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The mare to the left spins around to look where the machine gun fire is coming from as she prepares to return fire herself, and their leader screams out in disbelief, “Stand down! Hold your fire! I said cease fire!”

Multiple bullets whiz right by Gearing, and he side steps, dodges, and pirouettes as he avoids the incoming bullets fired at him nearly point blank. And, to the astonishment of the other two Steel Rangers, Gearing actually closes the distance on the buck on the right before either of them can even tell he’d started moving.

Gearing grabs the buck and lifts him up, power armored suit and all, and slams him down such that the gun that’s still firing is pointed off towards the ground. While holding the buck down, Gearing starts reaching down toward him with a forehoof. Before the other’s can really react, he reaches down and grabs the loading mechanism of the one gun that’s firing, and crushes it, smashing the feeder and a moment later the gun goes silent as it runs empty.

As soon as that bit of work is done, he jumps towards the leader of the trio with unnerving dexterity and trajectory, like a golden bullet. Paladin Granite waves his hooves defensively as he continues screaming, “Whoa! Stand down!”

But, to his surprise, Gearing spins around, stretches up, and catches an incoming strike at him with a metallic clink.

Gearing stares up at Swift and scowls as he screams, “Stand down!” with such a roar that Swift actually flinches from the force of it.

Her eyes go wide as she stares at him, and her eyes slowly drift down to her powerhoof, that Gearing caught and stopped dead in its tracks as she was on her way to deliver a SATS assisted powerhoof swing straight to the center pony’s helmeted head. From her perspective, time had started slowing down right as she got close, as she had activated the attack and was coming in at full tilt. But then she saw Gearing moving in between the two, changing her strike percentage from 90%, to Zero. And he not only blocked the strike, but stopped it, and her, cold. And as SATS ends with the attack failing, she’s left fluttering there as she’s having a hard time coming to grips with what had just happened.

Gearing pushes her away, keeping one hindhoof on the armored buck on the right that he slammed into the ground. “Stand down! Everyone calm your shit and stand down!” He looks off to the distance and screams, “You too! Don’t start any shit!”

Swift flutters back a bit and waves her hooves around as she asks, “Those fuckers had you cornered, and that one fucker started shooting at you, and now you wanna play nice with them?! The hell, Gearing!?”

The leader of the group of Steel Rangers, Paladin Granite, walks over, but doesn’t even try to push Gearing off of the buck on the ground, as he leans down and asks, “Knight, the hell is wrong with you?! I didn’t give you permission to fire!”

“I d-didn’t I-I don’t know what happened!” the younger buck replies with clear fear and confusion even with the modulated voice of the armored helmet.

“The hell you didn’t!” Paladin Granite roars at the younger buck.

A couple ponies start running up, with more seen coming from a distance.

Gearing waves at them. “I got it under control, hold on! This is just a big misunderstanding.” Seeing them still rapidly approaching without any sign of even slowing down Gearing belts out quickly, “Remember what Big Daddy said!”

The Steel Ranger commander stands up, and looks at him, then looks over at a charging group of ponies vectoring in towards them rapidly. And, of course, he can’t help but notice the one floating a massive hammer above her as she has a smile on her face that borders on psychotic glee.

Gearing looks at Paladin Granite and says, “We got a problem here, and if you don’t want to start a war we need to get this squared away now.”

Paladin Granite stares at him and is baffled by Gearing’s actions. He can clearly see Gearing’s marker on his own EFS, and it hasn’t changed even though he’d been shot at. He’s not sure he’d have nearly as much restraint if he were in similar circumstances. But, he’s also no fool and already can see a pretty bad chain of reactions taking place from this if it’s not handled correctly and quickly. He undoes his helmet in an attempt to defuse the situation. With the helmet removed he reveals his aquamarine pelt, with his teal mane cut in a short crop top, and a set of orange eyes that are as thoughtful as they are striking. He sets it on the ground and looks at Gearing as he asks, “I have so many questions right now, but what did you have in mind?”

Gearing looks at the aquamarine buck and points down at the one he’s standing on and says, “I need to access his system-”

“I can’t allow that,” the Paladin says as he narrows his orange eyes at Gearing.

Gearing points a hoof off to the side as he says, “From what everyone else can see, you just attacked me, a Reaper, and right now, there’s a group coming over here to pound you into the pavement.” He waves around and says, “Check your HUD, you’re completely surrounded, this is not going to end up going well for you. And, after they are done with you, and word gets back to Big Daddy, he’s not going to be able to stop the others from stampeding over the rest of your group. It’s going to be war. And just as stupid as the last one I fought in!”

