Chapter 15 The Battle of The Stable

“The noblest fate that a man can endure is to place his own mortal body between his loved home and the war’s desolation.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Morning arrives and as I wake up, I notice that Emerado still has not come back from the bunkers. I send her a message and eventually receive a reply that she will meet me in the mess hall. During breakfast, we start to discuss the events of yesterday.

“Em, I hope you were not too upset with the maneuvers yesterday.”

“No Mollygirl, but I was starting to feel sick. That last maneuver almost got me to toss my cookies." She laughs lightly, "I do not think George would have forgiven me for that.”

I have to laugh a bit at that too. “Ok, I have a feeling you are right about that. So, my next question is, what do you think about the possible new recruits?”

“Actually Molly, if they do join us, I hope they do go CDF. If not, well at least I hope they assist us if we need it. The younger three are good ponies it seems. Sunset, well I like him, but he does seem to have his sights on you. Badger and Magpie may not be too happy with that.”

“Don’t worry Em, I am aware of it and will keep him at bay. Sure he is cute, but I am very happy with Badger and Mags. My next question is if we do add them to the CDF, how do we rotate them?”

“Molly, I think we would have to wait to get more to do a proper rotation, until then, perhaps make them a specialty branch or attach them to the HQ roster. Why do you ask?”

“Ok, that makes sense. The reason I asked was that I wanted to have a few ideas ready if the XO or the Colonel ask us about it.”

“Oh, speaking of the Pegasi, here they come now.”

I look over and see all five of them approaching with their breakfast. They sit down at the table with us and Dodger looks at me and Em. “Ok, Dodger and I have decided that we are interested in not only joining up with the Co-op, we want to enlist. The twins and Charity, however, while they are interested in membership in the Co-op, they're not sure about enlisting.”

I look at all of them. “I am really happy to hear that from all of you. Faith, Hope, and Charity, you can always join the CDF later if you want. Until then you will be just another member. Unfortunately, until things calm down you will be formally in the militia.”

They nod their heads in understanding. “Sunset, Dodger, after the morning muster I would like both of you to talk with the Major as you are our first Pegasi to enlist. I am sure the XO will also want to see you three.” I pause and then look at Charity, “If you do not mind my asking, what is your specialty normally?”

He looks a bit surprised, “Back in Thunderhead I was a student nurse. I was just short of completing my schooling when I came down to the surface looking for Flowering Heather. I still wonder what happened to her. It has been several years now.”

“You know, once things calm down and you have worked off your sweat equity than perhaps you can resume your studies. We always can use more medical professionals, and if we have more Pegasi come here, we will need a specialist.” Emerado tells him. I see him think about it.

We continue to talk as we finish our breakfast. I then tell them, “I will meet you all back in George’s room after muster. Then I will let you know what is going on today.” It almost feels like I am a sergeant again.

They all agree to meet me there then. I then head up to the HQ to prepare for Muster. As was done the previous day, we muster in place and the company Co.’s report the results. They are then told which companies will be rotating back into the stable for a couple of days and which will remain in the lines. I notice that the Door Kickers are one of the ones being left in the lines. I guess Emerado will have to go back up there again tonight to spend time with the bucks.

The day passes fairly quickly. After muster, I meet the Pegasi and they all have the chance to talk with the XO as well as the Overmare and Overcow, who explain to them what will be required for them to earn their membership in the Co-op, and the special circumstances that are modifying it.

While they are processing in, Emerado and I go back to work. I read about the report of two more Dashites, a pair of siblings, who had come to one of the Co-op Checkpoints, but who had decided to leave after having been informed that they would have to turn in their weapons at the armory while in the stable. It is really too bad, but it was their choice to make.

A short time later the guards at the aft entrance send me a message letting me know that George has arrived. I put down what I was working on, grab my kit, and give a nudge to Em as I pass by her desk. “I will be right with you Mollygirl, give me a couple of minutes.”

“Ok, See you at George’s room then.”

When I arrive, I see she is already being harnessed up. I notice it is the two same staff members who are doing so. It seems that they have taken it upon themselves to be George’s ground crew, in addition to their regular duties. While they are doing this, I begin to ready myself. I am then greeted to the sight of five Pegasi being silhouetted in the door as they walk in. Two of them look to have full battle kit, while the others have the equipment that they came with. It makes me stop for a second. “Wow, you guys look pretty impressive. Sunset, Dodger, you have PipBucks now?”

They both nod their heads, Sunset looks at me with a slight sneer, “How am I suppose to fly with all this junk? Especially with the weight of this,” He holds up his right hoof with the PipBuck and shakes it at me. “This thing feels all wrong.”

“Ok, as long as we are fighting from the stable, only wear what you feel you need to stay safe. I would like you to fly with rhe PipBuck a couple of times to try and get used to it. If it after some training it still feels wrong, we will let you switch back. But remember that Pipbuck is not only good for music, radio coms, health monitoring, and a map, it is instrumental for S.A.T.S. and E.F.S.”

From the side, I hear Faith tell him, “Sunset if you do not want it, I will take it in a heartbeat. I miss having one.” On the other side of Sunset, I see Dodger nodding agreement. She continues, “Instead, I have to make do with an old-fashioned radio headset, it's better than nothing, but still not as good as a PipBuck.”

“Dodger, after today's flight we will see how you feel about it. Faith, if he decides not to use it, I will see about having it transferred to you for as long as you are active in the militia. But remember, once you are deactivated, it needs to be returned.”

“Yes Ma’am,” she tells me. I can tell she really wants one, and I think she really wants to go active duty, but something is holding her back.
We continue to get ready and have started to discuss ideas for today's flight plan when we are interrupted with a knock.

I look up and see Broadcast with two other staff ponies come in. They stop in front of George. I see they have what looks like more tack and a couple of cloth-covered pieces of equipment with them.

“George, I just finished the concept radio and throat mic we discussed. We were wondering if you might want to try it on.”

