//------------------------------//
// Buy In 
// Story: TCB: Wild Cards 
// by AegisExemplar 
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	‘Complain about the Lieutenant’ had always been a favored game among the enlisted, and the ponified enlisted were happy to continue the tradition.
The four ponies gathered at the card table had only been ponies for a few weeks. They’d been born in the same town, raised together, schooled together, enlisted together, served together, and, unfortunately, were in the same Humvee when they struck an IED embedded in the roadway whilst serving abroad.
Each had lost a different limb in the incident, and had joked that at least together, they had enough left to form a whole. A few years down the line Emergence had occurred, and several months after that each had received a very official letter informing them of the opportunity to serve the colorful ponies, whole again, with only the catch that they themselves would become said ponies. They’d gathered at a card table, much like the one they were at now, and hadn’t so much as discussed it before agreeing on their new path.
They had come through the process, once more as a group, and found a surprise: They had been not only among the few to already have cutie marks, but a set of complementary cutie marks. Each matched the call sign they had given each other, and thus, each had taken their former callsigns as their Equestrian names.
Heart, their medic and now white-with-red unicorn, was dealing this round, his red magic aura floating and shuffling the deck. He would fling cards, seemingly at random, to each of the other three sitting at the table. He usually dealt, thanks to the magic he now employed, but no one complained.
Spade caught a card in his teeth and added it to the other two he’d acquired. He was getting better at holding his cards, thank goodness. Hooves were tricky, but he’d need ‘em if he was to continue to be his squad’s de-facto engineer. He’d wound up an Earth pony, fittingly, and was wonders when it came to dirt work. Should the squad ever need to dig-in, they would never have to worry about the improvised structure. He ran a hoof through his black mane and scratched at an itch on his white flank.
Heavy-handed as he had been as a Human, Club was equally or more so now. He’d carried the heavy weapons and used them with deadly efficiency, and now Club dwarfed the other three, and very nearly dwarfed the Lieutenant. He carefully picked up his fourth card, then glanced about, watching the others be dealt. No one had doubted he’d be an Earth Pony in the end, and that had proved true. His black fur gleamed in the lamplight, and his white mane stood straight in the mohawk he’d never been allowed to have during his service years.
Hovering in the air waiting for his cards to hit the table was Diamond, the pegasus, red fur and black mane lightly rustling in the breeze produced by the beating of his wings. More often than not he was in the air, even if that meant blowing away his hand. He didn’t care; he was here for the comradery, not the card game. Diamond had been their scout, eyes every bit as sharp as his namesake. He could often pick out things unaided that his squadmates had trouble seeing on 10x magnification.
They finished their hand (or should they call it hoof now?) and slid their cards back to Heart, who’d been chosen once again by the other three to shuffle and deal. A knocking at the door, followed by a red nose through it, interrupted.
“Hey fellas, mind if I join in?” A large red stallion grinned, peeking. “Heard ya’ll had a game goin’ on.”
“Pull up a pillow, stranger, always glad to take a few bits from a new face,” joked Spade as he made room between himself and Heart for the newcomer, who did as instructed.
“So, what’re ya playin’, colts?”
“Five-card draw, figured we’d keep it simple. Joker’s wild,” responded Heart as he dealt the newcomer in. “So, I’m Heart, that’s Spade, our squad leader back in the service, the giant’s Club, and the featherbrain’s Diamond.”
“Ha-ha, needle noggin, just gimme my cards,” called Diamond with a grin. Club just nodded, while Spade waved.
“Call me Joker, then. How ya play? Some of these convert games are weird.”
The four exchanged glances. Their new friend was apparently a native Equestrian. They’d each walk back to barracks with a bag full of bits tonight.
“Well...” began Spade, “it’s actually pretty easy...”
At first, as predicted, Joker lost more than he won. They’d interspersed their game with their true favorite game, ‘Complain about the Lieutenant,’ each taking their turn, while Joker lived up to his name, usually in the form of twisting their words into comedic insults, the favored kind of joke for males of their age set.
