off pieces of other bats that are covering him. One lands on his back, and jerks down with its mouth and sharp fangs sticking out. It strikes home, biting him right on the rear.

And for its trouble it ends up breaking one of its teeth.

The bat, looking absolutely horrified, starts rolling and screaming as its tooth had gotten caught between one of Gearing’s plates and one of his cogs, and then was summarily snapped off by Gearing flinching. The bat rolls off of him, but has enough wherewithal left in it to start flying instead of falling to its death. However, with it no longer on his back and momentarily stationary out of disorientation and confusion, Gearing simply points his barrel at it and blows a good portion of its body off of it with a spray of oversized metal balls. All without actually changing direction from trying to intercept the ones after Swift and Handy.

Gearing screams at them to swing around again, and they do. But, this time, Gearing not only curves with them to try and do a fly by, but starts sending large pellets at the bats once Swift has made enough of an arc that he’s certain he wasn’t going to hit either of them.

“Huh… it’s like skeet shooting,’ the little pegasus in his head comments as the bats, one by one, explode in mid air as they are shredded by the tight clusters of practically ball bearing sized metal shot. Gearing continues on, along with Swift, but can’t keep up with all of her dodging and weaving. And, after seeing that she doesn’t have any of the bats immediately trying to bite her, she angles again and keeps going on the path that they had laid out, and away from the whole flock of oversized toothy bats. Gearing, bringing up the rear, makes a point of sending a few more clouds of metallic death in the bats’ directions to dissuade any further pursuit. And, to their credit, the few survivors decide that they’ve had enough holes in them for one day, and cut their losses as they go on elsewhere to look for easier prey.

After flying a bit longer, and having no further pursuit, they find another outcropping and duck down onto the top of the mountain to rest. Swift needs to rest physically, but Handy needs to rest mentally. And, to help them do so, Gearing flutters around above them as the other two lay down and catch their breath.

As Swift is laying out, trying to melt into the mountain in between some of the sharp rocks, she yells out, “What the hell was with those bats?! I’ve never seen bats like that. They were like… vampire bats, from stories or whatever, but, like, bigger, and meaner, and with huge teeth!”

Handy curls up around a jutting rock. Practically mounting it sideways, as he gives thanks for being able to hold onto solid ground once more. “They made no sense. Nothing about this mountain has made sense. Why is everything around here trying to kill us?!”

Gearing flutters by as he keeps eyeing the large crevice not too far away. “Hey, welcome to the wasteland. Apparently everything sucks on this side of the apocalypse…”

Swift looks over at him and scowls as she stays down and slowly steadies her breathing. “Hey, you don’t get to say that kinda shit. You might as well be a stable pony for how long you’ve been out in it.”

Gearing shrugs as he grins at her. “What can I say, I’m great at adapting to new situations. And most of my life has been fubar, so finding new ways to define ‘fucked up beyond all recognition’ is just new flavors of the same shitty cake mix.”

Swift lets out a groan as she sprawls out a bit more and focuses on her breathing. “I’m covered in bug goo. I’m covered in bat bits… and I’m sweaty and feel nasty… I need a bath baaaad.”

Gearing continues looking around, even activating his SATS a few times and actively trying to target things within range that the system can pick up that he himself hasn’t spotted yet. But, it too finds nothing to target. Except Swift and Handy, which he politely does not take advantage of. He flutters closer to Swift and stays above them as he slowly spins in a circle while he hovers. “Swift, drink something. If you got any Sparkle Colas, drink those. You could also use some calories.” He looks down for a moment as he doesn’t hear her say anything, and notices she’s looking up at him with an indignantly raised eyebrow. “While you’re at it… if you have any spare healing potions, go ahead and start sipping on them. Not just chugging it. It’ll help you recover and rebuild your stamina faster… Take a sip, let it run its course, and then take another.”

Swift flops out more as she groans again. “Thanks mooooom, any other advice you’d like to share with me?”

Gearing grins at her as he says, “Well, since you brought it up… the sooner you get back on your hooves, and can get your breathing and such under control, the sooner we’ll get back to the stable.” He points off to the side where he knows the stable is based on a marker he’s already placed. “If we cut straight that way, we’ll be there in a few more hours. I think we need to go up a bit higher too, at least until we’re on the other side of the mountain range. There’s critters in these mountains that seem to have heard about the apocalypse and decdied it’s their turn to fuck everyone over.”

