The double doors to Hooflocker’s Bar and Grill open and the bright daylight beyond is partially blocked by a wall of pony silhouettes. The patrons inside look over at the sudden source of change in ambient light, with a mixture of interests. And, as the group of Equestria Defense Force soldiers start walking in with their clean uniforms, the average interest level in the bar jumps up dramatically. A few bucks and mares sitting at various tables along the far left wall perk up as they see the various well dressed service members walk in. But, the greatest interest of all, comes from the back left corner where a group of mares sit around a round table, that’s covered in drinks, many of which are simply empty glasses at this point, who all get massive grins across their muzzles as they see the procession of exquisitely fit pony flesh march in in front of them for their eyes to feast on.

It’s not hard to tell that they’ve been waiting here for just such an occurrence, as they quickly zip their eyes over one buck, or mare, after another and start plotting out their next moves.

Tower turns at the door and points outside as he says, “Okay, you two go back to Bake Bucks’s and wait on our order. It’s gonna be a while, but don’t try talking them into giving you the first pizza that comes out and eating it while the rest of us are down here waiting, got it?”

Mouse -in their tan mare persona and smartly fitting female uniform- pokes their head in around the door frame and looks the occupants over quickly. “Yeah. I hear ya, Wrecker… No loss, it’s the wrong time of day for me to have any fun anyway.”

The griffon head of Snake pokes over Mouse and takes in the view as she says, “Yeah. Looks like no loss for us anyway.” She taps Mouse and quickly zips off as she says, “Let's go! If we hurry up, we can still start huffing the scents from the oven!”

Gearing in his Equestria Defense Force battle dress uniform, and under the influence of a whole suit of the latest versions of enchantments to help disguise his true form, walks in behind Cross as he slowly takes in the view of the area and looks the occupants over.

The buck behind the bar counter on the right side of the place - that runs most of the length opposite where the patrons are sitting- trots to the end of the bar closest to them and waves at the new arrivals as he calls out, “Hey! It’s you all. How are ya doing?” He looks them over and then his eyes trail to the small blue pegasus walking among them. His smile turns crooked as he looks over at Tower and asks, “Hey, uh Sergeant Wrecker, who’s the kid?”

Tower walks over and laughs heartily before he waves a hoof over towards Gearing. “Better not piss him off, he could knock your block off with a single hoof!”

They share a laugh but then Tower suddenly leans across the counter and says quietly with his eyes narrowed, “No, seriously. That pegasus has a mean ass right hoof and will knock you the fuck out. Don’t piss him off. I don’t want his first time at a bar to end in a bar brawl.”

The bartender starts laughing as he pounds on the countertop. “But isn’t that the best way to end a good night out?!”

Gearing stands there slowly turning his head and taking in the surroundings as the others start fanning out and talking. After a bit he notices the bartender looking at him and, when the bartender beckons him over, he complies and walks over next to Tower and awkwardly sits on the barstool next to him.

The bartender looks him over as he leans on the counter and asks, “Hey, so, this your first time in a bar?”

Gearing nods as he looks around. “Yeah, I don’t usually come in places like this. Don’t really have a reason.”

The bartender chuckles as he looks back and forth between him and Tower. “Yeah, well maybe I can help you out with that and give you a reason to come back.” He gives him a wink that only draws a blank stare from Gearing. He shrugs as he leans on the counter and looks at him. “So… You’re the fresh new face in the unit, huh?”

Gearing reaches over and grabs a bowl of pretzels from the counter, and pulls them closer to himself as he sees a few others grabbing out the contents as they are walking by and figures they are free appetizers or something. He pulls one of them out with a wing and gives it a sniff as he says, “Yep. That’s me. The newbie.”

The bartender looks at him and narrows his eyes as he looks back and forth between the two. “So… What outfit are you guys out of, it’s been a while.”

Tower's eyes go wide and he opens his mouth to say something, but Gearing beats him to it with a snap response so fluid that he doesn’t even look at the stallion as he says, “One hundred and sixty fourth Logistics Corp out of Fort Falabella.” He snuffs at the pretzel a bit more before taking a careful bite out of it. He looks up at the buck and chews a bit as he says, “Technical and support division.”

The bartender smirks at him as he looks him over and how he is so slowly eating the one solitary pretzel. “So, you’re technical support?”

Gearing nods as he finishes the pretzel and looks into the bowl at the other pretzels as he ponders eating another one. “Repair. Maintenance. Transporting supplies. That sort of thing. Nothing major.”

The bartender narrows his eyes as he zips them back and forth between him and Tower. Then looking up over Gearing at Cross as she stands right behind Gearing and looking down at him but not saying a word.

The bartender smirks as he asks, “So… One hundred and sixty fourth logistics…?”

Gearing nods as he grabs another pretzel out of the bowl and takes a small bite out of it. “Eyup.”

The bartender leans closer as he says, “Sweet… then you know Hard Hat, right?”

“Nope,” Gearing replies as he’s looking at the bowl while still nibbling on the current pretzel.

The bartender raises an eyebrow. “What? But you said you’re a member of the one sixty four… how could you not know Hard Hat?”

Gearing shrugs as he looks him in the eye and chews on the pretzel. He pauses only long enough to shrug as he says, “Well, I’ve never heard of her… him? They? Whoever they are?” He pops the rest of the pretzel in his mouth as he says, “Though, I’m kind of new to the unit. So maybe we haven’t met yet.” He grabs another pretzel as he says, “Or maybe they’ve been transferred out?” He looks him in the eye and shrugs again as he says, “Either way. Can’t help you. Sorry.”

The bartender smirks as he looks over at Tower and Cross, “That’s a bit of a surprise… anyone in the unit should know who that is.”

Gearing looks at him and shrugs again, maintaining hard eye contact, as he says, “Well, I don’t.” He takes a bite of another pretzel and chews it slowly as he says, “If they’re such a big shot, maybe you should introduce us?” He throws the rest of it into his mouth as he says, “I’m normally in maintenance, and not hard to find.”

A light brown foreleg in an EDF BDU cuts between Gearing and Tower, resting on the bar counter as Tower respectfully steps back and away.

The bartender looks up at the new arrival and grins as he says loudly, “Command Sergeant Major Crypsis! Always good to see you!”

