Chapter 39 New Friends, Old Foes

“No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.”

― Mary Shelley

Vertibuck, Undisclosed location, NCR Territory: Ginger Snaps

The last few days we were at Harness went rather fast for all of us. The entire team pitched in to help the aircrew. While it may not have been the most skilled, we could at least grease bearings, cut off torn sections of metal, and assist by hoofing their wrenches to them.

On our final day there I got a chance to see our kin there one last time. Before we left, Laura Lee and Milo, both took me aside and Milo told me, “Be careful out there. Remember, you are family and that you are always welcome here.”

Laura Lee nodded her head in agreement. Then she added, “Also, remember our people owe Manesville for all they have done down here. If you ever need something, let us know.”

I smiled and gave them both a hug then we rejoined the others for the rest of the evening.

The flight from Harness to Junction Town is a bit dicier than I would have liked. Not only do we have the wind blowing in on us from the holes in the fuselage, but we also must run for cloud cover twice to avoid Enclave forces that were on the move.

Once we have landed at the airfield near Junction Town, we are met by Blackberry Pie and her team. I can see the smile on Tater’s father Tail Spin as they greet each other. Then he turns to Twinks and asks her, “So young mare, has my son been treating you right?”

I see her blush and briefly look at the ground then she answers, “Yes sir, he has. Thank you for asking though.”
“Oh, no problem. I am just happy he has finally found someone who makes him happy.”

Now it is Tater’s turn to be embarrassed. “Thanks, Dad.” He replies as he too blushes.

I then hear Blackberry tell Choo, “Ok, get your team loaded back up, we are heading to a location I will give to the pilot once we are airborne.”

This gets all our attention. Then she follows up with, “The high command is trying to disperse the operations of our headquarters. We had a covert raid made on the staff two days ago.”

This really gets my attention. I wonder what that means for us this time. Choo nods to me and I then call out for the others to load back up. As we get back onboard, I see the confusion on Flight Plan's face. He begins to ask and Choo simply tells him, “We can’t stay here. You will receive our destination once airborne.”

“Buck me. Can I at least get out and stretch my legs and wings?” he asks.

Beside Choo, Blackberry shakes her head, “No, we may not have time, we need to get in the air and out of here as soon as possible.”

He nods his head and looks back at Choo who nods her head. “Ok Boss Mare, let’s go.” He tells her as he begins to do a quick preflight check with Cloud Bank. The rest of us buckle ourselves in. But I notice Double Back takes one of the guns so that Love Tap can concentrate on using the other.

Across from me, I hear Days End quietly say to Cowlick, “I had hoped we were done with flying for the day.”

Cow shrugs his shoulders and tells him, “It happens sometimes I guess.” Then he puts his head down on his chest and begins to fall asleep.

Soon we are ready and the motors begin to spin the rotors. In the distance, I can hear gunfire and several small explosions. This is followed by our jerking skyward and spinning. As we do I hear the right-side gun open fire followed by the left one in the other direction.

I look out the rear access hatch and I can see two of the smaller, standard vertibucks following behind us. I then notice several sky wagons behind them as they begin to push bombs off the back of them. This is immediately followed by explosions on the ground with some of the local Junction Town buildings being damaged.

As we fly away, I see one of the vertibucks begin to try and cut us off when suddenly from the ground I see the smoke trail from a rocket heading straight for it. I turn my head and blink just in time to not see it hit. The remaining vertibuck turns away and then seems to provide an escort for the sky wagons as they turn and head back in the direction from which they came.

Soon we have gained more altitude and are away from Junction Town and the chaos there. I feel the aircraft bank and within a short while, we begin to descend again. I feel the aircraft slow and I hear, more than see the engines rotate into the hover position. Then I feel the aircraft bounce lightly as it lands. We are then rushed off the aircraft and into a rundown farmhouse not far from our landing zone.

As we run across the packed dirt airfield I look back and see a camo net being dragged by a team out and over the craft we have just left.

Once inside we are led to a room with several chairs set up next to each other. As we enter the room Blackberry Pie tells us, “Everyone take a seat.”

Once we are seated, we see a familiar face from the Ranger HQ staff enters. She looks at us and tells us, “Thank you for getting here as soon as you could. Before we go over the details of your next assignment we will be briefly going over the status of the war. Normally we would not do this, but we want you to understand what you are doing, and why.”

