I groaned as I slowly came to. Jolts of pain shot through my side as I tried to sit myself up, a slight ringing in my ears. Guh, what happened? I clenched my eyes shut to shield them from the lights hanging above the bed I was laying in, trying to think... wait, bed? My head pounded as I wracked my brains, the swirl of memories of yesterday slowly coming into focus. Okay… I got shot, slept it off, drove a while the next day, went into a cave or, tunnel or something… My mind finally clicked into gear as I remembered the blast wave hitting us, the way the explosion had sent me flying from the seat of the mini-tank. Night Strike… I tried to push myself up in bed again, only to be met by more pain and my eyes beginning to water.

The sound of a door opening met my ears, along with some hoofsteps. “Ah, you’re awake. How ‘bout zat,” said an unfamiliar voice in a thick accent. I slowly opened my eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light. A bright red unicorn slowly faded into view, his horn poking through a mane silvery enough to rival my own. “I’d be careful if I vere you, you vere banged up pretty bad vhen you showed up here with your friends.” The stallion stood proudly, puffing out his chest to display his navy blue and gold trimmed jacket. “Serene Steel, at your service. I suspect you’re vondering vhere you are.”

I blinked, putting a hoof up to my temple. Oh, Celestia, please don’t tell me this pompous pony is the doctor. I just nodded, only to suddenly notice the beds beside me were both alarmingly empty. Where’s Crash Dive? Where’s Night Strike?! I threw back the covers and tried to get out of bed, but my vision became a swirl of colors again and my legs became unsteady. “Woah, take it easy. Your friends, zey’re fine. Ve got zem to the mare’s medical bay, zey’ll be alright.” I sat back down on the bed, rubbing my temple gently as blood pounded through it. “Anyvay, zis is ze Vanhoover Air Base. Sharpving said you all might end up coming, zough I zink she’d expected two more of you.”

“Ugh, yeah… we had to split up a little while back, just three of us for right now.” I took a deep breath, my heartbeat slowing as the pounding in my head subsided. Serene Steel trotted over to one of the medical cabinets, digging around inside before producing a healing potion and tossing it to me. I drank the glowing red mixture, the pain from my wounds easing up. “So, yeah, do you know Contrail, then? I think he told us about you guys too.”

Serene nodded, helping me up to my hooves. “Ja, don’t worry, Sharpving said she had a plan. Ve’re planning on meeting in the vorkshop soon, let’s get over zhere.” I followed Serene out of the medical bay, blinking rapidly as we stepped out into the bright base. Several ponies were milling about, carrying machinery back and forth between a couple large hangers. I noticed the mares and stallions mostly kept to themselves, each headed to hangers on the opposite ends of the large snow-covered tarmac. As we passed by one of the smaller hangers, we heard a whistle, and Serene let out a barely audible moan before pulling his expression up into a cheerful smile and turning around. “Hello, Turbine.”

A rather tall stallion leaned up against a cart full of tools, a smile on his muzzle. Behind him stood a large jet black plane, balanced precariously on two wheels under its main body and support struts under the wings. “Hey there, Steel! Showin’ our newest member around the base?” He asked, flipping open a hatch on the side of the plane and levitating over a wrench to fiddle about in the mechanics with. Serene nodded, still keeping the, admittedly difficult to tell, forced smile on his face.

“Ja, he’s a bit of a tech-y guy, vants to check out ze ol’ valker I told him about.” Serene responded. Turbine grinned, setting down his tools and trotting up to me. He stood almost as tall as Featherweight, though what were bulging muscles in the pegasus were little more than a thin layer of sinew in the unicorn. Despite this, his tall stature and medaled flight jacket made me nervous. He stuck out a hoof to shake mine, and it took me a moment to tear myself away from my thoughts to react.

“Well, it’s good to hear that. We could always use more designs for aircraft around here, thinking of entering the coming race, then?” I paused before giving a noncommittal shrug. He let out a hearty laugh, myself putting my hoof back to the ground as he grinned almost unnaturally widely. “Hey, I don’t blame you, it’d be pretty hard to build something faster than this ol’ gal, the Dragon Mare. Still, I’m sure there’s plenty of others around that’ll be happy to have an extra set of hooves on standby.” He turned back to his airplane levitating up a set of pliers and beginning to work on the electrics. “See ya, ‘round, Steel!”

