As we reach the lobby, the others trot cautiously outside while both Purple and I go to the front desk to settle up our accounts and to tell him we are checking out. As we get close the desk clerk asks us, “Where are the keys?”

We toss them onto the counter and he says, “Very good, the young zony in your party already explained, your bill will be settled as we discussed before. Please be careful, good luck, and please come again the next time you are in Hoofington.”

I nod my head and I see Purple smile a flirtatious grin at him as she says, “Oh, I most certainly will, I hope to see you then.”

He grins back and tells her, “Madam I most heartedly agree. Thank you for last night, now you best hurry, I will see you then.”

This gets me to raise an eyebrow, but now is not the time to ask.

With that, we turn and run across the lobby, and once on the street, we run to the carts. Most of the others have already fanned out and are covering the ones being harnessed up. We all toss what we can’t carry into the wagons as well as Purchase Order and our foals. Badger takes the harness for our cart. Attaché takes the harness for the others.

As I scan the area around us, I see nothing, but from above I hear Rain Dancer yell, “Ma, I see something, and he points to the side. I watch as Windy begins to move in that direction and is fired upon. She shoots several bursts and then dives for us along with the rest of her family. As they come at us, I notice for the first time that all of her family is armed. Including her youngest, Rain Dancer.

As they get closer I hear Badger and Attaché yell out, “Ready,” Then Badger yells out, “hold on everypony,” and we begin to run.

Leading the way is Tek, his cloak fluttering behind him as his hooves clop the broken roads. My oldest tell me to get ahead and they will cover the rear.

As we come running down the road, ahead I see two flamethrowers fire across the street ahead of us, Ginger yells out, "Tinder, Kindling, it’s us!”

The flamethrowers stop and as we run forward, I hear one of them yell out, “What’s going on?”

From the ground behind us, I hear several shots fired at us and as we skid around the corner Ginger runs over, stops next to the Burner Boys, and fires several shots. I hear one of those chasing us yell in pain and then she says, “The Mayhem’s Mares, the Broken Clocks and a few enclaver’s are after us.”

I hear Tinder say, “Well, get going, we will slow them down a bit. They are not going to come into our territory. We can’t have them getting bad habits now can we.”

With that, we are off at the run again with Tek again in the lead and with Epona just behind him. We are several blocks away when I hear the flamethrowers firing off again followed by more screams. Then we are on an open road and we continue to run. I hear Epona yell to Tek, “How far to the border?”

He yells back, “Only twenty kilometers as the crow flies.”

I can only think, why did he have to mention Crows?

Then he yells to her, “But we can’t fly, so a bit more.”

After a half-hour more of running, we slow to a walk and we begin to look for a place to rest.

We find a place finally. It’s an old city bus garage. Two of the large bus doors are hanging open. As we enter it is dank and musty. We are inside for only a few minutes rest when Moon Lily says, “Ma, there are ghouls and ferals in here and they are coming our way.”

I see Tek look at her and ask, “YOU? YOU ARE THE NECROMANCER?”

Moon looks at him and says, “No, I am not a necroromancer. I just feel them, and help them find their way.”

I watch as his jaw hangs open and he finally sputters out, “That is what necromancers used to do!” He looks at us and says in a very confused tone, “You have pony shaman?”

Right then in the heavy shadows, I see Moon lift her hoof and begin to pray and make the sign of the blessing as we begin to hear the growling coming our way. We are moving back out of the building when we start to see MEW beams strike the ground near the entranceway. I watch as Windy and her family run outside and begin to dogfight with the pegasi that are still in the air. Badger and Attaché are both trying to back out of the doors still.

I then hear Millie yell, “Moon to your right,” and I see Moon Lily’s horn begin to surge with power as it flashes time after time. Soon she is joined by both her mother and Purple haze. As they defend us from one side and most of the others are involved in the firefight outside. Eventually, we are all back outside and I notice that Purchase is sitting propped up in the cart, providing covering fire for Badger’s cart and the young foals, who are sheltering under what baggage we still have.

