As Gearing is hiding in the shrubbery and checking the horizon for any sign of hostile activity, or any activity at all for that matter, he hears a very loud voice behind him bellow out, but not hoarse and strained. Almost as if they had somehow managed to magnify their voice to carry over a long distance without losing quality.

“Aria! Come on over! It’s really Swift!” the filly squeals in delight.

Gearing turns his head to look behind him, letting his ears twitch around, as he tries to figure out how the hell that just happened. He hadn’t seen them carrying any megaphones, or anything similar, and there’s not a horn among them. Even staring right at the group with Swift, he doesn’t see any of them holding up any kind of device that would explain that burst of sound. He decides the trivial mystery can be solved later and turns back around to keep watch, but his head continues rotating to stare at his other side as something else catches his attention. He watches as yet another child wearing the same sort of cloak barrels straight for him. Or, more accurately, towards the bush he’s hiding inside of. He realizes they had to of been concealed an even further distance away and, in truth, they must have been doing an exceedingly good job of hiding to avoid being detected by him. He doesn’t pay her much mind, as he can tell the rapidly approaching filly’s eyes aren’t on him at all, but are focused on the middle of the road where Swift is currently on the ground nuzzling the other trio of this small group. Gearing stays low and still, continuing to stay in cover while keeping an eye out for trouble, fully expecting the filly to make some kind of running jump over him and the scraggly bush he’s hiding in.

That is not what happens.

Gearing gets a very close up view of the pale purple foal as they barrel, head long, into the bush and directly into his right haunch at full speed. The filly slams into him hard enough to make him shake a bit from the impact. He looks down at her as the filly’s tongue lolls out of her mouth. Their head wobbles around at the end of her neck as they try to get back up onto their hooves. She quickly fails her attempt to get going again, and sprawls out on the ground as she goes motionless.

“Oops,” Gearing says with a sheepish smile. Though no one can see it until he throws the cowl back and steps out of the vegetation. He hangs the rifle over his back, scoops up the young unconscious child with a foreleg, and trots over towards Swift and Handy.

As he’s getting close to the group the other kids jump off of, and hide behind, Swift, and then start pointing accusationally at Gearing as one cries out in dismay, “Swift, look out! Crazy protectapony’s got Aria! Help!”

Swift looks over and sighs as she asks with an equal amount of amusement and concern, “Gearing, what happened?”

Gearing trots over and gently sets the still stupefied foal onto the ground at her hooves. “I was lying down out there and the kid just barreled right into me. Smacked me pretty hard in the butt. Pretty much knocked themselves out. They’re lucky they didn’t break their neck.”

The pale green colt hiding behind Swift’s right hindleg scowls at Gearing and yells, “Nuh uh! She woulda saw you! How’d she miss you with how shiny your dumb face is!? You’re lying!”

Gearing sits down and grins at the outraged little colt. “Well, obviously, she didn’t miss me… That’s why she’s unconscious.”

The foal can’t argue with this child-like infallible logic, and simply scowls in return as Swift kneels down and starts checking the injured little one over.

Handy walks over and growls at him, “That’s not funny, Gearing. You could have killed her!”

Gearing rolls his eyes and points a hoof down at her. “Literally all I did was lay down and keep watch. She ran right into me with a full blown headbutt. I wasn’t expecting her to crash into me. The hell was I supposed to do?”

Handy waves his hooves around in frustration and disbelief. “Something!? Anything’s better than letting her crack her skull open on that metal chrome dome you call a hide!” He shakes a hoof at him. “You try and use that kind of excuse after you hurt one of my foals and you’ll regret it!”

Gearing puts his hooves up defensively. “Know what, I don’t need this shit. If there were bandits, or raiders, or whatever the hell they are calling themselves out here, I could have taken them out from my position. Makes a hell of a lot more sense then just strolling right up to them so you can get shot.”

“Well, we didn’t get shot.”

“You could have.”

“They weren’t hostile!”

“That’s why I didn’t fire!”

Handy waves a hoof at the filly lying on the ground as he repeats, “You could have killed her!

Gearing shakes his head. “You’re logic is fucked. She. Ran. Into. Me! I didn’t shoot her. I brought her over here so you guys could check on her as soon as it happened. I don’t know what the hell you’re expecting of me here!”

Handy waves his hooves around aimlessly. “How about to not hurt foals?! That’d be a start! She’s probably got a cracked skull, you’ve probably killed her!”

Gearing’s eyes go wide and he turns around. Accident or not. His fault or not. There is a modicum of truth in what Handy’s saying. Even though he’s sure she’s going to be fine with prompt treatment, it’s still something that bothers him. Being part of a foal getting injured. Even an unwilling party to it. Handy’s managed to repeatedly strum just the right chords to make Gearing feel even worse about it. He hangs his head as he decides there’s nothing constructive to be developed from him standing there at the moment. “I don’t need this shit…” he walks away and, after only trotting a few paces, he throws on the hood of his cloak and quickly takes flight. In short order he’s whipped around and disappeared into the surrounding derelicts.

Handy watches, waving his hooves in the air, then slowly lowers them as he stares in complete shock. He looks around where he’d last seen Gearing, almost expecting him to reemerge, as he wasn’t anticipating that response. He was expecting some satisfactory explanation on why Gearing would hurt a foal so badly. This just doesn’t make sense to him.

