I watched as Night Strike and Aerith pulled a body free of the crashed aircraft, the chill breeze and hissing of steam filling the air as the snow Aerith had dropped onto the burning propeller melted off from teh heat. I climbed out of the trenches, Extra Edition trotting up beside me as we approached the unconscious pony. A large gash was visible on his forehead, blood slowly oozing from it underneath his flight cap. Extra Edition rummaged through her saddlebags for a moment before whipping her camera up to her face, snapping a few photos of the crashed aircraft. “What the heck kind of plane is this? Do you guys have any idea?” She began scribbling down notes on a pad, looking back over to the injured pony.

“Hell if I know, but I think we’ve got something that requires a little more concern right now, don’t you think?” Night Strike said, gesturing to the stallion. “Come on, let’s get this guy up into the wagon, we gotta get him to Hopeville on the double.” Aerith lifted the pony up carefully in her magic as Scouring and Crash Dive hoisted themselves out of the trenches, heading over to us. I followed Night Strike and Aerith, Extra Edition still scrawling on her notepad close behind.

“Hopeville? Isn’t Maple Creek closer, they’ve got a clinic there, don't they? It seems like he's doing alright... aside from the, uh, obvious.” I stated. Aerith layed the pilot-pony out in the empty trailer behind the mini-tank, before sitting beside him. Scouring hopped in with Aerith as Crash Dive and Night Strike hopped onto the back of the mini-tank, the suspension groaning softly from the combined weight. Extra Edition was attempting to climb into the driver’s seat, kicking wildly before flopping forward in front of the controls. I trotted up to the side of the half-track as she straightened herself out. “And what exactly do you think you’re doing?”

Extra Edition stowed her notebook under her hat, along with her quill behind her ear. “I’m not just leaving a story like this, my boss would skin me alive! And from how that crash looked, I think you might be overestimating the durability of ponies, mister 'had a bullet pulled from my hoof with no anasthetics'. Unless you’d rather I append this story with ‘Vanhoover Hero Kills Crash Victim’, I suggest we stick with the first plan.” I grimaced, not wanting to admit Extra was right about something.

“Fine, but I think you’ve overestimated how much I care about your job.” I said, hopping up onto the side of the tank. Extra Edition barely had time to shout a protest before I hosted her out of the front seat and tossed her into the trench beside the mini-tank. Revving the engine, I turned the tank around and began to speed off towards Hopeville, Extra’s angry shouts fading into the distance. Pearl waved a robotic claw at her before spinning her monitor forward. “Pearl, do you think you can help him at all before we reach Hopeville?” I asked her, the tank bouncing over a few small rocks under the snow.

“Of course! It’d be rather foolish of me to leave all my vivisection tools back at the facility, no sense in a mobile science body that can't do some science of it's own!” She said happily, one of her robotic arms flipping over to reveal a small scalpel. Night Strike gave a worried ‘uuuuh’ looking back and forth between the pony and the surgical tool. Pearl’s monitor turning to face the pegasus, the AI’s image still grinning widely.

Night Strike gave an awkward cough. “Uh, we were kind of hoping more in a way that will keep him alive, you know? Like some Med-X or a healing potion, or something.” Pearl’s face flickered to an image of disappointment, her scalpel replacing itself with a small syringe. She stuck the needle into the pony’s arm, injecting him with a small dose of chemicals before removing the needle and flipping back to her normal claw.

“Aww, killjoy. I better get to do more fun science when we get to Hopeville, I know that place had a pretty nice hospital there before all those bombs fell!” I shook my head, trying to concentrate on driving along the road. Yes, Pearl, I’m sure the Triage will let you run as many experiments as you like. We continued through the countryside, Aerith looking down at the stallion, worried. The moon was rising high in the sky as we drove along, myself flipping on the headlight of the mini-tank to illuminate the wooded path before us. The lighthouse could be seen faintly off in the distance, the beacon atop it spinning slowly around, its beam cutting into the darkness. Come on, ya half-tank, don't fail us now...

---

The lights of Hopeville could be seen coming up slowly in the distance, the Hotel sign flickering feebly in the night as we approached. I wound my way through the familiar streets towards the Triage, a few ponies stepping out of the closing bars and pubs, making their way slowly home in the chilly air. The stallion was still lying unconscious in the trailer, though his wounds had long ago stopped leaking blood as they clotted up. Pulling up in front of the Triage, I turned the engine of the mini-tank off and hopped out, Aerith and Scouring carefully lifting the stallion out and carrying him through the front doors.

Night Strike stepped up to the desk, the receptionist looking worried as she saw the stallion’s body. The secretary punched a few numbers into a paging system on her desk before pushing her chair away from the desk. “Come with me, I’ve just called a doctor to one of the emergency rooms.” She lead us down the hallway, pushing open a door to reveal a bed, a doctor already standing inside and opening up a bag of medical tools.

Aerith lay the stallion down on the bed, the doctor quickly slipping on a stethoscope and beginning to take vitals. “What exactly happened to him?” He asked, scribbling down a few notes before checking the pony’s pulse. Pearl hovered outside the door, extending an eyestalk in an attempt to see past us as the doctor went about his business.

“We think his plane was taken out by the shockwave of the megaspell we detonated up by Shady Shores, it crashed down near us. We were able to get him out of the cockpit, and Pearl injected him with some Med-X stuff to keep him stable, I don’t really know any more than that.” Night Strike stated. The doctor looked over the stallion’s wounds, pulling a roll of bandages and cream out of his bag and began to dress the gashes in the pony’s skin.

“From the looks of things, it seems like he’s going to be alright, though I don’t know if he’ll wake up anytime soon. Come back tomorrow morning, his condition should be stable enough we can try reviving him then. And, erm, if you don’t mind, this room isn’t really built for 7 ponies... and a robot.” I nodded, preparing to turn around, only to be met by Pearl's shiny chassis. Oh, right, this is where we were planning on dropping you off, wasn’t it? Turning back to face the doctor, I tried to fight back my urge to come up with a number for her. Now’s probably not the best time for price negotiations, Static... Though that is a lot of zeroes…

“Is Emerald still here this late? We have someone that might be able to help her out around here.” The doctor shook his head, writing something down on a clipboard before shooing us out of the room. Well, I guess we’ll just try tomorrow then. We began to head back towards the lobby of the hospital, myself yawning as I realized how tired I was. Guh, I guess it’s another night in the hotel again, I’m definitely not up to driving back to the lighthouse. Hopefully Chauffeur doesn’t work the graveyard shift, too... We stepped outside into the night air and climbed once again onto the mini-tank. Passing by a few more ponies heading home, we were quickly pulling up outside the hotel and hopping out, as Aerith enchanted the vehicle invisible.

The lobby was empty, save for the rather tired looking peagsus at the front desk, her cheek pushed up as she leaned into her hoof. “Two rooms, please.” I said, trotting up to her. She turned around, taking a couple keys and sliding them across the desk for us. Crash Dive and Scouring grabbed one apiece and we walked down the hallway towards our respective rooms, a dull thud heard from the lobby as the mare finally fell asleep. As Crash Dive slid her key into the lock, though, Night Strike tapped me on the shoulder.

“Uh, would you guys mind if I slept with you? Our room’s gonna be kind of crowded with three ponies and a robot. And, uh,” She lowered her voice. “I’m not exactly comfortable sleeping next to something that just tried to cut open that pony in the back of our trailer.” I let off a quiet sigh, looking at her - and you think Aerith and Crash Dive are? Nevertheless, I agreed, and Night Strike followed Scouring and myself into our room as the others headed into the other. Locking the door behind us, I dropped my saddlebags to the floor, as Night Strike did the same with her duffel bag.

She unzipped her thick bomber jacket and tossed it onto the chair, before flopping into the bed and wriggling her way beneath the covers. “Tired?” I asked, giving a little chuckle. Night Strike simply grunted under the blankets as Scouring stepped out of his armor, throwing back the covers of the other bed and climbing in. I slipped off my own jacket and dropped it onto my saddlebags before crawling beneath the covers beside Night Strike. Curling up beside her, I gently wrapped my hooves around her, nuzzling into her mane lightly. She fidgeted for a moment, rolling herself around, myself watching her as she did so. Her drowsy eyes met mine before she let her head fall back onto the pillow, her wing lazily wrapping over my back as she nuzzled herself against my neck. Blinking a few times, a small smile came across my muzzle as I helped pull the blanket snug around us, closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep in the warm bed.

---

I awoke to the rumble of my Pip-Buck’s alarm, which was pinned beneath Night Strike as she snorted in her sleep. The Pip-Buck continued to shake my numb leg as I rolled Night Strike off of it, the screen displaying the little Stable-Tec colt sitting up in bed as it always did. Huh, I don’t remember turning on the alarm... Flicking the little nob, the Pip-Buck stopped vibrating and the awakening colt was replaced with a small text. ‘Reminder: Buzzy’s birthday today! Don’t forget to send her a new scarf!’ Well, that would explain why the alarm was turned on. My mind conjured up the image of Cross Stitch frantically trying to knit up a scarf for Buzzy upon realizing he didn’t have his Pip-Buck to remind him. Hopefully he’d actually written some of these notices down... hopefully they're doing alright...

I rolled out of bed, standing up a little shakily as my foreleg tried to regain feeling after being stuck underneath Night Strike all night. Stomping my leg a little to get the tingling to subside and the blood flowing again, I picked up my coat and slipped it over my head, Night Strike grumbling a little as she started to wake up. You know, for all the stuff we’ve been through, our clothes certainly seem to stay a lot cleaner and intact than they probably should. Night Strike lazily pushed down the covers and sat up in bed, her eyes still half closed. I picked up her jacket and threw it at her, the thick cloth wrapping around her face and knocking her back down onto the pillow. “Oh, come on, it’s not that early,” I said, stepping up to her.

“It’s not the afternoon yet, so it’s too early.” She mumbled beneath the jacket. I rolled my eyes and went to hitch up my saddlebags, the contents shaking. Scouring continued to sleep soundly in the bed opposite Night Strike’s, so I simply stepped out into the hallway to knock on Crash Dive’s room. Before I got the opportunity, though, the door slammed open and out dashed Crash Dive in her armor, a length of rebar from her cannon's clip clenched between her teeth. Pearl hovered in the doorway, her screen displaying a surprised face.