Once we are all back outside, we begin a fighting withdrawal? Strategic advance to the rear? I think to myself and shrug my shoulders. I notice to one side is a half-destroyed factory complex. As I begin to think about going that way Moon calls out, “Not that way Mama Mollygirl, more ghouls.”

I nod my head and call back to her, “Your right, could be more ferals too. Thanks.” Just then I see another Pegasus begin to make a strafing run towards us. I stop and brace myself. I Switch on my SATS and target them with my Doombunny. I fire a quick burst and watch as the sparks hit them in the helmet of their power armor. I watch as they grab their eye from the side I hit them on, and then dive for cover.

We participate in a running gunfight for another twenty minutes before they give up and break off. Several of us have minor wounds. I notice that Moon Lily has gotten out of the cart and is helping her mother tend them. We continue at a walk for another hour before we decide we need to take a break again.

This time we find a building that has one whole side knocked down. It looks like it had a fire over a century ago inside of it. We all huddle under the roof. Those pulling the wagons finally take a break from the traces and harness. I watch as Badger stretches his limbs and then bends his neck so his muzzle touches each side trying to loosen up his stiff muscles.

At this point, Tek tells me, “I go scout ahead. Be back soon.”

I watch as he disappears into the ruined urban landscape. When he returns, he tells me, “Ahead, three blocks that way,” He points in the direction we were traveling and then says, “Gang territory, call selfs Hoof Ferals. That way,” he points again towards our left, “Be rad scorpion territory under old park.”

I nod my head. It figures, I think to myself and then I ask, “Ok, how about that direction?”

He shakes his head, “No Good. Is Marimare. Many Pegasus, many friends of Enclave.”

I nod my head, “Ok, which way do you recommend?” I ask him and I see the surprise on his face. Then he points towards the park. “That way is bad, but other ways is badder.”

I nod my head, “Ok, let's get everyone ready then.” I stand up and tell them, “I need two ponies in the traces. All of the youngsters back into the back of the cart. Everypony who has a weapon make sure you have it ready. We may be dealing with radscorpions.”

I see one of the dignitaries gulp then asks, “What do you mean might? Is there anything else we need to worry about ahead?”

Ginger looks at them with her smart-alecky grin and tells them, “There are lots of things ahead to worry about, but for now our closest ones are the rad scorpions,”

I then am surprised to hear Millie say, “Yeah, that should not be much worse than radhog hunting back home.”

I shake my head and tell her, “Well first off these critters can burrow underground and surprise us when they come up. Secondly, when did you go radhog hunting?”

I see her blush and look down. Then she says, “Ma, we only did it a couple of times.”

“Who is this WE you mention?”

“Ma, it was me, Woody, Bucky, and Moon. We sold the meat off.” She tells me.

I shake my head, and tell her, “Does this mean you all know how to use weapons?”

I see all four of them nod their heads and Raven shakes hers.

“Fine, next chance we arm you. But until then, keep your heads down.” I tell them. “Ok, let’s get this done with.”

Windy looks over at me, “Mollygirl are you sure about this?”

“Windy what choice do we have?”

She sighs and nods, “Ok, Kids, Squall Line, on me, were air support.”

They go up into the air, but not too high, just skimming the trees slowly ahead of us.

As we begin to go forward, we have the foals all in the wagon, one cart behind the other. Most of us adults are walking alongside the carts. Tek and Xochitl are ahead, Ginger and Epona behind us.

We have made it halfway across the park when I feel it. The ground starts to vibrate under my hoofs. I yell out, “INCOMING!” and I jump to the side just as the largest scorpion I have ever seen in my life pops up where I was just a second ago.

It first swings towards me and I barely dodge the stinger on the radscorpion's tail as I roll to the side. Right after this one appears; I hear someone on the other side of the wagons yell out and I feel the ground moving as another one burrows its way out.

As I try to get to my hoofs it swings a claw at me and I back away as I draw out Sacrifice and parry a thrust from its tail. As I am fighting this one, I hear a pony on the far side scream in pain, followed by the call “Medic!”