Handy covers his head with his hooves as he groans. “Not higher! Come on, aren’t we high enough already!”

Gearing continues spinning in a slow circle as he hovers over them. “Yeah, if we didn’t have the mountain to deal with. But we do. So we need to get higher to give us more reaction time for any more of these flying fuckers coming after us… What’s next, manticores taking up residence?”

Handy’s eyes jump open to their max before he asks, “Wait, did you just say manticores?”

Gearing looks at him as he frowns. “Yeah… You know, basically flying lions with the personality of a garbage disposal?” He nods off back towards where they came from. “Heard about it from one of the Halfhearts, apparently there’s been problems with manticores attacking… That’s why they’d shot Nahlah, idiots thought she was a manticore for some reason.”

Handy looks at him for a few moments in silence, then slowly looks over at Swift. “Swiiiift… is he-?”

She cuts him off as she groans, “He’s serious, Handy. I heard the same thing from a couple of the Reapers. And since they used to hang out in the Everfree, if they made it to Hoofington, that means they crossed the mountain range… so…” She lifts her head up and frowns at Gearing. “He’s got a point… dammit…”

Gearing shrugs as he waves around. “I’m not really on the menu, but you two would be unfortunately appetizing snacks if they find us,.”

Handy stares at him for a moment before asking, “Did you know about that before suggesting we went over the mountains?!”

Gearing looks at him and shrugs. “Yes. Yes I did. But with our weapons we’re more than capable of protecting ourselves… As long as we keep. Our. Distance.” He holds up the shotgun prototype as he grins. “Guns might be the most sadistic creation a pony ever dreamed up, but they do have their uses. And knocking a Manticore out of the air is a great one.”

Handy narrows his eyes at him as he lets out a sigh. “That’s your plan?”

Gearing shrugs and motions back the way they came. “Hey, the higher we are, the more effective taking their wings out would be. The higher up, the longer way down, and the less likely they’ll survive the impact. And, really, taking out a wing can be easier and more efficient than kill shots, depending on your target.”

Handy lets out a groan and then looks over at Swift. “What do you think, Swift?” His eyes slowly go wide as he sees her muzzle covered in Fancy Buck Cake crumbs, as she’s sitting there and holding a healing potion that’s definitely seen better days, judging by its lack of vibrancy, with one wing as she has a small collection of empty wrappers in front of herself. The corpses of her latest victims.

Swift pointedly takes another careful sip, and washes down the buck cake she’d crammed in her mouth. “I think I want to get home. To the kids. And a working shower. Thank god we have a functioning water talisman.”

Gearing starts chuckling. “Well… even if we didn’t before, we do now.”

Handy looks up at him and raises an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

Gearing taps on one of his bags as he grins at Handy. “I did some snooping through an industrial building… They had an emergency shower for decontamination. And they used a water talisman for the system. Was hooked up to the rest of it too. So, I took that damn thing before some asshole came along and smashed it or whatever.”

Swift looks at him before asking. “Like those tin heads?”

Gearing nods. “Yeah. So you heard the same thing I did, huh?”

Swift frowns. “Yeah… it’s a real shame, they didn’t used to be so bad. I wonder what happened to make them change so much.”

‘That’s right,’ the little pegasus in Gearing's head agrees. “What the hell happened to them? I mean they weren't exactly Fluttershy, that's for sure, but now their practically heavily armed mobsters that- Heeeeey, waaait a second… there's one of those old references again…’ He rapidly pulls out a list, and then starts quickly adding to it now that he's thinking about it being something to look out for. ‘What’s with this?’

We’ve all got secrets. And we already know a pretty big one of her's. She'll talk about them when she's ready. She's not a target, so we're not prying.

‘But keep the file, right,’ the little pegasus asks.

Of course, Gearing mentally replies.

Gearing shrugs outwardly while looking at Swift, but then starts descending to stand next to them. “There’s no telling. Maybe it’s just outright fear. Fear has a way of doing things to ponies. I can understand wanting to prevent the same atrocities that happened before, from happening again. But, they’re going about it all wrong.”

Swift nods as she sips on the watery potion. “Like hoarding all the good shit for themselves.”