The commander looks up and his eyes go wide as he sees the mares charging their direction are coming in a lot faster than he’d previously thought as they seem to have sped up somehow.

The mare in the set of power armor confirms, “Sir, I saw a lot of markers change to red when those rounds went off… We have a problem.”

Gearing waves at the buck below him. “I can prove he’s innocent of this. But I need to get access to his system and check what the hell just happened.” He looks at Granite and starts working his PipBuck before holding it up for him to see. “I’m a licensed Stable Tec technician under the Ministry of Wartime Technology… I worked on this kinda shit before your last few granddaddies were born. I can do it. I’m not going to fuck with anything. You can watch.”

Granite scowls and looks around as the incoming waves get even closer, and he can see more movement coming in as he hears shouting in the distance.

Gearing leans closer and comments, “I’m not going to try anything. If I wanted to fuck you guys up, I would have just flown off and let those mares turn you into canned pony… This is the right move, soldier. Help me prevent a blood bath and needless loss of life.”

Paladin Granite frowns and looks down as he obviously gives it some thought. And his thoughts are all highly conflicted.

Gearing looks at Swift and points off to the quickly approaching mares and comments, “Go tell those three to slow their roll. We’ll have plenty of time to kick asses, but before anyone does anything fucked up we need to make sure everyone’s on the same page.”

Swift frowns but then quickly zips off without arguing. She doesn’t like it, but, if he’s so sure, she’d rather have things sorted out before they do something that will cause a literal war between factions, as she’d also been made aware of the current truce between the Reapers and the Steel Rangers.

The mare steel ranger comments, “The elders won’t approve…” as she can see Granite struggling to come to terms with where he’s thinking of going.

The buck on the ground chimes in, “And you think they’ll approve of us starting a war with the Reapers? Let him check, I’m fine with it. Hell, I’d like to know what the hell just happened too!”

Granite looks down at him, and the startled expression escapes no one. Except the buck that currently has his helmeted face in the dirt and is being stepped on by Gearing.

Finally Granite lets out a gush of air as he nods and waves at his subordinate on the ground. “Fine. But I’ll be supervising to make sure you’re not trying to sabotage his systems.”

Gearing nods and pulls out a cable from his PipBuck. He squats down next to the buck in question, and plugs his PipBuck directly into the set of armor. And then, to the paladin’s surprise, Gearing pulls out a gem encrusted rod from his saddle bag and gets to work on the systems of the power armor. Gearing comments as he starts using the master key on the equipment, “Remember the situation and who I am associated with, and don’t let your tech grubby ways get the better of you…”

The commander doesn’t say anything.

The mare doesn’t say anything.

The buck in question moans, “Do I even wanna know?”

““No.”” Gearing and Granite reply in unison.

Gearing starts digging through the system files looking at various things, then can’t help but scoff. “Wow… really got the short straw on this suit, didn’t you, kid?” He types out some more before he comments, “You’re still running the T45A0.85 firmware on this? Wow. Why would they do that? Did no one think to upgrade it or something? That’s just asking for problems. I mean its repair matrix was known for- . . . Wait a second…” He starts lifting the buck up ,and the buck helps him, but gets thrown off as Gearing makes a point of pointing the one barrel towards the ground. He looks at the system operating the gun and suddenly facehoofs so hard a clang echoes out into the wasteland. “Oh for fuck’s sake!”

He reaches for the weapon, but Granite quickly puts a hoof to stop him. “Stop. What are you doing?”

Gearing looks at him and replies. “He’s a walking reg violation. That’s what. That weapon needs to be removed.”

Paladin Granite shakes his head as he gives him a stern look. “I can’t let you do that.”

Gearing glares right back at him. “And I can’t let you take him anywhere with this suit of armor with that weapon still attached. So either I remove it from the assembly, he walks out of here without the entire suit of armor… or-” He points off to the side where a group of ponies have assembled, and they have spread out with full intentions to charge in at the smallest of provocations. “Option three is them stomping you into the ground then going to your base and doing the same there. Be smart. I’m not trying to take the weapon. You can take it with you. In fact, I insist you take the fucking thing with you. Get it away from me, and everyone else, and then when you get back to your base find out who the fuck is supposed to be providing maintenance on these systems and have them thrown in the brig!”

Granite’s eyes go wide as he asks, “What’s wrong?”