“You finished it this quickly? I thought it would take longer.” She tells him. At this point, I am a bit confused, as she never said anything about it to me.

“Well, we had some old tactical radio sets we found in the Manesville armory. So, we used them to figure out how we could do this. The radio itself will be mounted on a collar along with the throat microphone at the front of your throat. For the receiver, we will try to use another strap around one horn and the collar to hold it over a hearing diaphragm. It should work, and allow you to communicate with everyone on the fliers channel.”

He turns to all of us at this point. "By the way, it has been determined that all of you fliers will have your own channel, Those with PipBucks will be able to switch rapidly to other predetermined bands if needed.”

“Now that sounds like a very good idea,” I hear Dodger reply.

As we are finishing this conversation, I see that Emerado has arrived. She has all of her gear with her but still needs to put on her harness.

Once everyone is ready, we all go to the back of the stable and take our daily patrol flight. We make various stops on the trip, including at Manesville, Dairyanne, Donavan and Emerald Grove. Each time we check in with the militia commanders and the regulars who are training them. I can see that they have received more of the needed weapons and equipment, but there still does not seem to be enough.

While in Donovan I find Magpie is visiting with Badger. It is nice that even if for a brief few minutes, we have all three of us together. Unfortunately, I cannot stay longer and need to leave. It is times like this that I hate being in the Guard. I can not do what I want, I have to do what is required.

On the way back we take the time to have some mock aerial combats. We practice three on three at first eventually we work our way to having George flying against all five of the pegasi at once. The radio communications work really well until then. At that point they are using it to help them as I try to communicate with George, so we switch back to our old signals.

This change throws them off as I have already let George know by hoof signals to ignore the radio chatter. I start to tell George commands over the radio and then physically signal her and we do the opposite, soon we have them in confusion as we keep changing things up. While we could not defeat them in the mock battle as we do not want to hurt anyone, we are able to escape and outfly them.

Eventually, I call a halt to maneuver. Over the radio I hear Emerado accidentally broadcast “Oh thank Celestia, I need a break.”

Once we arrive back at the stable, we land individually. Then together as a group, we walk back inside George leading her entourage to her room. It is funny as I notice that the ponies and cows no longer stare at George, but instead at all of the pegasi. It seems that what was once novel can quickly become the norm.

Once back in George’s room we all take off our gear, clean it up and hang it up on the hooks on the wall or stack it in a corner. We then hold a debrief and discuss how the flight went, what we saw, and what we could improve upon. It all seems very productive overall.

We are just wrapping things up when I see the XO come in. She closes the door behind her. “OK, while I got all of you here together, I need to talk with you, and I do not want it to go beyond this room. Is that understood?”

We all nod agreement, several including myself saying some variation of affirmative.

She lets out a sigh, “It seems that we may be having company sooner than expected. The Enclaves Operation Cauterize seems to be in full swing, with a large part of their forces being occupied in Fillydelphia. There seem to be other build-ups of enclave ships in the Thunderhead region also. Finally, we have a watcher level alert that we are under an imminent threat of attack tomorrow. The skywatchers have reported several Raptors on a course that will take them near us on their way to Filly, as well as reports of some damaged raptors heading back this way.”

The others look at each other in confusion as Em, George, the Major, and I all look at each other with worry on our faces. “I will explain later I tell them. Just know it is credible, and we have trouble inbound. In that case, Major, may we stand down for the evening?”

“Mollygirl, that is why I am here. I would suggest it. I can not let you leave the Stable for the night, but I want you all to relax and enjoy yourselves. If you have a few bottles, that may be a good idea also.” She tells us. Then she smiles sadly, “Have a good night, all of you and may Celestia guide and Luna Defend you,” she tells as she walks out of the room with her head down, her ears alongside her head and her tail in tight.

I send a message to Badger on my PipBuck:
Bad weather inbound tomorrow. Grab several bottles of Old Overmare and find an excuse to come to the stable, bring Mags if you can. I will explain more later. Love you both.

A few minutes later, I receive his reply:
Will do, we will be there as soon as possible.

With that, I look at the others. “Ok, I have whiskey on the way. Do any of you have any with you already?”

As I watch I see Hope reach into her saddlebag with a smile and pulls out a dusty bottle of Wild Pegasus. She looks at us, "I was saving it for when we found ourselves a place to call home. I think we have now, and from what it sounds like we will be facing, there may be no reason left to save it.” She pulls the top off the bottle, takes a swig and passes it. When it reaches me, I take a healthy pull on the bottle. Sure, it still tastes a bit odd to me, but tonight we all need this.

The bottle finally reaches George, she looks at it and takes a sip. Then she finishes off the bottle. As I watch her smack her jaws closed and run her tongue around the edge of her mouth it occurs to me, she may never have had whiskey before. This is followed by the realization that maybe it is not a good idea to get the dragon drunk.

At this point, we are waiting for Badger and Mags to arrive, so I switch on the radio on my PipBuck and we try to find some good music to listen to and dance to.

Once we find something to listen to, I surprise the pegasi by telling them, “Well now that you are becoming members of the Co-op, you are going to be spending a lot more time with us earth ponies. This means you are going to have to learn the same lesson the cattle have; you are going to learn how to put up with our singing and dancing." At which point I grab Sunset to dance with, and Em grabs Dodger, and we start to dance.
As we begin, I hear the twins and Charity laugh a bit. I smile at them, ‘Don’t worry your all next.”

I am dancing with Faith and Em with Charity when I hear Badger’s voice behind me, “Oh shit, this is not good, she already has them dancing.” It is at that time I notice that Hope and Dodger are not dancing on the ground, but instead are taking advantage of the higher ceiling of this room and are in a fashion dancing in the air. Behind them, I see George is half sleepy, half-amused as she watches us.

Badger comes over and cuts in on Faith, and while dancing with me he tells me, “George looks tired, shall we take this back to the Door Kickers Squad bay?”

I am already feeling the drinks from earlier, so my head is resting on his shoulder when I answer back, “We should move so George can sleep, but the squad is up in their bunker.”