Handy slowly picks himself up and looks over at Swift. “Feeling ready to go yet?”

Gearing looks over at him and his eyes go wide as he asks, “You’re the one asking?!”

Handy looks at Gearing and sighs out a deep heavy gush of air. “I miss my kids, okay? I want to get back and make sure they’re okay. We’ve taken enough risks for one trip. And I don’t want anything to happen to us because we keep getting side tracked. So, yeah…”

Swift waves her hoof as she’s corking her healing potion. “Gimmie a minute and I’ll be ready to take you.”

Gearing shakes his head as he looks at her. “No, if we’re going to make time as quickly as possible, I need to carry him. You are far more maneuverable than I am with what I’m carrying. If we just move at speed, we can avoid most problems.”

Handy looks at him and lets out a long sigh. “High up though, right?”

Gearing looks at him and his shoulders sag as he hopes this isn’t going to be a long protracted argument. “A bit higher, at least until we’re over the mountains, and then, I promise you, we can go a bit lower if you want.”

Handy bobs his head around before he sits down and throws his forelegs around. “Well, shit, fine… As long as you get me back to my bed full of rugrats by tonight, fine. I’ll just deal with it.”

Swift zips over, grabs his face, and smashes it into her chest as she squeals. “I’m soooo proud of you!” She pulls his head out enough to give him a kiss. But, this time she doesn’t do anything to try and stupify him. “The kids will appreciate it. I know I do.”

Gearing walks over behind Handy as he asks,” Ready, you two?”

Swift nods as she chucks the empty sparkle cola bottle she’d just chugged up into the air, and it sails over the edge of the mountain not long after. The loud belch she shamelessly unleashes draws both of the bucks’ attention before she daintily puts her hoof to her mouth. “S’cuse me.”

Gearing lets out a laugh, but as he’s shaking his head and getting the connecting straps ready, they hear the sounds of a crash of glass, followed up with the twinkling of fragments. But, subdued, and only brought to them by an updraft of wind.

Handy looks over to the side and pales a little. “That’s… a long way down…”

Gearing hurries up and starts connecting Handy to himself. “I know, Handy. But, we got your back. Remember? If what we’ve already run into hasn’t made me drop you, then you should know I’m not going to.”

Handy looks at him sideways and purses his lips at Gearing. “But you threw me to my wife.”

“Well… I didn’t drop you though… and that should be the biggest concern…”

“You’re not going to throw me again, right?”

Gearing smiles at him as he wraps his forelegs around Handy and says with confidence, “I promise not to drop you, Handy.”

“Okay, well, tha- wait!” Handy says as his eyes go wide. “I said throw either! Gearing!” He squeals a bit as Gearing quickly takes off, with Handy wrapped up securely within his forelegs.

Swift laughs and carries on not far from them as she says, “Come on Handy. Just suffer through it a bit longer. We’ll be home soon and you can hide yourself in the warm safety of an underground room with a bed. Far away from the mean old clouds.”

Handy waves a hoof at her, but stops and thinks better of it as he would very much like to hold onto Gearing’s forelegs as tightly as he can manage. “Ooohhh just wait till I get you home!”

Swift rolls sideways, looking at him as she smirks. “Oohhh… have some plans for me, huh?” She licks her lips at him and giggles as he starts flushing and getting frustrated at her antics. Then she peels away and starts flying around them as she keeps an eye out for anycreature else that might cause a problem. But, the whole time, they start climbing until they get enough altitude that they don’t have to worry about critters jumping off the mountain and trying to grab them anymore. But, just as Gearing had commented, he actually warns Swift when they had gotten close to reaching the ceiling of what he’d already tested. And, even though they currently can’t spot any more of the thunder rods sticking out from under the cloud level, they would rather not risk it.

Gearing asks Handy with a chuckle, “What is it with mares and trying those kinds of shenanigans? Huh? They’re all the same in that regard it seems!”

Handy chuckles as he looks up at Gearing. “I know what you mean. I mean, I know I give you two guff for what Sable does. But, really, Swift’s just as bad. But at least she has the decency to keep it private… mostly… sometimes…” He shrugs as he starts laughing. “Oh, who am I kidding… My wife’s a little hornball that just won’t leave me alone sometimes.”

Gearing starts laughing and grins at him. “Uh huh. See. I knew it had to be something considering I really doubted it was Nettlekiss’s idea to let Sable have that chassis.”