We look up on the wall in front of us and we can see a large map of the old Equestria that is marked with the NCR’s territory. I also notice all the markings on it for where we have our troops and where there are reports of Enclave forces.

The mare points towards the map. “As you can see, the Enclave seems to be probing our forces fairly heavily. However, most of these incursions are not as heavy as we would expect. This has led some of the general staff to believe they are trying to force us to respond to them, which has the benefit for them of both overextending our troops as well as exhausting them. That is why we have begun to choose what to defend and where as much as we have.”

I feel myself nodding my head as I wonder where this is going. Then I find myself raising a hoof and asking, “I thought our previous mission to Thunderhead would have hurt them enough that we would not have to worry about it.”

The staffer does not look happy at the interruption and I see her ears shift in disapproval. Then she answers me, “While it bought us some time. It was not enough. Unfortunately, the Enclave, while wounded, was not as badly hurt as we had hoped. The Cloud Docks and military facilities in the city proper were left untouched.”

I feel the beginnings of despair in the back of my mind as I quietly say, “So it was all for nothing.”

She shakes her head, “On the contrary, it did cause them to shift several units of troops to protect their ground facilities as well as their actions since have led to an increase in individuals being willing to assist the NCR when they can.”

I find myself nodding my head as well and see several others do so too. Then I hear Choo say, “So why don’t we hit them like that again?”

“Easier said than done Captain Choo. We do not have the forces necessary to hit their cities and infrastructure like that. For one, most of our people cannot fly. So that limits us on targets. However, we can also hit their rear areas where they are fighting on the ground.”

Beside me I hear Twinks say in a questioning tone of voice, “And that is where we come in?”

“Exactly, that is where you and teams like yours come in.”

I hear Choo sigh deeply and as I turn to look at her, I see worry on her face as she asks, “Ok, what do you have in mind for us.”

“Choo, for the next few weeks your team will be training for a special mission in the Baltimare area. We will have you working with another team. That is part of why you are receiving the training. The other part is we have a facility there that has been discovered and taken over by the Enclave. Your mission will be to retake the facility or if we cannot retake it either recover the technology we need from there or destroy it so that it is unusable to the Enclave. Depending on how this part of the mission goes, we may keep one of the teams in the area to train some civilian resistance groups.”

When she says this, I catch my eyebrow raising as well as my ears going straight forward. Then I raise my hoof again to get her attention. Once I have it, I ask, “Who is the other team?” I have heard the ones who stayed with Choo while we were in Hoofington talk about the Trouble Shooters led by someone they called Mort. Maybe it will be them and I will get to finally meet them.

She tilts her head and quietly says, “Not that you really need to know, but we call them the Fixers. They are due to arrive in the next day or two. Until then I would like for your team to stand down, repair your equipment and get ready to start preparing yourselves for your upcoming assignment. Once the Fixers do arrive, both teams will be given the full briefing at the same time. Also, after that briefing, they too will be given a bit of downtime to recover from their current assignment.” She pauses, looks at all of us, and tells us, “Dismissed.”

*****

Undisclosed Location, NCR Territory: Xochitl

The last two days have been used by myself and the rest of the team to get our equipment back into the best shape we can get it. We also can catch up on some sleep and for the first time in several weeks, I am able to finally catch eight hours of it. Besides sleeping during my downtime, I have also won caps several times while playing cards with the others.

On our third day here, there is a loud crunching sound coming from the woods along a road leading to where we are. The rest of us look at each other in surprise and we grab our weapons and run outside to some of the prepared positions that are scattered along the base.

I have just racked a round into the chamber of my zebra carbine and am peering over the edge of the revetment when I see the source of the noise and I feel my jaw drop open in amazement. Before me is a large equestrian army heavy cargo truck with a rounded front end that makes it look like a boat. On the top of what I figure is the driving compartment is a Mare Duce heavy machine gun being ponied by an orange earth pony mare with some whisp of a yellow mane hanging out from under her helmet. On the back of it looks to be an armored compartment with several more medium and another Mare Duce mounted on pentel mounts. Painted on the side in large letters is ALL WEATHER SECURITY CONSULTANTS. Behind it we see a trailer being towed as well.

I am just getting ready to bring my weapon to the firing position when I hear the staff officer from the other day call over our radio sets, “All rangers, stand down. The second team has arrived.”