Serene gave a curt nod before turning around and leading me away. He glanced over his shoulder to ensure Turbine wasn’t looking before letting his smile drop and another groan escape his lips in a sigh. “Vell, I hope you’re at least a little handy viz your hooves, now he might get suspicious. Zat Dummkopf is in charge around here…” Serene shook his head as we approached a tin bunker. The unicorn opened the small service door beside the large hanger ones, and I headed inside after him. His hoof ran across the wall before hitting a switch, the lights flickering on with a hum of power. The room was cramped, almost a third of it taken up by something hidden under a thick tarp at the far end, with various tools and abandoned mechanics laying on the workbenches running on either side of the building.

I wandered up to the tarp, curious as to what lay under it. Serene’s expression grew a little brighter as he strutted over to join me, wearing a grin. With a flourish, he took a hold of the tarp and pulled it down with a loud flutter of fabric. Gleaming, polished metal revealed itself as the cloth fell away, my eyes growing wide as I took a few steps back. A bipedal mechanical beast stood hunched over in the workshop, its massive guns glistening in the light. My gaze travelled along its body, following the bent legs up to the control pod, the visors just open enough for me to gaze in and see the mess of controls that were laid out before the pilot’s seat. “It’s a mastervork of tech, isn’t it? Served me vell for several journeys, it’s a shame zat it’s stuck back here like zis. Zat two-zird-tracked machine of yours is in one of ze other workshops, vas confiscated vhen your friend in ze power armor rode up vith it. I vas surprised she could do zat, it looked like it vas hit hard by zat explosion.”

The sound of the door opening behind us prompted Serene and I to turn around. In walked Night Strike and Crash Dive, along with an earth colored pegasus. “Huh, and here I thought we would’ve gotten here first. Think that’s the first time you’ve ever beaten me to someplace, Serene.” Sharpwing said, wearing a faint smirk. Serene merely sniffed, standing up a little straighter as the others trotted up to us. “So, now that we’ve got you guys back together, I’m sure you guys can come up with some fancy plan fitting of the Vanhoover Five.” I paused, my brow furrowing as I looked towards Sharpwing.

“Uuuuhhh… Serene said you were the one with the plan. How did you expect us to just come up with some sort of plan ten minutes after we wake up here?” Sharpwing looked towards myself, confused and a little annoyed. Serene covered his face with a hoof, shaking his head and muttering some foreign word. Sharpwing glanced back and forth between myself and Night Strike, surprised.

“I can expect that you would’ve thought of summat before you got here! Barking spiders, who goes headlong into an air base without a plan?!” Night Strike glanced down to the floor sheepishly as Sharpwing shook her head. “Alright, alright, we’ll think of something, calm down. Okay… well… you sure we can’t just try and run that out of here?” She pointed towards the large walker, but Serene shook his head.

“Nein, even if ze biodiesel manufacturing shed veren't under guard, one hit from zose guns on ze perimeter and ve’re dead. Scheisse, and Turbine’s probably going to keep a close eye on you zree now you’re here, I…” His voice trailed off as he looked over to the workbenches. He paced back and forth, thinking for a moment. Sharpwing raised an eyebrow, but left him to his musing. Finally, he turned back to us. “Are any of you any good viz your hooves? Zhere’s zis race coming up, it’s supposed to be ze big race to decide ze leader, Contrail must’ve told you about it. If ve combine our efforts und build something for ze race, we might win. And, vell, at ze very least you’ll look busy and Turbine won’t get suspicious.” Sharpwing blinked, a look of disbelief across her face, and Serene scrunched his muzzle a little. “Vell, do you have a better plan?”

I grimaced a little. Sure, I’d done some work with Greasy back home, but only the grunt work, she was the one designing stuff. “Are you sure you don’t have a better plan? That thing Turbine had looked pretty fast, do you have any plans for something we could build? I mean, I guess we have plans for some kind of plane, but I kind of doubt we’d be able to get enough materials to recreate the Valkyrie here. And where are we going to get the parts?” I asked. Sharpwing scratched her head, trying to think.