Gearing points at the light machine gun on the side of the downed buck. “The repair matrix on this firmware is known to have some problems with the code. I don’t understand how someone hasn’t caught this by now. But, sometimes some… ghost code… wonky… shit… happens…” He looks at the paladin and rolls his eyes before he says, “Blame Discord if you want to with how chaotic it seems, but no one was ever able to explain it. Or what really causes it. But, basically, something with the code gets screwed up and causes things to repair wrong. In this case it seems to have made the gun have a hair trigger that would call a piece of paper fat. And it musta triggered and got stuck when he moved wrong suddenly. You’re all really lucky he wasn’t walking through a populated area when it happened.” He points at the gun as he says, “Repair matrix are only as good as their code. And this one has a bug in its software that causes code overflows that start screwing shit up after a while. If it’s cleared and reinstalled often enough, you can get by with it. But if you leave it long enough, it causes a problem. That’s why most of them were either mothballed or given the upgraded firmware.”

Granite looks at him and asks with a raised eyebrow, “So, you’re not going to try and keep the gun?”

Gearing shakes his head. “Don’t want it. Trust me, I have far better weapons at my disposal than this thing.”

The paladin sucks his teeth before he nods. “Fine. Remove it, while I watch, and then immediately give it to me.”

Gearing nods. “Fine.” He quickly goes about it, taking the gun apart as he’s taking it off the system. And, after putting it back together, off of the mounting system, Gearing holds the weapon out for the aquamarine stallion. He takes it, looks it over a bit, then puts it onto his back where it locks in place with some attachment system he has built onto his rig. Then Gearing holds up a wing, and the buck stares at the end of it as there’s a single small rod of metal being displayed.

Granite looks at it for a moment, and then scowls. “Is that…”

Gearing nods, and holds it closer to the armored buck. “The firing pin. Take this however you want, but I don’t know you. I don't trust you. And I damn sure don’t trust your superiors. I know there’s no stopping you from putting the weapon back on after walking away. If nothing else because it’d make it easier to carry. But if you put this pin back in, and he has another weapons malfunction that hurts some innocent bystander, I don’t care what Big Daddy says, I’m sweeping the interstate all the way to Fillydelphia with your face… understand me?”

The steel ranger leader carefully takes the pin, then sticks it inside one of his pockets on the side of his suit of armor. “You don’t have to worry about that. Despite what many think of us. We’re not looking to kill just anyone and everyone we run across. We’d prefer to protect them if we can… I hope you understand that.”

Gearing looks at him and sighs. “And I hope you understand that if you all used your technology to improve the wasteland… we’d all benefit from it… And, frankly, I’d have no problem with helping you do so. But, things being as they are…”

Granite waves him off as he straightens up. “No. You don’t have to say anymore. Certain members of our organization have certainly done things to damage trust.” He motions towards Gearing. “Frankly, I’m surprised by the restraint you’ve shown today. And thank you for that.”

Gearing nods as he says, “I try to keep in mind the consequences for my actions. And, in this case, I knew it was an accident.”

The commander’s eyes go wide, and he starts waving at him. “That’s another thing! How’d you realize it so quickly without anyone saying anything?”

Gearing holds up a hoof as he says, “Let me get the others closer and we can all settle this mess. Without bloodshed.” He looks over to the side, towards the group of mares not far away, and motions for them to come closer. “Hey, Swift, have them come over, I wanna explain what happened.”

They stroll up, with the group keeping their fanned out positioning, almost enveloping them. The mare with the oversized mallet mindlessly twirls the massive thing as she looks between the Steel Rangers and Gearing. “So, is there a reason we’re not playing hoofball with their helmets now?”

The mare in the steel ranger’s armor lets out a snort of annoyance, but has been able to read the room enough to realize it’s better for her to keep her mouth shut.

Paladin Granite, despite his rank, is prudent enough to look over at Gearing and defer to him to make the persuasive arguments needed to keep this from blowing up in all of their faces.

Gearing points at the buck on the ground, who hasn’t moved an inch since the last time he was physically manipulated by Gearing. “There was a weapons malfunction. That’s what caused the discharge. He had no intention of shooting me. It’s all a big misunderstanding.”

Swift flutters off to the side as she snorts. “Some ‘malfunction’ he unloaded half a magazine at you.”