Swift stares at him and sighs as she hopes this separation will give them both a bit of time to think and cool off. She gently reaches over and pulls the unconscious filly to herself, continuing to check on her as the other foals standby closely while mourning their friend. Swift pulls out a healing potion, and pops the top on it as she lifts the unconscious form of the foal and rests the filly’s head against Swift’s own chest. She slowly pours the potion into the filly’s mouth, being careful only to let a little in at a time to make sure she actually drinks it and not accidentally literally inhale it.

The filly starts to stir, and blinks a few times as she starts waking up. And, as she’s looking up at Swift with clearer eyes, Swift pours the rest into her mouth and has her drink the remainder. Which she does, greedily.

Swift props her up so she’s sitting on her own rear and asks, “How are you feeling?”

Aria drops the bottle and holds the top of her head with both of her forehooves as tears form on the edge of her eyes. “My heaaad huuuurts… What’d I run into? It feels like a rock dropped on me… like a big rock! A whole mountain even!”

One of the other children reaches up and touches her head gently, and Aria recoils as more tears come out. “Owwwwiie! Ow ow ow wow, Don’t do that Andante! It’s sore!”

The colt tilts his head as he looks at her head. “Are you becoming a unicorn? Cuz that bump’s getting biiiiiiig!”

They sit and talk for a bit about how they had gotten there and why they were in the area. Along the course of the conversation they explain how they are trying to get the 2,000 caps that they owe to somepony named Charity in Chapel. Though they won’t say how they ended up getting that kind of debt and keep diverting by saying it’s not a problem and they can get it. Eventually, Swift offers to let them have a nice place to stay. But Handy’s still not sure if it’s really them, and doesn’t want them just walking into the stable. As they might be synths and this could just be another trick to get them and their children as he knows the Institute is just waiting for them to lower their guard. Though he only voices such concerns via direct message to Swift, and not verbally.

As they are still discussing the finer points of the stable, one of the fillies looks around and asks, “Where’d that metal pony go?”

Swift looks around and frowns. “I’m not sure. He’s probably out there just watching… Handy has a habit of blaming him for everything under the sun.” She shoots a look over at Handy who flinches at first then sheepishly looks around and away.

Handy, taking the cue, starts calling out, “Gearing! Hey! Gearing, come on back.” No discernible response. And Gearing doesn’t reappear. “Look, I’m sorry alright… could we just go already?”

Still no response nor reaction.

Sable is even ignoring Handy as she stands off with Nahlah and doesn’t even look in his direction. Which is entirely out of the realm of what Handy would have expected from her given he’d practically driven Gearing off with his accusations.

Handy sits down and starts grumbling as he folds his forehooves over his chest. He’s getting even more pissed that Gearing doesn’t come when he’s called. The reason for his deciding to stay out of verbal range is beside the point. He taps out a message on his PipBuck and awaits a response. After sending it off, he starts pacing back and forth.

They loiter there waiting for a few minutes as the children and Swift continue to catch up. Eventually Handy turns around to Swift and lets out a sigh. “He’s not responding to my message. He might be out of range already”

Swift frowns at him and starts tapping out a message on her own PipBuck. “How is it possible that you’re surprised about that? Considering how you treat him all the time?” She sends it off then shoots Handy a dagger-eyed stare. “He’s a good pony! He saved your sorry ass, didn’t he?”

Handy sits down and hangs his head a bit as he thinks things over. It’s true. Gearing did do that when he didn’t have to. But, still that doesn’t count. Not in Handy’s book. One thing doesn’t have to do with the other. In Handy’s mind, this is absurd. He’s getting in trouble with his wife because of something Gearing did. Gearing seems to have turned her against him somehow. He’s not sure how.

He can’t help his mind running from one thing to the next as he sits and thinks it over. They did spend an unreasonable amount of time together. Maybe during that time when they were in the basement he pulled something? Why else would they have run off to Megamac on their own? Together. Is it his adventurous side that’s winning her over? Handy looks over at Swift and narrows an eye a bit as he wonders if his wife has started cheating on him with some automaton with a penchant for running off.

One of the fillies walks over and looks up at Handy for a moment before she asks softly, “Why are you sad, Handy?”

Handy looks at the little filly and tries to figure out what he should say to the young one before him. Of the things he wants to say, of how Gearing is a complete asshole with disregard for authority, and actually thinking before he acts, would be lost on the foal.

Swift says softly as she holds two of the others to herself, “Handy and Gearing had a fight. And Gearing walked off. Handy’s just worried about his friend.”

Handy looks at her and thinks, like hell I’m worried about him. I’m only worried about the trouble that’ll come about from him deciding to traipse off and having to wait for him.

Swift’s PipBuck chimes with a response from Gearing. She smiles at it a bit and shakes her head before going back to cradling the children.

[I’m not far. Don’t worry.]

Handy snorts at the PipBuck wondering what kind of comment Gearing had sent her. It had to be Gearing, Handy’s sure. Who else would be talking to her out here? Those two can talk just fine, but he’s still ignoring Handy’s message. Even with the tag he sent on it to confirm delivery, it’s showing it as not even read. Handy starts stomping a forehoof into the ground ever more as he fumes over how unacceptable this is.

The children walk over and look at each other before they beam with an idea.

“You want us to find him?” Andante asks.