“Well then, let's take them to meet the Door Kickers' love.” He suggests.

After the song finishes, I turn off my PipBuck, a couple of the others protest at first, “Ok, Badger and I think we should give George some peace and quiet, as well as its time you meet my old squad, the Door Kickers. They are up in their bunker and we can share some bottles of whiskey with them too.”

“Mollygirl, while that sounds pleasant, our bottles of Wild P are almost empty.” Sunset points out.

Badger has a large smile on his face as he opens a saddle bag with four bottles of Old Overmare in it. “Sunset, it is time that all of you learn to drink an old Stable 48 staple. Old Overmare, now if you will follow us, we will take you to their bunker, where we can make introductions, toast and continue the party.”

“Besides Dodger, I think Captain Abby should be there, it would give you a good chance to know her a bit,” I add.

I see a grin on his face, “In that case lead on McFluff.” He responds.

The trip up to the bunker is not an easy one as we travel through the trenches in the dark. Twice we take wrong turns and have to double back. Add to that several half-drunk ponies, and it gets pretty interesting. Finally, I find the correct bunker, I am sure it is the right one due to mouth painted sign about the door boasting it as the Little Foals’ Play Stable by Haysburro.

I knock on the door and from inside I hear Captain Abby call out “Who is it?”

I begin what drunken me considers a witty reply “We are poor little sheep who have lost our way.”

To my surprise, the rest of our party simultaneously add “Baaa, Baaa, Baaa.”

Next, I hear, “Oh for the love of Celestia don’t let the riff-raff in.”

Magpie from the back then calls out “We are friends bearing Whiskey.”

With that, the door pops open with Bullet holding it, “Well, why didn’t you say so earlier, come on in.”

We enter and begin to make introductions; it seems a bit tight but we all fit. Once we are all in I take the first bottle out of Badger's saddlebags, I offer it to Abby who takes it, removes the cork and spits it away, “To lost loves, lost family and fallen comrades.” She toasts and we all repeat it; she takes the first drink and passes the bottle around. This is followed by the other traditional toast.

I see that the youngsters are surprised both by the toast, and the fact that Magpie is joining us for them. Once the toasts are finished, she and I both start to cut back on our drinking compared to the others. The other bottles are broken out and Badger and Sunset are going drink for drink, I notice that Bullet and Shadowbuck are indulging pretty well also.

As the night goes on the others ask the pegasi what caused them to leave home and come down to the surface. They each tell their stories. Then Charity asks, “Didn’t any of you come from other places to here?”

I smile a bit as Emerado tells her story, one I know so well, but have never really heard from her perspective before. After she tells her tale We all shift a bit as Sutures and Archer arrive and join us. Then Captain Abby tells us about her previous life. How she at one time had two husbands and three foals. She also tells us how she lost all of them to raiders one night. She starts to cry at the memories and I see Dodger put a wing around her and pull her into his chest to cry.

Finally, they all look at Badger. He looks down at the bottle in his hoofs and lets out a sigh, “Yeah, I guess if Abby can let it out, so can I. Besides my wives deserve to hear the truth about me in case we do not make it through tomorrow.” Magpie and I both shift closer to him. He takes another long pull. “Most of you do not know this, but I am originally from Hoofington. When I was a foal my mother was forced into signing a contract to be a serf for the society.”

He gets a look of disgust on his face and spits. “Serfdom, just a fancy bucking name for slavery, that is what it is. I was 7 years old when I escaped and ran to the waterfront. There I eventually was taken aboard a ship as a stoker. Seven frigging years old and I was shoveling coal, wood or whatever we could burn into the boilers.”

He stops for a minute, everypony is quiet and hanging on waiting for him to continue. “That is how I got my cutie mark. During a fight using a wrench and a cutlass.”

Pearl, in the back, interrupts, “I thought it was a saber?”

He smiles and seems grateful for the diversion, “They're similar, a cutlass is broader and shorter. They are easier to use on ships. But I digress. Well, one day we were returning from some islands off of Zebrica with a load of coal next to an empty hold from carrying grain that was full of dust. We were heading to the Baltimare area. Well, what we did not realize was that somehow a fire started in the coal bunker. It must have been going for a couple of days before one of the hands noticed the hatch was hot to the touch. The damn fool opened the hatch to check, the influx of air caused a backdraft. That would have been bad enough, but he did it from the other cargo hold. When the backdraft hit, it caused the dust to shake loose and we had another explosion. This one not only blew the deck hatches off but also popped several seams in the hull. Not only did we have to worry about the fire, but we had to try and deal with flooding. It was more than the ship could take. Eventually, she sank about 10 miles off of the Equestrian Coast. I floated for three days on a piece of wood before making landfall. During that time, I watched as sea creatures drug several of my shipmates under. I can still hear them scream in my sleep.”

“Ok, I can see how that would make you want to leave the sea,” I said, “But why the Co-op?”

He takes another drink, “After I made landfall I was captured by slavers, they were going to take me and sell me in Fillydelphia. The prices were good there at the time. They had most of them in chains and with explosive collars on. They did not have any more collars so one of the slavers double bucked my back knee. Afterward, when I could not stand on it, he laughed and told the others, well he can ‘t run now can he.”

“So that is how come you limp so badly,” Bullet says. Badger simply nods his head and continues.

They had checked me for weapons, but not well enough. Back then I still wore my rolled sailor’s neckerchief. Well inside of this I had about a hundred 5/8-inch washers rolled into sheets of paper. I waited until the sob who destroyed my knee was tired while on watch. I hobbled behind him and smacked him in the base of the skull as hard as I could with that neckerchief. I heard his neck break and I ran as fast as I could away from them. I vowed that I would not stop looking for a new home until I found a place where the first pony I came to did not know what my cutie mark was. I eventually caught a boat on the river and traveled further inland. Eventually, I heard about the Co-op and decided to check it out.”

“Do you ever wonder about what happened to your family?” Magpie asks?