“Oh, come on! I promise this’ll fix up your wings good as new! You don’t need both of your kidneys!” She retracted her screen-stalk as Crash Dive jabbed at her, still glaring at the robot. Pearl’s eyestalks turned to notice me, her screen flickering to a more dejected look. “Static, you said I’d get to do more science out here! Everypony I met just refuses to let me do any experiments!”

I resisted every urge to smack myself in the face with my hoof as Crash Dive glanced over to me. “Pearl, don’t worry, you’ll get to do your science-y stuff once we drop you off at the Triage, just… stop trying to cut up ponies left and right, alright? Dissections aren’t going to give you every possible bit of information, right?” Pearl’s expression switched to her thinking, Crash Dive lowering her spear.

“I guess so, but you better be sure I’ll get to do more research once I’m with those medical ponies. This science itch is driving me mad!” The door to my room opened up and Scouring and Night Strike stepped out, looking a little confused as to what the noise had been. Pearl hovered out of the room, Aerith following her and handing Crash Dive her helmet, which she promptly slipped over her head.

“Well, now that I’m sure we’ve annoyed everypony sleeping within five rooms o' us, how about we head back t' the Triage an' see who that stallion was? And drop off the lass.” Scouring said, leading us down the hall and back towards the lobby. I avoided eye contact with Chauffeur who was sitting at the front desk as we passed, picking up my pace slightly before we all stepped out into the chilly early morning air, Aerith re-visualizing the half-track. My breath created a small cloud in the air as I climbed up into the mini-tank, the others hopping in as I flipped the switch. The engine spun for a moment before catching, rumbling to life as I spun us around to head once again towards the Triage.

The lobby of the hospital was empty, save for the familiar receptionist and a stallion asleep on one of the chairs, his head drooping down onto his chest. We trotted down the hallway towards the pilot stallion’s room, opening the door to find him sitting up in bed, a nurse standing over him and checking his temperature. “Oh, are you all here to see Contrail?” She asked, looking over to us. “I’m sorry, but we can only allow three visitors at a time, the room’s simply not big enough.”

We paused for a moment, all of us looking back to one another. “I can take Pearl over to Emerald now, if one of you wants to tag along,” I suggested. Scouring stepped forward to head down the hallway with me while the others stepped into the hospital room. Pearl floated behind us as we walked down the hallway towards Emerald’s workshop. The mare inside was busy refilling a few oxygen tanks, watching the gauges carefully before setting the full tanks aside. She turned around as we entered, her pupils shrinking as she noticed Pearl.

“Woah, back, back, backbackback!” She pushed us backwards out of the room before giving a small sigh of relief, looking around. “Jeez, who told you it was a good idea to let a Mr. Handy hover in here when I’m refilling the air tanks? That hover module could’ve set this whole place on fire!” She shook her head, pausing to let off a sigh after a moment, calming down. “Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude. It’s good to see you again. I hope you’re not here to drop off more batteries, we’ve been doing fine after you got the dam fixed up.”

“Actually, she’s why we’re here.” I nodded to Pearl, who floated forward and lifted a claw up to shake Emerald’s hoof. Upon getting a better look at Pearl, and finally noticing her central screen in place of an eyestalk, Emerald raised an eyebrow, looking back to me. “She’s an AI that was developed to run the experiments back up at the Shady Shores research center. We think she’d be able to help out the Triage into looking for new medical treatments, better agrarian practices; stuff like that. Here name’s Pearl, by the way.”

Pearl spoke up, lowering her claw. “And anti-zebra bioweapons, and other fun stuff too! Did you know I was the one that designed those anglerponies everybody’s been talking about? I still think they’re some of my best work, but these guys said I should probably stick to less murder-y science from now on. ” Emerald looked taken aback and simply stared at Pearl for a moment before she found her voice again.

“Uh… are you sure she’d fit in here? Maybe there’s some other place that could use her?” She watched as Pearl simply hovered in place, her screen flickering occasionally. “Then again, I suppose if she were here would could actually keep check on her. Alright, Pearl, we’d love to have you on board. But, uh, your friends are right, we would like it if you could keep the science on the beneficial kind.” Pearl gave a robotic cheer, her monitor rising up slightly as she did so.

“Hooray! Oh, we’re going to get to do so much science! I’ll show you how to build robotic hooves, and regrow limbs with radiation! Well, the good kind of limbs, not those three horns growing out of a pony’s knee like what happened last time. Ooh, maybe we can even try giving a zebra a horn! I always wondered what kind of magic they’d be able to do with one...” As Pearl was rattling off a list of experiments, I suddenly remembered the implant we had delivered here earlier.

“Hey, this may be a bit of short notice, but is Pin Cushion in today?” I asked the dumbstruck Emerald as Pearl continued, oblivious to us. After a moment, she nodded, and I waved my head towards the stairs. Scouring followed me, Emerald looking as if she regretted letting Pearl join up as the AI rambled on. We were soon stepping into the head doctor’s office, who was busy filling out paperwork.

He looked up as we entered, putting down his pen. “Ah, hello, I heard about you coming in last night. We’ve been able to figure out most of the workings of the implant, though replicating the chemical at a near constant rate seems like it’ll be an impossibility. We can get it to build up a few doses every 24 hours or so, though. If you’re ready, I’ve had the other doctors prep the surgical room, we can install it right now.” I grinned, my heart racing as I nodded. Pin Cushion pushed back his chair and stood up. “Alright, come with me, then.” I followed him out of the room, Scouring Charge standing in the middle of the office, staring blankly after us.

“Suppose I’ll just… uh... come with?" The unicorn gave a shrug under his power armor, before following after us, the doctor leading us to the operation room. Myself trotting through the doors and over to the table, the doctor had showed Scouring the way up to the observation deck, before coming over.

"Alright, if you'd like to lay up on the table I'll have Nurse Laundry come in to put you under. We'll begin the procedure shortly." Returning a nod, I undid my jacket's zipper and slipped myself out of it, setting it on a chair in the corner of the room and laying myself back on the cushioned table. Taking a small breath, it was only a few moments later that the door opened back up, a unicorn stallion coming over to myself with a couple of compressed gas tanks, a few beeping machines on wheels, and a plastic mask being pulled along in his magic.

He set the tanks aside for the moment as he pulled the paper facemask around his muzzle, adjusting his glasses and heading over to a sink at the side of the room. "Just hang tight, the doctors should be back shortly. I'm Nurse Laundry, I'll be helping you get through the procedure without much fuss. We wired ahead to Maple Creek and Vanhoover to get a better idea of your medical history, so we should be able to start as soon as they get in." Passing on a nod as the unicorn scrubbed his hooves clean, I rested my own hooves on my chest, looking up at the bright lights above. Oooh, hopefully all this excitement isn't a problem... then again, the anasthetics would probably help with calming down.

A few minutes later, the doors opened again, Dr. Pin Cushion trotting inside with a small group dressed similarly to him, one pushing over a small cart with surgical implements. The nurse passed on a smile and nodded once, bringing the plastic mask over and fitting it over my muzzle. "Alright, deep breaths now, you won't feel a thing. That's it..." Breathing the stale, cold anesthetics, everything slowly began to fade off, the bright lights of the room giving way to black. In some far-off room as things went fuzzy, the muffled sound of a door being smashed open met my ears, I think, a partially familiar voice making an enthusiastic claim I could just barely make out.

"Alright Static, let's get that implant implanted!" Pearl's voice... can I panic now?

"I'll admit now ah've had worse crashes, but never one caused by somethin' like what happened last night. That was really a megaspell?" The earth pony laying in the hospital bed before us idly scratched at the bandages wrapped around his head, pink mane poking out between them over his grey coat. To say he looked like a stallion version of Crash Dive would be pretty on the money... gwuh, and here I was thinking that Flash-Bang and Sugar Rush made our dads confused enough. There's not some stallion version of me out there, or a mare version of Static, is there?... brain, before you think those thoughts I know you want to think, how about we focus on the conversation. "Right nice of y'all to come by after savin' me, though. Heh, suppose I ought to apoligize fer not havin' my radio on, would've saved us both the trouble if I knew about it."

"To be honest, we weren't really expecting to have to factor in air craft when we were evacuating people from the blast zone." I let off a weak chuckle, rubbing at the back of my head, the nurse in the room making her way past Aerith and out the door. "Kind of are wondering why you were flying in that thing anyways, and, ah, what it is in the first place. Was a little on fire when it landed, but Aerith got that taken care of and it seemed like it was still in one piece, barring the propellers being bent up. Never seen anything quite like it before."

Contrail seemed to let off a sigh, relaxing back into the bed and wearing a smile. "Well, good t' hear that plane's as strong as those ol' documents said it were. Pre-war docs said it's a Trought F/A-5U Flyin' Pancake, they were testin' or trainin' with these, or somethin' up at the Vanhoover Air Base before the bombs fell. I kinda... wasn't supposed to be flyin' it, but I had t' get outta there fast and find help somehow. Things're gettin' weird up back home."

"Home... so, you lived up at the Vanhoover Air Base?" Contrail responded with a nod, adjusting the blanket over his waist. I glanced over towards Crash Dive for a moment - isn't the Vanhoover Air Base one of the places she said we'd have some luck finding a portable generator to get the Valkyrie finally fixed? If it's in trouble... well, fuck me with a flak gun. "Ahm, when you say they're getting weird, what do you mean by that? Like, robo-dragons attacking, jet air craft carrying thermobaric bombs and tesla cannons weird?"

The stallion wore a look of confusion, glancing to the others for a moment. "Er... nah, nothin' like that. It's the new leader causin' problems, like he's got somethin' off in his head, 'r some vendetta against mares, or somethin'." Okay, that was at least a little more comforting, knowing that it wasn't at immediate risk of getting entirely razed to the ground. Still, does kind of sound like the place could use a change in management sooner than later, if it's causing issues... "He's lookin' to rule for life, too. Least, that's what I gathered when he put on the new way leaders 're gonna be chosen from now on - air races."