When we hear her say this, we all begin to relax and begin to get out of fighting positions. Behind me I hear Double Back says, “Will ya look at that Days End? I never saw one of those self-propelled wagons actually on the move before.”

“Huh, so that is what it is. I wonder how they get it to run,” he replies.

Walking up behind us I overhear Cowlick saying, “Look at all those machine guns. I bet they can protect a caravan alright.”

“Yeah, but think of all the ammo and maintenance that goes into it,” Tater tells him.

“I would love to get a look at its magic engine,” Twinks says.

Finally, Choo tells us, “Ok, let us straighten up a bit so we don’t look like a gaggle of tourists.”

The truck continues on and I see it get directed into the broken-down barn that is across from the vertibuck.

Shortly after it disappears inside, we see a group of three griffons and five ponies coming toward us. They are all wearing typical merc gear, but I notice one of the griffons has a ranger badge that is hanging on their web gear near their chest.

That one comes over and asks, “Ok, who do we check in with?”

Days End grins and answers, “Over in the farmhouse is a light green mare with a clipboard, that will be her, Mudwing. By the way, it is good to see you again.”

As the group and she start to walk toward the farmhouse she tells him, “Good to see you too. Your boss Silver Tongue and the others inside?”

He shakes his head, and sadly says, “Nah, not anymore. We went our separate ways when he decided to go into Targhee a while back.”

She looks surprised and asks, “That abandoned wreck of a town? Why?”

“Not sure, but shortly after that we saw the flash from a balefire egg detonation and I figured their eggs were cooked.”

She shakes her head. “Not really surprised, I never want to see that town again. Well, we best go check in.”

As I listen, I feel the fur on my back begining to raise as well as my ears sliding back. Once they are out of earshot I ask Days End, “Were they at Targhee and the Valley too?”

He nods his head, “Yeah, they were mercs back then. And before you ask, no, they were not on the east side by the bridge. The griffons were our air support along with my old boss. The ponies, well three of them are new, the other two made the final assault at the valley on the west side.”

I feel myself relaxing when he says this. Yeah, we may have fought them before, but at least they were not animals. I can respect that.

We are beginning to cook lunch in the small tool shed behind the farmhouse when the new team joins us.

Cowlick looks up from the can of vegetables he is opening and asks, “You guys want to join us for lunch?”

I can see the team seems a little uncomfortable with his question. Then their leader tells us, “Well, we would, but most of us prefer meat.”

Sunny then tells him, “That is good, so do we. We have a radhog about ready to pull out of the ground over by the wood line. We got it yesterday and it has been cooking since.”

This really seems to surprise them. Choo then tells them, “We are getting tired of ration packs, so we decided on something fresh.”

The griffon in charge of the other team then asks, “So you guys eat meat often?”

I simply shrug and answer for the rest of us, “Sometimes. Depends on what it is. About half our team learned to eat meat during the Expedition about ten years back.”

The one called Mudwings nods her head and asks, “What expedition would that be?”

Choo calmly and cooly answers her, “The Manesville expedition against Silver Spite and his forces.” We watch several on their team slowly moving their appendages for their weapons. Choo smiles and says, “Don’t worry. We already know, Days End already told us you were there too. As long as we are now on the same team, we are good.”

Mudwings then looks at us and tells us, “Boss Mare, I can see you having been there, but these others, except for Days End, they all seem too young.”

This time my wife answers, “Yeah, two of us snuck along with Choo. My cousin over there met us during that time. Oh, and you would never believe my sister's story, but we were there.”

She gets kind of smarmy now and asks in a condescending tone, “Yeah if you were there, where were ya?”

I feel my ears sliding back and my eyes half close as I answer, “Ginger and I were with our scouts most of the time along with Choo. We hit your HQ on the trail between Targhee and the Valley. At the Valley, our ground scouts supplemented those in the west trenches over in that marshy area. The day your side broke through on our east flank we escorted one of our medics into the thick of it.”

I notice several of them begin to look us over as if we could now be a threat, and I am starting to do the same thing. Finally, I see a pony whose face seems somewhat familiar and I ask, “You, the light yellow one, did you have a round glance off your helmet in the trenches there on that last day?”

He looks surprised and answers, “Yeah, dented it in pretty good and gave me a headache that lasted for a week. Why?”

I grin at him and tell him, “Yeah, sorry about that. But I guess now I should be glad I miss my aim. My name is Xochitl, what is yours?”