The mare with the giant mallet stares at Gearing, but keeps a rather neutral expression on her face. “I’m going to need a bit more than a ‘weapons malfunction’ to justify this clear breach of the truce…”

Gearing waves his forehooves to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, just listen for a second.” He helps the buck that he had been standing on back up to his hooves and points at his empty weapon spot, then over at the paladin’s back where the missing weapon sits. “That’s the weapon that had malfunctioned. I already removed it. And they are going to carry it back so it can be looked at and no one will get hurt in the process. I actually know what caused the problem, but… out of respect for them, I won’t get into that with you.” He looks the others over before saying. “It’s a pride thing… leave it at that…” He shakes his head then points at the buck. “They had zero intention of attacking me. In fact, his commander not only tried to stop him after it started, but did not in fact even try and stop me after I had immobilized him and directed the weapon’s fire elsewhere. Which also speaks to their intentions. And, I would like to point out, even though he unloaded so much ammo, and at close range, I wasn’t hit even once.” Gearing starts turning around, showing his wings and flaring them out. “See, not so much as a chipped crystal. He entirely missed. But that’s because he wasn’t aiming at me. His system didn’t help him adjust anything. And that’s because the gun just fired towards wherever the barrel just happened to be pointing at the time.”

As they are looking at each other trying to figure out if it makes sense, Gearing continues, “And, to answer your question,” Gearing turns towards Granite, making a point of being loud enough that everyone can hear. He holds up his PipBuck for all to see as he continues, “I have a Pipbuck. My EFS was active the entire time. Frankly I was expecting trouble. But, he did not go red before the rounds went off. In fact, none of them have. And while some of you right here, right now, want to kill them for what had happened, I want everyone to chill the fuck out.” He straightens up as he says, “No harm was caused. The problem has been solved. And I want everyone to know, that while we would be entirely justified in retaliation at this point, from most creature’s perspectives anyway, we are an honorable group! And just as Big Daddy has demanded, we will not violate the treaty.” Gearing turns towards the paladin and stands up straight as he stares him in the eye. “This wasn’t intentional and isn’t a violation. And I’m not going to be -tricked- into being the one causing one. So let everyone know that it wasn't the ‘wild degenerates known as Reapers’ that broke the treaty… And we won’t.” He gives a malicious grin as he says, “Apparently we’re the more civilized ponies around here…”

To this, the others standing around start roaring with laughter as Granite’s eyes go wide at the declaration. He stares at Gearing for a bit as he slightly narrows an eye, but then has a bit of a realization before exchanging slight nods with Gearing. Then he glances at the others, and he slightly dips his head as he says, “Thank you for your understanding and … help… in resolving this matter.”

Gearing points off to the road from where they’d come as he says, “Yeah. Well. I highly recommend you escort this buck back to wherever you have your base at, so his equipment can get looked at. And, while you’re there, kick the flank of whatever quartermaster you have that allowed this out in the field in the first place.” He shakes his head as he scowls. “Oughta be court-martialed, Ranger.”

Granite nods and puts his helmet back on. And after fastening and securing it back onto himself he says through the speakers, “If you ever change your mind… I’m even more convinced we could use you.”

Gearing waves it off. “I’m flattered, really, but until you guys change your stance on technology and your fellow Equestrian citizens, my stance isn’t changing… I swore an oath to them, and I mean to uphold it. Get back to me when you stop being a buncha techno grubby xenophobes, and start putting up water stations with the talismans you pilfer, instead of smashing them. Once you start doing what Apple Jack would approve of, then we can talk.”

Granite nods his head with a resigned sigh, waves, then starts leading his group away. But, this time, the buck with the missing gun is put in the center of the formation and it almost looks like he himself is getting escorted off the field.

The other ponies that had come for an expected fight watch them leave, and a few even kick rocks or debris in frustration as they snort. One mare actually flops down on her rear, folds her forelegs across her chest, and simply scowls at the retreating steel rangers as she obviously hopes they’ll start something, but to her great disappointment they do not.

And once they’ve gotten a bit away, the mare steel ranger comments, “If he’s a prewar buck in the army, I wonder if he knew Elder Steelhooves…”

The buck with dirt caked to his helmet snorts and replies back, “Maybe we can ask him next time we meet… After this embarrassment wears off enough that we can show our faces to him again.”

Paladine Granite grunts in agreement. “I wouldn’t bet on it. It’s a big world and not all prewar ponies knew each other. But with him being in the military…” After a few moments of silent contemplation he adds, “I’ll check the archives when we get back. See if there’s anything about that soldier.”

The mare with the giant mallet walks up and casually lowers the mallet onto the ground as she stares at the backs of the leaving Steel Rangers. She rests against the handle as she turns and stares at Gearing. “Was that real, or were you just trying to prevent a bloodbath?”

