I wake in the morning with a smile on my face. Woofers is on top of my blanket but I have a hoof around him. As I get up, I notice Sutures is already packed and gone for the march. Then I see Trouble sitting there rubbing his head. “Sorry Lt, if I was difficult last night. I normally do not allow myself to get like that.”

“No problem Troubles. I do understand. Besides I am here for you if you need me. Remember that.”

He smiles sheepishly. “Thank you, I appreciate it.”

“By the way LT, I meant what I said. I may have been drunk, but I will get payback from him for what he did to Tar and you.”

“Thanks, Trouble, I appreciate it, just do not risk yourself needlessly to balance the books, ok.”

While he doesn’t reply to that, I see him nod his head as I walk away, Woofers trailing behind me.

Once over to the headquarters section, I talk to the Major again about our scouts and where she wants us to search today.

Once that is established, I return to my squads and scouts. As I am looking for Sunset to discuss who to assign for the missions today, I overhear Serenity asks Sky, “So you really just do not know how to fly? It’s not a disability?”

“No, it’s not. My mother died giving birth to me. Dad was an earth pony, he went to try and find somepony to teach me how, but he never came back.” She tells Serenity.

“I understand how that is. Maybe if we get time, Either I could or my brother and I could try and teach you how to. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”

“Mind, no, not at all. I would love to know how to fly,” She replies.

I then continue on. Finally, I find him chatting with Choo Choo and Xavier. Both the youngsters are looking on sitting next to Xavier in the predawn gloom. Suddenly I hear Xochitl “Ginger, stop nipping my ears, that is not nice.”

I hear her giggle, “You know you like it,” she tells him and then tackles him and starts to tickle him. He responds by trying to tickle her back all the while he is laughing too. Such innocence lightens all of our moods.

After a bit, I call out “All right, gear up, time to get moving.”

I put on my gear as I watch my scouts and D-troop do the same. D-troop being in the vanguard today. The sun is just coming over the horizon as we lead out. As we begin the march, I hear the Major yell “SCOUTS OUT!” My fliers become airborne and those who are on hoof take off at a trot to get ahead and besides the column as we move to our day’s destination.

Twice during the day, I think I see Griffons in the distant sky. When they land during a break Choo Choo lets me know she has seen over a dozen of them shadowing us slowly. They have come from the southwest and the east, so I do not think they are Red Eyes, but the Major is still a bit nervous.

Finally, we reach the old railroad tracks. We follow them a couple of kilometers to the bridge over the river. It is there we start to dig in and set up our camp for the next couple of days. The artillery is in the center. H-troop sets up along the river. D-troop right along the railroad embankment and E-troop to the south. The prisoners and are placed in the center of the circled wagon train.

Each troop puts out several pickets to provide a warning if anyone on the ground tries to enter our camps unannounced. Each squad sending out one member per watch. During this time the rest start to prepare the camp for a couple of days stay, including digging latrines, as well as cooking pits that in the evening may double as a spot for the squad members to socialize around.

As the evening progresses after the evening meal many of the soldiers begin to write home, some read the letters they have received from home out loud to those who have not gotten any, others simply sit by the campfires telling stories, rehashing old adventures and some even just singing. This is the first time since we have left home that we have not had to worry about being attacked right away. This allows us to relax some, with many of the troops visiting friends and family in other units that are on the expedition.

As I sit by the fire with my scouts, I see Dusty show up with Nugget to visit Ginger. I realize they are here when I hear Dusty tell her mother, “See ma, I told you she would be here with the scouts. There is her special little somepony right there next to her.”

Ginger replies by sticking her tongue out at her big sister. “He is not my special somepony. He is just my best friend.” She tells her.

That gets a bit of a chuckle out of all of us. Dusty responds to her sister, “Well you are always together, I just thought you might like a cute buck, but maybe I am wrong.”

Off to the side, I see Xochitl blush as his father laughs at his son’s reaction. “Already a mare’s stallion eh my young buck. I guess you must get it from your father’s side,” He teases and laughs some more.

After a while, Ginger is sitting on her mother’s lap and asks her to read her a story and pulls out her Daring Do book. Part of me loves seeing the mother and daughter interaction, part of me feels slighted as back at the farm, I was the one who got to read her stories. I know it is unreasonable, but it is what it is.