“Well, the parts shouldn’t be too much of an issue. There's not a whole lot that we've got access to, most of the actual aircraft that flew out of this Air Base are in hangars in the mountains around us under guard watch, but we've got plenty of other stuff to draw from for engines and what-not. And don’t worry about a plan, Serene might be a Dummkopf at times, but he’s probably one of the smartest stallions around here when it comes to building things... though there is the fact mares aren’t allowed to enter the race under the rules, so you're gonna have to be the ones getting put into whatever we can help you build. That or figure out a very convincing way to turn either Night Strike or Crash Dive into a stallion.” I sighed, not liking the way things were looking. Neither Crash Dive nor Night Strike seemed to look very convinced either.

Sharpwing sighed, rubbing the back of her head. “Alright, look, Serene, you go take lightning flanks here to register, let’s hope he’s a better flyer than you were. We’ll try to figure out how to get this plan to work.” Serene shrugged, and headed back towards the door. I followed him, waving goodbye to Night Strike and Crash Dive as I stepped back outside. Serene began to trot towards one of the hangers, where several ponies were trotting in and out. The building was full of ponies dragging sheets of metal and wood, pipes, tarps, and everything in between. One mare sat in the middle, looking over some clipboards. She glanced up as we approached, Serene poking me forward a little.

“I… uh, heard about this race coming up. I want to register.” I said, trying to sound as confident as I could. The mare nodded and passed me a form to fill out. Let’s see, name, date of birth, next of kin, family history of being shot in the head… After filling out the paperwork the mare pointed out a small pile of machinery. I gave a little grunt of worry at seeing what was left. The pile was comprised mostly of old pipes and a collection of tarp. A single engine sat amongst the other bits and pieces, though it stood nearly as tall as me and was clearly far heavier than anything meant to fly had a right to be. “Uh… is that it? You sure there’s not a… I dunno, a few wheels left over?”

The mare shook her head and responded, dryly, “You register late, that’s what you get. If ya want I could send the letter to your next of kin in advance to save some time with the funeral proceedings. Oh, and all registration is final.” Oh, how charming. Serene looked equally disappointed as we trotted over to what remained in the pile of materials. I picked up one of the pipes, turning it over in my hooves.

Serene gave a bit of a sigh before his horn flared up and he began to levitate some of the things into the air. “Ve better get zis to ze workshop now, zhen. Ve’re going to need all ze time ve can get to fix somezing up.” I pulled over a cart, Serene loading it up with the machinery. He grunted as he levitated up the heavy engine, before dropping it onto another cart and proceeding towards the exit. Pressing my hooves up onto the handlebars, I gave a large grunt of effort as I began to slowly push the cart after Serene. I guess at least if this thing never gets off the ground, I won’t have a chance of crashing...

The trek back to the workshop felt like miles, and the looks of surprise and amusement on the other flyers faces didn’t really help matters. The doors to the workshop creaked open loudly as Serene pushed them apart to allow the cart to roll in, sweat dripping from my brow despite the cold air outside. Once the doors had shut again, I flopped to the stone floor, panting. I’m gonna… I’m gonna need a minute… Sharpwing stepped over me to get a better look at the parts. “Barking spiders, is this it? I think we’ll be lucky to build a model of a hang glider out of this stuff!”

“Ve just need somezing to make us look busy, now shut up and help me figure out a blueprint.” Serene growled, moving over to one of the workbenches to pull out a roll of parchment. As he spread it out, I slowly got back to my hooves, the pain in my side returning from the night before. Guh, of course the mini-tank’s been put out of commission when we actually need to carry something around... Night Strike helped me over to the counter where Serene was pulling out a quill and an ink well. He turned back around to look at the pile of parts, the quill tip placed in his lips. His brow furrowed as he tried to mentally piece together some sort of machine, but as he stood in silence it was clear he was only getting more frustrated as time went on.

“So, Night Strike… you doing alright? Yesterday you were… well, Crash Dive just said she didn’t really want to talk about what was going on.” I asked, turning my attention away from Serene as he wandered over to try fitting some of the parts together. She gave a sigh, looking down at the floor and turning away slightly. Her expression was somber, almost regretful, something which I wasn’t sure I’d ever really seen from her. She shook her head, not wanting to speak as Serene made little progress with the parts at hand. My ears flopped down a little as I looked at Night Strike before putting a hoof around hers. “Look, I… it’s alright if you don’t want to mention it, just don’t blame yourself for something you couldn’t have helped, alright?” She squeezed my hoof into hers a little giving another sigh, her eyes seeming to scrunch up. What happened with her?...