I am too busy to see what is happening as I am still busy fighting the rad scorpion I am dealing with. Then I hear Epona yell out, “Here comes another one!” and then I hear her SMG open fire in full auto. The radscorpian I am fighting turns towards the wagons and I take my chance and I run forward and strike it at the joint where the tail connects to the body. As I do this, I see Windy dive down and fire at it with her MEW’s, and shortly the beast stops moving.

Soon I hear two shotguns firing and I hear Sumac then say, “That’s one down. Now keep moving forward.”

I watch as Sutures uses her TK to put one of the Manehatten ponies into the cart. After this we all begin to trot, caution is thrown to the wind as we just want out of there. Behind us I see the three dead bugs lying there. On the edge of the park, I see several earth pony and unicorns begin to run towards us. Then I see the earth open up in front of some of them and another radscorpian comes to the surface fighting. I find myself staring as I watch an earth pony mare jump onto and clasp the tail of the creature as it swings its tail trying to get it off.

Ginger yells to me, “Move it ma, those are the Broken Clocks, see what I mean, that just is not right.”

I shake my head and begin to run to catch up with the others again. As we run, I ask her, “Why do they call them the Broken Clocks?”

She laughs and tells me, “I am not sure, but maybe it is because even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

“Well, I certainly agree something is wrong with them,” I yell as we catch up with the rest.

As we run, I see several more radscorpions come above the ground, but they are far enough away from us that we ignore them. I also notice that Sutures has jumped up into the other cart with the wounded dignitary. I see the expression on her face and it is not a good one.

Suddenly from ahead of us I see another radscorpion appear from behind some bushes. This one is larger than the others and I find myself charging ahead firing as I go. Beside me are Xochitl and Ginger. I notice that Epona, Archer, and Tek are all swinging to its side. From above I see Windy and Squall line taking aimed shots at the behemoth as it moves to block our way. Then I hear Moon yell, Ma, Auntie Purple, our horns. Reverse cleaning spell.”

By now the carts are starting to swerve to the side as they try to move around it and it keeps moving towards them. And is almost onto them.

I watch as all three of them have their horns flare, and as if all three of them become one the beams meet, flare and I watch as it crumples to the ground, as we pass it I see that it looks and smells like it is rotting at a very accelerated rate. Then we are on the other side of the park and back among the ruins of Hoofington.

We slow back down and begin to look for a place to rest and perhaps make a meal with what rations we have with us.

I look back at the other cart and I see Purple asking Sutures something. Sutures closes her eyes and shakes her head in a negative manner. Then I watch as Moon Lily jumps down from the cart she was riding in, trots over to them she jumps into the back of the wagon. I see her gently kiss the civilian unicorn on their forelock. Finally, I feel a tear well up as I watch her perform her ritual for the dead. I see her then hop back down and slowly walk back to her brothers and sisters. I feel the stone slide into my saddlebag.

It is barely noticeable to most, but I see it as the proverbial stone slides into her saddleback, and a single tear forms and runs down my daughter’s cheek.

Once back in the other cart I see Millie wrap a hoof around her and just hold her sister as she says in a sad voice, “I really liked him, he was always nice to me.” With that, we continue on our way as we try to escape from Hoofington.

We seem to have lost them as we continue on our trek. I watch as Tek and Xochitl both go out and scout ahead for us.

Eventually, Tek and Xochitl come back and I see both smiling. Xochitl then approaches me and Windy and salutes, “Ma’am, up ahead about a mile we found a small settlement. It is called Creekside. They have a place where we can hide the carts, pick up some ammo and food and catch some sleep.”

I see Tek nod his head. Then I ask, “How is the road there?”

Tek approaches and I hide a smile as he tries to imitate Xochitl in saluting me. I return it and he tells me, “Corn ill, road is good right now. Need hurry, come nightfall, maybe not so good. But good now.”