Handy bobs his head around before he looks to the side, up at the clouds above, as he says, “I mean… even as I told her… who am I to tell somepony else what relationship is allowed. I’m sure there's plenty of others that’d give me a hard time about it if they could…”

Gearing looks at him and then shrugs lightly. “There’s always those trying to force their will on others. That’s apparently not changed in over two hundred years.”

Handy lets out a long sigh as he dares to look down. But instantly regrets it, and quickly goes back to looking up at the cloudy sky above. “Hey… so… you mind answering something for me?”

Gearing shrugs again before he says, “I can try… What’s up?”

Handy carefully maneuvers his forehoof to rub on the back of his head. “It might be a… sensitive topic…”

Gearing shrugs and says, “I promise not to get mad, then. If it’s something I don’t want to talk about, then I’ll just tell you that and as long as you respect that we’re good.”

Handy nods and actually smiles at the offer. But then he asks, “About the Wild Ones?”

“Those fuckwads?” Gearing asks flatly. “What about them?

Handy lets out a sigh and grumbles a bit before he asks, “How could you just do what you did to them? Like that group in the office building? They weren’t hurting anypony… You didn’t give them a chance, you … you just…”

“Slaughtered them on sight?” Gearing offers coldly.

“Yeah, that… how can you justify that.”

Gearing lets out a sigh as he keeps flying along. After a moment he asks, “Which part, specifically, do you have a problem with? Because we’ve both killed ponies recently, so I doubt it’s the concept that bothers you.”

“I’d rather not, if I can avoid it! Even that Bradoak jackass, I tried to get him to just leave, even before I found out he was with the Institute… But, they didn’t leave us any choice in the matter…” Handy says as he visibly deflates a bit. “I just wish ponies were nicer to each other, and worked together, instead of just fighting against each other so often.”

“You do realize the Wild Ones were the ones that shot us down, right Handy? That they were the ones that nearly killed all of us? Including you?”

Handy lets out a snort before he says, “But those couldn’t have been the same ponies, right? Unless you’re saying you recognized them?”

Gearing lets out a sigh as he looks off into the distance. “No Handy. I’ve never seen them before.”

“Then… why’d you … just?”

Gearing keeps pumping away with his wings steadily as he looks off at the horizon in the distance, in the direction of Stable 68. He tries to collect his thoughts and figure out the best way to explain it. But he’s not sure how to make Handy understand.

“Handy, how much do you know about the Wild Ones?”

Handy shrugs. “About as much as you. They’re drugged up psychos that get hopped up on drugs and think it’s a good idea to start using other ponies for target practice.”

There’s a long delay before Gearing asks, “That’s it?”

Handy tilts his head to look at Gearing, but doesn’t really manage any eye contact as Gearing is still focused straight ahead. “Uh… yeah… why? What’s more to them?”

Gearing tilts his head to look at Handy sideways, “You didn’t talk to any of the Freight Cars about them?”

Handy shrugs before he says, “It didn’t really come up. Except that the Freight Cars were going to wipe them all out eventually. That they had a kill on sight order straight from Conductor.”

Gearing keeps flying straight, while giving Handy a single eye. “Did you ever ask why the Freight Cars wanted them dead?”

Handy lets out a sigh before he says, “Gearing, getting into political tiffs is no reason to start killing ponies. I know that probably got all of us a lot of points with the Freight Cars, and probably Big Daddy too… but… pony lives are worth more than that.”

Gearing simply keeps flying for a while as he looks at Handy with a single eye. A few moments later, when Handy thinks Gearing is going to just start ignoring him again, Gearing finally speaks, “I didn’t kill the ones in the office building because we were shot down. I killed the ones around the ambush site, because they shot me down… The ones in the office building, and the others since, I killed because of what I learned about them. And it’s the same reason that the Freight Cars want them gone.”

Handy lets out a sigh before he says, “Gearing, you can’t trust the word of rival gangs…”

Gearing snarls for a moment, actually causing Handy to flinch. “Handy, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! These fuckers are worse than raiders. Not even the diseased bastards are this bad.”

Handy’s eyes go wide, and his mouth drops, before he says,”Whoa… hold on… that’s a bit of a stretch, Gearing.”