"Going to take it this moron must be a pegasus, if that's the case. Might just have to make sure his rule is a short one, then." Crash Dive spoke up, looking over to myself. Well, he might not be in the camp that believe megaspells are fake, but being a mare-hating asshole certainly doesn't help his case at all. Wouldn't mind giving Thumper or War Crime something to bite into, been a while since we've seen sonething worthwhile to turn into a fine red mist... then again, maybe the fact that Contrail's shaking his head no is reason to believe this guy won't be getting a 40mm lead suppository anytime soon.

"Nope, he's a unicorn, an' killin' him will just get y'all killed in return. We settle differences at the VAB with racin' home-built flyin' machines... only problem is, the guy with the fastest one is that unicorn, and nopony can build one that can beat his 'Dragon Mare'." The earth pony let off a small sigh, letting his head fall to look down at the covers. "Lotta ponies just got fed up an' tried to leave, ah think some made it to Saddlebrook, but most... y'all probably can guess how good anti-air cannons are against unarmored targets."

Funny how thoughts like that just never really occur to you until you have a chance to think about them. I stood silent in the hospital room for a long moment, mouth agape, as my brain ran over what a proxy-fused flak shell might do to a pony... okay, yeah, that's definitely one thing I don't want to see happen for myself. Or to myself. Or to anyone who isn't trying to kill us. Wuh. Aerith took a small step forwards, bringing up a screen. 'So if they have that kind of hardware to use, how are we supposed to get close enough to the VAB to help change the management, then?' Contrail blunk a few times in response, Aerith glancing to myself and Crash Dive. 'What? You came looking for help, and that's kind of our job description. We're the Vanhoover Five... minus two currently.'

The earth pony paused and thought for a moment, resting a hoof against his chin. "Well, there are two ponies who I know that could help. Names are Sharpwing and Serene Steel, if you can get close enough to the Air Base to see it, shoot a flare off from the flare gun in the Pancake, they'll know to come and help, just let 'em know I'm alright." Answering him with a nod, I wore a small smile, glancing towards the doorway for just a moment as a small group of doctors passed by it. Contrail paused for another moment, before speaking up again. "A-ah, and, uh, if it ain't too much to ask, um, mind seein' if you could get the F/A-5U unburied, at the very least? Kinda want t' see if it's saveable at all, when ah'm better."

"We can definitely see to that. Aerith here already has some experience pulling crashed aircraft out of the mud, heh." Letting off a light chuckle, Aerith responded with a silent one of her own and a light eyeroll. Hopefully that Pancake plane is a little lighter than the Valkyrie was, and if not, well, we do have that Sparkle-Cola RAD recipe to collect, after all~... sheesh, aircraft really do have a tendency to crash when we're around, don't they? First the Valkyrie... well, actual first was that vertibuck, but that was obviously Static's fault... then the Harrier, then the Seaddler, now that thing. Huh, might be worthwhile to mention, come to think of it...

"Ahm, Contrail, did just remember something. When you get to feeling better, head over to the hotel in town and ask for Marigold Skies, she might actually be able to help you out when it comes to fixing up the, uh, Pancake. She's a pre-war ghoul with an aircraft kind of like yours, called the Seaddler." The earth pony's eyes widened slightly in curiosity, I think, a hint of a smile forming on his muzzle. "She mentioned that the sister aircraft, the Seafalke and Seamowe were probably up at the VAB, is that true? We need to get one of the engines off of them to replace the one that kind of, um, exploded, on the Seaddler's wing."

"Ah, yeah, think I remember seein' an aircraft or two with those names in one o' the main hangars, near where I got the Pancake from. Weird flyin' boat, ah've never seen a flying machine using propellers on both sides front and back before 'r since. Will be sure t' go an' see her when the doctors say I can leave, nice to know there're more ponies out there with the flyin' bug." The earth pony wore a wide grin, shuffling on his hospital bed, myself returning it. Good, gonna be at least something else we can get done while we're there... hopefully or litle mini-tank can take it. Well, I mean, Marigold did say that there were other mini-tanks like ours at the Air Base, too, so maybe we could grab another one to help bring it back. Passing on a curt nod, a door down the hallway banged loudly as it was stopped by the wall, a Mr. Handy chassis... a very familiar Mr. Handy chassis... suddenly darting down the hallway. "The heck was that!?"

A moment later, Emerald caught herself on the doorway to the room, panting heavily and looking towards us, eyes wide open. "That... that robot's somethin' else. She just started giggling and rushing around out of nowhere, something about Static and an implant, I think... you know what she was on about?" Static and an implant... oh, he's not getting that done now, is he? And if Pearl's going there... I doubt she's just going to watch. Oh, boy.

A worried glance towards Aerith and Crash Dive later, and a quick apology to Contrail, we were rushing out down the hallway, following Emerald as she led us to the surgery ward. Arriving at a set of double doors, the green earth pony skidded herself to a halt, looking in through the fogged-glass windows. Not instilling me with a whole lot of confidence there, yanno... "Shit, it looks like they've already started. Erm, ah, there's an observation room, right up this way. I really hope that robot isn't doing anything we'll regret..." You can say that again...

Heading up the metal stairwell led us into a small seating area, Scouring Charge looking over to us with his teeth gnawing at his lip. "Dunno what's goin' on down there, kind of looks like the doctors are too stunned to do anythin' about Pearl. She prob'ly knows what she's doin', though, aye? The implant came from the same place as 'er, didn't it?" That... was a fair enough point, but I have to admit my brain immediately starting to rush to the worst-case scnearios is not helping one bit. Brain, quit it!

Taking a second to try and calm myself down, I peered out through the wide glass windows down into the operation area, just barely able to see the silver mane and blue muzzle of Static poking up off of the table, eyes closed and some sort of plastic mask on him. Okay... I think I at least recognize one of those ponies in there, so I suppose it's somepony to blame if... I'm not going to finish that thought. Everything is going to be just fine, and Pearl will not turn Static into some freaky monstrosity through doing this. What was it that that implant did, anyways? Slowed time, made him faster or something? Yeah, okay, just breathe, Strikey.

Finding one of the old theatre chairs and setting myself down in it, I leaned back, trying to ignore the sight of a dissection-happy robot cutting into the earth pony on the table. Crash Dive set herself in the chair beside mine, the old cushion creaking under the weight of her armored flanks. Aerith found her own spot over by Scouring, while Emerald elected to stand and watch. Please come out of this alright... A power armored hoof rested itself on my shoulder, myself glancing over to the power armored pegasus it was connected to. "I'm sure that he'll be fine, Night Strike, implant or not. You know how tough he is."

Drawing in a breath, I held it for a moment before releasing it in a sigh, giving Crash Dive a nod. "Yeah... yeah, I know. It's just a little nerve-wracking... not exactly the same as heaking from a bullet wound, or after getting sent on an unplanned flying lesson, heh." Letting loose a weak laugh, a smile flashed across the power armored pegasus' muzzle, a few chuckles coming from herself. You're just over-reacting Strikey, they have plenty of medical knowledge here and plenty of stuff to make sure everything goes alright.

Emerald turned away from the window to face back towards us, an unsure expression on her muzzle. "I think this procedure might take a while, from the looks of things they have to install the implant on his neck. Dunno how long it'll take, even with the robot, but... it's going to be delicate work. You might be better off heading back into town for a while, check back in in a few hours." A few hours? But it's just installing a little chip or something, isn't it? Crash Dive gave a small nod beside me, Emerald glancing towards the window again. "I'll stick around and see how it goes, come get you when things are looking like they'll be wrapped up. Can probably guess you guys aren't that squeamish, but it might be a bit hard to watch..."

"Y-yeah, might be better if we just head back to the hotel for a while. I... I think I could use some rest." Trying to avoid looking down and seeing Static cut open, I pulled myself back onto my hooves, Crash Dive coming along with me. Looking back towards Aerith and Scouring, the unicorn gave a quick glance down through the window, his power armor whirring as it moved along. The alicorn watched down through it for a while longer, before flashing up a screen.

'You guys can head back to the hotel, I'll stick around and wait with Emerald. Should be able to get to you a lot faster when he's done.' Wearing a small smile, Aerith sat herself down on one of the observation room's seats, Scouring and myself returning a nod as Crash Dive moved for the door. Okay, yeah, that's a good plan, and the Hotel isn't that far away from the Hospital, anyways. Let's just... try and relax. The power armored pegasus held the door open for both of us as we headed out of the observation room and back into the hallway, heading out of the hospital and back into Hopeville.

---

"You're tuned into Radio KAOS, and it's looking to be another one of those frigid winter days out there across the wasteland. Well, frigid for most, anyways - people living anywhere near what was formerly the Battered-Sea Power Station might find the weather significantly hotter than they might've expected, and I'm not only talking about the temperature. For those of you who happened to be sleeping or had your radios in the shop last night, the Vanhoover Five were at it again, doing what they do best; blowing stuff up. Only, this one was a particularly larger explosion than they've done in the past, on the order of five hundred tons of TNT. Needless to say, there isn't much of a Battered-Sea Power Station left over there on the shore.

"As expected, the fallout from the blast seems to be blowing inland, as ponies in Maple Station are reporting geiger counters are clicking a little faster than usual. Considering the snowfall is probably going to bring a fair bit of that stuff down to the ground, I'm kind of tempted to suggest opening a few windows to get soem of that pleasant irradiated air on what's left of your skin - then again, heh, no reason to give yourself frostbite. Hopefully you find some way to make the most of this weather while it lasts, Maple Station.

"As it turns out though, that blast last night caused a bit of a commotion, as it seems that somepony in an air craft hadn't gotten the memo that a megaspell of that size was about to go off, and was promptly blown out of the sky. The pilot was injured in the crash, but the Vanhoover Five were quick in removing him from the wreck and bringing him to Hopeville. No word on his condition as of this moment, but he's certainly in good hooves. Hopefully next time the Vanhoover Five have to blow something up with a big bomb, everypony takes mind to steer well clear of the explosion, and find somewhere safe. Or, well, at least don't think it's a good idea to fly over it, anyways.