“Ok,” I tell him, then I tell the others, “Follow our scouts.” After I say this, I see them all begin to move forward again.

We are all still on the defensive as we walk forward. Finally, we come to an area of what looks like several old brick three-story apartment buildings. Between the buildings are walls made from a combination of wood, wire fencing, and old buses and carriages. Tek leads us to the gate and we see several earth ponies and a few zebras on the wall with weapons trained on us. A large grey zony stallion approaches us at the gate. He asks, “Who’s in charge here?”

I watch as Purple Haze steps forward, looks down briefly, and tells him, “You are. We ask for temporary entry for rest and to replenish what supplies we can purchase.”

I see him look at her with a raised eyebrow and he asks, “Who are you and why are you really here?”

She says, “I am Purple Haze, the leader for the civilian delegates of our group from the NCR.”

He nods his head, “Ok, so what are you doing in Hoofington, and why are you now on the run?”

Purple tells him, “We came to the area to talk with the heads of the Lunar Commonwealth to set up trade and hopefully military alliances, Unfortunately, the Enclave has interfered with that.”

“And how did they do that.”

She quickly tells him and he then asks, “I saw the dead pony with you, what happened?”

Sutures then steps forward and tells him, “He was stung by a radscorpion when we crossed the park, I tried but could not do anything to save him.”

He nods his head and then asks, “Whose bright idea was it for you to cross the prime breeding grounds for radscorpions in this area?”

I finally say something, “It seemed like a good idea at the time all things considered.”

I see him look surprised, “You thought that was a good idea?”

I look him straight in the eyes, “Yes, it was that, a ghoul-filled factory complex, or Marimare with all its pegasi, so that was not a good choice either, not with the Enclave chasing us. Then behind us, we had two gangs, soooo…”

He nods his head, “Ok, that makes sense, follow me inside.”

As he leads us in, we follow him inside as he leads us to a covered area between two of the buildings. You can place your carts in here as well as camp here. If you look over that way you can see our cantina,” He points to the lower level of one of the buildings with several ponies coming and going from it. Then he points to another area and says, over there is our market, feel free to barter if you need to.”

“Thank you, we appreciate it.” I help unharness those in the carts. As others help unload the foals and wounded. Finally, we offloaded our dead compatriot’s body. I see several of the others sigh and I hear one of the others say, “We need to find a place to bury him.”

I nod my head and I hear Purple say, “I will go see if I can find someplace. Why don’t most of you go get something to eat.”

I tell the same thing to my family, Sutures asks, “What about you?”

“I will watch the carts until someone else gets done and comes back,” I tell her.

She nods her head and before they head off Badger tells me, “Let me know where and I will help dig the hole for the burial.”

Purple nods her head, “Thank you very much, Badger.”

He nods and heads off. After they are all gone, Purple Haze approaches me, “Mollygirl, is this what it was like back then? I mean on the expedition you were on.”

I nod my head, “A bit Purple, but for us, it lasted for much longer back then. But losing ponies never feels good. That feels the same. I am sorry.” I tell her as I put a hoof on her shoulder.

She looks at me and asks, “Is it that evident?”

I nod my head, “To me, yes, but that is because I have a lot of stones in my saddlebags, so I know what to look for.”

She shakes her head sadly “How did you get over losing your people?”

I look her in the eye and tell her, “I don’t think you really ever do. I still hurt for everyone I lost Aunt Purple.”

I see her sit hard and then she asks, “Mollygirl, is that why you had the drinking problem in Hackamore?”

I sit down myself at this point and I tell her, “A large part of it, but Purple having to order those others hung is what finally breached the dam. However, it is no excuse, if you have difficulties dealing with it, talk to me or someone else. Don’t try to cover it with drugs or alcohol like I did.”

She nods her head, “Thanks Mollygirl, I will keep that in mind. Now I best find out where we can bury him.”

After a while, Archer comes back and gives me a chance to go eat. Before I go, he gives me a light kiss and he tells me, “Good job out there. I was terrified we were going to lose you when the first radscorpion popped up.”