“Handy, those sons of bitches had a racket going on. They would kill, chop up, and sell ponies to help support their drug habit. It didn’t matter where they got the meat from. If they could get someone to pay them for it, in money or drugs, they’d do it.”

Handy’s eyes go wide before he says quietly, “You’re kidding…”

Gearing shakes his head slightly. “No. And to make matters worse… They were caught selling tainted meat.” Handy’s blank stare doesn't encourage Gearing much in the way of his understanding, so Gearing says flatly. “They’d kill infected raiders, and sell them off as well… Handy… they are responsible for at least two settlements going raider…”

“You… you have to be kidding…” Handy says with a soft voice.

Gearing shakes his head and goes back to looking ahead. “Afraid not, Handy. And it wasn’t just the Freight Cars that told me about it… In one of the buildings I ended up in… I saw their… butcher shop…” He lets out a sigh before he says, “Handy… they didn’t care about age, race, gender, anything… if they could trade a piece for just one more hit of their drugs they’d do it…” He tilts his head a bit as he frowns. “I’m sure their plan was to shoot us down, then serve you up to whoever they could.”

They fly on in silence for a few moments before Gearing says, “That’s why the Freight Cars want to annihilate them. Some of them lost family to their nonsense. And that’s the reason why I want them all gone. Because, while a raider at least has the excuse of a disease eating away their brain, giving them unnatural cravings, and amping up their aggression… those bastards chose to do what they were doing… They woke up in the morning, rolled out of bed, and decided, of their own free will, that today was a good day to kill ponies and trick other ponies into eating them… They didn’t care who they harmed in their pursuit of their next fix and, because of that, they are a danger to every single living being in existence… So they need to go…”

Handy hangs there in silence for a while before asking, “So, in reality, you weren’t going after them for some sort of vendetta? It wasn’t some personal grudge?”

Gearing snorts a laugh. “Oh. It was personal…” He tilts his head and smiles as he says, “I take it personally when someone thinks murdering random ponies is a good idea, and eating them is fucking hilarious… Just like the raiders, they’re a disease that needs to be removed. But, in a weird twist of fate, they are a disease of their own making. There’s nothing keeping them like that except their own desires.”

Handy steadily deflates as Gearing goes on and he thinks the whole thing through. And the more he thinks about it, the more bitter he gets. Especially at himself.

Gearing gives him a slight shake, which does an excellent job of startling Handy out of his quickly devolving funk. “Handy. Don’t start making those comparisons.”

Handy looks up at him and scowls as he asks, “The hell you talking about?”

“I know what you’d started thinking about. I can guess anyway.” He tilts his head to look at him again. “You’re nothing like them. You know from personal experience what it’s like to be under the influence of that disease. You fought it to the end. And, as far as your addiction, you’ve done an amazing job. I know it’s hard, Handy. I know you’re probably having to struggle with it each and every day. You’ll never be free of the cravings. There’s some treatments that might help, to get rid of some of the physical aspects of the addiction, but you’re always going to have the mental aspect of it. And, as someone who’s seen a lot of ponies fall into the various traps, I feel justified in telling you you’re doing an amazing job. You should be proud of yourself, Handy.”

Handy frowns and looks off to the side as he mutters, “I don’t have a problem…”

Gearing gives him a gentle squeeze. “There’s nothing dishonorable about admitting something you're working on. You’re working on yourself. That is a long term process. But you’ve done what you can for not only yourself, but your family. You’ve done right by them. And you’re trying each and every day. And, honestly, that’s all you can do. So don’t be too hard on yourself for only doing what you can. That doesn’t make sense, does it? It’s not fair either.”

Handy chuckles as he smiles, but his eyes burn with the threat of tears. “Gee, what are you now, my therapist?”

Gearing laughs as he shakes his head. “Nope. Not at all, that’s not a job I’d ever want… I’ve been to enough of it myself though.”

Handy looks at him and asks, “Yeah? How’d that go?”

Gearing starts laughing harder before he says, “Well… I ended up driving one buck to drinking…”

Handy laughs and asks with a grin, “Why, cuz he was tired of your smart ass?”

Gearing shakes his head and grins. “Naaaah… He asked me to unload some of my shit so he knew what I was dealing with… So he could come up with some sort of plan… He ended up cracking open a bottle and directing me elsewhere because it was too much for him to handle…”

Handy laughs, but then he looks at Gearing’s bitter smirk. “Wait… You’re not kidding, are you?”