Gearing only looks over enough to confirm who’s standing next to him, he respectfully dips his head as he says, “Sergeant Major,” before going back to slowly nibbling on one pretzel after another.

Hard Hat grins at him as he stretches over Gearing and hoof bumps the bartender as he says, “Locklee, it’s good to see you too.”

Locklee chuckles as he leans sideways on the bar counter and comments, “Uh huh… don’t give me that, you’re just hanging out here while your order of Bake Bucks gets cooked.”

Hard Hat grins and shrugs as he doesn’t even try to deny it. “Hey, be glad you set up shop so close to there, or we’d probably never see each other.”

Locklee chuckles a bit before he looks at Gearing. He nods towards him as he says, “So, I see you got a new flier in your crew, how’d you pull that off? Figured they’d be in one of the more active combat units instead of in logistics.”

“I volunteered,” Gearing says as he looks over at another bowl, and pushes the pretzels away as he replaces it with the bowl of peanuts. He gives it a sniff as the bartender looks him over and adds, “Everpony’s doing their part, and every job is important.” He pulls out a couple of the peanuts and starts cracking the shells open and eating the peanuts inside of the ultra salty treat as he looks Locklee in the eye. “I can get things done quicker than some others. So it saves time.” He shrugs. “So it’s nothing that’ll make me famous. That’s okay.” He holds up the peanuts as he smiles. “An army travels on its stomach, after all…” He goes back to cracking open peanuts casually as he says, “If it wasn’t for logistics, equipment wouldn’t get where it was needed, and the war effort would fall apart.”

Locklee looks him over and smirks before bringing his eyes up to Hard Hat. “Is he serious, Sergeant Major Crypsis?”

Hard Hat grins as he nods. “He usually is, yeah. Takes his job very seriously.”

Locklee looks Gearing over for a few moments before he leans in towards Hard Hat and nods towards Gearing. “He’s not uh…” Hard Hat grins widely and Locklee asks quietly, “Wait, he’s seriously a small pegasus?”

“Dynamite comes in small packages, “Gearing says flatly as he nibbles on one peanut after another. Trying them in various ways. Then, as he’s looking Locklee in the eye, puts a couple peanuts, shells and all, right into his mouth and chews.

Locklees eyes go wide for a moment before he starts laughing. He looks over at Hard Hat and tilts his head as he asks, “Where’d the hell you find this kid at?”

Hard Hat smirks and scrunches his mouth to the side as he bobs his head around and asks, “Where do ya think?!”

Locklee’s eyes go wide and he points a hoof at Gearing. “Seriously? Him?!” Hard Hat nods slowly and grins wider. Locklee looks Gearing over and comments quietly, “I’m not seeing it, but something tells me I don’t want to.”

Gearing looks up at him as he asks, “See what? My military ID?”

Locklee grins as he says, “No, your DD two fourteen… You’re in the military, so obviously you have to have one of those… right?”

Gearing tilts his head and narrows his eyes before he says, “Sir… I'm afraid you’re mixing up your terms and lingo… a DD two fourteen is a Report of Separation form that explains that a pony is no longer in the armed forces. That isn’t applicable to someone that’s actively on duty.”

Locklee starts laughing as he puts a hoof over his muzzle and lowers his head behind the counter as he keeps laughing.

After a few moments, where Gearing actually does wait for him to reemerge, he pops up and looks at Gearing as he nods, “Oh… yeah… this kid's good… Damn…”

Gearing stares at him as he says, “I’d like to think I’m good at my job. Yes. But I don’t know what you're referring to, since we just met.”

Locklee looks over at Hard Hat and nods towards Gearing as he asks, “Not going to trip him up at all, am I?”

Hard Hat slowly shakes his head and grins even wider.

Gearing looks between them for a moment and Hard Hat leans over and says quietly, “He’s my brother.”

Gearing raises an eyebrow and looks sideways at Locklee, who has a matching grin on his muzzle before he leans forward and says quietly, “Why do you think you guys are allowed here? It’s the whole reason I set up shop.”

Gearing stares at him for a moment then nods towards the back corner as he asks, “And all of the obvious civilians?”

Locklee stands up straight and looks back at the group of mares in the corner. He rolls his eyes as he says, “Well... Those fillies come in all the time fishing for service members.” He looks at Gearing and smirks. “This is one of the few places on the allowed list around here, so they don’t usually have to wait too long before at least one group of EDF comes through.” He shrugs. “The locals pretty much have a whole system down… know which of the local units will be in during which part of the day, and that group back in the corner simply parks it around noon and waits for the afternoon rush.”

Gearing looks him over for a few moments as he says, “Well, I can see that being particularly useful.”

Locklee grins as he leans across the counter and asks, “Yup! So… wanna tell me what you really do?”

Gearing stares at him in the eye as he says, “I’m a maintenance technician in the Logistics Corp of the one sixty four.”

Locklee grins as he waves a hoof. “No, I mean, really.”

“Really,” Gearing says flatly.

Locklee looks between them and says quietly, “Aw come on, I’m his brother, he just told you so!” obviously expecting the extended implications of the information to earn him a bit of clout. Especially since he just outed himself by admitting he’s Hard Hat’s brother.

Gearing stares him in the eye for a moment, before popping another couple peanuts in his mouth, shell and all, and chewing as he says, “Well. If you want information about your brother's unit. Shouldn’t you be talking to your brother?” He stares at him for a bit longer then starts looking around as he says, “Because that’s my job so I don’t know what else you’re expecting me to say. Lie about it? Come up with something grand and epic to blow up your tail?” He shrugs. “I’m just a repair pony. Nopony special.”

Locklee looks over at Hard Hat and nods towards Gearing as he says, “You’ve trained him well.”

Hard Hat shakes his head and grins wider as he pats Gearing on the shoulder. “As much as I would love to take credit for this, this buck came preassembled with tight lips.”

Skip walks up next to Gearing and leans over to sniff at the bowl Gearing is nibbling from. Gearing slides the bowl over next to him and he hops up in the seat next to Gearing as he looks it over. He tries one and frowns as he says with his soft musical voice, “Bit salty for my liking.”

Gearing looks at it and shrugs as he says, “Yeah. It does have a lot of salt. Weird texture to it too, especially with the shells.”