I nod my head, “Yeah, I understand, I felt the ground vibrating like that and knew we were in trouble. Thank goodness I was still working out with Xavier before we left.”

He nods, “Yeah, I am glad you have too, besides, it really does keep you in good shape. That is a good thing, dear.”

I grin at him and give him a light kiss this time then I head off to get something to eat at the cantina.

Once I am done and I get back I see several boxes of ammunition are next to the carts. I also see several of the others going through their bags and finding items that they want to trade with the merchants here for supplies we are going to need.

Soon Purple Haze, Badger and a couple of the civilians under Purple return and tell us, “We have the grave dug. It is outside the walls of the town, but is alongside that of their own people.” I nod my head. Sutures looks down at the ground sadly. I know she is kicking herself for not being able to save him, but with what we had with us, she never stood a chance of it.

Archer tells us, “If you all want to go bury him, I will stand guard.”

Moon Lily then says, “I will stay with you, Papa. He is already gone and he knows how we felt.”

He puts a hoof around her and hugs her close. Kisses her on her forelock and tells her, “Thank you, dear. I really appreciate your saying that.”

A short time later we all return, each of us who was there helped put dirt in the grave, and we all said our farewells. I had to put my hoof around Purple Haze to steady her. She had never lost a subordinate like this before.

Once we are back, we begin to bed down for the night. “Ok, everypony, I will take the first watch, I want one-hour shifts for the watch and we will have one pony on watch all night long. If you have any questions or problems, wake me or Windy.”

The others all nod. They begin to lay out their bedrolls by the carts or in the back of them. As I sit there in the growing night. I watch the locals go about their normal business. Then I hear Tek ask Moon Lily, “Lil one, where you learn necromancy?”

Moon Lily answers, “No one taught me. I felt the magic and copied it from Khatri. He was performing the blessing for one of the cattle who died in a farm accident.”

“Khatri not sound like pony name.”

“It’s not. He is a bull. He preaches at the church Mama Mollygirl and some of the others go to normally.” Moon tells him.

I see him look at her funny and hear him ask, “the Corn ill goes to brahmin church?”

“Actually, it is cattle, Brahmin come from the cattle before the big war.” She tells him.

In the growing darkness, I can see him nod his head, “Any like me there?”

I watch her as she turns her head from side to side and says, “No, none like you, but we do have some other zebras there.”

He nods his head and asks nervously, “How others treat zebras?”

“Oh, just like anypony else. Even Slip Stream likes them.”

He looks at her funny and asks, “Who Slip Stream, why they special?”

She looks at him then says, “Oh, she is my friend from school who is a hippogriff. Her mom is a pony and her dad a griffon.”

I see him look at her funny, “No tease, that not real."

She looks at him with a defiant expression. “She is too a hippogriff. I am not lying.”

I see him nod his head, “I sorry, just never heard of before.”

She nods her head, “Ask the spirits if you can, they will tell you.”

He then asks, “So you are shaman.”

She shakes her head, “No, I am not, I am just a little unicorn filly. I do not talk to spirits, only the Mareigan.”

Now, this is news to me. I have not seen her for a while, but it seems she is visiting Moon. I wonder when the last time she visited was? Perhaps I will ask her in the morning.

“Well little one, maybe okay I be there. Thank you for talking. Good night,” he tells her then moves over to his bedroll near the older foals.

A short time later I wake Sumac up and she takes over the watch with her shotgun near her. I then go and lay down next to the rest of my family taking her spot to sleep in.

Come morning we all wake up and this time Badger watches the carts as I go with the rest of my family to breakfast. As we eat everyone is fairly quiet. Then I hear Xochitl and Ginger enter and Ginger asks the cooks, “So, do you happen to have any radhog bacon?”

The tension is then broken as we see the stunned pony’s expression and then she looks around and says quietly, “Yes, yes we do, but we do not advertise it.”

Ginger grins back at her, “Thank you. I really appreciate it. It is so hard to find good radhog cooking around here.”