Swift smirks lightly. “Kids… if he doesn’t want to be found… you’re not going to. He knows how to stay out of sight and be quiet.”

The children grin and puff up with pride as they, all four, say in unison, “We don’t need to see him to find him.” The children look at each other and nod as one, line up side by side, and then they start filling their lungs with air by taking a deep breath. As they start bellowing out a long song, crystals show up on their chests and start to glow a crimson light that shines out of the small opening in their respective cloaks.

They sing a song of friendship. And how everything is fine and safe. They sing about how Gearing should come and play with them. Their individual voices unite and combine into a request for a new game. To end hide and seek. And how they are eagerly waiting for him so they can play.

They continue this harmonious sound, flooding the area of the local wastes as Swift and Handy stand there mystified by the performance.

Sable had come over with Nahlah to get an update on what to do, and ends up likewise standing there, watching the children sing, with a tilt of her head. Nahlah sits off to Sable’s side pretending she’s directing the musical by waving her paws back and forth with a typical overly massive grin on her face. The sound is sweet and impossible to ignore.

The song carries on far and wide around the source: the children. They sing for several minutes, facing the area that Gearing had disappeared into. And they sing. And sing. And sing. They start looking between each other with eyebrows raised as they try to figure out what is wrong. They look around, and one points a hoof behind them and off to the side. They continue singing, but the taller one nods out with her head, and then starts walking in that direction as they fan out and wave their forehooves slowly back and forth in front of themselves. They begin walking in a line, searching the area directly in front of them completely blindly. After a bit, the smaller one in the center stops with his hooves touching a bit of rubble and finds it not hard, but soft like cloth. He smiles widely, while maintaining the song and nodding in front of himself. The other children come over and surround the undefined shape, and slowly the youngest among them finds the flap of the cloth cloak. He starts pulling it sideways and back until the cloak hood slides off of Gearing’s head.

Gearing becomes completely noticeable in front of them as he’s partially lying on the pile of rubble with other debris actually covering him and helping to hide him practically in plain sight. Though, his own sight is questionable at the moment as he’s staring off blankly in front of himself with a chiseled flat expression that’s impossible to read. The children gently give him a hug from all four sides as they end the song. His eyes go from having a thousand yard stare, while simultaneously looking at apparently nothing, to blinking rapidly and jerking with a start as he’s brought out of the trance induced by the song.

He flinches at being touched and tries to pull away, but the children link hooves and give him one giant group hug, partially piling up on him, as they look up and smile at him. The smallest one reaches up and ruffles Gearing’s mane as he says, “Friends fight sometimes. It’s okay. But it’s not safe to be out on your own. You should make up and be friends again.”

Gearing blinks rapidly and tries to put together the last several minutes of his life. Worryingly, he finds large parts of it are fuzzy. Hard to grasp. Like the memory is slipping through his hooves as easily as water. He’d gone off with the cloak, circled around, then laid out with his rifle providing overwatch. He’d decided that arguing with Handy was going to do nothing more than attract trouble, and he wasn’t going to stand there and cause such a problem. And with what Handy had said, Gearing knew he wouldn’t have been able to stand there without defending himself and his actions. Most likely in a loud manner, if not physically. So he decided to give them enough space to work out whatever’s got his tail in a twist. Since he wasn’t make any logical sense to Gearing.

But then he started hearing the song the children were singing. Beyond all logic, it came to him clearly and crystalline in its quality. It was soft and sweet and he couldn’t help but smile as he heard the children sing. The kind of song that he’d love to have recorded on a holotape to play later. But then his body started moving, and he couldn’t really think of anything anymore. Everything was in a fog and, looking back on it, it should have been absolutely terrifying. His body moved on its own, walking in a straight line for the children. Not at a run. Not in any way that’d put him in any danger. It was slow. Steady. Cautious advancement. Like he was sneaking up on someone behind enemy lines. With all of the stealth and silence he would normally have. Like he had done to those Halfhearts earlier in the day. Nothing at all out of the ordinary for his traveling habits.

Except, this time, he wasn’t in the driver’s seat for his own actions.

He had no control what-so-ever. He can’t even remember if he was able to think anything at the time. He thinks, for the first time in his life, his mind was truly blank. Just a complete fog as he mindlessly walked straight to where he sits now. He looks around at the children around him and doesn’t feel annoyed. He feels relaxed. At peace. Completely safe and sound.

The exact opposite as, he knows for sure, he should be feeling. And, the longer he sits there, without the children singing, the more the situation dawns on him. And the greater the uneasiness weighs on him. It doesn’t take long for the snowballing effect of the growing anxiety at what just transpired to reach levels high enough to trigger even his fight or flight response.

Handy trots over grumbling, and then says, “Look… Gearing. We need to go, okay?”

“Sure,” Gearing says flatly as he pulls the earpieces out of his PipBuck and slowly puts them into his ears. An idea flashes through his mind of dropping an explosive. Of how quickly he can pull out a weapon and shoot them if they start singing. Or, if he could out right stomp on them before the effects hit him again. Each time they open their mouth, he cringes internally at the thought of so easily being thrown into a mental limbo again.

But then, they’re foals. So, given only two options, and one of them being morally reprehensible to him, he quickly starts looking around for how he can take advantage of option two.

Handy smiles and waves a hoof. “Alright… good. So-” Handy’s cut off as the earpieces in Gearing’s ears blare out the music of the Ministry of Morale at apparently the highest value that can be achieved.