As Nugget reads her the tale, I notice both squads around us have all gone quiet. We are all listening to the story. Especially with Nugget telling the tale with a different voice for each character. When the story is finished, we all give her a small round of applause. I know that if Ginger does not remember that as something special all the rest of us will, as we do not have a lot for entertainment, and that just provided a touch of home to all of us.

A bit later we tune into DJ Pon3 and listen to the news. Once the news is finished, we hear the music and I watch as some of us begin to dance. At first, I see Dusty sitting by her mother and just looking sad. After a bit I notice Firefly come over and ask her to dance with him. I see a tear in her eye as she starts to tell him no, but then I hear Nugget, “Dusty dear, go ahead, you know he would have wanted you to.”

She sniffles a bit and puts one hoof in his and for the first time since she lost Chance, she shares a dance with somepony. It is a slow dance and when they are finished, he escorts her back to her seat and takes her hoof, leans over and kisses it, looks her in the eyes, “Thank you for the dance, He was a very lucky stallion to have shared even a part of his life with you.” He then smiles and walks back over to where Sky and Serenity are talking about the basics of flying.

Finally, I get a chance to read my letters from home. The first I read is from George.

Dear Mollygirl,

I am having Faith write this for me as I still have not received my new glasses. They finally found them but are having a difficult time with the repair spells to the frame. The lenses were destroyed so they are having to make new ones.

I have had some visitors, and my room at the stable has become a hangout for Dodger, Charity, Faith, and Hope. Faith usually visits several hours a day using her wheelchair. She keeps saying she will walk again someday, but she also realizes that is a long way off. I do believe that she and Dodger will end up dating, as both keep talking to me about the other when they are alone with me.

In other news, Sumac and Magpie have also been visiting me whenever they are coming and going from seeing Badger. He has had a slow recovery. They are currently trying to determine what spell was placed upon the bullets used by Red Eyes troops in that fighting that week, as there has been a very high ratio of infections. Several soldiers that were wounded and that would have returned to duty quickly instead have almost lost limbs to it. So please be careful when fighting against those troops.

I cannot wait to hear the stories of your adventures when you get back. I hope you are still in good health and spirits. Take care my friend and I hope to see you soon.

Sincerely yours

George.

I have to smile at several parts of the letter. I do worry about Badger even more now. Granted the letter is at least three to four days old, but still, it is good to hear from her and news from back home. I look at the other letters, I decide to save Magpies for last. So next I choose to read Faith’s letter.

Hey LT,

I guess I can call you that now, it seems weird after calling you Cadet or just Mollygirl since I first meet you. All of us here are missing you being in charge of us, that includes Emerado. We are still waiting for George to get her glasses back so we can all go flying again. I look forward to when you can join us doing so again.

In other news, Dodger actually asked me out on a date yesterday. To tell you the truth, I was stunned. The day of the battle I pretty much thought my life was over. After all what good was a pegasus who could not walk, much less fly? It seems like I was very wrong. Even the CDF has kept me as a member. I have been bumped to being a permanent member of the staff now. I assist with planning as well as act as an ombudsman for some of the new refugees that have been arriving here. Many of which have even come to us from the former enclave areas.

I saw Badger walking the halls of the stable the other day. He is still a patient at the stable medical department. However, his rebuilt leg seems to be doing fine and is supporting his weight now. Magpie seems to spend most of her nights at medical sleeping in a chair next to his bed. I worry about her, but she assures me she is doing ok.

Well I best be going; Dodger is due to meet me at my stall for our first date tonight. We are going to the North 40. Wish me luck. I will write again soon. Take care and know you are missed.

Sincerely your friend

Faith

I am really glad to hear how well things are going for Faith and I really do wish her well. Badger’s difficulty with his leg is really worrying though, even though she says he is on the mend now. It is starting to get late so I will save the other two for tomorrow. I say my goodnights to everyone and head over to my bedroll.