The cashier smiles and tells her, “Dear I know what you mean. My husband got this one just a couple of weeks ago. We not only salted this bacon, but we smoked it too, so we are charging a bit extra for it.”

Ginger nods her head in agreement, “Understandable, I will pay for a couple of slices please.”

As she is waiting for her meal, they continue to chat then I overhear her ask the cashier, “Have you ever had bacon on your salad? It is to die for.”

I see the cashier smile and tell her, “Yes, but I thought I was the only one who liked it that way.”

I then hear Xochitl tell her, “Actually most of our family enjoys it that way.”

“Well here comes your breakfast, enjoy you two, and when you come back through here, remember to stop in. Maybe we can exchange some recipes even.”

“I would really like that, just call me Ginger, and this here is my husband Xochitl. I will see you then Twice Baked.”

Once back at the carts Badger and Attaché both harness up again and we are soon on our way. As we head out the gates, we see the zony who initially welcomed us standing to the side and he nods his head and waves to us as we exit the gate. “Good luck folks and I hope you make it home safely.”

“Thank you, sir!” Moon calls back to him. Then we are back to the trot as we begin our adventure once again.

We continue on our way with our scouts out front. Windy and one of her daughters provide our airborne scouts. Her husband, other daughter, and son stay with us, sometimes flying above us, other times walking along with the rest of us.

Windy and Xochitl keep in touch with me via our PipBucks. I almost laugh when Ginger, trotting next to me smiles at me and tells me, “Almost like old-time eh Ma?”

“Yeah, it is. But we got this.”

I look over at Epona and I can see the stress on her face. I then remember that the expedition ended much worse on her side of the doorway than ours. I begin to make my way towards her when I see Purchase Order calling her over to the cart. Then I barely hear Purchase ask her, “You ok Dear?”

Epona nods her head, “Yeah, I guess, just some bad memories.”

Purchase nods her head, “Talk about it later?”

Epona nods her head and says, “Yeah, thanks for understanding.”

A short time later I hear over my PipBuck, “Colonel, we have company again,” from Xochitl. This followed by gunfire in the distance ahead. We continue forward cautiously. The rest of Windy’s family flies forward as Epona and Ginger run forward also below them.

We are in an open area with a few dilapidated farms. I see Windy and one daughter firing from the air at a target by an old farmhouse.

As we approach with the cart, Rain Dancer flies up to us and tells me, “Ma’am, Ma says to keep the civies back for now. Just a few raiders to deal with, but she says we need to be careful still.”

“Ok Rain, tell your Ma I understand.”

As he flies away, I hear a grenade explode in the house. Several of the civilian party as well as Raven all cry out in fear. Purple tells them, “Relax, that was a ways away. Get back up.”

We then hear a couple of full bursts of full auto and then I see Epona step back out of the farmhouse and wave us forward.

As we approach, we can see one of the walls is half gone as well as several windows. I then notice a pile of pony bones outside next to a fire pit with a cauldron above it.

Windy has landed next to me and she looks at the pile of bones and quickly in an almost panicky voice she calls out, “Everypony do not eat or touch anything. That includes those bodies and anything with blood on it.”

I look at her in surprise and ask her, “Windy, what is going on? What do I need to know?”

She looks at me and tells me, “I am not sure, but if it is what I am afraid it is, we do not want what these ponies had.”

“What do you think it is?”

She looks at me and quietly says, “All I will say is that if it is what I think it is, it was from a secret project from the Enclave. Mollygirl let's get the Tartarus out of here, now.”

I nod my head and tell them, “Let's go, everyone.” In the back of my head, I am now curious as to what it was and why does one of my best friends know enough about it to be worried?

Soon we are moving back into another urban area and we go back to our normal way of traveling with the scouts out and the carts moving in line. Sutures is once again riding in the back of the cart with her leg off rubbing her stump.

I approach her and ask, “Are you ok dearest?”