Gearing winces a moment as he clicks it on and the children actually stumble back a bit in surprise as they stare at him. He looks around himself making sure that all of the children are clear as he says, “Excuse me.” The volume of his voice is slightly louder than normal as he can’t really tell how loud he’s speaking, but not wanting to scream at them. He jumps up into the air and beats his wings as he takes flight and quickly gains both speed and attitude. He gets a distance away, straight up, before he levels out and just hangs up there in mid air.

He doesn’t know what just happened to him. And he’s worried that that might have affected him. Or what it could be capable of. Completely overriding his will like that? That would be terrifying for any sentient creature. Being reduced to a mere thing that does the will of its controller? He finds that particularly distasteful, so he does the only thing he can think of: getting distance and removing his own ability to hear. It’s going to be a bit of a handicap. But the alternative is too horrible to even think about.

If they’d been adults, he’d very likely left and dropped grenades on them to make sure they couldn’t do it again. Friend or foe they can, and have, proven to be an unacceptable security risk. But they aren’t adults. They’re foals. And he hasn’t sunk low enough to intentionally kill a child. Yet. And he hopes to keep that particular small piece of his soul intact and untainted by the horrors of war as long as possible.

But this is unprecedented. If either side had this kind of ability during the war, it would have been over in short order. And one side would have instantly become a nation of mindless slaves. And there would be nothing the subjugated peoples could do about it. There was nothing he could do. And no one. Not the Zebras. Not Equestria. And damn sure not the princesses, should have that kind of power in Gearing’s opinion. His legs start shaking midair, as he stays aloft and it doesn’t take him long to stroll through that particular personal nightmare: being reduced to a will-less machine, trapped in your own body, and nothing more.

He doesn’t frighten easily. But these four children have managed it in short order.

With a single song.

Handy turns around and growls at Swift, “Well, what do you wanna do now when he wants to act like a fucking foal?”

Swift rolls her eyes. “I’ll go have a word with him.” She takes flight and quickly flies up to meet him. Gearing doesn’t pull away from her, and, instead, stays in his same relative space, just fluttering around slightly in the air to seemingly try and make himself less of an easy target. They stare at each other for a few moments before she asks, “Would you please come down and talk with us?”

Gearing stares at her for a few moments, then points at his ears and shakes his head before he screams out, “Can’t hear you!”

Swift rolls her eyes then taps out a message on her PipBuck.

[Take out the earpieces please.]

Gearing looks at his PipBuck and then shakes his head and yells out, “Not a chance! I don’t know what they did to me. I’m not letting that happen again.”

Swift frowns and taps out another message.

[They’re just children and trying to keep friends from fighting.]

Gearing rolls his eyes and yells back as he points a hoof down towards Handy, “I left to keep from fighting. Handy’s so stuck on stupid that nothing I said would have mattered. So I decided to leave before it got physical. I don’t know what you put up with, but I’m not going to just stand there and put up with his abuse.”

Swift frowns and slaps a hoof over her eyes before pointing at Gearing after sending off another reply.

[Well a group needs to stick together. You can’t just run off, we can’t do anything if we’re waiting on you or because you won’t talk to us.]

Gearing looks at her for a few moments then shrugs. “So. What? You guys want me gone? Tell Handy if that’s the case, then just be a damn stallion and come out and say it. I’ll go back to the stable. Hell, I’ll even escort the kids back while I’m at it. Then I’ll grab my shit, and me and Sable will just leave.” He throws his hooves around and grumbles, “I’d rather that than just waiting around for him to have another tantrum and deciding to get rid of me some other way. I know I don’t need to sleep. But I’d prefer to have the option, and not having to constantly look over my back worried about when he’s going to stick an AP round in it.”

Swift shakes her head then quickly types out a message.

[Gearing. It’s not like that. He wouldn’t do that to you. He likes you.]

Gearing narrows his eyes and flies a bit closer as he asks, “Oh really? He has a funny way of showing it… Tell me... did he tell you how he tried to use Sable to control me? By using his administrative privileges to order her to stop seeing me? How he had me locked up and stuck until she agreed to his terms? Or how pissed he was when he found out that, once she got the new chassis, she didn’t have to listen to him anymore?”

Swift stares at him for a few moments and lets out a long sigh before she shakes her head. She closes her eyes as she mentally groans, Handy, what have you done… That bit of information makes Sable’s reaction and statements on the roof of the office building make so much more sense. The animosity and open hostility Sable has towards Handy at times suddenly seems perfectly justified. Unlike the obviously edited version she’d gotten from Handy that seemed fishy at best.

Gearing nods as he snorts with emphasis, “Ah huh. Thought not!”

Swift sends him another message then watches him with a sad frown across her muzzle.

[So, are you just going to abandon us, Gearing?]