“Name is Brandywine, and I am glad you missed it too. But are you telling me a colt almost took me out?”

Choo then answers him, “That would be a yes. And he took out several there, so do not miss judge him. His father taught him how to fight.”

“Really and let me guess his father was in the Valley too?”

This time I grin as I say, “Actually he was. If you saw a zebra with our forces, you saw my father in action. He does tend to stand out.”

One of the others says, “That was your old stallion?”

I nod my head, “Yes. We stood tall with our pony and cattle brethren there.”

I then hear one of the griffons say, “By the great egg, I think I remember seeing your group going into that mess.” He points to me, Choo, and my wife and says, “You three, you were with several others and a black unicorn with a medics bag.”’

I nod my head, “Yes that was us. That medic is now one of my wife’s adopted mothers as well as my mother-in-law.”

“One of your wife’s mothers? How many does she have?” one of the younger ponies asks.

Ginger grins and tells him, “Oh, we have four mothers and two fathers in my family.”

“What?” Squawks one of the hens.

Ginger shrugs, “You are not the first to be surprised.”

“Well, at least you are not related to that crazy mare they called the LT on the radio back then.”

This time I burst out laughing as do several other members of our team as Ginger blushes and tells him, “Well, about that…”

*****

Undisclosed Location, NCR Territory: Choo Choo

I must admit, I do find it amusing to watch the two teams size each other up and get to know each other. The shock on the faces of Mudwings team members was enjoyable as they realized that Epona and Ginger were raised by someone they once considered a great nemesis. However, in part because it has been so long and many of the old wounds had healed or at least the scars had softened a bit they are able to get past the fact we once faced each other over open sights.

As the Fixers begin to clean up their gear before getting some rest, my team talks with them as they too go back over their gear.

“Captains Choo and Mudwings, please follow me,” the staff pony tells us.

As we follow her, she takes us outside and to a set of storm cellar doors. “What you see beyond these doors stays there. Do you two understand?”

“Yes, of course,” I tell her.

However, Mudwings looks at her suspiciously and asks, “Is that all you ponies in the Rangers do? Generate questions and keep secrets?”

Once we pass through the doors, we first enter an old cellar. However, I soon notice that there is a tunnel passing out of the far wall that we are being led to.

At the end of the tunnel, I see what looks like a stable door. However, there are no numbers on it. The staffer goes up to the controller and opens the door. Once the door is open and a scaffolding-type bridge extends, she turns to us, “Ok, let’s go.”

As we go in, I notice that unlike other vaults I have entered before, this one has an elevator past the security entry point. Once on the elevator, I notice that it has several buttons for different levels. Again, this seems different from most stables I have seen.

I feel my wings shift uncomfortably as I begin to wonder just what I have gotten myself into.

As we approach a corridor I see a ranger in full combat barding, including helmet and faceguard behind a sandbagged position. He stops us and says, “Your IDs Please?”

While he is phrasing it as a question, there is no denying he is demanding them. Once we show him our credentials and he has verified them against a list he passes us through.

Mudwings then asks, “What was that all about?”

The staff officer barely shifts her head and tells her, “Security precautions. We can never be too careful.”

Finally, we come to an office that we enter. Inside I see Faintstride, the chief ranger that we dealt with earlier behind the desk. He lifts his tan, white-maned head from the paperwork he is reading and tells us, “Take a seat.” He looks at the staff pony and tells her, “Thank you, Apple Sprout. That will be all for now.”

Once she leaves, I ask, “Chief, what are you doing here? I thought you would be in Junction Town.”

He grins back at me and finally answers, “Well if our people think that, then most likely the enemy will too. Now welcome to the old Equestrian Intelligence Agency headquarters. We recently made contact with those who were in here, and they have offered us the use of these facilities and knowledge that was stored here.”

I nod my head having been in on a couple of such first-contact missions. I see the look of surprise on Mudwings face and tell her, “It is not really that uncommon. I know of a couple of other such situations.”

She looks somewhat skeptical then replies, “Ok, I guess I can go along with that. Now Chief, what is it you want us to do?”

He grins this time and tells us, “Now that is the question I wanted to hear.” Then he begins to tell us about our next mission and where it will be. When he is done, I must admit I am surprised, but Mudwing is not. In fact, she says, “Are you sure about that Chief? I have a couple of my team members who are not going to be happy to hear this.”