Skip raises an eyebrow as he looks at him and says with a smirk, “Yeah, I bet… that’s why most folks don’t eat the shells…”

Gearing looks in the bowl as he nods. “Yeah, that makes some sense.” Then sits back up straight.

Skip looks him over, and straightens up himself. He reaches over with a wing and takes Gearing’s service cap off, as he takes his own cap off with his hoof. “Wait a minute…”

He hops off the stool and stands next to it as he says, “Gearing, come here a minute.” Gearing complies and hops down, standing up straight and looking him in the eye. Eye to eye. Skip uses his wing and keeps going from his brow to Gearing’s. Repeatedly. As he frowns he keeps looking at his wing tip with growing frustration.

Gearing grins at him and says, “Yeah… we’re the same height now.”

Skip scowls and slaps the cap back onto Gearing’s head as he huffs, “Dammit! I liked not being the shortest one of the unit for a change!”

Gearing pushes the cap up out of his eyes with a hoof as he grins. “Well, what’s wrong with it? Now you’re just tied for shortest member of the group.”

Skip rolls his eyes and taps Gearing between the eyes with his wingtip as he says, “Because, ya idjit, I’ve seen the way you've been growing with all those exercises you've been doing… It won’t be long and you’ll be taller than me too!”

Cross leans over and grins as she asks, “Ooohhh is somepony cranky? Don't wanna be the smallest one in the group anymore?” She snickers and looks between the two as she asks, “What’s wrong with it?” She nods towards Gearing as she says, “Just work the cuteness aspect of things. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Skip gives her an easy smile and instantly she starts flushing before he asks, “Oh?” He leans towards her and bats his wide eyes at her in quick flutters, “Is it working?”

She quickly turns around and walks away as she huffs, “Oh you brats!”

Skip and Gearing giggle for a few moments before Skip asks, “Hey, Gearing, you said this was your first time coming to a bar, right?”

Gearing nods as he looks around. “Yeah. Didn’t really have a reason to before.” He shrugs. “Didn’t really see the point in restaurants or any of that stuff, except for being a waste of money.”

Skip looks over at Hard Hat and asks, “Hey, Sergeant Major… we're off duty today… right?”

Hard Hats looks over at him and chuckles before he goes back to looking at Locklee. “Yeah… we are… Go ahead you lot.”

Wrecker grins widely as he hops over to the bar counter and yells, “I’ll take a Drunken Sailor!”

“I’ll have a Long Island Iced Tea!” Jitterbug says with glee.

“Buttery nipple!” Static yells.

“I’ll take a Sex on the Beach,” Hammer says as she leans on the bar further on down the counter.

Lightening looks at her sideways and grins as she says, “I bet you would.”

Hammer looks at her and frowns as she says, “I’ll take it anywhere I can get it, actually!” She starts giggling and shaking her rump with such gusto that she’s twirling her tail as she rapidly rambles on with a big grin on her face. “Sex on a Snowbank, a great way to warm up. Sex on a Mountain, to really be on top of the world. Sex on the Grass, so you can play with your food. Sex on the Moon, to Keep Luna company. Sex on the Ceiling for some anti-gravity kinky fun. Sex on my Birthday, the greatest of gifts! Sex on the Deck, to add some motion to the ocean on the ship. Sex on the Rocks, because who doesn’t like it hard. Sex on the Island, there ain’t nothing lonely about it. Sex on Stage, when you want to put on a show that makes them jealous. Sex on the Sofa, the best way to break it in. Sex on the Pool Table, got a hole all picked out and it ain’t no game. Sex on the Dance Floor, when you want to bust more than a move. Sex on the Coffee Table, when you want extra cream in your life. Sex on a Cloud, riding a cute pegasus into the sunset. Sex on the Border, when you wanna push the limits. Sex on the Driveway, when you just gotta park it. Sex on My Face, would put a smile on it! Sex in the Woods, to enjoy it every morning! But most of all what I can really use is a nice Sloe Screw!”

Static stands there with her mouth agape as she looks at Hammer and the bartender is furiously writing down everyone’s orders. “Holy shit! How do you know all of those drinks?!”

Hammer gives her rear another twirl, and snapes her tail behind her as she grins. “What can I say? You know I’ve got Sex on the Brain!”

Lightening simply starts laughing as Static slaps a hoof over her eyes and shakes her head.

Gearing looks around and twitches his ears as he listens to the various names of drinks being called out by the other members of the squad. He raises an eyebrow here and there as he has no idea what any of it is.

Skip looks him over and smirks before he carefully hits the gem on his uniform. A moment later he covers his mouth with his hoof and looks at Gearing as he starts squeaking and chittering at him.

Gearing turns to look at him and twitches his ears as he narrows down and picks out his voice. “No… I haven't … Yeah sure, go ahead.” He gives a wide smile as he nods. “Ohhh . . . Yeah… Yeah, I’ve heard of that before… sure. Hey thanks!” He leans sideways and looks over where Skip is pointing with a wingtip, at the opposite end of the length of the bar against the back where the bar counter is practically void except for the one mare pouring drinks. “Over there?” Gearing asks. After a nod from Skip, Gearing hops up and walks down the counter as he says, “Thanks, I think I’ll try that, thanks for the tip, Black Locust.”

As Gearing gets closer to the back end of the bar, the table of mares in the back corner, what’s remained of them anyway, slowly direct their attention to the lone buck walking in their direction. As he walks over to the counter and sits down with his back to them their eyes jump wide and one mare slowly licks her lips as she shamelessly draws her gaze over every hair and feather of the young service member.

Gearing raises his hoof and says softly, “Uhm… excuse me…”

The mare behind the counter looks over from pouring a few beers, sees Gearing poking his head over the counter with a friendly smile across his face, and asks with a smirk across hers, “Uh… yeah?”

Gearing points down toward the end of the counter near the front door as he says, “My squad mate said it’d be okay if I came down here to order a drink. Do ya mind?”

She looks at him and scrunches up her muzzle to the side as she asks, “Your… squadmate…?” Gearing nods. She looks over and sees Locklee talking with Hard Hat and asks, with a loud voice, ‘Hey… Locklee…” He looks over at her and she nods towards Gearing as she says, “Uhhh… you know this buck?”

Locklee walks over towards her and nods as he says, “Yeah…”

She looks over at Gearing and asks, “What unit you with?”