"Moving on to the weather, we're expecting heavy snowfall all across the wasteland over the next few hours, so for anypony not of a ghoulish disposition or hopped up on enough chems to put them out of their mind, finding someplace indoors with a working heater is encouraged. It should clear up by later tonight, though clouds will remain through to the morning, thankfully none of them being mushroom-shaped, heh.

"You're listening to Radio KAOS, KAOS in Vanhoover, and this goes out to anypony who's going to be separated from their loved ones by this storm - Wish You Were Here. Enjoy."

---

Thick white flakes fell outside the hotel room window, myself letting off a sigh and watching the glass fog up from my breath. Stupid weather, I've got enough on my mind right now that I don't need to deal with being homesick, too. Being worried about Static is bad enough... the whirring of power armor behind me caught my attention, Crash Dive trotting over to rest on the small window seat with me. "Still thinking about him?"

"D'you have to ask? Of course I am. It's just... I know these feelings aren't new, but I still don't know what I'd do if anything happened to him, if I was the only one who went back home for whatever reason. I just... I just don't know." Dropping my chin against the sleeve of my jacket, my eyes fell to the bits of frost at the window's frame, watching quetly as my breaths caused the cold glass to fog up every so often. Brain, I know we have a bit of a love/hate relationship here, but you really don't need to make me think these thoughts, you know... oh, you mean it's my heart doing this? Well... hmh... "We're in this together, been that way from the start. I want to finish this together, too."

"Did you let him know that's how you feel yet, like I said you should?" Crash Dive adjusted herself slightly on the cushions, her power armor whirring as she did, head tilting lightly to one side. I returned a weak expression, a small, guilty smile flickering on my muzzle, eyes looking up to meet those of the mare sitting beside me. She let off a light sigh, giving her head a shake and wearing a smile. "Can't even follow suggestions, don't know how I ever thought you were part of the Enclave. You should do it soon as he wakes up and we see him, before we leave tomorrow. Don't want to regret things you didn't get the chance to say."

I let off a quiet sigh, the window fogging up from it, clouding the sight of the large red cross over on the Hospital's front. Can't have regrets, not in case something happens... "I... I know. I will. Being so far from home, for so long, it's... it's just getting to me, I think. Back home, if we got into trouble or whatever, my dad could just show up in the TOG and blast it away, or Minty could turn up with Jolts and take whatever it was out, and if anything really bad happened we'd just go to EQUAD to get fixed up. Down here... Vanhoover's a lot bigger than our old patch of wasteland."

Crash Dive's armor whirred as she rested her hoof over my back again, looking out through the window at the snowstorm. "Should look towards the bright side of things, hasn't been all bad since you've been down here, has it? Be thankful not a whole lot of people have wanted to kill you." The power armored pegasus let off a light chuckle, a smile coming to my muzzle. Well, I'll give her that, that is one thing to be glad about. "Not that they could. 'sides, you did help a washed-up poor excuse for a pegasus learn there's still some friends out there in the world. Well, ones above the waves, anyways."

Sitting myself back up, I passed on a light nod, rubbing at my eyes for a moment. "Heh, I suppose so... you know, I do want to know, why'd you seem to trust Depth Charge so fast? You knew him, or something?" Suppose it was Crash Dive's turn to watch the snow falling outside the window, a small smile upon her muzzle. After a moment, she looked over to myself, giving a faint nod and light chuckle.

"Yeah, could say that. Didn't know I knew him, though." Moving both of her hooves onto the windowsil, the pink-maned pegasus let her breaths fog up the glass, watching the snowy street below. "Back before you showed up, I did spend a lot of time walking around underwater, just trying to hang on to a part of myself. Sometimes I'd just go down there and smash up seaweed or break rocks open with the rebar cannon, let my feelings out. It kinda worked, for a while." She released a quiet sigh, letting her head lower, mane brushing against the glass. "One day a year or two ago, I was out breaking up more rocks, can't remember what it was I was mad or frustrated about, really. Couldn't find any more rocks to break apart, so I wound up breaking into tears, and... well, somepony asked me what was wrong."

Um... yeah, I think I might've missed something there. I don't think Depth Charge could hear us when we were in the diving suits, so how would've he heard Crash Dive? She seemed to notice my confusion, a small smirk coming to her muzzle. "You know my helmet has a speaker, right? Well, it must've turned on or something that day. Kinda want to know what I looked like when I heard his voice, gone from crying to panic fast as the water allowed me to. I really did think I'd just gone crazy at that point..."

"You couldn't see him, or something? Wouldn't he have to've been pretty close to hear you?" Scratching at my head in confusion, I adjusted myself on the seat, Crash Dive giving a small roll of her eyes. Hey, it's a legitimate question! Maybe.

"Not quite. Water conducts sound a lot faster and farther than air does, and I guess seaponies are pretty great at hearing. That or I had the volume too high on my speaker that night. Didn't think about it at the time, but the point is, I had something to talk with then. Never asked a name, could be that I just assumed it was all in my mind and wouldn't be worth it, but... it helped, for a while. Least until I couldn't hear him anymore." The power armored pegasus fell silent for a moment, before giving a tap on the windowsil and looking back over towards myself. "But, that's in the past. We kind of knew each other before all this crazy stuff happened, and I've got you to thank for being able to actually meet that voice in my head for once."

Passing on a silent smile, I leaned up against the wall, looking down from the window. Heh, is funny to think, we've been down here for, what, a month or two, and think of all the ponies we've helped out in that time... and the ones we kinda cleaned out the treasuries of. We stick around this place for much longer, with Static, we're gonna bring down the economy sooner or later...

A black and dark blue form appeared at the Hospital's doorway after a moment, both myself and Crash Dive peering out through the storm to watch as Aerith took flight. The power armored pegasus moved herself back to her hooves, trotting over to fit on her helmet, myself adjusting my jacket and watching as the alicorn landed at the hotel's entrance. Heading out into the hallway, Crash Dive knocked on Scouring's room's door, myself already heading down the stairs. Okay, it has been a few hours, so if Aerith is turning up now then it must've been a success... unless it wasn't. But of course it was!... unless it wasn't. Brain, gonna say this once, shut up.

The snow-dusted fedora and suit caught my attention as I bumped into Aerith coming up the stairway, the alicorn blinking a few times before putting up a screen. 'The operation went well, Static should be waking up now. Was just coming to get you so you could-' Wearing a wide smile, I darted past Aerith and out into the snowy town, wings carrying me along on the chill air. Oh, I forgot how it felt to fly in a storm like this...

Slowing myself as I neared the hospital, the thick snowflakes landed across my back and froze in my mane, prompting me to give my head a shake as I stepped through into the waiting room. The receptionist looked up for a moment, eyes wide in surprise, before shuffling back and looking about for a moment. "Ah, you're here to see... Static, right? Down the hallway, fourth door on your left, third room." Answering her with a grinning nod, my hooves clacked against the linoleum as I found my way through the building, eventually arriving at the room.

Glancing through the window afforded me the sight of the blue earth pony resting in one of the beds, a nurse looking over one of the machines nearby him. The door opened with a small creak, Static glancing over my way with a smile, then a small look of confusion. What, I can't show up alone to see you? The nurse paused for a moment, before glancing between the two of us, a smile crossing muzzle as he made for the door, drawing Static's attention for a second. "Oh, Night Strike, ah... where are the rest?"

"Ahm, they'll be here in a little bit, I just wanted to come see how you were soon as I could. Everything's went alright, Pearl didn't try giving you an extra limb or anything, did she?" Letting off a light chuckle, Static joined me for a moment, reaching a foreleg up to push back his mane. He leaned forwards, affording me a closer look at the side of his neck behind his head, where a fairly faint red line and small rectangular-ish bump could be seen.

"Yup, it went in just fine, but the doctors said that I need to stick around overnight just to make sure everything's actually going to be fine. I think I heard Pearl say something about going over the tapes later... I really hope she doesn't mean she recorded it." Brushing his mane back into place, and wincing a little as his hoof touched his neck, Static let off a light sigh. After a moment, a small chuckle escaped him, his eyes meeting my own. "Eheh, something wrong? What's with that look, Strikey?"

I blunk a few times, confused, before leaning myself back from the bed's railing. Dah, was I staring? What's wrong with me today... I let off a weak chuckle, still wearing that smile. "Ahm, ah, n-no, nothing's wrong, it's just... I'm just glad to see you're doing alright, Static. You, the surgery, just had me worried again..." He shuffled slightly in the bed, resting his hooves on his stomach, looking towards me. Okay, just let him know how you feel, Strikey... "I know I might do stupid things sometimes, and get us into trouble, but... look, I really do care about you, a lot. We've been going around with each other since we were foals, and we've done a whole lot together, and... goddesses, I'm bad at this, aren't I?" Loosing a small chuckle, Static seemed to join me halfway through, that faint look of confusion still on his face. I ended it with a sigh, trotting up close to the side of his bed. "What I want to say is... well, this."

Reaching my hooves forward, I rested them on the earth pony's shoulders, catching him in a moment of surprise before leaning him forwards and pressing my lips to his. I held my eyes closed, feeling as one of his hooves moved up, resting on my own back, bringing us the slightest bit closer as we held the kiss. The seconds seemed to tick by slower, my wings falling limp before spreading out wide, eyes slowly opening to look into those beautiful golden ones of his, both of us holding it for a while longer. Yeah... that was exactly what I wanted to say.

Slowly parting the kiss, we were both wearing wide smiles, myself releasing a sigh as I gently leaned forwards and gave him a slight nuzzle, letting off a light giggle afterwards. He returned the small laugh, both of us still holding onto the other for a moment longer, before I leaned back and rested myself back onto my hooves. The earth pony gave a gentle nod, the silence between us being broken by the sound of the door opening, both of us looking towards it. Static released a weak chuckle, myself grinning through a blush, the power armored pegasus standing beside the alicorn and steel ranger slipping her helmet off.

"Hope we didn't interrupt anything."