He nods his head, “Yes, I am sure. We got the message right after hostilities officially started.”

I find myself agreeing with Mudwing. If it was our home region, we would not be happy either.

Then the Chief asks, “I know about the history of both of your teams. While your histories in urban combat is why I have chosen for you to work together for this mission will that be a problem with you working together?”

I see Mudwing shift her wings and then shrug. Myself, I answer, “It will not be a problem for my team. In fact, one of my team members served with Mudwing and her people that were at Targhee and the Valley. So, no, we will not have a problem.”

When I say this, I watch as Mudwing visibly relaxes. Then she answers, “No, it should not be a problem. As I have heard others say; we are on the same side now.”

With that, we are dismissed and we return to our teams.

As We come around the back of the house, I hear several of both team members yelling and what sounds like fighting from inside. Both Mudwing and I run to the door. Inside we see several pieces of broken furniture and Ginger and Sunny fighting with the three newer members of Mudwing's team.

I can see blood coming out of the corner of Ginger’s mouth and Sunny has a swollen eye. Xochitl is off to the side being held back by Cowlick and Doubleback. The older members of Mudwing’s team are all standing back watching the show with a bit of amusement on their faces.

I immediately call out, “Attention.” And my team immediately stop what they are doing and assume the position. Mudwing’s team does not, but they stop fighting and stand easy.

As we go in, I ask, “Cowlick, what is going on here?”

While still at the position of attention, he answers, “Boss, we were all talking about our homes and Ginger was telling them about the Water Clan and how several of us on the team were members. Then one of them said that it sounded very similar to how a hive of Changelings works. That is when the fight started.”

From my side I see Mudwing shake her head in frustration then facehoof as she says, “You three, how many times have I told you that ponies don’t like to be compared to changelings; to them, it is an insult.”

The closest one answers, “But we weren’t trying to insult them.”

Dropping her hoof back to the floor she then tells them, “I think it is time to show them your true selves.”

After she says this, they all look at each other and shrug. Then I am amazed as they quickly morph from the ponies we know to a pony shape that has insectoid wings and horns on their heads.

I hear several of my team members exclaim in surprise. I am briefly horrified as before me are three changelings and ask, “Are any others of your team changelings?” She answers by shaking her head no.

Then the closest one tells Ginger in a slightly accented voice, “I am sorry, we did not mean to insult you. It is just that your clan, it seems so similar to home for us.”

I watch in amusement as Ginger and Sunny both sit there with their mouths hanging open.

From the side, I hear Xochitl say, “Well I will be dogged.”

“Now that is out of the way, will you have trouble working with our team?” I hear Mudwing ask.

I watch as my people simply shrug and then I hear one of the older members of Mudwing's team say, “By the way, we call those three, Eni, Meanie, and Miney.

Then I hear Sunny say, as he points to Cowlick, you have Eni, Meanie, and Miney and we have Moo, so we should be able to work together.”

Behind him, I hear Cowlick say in a deadpan tone, “Really Sunny? You had to go there.” And I have to laugh.

*****

Rainbow Dash Skyport, Hoofington, Enclave Territory: Ball Lightning

I look at my pastern watch and notice the time. I need to get going or I will be late, I tell myself.

I put on my hat and adjust my uniform. I look out and see our company 1st sergeant sitting there looking over some reports. “Anything I need to take care of before I go?”

“No, sir. A couple of these I want to talk to their leadership before I decide to give you my recommendations on discipline. But nothing that really stands out.”

“Ok, well, in that case, 1st Sergeant, I will be heading over to the Volunteer Corps Station by the base gate.”

He grins at me, “Sounds good sir, I will send a runner if we need you.” He pauses and adds, “Oh, and tell the missis I said hello and thank you for the cookies she made for the staff. We all appreciated it.”

This time I grin, “Will do. Have a good night,” I tell him as I head out the door and begin to half trot, half fly my way across the base. As I go, I find myself humming a song I overheard on DJ Pon3’s show the other night. I know we are not supposed to listen to those stations, but let’s be honest, the music is better, and his tips for the wastelands are good. Besides, I can always say I was listening to gather intelligence on what the enemy is putting out.

I slow myself down as I approach the gate and am stopped by the gate guard. “Where you heading to sir?”

“Oh, just to the VC station.”