“One sixty four logistics out of Fort Falabella, why?”

Her eyes go wide and she looks over at Locklee. She stares at him for a moment before nodding at Gearing. “Is he serious?”

Locklee grins and bobs his head around before he replies, “Yeah, I know, right?” He looks over at Gearing and grins. “Apparently dynamite comes in small packages. We were just talking down there about it with the rest of the crew.”

Gearing looks at her and narrows his eyes as he says, “I may be short, but I can still bring the pain.” He waves his hoof as he says, “Besides, being small comes in handy when trying to get into tight spaces. You never know when you’re going to need to wiggle around to get to just the right spot when you’re trying to fix something.”

The mares over at the round table right behind him, who have been shamelessly gawking at him the moment he broke away from the rest of the herd, and have had perhaps a few too many drinks already, find his phrasing particularly humorous as they keep watching the exchange.

The bartender shrugs as she says, “Well… I guess... yeah… I can see that.” She looks over at Locklee and he nods at her and then nods towards Gearing before turning around and heading back to talk to the others at the end of the bar. After he’s gone, she looks at Garing and asks, “Alright, so… soldier… pick your poison.”

Gearing blinks at her a few times as he thinks about what she's just asked, thinks of a few potential responses, and then says, “I’ll take a Sweetie Belle, if you have the time, ma’am.”

The mares in the back corner practically spit out their drinks, in his direction, as they are watching and a grin crosses their muzzles as they giggle. One of the mares, an earth pony wearing a sparkling red sequin cocktail dress, says, “He ordered the sweetest non alcoholic drink in existence?! Oh… that’s just too delicious!”

Another earth pony mare at the table, in a sheer black silk dress that's so form fitting the outline of her garter belt can be seen through it, comments, “The only thing sweeter would be if he ordered milk.”

The unicorn mare with them, wearing a frilly cream colored shirt and a long black skirt, with glasses on her nose and a bow in her mane, gushes as she puts her hooves to her cheeks and practically squeals, “He’s just so adorable I can’t stand it!”

The three of them look like they are throwing their own little cocktail party at the bar. But it’s obvious from their salacious expressions and lecherous gazes that they’re getting more interested in other forms of entertainment for the night. And their wardrobes just scream of trying hard.

The mare behind the bar counter smirks as he looks Gearing over. “A Sweetie Belle… are you serious?”

He nods as he looks around. “Is there a problem? Do you not have the ingredients? Would it help if I ran to the base’s commissary to pick some things up for you?”

She tilts her head and lets out a very soft, ‘awww’ as she looks at him with a warm smile for being so sweet as to be willing to run to the store for her. She shakes her head and she says, “No thanks, hun. I got everything… just… just wanted to make sure what you were ordering.”

“Hey there, soldier, what’s your name?” a mare asks sweetly from over Gearing’s left shoulder.

Gearing turns sideways and sees the three mares that were just at the round table standing around him as he slowly looks them over. “Name’s Gearing. Can I help you?” He slowly looks them over as he feels the area where his withers would be tingling and warning him of predators. Almost like he’d gotten surrounded by a pack of large carnivorous cats.

The mare in the sparkly red dress looks him over as she asks, “You really in the army?”

Gearing looks at her and nods as he says, “Yes, ma’am. Equestrian Defense Force one hundred sixty four logistical battalion.”

The mare in the sheer black dress looks him over and frowns as she asks, “How long you been in?”

The unicorn adjusts her glasses as she asks, “When’d you sign up? You look kinda… small… for a soldier, buck.”

Gearing looks at the unicorn and nods as he says, “I may be short. But that doesn’t stop me none.” He looks at the mare in the black dress and replies, “I signed up at the first opportunity I could.” He gives a light salute and smiles as he says, “I wanted to do my part to help keep Equestria safe.”

The first mare leans in and asks softly, “So… how close to the front do you actually get?”

Gearing looks at her sideways then nods as he says, “Well, sometimes we have to recover a piece of broken or disabled equipment.”

Back near the rest of Stormfront’s crew, Hammer, Lightening, and Static have sat down at a table to wait on their drinks as they talk. Although Hammer keeps looking down the length of the bar, towards the other side of Hooflocker, and develops a bad case of ‘resting bitch face’ as she sees what’s going on down there. But her attention is snapped violently back when Locklee approaches the table with an entire tray full of drinks, and starts laying them down on the table in front of the trio in rapid succession.

Hammer’s eyes bug out as she recognizes the drinks, and actually knows their names. The horror of what she’d accidentally done sinks in as she blurts out, “Holy shit! Am I gonna have to drink all of this?!”

Locklee smirks at her and gives a casual flip of his tail as he’s turning to leave, “Drink it or not, you’re still paying for it…”

“Well, fuck me,” Hammer moans as she sees the pile of drinks in front of her.

“Isn’t talking about that what landed you in this position?” Lightening asks with a grin.

“I’d rather be in a fucking position, than an alcohol poisoning position,” Hammer says bitterly.

“I can help you?” Static suggests.

“You can’t give me the kinda help I really want…” Hammer groans as she looks down the counter, to where Gearing is being surrounded by mares, and she scowls as she starts slamming the drinks and getting more and more pissed by the minute.

The mare in the black dress’s eyes go wide as she almost loses the drink she’s holding with a hoof and asks Gearing, “You mean to tell me you’ve been on the line?!”

Gearing looks at her and nods as he says, “Ma’am, yes ma’am.”

“You get shot at?” the unicorn mare asks as she basically blurts it out.

Gearing looks at her and frowns as he nods. “Had a bullet bounce off my helmet the first fifteen minutes there… that count?”

The three mares look at each other and try to process everything. The mare in the red dress looks closer at him as she leans in a bit more and comments, “But aren’t you a cutie though…”

Gearing looks at her and tilts his head as he says, “I know I’m small, but I still get my job done.”

the mare in the black dress giggles as she looks at the first mare. “He’s so dedicated!”

The fist mare leans in closer with a grin as she asks, “So… You’re in the repair unit, huh?”

Gearing looks at her and nods. “Yes ma’am.”

The second mare leans in and asks, “So, you’re good at fixing things… huh?”

Gearing looks at her and nods. “I’m pretty good at fixing things, yes ma’am”

The unicorn mare leans in and grins widely as she asks, “How about pipes?”