“Sure, I do, but I have a new family here. I have ponies I love and care about and they feel the same about me. My mom could have tried to escape too. If she didn’t, well, I am sorry but I could only save myself.”

Magpie and I both lean in on him from each side and give him a kiss. He smiles and pulls us both closer to him. I smile and notice that Abby now has both Sunset and Dodger giving her attention. It seems that everyone is starting to settle down and relax now. I am a bit surprised though to see that Saber is cuddling up with both Faith and Hope. Dusty and Chance are on one of the bunks holding each other close. Near Badger, Mags and I are Sutures and Archer.

In our fears and hopes, we are all coming together. Even if we do not live until the next night, at least tonight we are not alone. The bottles continue to be passed until they are empty. By this time most of us have fallen asleep. It is funny because there is not enough space on the bunks most of us just grab a piece of the floor, next to our favorite ponies. In a way, it is comforting just being so close to each other.

When I wake up I am cuddled next to Mags, with Badger on her other side. Behind him is Sunset who has cuddled up to Abby with Dodger on her other side, both of them with a wing over her. I realize I have my head on Archer's belly and behind me is Sutures, with her head on his chest and a hoof over me. Hope has laid across us with her wings out. It reminds me of a pile of puppies. I look at my Pipbuck two hours till dawn. I better wake up Badger and Mags so he can get back to Donovan and she can get back to Sumac’s before all Tartarus breaks loose.

As I wake him, the fliers also wake up. All look a bit groggy. We slowly disengage ourselves from the pile and quietly work our way out the door. As I wake Emerado, Bullet wakes up. “Where you all going?” he asks.

“We have to get going Dad. No matter what remember I love you.” I tell him and give him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.
As I get ready to leave, I see Abby by the door. She stops me. “Thanks, Mollygirl for bringing them all up here. Especially Dodger and Sunset.”
“No problem Abby,” I tell her as I put a hoof on her shoulder and smile at here.

“Molly it reminded me of the old days. When I had my family. I have a bad feeling about today, and at least I had one more good night of feeling cared about. Thank you so much.” She tells me and gives a hug. Before I can reply she says, “Now get out of here. If I do not see you later, I will see you on the other side.”

I feel very spooked by her comment, but I smile back, “I will see you later Abby. After I get done getting my muster turned in and everypony set up for the day I will be back up here. I promise you.” Then I head out the door and lead them back up the communication trenches to the secondary ones and then back into the stable. As we traverse them, I can feel the humidity in the air, it feels like rain again. Goddesses how I am coming to hate the rain.

Once inside It is still somewhat quiet, I hear the cooks rustling in the mess hall as we pass by its bay. I quietly open the door to George's room and see her sleeping there. My pegasi, Emerado and I all go inside, I close the door and we lay down next to George in a pile like we were in the bunker for another hour of sleep. I try to sleep, but cannot, instead, I just lay there and take some refuge in the comfort of other equines that I care about. Behind me I can barely hear George whisper to herself, “Sleep well, my little ponies, we have a big day coming.” And then I feel her gently stroke my mane with a single claw as I fall back to sleep.

For the first time in my memory, the reveille announcement on the stable pa system is late. I get up and go turn on the lights as the rest begin to get up and stretch. First things first, “Ok everyone, time for the SST’s I want everyone back here in 30 minutes for breakfast. After that we will put the harness on George, the rest of us will make sure our battle saddles and equipment are ready.”

It is amazing how quickly someone can run to take a shower, use the facilities and brush their teeth when limited like this. When I arrive back most are already here and George is just coming back from outside. The last one back is Sunset. At least he has the decency to look embarrassed at being the last one. I have Charity and Dodger come with me to go pick up our morning rations. After a bit, I have to call for Sunset to come to assist so we can take George’s breakfast to her. The nice thing is we have plenty of tea to help with the results from last night.

As everyone is cleaning harness, tack, and weapons I head up to the HQ offices with Emerado. I report our status to the Sergeant Major, and then check in with the Major. She looks exhausted, her eyes are swollen. As I walk in, she is looking down and I hear her mutter to herself, “Bucking Hoofington has followed me, it's coming to the Co-op.” then she notices us. “Yes, what is it, Cadets?”

“We were just checking in Ma’am.” I then give her a status report of our fliers and that we should be ready to fly in the hour.
She acknowledges the report, then continues “I hope all of you made good use of last night.” She pauses, “I will not lie to you, at this time we have several Raptors that are passing close to us and it seems Hostilities have already begun by Fillydelphia between the Enclave and Red Eye’s Army, though reports are that Red Eye himself is dead and there has been infighting for control in the city.”

I nod, “understood ma’am, hopefully, we get some warning from the skywatchers at least.”

She smiles, “Yes hopefully, that is why I ordered a late reveille today; unfortunately, we lost two teams last night outside of Filly. One reported they were under attack, the second is over three hours late for a report.”

“Maybe they just went quite to prevent revealing their positions,” I tell her trying to give her some hope.

She simply shakes her head, “No, I am afraid not this time. We are playing major league buck ball now. If you two could, I would like you and Horns to make one last-minute check of the fortifications. Emerado take a bit of time with your husband if you can. Mollygirl, unfortunately, Badger had to return to Donovan, but your wife was stopped by security as they were leaving and will be at George's room when you get back. She and a couple of other civilians who snuck in last night have been asked to help in medical as needed, if and when we are attacked today.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” we both respond.

“Dismissed you two. May Celestial guide and Luna protect you both.”

“You also major,” I tell her as I leave.

Once we are out of the headquarters area, I stop Emerado, “Em, why don’t you head back to the bunker. I will be there in a bit. I want to talk to the fliers, if we get caught out there, I want George to wait until we are back before she takes off. It would be too dangerous for her to make a pickup in a hot landing zone.”
“Makes sense Moll, Thank you. I will see you in a bit. Please give my best to Magpie too.”

“Will do Em, be careful up there. Keep in touch with your PipBuck too. Remember to use the fliers’ channel for voice comms with us.