Gearing looks at his PipBuck and jerks slightly as he reads the message. Whether intended to or not, it strikes a deep chord with him. He slowly shakes his head, as he slowly turns down the volume on his PipBuck. Then, after being sure that whatever enchanted music there was before isn’t around, he goes ahead and removes the earpieces entirely. He looks at Swift for a few moments before he says flatly, “Swift. No. I’ll stay around, and I’ll help all I can. I promise that. But… do you have any idea what it’s like having your will stripped from you like that?” He points a hoof down towards the ground. “It’s fucking terrifying. I had no idea what was happening. Hell, anything could have happened. And if Handy would have decided to take the opportunity to do away with me, there’s not a fucking thing I could have done about it.” He hangs his head and shakes it before he says quietly, “I was reduced… to a fucking protectapony… N-nothing m-” *Click* “-ore than a s-” *tick* “-tack of parts doing what its m-” *Click* “-m-” *Tickity click* “-master wanted.” He snorts hard, but it strikes Swift as more of a sniffle.

Swifts eyes go wide as she thinks about the situation as a whole. And it doesn’t take long for such a personal nightmare like that to run its train of thought through her mind. She puts her forehooves to her muzzle as she gasps and mutters, “Sweet Celestia… no…” She flies closer and lifts his face to look at her with a forehoof. “Gearing, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. They were just trying to help. I don’t think they realized- They won’t do it again. If you want to leave, they’ll let you. I’ll make sure of it.”

Gearing takes in a few deep shivering breaths and groans, “There’s nothing I could do.” *Click* “I wasn’t me. How can I get over that? What if it h-” *tick* “-appens again?”

Swift’s gaze trails over Gearing’s body and takes in as much of his body as she can see. Outside of his wings, which steadily work to keep him aloft, the rest of his body seems off. And after looking at his exposed legs, and where they connect to his body, it finally dawns on her. His gears are moving. Sporadically. He seems to be shaking hard enough that if he were a simple machine he’d probably vibrate himself apart right there in mid air.

And it only takes a moment more for it to likewise click with her. For the first time since meeting him, Gearing seems scared to her. Genuinely scared. Terrified even. The kind of deep to the core fear that has made foals, and some full grown adults, wet themselves in response.

Swift, not knowing what else to do, gives him a light hug. “I’m sorry, Gearing.”

He lets her, hanging his head over her shoulder for a few moments as he thinks things through. Given the rampant fight or flight response it doesn’t take him long to come to a solid conclusion. Especially now that he’s starting to think more clearly and not having to deal with as much of an impulse to flee. Having made the decision he pushes her back a bit and gets a stern look on his face as he asks, “Do you know what standard rules of engagement are?”

Swift tilts her head and shrugs. “You mean like combat inhibitors?”

Gearing shakes his head. “No. Operational rules of engagement. Rules the government places on those acting on their behalf on when and how much force can be applied.”

She shakes her head lightly. “I’ve never been in the military.”

Gearing nods his head as his eyes trail down towards Handy. “Well. Rules of engagement, at least in general, stand at simply: ‘Not to fire unless you are fired upon.’ The general intent behind it is that force only escalates up to the same amount the opposing party has used.” He waves a hoof around and rolls his eyes. “Of course they can be modified on a case by case basis, such that you can be released for ‘Weapons Free’ in areas where the opposing party are already considered lethally hostile… but you get what I mean.”

Swift shrugs and nods before shaking her head and saying, “I don’t see what you’re getting at though.”

Gearing points a hoof down at Handy and growls. “That makes three… three times I’ve been at the mercy of his hooves… I’m not letting it happen again. I can’t afford to. That’s not even factoring in what he tried and did do with Sable. He’s fucking unstable. So if that situation arises again… I’m going to defend myself with whatever force necessary to get me out of the situation… You understand me?”

Swift’s wings pause flapping for a moment in pure shock, causing her to drop a bit before she comes back up and scowls. “Are you planning on killng my husband?!”

Gearing stares at her in the eyes and waves it away with a hoof. “I’m planning to get the hell out of the situation. But, out of respect for you, I’m letting you know, if he tries this shit again, or some other form to keep me from exercising my will to leave… I’m going to go through him if I have to. Up to, and yes including, killing him if necessary. It’s not the goal, but I’m just warning you in advance. I cannot allow myself to be captured like that.”

He looks down at Handy and points a hoof at the ground as he says flatly, “For Handy, ROE has been modified… Forceful detention will no longer be tolerated.”

Swift looks between the two and her eyes tear up a bit as she chokes. “Please, Gearing… If you’re really my friend. Don’t kill my husband. My children need a father.” She looks down at Handy and moans, “I know he can be an insufferable ass that acts more like a foal than a grown ass stallion at times. But he’s got a good heart and is an amazing caring father. He’s not acting like himself lately. He’s normally a big hearted idealist…” She looks at Gearing. “You saw how he was when the Gunners attacked. What we had to do gutted him.” She closes her eyes as she moans, “I don’t know if it was the pain, or what, but even with the drugs he wasn’t as… cruel… with his fighting tactics as he was in that office building we crashed on. Something’s wrong with him, and I worry it’s getting worse.” She shakes her head before looking back at Handy. “He’s been… under a lot of stress since we escaped the Institute… and things just got worse in the stable.” She looks at Gearing and tilts her head. “And don’t forget the raider disease… he’s still getting over it, I can tell…”

Gearing taps on his own chest as he stretches out his neck towards her. “Yeah, I know. I cured him of that. Remember? I don’t know how good of a job I did, or what permanent damage it could have caused. But I did that.” He waves a hoof down at the ground and groans. “Though he’s seemed to conveniently forgotten that bit…”

Swift nods quickly then flies closer. “I know… I know… and thank you for that. Please… just… just try and work it out. It’ll help all of us. Me. Handy. You. Sable. Everypony else. It’s better to stick together and help each other.”