The other two giggle and the mare in the black dress swats the unicorn on the side of her foreleg as she says, “Oh, look at you!”

Gearing’s ear twitches as he looks past them towards Skip. They exchange eye contact for a few moments before he nods in his direction while Skip is holding a wing over his mouth.

Gearing slowly tilts his head, sits down, and raises an ear ever so much as he look at the second mare and asks softly, “What do you meeeean?”

The first mare does a spit take of her drink as Gearing’s already youthful blue eyes grow even bigger and practically sparkle out at them.

The second mare giggles a bit, as she tries to avoid eye contact before she says, “Oh… you know.. a little bit of hard work… laying pipes…”

Gearing looks between them and asks softly, “Why would you giggle about that?”

The unicorn puts a hoof to her mouth as her eyes go wide and practically sparkle themselves. “Oh there’s no way he could possibly be this sweet and innocent!”

Gearing puts a hoof to his chin and tilts his head the other way as he gives and maintains hard eye contact with her and asks softly, “I’m sweeeeet?”

The second mare’s legs shake slightly as she moans, “Oh god… look at those lips.”

“His eyes are amazing,” groans the first mare.

The third mare nods enthusiastically, enough to rattle her glasses, as she says, “Yes.. Yes you are.” She gives him a long look as she slowly licks her lips as she trails her gaze over his body, ending with hard eye contact as she partially closes her eyes and adds, “I’d love to get a taste of that sweet tooshie of yours too…”

Gearing looks at her then tilts his head as he says softly, “What do you mean?” As he looks up at her with his big wide blue sparkling eyes and a hoof ever so lightly put to his muzzle as he looks like he’s trying to follow along with a complicated conversation.

The first mare giggles as she says, “Oh god I can't help myself!” She leans in and whispers in his ear, “You wanna come back and show us what a big strong buck like you can do?”

The second mare giggles as she leans in and says, “I heard the logistics division gets run around so much they have endurance like nopony’s business!”

Gearing smiles sweetly and opens his mouth to say something, but Cross has not only noticed but has apparently had enough as she comes stomping over. She’d been keeping tabs on Gearing and wanted to make sure that Gearing was capable of keeping up with the cover story for them, even under constant bombardment. But as the conversation continued, she became increasingly more flushed as the innuendo and lingo, and obvious intent, got thrown around by the mares. And it didn’t slip past her notice how they seemed to be trying to measure Gearing up for a train.

Cross rears up and starts flailing her forehooves around as her cheeks are flushed and she yells “Alright all you skanks! Back the fuck up! You’re not riding the thunder tonight so back up! Go on! Shoo!” She stomps her forehooves down and looks them over as she says, “You’re old enough to be my mother, let alone his! What’s wrong with you?!”

The first mare scowls at her as she asks, “What’s wrong with liking a buck in uniform?”

The second one scowls as she says, “He looks good in it! I mean look at him!”

The unicorn looks away and puts the back of a hoof over her eyes as she moans, “I’m not that old! I swear! Don’t even have any kids yet!”

Gearing turns to look at Cross and does the same thing as he puts his hoof to his chin, tilts his head the other way, causing his hat to fall cattywampus on his head, as he asks softly in a sweet voice, “What do you meeeean?”

Crosses eyes go wide as she flushes even more. She uses her magic and twists his ear with it as she says, “Come along, you. I swear I can’t take my eye off you without you getting into trouble.” He follows along and when he turns around to look up at her he gives her a crooked grin, but has the same general pose again, and she blushes even harder as she puts a hoof in his face and yells, “And you, stop that! Stop trying to be so cute!”

Gearing tilts his head the other way as he asks with the same pseudoinnocent tone, “I’m cuuuuuute?”

Groans come from the three mares as they aren’t happy that such a sweet little treat just got dragged off away from them before they could get a proper sampling.

On the other side of Hooflocker, where Gearing is getting dragged to, Hammer groans and moans by the table as she mutters and yells at Static, who keeps trying to shush her. She raises her head and looks over at Gearing as she hears him ask Cross and waves a hoof in the air as she says, “Yer damn right yer cyoot!” She grabs for another glass as she says, “Got a shweet lil arse too…” Her and Static fight over the drink as Static tries to keep it away from Hammer with her levitation field for a few moments before Hammer leans across the table and stares her in the face as she puts one of her hooves almost into Static’s eyes, “Hey! Ya said I gotta drink’em, so Ah’m drink’em! If I gotta pay for’em, Ah’m drinkn’ me and if Ah can’t get me some hunka burn’ luv, hetter believe Ah’m drinkn’ at least!”

Static looks at her and frowns as she says, “Anvil, you’re not really making any sense…”

Hammer downs the drink in one go and then points the glass at Static like it’s a knife as she says, “Yer not makn’ sense!”

She slams down the glass then looks around and hicups as she gets giggly. But a few seconds later, her eyes start growing wider as they open and her jaw goes slack as she seems to stare off into space. “Ah… I think Ah’m gonna lose mah motor oil…”

Static’s eyes go wide and she hops over to the side to help Hammer, while Lightening takes flight straight up towards the ceiling to clear the blast zone, but Static ends up recoiling, hoping back onto her hindhooves as she stands up vertically and pops a magical shield around herself as Hammer leans over the table and starts hurling over the side of the table, onto the hardwood floor. At first it’s just a quick spurt. But then it starts coming out like a firehose as her stomach is playing bouncer and is kicking everypony out at the same time. Hammer’s tail twitches upwards with each additional abdominal contraction, which causes an even bigger watery burst. And it happens in rapid succession as she begins technicolor talking in full auto.

Lightening, hovering near the ceiling above the absolute disaster zone, scrunches up her nose as the smell hits her quickly. “In the immortal words of Pinkie Pie… ‘Ewww I think somepony partied too hard.’”

Hammer lays over the table and starts moaning and groaning as the drool steadily trails out of her mouth. She stares at the disaster she created for a few moments before she asks, “Carrots? When’d da hell Ah last eat carrots?!”

Tower turns around and looks at her as he hells ,”Ah god damn it! I told you not to drink all of that!”

“Shad ap… This is yer fault anyway…”, Hammer moans as she lays limply over the table.

“How’s the hell is it my fault that you drank a shit load of drinks in rapid succession?!” Tower asks with a raised eyebrow.