Once there I am joined by Woofers as he climbs under my blanket with me. As I lay there falling asleep, I listen to the sounds of the camp. In the distance, I can hear some of the cattle and ponies singing from the direction of H troop and the artillery section. Closer still I can hear my own troops quietly talking. In a way it is all very calming and helps me to relax, allowing me to fall into a deep restful sleep.

It is still dark when I awake. I feel Woofers beside me growling and I feel a knife against my throat. I think to myself; you have to be kidding, not again. I barely open my eyes to see who it is. I am surprised to see a birdlike head on a furry body. The knife is held in a claw. Before I can do anything, I feel Woofers slide from under the blanket near my back hooves. Then I feel the blade back off and when I look, I see that the griffon is backing away, I hear him screaming “Get it off, get it off of me,” as Woofers has gotten onto his back between his wings and is biting him at his wing roots.

The camp comes alive, many of the troopers illuminating the night with the lights on their PipBucks. I draw my pistol and am bringing up S.A.T.S. when I notice E.F.S. only shows yellow markers. So, I call off Woofers. However, I still keep my pistol aimed at the nearest mark.

Over by Xavier and the foals I see another one pinned to the ground by Xavier and Tweeters is between it and youngsters. Her teeth are bare and she is growling in a warning.

"Who are you and what do you want?” I ask.

“Don’t answer her Dull Beak.” I hear another voice from above answer.

Then next to where that voice came from, I hear Choo Choo, “Actually, I would recommend that you properly answer, otherwise I get to have fun. I have not played with griffons in a few days and would love a bit of a workout.”

The voice above then answers, “Changed my mind, go ahead and answer.”

The griffon who is in front of me cringes and then answers “I am Dull Beak, that one you heard above is Threat Vector. Gawd sent us to find out who was bringing this large a force into her territory.”

“Funny, if you had just asked, I would have told you,” I tell them. “Now, I am not so sure. Who is this Gawd and what does she want?”

The one that I can see flying as well as several others all land. They look incredulous at my question. Dull Beak answers, "You mean you do not know who Gawdyna Grimfeathers is?”

I know my face has a confused look on it, but that is because I am confused. “Actually, no, I do no know. Who is she?”

He clears his throat. “Gawd is only the leader of the local Talons. She has become the leader of Junction R-7, Shatterhoof Ridge Reeducation facility, and New Appleloosa.”

“Oh, so sort of like back home with the Co-op between Manesville, Emerald Grove, Dairyanne and Donovan.” I hear Sutures say.

Behind her, I hear Trouble, “Hmm, a bit of a change from just a few months ago when I came through here last. Ok Dull Beak, what changed everything?”

Dull Beak lets out a bit of a squawk, “Lil Pip, The Lightbringer, that’s what changed. She helped Gawd. Now Gawd is in charge. She wants to talk to the leader of your forces here.”

“Well, we will talk to the Major. It is a bit early to wake her right now, but I am sure she will want to hear this. Trouble will you assist me in Escorting Dull Beak to her. Sergeant Duke, Sergeant Sunset, please guard the rest for now.

I hear Dull Beak “Trouble, Sunset, you two working together again, aww for the love of Gawd, who let you two get together again?”

I hear Sunset laugh in the background, “You're following her, she is a bit tougher than she looks. Hey Train Wreck, if they try and take off before the LT is back, they are all yours.”

Then I hear Trouble tell Dull Beak, “And do not even think of trying to collect the bounty on Sunset or me. You know we did the job fair and square, not our fault your old boss set us up.”

“That’s none of my business, A contract is a contract, you took it and did not fill it.” Dull Beak tells him.

“Yeah, but nopony said a damn thing about the number of raiders who were there, much less that the Dragon was in charge there. We should have known better than to try and go into Ponyville…”

As I listen to this exchange I start to think and tell them, “Ponyville, eh, I did not know you two had worked in this area so much, when I get back I want both of you to start giving me the low down, no more secrets you two.”

I hear a sigh from Sunset, “Yes Ma’am. Will do, not secrets, just memories that neither of us likes to talk about. LT.”

Once I get to the Major, I tell her clerk to wake her. He is hesitant at first, “Lieutenant, are you really sure you want to wake her? She was up late last night and you know how she is normally; she has been worse since the Hoofington mission.”