She smiles with a bit of pain in her expression, “Yeah, I am ok. It is just sore and needs a break. Sorry dear, I will be putting it on again soon.”

I nod my head in understanding, “OK, love, I was just worried about you is all.”

She smiles again. “Thank you, dear. I do appreciate it.” She then begins to rub her stump again. I notice Moon’s horn glow slightly and suddenly I see a look of relief come over Sutures’s face. She turns to her daughter and tells her, “Thank you Moon.” Then she gives her daughter a quick hug before she puts her leg back on.

After the hug and as she watches her mother put her leg back on, I see Moon smiling proudly. Inside I feel a warm feeling as I know how much she needed to be able to help somepony else, and for it to be her own mother makes it even better for her.

Soon I hear a train whistle in the distance. Hopefully, we can catch it before the daily train departs. I then signal to Windy and she flies over to me. “Windy, could you fly ahead to make sure we can catch the train?”

She nods her head, “Yeah, sure thing Mollygirl. I hope you don’t mind but I am taking my entire family with me to scout ahead. Just in case. I know if I was still a scout I would try and jump us there too.”

I nod my head and smile, “Same here Windy. Sounds good. See you in a bit.”

As we make our way through the jungle of half-fallen buildings and homes, we keep an eye out for trouble. Sometimes I swear I see movement in the wreckage. Soon I receive a message back from Windy that we have our tickets ready and waiting. I then tell the others to advance at the trot.

As we begin to speed up, I suddenly hear a mare’s voice from one of the buildings yell at us, “You thoughts yous could gets away from Mayhem’s Mares yous wrong, wees gots yous now.”

I see Sutures bring out her shotgun. Then I notice our fouls bring out their purchases from the market at Creekside. I expected Millie to have a normal rifle or shotgun as do most of her siblings. Millie has a sturdy cut-down rifle, Bucky and Woody both have military carbines that though worn still seem in functional shape. However, I am stunned to see little Raven pull out a grenade launcher with a grin on her face she asks, “Ma, can I use it now?”

Magpie nods to her daughter and tells her, “Yes dear, but remember what your papa told you about it and how to arch the rounds.”

“I will Ma.” She says as I see her balance the barrel of it on the side of the cart as she aims and before I hear a single rifle or shotgun shot, I hear the familiar thump of a grenade launcher and I watch as it flies through the air into the window a floor below where heard the voice come from. When it detonates, all Tartarus breaks loose as we make a run for it through the wrecked carriage dotted streets. I notice the carts staying toward the middle as we begin to run and gun down the street.

Suddenly I hear Magpie cry out in pain and she hits the ground and I see blood start to form under her. She is getting back up when I see a light cast around her and she is picked up by Sutures TK and brought toward the cart while Moon Lily casts a shield to protect her more. As she gets into the back of the wagon, I see Purchase Order jump down. She lets out a quick grunt of pain and then she is in the spot that was vacated by Magpie.

I see three of the gang members in the bottom floor window of one shop and I see a grenade land right inside with them and I hear Raven yell, “That’s for my Ma!”

I then see Archer open fire with his Bloomberg assault rifle. I look at the second floor of the next building up the road and see several ponies aiming at us. I have just targeted two of them in SATS when they are cut down by Ginger and Epona using it also.

Soon we break free and as I see Sutures working on Magpie I notice Raven has her grenade launcher ready and a savage grin is in her eyes as she aims behind us and fires.

I look behind me and I see that the Mayhem’s Mares have filled the street behind us and are running in a group, just then the grenade lands right in front of them and I see several of them go down including the one who seems to be their leader. While some continue on chasing us, most of them that are still alive stop to help those wounded worse than themselves.

We are approaching a wye in the street ahead and I hear Windy call out from above, “Take the right one.”

We follow her directions as she and her family strafe those still chasing us. Soon they return and she says, “Only another mile and we are clear.”

“Thanks, Windy.” I tell her. We run for another five minutes then slow down to catch our breaths. I go over and see that while she is still sleeping Magpie seems to be ok.