Hamer lifts her head up and looks him dead in the eye as she says, “Dun gemmi that crap… you know damn well why Ah drank so much!”

Tower slaps a hoof over his face as he groans. “Oh for fuck’s sake…”

Hammer points at him and laughs, sending spittle around onto the floor as she says roughly, “Yeah! See! You do know!” She waves her hoof at him weakly and says, “Told ya so, ya big ole meanie!”

Gearing trots over and looks her over as he asks, “Anvil, are you okay?”

Hammer looks over at him and smiles as Static uses her magic and wipes off her muzzle. Hammer reaches out and pats Gearing on the shoulder with a forehoof as she says raspily, “Gearing… yer a sweet buck… those mares were right… yer a sweet- sweet buck…”

Gearing walks up to Hammer and frowns as he says, “Anvil, you don’t look so good right now.”

Hammer lays on the table and groans as she says, “Ah don’t feel so good neither.” She closes her eyes as she says, “Forget the pizza… Ah just wanna go home to bed.” She opens an eye and looks at Gearing as she asks softly, “Gearing… will you take me home?”

Gearing nods and walks over to the table as he says, “Don’t worry, Anvil, I got ya.” He uses his forehooves to pull her closer, then directs her across her back where he lets her curl up and he wraps her up with his wings before he turns and heads towards the door. He stops and looks at Hard Hat as he gives a wave with a hoof. “Sergent Major… I’m going to escort her back.”

Locklee stares in bewilderment as the smallish pegasus hauls around the much bigger earth pony mare like she was a simple box of doughnuts.

Hard Hat looks at him and nods slightly before nodding towards the door. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea… Make sure she’s not going to hurt herself while you're at it.”

Gearing nods and heads for the door. As he’s going out of Hooflocker, Cross hops over and scowls in Hard Hat’s face as she hisses, “You sure that’s a good idea with the condition she’s in right now!?”

Hard Hat looks at her and frowns heavily as he says, “I have every confidence in Sergent Gearing to take care of his squadmate and uphold the code of conduct we have laid out for him. I don’t have any worry whatsoever about leaving her in his care, even with her current state. He’s a good buck, and would never do anything to disgrace the army, the unit, nor himself.” He gives a strong affirmative as he stares her in the eye.

Cross slaps a hoof over her eyes before she says softly, “I’m talking about leaving those two alone with her being too drunk to care about orders to the contrary and what she might do!”

Hard Hat's eyes go wide for a moment before he puts a hoof to his chin and gives it some thought. “Oh… yeah… I suppose there’s that.”

“You suppose?!” Cross screeches as she pulls the hoof from her eyes and stops it on the ground.

Hard Hat gives her a sheepish smile as he shrugs. “Well… What’s the worst that can happen… really?”

Cross covers her face with her forehooves as she moans, “Please don’t say that, you know what happens every time you say that. That happens… that's exactly what happens: the worst thing!”

Gearing and Hammer make their way back to the private residence block, which is an apartment building for members of the various divisions that are stationed around here, and Gearing carries her all the way up the stairs to her room as she moans and mumbles about how horrible she’s feeling.

Once they get up to her room, he manages to wrangle her keys from her, and unlocks the door, then carries her in the rest of the way. After getting her inside he carries her over to the bed, and gently offloads her onto the bed. He’s extra careful to make sure that her mostly limp limbs don’t bend awkwardly as he works to position her onto the bed.

He goes over to the little kitchenette, grabs a cup from the cupboard, fills it from the sink, and sets it on the nightstand near her as he’s scooting over the trash can from the other side of the night stand.

She lays there grumbling and moaning as she asks, “Gearing… that’s you, aint it?”

Gearing nods as he steps up closer to her. “Yeah… it's me.”

She reaches out, and pats on his shoulder, then starts rubbing it gently as she asks, “Did… did I finally get ya home?”

Gearing chuckles. “I guess… sorta?” He looks her over and takes a few sniffs before he says, “I think you got some of your vomit on your uniform… is it okay if I take it off to get it cleaned?”

She slowly opens her eyes and looks at him as she stays practically smashed into the bed face down. She reaches out with a hoof and trails it around his cheek and under her chin as she says, “If you wanna take my clothes off… you’re more than welcome to.”

He smiles and nods, and walks around, first starting with her dress shoes, and then going around her one by one undoing the various buttons and straps. He takes her hat off, that had somehow stayed on the entire trip, and sets it on top of the lamp nearby before coming back and slowly starting to work her BDU jacket off of her.

The groaning unhappy look on her face takes on a different tone as she starts smiling widely and trying to keep her eyes open. She ever so often lifts or moves a leg to help her clothes get removed. And, after he finally relieved her of her jacket, but leaves the under shirt on, unbuttoned and disheveled but on, he walks over to the sink and starts cleaning off the various spots on it with splattered bits across the foreleg sleeves.

After applying a treatment paste to the spots so they don’t stain, he walks back over to her and helps roll her over, as he rolls her out of her shirt. She giggles and lets it be removed as she stretches out on the bed. After removing everything, he hangs up things that haven’t been soiled, and starts preparation on others that have. He walks back over and begins pulling out the sheets from under her and starts tucking her in. She reaches out and starts gently caressing his shoulder as she asks, “Gearing?”

Gearing looks up into her eyes, and goes from one eye to the other, as he asks, “Yeah, Anvil?”

She giggles and scrunches her shoulders up to her head as she says, “I love it when you say my real name… but…” She gently rubs his foreleg that’s on her bed as she asks, “Do you think I’m a good pony?”

Gearing gets closer to her, gently brushes her grayish opal mane out of her face, and nods as he looks her in the eye. “Yeah, Anvil… I think you’re a good pony.”

She smiles as she takes in a deep breath then asks with her eyes closed. “But… do you like me?” She opens one of her cobalt blue eyes as she looks at his face and bites her lip as she’s genuinely worried about the answer.

Gearing nods as he grins at her. “Yeah, Anvil. I think you’re awesome.”