Gearing raises both of his hooves and says with a sigh. “Okay. ... Okay! … I hear you. I’ll try… but this is entirely up to Handy. I’m not one of his protectaponies to be ordered around, I won’t live like that. And he is damn sure not my commanding officer.” He sighs and looks at Handy for a bit before looking back at Swift. “I’ll do my best. But, like I said, ROE is as it stands. I will not suffer any more captivity.”

Her eyes go wide and she looks like she’s about to burst into tears.

Gearing flies closer and tries to wave it off. “Remember! ‘Don’t fire unless fired upon’! I’m not going to look for problems. Okay? I’m not declaring a death order. I just wanted you to know what might happen if he suddenly tries to kill me or trap me again.” Gearing leans back midair and folds his forelegs. “To be fair. Nothing’s really changed. If he would have shot me previously, I would have killed him. And if he were anypony else, I would have just killed him for that stunt.” He leans towards her and raises his eyebrows as he says flatly, “And I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, and I would have made sure the job was done and final… if anything… what I’m telling you now is that I’m going to restrain myself. Out of respect for you. So… if he does anything… There’s a good chance he’ll just get maimed. But it’s still on the table.”

Swift wipes her nose and glares at him through the tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t like the thought of you being so willing to kill my husband, Gearing.”

Gearing points at her and asks, “You mean to tell me that if Nahlah tried to kill you, or Handy, or one of your children, that you wouldn’t do everything in your power to defend them? Including killing her if necessary?”

Swift tilts her head then looks down at Nahlah. It’s not exactly a fair comparison, but she can definitely concede the point. She nods lightly. “Okay… just… just leave if you have to if it comes up. Or… just tell me and I’ll knock some sense into him so you can leave and it doesn’t come to that.”

Gearing grins and shrugs. “That sounds like a better plan to me anyway… but… on a related note…” He looks down at Handy and sighs. “If you tell him what I just said. That’s up to you. He might take it to heart, and realize that I’m not some protectapony and he should start treating me with the same respect he gives anypony else instead of trying to force me to do anything… However...” He looks at Swift. “If his recent behavior has been any indicator… he’ll go off the deep end and try to say I’m actively threatening his life, or some bullshit, and actually either attack me or try something in the same category. And, in doing so, making it a self-fulfilling prophecy by making me kill him.” He shrugs again. “But, that’s up to you.”

Swift frowns and looks down at Handy as she thinks. Gearing’s right. Handy’s been taking things to the extreme lately. He’d probably only pick and choose what he hears and take it to the worst possible side of things. She’s sure that, once he really knows Gearing, he’ll become more comfortable, but, at least for now, she’ll keep it to herself. She shakes her head lightly and says, “I’ll tell him when the time’s right…” She looks at Gearing and tilts her head. “So… you going to come down and join us or is your shiny ass going to stay up here and look like a disco ball to be shot at?” She wipes the tears from her eyes and grins.

Gearing smirks back. “Alright. Fine. You got a point.” He folds his crystalline wings, and rapidly cuts altitude by letting gravity do its work before he fans them out again and comes to a gentle landing by the children. He trots up to the kids as he’s folding his wings and asks, “So… you kids were trying to help some friends with your music, huh?”

The children beam with pride and grin at him as they nod.

Swift swings around in the air as she’s coming in for a landing and touches down behind the group of children. She looks them over with a smile as she says, “I guess introductions are in order…”

Swift raises her left wing and hangs the tip over the tallest one of the bunch, on Gearing’s far right, with the orange mane and yellow streaks running through it. “This little dear is Adagio Dazzle.” The pale yellow filly partially rears up before hopping around and nodding in agreement towards Gearing.

Swift moves the wingtip over to the pale purple filly next in line and comments, “And this rambunctious one is Aria Blaze.” The second in line, and second tallest, pauses rubbing her head through her cyan striped purple mane long enough to wave at him with the same hoof.

Switching to her right wing, Swift continues with the third tallest and last filly of the group, “And this little one is Sonata Dusk.” The pale blue filly bops side to side with her head, causing her blue mane, with its many thin purple streaks, to swish back and forth.

The moment Swift’s wing starts to appear over his head, and before she can say anything, the smallest member of the group, and the only colt, hops up in the air and squeals with delight, “I’m Andante! Andante Dawn!” The pale green colt trots in place happily as he throws his blue mane about with the energy, causing the cyan strips in it to dance about. “How’d you hide like that? It was soooo cool! I didn’t even see you walk up to us. I bet you always win at hide-and-seek, huh?”

Gearing looks the four over and instantly feels like something is off with them. Something just seems unnatural about them, aside from the magical music ability. On top of everything else are their eyes. All of them. Each one seems to have the exact same set of violet orbs peeking out at him. What are the odds of four foals, even siblings, to have the exact same shade of eye color among them?

But, their actions, and rampant energy and questions, are decidingly foalish. And they seem genuinely happy to see him. He decides it may be better to just see how this plays out. He’s aware unicorns practicing magic had been known to have a variety of accidents, and cause a variety of problems as they try to get their own abilities focused and under their control. Indeed, they don’t seem to have any malicious intentions. He even quickly flips his EFS on and off just to make sure. He hadn’t forgotten what had just happened, far from it. He’s sure he’ll never forget that for the rest of his unnatural life. But, for now, he realizes it may be best to simply keep mellow and avoid escalating anything. It’ll also give him some time to figure out exactly what’s going on here. And, maybe, find out how a group of four, seemingly earth pony, foals are able to apparently cast magic with their songs alone.