Sutures looks at me and tells me, “She will be ok. I had to dig the bullet out. But she will be ok. Just sore.”

I nod my head and say out loud, “Thank Sweet Cream.”

This gets a funny look from both Tek and Purchase Order, as well as some of the diplomates, but the others simply nod their heads in agreement.

As we continue on at the walk, I see several others from our family as well as the civilians come over to be treated for minor wounds by Sutures and Moon Lily. I am almost amused when I notice that they actually do not care which one treats them. Moon has been accepted by them for her abilities. I also notice the joy on the little mare’s face as she helps them and they thank her.

I see the steam engine and its cars at the station as we pull up. We approach where the flat car is and begin to offload our baggage so it can be put on the baggage car. Suddenly I hear Sumac yell out in surprise, “Here they come.”

I look around and I do not see anyone out of the ordinary on the ground but then she points up and I see seven pegasi in Enclave power armor flying at us. My family and those around us take shelter and bring out our weapons and prepare to defend ourselves.

The pegasi land and surround us and I hear one demand, “Throw down your weapons and surrender and no one else gets hurt.”

“I don’t think so Lieutenant,” calls out Windy.

“And who do you think you are?” the armored pegasus asks.

Windy grins evilly and tells him, “I am Lieutenant Colonel Wind Rider of the NCR Army. But I was once known as Yellow Taffy One when I had your job.”

“So, you turned Dashite did you? Or are you just a deserter than?” the officer mocks her.

Coldly Windy tells him, “Actually no, we were let known that we were no longer part of the Enclave by Neighverro, and by your accent, I can tell that is not where you are from.”

He laughs and says, “Did they fail to capture you when we attacked them, is that what you wanted to say?”

She smiles and says, “No, I was on maternity leave at the time. However, I am pretty sure that colt I was carrying all those years ago has you targeted pretty well. Besides, If I were you, I would look behind you and your troops.”

I see him start to look at the large number of armed cyber augmented Zebras that are around him as well as us. I hear Ginger whisper quietly, “That’s the Brood Ma. Stay calm.”

From behind me, I hear a familiar voice. It is the official who welcomed us when we arrived. He is still wearing his close-fitting hood and cloak as he says, “Lieutenant, am I to understand that you and your people are conducting military operations in the Lunar Commonwealth? You know that is a violation of our neutrality and could be construed as an attack upon us?”

I hear through the power armors voice modulator an audible gulp and he replies, “No, not military operations, we are just trying to apprehend these criminals.”

The hooded pony then tells him, “Ah so a law enforcement matter, and you did not check in with us to assist you? I tell you what, have your troops assemble over to the side here and remove their power armor, you have violated our jurisdiction and are being temporarily detained, what did you say your name was Lieutenant?”

I hear the Enclave officer say through gritted teeth, “It is Ball Lightning, Lieutenant Ball Lightning.”

“Very good Lieutenant Ball Lightning, now if you would please do as I have asked.”

I begin to see the other scouts assemble where they were ordered as their lieutenant heads that way also.

The Hoofington official turns to me and I see a smile on his muzzle, as he tells us, “That should be enough for now. Thank you all for visiting Hoofington. I hope your stay here was a pleasant one and that you will visit again someday. Now you best get your people loaded, you have a train to catch.”

I smile and tell him, “Thank you very much for your assistance.”

He smiles back and tells me, “Lieutenant Colonel, we have been keeping an eye on all of you and would have helped sooner if needed. But you had the situation in hoof. Now you best get going.”

“That’s it, that’s all?” I ask.

He smiles and says, “But of course. That is the Hoofington Way.”

Dear DJ Pon3,

Recently a mare I had met before has come back into my life. I have never felt this way about someone before. I want to let her know how much I truly care about her and that I will stand firm beside her. If you could, would you please play Angel With A Shotgun for me to her?

Thank you very much.

Sincerely

Purchase Order, formally of Hoofington

For those who want to listen to this chapters dedication song, the YouTube link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQKMLmXc0xo