“Thanks for the reminder Moll, I would have defaulted to the typed message. That might take a bit to long. I will see you in a bit.” She then turns and trots off.

As Emerado heads out to the trenches I make a side trip down to George’s room. When I get there, I find Magpie sitting there looking worried. She is sitting with her back against George, she has tears in her eyes. I see the twins trying to comfort her. Sitting nearby I see Sunset has taken apart his MEW’s and is cleaning the lenses and other components for them. He has two of them for his battle saddle, “What type of weapon are those Sunset?” I ask.

“Oh, Hi Mollygirl. These are Nova surge rifles. That flier that was captured the other day still had two good ones left after her crash. Buckshot offered them to me. I figured we could use the extra firepower. I am keeping my Assault rifle too though. That should balance them pretty well.”

“Sounds good Sunset, What about you Dodger?” I notice he is working with a modified battle saddle and is making some adjustments to it, but with his back turned I can not see what he is mounting.
He turns with a screwdriver in his mouth, “Sowwy, but moth full,” he then sets the screwdriver down. “Sorry about that, I am just finishing mounting a heavy minigun and its ammo system. As Sunset said, I have a feeling we are going to need every bit of firepower we can get. Normally I do not like to carry much more than a pistol.”

“I appreciate it Dodger, really I do. Thank you for being willing to carry more.”

He just smiles back, “No problem Mollygirl, this is my home now too. I have to do what I can to protect it.”
As we are talking, I get a notice on my PibBuck. Two of the skywatcher teams Have identified a raptor making course from Neighvarro towards the Co-op. At its current speed, they estimate they are two hours out. I look up and tell the pegasi and George. “Guys, I have to go out to the front lines for a bit, get your weapons ready and stand by.” I then notice Em’s harness is hanging on the wall. I grab it and throw it in my saddlebags. “Mags, come with me, I will take you to the Medical Department.”

We talk some on the way. She still is very nervous “Mollygirl, am I in trouble, did I get you and Badger in trouble?”

I stop in my tracks and look at her, “No, no you are not in trouble. The reason you were returned is that the XO felt we needed extra hooves to help medical during an attack. I guess she figured if you were brave enough to sneak in here, you would have the guts to do what needs doing. She told me there were several others too.”

Outside the doors of Medical, I stop her. I put both my hooves around her and kiss her the kind of kiss to last a lifetime. The thought comes to mind, like the one I gave Ivy, now where did that come from? When we break the kiss, I look into her eyes, lightly stroke her cheek with one hoof, “I love you Mags, whatever happens today, please remember that. And for Goddesses' sake, please stay safe.”

“You too Mollygirl, I will be worrying about you. Please, do not take any unnecessary risks. I want you back love. I want to be there to help raise our foals. I was going to wait to tell you Mollygirl, but I am really late on my cycle and I think I am pregnant.”

My ears go forward and eyes wide, “Really, wow, that is great news. Does Badger know?”

She smiles at me, “Yes, I told him as we were walking last night, I wanted to tell both of you together, but, well with the way things were last night, I just never got the chance. Sorry love.”

I take her in my hooves once more “Thank you for telling me Mags. Goddesses at least some good news. Now please be careful, for us and our little one.”

I then open the door and follow her inside. There I see several of the medical staff talking with some of the combat medics and just over a dozen civilian ponies and cows. I recognize one of the cows as Horn's wife. Magpie shifts over toward her.

As I am getting ready to turn around to leave, I hear the head doctor tell them, “You civilians. I want you each to take a first aid pack. You will be working as stretcher-bearers. I want you all to go with one of the medics. Your jobs will be to carry extra medical supplies that may be needed and to assist in bringing the badly wounded back to the stable. Each of you will be issued a medical saddlebag, two canteens, and a set of barding and helmet. I do not care how uncomfortable the helmet and barding are, you will wear them. Each is marked with the first aid butterflies so that you can be identified as non-combatants, but do not expect that to make you safe. Be careful and take cover as needed. Now go pair up with the medics.”

I watch as Magpie sees Sutures and pairs up with her. Sutures does not look happy about this. “Dang it Magpie, what are you doing here? I had hoped you would be safely away from here.”

“It’s not my fault Sutures. They stopped me and returned me to the stable as Badger and I were leaving.”

“Ok, then I want you to follow my lead. Keep your head down, whatever you do, for Goddess sakes keep your head below the trench top. Oh, and pray they do not need us.” Then Sutures heads for the door to lead her back to the bunker. She sees me there. “If I find out she is here because of you Mollygirl, I will kick your ass.”

“I was just as surprised as you Sutures. I had hoped that they would at least keep her inside the stable, I guess that is not going to happen.” I say as I shake my head.

“No, unfortunately not, but we will do what we can to keep her safe.” She tells me.

Magpie just stands there listening to us. Finally, Sutures says, “Come on Magpie, we need to get back up there. See you later Mollygirl.”

I surprise her when I tell her “Well, actually I was heading up to the bunker anyways so do you mind if I follow you.

“No, not at all. If you do not mind waiting at the armory while they get Magpie her equipment.”

“Sounds good, Sutures, I will follow you up there then. Give me a couple of minutes and I will catch up with you at the armory, I want to stop at the radio room for a second too.” I tell them, Then I give Magpie a kiss on the cheek, “Love you dearest. If I miss you, be careful.”

“I will Mollygirl, But I am sure you will catch up with us,” she tells me back.

As they head to the armory, I head to the radio room and follow the XO inside. Once there I see that not only are Broadcast, Specs, and Soundwaves there but that the Colonel, the XO and both the Overmare and Overcow are there.

Broadcast looks over to the Colonel. "I am ready to broadcast when you are sir. They are still waiting."

The Colonel smiles, "Go ahead Broadcast," and then he begins to speak into the microphone, “This is Colonel Chappy of the Co-op Defense force. Who may I ask is this?”