“Mother of Celestia, little scheisse-eating piece of…” Serene let out a shout of frustration, kicking one of the pipes into the oversized engine block and drawing our attention. He angrily stomped over to the walker, sliding open a hatch on the bottom and retrieving something from inside before marching back to the door. “Stupid zing doesn’t even vork! It's all siezed up, und ve just don’t have ze parts for it!” He kicked open the door and headed out, fuming. We all stood, watching the open door for a moment in silence.

Eventually Sharpwing shook her head and went back to the paper, pulling it over and picking up another quill. “Oh, sweet Celestia, somepony go get him before he ends up stabbing somepony through the heart.” I made my way over to the door and stepped outside, only to find Serene bending over a long case, levitating a sharp sabre up into the air. Oh, please tell me she was only kidding.

Serene looked over his shoulder as the door shut behind me, still looking a little annoyed. He looked forward again, letting out a long breath before standing stock still, the sword held at the ready as he lifted his right forehoof. “Uh… is there a reason you’re doing this?” I asked, trotting around to stand in front of him. He simply stared forward, not looking as he replied.

“It helps to clear my thoughts. A pony of nobility zat attempts to duel wizout a clear head is destined to fail.” I raised an eyebrow, a smirk crossing my face. I looked back over to the case to see another sword lying in the silky lining. I bent down and took it in my teeth, getting a feel for the weight. Definitely a lot nicer to use than that griffon sword was... I walked over in front of Serene, who gave a slight look of disgust as he saw me biting down on the sword. “Gah, vat are you doing? You do not fence wiz your mouz!”

I rolled my eyes, biting down a bit harder on the handle. “Hey, you wanted to duel, right? I’m sure a stallion of nobility can easily take down some common mudpony,” I said, snidely. Serene’s eyes narrowed as I imitated his stance. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and leaping forward, jabbing out with the sword.

I jumped to the side, twisting my neck to deflect the blade. We began to slowly circle each other, waiting for the other to move. I attempted to lunge into Serene, but he expertly stepped back and parried the attack, only to swing downwards a second later. The blade whizzed by my ear as I ducked to avoid it, still gripping the sword tightly in my mouth. Twisting about, I attempted another attack, only to have Serene deflect it, and return one of his own, which I avoided. Over and over this process went, the swords clanging and sliding against each other. The clashes only became louder and more clustered as we fought, each jab, parry, slice, and thrust becoming faster and faster. I panted a little, trying to keep up with Serene as he maintained his composure, his sword flying about as his horn pulsed with magic. Guh, stupid unicorns and their stupid levitation magic!

My eyes narrowed as I focused in on Serene’s movements, my heart began to pound in my chest as I noticed his swing begin to slow. Ooh, Pearl, don’t let your work fail me now. I slipped out from under the blade, and I had just enough time to see Serene’s eyes go wide as I brought the blade down and bopped him on the head with it. He stumbled back, looking disgruntled as he rubbed his forehead. He took his stance again, but before I could react, the colors began to swirl together as I stumbled around on my hooves. Aw, crap. I stumbled to the left, trying to maintain my balance before I fell to the ground roughly, the sword falling out of my mouth and clattering against the tarmac. I groaned as my vision came back to me to see Serene bending over to help me up. “Are you alright? I’ve heard of ponies being drunk on victory, but…”

I nodded as my head cleared, wiping some grit off of my shirt and retrieving the sword. “Yeah, I’m... I'm fine. It’s going to take some time to get used to that turbo crash, though...” Serene was about to inquire further when the door to the workshop opened back up, and Night Strike popped her head out. She waved us in and Serene and I quickly followed, Serene packing up the swords into their case with his magic. Sharpwing was leaning over a set of blueprints, madly scribbling away as we entered.

“Jeez, what happened to you? I thought you were supposed to be good at sword fighting.” Night Strike said, looking at the fresh scrapes on my body. I waved my hoof dismissively as we walked up to look over Sharpwing’s shoulder. The plans were covered in crossed out sections, arrows, and rather poorly drawn machinery all adding up into something that would probably make Nikolai vomit if he had to try and build it. Sharpwing turned to face us, grinning maniacally as she made one final jab of ink on the paper.