"Sorry Paper Work, but we really do need her up." I see the older yellow coated buck sigh and shake his red mane. “Ah, ok, please stand back though.”

He steps near her bedroll, but not next to it. “Major, Major Quick Trot, wake up Ma’am, we have a situation.” As he finishes the last word, I notice he drops to the ground.

She is awake and, on her hooves, quicker than I ever imagined, her pistol in her mouth, eyes wide and panic in them, she is breathing hard. “What, who, oh, sorry Paper Work.”

Next to me, I hear Dull Beak, “Are all of you mares like this?”

The Major then notices me and the griffon, “OK Lieutenant, what do we have here that is so important to wake me up.”

“Sorry Ma’am, but this one and a heavy squad of others decided to sneak into my part of the camp. They want to talk to our leader, so…”

“Ah, yes, I can understand that then. Ok, who are you, and what do you want?”

He hesitates for a second, “Actually, I was going to ask the same, Gawdyna Grimfeathers has sent me to find out.”

The Major looks at me. “Mollygirl, who is he talking about? Who is this Gawdyna?”

He sputters and squawks, “You come into her territory with this large a force and you have no idea? What is wrong with you ponies.”

“I look at her, “Major, I guess Dull Beak should explain, who he is and why they are here.”

“Major Huh, surprised with a force like this you are not calling yourself Colonel or something. Well Gawdyna is as I explained to this one earlier, is the leader of the Talons in this area, as well as several of the local settlements. I am one of her lower lieutenants and she sent me to bring whoever was in charge of this circus to talk with her. Now, are ya coming or not?”

“And how do you propose to take me to her?” the Major asks.

“Well, I would tell you to fly, but seeing you do not have wings…”

“Uhm, Major, perhaps you could have Choo Choo give you a ride. She could also double as security for you. I might also suggest taking one of the two new troopers, either Serenity or Firefly with you.” I suggest.

“OK, that provides a how now my question is again why and then we will add a when?” The Major retorts.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, can’t you just make it easy. Ok, then where is the Shatterhoof Reeducation Center, Gawd is still using it as a headquarters, though she has talked about moving it somewhere else eventually. She wants to talk about why you are here, where you come from, and possible alliances.”

The Major looks him up and down, “Before I even consider it, how do you feel about the Enclave and Red Eye’s army?”

“We drove the Enclave off when they hit Shatterhoof Ridge, they hurt New Appleloosa some, but still were forced back when ol’ Ditzy did her toxic rain boom?”

“Her what?” I ask.

“Her toxic rainboom. She is a ghoul pegasus and she basically did a radioactive sonic rainboom, so folks down here have started to call it that.”

“Ok that tells me how you feel about the Enclave, but how about Red Eyes troops?”

“Ma’am, haven't you been listening to DJ Pon3, the Talons are at odds with Red Eyes troops and his army in Fillydelphia. We see ‘em, we fight ‘em.”

The Major considers all of this. “Ok, I will go, first I need to talk with my second in command. Paper Work, please get Captain Oak Root and have him report to me.”

“Yes Ma’am” he replies and trots off towards E-troop.

A short time later Paper Work returns dragging a very tired-looking Captain behind him. Oak Root approaches the Major, “Yes ma’am?”

“Captain, I will be going to a meeting here shortly. I am placing you in charge until I return. If I am not back within two days, Continue operations without me. You know the mission, any other details on the plan, you can discuss with the Lieutenant here, as she and Emerado developed them.”

“Very good ma’am. Will do. Please be careful though. You may be my superior, but I still remember our days as non-coms. I would hate to lose a friend unnecessarily,” he tells her.

“I agree Oak, I would hate to lose me too. I will be back as soon as I can. Lieutenant, if you would be so kind, have the suggested escort for me prepared before we get there.” She tells me.

I send a message over my PipBuck to Sunset to choose one of the youngsters to go with Choo Choo and the Major. I also let him know to have them ready for us as soon as we get there.

Once we arrive, I see Serenity and Choo Choo are kitted up. Before they leave, Sky walks over and gives Serenity a hug and I overhear her say, “Be careful dear, I will miss having you here.” This gets the Major to raise an eyebrow, myself, I merely shrug.