Over the speakers of the room, I hear a frustrated and angry sounding voice. “This is Captain Thunder Roll of the Enclave Raptor Spring Monsoon. In the name of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, I demand that you and your Dashite loving Co-op lay down all arms and surrender any Dashites or other deserters from the Enclave that you are harboring.”

“I am sorry Captain, but I can not order that. You must understand that type of command goes against my oath to obey the orders of my civilian superiors,” the colonel says with a slight grin.

Over the speakers I can hear the Captain sputtering, “Oh for the love of…, Then get me in contact with someone who is in charge.”

Still smirking he points to the Overcow. “Hello Captain Thunder Roll, this is the Overcow…”

She is interrupted before she can talk anymore, the captain is almost screaming now “Overcow, What the Tartarus is an Overcow? For the love of all that is holy! Everypony knows that Cattle are chattel and nothing more! Now quit bucking around before I really lose my temper.”

At that point, I watch as the Overmare approaches with a smile, “Hello Captain, I am Twilight Shimmer, the Overmare for Stable 48 and Chairpony for the Co-op. After your burst of temper, I can no longer see any point in further discussions.”

Over the speakers, I can hear several ponies snickering in the background. Then I hear their captain speak again. “For the final time I demand you surrender now, that, or you will face the full wrath of my forces.”

I see Twilight Shimmer smile one more time as she gives him a one-word answer, “Bullocks.”

She clicks the mic off and turns to the Colonel, “Sound the attack alarm. We will be having company soon, I am sorry, and may Celestia smile upon us and Luna defend us.”

Over the speakers, I can still hear the bridge crew of the raptor. It seems one of them still has their mic keyed. We start to hear the orders for them to advance and attack. Then I hear another voice, “Captain, again I ask you to reconsider this attack. We are not supposed to be here. We are supposed to be back in Neighvarro guarding it.”

“XO, enough. You will not rob me of the chance for some glory. I will not be held back and told to sit around while everypony else gets to go out and earn advancement. Besides, I can not tolerate one more day their audacity of being a shelter for Dashites and their ilk.”

“Sir, it is my duty to remind you of yours. I am sure that we will be allowed to take this nest of filthy vermin out, but at the timing of the Enclave, not our own sir.”

“XO, you will either shut up and return to your battle station, or I will put you under arrest in quarters.”

All of us in the radio room are stunned at what we are hearing.

The Colonel looks over at the Overmare and Overcow, “Hopefully that will anger them enough to make mistakes, thank you both again.” Next, he looks at me “Well Cadet, I hope you heard what you wanted to hear. Your troops are to wait until I order you to give the order to fly. I want to hold them in reserve as a surprise.”

“Understood sir, Cadet Emerado is up at the front right now inspecting the lines sir, I have her harness for flying with me, she thought she would get back in time. I can run it up to the front and give it to her, I have already discussed with the rest of my team about doing a hot pickup sir.”

“Cadet, then they would have to pick both of you up, do you think that is wise?”

“Colonel, if we only pick her up, we will still have to take the time for her to harness up, we would spend more time on the ground.”

He looks very upset, “Try and get ahold of her on the PipBuck and have her get back here if not, do it your way.”

“Yes sir,” I tell him and step out of the radio room. In the distance from down the main entrance tunnel, I can hear the warning sirens wail. I stop for a brief moment as I realize that is what the final day must have sounded like. Oh no, the ghouls. I hope this does not drive any feral.

I contact Em on the Pipbuck and she tells me that she cannot get back yet. She cannot fight the flow of troops coming out of the stable into the trenches. Suddenly in the background, I hear the first explosion.

The raptor must be using her main gun. I run down to George’s room, “Ok, we are on standby. I have to take Emerado’s harness up to her. We are going to do a hot pick-up. I want you five to provide cover over George as we load unto her. George, I want you to come in low and fast. When you land, do so on the backside of the trench. Sunset, Dodger, use your Pipbucks to lead George to mine and Em’s location using our PipBuck tags. The Colonel knows the situation right now, He will give us the word to when he wants us to go. Listen for it, if Em and I go down, you are on your own.”

As I am talking, I hear several explosions outside the stable. It seems that they want to prevent more reinforcements from coming up out of the stable. I change my PipBuck to allow me to monitor the tactical channels as well as the fliers one. “Ok, I will see you topside, Good luck.” I turn and run out the door to the entrance of the stable.

When I get there I see a large group stopped and just standing there because of the shelling. I realize that it takes time between each shot before the next one is ready. Finally, I work my way to the front. “After the next shot, the first 20 troops follow me, the rest wait for the next shot after that to land and repeat.”

Seconds later the shot lands and explodes I bolt and yell “Move, Move, Move,” as I run towards the trenches, I can hear the troopers behind me. As we get there, I hear the next shot land again, this time it is more towards the front lines again. I look up in the air and I can see several flights of Enclave armored troops swooping at the lines and firing. Our troops are returning fire at them from the trenches.

I finally make it to the Door Kickers bunker. Most of the troopers are outside in the trenches firing at the pegasi whenever they get close enough. I go into the bunker and see Abby and Emerado in there as Saber and Shadowbuck are firing a belt-fed automatic anti-machine gun. Abby looks at me, ‘What the hell are you doing up here?”

“Keeping my promise to see you again and to bring Emerado her flight harness,” I told her.

She laughs at me. “Ok, thanks Mollygirl. It is good to see you too.”

I toss Emerado her harness, “Put it on quick, I have already talked to the fliers. When the Colonel gives the word, they will be doing a hot pick up of us.” To this I see both of their jaws drop.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Abby says. “You really are insane Mollygirl, don’t worry though we will cover you.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it, Abby,” I tell her then I go help Emerado finish putting on her harness and kit again. Then the waiting begins. After a bit, the door opens again and I am surprised to see Sutures and Magpie come in. They both have blood on their hooves, barding, and fur.

“Sorry Captain, just getting out of the open for few minutes. So far only a couple of our troopers have been injured at all. We have been lucky. One of the columns rushing up under fire took a hit full on. We did what we could for the survivors. This damned fresh-cut lumber bursts and splinters when it is hit by a MEW. I think the heat of the beam just boils the moisture in it instantly.”