She smiles and reaches over and pats the bed next to her. “Would it be too much to ask… for you to hold me? I feel like crap…”

Gearing shakes his head and walks around the bed as he says, “No. It’s okay… I’ll watch over you.” He rears up and puts his forehooves on the bed, and gives it a few pushes as he says, “With the weight distribution enchantment it should be okay…” He hops up into the bed, and she rolls over onto her back, looking at him with one eye as she has her foreleg over her eyes but peeking out at him as he’s over her. She stretches out her legs, welcoming him, and he tosses his cap off to the side before he gently lays down and, a moment later, she rolls with his foreleg and they quickly end up in a cuddling position as his foreleg is wrapped around her middle and the little pegasus becomes a big spoon. He adds to her enjoyment when he stretches his wing over her and pulls her closer to him.

Hammer giggles as she feels his wing tickle and press into her soft underbelly. She rubs his foreleg with her hoof as she wears an indestructible smile on her face and says, “Thank you, Gearing…”

Gearing nuzzles into the back of her neck and smiles as he nods. “Any time, Anvil.”

She takes in a deep breath, and starts scooting backwards. Pressing into him as much as she can until she literally can’t anymore. “Ya say that, but we’re not gonna get an excuse like this often, if ever.”

Gearing pulls his head away and looks her over for a bit before he asks, “Do you actually… enjoy this?”

She nods as she takes in a deep breath, and lets it out in a happy sigh of contentment. She giggles a bit as she sloppily taps her forehooves together. “I... finally got you in bed.”

Gearing shrugs his shoulders as he says, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

She rubs his foreleg that on her abdomen as she says, “To you, maybe not… Means a lot to me.”

“Oh?”

“Mmhmm.”

“I don’t really see why,” Gearing says as he keeps looking her over.

She slowly rolls over to look him in the face. They stare into each other's eyes for a few moments before she gently rubs a hoof across his cheek. “Is it so strange that someone would actually enjoy your company?”

Gearing looks at her and shrugs as he says, “A bit… I suppose.”

She lets out a long sigh as she says, “Well… I do… I really do…” She leans in slowly, maintaining eye contacts as she leans towards him. After a few seconds, seconds that seem like they take an eternity for both of them, she finally makes lip contact with him. And then she rolls forward, and partially over him, as she presses into him and the kiss. As she’s half laying over him she rubs a hoof over his chest and says softly as she pulls back, “Ya believe me?”

He looks up at her wide eyed, before giving a slight nod. “Ya, I do.”

She smiles and leans down again, kissing him, and ever so slightly working her tongue between his lips. After a few probing pokes, he complies and opens his mouth, and her tongue jets into his mouth, where she starts exploring around the inside of his mouth with her tongue as she rolls over and entirely on top of him.

She brings her forehooves up and rubs them up in cycles, caressing and rubbing his shoulders, neck, and cheeks as she continuously digs into the kiss.

After she’s heavily panting she pulls back and grins at him as the moisture from her actions have made her lips quite damp at the moment. “I’ve been wanting to do that for so long.”

Gearing smiles up at her and shrugs as he says, “Well… I don’t mind…”

She grins widely as she leans in, but halts as he holds up a hoof and stops her. “There’s just one thing.” Her eyes jump wide as she looks him over and awaits whatever cruel fate is about to be bestowed on her. He points up at her and says, “We can’t let anyone else know about any of this… Or Cross and them might get cranky.”

Anvil giggles as he leans down and kisses him again. “Yeah.. They probably would.” She practically lays on him as she lays down such that her limbs are outside of his as she rests her face in the nook of the side of his neck. She keeps scooting closer, wrapping him up in her limbs more as the smile on her muzzle just gets bigger. She takes in a long slow breath from near his neck then lets it out in a happy sigh as she says, “I could stay here like this forever…”

Gearing shrugs as he says, “Well, we’ve got the day at least.”

She giggles and then sighs as she says, “Yeah… we do…” After another moment she lets out a giggle and comments, “There’s just one problem.”

Gearing raises an eyebrow as he asks, “What's that?”

“I gotta pee… like… bad… I don’t wanna get up… but I gotta pee.” Gearing starts a giggle fit and she says while giggling herself, “Don’t laugh too hard, or you might make me pee myself!”

He rubs her side with his hoof as he asks, “Need help to the restroom?”

She nods lightly. “Yes please.”

Gearing rolls to the side, depositing her next to him, before he rolls back the other way and slips out of bed. And as she's crawling out at a practical slithering pace, he helps guide her hooves to the floor. Safely. And helps hold her up and steady as they make their way to the bathroom. Then he stands at the door after getting her situated, with his back politely to her, as she answers nature’s call.

The embarrassing situation of having someone she likes so much, and has for so long, taking care of her like so is practically melted as Gearing looks up at the ceiling and asks, “So… about that race you’re preparing for?”

She can’t help but giggle and, at some point, actually agree. While she’s still going she starts giggling louder as she asks, “Is it ever gonna stop?!”

After a bit longer, and her finishing in the bathroom, Gearing helps guide her back into bed, and without even being asked crawls back up into bed and lays as he had done previously. And, just like previously, Anvil rolls over and starts climbing over him. Snuggling up with him as much as she can as she gets a happy smile plastered over her face. After a while longer with her slowly rubbing circles on his chest, she doses off to sleep with her muzzle pointed into his neck. Gearing covers her with his foreleg, and a wing, and holds her throughout the night.

The next morning Gearing’s walking in through a side entrance of the facility as he’s looking around and seeing who’s still up already. It’s early in the morning, even by military standards -outside of typical basic training torture- and the base is still quiet. But, after he gets in through the door, and starts heading over to the area where he’s been crashing lately, a puff of black smoke pops up next to him and Skip appears next to him, trotting at an exaggerated pace, swinging his hips with each step as he looks at Gearing sideways.

Ship puts a hoof out, in front of Gearing, and stops him from progressing anymore as he slowly starts walking around him and examining the sight. The further around Gearing he gets, the wider his smile gets.

Gearing’s uniform is entirely disheveled. As if he’d slept in it. Because he had. And he hasn’t had a chance to reorganize himself yet as he hurried up and got here as soon as Hammer had woken up enough that he could escape her fleshy embrace. And, to make matters worse, Gearing’s chest has some very noticeable stains on it where a certain mare had literally drooled on him overnight, during the whole night.

Skip taps on his amplifier’s button as he says, “Nitro… wow… okay…” He looks him over some more as he giggles. “You can’t let Cross see you like this, she’ll have a cow.”