“Choo Choo, are you sure you can carry the Major?” I ask.

“Sure, thing LT, remember I carried that engineer and he was bigger than her.” She says with a smile.

I watch as the Major climbs onto her back. I can only think of how lucky the Major is to be flying. I kind of miss it, especially after being reminded by the letters from home yesterday. I stand back and watch them take off into the night sky along with their Griffon escort.

With that, the night quiets back down for all of us. “Sergeants, do me a favor, add an extra guard for the camps at night please.”

Both reply affirming the order. I then return to my bunk I notice the night is a bit chiller. While I have Woofers, I notice some of the others are not so lucky. I do not complain when both Sutures and Trouble ask if they can move closer to share body heat. Besides, it means less of a chance of waking up with a knife to my throat again.

The next day goes fairly well for us. We hold small squad-sized musters and turn in the paperwork to the company clerks who then pass them on to the HQ. Officers call is fairly uninformative for me as I already know about the Major departing and Captain Oak Root being in charge for now.

Today we spend most of the day repairing equipment and performing repairs or cleaning and inspecting weapons. We also make sure every trooper has a full loadout of ammo as well as healing potions, and healing bandages.

We are much more relaxed so I have taken to leaving my helmet off. After the evening officers call, I come back to find my helmet has been decorated some. One of my troopers it seems has painted a rough silhouette of my head on one side as well as painted in the words Born to Graze on the cloth cover. Not wanting to stand out I take the cover off and find underneath they had already painted born to graze in larger letters. I see several of them trying not to laugh at the expression on my face. The worst part of it is I can not tell which one of them did it. Well, I will not let them think they have got me so I look at it, put the camo cover back on, and smile. “I like it. Thanks whoever did it for me.” I tell them. Actually, I do like it, even though it is against regulations.

That evening as I am watching the sun begin to set behind the mountains, I see a flight of griffons again, as well as what appears to be two pegasi in the distance. As they get closer, I see one is drastically larger than the other and is carrying a passenger. The major has returned.

They land over in the headquarters area. Then I receive a message on my PipBuck, Officer’s call at HQ in ten minutes. Well I best get moving then. “Sergeant Sunset, Sergeant Duke, you have the camps,” I tell them as I head off.

On my way, I pass both Serenity and Choo Choo. They both have serious expressions on their faces. I wonder more now on what is going on.

Once at the HQ I see all of the other officers there also. The Major has us circle around her as there are only 14 of us there. “Ok, everypony, that seems to have been a pretty productive meeting today.” The Major begins “It seems that Gawd may be interested in an eventual alliance with the Co-op. She now knows how to contact them back home, and it turns out was pretty surprised that we had a large enough force in Manesville to launch this large an expedition. “

She takes a short pause to collect her thoughts, then continues, “One problem is that she needs troops up in Fillydelphia badly. This means she can not really support us in the field right now. In fact, she was trying to get us to go there until I brought up how many of the troops from the Army of Fillydelphia we are tying up. She was impressed however with our system of government in the Co-op, she thought it presented some good ideas such as elections for the leading council, though she thought we should give up on the Overmare and Overcow.”

I see a few expressions of displeasure over the last part. I guess we may have problems with how we do something, but we do not want outsiders to bring it up to us. Nothing that really affects us right now though.

“She also promised to give us some Griffon support in long-range reconnaissance while in this area. However, this means if she is attacked while we are here, we fully support her and her troops. You never get anything for free from a griffon, remember that. Finally, we will be turning over our Prisoners to her. What she will do with them I can not say, but I do not think slavery or killing them is on the table, but it will relieve us of that burden when we start to move again.”

The discussion continues for a while more than breaks up in time for dinner. Once back in camp I sit with the troops again and listened to the banter and stories. Finally, Sunset asked the question I had wondered about earlier. “Ok Train Wreck, you too both have been sullen since you have gotten back, what gives?”

Choo Choo sighs, “Nothing really, just when we were there, we heard several of the Griffon talk about how rough the fighting was for them and how tough they were. I told them about the battle at Manesville and they laughed. They did not believe earth ponies and a few pegasuses could turn back a Raptor. Then I tried to tell them about George and they called me a liar.”