I go over and put a hoof around Magpie, “How are you doing Mags?”

She is shaking a bit, but looks at me, “I am making it, at least for now, I guess. I don’t have a choice. I thought you were coming to meet us at the armory?”

“I am sorry Mags, I got stopped by the Colonel there. The commander of this raptor is a madpony, I swear. He was arguing with his XO; they did not even have orders to be here.”

“To bad that does not mean anything, after all, they are here now.” She tells me.

The heavy bombardment dies down for a minute and I see smoke rising from Manesville in one direction. I look out another and I see smoke coming from the direction of Dairyanne. It seems they are burning the crops and farms. I look at my Pipbuck it has been almost 45 minutes since the attack commenced. They are still out there. I join Saber and Shadow buck in firing at some pegasi that have tried rushing our position. Then the message comes from the Colonel for the fliers to launch.

I look at Emerado. “It’s showtime Emerado, let’s get out there for the pickup.” As I get ready to leave the bunker, I grab Magpie and kiss her. “I love you, please be as careful as you can.”

Once outside the bunker, we move down the trench line toward an area that should make it easier for us to get out. The back wall of the trench is blown out so it is not as steep. Behind us, I hear Stitches and Magpie come back out also. I call over my PipBuck to Sunset, “SS this is MG the Colonel says go. I repeat the Colonel says go, Prepare for a hot LZ. Ground forces will support.”

I hear the reply, “MG this is SS, we are inbound to your position repeat we are inbound,” his voice suddenly catches. "Faith, Hope, Charity hostiles inbound 2 o’clock high, intercept them. Dodger establish a cap over the LZ on me.”

I look up at the sky and see George coming in fast and low. The three younger pegasi veer off and climb to intercept the Enclave flight. Sunset and Dodger are circling above us engaging pegasi ground troops who are in the areas between the trenches.

As George lands, I begin to climb over the top of the trench. Emerado gives me a quick boost and I am over it. I reach back and give her a hoof up.

Once on top, I can see better what is going on The Raptor is now closing in on the Stable. Its lighter guns firing into the directions of both Manesville and the Stable. I see columns of smoke rising from Manesville and from over by Emerald Grove and Dairyanne. Em, and I run to George and are mounting up as the Enclave forces try to attack us. I see Chance and Dusty climb over the parapet of the trench. Laying down covering fire for us. I hear the automatic AM gun from the bunker spitting out ammo at the armored troopers. When a round hits a trooper they usually fall. They may not be dead by they are down hard. Even their armor cannot stand up to a high powered 12.5mm round.

I lay down covering fire as Emerado climbs on George. Twice I force an Enclave trooper to take cover. Once she is hooked up she yells to me "Ready!" Then she provides covering fire for me as I climb on. As I climb in I hear her fire a three-round burst and call out "Got the son of a mule."

Once we are on and both of us have double-checked the other to make sure we are attached properly I signal George. She leaps skyward. I feel my body jerk on the harness as we go almost straight up. I see three enclave troopers jump up to fire at us. Emerado and I both fire and we see one of them go down.

Below us, Chance and Dusty are both outside the trench firing at the remaining two Enclave soldiers. I watch as the pegasi shift their fire from us towards Chance and Dusty. I see Chance push Dusty down to the ground and shields her body with his as he is hit by an orange MEW beam and I watch him disintegrate.

I swear I can hear Dusty’s scream even up hear over the shelling. I watch as Sutures and Magpie reach over the parapet and drag Dusty down. Then I am too busy to worry about anything other than what we are doing.

As we rise higher into the air I see Sunset and Dodger reform off our wings. Behind us, I see the trio are just breaking away and are coming to reform on us also. I call over the radio, “Ok reform on the move, Let's give these bastard’s some payback.”

As we get closer, I see a side door open and four sky carts come out the side of it. While I can not see what is in the back, I hear Dodger call, “Mollygirl those sky carts are probably full of bombs. Do you want us to hit them?”

“Affirmative, Sunset, Dodger, take them out. George lets try and get to that door before it closes, I want to put a fire in that hanger if we can.”

Over the radio, I hear Faith, “George be careful going in, just below the hanger doors on both sides are anti-dragon mounts. I suggest trying to go in from underneath and flying through the clouds created by the cloud generator. That should give them less time to try and track you.”

I feel George dive down to get below it, and then climb up again, we are dodging anti griffin and anti-dragon bolts already. Suddenly I feel my mane get singed and I notice the MEW bolts from a flight of pegasi when one hits my barding. George turns at them and lets loose a burst of flame at the nearest one, and then rolls over and dives for the deck. I feel a section of my barding burn away as I take a hit from a MEW on the other side this time, luckily it is far enough away it did not go all the way through. Behind me, the other fliers are in a real free for all involving ten on five. I want to help them but we have ten more on our tail, as we dive down toward the trenches the ground pounders open up on them but they keep coming, then I see something I had forgotten about.

“George, fly close to that light tan patch over there. Archer, can you clear our tail?”

“Rodger, MG, bring them in close. We have the special rounds loaded already” He tells us.

As we start to get closer, I see the light tan tarp being pulled out, and there is Luna, fully manned. As she barks rapid-fire 40mm rounds I see that they do not even have to hit. If they get close to them the rounds explode. Suddenly we are no longer being chased by 10 armored troops, but two as the others either drop out of the sky or are wounded and have to land, skidding into the ground. The last two breaking off trying to evade the incoming fire. Behind me, I hear Emerado over the all hands frequency “OH MY GODDESSES! That’s not Luna, That’s Nightmare Moon!”

With our tail cleared we climb back up. We are trying to get around to the rear of the Raptor and as I look down and see several more flights of pegasi climbing toward us. Slightly below and behind us, I see the others still fighting in a real furball. “George, they need our help down to our left,” She rolls over onto her side and begins to dive as we take fire from the Raptor. Em and I open fire as we get close. I am stunned to see George grab one of the Enclave fliers in her claws and throw them as hard as she can towards the Raptor; out of the corner of my eye, I see them hit the side and slide down. It is then that I realize how close we have gotten to it.