Gearing looks around quickly and asks, “Well, what am I gonna do? If you’re up, she probably is too!”

Skip nods and grins wider. “Oh, she’s up alright. And she’s basically sitting outside of your door waiting on you to get back…”

Gearing looks off to the side as he folds his ears back. “Shit.”

Skip leans over and pats him on the shoulder. “Oh. Don’t worry. I got you.” He starts herding him over to a collection of barrels, boxes, crates, and other supplies as he says, “Here, get that shirt off and I’ll be right back with another one for you. Just stay out of sight, like I’ve taught you.”

Gearing quickly complies, jumping behind everything and blending in as much as he can as he starts wiggling out of his uniform.

Skip quickly pops away, appearing near the ceiling, then popping away and around into an unconventional path to his destination.

A bit later, Cross comes walking down the hallway, zipping her eyes this way and that as she says softly to herself, “I thought I heard voices down here…”

A few seconds later Skip pops back into the air above and behind her, near the rafters, then again over the position where Gearing is hiding. As he’s popping away from Gearing, one of their uniform dress shirts drops down out of the rafters and flutters down on top of Gearing, who quickly grabs and yanks it down better into hiding.

At the same time Skip pops in front of Cross, while she has her back towards the door Gearing had entered through and the pile of supplies he’s currently hiding in, and giggles as he says, and rather loudly at that, “Hey, Cross! What's shaking!”

Cross puts a hoof in Skip's face as she says, “Don’t give me that… He never came back last night. I’m getting worried about the little shit.” She starts looking around as she says, “I knew letting them go off on their own was a mistake.”

Skip flies around in her face, directing and drawing her attention towards himself, as he says, “What’s the problem? Not like anything would happen. He’d just drop her off and be the good little soldier we all know how he is.”

Cross narrows her eyes as she says, “Yeah, but Hammer’s not so great on protocol when it comes to certain issues.”

Skip waves his hooves around. “Pfft… besides… What makes you think he didn’t come back? What makes you think he’s not already back?”

Cross sits down and stares at him with her eyes narrowed. “Cuz he hasn’t been in his room, at all. He hasn’t even touched any of the magazines I dropped off for him and those should have been the first things he grabbed.”

Skip leans in and wiggles his eyebrows, “Or, it’s all an elaborate ruuuuse! Maybe he put them back, in the exact same order, after reading them…” He waves his hooves in front of her face back and forth before he says, “All so no one would know that he’s already read the information… Maybe he’s practicing for that! You know he’s got a great memory… practically photographic even!”

Cross narrows her eyes even more as she says, “Uh huh… and if that’s the case… where is he?”

Skip grins as he says, “Weeeelll… To be good at tricking people, you have to be able to trick your friends… and if you don’t want to get shot, a good way to avoid that is to not be seen!”

He starts giggling and as he's turning in a circle he hits the button on his suit then starts quietly squeaking for a second with his back to her before hitting it again and turning to face Cross as he says loudly. “So.. The first rule of not getting shot… is not being seen!”

He looks around. “Nitro… would you kindly stand up!?”

Cross’s eyes go wide. Then she starts looking around. And, after a few moments of absolutely nothing happening, she turns back to look at Skip and narrows her eyes menacingly as she says, “Oh hardy har har… Think you're so clever…”

He puts a hoof to his chest and starts hovering back and forth in front of her as he says, “Actually… I do!” He continues pacing as he says, “You see… Nitro has learned the first lesson of not getting shot… To not be seen!” He stops in front of her and grins widely as he says, “Okay, Nitro, you may come on out now.”

She narrows her eyes even further, but then her eyes jump wide as Gearing jumps up and hovers over the various supplies before he lands next to Skip, in his nice pressed uniform, and gives her a wide grin as he stands at attention and looks up at her.

Skip waves at him with both forehooves as he says, “Tadaaaaaa!”

Cross looks back and forth, then over at the supply stash, before she looks at Gearing. “You were hiding over there? Why?”

Gearing point at Skip without even looking at him. “He told me to.”

“Why?”

“Because… that's a thing we do usually?” He looks back and forth between the two. “He’s teaching me how to avoid being detected and avoid getting hurt or setting off alarms.”

“So you were hiding behind the supplies, because he said so.”

“Yup.” Gearing shrugs. “It’s not the first time…”

Skip nods sagely as he puts a hoof to his chin. “No… and it won’t be the last either…”

Cross looks at Gearing as she asks softly, “And what about Anvil?”

Gearing tilts his head as he looks at her. “What about Anvil? I left her at her room. That’s where she was last I saw her anyway.”

Cross looks between the two and asks, “That’s… that’s it…?”

Gearing puts his hoof to his chin and asks softly, “What do you mean?”

Skip starts laughing and Cross starts flushing as she closes her eyes. She opens her eyes and turns bright red as she asks through gritted teeth. “I know you know what this term means… so… did you have sex with Anvil?”

Skip’s eyes go wide and he looks at Gearing as he was not expecting such a direct approach.

Gearing raises up a hoof and waves it at Cross as he says, while looking her right in the eye, “I… did not have sexual relations, with that mare, Miss Anvil Locknut.”

Skip spits off to the side as he giggles at the absolute bluntness of the statement, along with the weird phrasing.

Cross turns even brighter red before she looks back and forth and mutters, “Well… okay… If that’s what you say… I’ll trust you…” She turns and quickly starts walking away as she says, “But you need to get back to your duties!”

After she’s gone, Skip says with a giggle, “Wow… I know I said you needed to be able to fool your friends… but that was so good I almost believed it myself!”

Gearing looks at him and asks, “What?”

Skip waves it away with a hoof as he says, “The cute bit doesn’t work on me… And I meant you and Hammer shaking up, of course.”

Gearing looks back and forth before he says quietly, “But… I didn’t… I just watched over her while the alcohol worked its way out of her system… She fell asleep on me… That's why I had drool stains on my uniform.”

Skip turns and looks him in the eye for a few moments before his shoulders sag. “Oh… wow… I bet she’s gonna be pissed… Had a perfect opportunity and failed to seal the deal because of Whiskey Clit…”

Footnote:

While this is a half chapter, and not necessary to appreciates the greater story as a hole, it does contain some information that could help answer questions that some folks may have. Especially about in verse current and upcoming events.