Then Serenity adds in, “Yeah Sarge, she wanted to fight them for calling her that, but I calmed her down. They even had the guts to ask us how much we had to pay a dragon to fight for us.”

Now I can understand the looks on their faces. At least they behaved. “Good job on remaining civil you two. I know it was hard.”

After supper, we continue our routine and tune into DJ Pon3 again. The news of the Battle of Fillydelphia is the top story tonight. The fighting has intensified from the sounds of it. It really does make me glad that we have avoided it. A little while later Nugget comes and visits with Ginger again. Another night, another story. Again, we all sit around listening to it. Even Archer has joined us tonight. After the story, Trouble pulls out the remaining half bottle of Old Overmare he has with him and we start to share it. As the bottle is passed the songs begin once again.

After a while, I slip off to read another of my letters. I have been so busy today I did not have the chance earlier. This time I chose Sumac’s.

My Dear Daughter,

I hope that this letter finds you well and in good health. I am doing ok at this time, but my joints are beginning to feel the aches and pains of the weather change. Today I talked with Persimmon and she has finally calmed down it seems. She even told me to tell you she was sorry about the fight your last night home.

We have had another visit from Quick Frost, this time she and Blue Star stopped by just for tea. They are lonely for company and miss Choo Choo, so let her know they said hello and they cannot wait till she comes home again. It is interesting that Quick Frost now works almost every day as a hired hoof on her family’s old farm. She has gotten to really like the cattle family that lives there and they have contacted the Co-op about having both Quick Frost and Blue Star work for them as part of their Co-op membership required farm time. It seems the family appreciates the help as well as getting to know some of the history of their farm.

Yesterday I went into the library with Magpie and then for dinner. While out we ran into Dodger and Faith, who were out on a date. It is funny to see the smile on his face when he talks with her. Reminds me a lot of the one on Ivy’s father's face all those years ago. Faith is doing as well as can be expected, but she tries to do most things for herself from what I could see. She also has taken a real shine to Dodger, so I would not be surprised to eventually see a wedding between those two. Of Course, that could just be putting the cart before the pony.

While at the library Magpie and I spent some time talking to Pages. She is doing well and could not stop talking about Sunset to us. She told us she has sent some letters to him already and hopes to receive one back. Magpie showed me the records about the adoption and let me read Millie’s journal. I even took the time to watch the memory orb of her first time outside the stable. It really was an eye-opener. I never have tried one of those memory things before, but now I can understand why you liked them so much in the hospital.

Speaking of hospitals, I guess I should tell you. Badger is doing much better now. He should be coming home to convalesce soon. I will let Magpie tell you more about what happened to him and all. Know that we all miss you and cannot wait for you to return home.

Love

Ma Sumac.

At that point, I get up and move back toward the fire. The singing has ended and I hear Sunset reading a letter from Pages out load to everypony. I smile as I listen off to the side. As he finishes up I hear Choo Choo say. “Hey LT. you got a lot of letters, could you read one of yours to us too?”

I begin to say no, but several of them are all smiling and asking for me too. So, I take out Sumac’s letter and I read it out loud to them without thinking.

After I am finished, I see Choo Choo smiling, “Thank you LT, that really helps, knowing they miss me too.” She says.

Then I see a look of confusion on several of their faces. “Ok, what is it?” I ask.

“Mollygirl, I believe they are wondering about the same thing I am, what adoption records?” Archer asks.

I guess the cat is out of the bag now, so I explain it to them. To the side I see Trouble smile some. Most of them are very surprised to find out I am related to both Trouble and Tar. A couple seem to be upset. Ironically, I find myself defending Tar a bit. Pointing out we do not have the full story of what caused her to betray the Co-op.

Later that night before going to bed Trouble approaches me. He puts his hooves out and gives me a hug. “Thank you, thank you for proving we are family and finally accepting all of us. We all felt we were denied as part of the family. That really meant a lot LT.”

“No problem Trouble, I was just telling the truth. I have already told you I consider you family.”

“Yeah, but this time it was in public to all those around us. That is a bigger affirmation to our legitimately being part of the family,” he tells me.