“Well, I’ve probably spent about as much time, or more, practicing it than you have practicing your singing. And I bet you practice singing a lot!” Gearing replies with a grin.

“Yeah! We’re pretty good, right?” the little pale green colt asks as he hops back and forth between one foreleg and the other.

Gearing leans down to look at them and fans out his wings. He angles his wings above them and starts to cover them in the green and blue hues of light his wings create. “Yeah! Only thing you need now is a bit of a light show and you’d be superstars! You should record your music. I bet people would love hearing it.”

As nice as a sample might be for study, here’s hoping their weird effects can’t be captured and transmitted along with the audio… the little blue pegasus in Gearing’s head frets at it nibbles on it’s forehooves.

All four of the kids hop around happily and trot around Gearing in a circle, dancing in the various colored rays of lights as they giggle. Nahlah walks up slowly, with a poorly concealed limp, and smirks as she watches the fun they are having. Nahlah smiles widely and waves a paw as she says casually, “Well. Yeah. They’re okay… I suppose… Maybe with a bit more coaching…” The attempt at a cavalier attitude is ruined by her obvious limp and Sable walking closely behind her with her cables at the ready incase she falls.

Gearing rolls his eyes and then looks at Nahlah. “Oh? Well then how about you guys team up and sing something? Show us what you got?”

Nahlah grins sheepishly and shrugs, but the kids hop over and start circling around her instead as they giggle and try to get her to join in on the musical fun. Nahlah eventually relents and they sit there talking among themselves as they try to figure out what song they all know that they can sing together.

Swift flutters over near them and comments as she walks by, “Just normal songs… okay kids? … You know what I mean… right?”

The children giggle and nod, with the pale blue Sonata confirming, “Oookay… Fine.”

Eventually they decide on what they want to sing and take their spots in the rubble of the collapsing building, arranged by height again with Nahah in the center and two foals on either side of her. The youngest, Andante, strikes the first cord of their vocals and the rest, including Nahlah, follow suit singing in near perfect harmony. This first song, doesn’t really have any true lyrics to it. It’s more like they are simply harmonizing tones and getting used to their new singing partners. But, still, even though they don’t seem to really be saying anything, the sound is still rather sweet and hard to ignore.

Gearing, feeling a bit better about the situation, perches above them on top of the still standing stone wall behind them. He catches the light in his wings, directing it down onto them like greenish-blue micro spotlights that keep moving around as the kids sing through their first number. They look up and grin even wider as the green and blue beams of light pass over them, putting in extra effort in appreciation for his support. They sit there, swaying with the beat, and singing to their heart’s content, extra happy at not only singing, but having an audience to boot.

The second song that they sing, whose start was only signaled by a brief pause by all of them simultaneously before picking up at an entirely different octave, is another matter. It’s a high energy round style of song where they are simply taking turns saying silly phrases, but with the same beat and tone, with the others following suit with it. They are obviously having fun with it and start bopping around in position as they manage to make such phrases as ‘steppy weppy on the buggy wuggy’ not only sound pleasing to the ear, but adorably cute as well.

After finishing a third song, which seemed like some slow jazzy version of ‘The Pony-Pokey’ Swift claps her hooves together to get their attention and yells out, “Okay, that’s enough! You kids need to get going to the stable. We’ll meet you there. Then you can sing to your heart’s content.”

They let out moans of disappointment but Gearing lands near them and adds with a grin, “Hey, you’re just singing to five of us out here. There’s sixteen children at the stable that I’m sure would love to hear your singing talent.”

They start hopping around as they jabber excitedly.

“Sixteen?!”

“Kids?!”

“Our age?!”

“Really?!””

Swift nods. “That’s right. And it’s nice and safe there. Let’s escort you back and you can sing all you want. But try to keep it quiet on the way there, because there’s lots of bad ponies out here that might want to hurt everypony.”

The kids wave it off and Andante adds, “Nah. We can make it on our own. We got this far. Nopony messes with us when we’re singing and marching.”

Swift is unconvinced and Gearing leans over towards her as he says, “Hey. I can keep watch on them and make sure they get there safe. They won’t even know I’m there. Then I can just fly back as soon as they’re in.”

Swift partially frowns as she asks, “You’re going to come back though, right?”

Gearing gives her a wide grin as he throws his wings out wide. “Of course! “He turns around and fans out his wings widely. “One glorious bastard escort coming up.”

“Pardon the interruption, but I have a matter of concern that needs attention,” Sable comments as she walks up to Swift and Gearing.

They both turn to look at her, and Gearing asks, “What’s up, Sable?”

Sable looks over at Nahlah as she says, “I am concerned for Subject Nahlah’s wellbeing. I have been monitoring her during the trip since her injury, and I do not believe it would be a good idea for her to continue much longer without proper treatment.” She looks back at Swift and Gearing as she asks, “Is there no location nearby that can provide the needed diagnostics?”

Swift puts a hoof to her mouth as she says softly, “There’s no way for us to know… Megamart should, but that doesn’t mean they do.”