“Alright, and here we have it! The guaranteed to win, no possible fail magnificent mare's flying machine!” Serene looked dumbfounded as he stared at the paper. Night Strike looked like she could only just barely make heads or tails of it, and I could only decipher a small portion of the insane doodles and chicken scratch that littered the page. It didn’t help that the parts I could understand only made the entire machine seem even more impractical and absurd.

“You can’t be serious, can you? Zat zing looks like it’ll be lucky to outcompete a bloatsprite! And ve don’t even have half of zhose parts, vhere are ve supposed to get ze rest from?” Shaprwing simply tapped her muzzle knowingly before moving over to one of the covered windows of the workshop. She carefully raised opened the curtains, glancing about to make sure nopony was watching before waving us over. We followed, Night Strike climbing up onto the bench to get a better look.

Peering through the window, I was able to spot a few hangers near the edge of the cliff, specks that were ponies milling about around them. Several large mounted guns stood near the doorways of the hangers, and a patrol was standing guard all around... I’m guessing it’s not just spare wheels they’re keeping in there. I turned back to Sharpwing, a small grin crossing my face. “We’re gonna have the greatest heist this air base has ever seen!”

Ooh, I like how this pegasus thinks!

Oh, boy, I'm not gonna hear the end of this from Static, am I? Sharpwing hopped herself back down from the window, trotting back over to the bench where the flying machine's design was laid out, looking it over. Passing a glance to Static, I followed her, looking on, the pegasus deep in thought. "Right... Well, least we should be able to start off building the aircraft's frame, if nothing else. Going to be a bit of a headache for scaling without a proper engine, but I think the one you two pulled out should fit the bill for sizing it out. Hard part is just going to be fitting a fuel source..."

"Nein, ze hard part is going to be getting vhat we need vithout getting blown apart by zose 12.8-centimeter guns!" The bright red unicorn stomped a hoof hard against the ground, the sound echoing through the hangar and geting our attention. He let off a sigh, rubbing his forehead for a moment, before trotting forwards to get a better look at the design as well. 4 rows of 4 cylinders arranged in an 'H' shape, big two-bladed propeller at the back of the, uh, main body, with the tail section supported a few meters away and the wings suspending the thing from the top, and a big stripped-down arcane reactor placed right on top between the wings. I... guess it might be airworthy. Maybe.

Serene's expression slowly shifted from one of frustration to thought as he looked over the hastily-drawn designs, tapping a hoof against his chin. "Actually... hm, zis is a long shot, but ve might be able to use a different type of engine instead. If I remember correctly, ze MWT Kettenkraftfahrzeugs... er, 'Motorbugs', zey use flat eight-cylinder multifuel combustion engines. Zey're all in a lightly-guarded shed, nopony uses zem in their flying machines because nopony vants to bother vith engines like zem, but if we can get ahold of ze fuel shed und enough biodiesel, zen we might have an upper hoof..."

I took a glance towards Static before looking back to the papers, doing some thinking of my own. Well, that should sort us for the engine then, just leaving the fuel and other parts to worry about... multifuel... hm. My eyes turned back to the earth pony, watching as he trotted over to join us. "Static, do we still have that high-proof moonshine you picked up from that one shack somewhere? We might not have to worry too much about fuel in that case, if these engines are actually multifuel. Alcohol's kind of like fuel oil, right?"

"Zat may be just ze thing we need. Vell, zat at least sorts out getting ze engine..." The unicorn took a few steps back, looking to the massive walking tank at the far end of the hangar. He cleared his throat after a moment, looking back towards us sheepishly. "Eheh, ahm, of course, if you vouldn't mind, we could still see about getting access to ze fuel shed. You know, just in case we have a need for..."

Sharpwing let off an audible sigh beside me, shaking her head. "Your fancy walker can wait, Serene, we don't need that much firepower until things really go to clart. Barking 'Prince'... right. You and Static can hang here, refine my design if you have to, get busy, really. I'm going to go with Night Strike and see about getting your own Motorbug back, would imagine they stored it with the others so it's a chance for us to get the engines, too. That work for everypony?"