He heads off to bed and I go to find Sunset, I want to remind him to write that mare back. As Sumac says, sometimes bucks need to be reminded to do what they already know is right.

Once I finally make it back to my bedroll, I find Sutures is already asleep as is Trouble. On the other side of the fire, I see Xavier and the youngsters. Nearby I see Sky, Serenity and Firefly, all sleeping near each other. The camp is quiet tonight and I can barely hear the hoof steps of the guards.

Before I go to sleep, I decide to read my final letter. I am leaning back against a log reading it by the light of the fire.

My Dearest wife,

It seems like so long now since you were home last. I miss you so much and so much has happened. Right now, I just wish I could be in your loving hooves again. I keep being strong for everypony here at the farm, but I am so tired of it. I really do not know how you can handle it sometimes. But because I know you do it, I will try and force myself to also.

There have been a lot of changes to the Co-op already since you left. Most of the debris has been removed from the hospital in Manesville, and the rebuilding has begun. They have torn down most of the badly damaged buildings with the intention of building new ones. There is even talk of a memorial.

I must also tell you since you have left, we have begun to get a trickle of refugees coming to the Co-op. Many are from the villages you have passed through; however, we have also begun to get quite a few from Thunderhead, and even a few from Neighvarro. Many of them are ok, but there are a few who still think they are better than us groundsiders and resent us it seems. Those are the fun ones, especially when they learn that to stay here, they have to work on the farms, in the dirt. They have mentioned the possibility of cloud farms and even perhaps some small settlements to raise their native crops.

Most of the time lately I have been sleeping in the chair next to Badger’s bed at the stable medical center. He has had a very rough time of it. Mollygirl, last week they almost amputated his hind leg. The infection was getting that bad. Instead, they have done what they call debriding. I do not even like thinking about it, much less talking about it. After they got all the dead and infected tissue removed, they were finally able to reinforce the bones in his leg that were damaged. Since then they have used several healing potions and spells to help regrow the tissue and rebuild his leg.

He has asked several times if I have heard from you yet. I see the disappointment in his face each time I have to tell him no. We both worry about you so much love. I do not know what we would do if we lost you. You are a beacon of light for me Mollygirl. I never thought I would find someone like you before we got to know each other. When you add Badger to the mix, I am still stunned that my life has taken this turn.

My darling wife, please know that if I was with you right now, I would start my nibbling your ears, as my forehoof caresses you, working my way down to your neck, and just that little spot I know you love so well beneath your chin. After a while of working that I would ever so slowly kiss my way down your chest and belly, Oh, I best stop before I get both of us too worked up. If you do not believe me, look at where your hoof is.

UH, I can’t believe she did that, I look down, and even worse, she was right. I swear my hoof has a mind of its own. I turn even darker red in the light of the fire. Then I look up and see Sutures looking at me with a smirk on her face. “Good letter from home I guess.” She says to me. I only nod in return. Then I return to the letter.

Well I really should be going for now. Badger sends his love also. Please be careful, and do not take too many risks. We want our beloved Mollygirl home with us again as soon as possible. Besides, once you are home again, we can complete that line of thought for real, I really can not wait for it my love, and neither can our husband.

P.S. I almost forgot to tell you we ran into Bullet and Shadowbuck the other day. Bullet’s leg has mostly healed and they will be removing the cast this week. Shadowbuck has made many improvements but still has not fully recovered. It is sweet to see how both Bullet and Emerado fuss over him. Kind of reminds me of us.

With all of our love, Your loving spouses

Badger and Magpie.

After I finish the letter, I fold it neatly and return it to my saddlebags. I then go back to my bunk and get ready to sleep for the night. As I climb under my blanket, I feel a hoof wrap around my waist and a muzzle at the back of my neck. Without thinking I back closer to Sutures, as I feel her lightly bite me. I quietly roll over to face her and end up kissing her. As her hoofs and mine start to caress each other, I think of Magpie and Badger and I freeze up.

“W-what’s wrong Mollygirl?” she whispers to me.

“I, I am so sorry Sutures, but I can’t. I want to so badly but I am married and, dang it, it is all so confusing.” I tell her.

She stops and just holds me. “That’s ok Mollygirl, I do understand. I just thought maybe.”