Gearing looks at her and grins as he says, “If they were really trying anything with me, I woulda taken out their leader first and used his gear to turn the others to bloody scrap… I already had one down… do you really think I needed any backup to take out the other two? When I was already at that distance?”

She grins back at him and tilts her head. “Not at all. I’ve heard a few things about you. It’s why I didn’t just start playing whack a tin head…”

Gearing nods as he says, “Well, thanks for running in to help anyway. And, sorry to disappoint you all.”

She shrugs. “Eh. It’s what we do, look after each other. And as far as the bucket brains, don’t worry about that either… Eventually they’ll fuck up and start something with us. And then we’ll be all over them and their precious little base. It’s coming. There’s more and more of the ones wanting to expand out and get rid of ‘the tribals’ so they can take our resources. Not just technology. And when they try that, we’ll have plenty of flanks to kick.”

Gearing nods as he looks around. “Yeah, but it ain’t starting here. And it ain’t starting with me. I’ve fought in a war before. I’ll do it again if I have to. But I’m not going to be the one responsible for that kind of widespread misery.” He looks at her and smirks as he says, “I won’t start it, but you better believe I’ll finish it…”

She grins widely and offers her forehoof, which he dutifully bumps, as she says, “Spoken like a true Reaper.” She looks from Gearing up and to the side at Swift, and then back to Gearing before nodding towards Swift. “Speaking of… That was a ballsy move stopping her strike like that. I’d wondered what would happen when an unstoppable force meets an unyielding presence. Now I know.” She laughs as she starts twirling her over-sized hammer around effortlessly.

Gearing looks up at Swift and gives her a sheepish smile as she snorts and looks off to the side.

Swift waves her hoof around as she says, “Well, I wasn’t aiming for Gearing. I was aiming for that tin headed asshole in the center. I didn’t expect Gearing to step in between us… so…”

Gearing looks at the giant mallet wielding mare and waves it away dismissively. “She pulled her punch at the last second, that’s all that was about…”

Swift’s cheeks puff up before she starts flailing around with all of her legs. “No I didn’t, don’t even lie like that!” She shakes her powerhoof at him as she yells. “I was locked in with SATS for the attack, there was no pulling anything you just- just- just intercepted it like a hoofball toss!” She flutters around a bit as she looks Gearing over and asks, “Just what the hell are you to take a blow like that?! I heard of playing hardball and high speed catch but that was ridiculous!” She gets closer as she asks, “Be honest for once, did it even do anything to you?”

Gearing holds up his hoof and shows a couple indents in the bottom of his hoof. “I didn’t simply stop it dead. That would have been dumb. I caught your powerhoof and lowered the damage by extending out the impact time. Some of my gears aren’t happy with me right now, but it kept both of us from breaking our legs…”

Swift’s legs dangle down in the middle of the air as she grumbles and stares at the miniscule marks on his forehoof. “That’s all?!” She hangs her head. “Yeah, right… breaking your legs… uh huh…” She straightens up and points at his head. “It took a building dropping on your head to give your ear that little twist to it, so don’t give me that!”

The mare with the mallet laughs as she keeps casually swaying her hammer around. “Yeah, I’ve heard about how hard headed he is too. Be glad you didn’t try and clock him, might have actually hurt yourself!”

A few laugh as Swift looks at her with her mouth pursed to the side.

“Already did that… didn’t do much then either…” Swift mutters.

The laughing intensifies with Gearing giving a shrug of his shoulders and not saying anything else about it. But the smug grin on his muzzle says enough.

Handy finally catches up to where all of the excitement has been going on the last few minutes, but not much more than at a fast trot. He looks around as he tries to size everyone up. “Hey, Swift, you took off real quick, what was that abou-” he stops as he sees the mare with the oversized hammer, and his eyes go wide and his mouth drops open for a moment as his eyes practically molest her weapon. “Niiiiice hammer!”

The mare looks at him, and raises an eyebrow as she tries to figure out if it’s some sort of innuendo or something. Because his tone is quite lusty in nature.

Gearing waves towards Handy and laughs. “This is the friend I’d told you about that also has a thing for hammers…”

Handy pulls his pneumatic sledgehammer off of his back and twirls it around before standing it on its handle, head side up, for them to see it. “I’m more of a fan of the pneumatic style. Increases impact damage without having to seriously increase weight. Which means I can carry it around a lot longer without having to worry about being too tired to fight with it.”

The mare looks it over as she seems to appreciate the design. But then she grins, and floats over her massive mallet for him to see closer. “Well, you could always just train more so the weight isn’t so draining for you.”