“Ok sir, just be careful, some of the locals have been getting aggressive again.”

When he says this, it gets me to raise an eyebrow. “More than usual?”

“A bit sir, a couple of pot shots earlier, nothing to bother reporting though.”

I nod my head, “Ok, be careful soldier. I should only be at the station for an hour or so.”

He nods his head and I pass through the gate.

I only have to go a short distance before I come to an old two-story storefront that has a sign hanging above the porch that reads Volunteer Corps, RDS Headquarters. As I approach the porch, I notice it still has that worn-down look I saw the first time I came here with the youngsters on that stormy night.

As I enter the door, I see the same volunteer from that night, a mottled gray and white pegasus stallion who since then I have found out is named Gust Front. He looks up and smiles. “Afternoon Captain. Want a cup of coffee, the missis is busy with a patient right now.”

“Sure, sounds good. So how have things been going today?”

He shrugs his shoulders, “No too bad, I guess. No pony took any potshots at us today at least.”

“I guess that is an improvement. So how has business been for all of you?”

“Well, it is better than when we first met. But honestly not as good as I would like it to be. I mean there are so many we could help if they just gave us the opportunity.”

“Any idea why they are so standoffish?”

He shrugs his wings, “Not for sure, but I think a lot of them are afraid of other locals labeling them as collaborators or traitors.” He pauses then continues, “But damn it, we are not asking them for information, only trying to help them and make their lives easier.”

I nod my head, then I ask, “Have you thought about talking to the local leaders about how we could help them? Maybe they feel that we are stepping on their hooves by not talking to them first.” As I ask this, I think back to that village on the river banks and how it was not until we talked to the head of the village that they would accept our help for more than a couple of cans of mares’ milk for some foals.

“While I hope they don’t feel that way, I am not even sure how to set up a meeting with the local elders.”

“Well, let’s see if we can figure out how to make inroads,” I tell him, then I sip my cup of coffee. “I will see if I can find some leads on that for you.”

He nods his head and then sips his coffee. “Thank you, I would appreciate it.”

It is about then that I hear a door from down the hall open followed by the sound of my wife’s voice and that of another mare with a Hoofington accent.

“Now, make sure you take all of these pills. They should help take care of the infection. If they don’t or the infection gets worse, come back and we will see what else we can try.”

“Thank you. I really mean it. But, how much do I owe you for all of these?”

Sundancer holds up a forehoof, “Nothing. This is what we do in the Volunteer Corps. However, if you really want to pay me for the services, how about just paying it forward and doing something to help somepony else.”

The poor earth pony mare looks down at the ground first then up at Sundancer and says to her, “Are you sure? I always pay my debts.”

Sundancer places a hoof softly on her shoulder and looks her in the eyes and tells her, “Yes. I am sure. Just remember we are here to help and let others know as well.”

Once the mare leaves, I am finally greeted by my wife with a light kiss on the cheek. After which I ask Gust Front, “Have you, or one of the other volunteers talked to that mare yet about how to contact her settlements leaders?”

He seems surprised at this and admits, “No, I had not thought to ask them that. Do you think it might work?”

I shrug my shoulders and wings and answer, “I am not sure, but it can’t hurt.”

He shakes his head again and tells me, “I remember asking you that first time I met you if you were sure, you are not wearing the wrong uniform. I still wonder about that.”

I find myself thinking briefly and I look at Sundancer before I reply, “Honestly, I wonder that myself at times, but if I do change uniforms, it will not be until after this war is over. The Enclave needs me where I am for now.”

He smiles sadly and nods his head, “Yes, I do understand how that is. Your wife has told me about how you have been studying medicine and health care. You would be an asset when the time comes.”

“Thank you. I do appreciate it,” I tell him then I turn to Sundancer and ask, “Have you heard anything from the youngsters today?”

She shakes her head and moves her ears in a manner that conveys she is worried. Replying to my question with, “No, the last I heard hide or hair of them they were heading into town to do some scavenging and perhaps hit another marketplace. But that was yesterday morning. I hope they are ok.”

“I am sure they are,” I tell her, though I too am worried about them. “Shall we go to the main terminal and get some dinner and perhaps see if Alizée has heard from them.”

“Sounds good dear, just as soon as my shift is done.”