“..And do you know that El-Tee Exemplar just had us dragging things around today? Through mud? I swear, if that armor didn't already turn us brown, I probably wouldn't have known it didn't after.” Club snorted at Spade’s complaint. He’d enjoyed the easy exercise.
“Hah, that was nothin’. Cloudhammer, that hardflank, he was making us dodge lightning!” Heart raised a doubtful brow at Diamond. “Okay, they were baby bolts, but still! I think my fetlocks are still twitchin’...”
“At least you guys don’t have to learn how to break physics. Those muffin’-lovin’ rings of Evergreen’s... eesh. Luna take ‘em all.”
The four turned to Joker, who was now expected to share his complaints. Joker just shrugged. “Well, at least you guys are learnin’ stuff, right?” He smiled. The other four rolled their eyes and tossed their cards down in unison.
“Oh, guess this pot’s mine.” The four others groaned, having universally and accidentally folded.
The game went on for a while, and slowly but surely the pile of bits grew and grew in front of Joker. The others couldn’t believe how quickly the newcomer had caught on to the game.
“Well, I know you’ve not been ponies long,” Joker explained, “but you’re all really easy to read. Tail twitches, ear flicks, that kinda stuff. I’m sure you’ll figure it out in time.” He took yet another round, more bits added to his pile.
‘Well, colts, I think that’s about as much as I can handle tonight. I’ll see you two-” Joker nodded to Club and Spade “-tomorrow mornin’, bright and early.” He nodded to Diamond and Heart. “Tell Cloudhammer and Flare I said ‘Hi.’ I apparently need to plan some more... interesting... challenges.” He grinned slyly, then scooped his pile of bits into a saddlebag conveniently covering his cutie mark and trotted out the door. “After all, Joker’s wild.”
Spade and Club exchanged a panicked look, while Heart and Diamond just started laughing. 
“W-was that...?” started Club, the first thing any of them had heard him say that night.
“No..No, couldn’t’ve been...” Spade said, sweat rolling down his face. He had said it himself; The armor turned them all brown. How could they have known the Lieutenant out of uniform when he wasn’t yelling at them?

*	*	*

Aegis sat down with Cloudhammer, Evergreen, and Dawn Breeze. Captain Shining Armor had been unable to attend, though Aegis had no idea why. Evergreen had permission to speak for him.
“General, fellow Lieutenants, I believe I’ve found just the kind of squad I’ve been looking for.” Aegis grinned. “These colts have always been together. They knew the power of friendship before converting, so much so that their cutie marks even form a set. Separating them would be a shame, even just assigning them to a bureau would be a severe misuse of their skills.” Aegis tossed a folder from his saddlebag onto the table, then relayed some of the more pertinent bits of information he’d gleaned directly from the four.
“With your permission, I’d like these four to be released for further special training. Somethin’ a little more akin to what I traditionally do.” Aegis braced himself, preparing to go into in-depth reasoning of the need for a small, fast force, something deployable at a moment’s notice to anywhere, be it Earth or Equestria. A precision force, for when a division was overkill or simply too long to put together.
“Granted.” 
Aegis puffed out the air he’d taken it. “What?”
Cloudhammer smirked. “I said ‘Granted.’ You’ve shown good judgement in the promotions of your subordinates. That’s all I need to know to see you assemble your team. This will only set us back four ponies of a thousand. Frankly, Lieutenant, I don’t know why we haven’t done this before. While the Bearers are certainly competent, they are still civilians, and we can't let ourselves become dependent on the Elements.”
Evergreen and Dawn Breeze looked at each other and shrugged, then nodded their assent. After all, if the General approved, why shouldn’t they? Neither could offer an argument; besides, Aegis was right about one thing at the least: these four were excellent together.
The Wild Cards met for their first training briefing the very next day.