“Ah, heh, no, no don’t worry. We were just, uh…” I stammered, trying to hide the bright blush on my face. Aerith chuckled, Crash Dive shaking her head a little, a faint smile on her muzzle. She stepped into the room, the others following her in and squeezing themselves around the bed. I pushed myself up in my bed a bit more, the heart rate monitor hooked up to my leg beeping away softly. “So, uh, yeah, surgery went fine. They recommended not trying out the actual implant while I’m still recovering, of course. Not that I think lying in bed in slow motion would be any more interesting than normal.”

“It’s good to see you’re doing well, at least. Hopefully that computer program didn’t forget what the implant was actually for, and accidentally give you some kind of automatic kill switch.” Crash Dive said as Aerith sat down in the chair beside the bed, brushing some snow from her hat. Gee, thanks for the positive outlook, Crash Dive... Night Strike wandered over to the seat beside Aerith, resting her hooves om the bed railing. “Anyway, that stallion we rescued, Contrail, he says he’s from the old Vanhoover Air Base east of here. Flew out because of something to do with a corrupt or sexist leader, or somethin'. We figure it’ll be as good a place as any to try looking for the generator you need, after all, they’d need something to power any sort of repair talismans in the machines they’ve got there.”

I looked quizzically over to Crash Dive, not entirely sure about the plan. “This ‘corrupt’ leader’s policies don’t involve shooting on sight, do they? Forgive me for wanting to stay alive, but I think trying to break into an airbase with functioning planes like that is probably not the best of ideas.” Night Strike rolled her eyes.

“If you so desperately want to stay alive, why did you just agree to some experimental surgery performed by a vivisection-happy robot?” She asked smugly. I grimaced, shooting her a look - please don't remind me of that, that wasn't pleasant for me either. “Nah, just something about turning elections into stallion-only plane races. I think Contrail might be expecting us to challenge him to a race or something, if we beat him we can basically boot him out without a big fight breaking out between the guys there. Shouldn’t be too hard.” Yes, because your previous track record of flying things about turned out so well, didn’t it? As if reading my thoughts, Night Strike added, “Hey, we wouldn’t have crashed the first time if you hadn’t taken the controls back when I was throwing your incestuous half-sister out of the Vertibuck! And I would’ve been able to fly the Valkyrie just fine if pre-war ponies knew how to design readable control panels!”

Before I could argue, the door to my room opened up again, and in floated Pearl, her display grinning widely as her tools glinted a little in the light after their recent washing. “Alrighty, Static, we’ve got the confidentiality forms all filled out so Emerald said I can show you the tapes now! Ooh, and your friends are here too! I bet they’ll like getting a better view, those observation seats really don’t let you see the good stuff!” Night Strike's eyes widened at the comment, prompting her to quickly stand up, making her way towards the door.

“U-uh, we should probably give you some time to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning, Static!” She zipped out of the door, Crash Dive and Scouring following her at about the same speed. Scouring looked back toward Aerith, but the alicorn was simply waiting excitedly for the footage, a grin on her muzzle. Eech, hopefully Aerith doesn’t decide to help out Pearl with some of her weirder experiments some day...

Pearl shrugged about as well as a Mr. Handy could, before turning back to Aerith and myself, her screen flickering for a moment before footage of myself lying face down on the table began to roll. The lower half of my body covered in a gown met the screen as Pearl’s tools came into view, moving up to my neck and starting to make the first incision. Oh, Celestia, I don’t think I’m going to be able to handle this. I looked away, clutching my stomach a little. “Aw, come on, Static! You gotta see how the wires look twisted around your cervical vertebrae, it’s real snazzy!” Nope, yep, definitely going to need a bucket to puke into.

---

One lost lunch and a night of rest later, I was stepping out of the hospital, burying my muzzle in the collar of my jacket in the cool morning air before starting to make my way towards the motel. Sheesh, you’d think the Triage would’ve at least been nice enough to wait until the others had come get me before kicking me out of the hospital... I absentmindedly scratched the back of my neck, feeling where the stitches had healed over as I trotted through the town. I turned down a street, my mane fluttering in the wind as I leaned forward, fighting against it. The rumble of the mini-tank's engine met my ears, prompting me to look around for it. Eventually I spotted Night Strike driving the tank around the curved road, a pony on the opposite side of the street jumping out of the way as she ran over the curb.

She muttered to herself as Scouring facehoofed, the trailer tilting as it bumped over the curb and Night Strike pulled up beside me, parking the tank. “Hey, good to see you’re already out! And that Pearl didn’t try to upgrade that implant last minute.” She paused, expecting me to hop into the trailer, but I simply raised an eyebrow, looking down at a dent in the metal that had most certainly not been there the day before. Night Strike blushed and let off a weak chuckle, climbing onto the back of the tank. “Um, eheh, yeah, maybe you should handle the ground vehicles... It was a stupid place to put a railing!” Climbing up into the driver’s seat with a shake of my head, I quickly turned us around, heading back towards the edge of town.

“So, we're going to try and get that plane fixed up now, right?” I asked over the sound of the engine - well, at least she didn't wreck that somehow. Night Strike nodded, and I sped up, following the road out of town and towards the coast. I instinctively reached up for my goggles as the cool wind blew into my eyes, though my hooves met nothing but air - oh, right, I left my saddlebags at the motel. I turned around, motioning to Crash Dive for my saddlebags. She obliged, tossing them forwards, and I was able to slip the makeshift eyewear over my head, the ground lighting up as trails of latent magical energy flowed along it.

The road eventually met up alongside a river flowing out of the Vanhoover reservoir, branching off into a few errant pools of stagnant water and thin ice as we travelled closer to the coast. A couple bloatsprites hovered lazily above the frosty muck, Aerith looking down the sights of her submachine gun for a moment. Her gun let off a few short retorts and sent out a spray of bullets towards them, the sprites falling dead into the water, only to be pulled under the surface by something else a moment later. I turned to follow the curve of the road, the tip of the lighthouse appearing over the far hills, its spinning light visible even in the day - You know, we probably should at least see if whatever’s powering that thing could be brought up and over to the Valkyrie. Then again, I doubt Crash Dive would like us cutting the power to her house to fix up our plane.

The road eventually straightened out as we passed over a bridge outside of Maple Creek, heading north towards the sub pen. “So, do any of you actually have any idea how we’re going to get the plane back to the lighthouse? I don’t really think dragging it across the ground is going to be good for it, assuming this thing even has enough horsepower to pull the plane at all.” Night Strike and Scouring simply looked at each other before Night Strike glanced back towards me, shrugging.

“I think pulling it is about the best we can do, unless you trust me to flying it back to Hopeville. I mean, Aerith and Scouring can probably at least lift it out so we can drop the landing gear, didn't look like Contrail was able to get it down before landing.” I tilted my head in either direction, shrugging as well. We were soon arriving at the sub pen, one of the plane's mountings for the heavily bent propellers scorched black from the flames. I pulled the half-track up in front of the wreck, all of us hopping out and walking up to the plane. I carefully dug away at some of the dirt it had kicked up, keeping an eye out for broken bits of glass and metal in the soil. “Well, can you guys get it?” Night Strike asked, turning to Aerith and Scouring.

Aerith nodded, a grin crossing her muzzle as her horn flared up along with Scouring’s, both of them focusing their magic on the plane. Slowly, the aircraft began to rise up out of the ground, dirt and torn up grass sliding off of its underbelly. Night Strike hovered herself up to the cockpit, looking around inside it for a moment before reaching in and hitting something, two panels dropping from the edges of the disc and two sets of wheels folding out from them. The gear hydraulics beneath the craft bent a little as Scouring and Aerith carefully lowered the plane onto them, but remained intact as the weight settled on them. To mine and, well, probably everyone's surprise, aside from the scorch marks where the fire was and a few dents here and there, the plane was in pretty good condition. It’s certainly in a better state than the Valkyrie... “Alright, let’s get this hooked up.” Crash Dive said, pulling a length of chain out of the trailer and dragging it over to one of the front wheel struts of the plane.

The power armored pegasus lashed the chain around both of the struts, Scouring connecting the other end to the trailer before we all piled back into the mini-tank. “Alright, let’s see if we can get this thing moving.” Putting the gear lever to low, I carefully twisted on the accelerator, the engine roaring for a moment before the tracks caught and the mini-tank began to move slowly forward, dragging the plane behind it. The strange aircraft bounced up onto the road heading back towards the lighthouse as I began to slowly speed up, thankful the land was mostly flat between the two buildings. “So, is Contrail planning on flying this thing back to Hopeville? Or is Crash Dive’s front yard turning into a plane repair shop?”

“I think we're leaving it with the Valkyrie for now, would probably be safest if we did. When Contrail's feeling better, we'll bring him over to see what needs fixing... besides the obvious. And, hey, don’t complain, unless you’d rather spend another day towing this thing over to Hopeville yourself.” Night Strike let off a small chuckle as I gave a nod, motoring along the coast. The sound of waves crashing against the cliffs echoed up as we drew closer, the engine quieting down slightly as we reached a small decline towards the lighthouse. I fiddled with my Pip-Buck, trying to turn on the radio to drown out the revving of the mini-tank's engine. A song crackled through the speakers, the piano riff flowing through the air as I tapped my hoof to it.

“Why do you build me up,
Buttercup, baby, just to let me down?
And mess me around
And then worst of all
You never call, baby, when you say you will.
But I love you still
I need you, more than anyone, darlin’
You know that I have from the start
So build me up, Buttercup,
Don’t break my heart!”

---

We eventually pulled up beside the Valkyrie, the thin land bridge to the lighthouse flooded with water from the tide. I flipped the engine off, the headlight of the mini-tank dimming down as I hopped out to help undo the chains on the plane's landing gear. Crash Dive tossed the chains back up into the trailer, Night Strike hopping herself off the back of the half-track, walking up to the edge of the cliff. “I’m going to grab a few more bottles of Sparkle Cola, hang on.”