Handy raises an eyebrow, and Gearing laughs. Gearing looks at Handy and comments, “I think she just told you ‘Git gud noob’.”

Swift curls up in the air and laughs while holding her stomach.

The little pegasus in Gearing’s head looks at Swift and raises an eyebrow as he asks, ‘She got that reference?’

Handy looks at him and raises an eyebrow as the reference clearly entirely goes over his head. “I don’t get it.”

Swift zips over and wraps her hooves around his neck as she gives him an oversized smooch on the side of the cheek. “Wook at youuu bin shooo keeeyyy-yooot!”

Gearing chuckles and leaves the two to their strange little bickering ways as he looks over at the mallet wielding mare. “What brings you all out this way anyway? Something up?”

The mallet mare shakes her head as she says, “Nah. We’d just decided to go get some exercise and make a run to Megamart for some things while we were at it.”

The grumpy mare that’d stared at the backs of the steel rangers until they were well out of sight comments, “Been some complaints about fuckers messing with the caravans too. So keeping an eye out for that while we're at it.” She hops up and kicks a can making it go soaring a far distance away. “What’s a mare gotta do to get some action around here?! Even the raiders seem to be scarce!”

Swift looks over at Gearing and asks, “Been busy again, Gearing?”

They look over at Gearing and he shrugs as he says, “Not around Megamart… but… you know… I see them, and I need to fix it so I don’t anymore…”

This earns a couple chuckles from the others around before the one grumpy mare shrugs her shoulders and smiles as she says, “I can’t really blame you… snooze you lose, I guess.”

The mallet wielding mare looks Gearing over before she asks, “What are you doing out here anyway? Didn’t think you’d be the type to be picking over hand-me-down scraps.”

Gearing shakes his head as he laughs. “Nah, I was just out here waiting on these two so we can go.” He waves back towards the Freight Car’s territory before he says, “We’re making a trip home. I gotta drop some stuff off, and I got a lead on some kit I want. So I’m going to take care of things on that side of the mountain range.”

She sets the mallet head down rather abruptly and leans on the handle as she asks, “You trying to run away from Big Daddy or something?”

Gearing snickers and shakes his head. “I have a feeling he’s the kinda buck I could make a trip to Roam and he’d still manage to find my shiny ass. No. Besides, the first time I met him was down at Megamac, which ain’t far from my place, so don’t worry, I’ll still be around.” He grins wider before he finishes, “Being a pain in the ass.”

The mallet gets hefted up, and spun around within its owner's magical field a bit as she looks at him. “Well, that’s good. Because I’d hate to have to track you down and smack some sense into you.”

Swift looks off to the side as she snickers. “You’re gonna need to bring a bigger mallet…”

To this most of them laugh, except Handy, who’s more than a little put off by the casual violence comments.

Gearing turns and starts heading towards where he’d stashed his bags of equipment. “I’ll be around. Don’t worry. And Big Daddy already talked to me about showing up often enough that people know me.” He stops and looks back at her as he grins. “Don’t worry about that… folks will remember what I do, even if they don’t know or remember me. And I’m fine with that.”

The mare that had kicked a can off into the distance, sends a rock on a cosmic journey to join it with a powerful kick before looking to the mare with the mallet. “Alright, since there’s no action going down around here, can we go ahead and head in? I got a craving for some Sugar Apple Bombs and a Cherry Sparkle Cola…”

The mare with the mallet nods as she starts turning away to lead the way towards Megamart. But she stops after a few paces and calls towards Gearing as he’s reemerging from around the shipping container with his bags. “Don’t stay gone too long… I wasn’t kidding about things with the Steel Rangers heating up. I have a feeling it’s going to be sooner than later. And we could use another flank kicker on our side.”

Gearing joins Handy and Swift, setting his bags down so he can attach them to himself correctly. He calls back to her as he starts strapping bags to himself. “Don’t worry. Shit with them kicks off, I know more than a few weaknesses in their armor. If they want to make themselves enemies of the citizens of Equestria, they’ll be treated as such…” He grins as he says, “I could always use more spare parts anyway...”

The rest of them roar with laughter as they continue on to Megamart with the mallet wielding mare giving a nod of approval towards Gearing before heading off.

Handy looks at the retreating ponies, and then at Gearing as he asks quietly, “Are you seriously going to come back up here and fight in their war?”

Gearing looks at Handy and narrows his eyes. “Handy, if it happens, it won’t be their war. It’ll be everyone’s war.” He leans closer to Handy and practically hisses at him. “From what I’ve heard, I wouldn’t put it past the bastards to start breaking into stables and killing their occupants. And if that shit starts… well.”