I answered her with a nod, the whirring of power armor servos catching my ears as Crash Dive trotted herself over, Sharpwing looking to her for a moment. The earthen pegasus blunk a few times before nodding, turning to trot for the door, both myself and Crash Dive following behind. The door shut with a dull thud behind us, the crisp air and biting wind flowing over the mountains chilling our exposed coats some, us both catching up with the pegasus. Brr, sheesh, who'd have thought a runway in a canyon like this could get so windy?

Sharpwing looked behind herself as we caught up, slowly making our way past another few smaller hangars. "Alright, it's just up ahead. Hope the quartermaster isn't going to be givin' us too much trouble for takin' it without a stallion with us..." An exasperated sigh escaped her, the pegasus shaking her head. I scratched at the back of my own with a hoof, Crash Dive looking around at the few structures on the base.

"Yeah, that's one thing I'm a little lost on, why exactly is this place separated like this? Yanno, mares on one side, stallions on the other. Seems... a little stupid." We started to head across one of the landing strips, towards a collection of larger hangars and nicer-looking buildings. A few of the structures appeared to be somewhat like mini-storage bunkers, little earthen huts with concrete fronts and metal doors, a few of them displaying signs for various traders - all of them shut tight.

"Aye, thank the bumrag with that fancy 'Dragon Mare' for it, showed up here one day not long before myself and Serene did. Was goin' on about how stallions are the superior gender, and mares have no place in workin' with their hooves to make somethin' worthwhile, better off workin' in the kitchen. Absolute load of clart if I've ever heard one." The pegasus kicked away the snow in front of her hooves with a huff, leading us on down what I assume was some sort of smaller runway, or something. A peculiar noise had begun filling the air somewhere ahead, myself glancing around for a moment, trying to find it. Sharpwing just let off another sigh, trotting closer to where the edge of the plane-road was. "And that just lets guys like these get parts priority over... well, pretty much everypony else."

The incessant whining soon showed its source, myself having to shield my eyes for a moment as whatever it was rounded the corner, the sun reflecting off of it's exterior almost unbearably brightly. Judging by how the occupants of the... thing let off screams as well, I'm gonna guess that blinding everypony it encounters wasn't the main idea. We simply watched as the strange, boxy vehicle slowly pushed its way past us in the snow, the three stallions inside seeming to bicker over something, a wagon behind them carrying what appeared to be the body from another Motorbug, along with some various wheels and things. Yeah, I'm no expert in air craft, but I kinda think that what they've got isn't exactly the best things they could be using...

Sharpwing watched them drive off for a few moments before continuing on, giving her head a shake. "Not sure what's their deal, suppose they might've gotten a knock in the head or something when they showed up. All three of 'em think they're presenting for some old pre-war television show... They're entertainin' to watch, at least. Don't count on 'em being much of a threat."

"That is a good question, who should we watch out for? I mean, there's bound to be more than one or two other contestants besides us, isn't there?" Crash Dive trotted up beside myself as we mushed on towards some of the other buildings, a large brick one appearing to be a more traditional garage with a set of tracks leading from it. Well, I suppose those three had to've gotten that motorbug from somewhere... Sharpwing stopped outside the door, thinking for a moment.

"Aside from the Dragon Mare and those three, honestly, don't have too much to fret over. A lot of the more experienced aerocraft builders left when Turbine started getting a proper following... or, well, least they tried to. The first things he got on-side were the stallions in charge of the big flak batteries, and..." The earth-colored pegasus let off a sigh, shaking her head, as she stepped in through the side doorway. Yeah, don't need to finish that sentence, I think I can fill in the rest. A shudder escaped me as we pushed into a small reception area, the mare behind the counter looking up nervously.

"O-oh! Oh, good, it's you, ahm..." The receptionist turned herself around, rummaging through some disheveled piles of papers behind her, reading one over every now and again before tossing it aside. Crash Dive pushed herself forwards to the counter beside Sharpwing, the receptionish finally finding a paper she liked and held on to. "U-uh, right, modified MWT Motorbug, arcane reactor variant with wagon and various weapons, content being held for pickup by rightful owner, blue earth pony with silver mane..." Her eyes looked up from the paper, scanning over the three of us, expression dropping. O...kay, yeah, this is gonna be a headache, isn't it?