A short time later her relief has come and we are almost to the gate when we hear what can almost be described as a riot coming at us from the direction of Hoofington. I turn and I see Scout hauling a cart behind him and running as fast as he can. Several of the other young ones are either in the back of the wagon or running alongside it. All of them yelling and carrying on. Above them, I see Lil’ Bit and she seems to be laughing as she flies just above the cart. Behind them I see a group of scavers or gang members chasing them with weapons drawn and yelling. What have those kids gone and done this time I wonder.

As they get to the gate, I watch the guards begin to run and take up defensive positions. Aiming at the pursuers. Then I hear one of them tell the other, “Warning shots only unless they fire at us.”

By this time Sundancer and I have already ducked behind the barricades that protect this entrance to RDS. I hear a couple of quick MEW bursts and when I look over the barricade, I see the entire group of pursuers sliding to a stop. Then they turn and run back the way they came, yelling curses at us.

Seeing things have seemed to calm down I get up and brush the dust off my uniform and I see my wife doing the same. She looks at me with one eyebrow raised and tells me, “We best go see what they did this time.”

Once back to the main terminal where the market is, I see Scout outside with the cart as the others help him untack. It is then that I see through the faded paint the letters of VC and I realize they have recovered the cart we lost when we trying to escape from the Mayhem’s Mares territory. I smirk to myself as I realize how long ago that has been now.

As we approach, I hear Lil Bit call out, “Hi Ma, Hi Pa. Look what we found.”

“Where did you find it?” I ask.

Scout then answers, “We found it near Mega Mart on our way back. We had picked up a couple of items for Miss Alizée sir. When we saw it was a Volunteer Corps cart, we had to bring it back with us, Sir.”

Sundancer then joins the conversation again, “Well thank you for bringing it back. But really, you took a big chance on it.”

“Sorry Ma’am,” Scout tells her as he looks down and I can tell he is embarrassed.

“Scout, I just do not want to see any of you get hurt. The wrong ponies could have tried to kill all of you for taking it back.”

“I didn’t think of that Ma’am.”

“Well, good job to all of you. I will see if we can get a reward for all of you for getting it back for us.”

This seems to cheer all of them up as they all tell her, “Thank you Ma’am.”

“Your welcome children, now let’s go get you all something to eat,” she tells them as she leads all of us through the doors of the terminal and toward what was once a food court but is now a communal meal area being serviced by more members of the Volunteer Corps.

As we enter Sundancer pays for all our meals. Then as we sit down, I hear one of the other VC members quietly tell another, “Will you look at the size of that family.” I look at my wife and she looks into my eyes and simply nods her head, and I think, they are right. We do seem to be a family.

*****

Good evening to all of you out there in the HOOF listening area. This is Chromed Microphone and I will be here all evening with music and news for your listening pleasure.

Up first in tonight’s news are reports of a small gang of ponies who have stolen a cart from its rightful owners. The said cart was found by said ponies after it had been abandoned by the Enclave Volunteer Corps. When they tried to recover their property, they report that the youths who took it ran to the Rainbow Dash Skyport.

So, it seems that the Enclave is now running a Cart theft operation. One more thing to despise about those arrogant cloud puffs. The victims of the cart theft have filed a formal grievance for a redress of loss of property with the Lunar Council. We wait with anticipation to hear what the results will be.

In other news, the war between the Enclave and the NCR continues. Both sides claim they are winning. However, we can’t help but notice how far into the NCR territories the Enclave has struck so far. We have recently heard reports that many of the legislative officials for the NCR have requested that President Regina Grimfeather either end the war or step down from office. Again, these are only reports with no hard evidence yet.

We will continue with news and opinions after the next five in a row, starting with Renegades, Rebels, and Rouges for all you wild ones out there in the Wastelands.

Author's Note

As with all wars, the big picture can be hard to see. Instead, those who are there will see a snippet of what is going on around them. We can now see that the Repair Ponies are but one of many teams out there running missions in the Wastelands. We can also see the pattern of how the Enclave's encroachments are overtasking the NCR and its resources.

On the Enclave side in this chapter, we see the defensive positions taken up by the Enclave near Thunderhead and how they are interacting with the locals. Beyond that we can see the bond that is forming between Ball Lightning and the youngsters he rescued that cold stormy night. We also see that he is still loyal to the Enclave but has a desire to help others as much as possible too.

For those who would like to listen to this chapters song, the YouTube link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQFQPk95mFE