She spread her wings, fluttering across the submerged rock to the small island and door of the lighthouse, stepping inside. I rested myself aganst the side of the trailer, looking over to where the stone building stood. “You know, it just occurred to me that a lighthouse that's pretty inaccessible to anypony but a Pegasus seems like a bad design flaw, at least for pre-war, non-Enclave ponies. Did you actually try landscaping that out like this?” I asked, looking back to Crash Dive. The power armored pegasus leaned onto the side of the trailer, giving a small smile.

“Funnily enough, apparently this lighthouse had a bit of pre-war significance concerning that. There actually used to be a plaque on the side of it, took it down ages ago, but according to that thing, the ponies hired to build this lighthouse were doing it as a sort of memorial for the current mayor of Vanhoover. That mayor was notoriously bad at paying back the ponies the city had under contract, and he was an earth pony. You can probably guess how the unveiling ceremony went when the mayor had to swim a couple hundred yards to cut a ribbon.” Huh, well, I guess that would explain it.

Night Strike stepped back outside with a few bottles of Sparkle Cola in her hooves, flying back across the water and landing back on top of the mini-tank. She popped open a bottle of the soda, gulping it down as I climbed back into the driver’s seat. I pulled the half-track around, putting it back into a normal gear and revving the engine, speeding off towards Maple Creek. The sun was beginning its long descent through the sky, the wind whipping against my face as I followed the old dirt path. Water splashed up against the side of the tank and the trailer as I plowed through a shallow portion of the stream between us and Maple Creek, the treads kicking a few rocks downstream before we emerged on the opposite bank.

“Ah, crap, we forgot to go back and gloat about megaspells to that pony!” Night Strike suddenly exclaimed, smacking herself in the head. I shook my head in response - nope, definitely not going back now, we’ll do it some other time. Night Strike flopped forward on the back of the half-track, holding onto Boomer for stability. “But I need that recipe! Free Sparkle Cola RAD! Come on, Static, you can turn as many as you want into grenades!” I looked over my shoulder, staring at Night Strike in some confusion. “Well, I mean, dad always said Minty was wanting to turn his soda into bombs, maybe it’s a heritable trait, or something. A very useless heritable trait.”

I looked forward, shaking my head again. “We’ll swing back around after we’ve dealt with the ponies up at the airbase. I doubt he’ll be going anywhere anyway, his shack was pretty close to the blast zone, at least close enough for Pearl to be concerned about it. He’ll be a ghoul, if he was lucky.” Night Strike grunted, sitting back up and popping open another bottle of soda. The edge of Maple Creek appeared soon over the horizon, a few ponies still milling about in the maple trees just outside of town as we approached, the sweet smell of fresh maple sugar on the air. I slowed as we began to enter the town itself, looking down at my Pip-Buck. “Well, we’ve got a little time to kill before it’d be worth calling it a night. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to check up on Sulfur for some more ammo.” As if on cue, my stomach growled, causing me to blush a little. “…and perhaps find something to eat, maybe?”

The other nodded in agreement as we motored into town, and I made my way through the streets towards Sulfur’s weapon shop. As we passed by the docks, though, a familiar voice shouted us down. I stopped at the edge of the road, turning to see Ripple running towards us, his saddlebags swinging hard against his flanks. “Ah, hey, been hoping you five’d show back up here sometime soon.” He reached into his saddlebags, producing the large gold bar we’d given him with a heavy grunt, resting on the side of the mini-tank. “This thing’s no bloody use to me, I can’t buy a damn thing with it! Eh, can we do a trade back 'r somethin', give me some caps I can actually use?” I could barely keep a straight face, as the calculations ran through my head.

“Of course, of course! That was a rather small lack of foresight on our part, wasn’t it?” Letting off a small chuckle and putting the mini-tank into park, I climbed over into the trailer, reaching down into one of the crates to dig around for a bag of caps. “Now, let’s see, if I remember correct the current asking price of gold is… 20 caps an ounce, 500 ounces gives you 10,000 caps. Sound good?” Ripple’s eyes went wide, and he handed over the bar, nodding and loosing a sigh of relief.

I tossed him the bag of caps before hopping back to the driver’s seat, putting the half-track back into gear and speeding off down the road to the weapon shop. “Huh, I’m honestly surprised you didn’t try and scam him, Static. Don’t tell me you suddenly don’t want a gold plated Valkyrie or swimming pool full of caps.” She chuckled lightly, leaning abck against Boomer. I smirked, turning a corner and stopping out in front of Sulfur’s Stockpile.

“Pfft, please, Night Strike, I’d be a far worse price negotiator if it was obvious when I’m ripping people off. Gold like that is worth at least 25, 30 caps an ounce, he simply should have been more informed of the asking price when bartering.” Night Strike’s smile faded and she shook her head, the bell above the store door ringing as we stepped inside.

“You can be a really stingy asshole sometimes, you know?” I simply grinned, trotting over to one of the display tables to examine the wares. That’s what I do best, Strikey. I picked up a rather cumbersome looking revolver, various wires and lights secured in the metal side of the weapon, a few familiar-looking parts for handling plasma catching my eyes. Huh, I thought Sulfur didn’t deal in energy guns. The unicorn mare herself stepped out of a back room, the smell of burnt powder wafting through the air as she did, a grin falling on her face.

“Hey guys, it’s been a while since you’ve stopped in! I’ve got some new stuff in stock, you might like this,” Waving myself and Night Strike over, she lifted up an old hunting rifle, the stock wrapped up with a very old flag. “Supposedly this one's some relic of the great pre-equestrian war between unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, but I kinda have my doubts. Definitely is older than anything else I've seen before, though, and it’s got the old unicorn nation’s symbol engraved in it, look!” She levitated over the gun, dropping it in my hooves. The gun suddenly began to glow and shake, before it lifted itself up into the air, and promptly smacked me over the head with the butt. Gah, what the hell!? I stumbled backwards, Sulfur’s horn flaring up as she pulled the gun back to herself witha look of surprise, the glow subsiding. “Oh, dear, I guess it still has some anti-earth pony enchantments on it. Eh, maybe I’ll just give it to the museum...” She lowered the gun onto the counter as I rubbed the top of my head, feeling a lump already starting to form.

Scouring trotted over to a table where a few small missiles layed, looking them over. “Think we’ll just stick with ammo for now, lass.” He said, picking up the missiles and carrying them over to the cash register. Night Strike grabbed a few of her grenades and big bullets as Aerith took her pick of rounds for her machine gun and bullets for her rifle, Sulfur quickly adding up the value of all the ammo.

“Alright, that’ll be 900 caps for all that. Er, make it 800, for that smack on the head. You sure you don’t need more flash bangs, Static? You’re really the only one who ever buys them.” I shook my head, exchanging the caps as the others pocketed their ammo. We turned to leave, Crash Dive pushing open the door as Sulfur picked up the antique hunting rifle and brought it into her back room.

We piled into the mini-tank yet again, the engine rumbling to life as I flipped the ignition. My stomach growled again, my ears flopping down in embarrassment - oh, come on, how was that louder than the engine!? “Well, did any of you guys see anywhere to eat?” Scouring and Aerith shrugged, though Night Strike moved herself forwards, a grin on her face.

"I saw a sign for a dinner theatre in the center of town, apparently somepony made a musical adaptation of 'Dr. Strangemare'. Should be good for a chuckle, at least." She grinned, myself giving a small sigh and roll of the eyes. I'm not sure what surprises me more, the fact that that exists, or that you'll watch anything associated with that name, Strikey. I turned the tank around, heading back through the town as Night Strike gave a small giggle, my stomach letting off another loud rumble. Come on, almost there...

We soon arrived at a large building, a few ponies standing outside in line for tickets. I pulled up beside the line, Aerith hiding the mini-tank and trailer for us, all of us stepping up to the back of it. We were soon stepping inside the building, finding our way through the lobby towards the auditorium and making our way to the table indicated on our tickets. A pony came by to take our orders, and it wasn’t long before we were munching down on plates of fish, my stomach quieting down as I filled it up. The lights began to dim, a soft melody playing as some footage of bomber skywagons in flight played on the curtains with credits accompanying them, before they parted to the performance.

Well, let's see if this is any more entertaining than that film... wonder if they still shoot a Sparkle-Cola machine.

"Well... that was something." The sun was low off the coast as we exited the theater, Aerith de-cloaking the mini-tank - I really oughta settle on a proper description for that - as the crowds slowly filtered out into the crisp evening air. "I mean, they did stay pretty close to the source material... I dunno. It's weird seeing a widely-beloved movie turned into a musical."

"So when you say 'widely-beloved', are you just discounting the few million other ponies, zebras, and other life left on the planet to include yourself, Twintails, Featherweight, and Buzzy?" Static shot a smug look towards myself as he climbed into the driver's seat, the engine in the mini-tank purring to life. I passed on an eyeroll, settling myself behind Boomer as the rest made themselves comfortable in the wagon, the earth pony flicking on the headlight.

"Oh, come on Static, you know I'm not that vain. It was widely-beloved enough before the bombs fell for somepony to make a musical out of it, wasn't it?" A soft sigh escaped him as I pulled the welding goggles out of my duffel bag, fitting them on. Wha, can't see a damn thing... with the lens flipped down. Brain, get on point, damnit. Flipping the tinted lens up, the mini-tank shifted into gear below myself, a hoof reaching to grab Boomer by the barrel. Aw, it's cold, poor thing must be sad... We really need an excuse to use you sooner or later. or, well, at least I do.

The drive back to the lighthouse was largely silent, save for the soft rumble of the engine and the buffeting of the wind, myself spreading my wings out just to catch the stream of it as we motored along. It wasn't too long before the sun had disappeared beneath the ocean far off in the distance, the lighthouse's beacon illuminating the night well off and making some errant snowflakes still falling on the breeze glisten. The waves buffeted the landbridge as we made our way across, Static pulling the mini-tank up onto the small island and quieting the engine, the lights flickering on as Crash Dive was the first one inside.

I pulled my duffel bag off of the Mini-tank's track cover, slinging it over my back and starting to head for the door, Static landing against the snow with a small thud as he climbed out of the driver position with his saddlebags. "Ugh, I really have to try and be on my hooves more often, sitting like that's starting to make my legs fall asleep. That, and I think my stomach's getting bigger than I remember it being." Wearing a small smirk as he trotted over, one hoof idly poking at his belly, I gave his flanks a small brush with mine. We headed up the stairway and through the door, the rest of the group having already gone to their bedrooms for the night.