Gearing shakes his head. “Nah, Handy, I’m not… Most of us that got too close to shit ended up with more than a few screws loose. A few others ended up with the same screws too tight. And, well, they didn’t last long.”

As they are flying along, with Gearing still holding Handy comfortably to himself, he doesn’t offer anymore as the mood’s soured considerably. After a while of traveling in silence, Handy asks, “Can I ask you another one?”

“Sure, Handy, go for it.”

“If the treatment didn’t work… if I went full raider… if I wasn’t salvageable… what would you have done?”

“I would have put you down as quickly as I could once I realized the danger. Then cremated the body. I’m sure Swift wouldn’t have liked it, and it would have caused a huge uproar. But at that point it’s one half brain dead buck versus an entire stable, with foals in it… The math’s not that complicated…”

Handy looks at him for a moment before he asks, “You’d do that for me?”

Gearing tilts his head and looks at him. And sees the complete confusion in his eyes. Not from anger or indignation, but like he’d been offered a once in a lifetime opportunity that he couldn’t believe. Like he’d won a mansion, servants included. Gearing nods as he looks him in the eye. “I wouldn’t want to leave you that way. Not just because of what you could do to others. But… hey… my mind’s one of my few redeeming qualities, and if I lost my mind I’d see it as a horrible way to live too. So, yeah.”

Handy stares at him for a moment, then squeezes Gearing’s forelegs harder. “Okay, then, I want you to promise me something.”

Gearing grins at him as he shrugs. “I’ll do what I can, but I’m only one buck. What’s up?”

Handy squeezes hard onto Gearing’s forelegs more, and looks around, then spots Swift flying about further on up. He stretches his neck a bit and whispers, “I haven’t told Swift about this… I know how she’d take it… but… you know… You’re enough of a bastard, you might just listen.”

Gearing smirks as he says, “Hey, that’s glorious bastard to you, pal.”

Handy smirks, but then it slowly falls off his face. “Gearing. All kidding aside. I still have nightmares about that shit. I- the things I wanted to do. No pony should have to go through that. What I almost did…” He lets out a sigh and closes his eyes. “I have nightmares about waking up, and finding the bodies of my children, where I half ate them…”

Gearing keeps his pace, goes back to looking ahead, but turns an ear so he can hear him better. “That’s… I’m sorry, Handy.”

Handy taps him on the cheek a bit before he says, “Yeah. So… If something happens. If that cure isn’t as full proof as we’d hoped. If I revert, or get infected again… if the worst comes to worst…”

“I’ll put you down, Handy,” Gearing states flatly without giving much other indication of recognition of the rest of what he had said.

“Don’t let me hurt my kids, Gearing. Please. If you gotta beat Swift unconscious to do it, fine, she’s as hard headed as any earth pony mare I’ve met. So you probably will have to. But don’t let me hurt my kids.” Handy asks as he stretches up a bit and tries to look at Gearing in the eye.

“I won’t, Handy. You have my word… If you start going cannibal, and acting like foals are making you snackish, I’ll put you down as cleanly as I can,” Gearing replies flatly.

“You will?” Handy asks with a near sigh of relief.

“Yeah, Handy. Even if you didn’t ask me to, I would,” Gearing replies matter-of-factly.

“Swear to me,” Handy demands as he starts scowling at Gearing. “I don’t want any bullshit platitudes. I want to know if I ever become a threat to my kids that you’ll send me straight to tartarus without hesitation.”

“I said I would,” Gearing replies softly.

“Swear it,” Handy demands again. “Swear it on whatever you actually believe in. God, technology, your own ego. Whatever you actually value, swear to me that you’ll make it happen.”

Gearing tilts his head and looks at him for a few moments. “First, I’m not going to help you commit suicide. If I gotta stick with this bullshit existence, I’m not just going to help some depressed pony out of their own funk that way, get me?”

“That's not funny, Gearing…”

“Do I look like I’m laughing?”

“Fine, whatever. I’m not asking for that. Only if I’m a real credible threat to my foals. If it’s them or me, make sure it’s me. Every time. Swift would try some shit where everyone’s safe, because she’s a bit dumb and with a big heart like that, but she’d lose us all in the process. So… just make sure it’s me.”