"U-uh, s-sorry, I can't let you take the motorbug without the original owner being... um... present." Sharpwing passed on a look of annoyance as Crash Dive calmly rested her power armored hooves on the counter, glaring at the mare behind it. She seemed to shrink back, eyes darting from side to side, the slip of paper being held close to her chest. "Y-you know the rules, Sharpwing! T-Turbine said that stallions are the only ones allowed to... to..."

Crash Dive's leg servos whirred as she adjusted herself, the receptionist letting off a frightened squeak. Glaring daggers for a moment, the power armored pegasus smirked, leaning back slightly. "Static is working on his flying machine at the moment, he sent us to get the mini-tank and wagon while he was focused on that. And much like myself, he doesn't like being kept waiting. So, one way or another, we are going to be taking our half-track back now, along with two more - the question is, do you want an unexpected trip to the mare's infirmary today or not?"

The mare behind the counter was frozen for a few moments, Crash Dive lightly tapping her armored hoof against the hard wood. A squeak came from the mare's mouth in response, one hoof shakily passing us the slip of paper while the other moved to flick a switch, the door at the far end of the room opening with a thunk. Crash Dive set herself back down onto the floor and moved to the garage's proper entrance, Sharpwing taking the slip of paper. I followed behind both of them, the receptionist timidly clearing her throat behind me, catching my attention. "Um... t-the Motorbugs at the back are unlisted, you can take those if you have to. Good luck."

Giving her a gentle nod and light smile, I trotted through the inner door to the garage with Sharpwing and Crash Dive, blinking my eyes a few times as they adjusted to the lights. Several rows of damn-near identical half-tracks stretched out before us, all in various states of repair and disassembly alike. Well, on the upside, won't have to go far to see about fixing any bodywork on ours...

Sharpwing looked over the paper slip, before starting to trot down the aisles, heading towards the back of the garage. Considering that our mini-tank is likely the only one to have a very heavy grenade machine gun strapped to it's back, finding it shouldn't be too much of a hassle... unless the blast knocked Boomer off. Or we lost some of our stuff in the tunnel when the explosion hit. Crash Dive's armored hoof rested on my shoulder as we trotted along, following behind Sharpwing. "If you're worried about our stuff, I tried to gather as much as I could before getting us out of there. Guess they didn't expect me to have my rebreather on when they bombed the entrance."

"Yeah... how'd they know we were in there, anyways? Couldn't have been just a coincidence." The soft smile on Crash Dive's muzzle faded to a distressed look, one that I shared with her. If they can track us... then again, being here, with all the AA guns around, maybe it's not such a bad thing. How big did Serene say those guns were? 12.8 centimeters? Damn, that's bigger than the ones at the sub pen... bigger shell, more effective. Well, we're at least technically safe here, if nothing else...

Sharpwing stopped at the end of one of the rows, the familiar sight of Boomer resting on the back of one of the Motorbugs being particularly welcoming. My wings carried me aloft in the cool air of the garage, a releived grin on my muzzle as I landed down beside the mini-tank. Well, for having been caught in a fuel-air bomb blast in a tunnel, it seems to've weatehred it pretty well. Trotting around to the wagon on the back, I pulled myself up, starting to go through the piles of stuff that were blown off and thrown back in. After a few moments, the olive-drab duffel bag finally surfaced, my forelegs quick to embrace it in a hug. Packed up, zipped up, and with any luck everything inside isn't smashed up...

Pulling it out and setting it on the back of the mini-tank behind Boomer, I took to unzipping it and starting to look through it. Sharpwing and Crash Dive, meanwhile, took to perusing the other mini-tanks nearby, the earthen-colored pegasus hovering over to nab a nearby toolbox. Pushing the fabric back with my hooves, I rummaged in my duffel bag, pulling out some of the contents. Okay, Thumper and ammo, good, good... Mmh, gonna have to try and fix some of those dented cases before I can use her again. Still, least her action and stock weren't damaged. Okay... War Crime. Bolt still pulls back just fine, long recoil... recoiling, scope might be misaligned but at least it isn't shattered. Gotta love how hard it is to break these guns with explosions. And the sword... yup, still a sword.