"Hey, you look cute with a little pudge, though. Definitely have enough caps to afford eating that much, anyways~" Sticking my tongue out at him playfully, he returned a faint blush and a roll of his eyes, pushing the door to our bedroom open. I let it shut behind myself, dropping my duffel bag to the floor and pulling off my jacket. The two lime-green buttons looked up at me through a jet-black mane from the interior pocket, myself pausing for a moment to pull the small plushie out. Been so long since we were home... we'll be back there, some sunny day.

Static pulled the covers back for us both to settle in, myself keeping the small plushie held to my chest as I laid myself down on the mattress beside him. The blue earth pony rested his forelegs over my shoulders as he pulle the heavy comforter back over the both of us, giving myself a small kiss and nuzzle, the moonlight filtering in through the window bathig the room in a soft bluish white. Snuggling myself up to him, it wasn't long before the gentle embrace of sleep took hold, his gentle eyes lasting on my mind as it drifted into dreams.

Yeah... everything's gonna be okay.

---

"It's 7 AM across Vanhoover, and you're tuned into K A O S, Radio KAOS. We've got some new news out of the town of Hopeville, relating to that second unintentional aircraft crash on the coast; the pilot, Contrail, has made a full recovery, thanks to both the Triage and the quick response of the Vanhoover Five. No word on if the air craft is salvageable, but since the owner of it is still alive and in good hooves - and, as far as my source knows, the air craft itself is currently under the watchful eyes of the Vanhoover Five to boot - that means no scavenging. Tough luck for anyone looking to get their hooves on some sort of fancy flying machine parts, but I like to think that as a whole, and after twenty-one decades, we've moved on to being a little more civilized than scouring everything for parts. Contrail went on to mention that he's hoping to be able to have his craft, the, ahm, F/A-5U Flying Pancake airworthy as soon as possible. All I can say is, best of luck to you with that, and be sure to wait until after the Five set off another big bomb to take her up again, heh.

"In other developments from around the wasteland, the town of Maple Station has a couple new guards to complement the Tank Ghouls, in the form of brother and sister gryphons Royce and Merlin. This comes after an unexpected raider attack on the small town, while the Tank Ghouls were dealing with matters elsewhere and were unable to respond immediately. The initial attack was thankfully quickly dealt with by the former mercenaries, with the remaining raiders being rapidly mulched by the first tank ghoul to arrive, Sensha... huh... ahm, hang on, need to find something...

"Ah, here we are, and I do want to apologize personally to Sensha, this is a note she had sent in quite a while ago, right around the time the first aircraft crashed on the coast up here, eheh. Alright... If anyone in the area around Maple Station happens to find a five-turreted tank, please offer any and all assistance that you can to it, and the ghoul inside. The tank and the ghoul are residents of Maple Station that were reported missing a few days after they should have returned from a caravan train headed up to Cantercross, and from how this letter reads it seems that Sensha's been worried sick about him for quite a long while at this point. Caution Tape, if you're listening, I can only hope that you're still in good health. And Vanhoover Five, if -you're- listening, well, heh, hope your half-track's powerful enough to rescue a tank with that many turrets on it. Shouldn't be hard to miss if it isn't buried in snow... have me wondering if this old Heavy Cruiser I'm on can be fitted with tracks, heh.

"You're listening to Radio KAOS, it's a beautiful frosty Vanhoover morning out there, skies clear as far as the eye can see. This one's going out to Sensha and Caution Tape, from the Wasteland's Sweetheart herself - Vera Lynn, reminding us all that we're bound to meet again, some sunny day. Enjoy."

---

"Do you really need THAT many bottles?" Static passed on an unamused glare from the driver's seat in the Mini-tank as both myself and Aerith were loading the wagon with Sparkle-Cola. I set my current bundle down, the alicorn stacking it carefully behind her in a crate, Crash Dive and Scouring both giving their weapons a final check-over before we set off. I passed on a small roll of my eyes, grabbing one of the glass bombs and uncapping it, partaking in my first bottle of the nectar of the goddesses for today. "I mean, I know we're going north before turning in east, and Celestia knows how far it is to the Air Base after that, but I also know you're going to stop us all for another half of a day while you unload the rest of that trailer by the Drive-In. Can't you settle for half?"

"Hey, pre-war medical textbooks recommend drinking three liters every day, I'm just ensuring I stay healthy." Taking a long, solid gulp, the soda fizzed in my mouth beofre it reahced my stomach, the bomb-bottle rapidly going from a deep caramel color to the standard clear glass. Aerith shut the heavy lid of the trunk and latched it tight after getting another bottle for herself, Static still looking at myself as I settled behind Boomer.

"I'm pretty sure they meant three liters of purified water, not three liters of irradiated soda, Strikey. As long as we can get to Maple Station without breaking down again, though, I'll be happy enough." The back of the trailer latched up with a metallic clink, Static getting the engine of the half-track running as the hills and cliff cast long shadows across the water, the cool air of morning causing a faint mist on the waves. The water lazily lapped at the road wheels and tracks of the Mini-tank as we passed over the landbridge to the shore, Static letting off a grumble as we crested the cliffs and the sun crested the horizon, myself pulling on the weldng goggles and flipping down the tinted lens, going back to drinking from the bomb bottle.

A magic screen flashed up in front of Static as we started to pick up some speed, resulting in the earth pony jamming on the brakes just as I was starting to feel the wind in my mane. Pushing the goggles up, I was just about able to see the screen dissolve, Aerith taking flight behind me to land by the base of the Valkyrie's tail... Ah. Yeah, turning that invisible would probably be for the better, especially with Contrail and Marigold probably coming down here to look at the Pancake... guh, Static won't be happy about that, now I think of it.

"Uh, we might have to make a stop in Maple Creek, just to get Ripple a map to the lighthouse so he can take Contrail and Marigold there. We're not gonna be back for a while, and they'll probably want to check on the pancake before we do come back." Wearing a weak grin and leaning over the grenade machine gun, Static responded with a nod, reaching into his saddlebags to get his own goggles. Okay, not the most ideal of situations, but best that we can hope for, really. Don't know what kind of weapons Contrail might have brought with him besides the flare gun, and even with the research dock a crater now, don't want to make anypony have to walk through Clearwater.

"Alright, that sounds doable. We can probably just motor straight on through to Gemdale anyways, arrive at the fire department we stayed at the first time and set off from there. We'll get to Maple Station by uh, dinnertime tomorrow, and just work things out from there." The earth pony had his goggles pushed up onto his head, looking down at the map on his legputer and scrolling around it. Aerith landed back alongside the wagon, hefting herself over into it and starting to empty her own botle of Sparkle-Cola, the space where the Valkyrie was now just a clear, shimmering mass on the coast. After a moment, Static puled his goggles back on, giving the engine beneath me a rev. "We're definitely gonna need to get a map when we get to Maple Station though, I've got nothing on what's out there going east."

"We'll figure out something Sparky, let's just get a move on." Answering me with a nod, the earth pony gunned the motor, the tracks biting through the snow and dragging us forwards. The snowy hills gave way to thick, empty forests, Static trying his best to keep the sun out of his eyes as we headed towards the sleepy riverside town. Adjusting the welding goggles on my head for a moment, I pulled back the sleeve of my jacket to look at my own legputer, scrolling over to the radio tab. Let's see what's on Radio KAOS this early...

"-ty nine Decision Street,
99 Ministers meet,
to worry, worry, super-scurry,
Call the troops out in a hurry!

This is what we've waited for,
this is it boys, this is war!
Princess Luna's on the line,
as 99 red balloons go by!"

---

"Aye, s'pose I can do that fer ye. They going to be waitin' on me or somethin'?" Ripple gave his legs a long stretch as he moved about in his shack, gathering up a few things. Static had gone into town with Scouring and Aerith to track down someplace to stop for breakfast, leaving myself and Crash Dive to handle getting things settled for Marigold and Contrail. Considering we got Ripple early enough that he was tired and sober, I'd say we arrived on time... oh, wait, that's a bottle of Wild Pegasus, isn't it? Ah well, guess that's just a sailor's breakfast...

"Not really, but just mention that we sent you and they should understand. We just think it'd be safer on their end if they had a ride for most of the way there, they aren't that familiar with the area and we don't want anypony getting lost on our account." The old captain gave a grunt in acknowledgement, pausing to look around for a moment before pulling a map down from a shelf, spreading it out on a table. Rolling it out, he nodded for us to get closer, looking over it and puling a pencil out from a drawer.

"Alright, can see where you're commin' from with that. Whereabouts d'you want me to let 'em off, just bring 'em here so they can find the rest o' the way or go the full route? You're all stayin' in some od lighthouse off the coast, ain't ye?" That... was a good question. Man, that mini-tank has spoiled us, it takes a good part of the day to make the walk between the lighthouse and Maple Creek. Probably would be best if they went there on Trout... I passed on a look towards Crash Dive, the power armored pegasus giving a small nod and stepping forwards, taking the pencil from Ripple.

"Bring them to the lighthouse, it's safest if they don't have to walk too far on the shore to get there because there are still a few traps and mines that might've been buried under the snowfall. Truth be told, I'm not too sure where most of them are now at this point, just know that there's a giant path where it was torn up." The power armored pegasus took the pencil in her mouth, looking over the map for a moment before drawing out a few lines and other markings. I watched on as she started marking out spaces with lines, trying to tell what it was - huh, I didn't think her minefield was quite THAT extensive. Or that large... wouldn't the Valkyrie have pushed more of it south when we crashed? Unless... oh, that is damn clever.

"I've marked out most of the minefield, we made sure the air craft is away from it, so as long as they don't go snooping around they'll be fine. Give the map to 'em and they should get along fine enough." Ripple gave a nod as he rolled up the map, the space where the Valkyrie rested on it marked over with the landmine warnings, Crash Dive taking a step back. The sailor stallion headed for the doorway to the small shack as he rested his hoof on the handle, looking back to us.