I put my hoof to her face gently, “If I was not married, I would love to be with you and Archer. You do not know how badly I would love that dear. But, I just can’t.”

She lays there holding me for a bit, then she tells me, “You know, I am attracted to both of your spouses also, and I know Archer is straight, but he is attracted to both you and Magpie too. Maybe we could make a larger family, you know, maybe all get married, sort of like you guys were going to do with Ivy, we just would have an extra stallion to share too.”

I lay there thinking about it, then ask, “Do you think Archer might really be interested in such an arrangement too?”

I can hear the smile in her voice, “Actually, the night of the wetting down party, we discussed that idea. That is why we were so bold that night. Until you three got married, we never thought of a non-monogamous marriage. But we both like the idea.”

“Hmm, I still have to write home again, maybe I should propose the idea to them. But until then, we can not be fooling around, ok.” I tell her.

“Understood Mollygirl, but to tell the truth, I was not fooling around, I was downright serious.” She tells me, then gives me a light kiss on the muzzle and rolls over. Oh, this is going to make it so hard to sleep tonight.

Eventually, I do though. I awake in the morning by myself. Everypony else is already up and by the cooking fire drinking coffee or tea. With that, I crawl out of my bedroll, strap it up, and get ready for what the day may bring.

At Officers call the Major goes over the plans for the day. She tells us that we are going to have Three squads from E- Troops, as well as two from H-troop, escort the prisoners to Shatterhoof. She then looks at me. Mollygirl, I want you to make a scout over to this Junction R-7. Before I decide just how far we can trust them, I want to see what things are really like. Take any of your scouts you want. Civilian dress only, no issued kit. I want them to see just another wastelander.

“Yes Ma’am. Anything else in particular that you may want me to do while I am there?” I ask.

“Actually, yes. See if you can send off some more mail, and try to arrange for some more supplies. We seem to have run through them more quickly than anticipated, especially with all these prisoners. Oh, also see about sending out some scouts toward New Appleloosa to see if they can find our supply caravan. If not, we may have to set up a run with the supply wagons, or just the whole force, I will need to talk to Gawd about that.”

“Got it, Ma’am. I have a couple I think would work great down that way together. I will try to be back by tomorrow morning ma’am.”

I am walking back toward camp when I remember that before the officers call, I had been playing with my PipBuck. I then notice that I had left the scouts channel on the broadcast setting the entire time I have been there. I turn it off and thank goodness that I had not discussed anything embarrassing.

However, once I get back, I see everypony is ready to go. They all want to go to either Junction R-7 or New Appleloosa. Well everypony except Sunset and Trouble. It seems they are taking this bounty thing pretty seriously. I still have not gotten the full story about that, other than it was several years ago.

“Ok, then Serenity and Firefly I want you two to fly out ahead of the other scouts along with Choo Choo towards New Appleloosa. Blackberry, I want you and chip on the ground. If you can not locate the caravan, check out the town and ask around. I will be taking Woofers with me to Junction R-7. I figure it is closer and I have a few things I really want to check out that way. The rest of you stay here and wait until you are needed.”

After that, I take off my uniform blouse and helmet. I put my mothers’ old scarf back on my head. I am so glad I did not lose it that horrible day. I then put on a civilian blouse and strap my battle saddle back on as well as my pistol. I make sure my canteens are in my saddlebags as well as the rest of my uniform. “Sergeant Sunset, the scouts are yours until I return. I will be back by tomorrow morning.”

I call out to Woofers, “Come on boy, you’re with me.” Then cross the bridge over the river next to the railroad and begin to follow the road to Junction R-7. For the first time in my life, I am going into the Wastelands on my own. I have asked my scouts to do this before, now I need to experience it also.

Dear DJ Pon3,

Recently I ran into a crazy bunch of heavily armed ponies from Manesville who have come into our territory. After seeing the way they act, I just can not get this song out of my head. Could you play Red Sky in the Morning for me and dedicate it to the Major and the LT.

Thank ya

Dull Beak

Shatterhoof Ridge Reeducation Facility Talon

For those who would like to listen to this chapter's dedication song, the You Tube link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKgRdYk7OWM