Gearing looks over at Nahlah, and notices her ear is directed in their direction even though she’s facing the children. He runs a hoof through his mane before calling over, “Nahlah… hey, Nahlah!” She flinches at first, and then turns her head to look at him. Once achieving eye contact, Gearing continues, “Nahlah, how bad is it? We need to know the truth. Don’t try and tough it out.”

Nahlah maneuvers around so he can see her outstretched left hind leg before she says softly, “It hurts… Bad” She shakes her head before looking over at Gearing and frowning. “It’s like I’m getting stabbed in a buncha places when I move my hip.”

Gearing lets out a sigh as he looks over at Swift. “Sounds like the fragments are moving around. That’s what I was worried about. A potion will help in the short term, but those pieces have to come out or they’ll keep causing more damage and pain.”

Swift looks between them and finally settles her eyes on Gearing. “Well… what are you suggesting? I know you’ve already been thinking about it…”

Gearing looks over at Nahlah and frowns for a few moments before he says softly, “We gotta go back…” He looks around at the others as he adds, “We don’t know where the next medical facility is. The only one we know for a fact where it is, and is functional, is back in the stable. So, we could very well be getting further from where we need to be going with each step closer to Megamart we get.” He shrugs. “If we get all the way there, and find out they can’t take care of it, it’ll be a massive disaster for Nahlah. And we’ll have just that much further to go to get home, along with not being able to carry much anyway, because, in all likelihood, we’d have to carry her back.” He shakes his head as he looks over at Nahlah. “An injury like that can not be taken lightly.”

Handy walks over to join the conversation as he groans. “So we’ve basically wasted the trip up here? We don’t even have a wagon to take us back and forth this time…”

Nahlah leans over and her eyes go wide. “No! We can’t do that! Not when we’re so close!”

“But, Subject Nahlah, your injuries require attention that cannot be provided currently. Returning to the stable would increase the likelihood of a positive outcome,” Sable chimes in.

Gearing looks back and forth as he scratches his chin with a hoof.

Swift looks at him sideways, and then turns to face him as she asks, “What are you thinking? I know that look.”

Gearing looks over at her, then over at Handy. He lets out a sigh as he waves a hoof around. “Well… There is another option.”

“What is it?” Nahlah asks. “Anything’s gotta be better than just abandoning the trip now. I’d feel horrible we’d gone through all we have for… nothing.”

Gearing stares at her for a moment before he looks over at Swift. “We split up.” There’s a momentary burst of objections from everyone before he adds and talks over them all, “Swift and Handy can keep heading towards Megamart. The rest of us head back to 68.” He looks back and forth between Swift and Handy as he continues, “This’ll have the added advantage of giving the foals an escort along the way. But I’ll catch up once I’m done with the escort. If I don’t have to worry about anyone else, and not carrying anyone else, I can just wing it on a straight course there.” He shakes his head. “I’ve made similar trips before, it really wouldn’t take me long.” He taps on the ground as he finishes, “If you get there first, you can start shopping for what we need and, once I get there, I can help finish that up and then we can all carry everything back.”

Nahlah looks around at the others and lets out a sigh as she says, “I don’t know… I’d still feel horrible about making you go all that extra distance just for me.”

Gearing shakes his head. “The kids need an escort back anyway. So it’s not exactly a wasted trip.” He smiles at her. “Besides, don’t sell yourself short. You’d be worth the trip even if they weren’t coming too.” Nahlah gives him a warm, genuine, smile in return.

“We don’t need no escort!” Andante says with a huff from his position with the other foals. “We’ll be just fine on our own!”

His declarations are universally ignored by all of the adults as they carry on their conversation and don’t even bother replying.

Sable steps up in front of Gearing before she asks, “I take it from your description… my darling Gearing intends to leave me at the stable this time?”

Gearing looks at her for a moment before giving a slight nod. “Sorry, Sable… But I’m pretty sure we’re going to need you to carry Nahlah back. Her walking the whole way back just isn’t an option… and for me to get back in time I’ll have to fly.” They stare at each other for a few moments before he says, “I’ll get back as soon as I can.”

“Safe,” Sable says evenly.

“What?”

“Safe… I want you back safe, my Gearing,” Sable replies. “You’ve already been shot down once this trip. Take your time if you need to. I would prefer my precious Gearing take all the time he needs in order to avoid injury, instead of getting further injured because he prioritized speed instead of caution.”

He smiles and leans towards her. “I’ll certainly do my best.”

She leans out and gives him a soft kiss on the side of his muzzle, just shy of a full lip kiss. “Then I shall support this plan of action, and do what I can to help my darling Gearing.”

“Sorry to ask for so much,” Gearing says with a sigh before stretching out and giving her a full kiss as she’s pulling back.

Sable grins widely as she partially closes her eyes. “It’s okay. My darling Gearing can simply pay me back later when he returns to me.” They look into each other’s eyes for a moment before she gives a quick wiggle of her flanks to make sure he gets the idea.

Everyone gets the idea.

Except the foals.

Thankfully.

Nahlah snickers with a paw over her mouth as Handy and Swift simultaneously facehoof.

---

Footnote: ‘gravity assistant matrix’ reinitializing, please stand by. . .

Beginning Gravity Differential alignment, please stand by. . .

Calculating Mass Augmentation thresholds, please stand by. . .

Mass Augmentation thresholds set, please stand by. . .

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