Handy snarls and snaps as he says, “They try that shit and we’re pounding their head straight out their ass!”

Swift’s eyes go wide as she sees the sudden, and violent, shift in Handy. She lets out a sigh before she says, “Handy. I approve the sentiment. But, please, don’t work yourself into a froth. We’ll be getting involved before they can come knocking on our door. So no need to start panicking.”

Handy looks at her, and blinks a few times, and his eyes soften a bit. “Uh, yeah… sorry…” He pulls out a cloth and blows his nose. “The kids… you know?”

Gearing looks at him and shakes his head before looking at Swift. “Okay, Swift, we need to have a conversation.”

Both Swift and Handy look at him, with Handy obviously looking a bit perturbed about apparently not needing to be part of whatever conversation Gearing wants to have with Swift.

Gearing points over where they need to go, in the vague direction anyway, before he starts, “So, we’re a long way off. We don’t have the sky wagon anymore. Those asshole Wild Ones ruined that for us. So we have two options… going through the mountains, using the tunnel system that Sable and the others went through, or …” He looks over at Handy and gives a sheepish smile. “Over… the mountains.”

Instantly Handy gets what Gearing is saying and his eyes jump to their widest before he starts waving his forehooves around for a time out. “Whoa, no way, we’re not flying!”

Swift looks at him, then over at Gearing and lets out a sigh. “Okay, this is going to be a debate… So, what way do you think is the best way, Gearing?”

“The tunnels! Obviously the tunnels!” Handy says with a scowl.

Gearing looks at him, then lets out a long annoyed sigh. “Actually, I think our best bet is to fly there-”

“No!” Handy objects.

“Handy, just let him finish first before you start pissing yourself, please,” Swift says with a sigh as she looks at him sideways.

Gearing looks back and forth then says slowly, and calmly, “We are waaaay behind schedule from when we were supposed to be back. The whole ordeal with waiting for, then tracking down, Lodestar, and the whole nonsense with the tunnels getting the data for him… We’re way behind what we should be. We don’t know what the condition of the tunnels are. It could take a lot of backtracking and other nonsense to get through. But if we just fly over, zip right over, we should be able to fly straight there, without having to really stop unless we want to. And with us flying, we can be there today… If we take the tunnels, I can’t guarantee how long it’ll take us to get through. It could easily take days… a week… and I don’t want us being gone that long. We need to get back. To check on the stable. On the kids. And then making plans on going to the other stable to get the equipment we need to get our stable fixed up for the long term.”

Handy frowns as he sits down and crosses his forelegs across his chest as he groans. “… O-okay… that’s fair…” He waves his forehoof at Gearing. “That’s a fair point… but- But… But without a wagon, what do you think we’re gonna do?” He waves a hoof over at Swift. “You expect my wife to carry me? The whole way?”

Gearing grins at him as he says, “No… I expect -I- will be the one to carry you the whole way… While your wife plays wingmare and helps keep an eye out and if anything attacks us she can hold them off while we make it to ground so we can all fight if need be.”

Handy’s eyes go wide, and his foreleg goes a bit limp, as the entire thought starts playing out in his mind’s eye. And he doesn’t like it. Not one bit. Not least of all because his biggest excuse, his wife’s own limitations, has been sunk by pure logic. The plan makes sense. Even he admits it. And he hates it. And both his heart and his mind are united as they cry that a pony’s hooves shouldn’t leave the ground.

Swift’s face lights up as she’s obviously enthused with the idea. “You mean you get to play packmule, and I get to fly around and fight? All I want? Really?!”

Gearing looks at her and half smiles and half frowns, as he’s trying not to smile and laugh about her obvious excitement at the idea. “Yeah, Swift. That’s my thought.” He points over towards Handy as he says, “His added weight won’t really slow me down much. If you carry him, we’re going to have to make a few pit stops at least. But this way, you can just casually fly around and I’ll go as fast as I can. With your speed you’ll fly rings around me no problem, and probably without breaking a sweat.”

She rubs her hoof on her chest and then looks at it as she grins. “Yeah, I’m pretty awesome, aren’t I?”

Handy looks at her appalled, Then at Gearing. He waves a hoof at Gearing as he says, “No fair, Gearing, using her ego to get her to agree with your plan!”