Suddenly from below I see the tarp has been pulled from over Celestia and I see the first artillery shell fired. Seconds later I hear it scream by and watch as it hits one of the anti-dragon mounts. While it still seems to be there, it is not firing at us. I see the ship reel as it takes two more hits along its side, this is our chance. “George lets go, let's see if we can get the command deck if we can not get to the hanger.”

Ahead of me, I see another flight of pegasi take off from the hanger, but Sunset and Cloud Dodger sweep by us and open fire. The rapid-fire from the minigun and the burst from the nova surge rifles forcing them to dodge out of the way. We get alongside the raptor just as the door starts to close. I glance Inside and see several more sky wagons being loaded. Emerado and I fire at some approaching Enclave troopers keeping them from targeting George accurately or interfering with our attack run. George then breaths a large blast of light blue flame into the landing bay as the door continues to close, the flame continuing along the hull of the ship as we roll over and dive away, her fire causes the hull it had crossed to glow a dull red.

Behind us, I hear a series of explosions as the bombs still in the hanger bay detonate, and I watch the hanger door that had been closing, blow out and fly into the air. The Spring Monsoon stagers in flight then carries on.

From inside it, I can hear horns and sirens blaring. It has to be a nightmare inside there. I see several unarmored pegasi that are burning jump out of the hatch to try and escape the flames and explosions.

Then I hear George over the radio. “Mollygirl, I’ve lost my glasses. They shot them off.”

“It’s ok George, remember we planned for this. I will give you the signals and talk to you. Just trust me.”

“Ok, Mollygirl, but I am hurt too. They got my wing and my right foreleg.” She tells me.

“Ok George, we will land soon. I am sorry we can’t yet.”

Below us, I see a large group of ghouls have crossed the river and are heading toward the stable. Interestingly enough I also see a group of about 25 pegasi have landed and are almost to the stable tunnel entrance. They are caught in a crossfire it seems as the troopers in the trenches fire on them from behind while the stable security force is firing from inside the tunnel. Then I hear over the all hands circuit. “The main stable entrance hatch is being closed. Do not try to ingress or egress the stable at this time.”

I watch the pegasi ground forces enter the tunnel and then start to try and come out when they realize they are trapped, but they are pinned down by the other forces. The main gun from the raptor then shifts its fire and starts to fire at the ghoul column. As they continue down the main road to the stable. By the way, they react I can tell they are feral.

I watch in horror as the feral ghouls that have survived the bombardment charge into the stable tunnel and into the trapped pegasi. They have no way out. They are in a fight for their lives. Even with power armor, they will be lucky to survive much less not be maimed or uninjured. I don't even want to imagine what they are going through.

It is then that we hear over the communications network “MG this is the farm, repeat MG this is the farm, we have another Raptor inbound from Fillydephia.”

“Roger that, we will see what we can do,” I tell them, and then let out a silent groan.

I look up and see that the Spring Monsoon is starting to turn away. Their fliers that are still in the air are returning to it. She is seriously listing and smoke is still billowing out of her. As I watch I see another major explosion rock her. Then I look for my fliers.

I call over the radio, “Stable 48 fliers, this is MG recall and form on me. I need a status check also.”

I first hear Sunset “SS ok, running low on ammo.”

“MG this is CD, I have been hit, but can still fly and fight.”

“MG, this is Hope, A bit singed and superficial wounds.” Then I hear her voice choke up.

“MG, this is Charity, I am fine, No serious wounds, low on ammo. But, but, we have lost Faith.”

No, No, No, we couldn’t have. When? How? Damn it not another one, not another of my ponies. I feel another stone start to slide into my saddlebag.

Then I hear George, “Mollygirl, I need to land soon, but I can make one more pass if we need to.”

Finally, I hear Emerado “Mollygirl, I got hit by some shrapnel, it's in the leg, but I will need to go to medical.”

As I look over in the direction of Fillydelphia I see another Raptor coming. It’s about 10 kilometers away, however, this one is already listing and seems to be damaged with burns and tears on its sides. Its fliers see us and cautiously advance, as do we. I can tell when they realize we have a dragon with us as they stop and in confusion start to fall back towards their Raptor, which has already made the turn toward Neighvarro. If they leave us alone, I am willing to do the same for them. We slowly advance and watch them fly away, letting them get further away from us.

We follow them for a bit to make sure they continue on their path. Then I call on the radio “Farm this is MG, Farm this is MG, Both Raptors appear to be falling back to Neighvarro, request permission to return to the barn.”

“Permission granted. The Farmer says to use the back gate, as there still seems to be some trouble at the front gate.” I hear in reply.

It is time to head home and count the cost. We have successfully defended the stable, for now. I order my fliers to return to the barn.

Dear DJ Pon3

If you are reading this, then the worst has happened and I am no longer on this side of the dirt. I am writing this because I was recently married to my beloved Dusty. She is now a widow and I wish to let her know that I regret leaving her and that I want her to go on living and to find love again. I am so sorry I had to leave you Dusty. I only wish I had longer with you. If you could please play the song M.I.N.E.

Sincerely

Buddy/Chance
Trooper D Troop, Co-Op Defense force

Once again I would like to thank Kkat for creating the world of FoE. I would also like to thank Somber, Fuzzy Vee Vee, and so many others for showing me how the original Equestria of FoE could be built upon and expanded, with so many good stories yet to tell.

The true cost of any battle is found out by the participants after it is done, and in the coming chapter we will find out what the cost was. The Co-op will be changed, and soon Mollygirl and some of the members of the CDF will be leaving it. For those wanting an idea of what the fire on the raptor would be like, and why they fell back please watch the video at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJomqHi5Jls

This week's dedication song can be found on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3D8qyJ-xyo