"And... Aye, forget it. S'pose I should just be happy I'm not liable to have Trout sunk doin' this, and I've a feelin' the gold might've been a little overpayment fer all my complainin', anyways. Jus', yanno, if ye feel like givin' a few caps fer me doin' this..." I blunk a few times in response, looking to Crash Dive. Erm... uh... damnit, what would Static do?... try to get Ripple to pay us for asking him to do this, probably. Ah, fuck it, we're loaded at this point, anyways. I wore a small smile, the sailor letting loose a sigh and giving his head a shake. "Eh, forget I asked. Burnin' daylight."

"Actually, Ripple, I think that a few caps'd be fair to cover it." He paused and looked back towards me with a look of disbeleif the quickly gave way to a smile, myself starting to go through my duffel bag. Well, nice to make somepony happy every now and again...

---

"Did you really have to give Ripple 200 caps for that!? He should've done it without payment being needed, I'm pretty sure we overpaid him with the gold, even with me fudging the actual value of the bar." The sun was starting to become a little less annoying to Static as we made way out of Maple Creek, fast on approach to Jericho Beach and the turnoff around the lake to head north. Shouldn't have mentioned it, I should've known Static would break out into doing this... "I mean, we can still probably make another few million by selling another gun from the sub pen to Vanhoover, but it's the principle of the thing. We can't go around paying people hundreds for every little thing, Night Strike!"

"Hey Static, remember how I said you can be a real stingy asshole sometimes? Yeah, that's what you're doing now. You don't hear me complaining about how you spent a couple hundred on breakfast." Not that I really had anything to complain about in the first place, anyways - those pancakes and fresh maple syrup were gooood~ The earth pony let off a huff that turned into a wispy white cloud as it met the cold air, blown off on the breeze made by the speed of the mini-tank.

"I was hungry! Not my fault the pancakes were so expensive, you should've just ate less. Hard to fly with a fat belly, isn't it?" Yeah, just like it's hard to watch the road while arguing, Sparky. I gave a shake of my head, resting against Boomer, the metal huts of Jericho Beach coming up.

"Says the pony who ate three whole stacks' worth and nearly delayed us with a self-induced food coma. Wanna keep arguing the whole ride there, or do you wanna drive so we don't end up going into the lake?" Static looked back at myself with an open mouth for a few moments, before letting off a huff and focusing his eyes back forwards, making a bit of a pout. Oh, what's that? Score one for Night Strike? Oh yeah~ Settling back, we were soon close enough to make out some details of the small military shipping depot, myself peering ahead. That paint wasn't there before...

Sitting up on the mini-tank, I tried to make out the words on the side of the hut, my geiger counter giving a few clicks as we drew even closer. Wait, huh? This place wasn't irradiated the last time we were here, either... Static slowed the mini-tank as his legputer started to click as well, turning to try and drive around the radioactive site. Passing him a look, I spread my wings wide and took off from the back of the half-track, hovering closer to the hut the paint was applied on. That was the hut that we stayed in when we headed to Hopeville way back, wasn't it? The one with the generator... I'm very certain it wasn't -that- open when we were here last.

Hovering a little closer, my geiger counter was merrily ticking away at a rad or two a second, the sound of the mini-tank's engine quieting as Static stopped it along the edge of the lake. Could just about make out what the paint said from here... 'We're Coming For You, Five'. Yeah... nope. Nooooope. Nope nope nopenopenopesomuchnope. My slow hovering backwards turned into a fast dash into the black suit and vest of Aerith, the surprised alicorn quick in grabbing my stumbling self before I plummeted out of the air. She held me up in her aura as my wings caught wind again, a screen coming up in front of me.

'What is it? You look a bit spooked, what does the paint say?' Looking into her eyes with mine wide enough to be watering from the cold air, I gave a shake of my head, giving a quick glance back towards the metal hut before dashing back to the mini-tank and nearly ramming into Crash Dive in the process. One of my hooves immediately went to grab Boomer's trigger grip, the other rummaging through my duffel bag for Thumper and War Crime. Scouring scratched at his head, both him and Crash Dive looking at myself in confusion whuch turned to alarm as I swung the grenade machine gun around and brought out the rest of my weapons.

"Ay, take it easy lass, what's gotten you scared like this?" The unicorn's aura encompassed Boomer, holding it in place and detaching the large drum clip from the bolt, myself holding Thumper to my chest with both hooves and looking back towards Jericho Beach. Nope nope nope noooope. I jumped slightly as I felt a hoof brush against one of my wings, turning around to look at Static, his own eyes wide and with a hint of worry in them. The snow crunched heavily as Aerith landed back down beside the cart, Scouring turning towards her. "Oi, ye didn't steal her voice or somethin', won't tell us what's happened."

Aerith brought up a screen as Static reached a hoof out to hold one of my own, my hug around Thumper loosening a bit. Right... okay, yeah, probably should calm down, I did just eat quite a few pancakes and I'd like to digest them. That's it brain, light comedy, that helps... 'It looks like another mercenary group is after us. Talon marks in the snow, gryphon feathers, and some serious hardware going on the number they did to the far side of that hut. Likely nothing we can't handle ourselves.' Aerith hopped herself back into the wagon, looking towards myself after getting settled. Static was doing the same, his eyes locked with mine, my heart starting to slow down from the autocannon setting it was on. I took in a breath, releasing it in a cloudy sigh. 'You holding together, Night Strike?'

"Y-yeah, it just... just caught me offguard. Let's just try and get up to Maple Station as fast as we can, it's safer if we keep moving. They probably don't know where we are." Resettling myself with Boomer facing forwards, I slipped War Crime back into my duffel bag, but kept Thumper out. Digging around in the olive drab sack for a few moments, I pulled out a few buckshot rounds and regular high explosive grenades, loading one of the former into the snap breech of Thumper. Static held his eyes on me for a moment longer, before turning around and dropping back into the seat, pulling his goggles back on.

"We're gonna be fine, Night Strike, we've handled mercenaries before. Besides, what're they gonna be able to do to us? We let Radio KAOS know about it, every single town's gonna have our backs, they'll probably get blown up or killed before we even see them." Taking another long breath of the cold air, I let it out in another long, cloudy sigh, giving a nod to the earth pony in front of me while the forty millimeter bore barrel of Thumper brushed against my cheek. He's right, just was overreacting, we'll be just fine. Definitely not professionals, what kind of professionals would tell the ponies they're trying to kill that they're coming for them? Bunch of morons... the mini-tank's engine purred, us all starting to move along once more, motoring on the road that led around the reservior's edge. I flicked on my radio, trying to relax - okay, not exactly a calming song, but I'll take it.

"Oh, well I'm the type of guy
Who'll never settle down.
Where pretty mares are,
well you know that I'm around.

I kiss 'em and I love 'em,
'cause to me they're all the same.
I hug 'em and I squeeze 'em,
they don't even know my name,

They call me the Wanderer,
Yeah, the Wanderer,
I roam around around
around around-a..."

---

"Well, least it's stil standing, so there's that." The sun was well on the horizon as we finally arrived back at the large brick structure that was the Gemdale Fire Hall, a large dent in one of the doors and some crumbled brick marking where a balefire egg had detonated against it so long ago. Scouring lifted the undamaged metal door up, allowing Static to pull the Mini-tank into the garage and turn it around, the lights and heat still thankfully on from last time. I hopped off of the back of the mini-tank, glad to give my legs a stretch again.

"Kind of a shame we had to smash the windows on the hallway, but at least the bunkroom should be fine. It'll do us for tonight, at least." Crash Dive landed against the concrete floor with a heavy thud, the engine of the mini-tank purring to a stop. The heavy clasps of the trunk in the trailer came undone, Aerith levitating out a couple of the bomb bottles, passing one over to me. Sparkle-Cola before bed, ah, just what I needed...

"Welp, let's get settled in, make up something for dinner and try to get up early to head out tomorrow. Not feeling up for sticking around too long." Static hopped out of the driver's seat as I made way for the stairs to the second floor, drinking down the bottle of Sparkle-Cola. Yeah, sooner we get behind the thick rolled steel armor of the tank ghouls, the better... The door opened with a small creak, myself throwing up a wing to break the breeze blowing in from the upstairs hallway. Hope it isn't snowed in, or anything. "Heading to bed already, Night Strike?"

I blunk a few times as I saw Static trot over, letting off a small chuckle. "E-eh, yeah, just... kind of feeling out of it. I'll stil be up for dinner... assuming you don't eat it all first~" Sticking my tongue out at the earth pony playfuly, he let off a weak chuckle, myself starting to move up the stairs. I made it up a few steps before stopping, letting loose a sigh and looking down to the doorway - Static was still standing there. "I just... we haven't been threatened like that before, what happened back at Jericho Beach. I didn't know what to think when I saw it, I was just... scared."

The blue earth pony trotted up the steps beside myself, wrapping a hoof around my neck in a gentle hug. He wore a soft smile, meeting my eyes for a moment, before planting a light kiss on my cheek. "Well, that made two of us. It's like what Aerith said, they're nothing we can't handle, and I'm sure you'll be just fine with putting a forty millimeter snail through their face if we do run into them. Come on Strikey, you're acting too sane about this." He let off a light chuckle that I joined him in, starting to head up the stairs. A few small piles of snow rested in the hallway by the broken windows, Static checking the doors for the kitchen.

"Yeah, I guess... and they're forty millimeter slugs, ya cap-pinching butterball." I bumped my flanks into his, wearing a small smirk. He gave a roll of his eyes in response, eventually finding the door that led to the kitchen, moving to head inside. "Really, we've been together for how long, and you don't know that by now?"

"You're the crazy one with the giant shotgun here, I just try to keep you sane with it~" Static paused in the doorway to the kitchen as I headed for the bunkroom, sticking his tongue out at me. I promptly responded by splattering a small snowball against his face - ah, just like old times. Letting loose a giggle as he brushed the icy powder off and gave his head a shake, I cracked open the door in front of me, Static releasing a light sigh. "Really are a pinnacle of maturity, aren't you Strikey?"

"I love you too, Sparky~"