Gearing looks at him and smiles as he tilts his head. “But, I can’t help but notice, you didn’t say it was a bad plan…”

Handy slaps his hooves over his eyes as he groans. “No… it’s not… and I do want to see the kids… I miss the way they like to ponypile me when I’m trying to go to sleep…”

Swift leans over and gives him a light kiss on the cheek. Handy removes his forehooves from his eyes and looks at her as he still frowns. She puts a hoof on his shoulder and says, “Handy, with us manually flying, and not having to haul around a vehicle, we can get around more easily. Can be more maneuverable. And, actually, we can get closer to buildings without drawing as much attention.”

Gearing raises his forehoof. “I would still prefer to fly higher than that, especially around buildings…. I don’t want to be flying by a building only for some asshole to blast my wing off with a shotgun and make me drop a hundred feet to the pavement or more… That shit sucks…”

Handy’s eyes go wide as he says, “Sucks right, that’d kill me!”

Gearing shrugs as he says, “Won’t kill me. But I’d hate it. Especially if you get killed in the process.”

Swift looks between them and then scowls. “Look. I’ll lead the way, and keep an eye out. We have a pretty good idea of the ceiling that’s fair game to fly through. Plus we can just avoid buildings and certain areas entirely. We’ll zigzag when needed and avoid fights. But I’ll lead the way so you won’t have to worry about it. And with it just being us we’ll be harder to spot from the ground… Right, Gearing?”

Gearing nods as he says, “Yeah, in fact, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to fly higher. Earth ponies don’t look up nearly often enough, and even if they do, they don’t pay much attention to tiny dots in the distance even if they do see them. So, in general, we’re safer the higher up we go.”

“Until we get roasted by the lightning rods from the assholes above the clouds,” Handy comments dejectedly as he hangs his head.

Gearing waves his forehoof. “We’re just a couple ponies flying. We’re not a threat. And I’ve already flown quite high without you all around, and nothing happened. No lightning. Not even a scouting party coming down to see what the hell I was doing. They seemed content as long as I stayed on this side of the clouds. To be fair, I have spotted several lightning rods in this sector. And I’ve been avoiding them. So, whatever I’ve been doing, seems to work. So I promise we won’t push anything more than what I’ve already done. No point in anyone else risking getting fried by that much voltage.”

Swift nods as she points at Gearing. “See, the crazy bastard already went and tested it for himself, we'll be fine.”

Gearing nods as he grimaces. “It went far better than the test on the bridge to The Core near Chapel, that’s for sure.”

This reminder actually makes Handy grimace as he realizes the kinds of risks Gearing must be taking on his own just to find out what’s safe for everyone else. And, after thinking about it for a few more moments, he lets his head sag as he relents. “Okay… fine… I’ll let you carry me around like a sack… but… could you at least not do anything crazy? As smooth of a ride as possible? If you start getting all crazy and wonky with your flying around I’m likely to throw up on you…”

Gearing laughs as he nods. “I promise. I’ll keep it as straight and steady as I can manage it and only do any evasive maneuvers if absolutely necessary… No joy rides this time.”

Handy puts his forehooves together in a solemn prayer and smiles at him. “Please and thank you…”

Gearing puts a hoof on Handy’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you. Now, come on, let’s get you rigged up so I can carry you easier.

Handy looks at him and raises an eyebrow as an unpleasant tingle runs down his spin. “What do you mean ‘rigged up’?”

Footnote:

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Author's Note

First dust up with the Steel Rangers ended amicably, and a war as been prevented for now, but things behind the scenes obviously aren't going to let things be for ever.
And now the trip back over the mountains looms ahead.

* * * * *

Hey Everyone,

Over the years I've had quite a few ask me about ways to contribute, and urge me to get accounts so that folks who want to support my work can do so. I'd been leery about it this whole time. And in fact I actually made both accounts quite a while ago. The Patreon account was made in 2019, and the ko-fi account was made in 2022, but I only just now actually activated them and made them live. I just don't want to be a leech. But at the same time, it's been explained to me that it's quite unfair of me to so thoroughly turn down the generosity of folks that just wish to see me succeed with my work. I never thought of it that way, and I apologize for anyone that felt slighted by my constant refusals.

The reason why I have both methods, is so that those that wish to give a single one time amount can do so, without having to worry about any ongoing obligations or having to manually stop them. And that's through Ko-fi.

And for those that wish to give over time, and / or get access to other bits of work, that option is available through Patreon. So between the two that should have everyone covered.

Except the ones that want to tip via crypto. I still haven't figured out how to set that up yet. So if that's something you're interested in doing and have ideas on how I can implement it, please drop me a message so we can talk about it.