Gearing looks at him and frowns for a little while. He looks up and into the distance as he tries to give it some consideration.

“I’m not hearing you swear on anything, Gearing,” Handy comments with a voice that sounds far more concerned than anything.

“Handy, there’s not much I have left to believe in. Everything I knew was gone. I could have sworn on my mom’s life, but she’s already long gone. I could have sworn on my oaths to keep Equestria safe, but that’s been blown to hell. Literally… Any kind of ‘divine’ being can lick my oily golden nut sack… So I don’t know…”

Handy looks at him and asks, “How about on your sense of right and wrong?” Gearing turns his head and looks at him. And Handy gives a faint smile as he snorts. “I mean, I don’t usually agree with the way you just do everything without talking to anyone… but… I’ve learned -I mean I think I have- that you have a very … consistent… ? Code of ethics. You do what you think is right. And while what you do has really irritated me to hell and back at times, I can at least trust you to act on your instincts and your heart. So… Do that… Swear that you’ll use that as a guide, and that if you deem me to be a threat to my foals, you’ll remove it… Just like you’d remove any Wild Ones you come across.”

Gearing lets out a long sigh as he looks around. But then he nods. “Okay, Handy. I promise. If at any time I come to the realization that you’ve turned into a slavering monster, bent on murder and not in control of your own actions anymore… If you’re actually lost to us, I’ll do it. You’ll become just another threat to be eliminated and I’ll do it with extreme prejudice.”

Handy smirks as he says, “Well… that’s a bit much, but I guess that’ll do.”

Gearing shrugs and chuckles. And they continue on for a bit longer before he asks, “So, got any preferences for how you wanna go out?”

Handy raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“I mean, if I gotta do it, you have a preferred way?”

Handy gives him a sheepish smile before he asks, “Would it be cowardly of me to ask you to do it in a way that won’t actually hurt?”

Gearing grins as he says, “Nah… that’s fair… So. But, yeah, I got something for that.”

Handy’s ears perk up before he asks, “Seriously, Gearing? Already? Like, I only asked you to do it a few minutes ago and you’re already thinking up a way to plan my execution?”

Gearing chuckles as he shakes his head. “Handy, I keep a variety of stuff on me all the time. I know what I can do with each of them. I kept it so I can use it. I don’t plan on taking anyone out in particular with it unless it comes up.”

Handy stares at him for a few moments before commenting. “That’s honestly pretty scary, Gearing.”

Gearing chuckles before he asks, “Yeah, well… speaking of scary…” He looks at Handy and gives a sheepish grin. “Any suggestions on how to deal with your wife? So we don’t end up destroying the stable, or whatever, in a fight if it happens?”

Handy deflates a little bit before he closes his eyes and lets his head hang down. “I- I really don’t know. As long as I’ve known her… I don’t know how you’d go about trying to calm her down. Maybe, I don’t know, knock me out, throw me in a medically induced coma and just let me go that way. If we had a stasis pod, maybe that could work too. But, yeah, I don’t know, Sorry, Gearing.” He looks up at him and smirks. “Some battles you're just gonna have to figure out on your own.”

Gearing laughs loudly before he looks at Handy, “Well, fuck you too, Handy.”

Handy looks up at him and grins. “Right back at you, asshole.”

After a few more moments of flight Handy says softly, “Hey, Gearing?”

“Yeah, Handy?”

“Thanks for listening to me about it. And taking me seriously. I know some might try to give me some crap about how not to give up or not to think that way… but... They’ve never been through it- they don’t know- they can’t know… So… Thanks for agreeing to take care of it…”

“Welcome, Handy. Besides… I won’t have much of a choice in the matter… The stable’s got a lot of kids in it and we can’t risk them getting hurt or, worse, infected themselves.”

Handy’s eyes go wide as he moans, “I hope we never run into infected foals… That’ll gut me…”

Gearing readjusts his hold on Handy as he says “Yeah… let's not think about that… I think we both have enough nightmares to deal with without having to add to the fuel for them…”

Footnote:

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Author's Note

The trio finally gets to start heading home, and use the time to have some pretty productive conversations. If nothing else but to distract the poor earth pony from the fact that his hooves aren't anywhere near the ground anymore.

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