Letting a sigh of relief, I leaned myself back for a moment, just reveling in the small comfort of having our stuff back. Glancing back into the open duffel bag, however, the glint of a shard of something caught my attention, myself leaning in for a closer look. Spreading the top of the bag wider, it became apparent that the bottom of it was thoroughly soaked with something, a familiar armoma coming from it. I took a deep sniff, trying to pinpoint it - sweet, a little caramel-y, but mainly carrot-... my eyes went wide as it finally hit me, leaning back in shock. But... but... those bottles are supposed to be indestructible...

My voice echoed loudly in the garage, getting the attention of both Crash Dive and Sharpwing. Okay, yeah, I admit I may have gone a little over-the-top with it, but, my Sparkle-Cola, though... "NOOO!"

---

"You can be really melodramatic sometimes, you know." It was late evening by the time we finally got back to the hangar with the two engines we needed, and the mini-tank and wagon, of course. The same wagon, which as Static was all too gladly smug to point out, contained a trunk with a modest number of still-intact bottles of Sparkle-Cola. I sipped from one of them, more slowly than usual, the earth pony leaned up beside me as we sat outside in the snow, watching the sky change color. "I don't think I'll ever understand why you love that soda so much. Well, I mean, besides the obvious points about RAD, but still."

A smirk came across my muzzle as I buried the uncapped bottle in the snow beside me, leaning myself against Static's side. "Oh, come on, it's at least a little obvious. Besides my family, Sparkle-Cola just has some nice traits. It's sweet, easy on the eyes, can come in some cute bottom-heavy packaging, too~" I pushed myself up slightly, passing a grin on to the earth pony sat beside me. He returned it, myself letting off a slight giggle. "Of course, I might not've been talking about soda, for once~"

Static chuckled lightly, giving myself a light nuzzle as he rested a foreleg around myself, pulling me in close to his side. I spread my wing out to gently encompass his back in return, letting off a small sigh and making myself comfortable beside the earth pony. What can I say, I'm a sucker for sweet things with good taste... The distant light of the sun slowly faded over the western rim of the canyon, Static releasing a long breath out into the chill air, the water vapor in it condensing into a light wispy cloud. He dropped his head for a moment, before meeting my eyes, myself shuffling up to better listen. "Night Strike, I... I do want to help you, with whatever happened while I was recovering. Whatever it is, I'm willing to listen, no matter what. You didn't seem... well, you."

My eyes fell to the snowy ground, a cloudy sigh leaving my lips as the earth pony looked on. I shouldn't... what would he think? I did it for him, but... My hoof lifted to rub at my eyes as I let myself slump forwards, wings falling limp. He doesn't need to know the specifics. I drew in a deep breath, holding it for a moment to collect myself, the crisp evening air blowing the wispy cloud away as I let it out.

"What happened... I... I did something, that I didn't think I'd ever do. After you got shot, I was just so... so..." I sniffled a little in the cold air, feeling Static's forehoof reach to hold my own. "I was scared, and-and angry, and... when you were recovering, that night, I..." I couldn't find the words for it. Blinking a few times, my vision was becoming blurry, the deep orange glow in the sky giving away to a soft blue from the moon. Static had shuffled himself closer beside me, his hoof gripping mine tightly. "I felt helpless, and I took it out on... I just don't want to ever feel that way again. If anything happened to you, and, and you didn't..."

The earth pony wrapped his forelegs about myself in a tight hug, resting his chin on my shoulder. Fresh, freezing tears flowed down my cheeks as I sputtered my breaths, shaking in his hooves. Static lightly shushed, gently rubbing up and down my back, trying to calm me. After a few moments of the gentle crying, I pushed myself back, Static resting his hooves on my shoulders as my sore eyes met his. "Look, just... promise me that we'll both make it through this, together and alive."

Static let off a slow breath, passing on a light nod as he pulled me back into the hug, myself resting my own chin on his shoulder. "I promise we'll both get home, Night Strike. One way or another, we'll both get through this." A shuddering sigh escaped myself as I snugged the earth pony against myself, burying my muzzle against his neck and letting myself relax. I really just needed to hear him say that...

The back door to the hanger opened beside us, drawing our attention, Sharpwing stepping out through it with Crash Dive. The earthen-colored pegasus blunk in surprise as her eyes settled on us, causing her to step back, before regaining herself. "Ahm, sorry if we're interrupting, it's almost past curfew. Well, mare's curfew, anyways... Serene can show you to the stallion's barracks, Static. Five in the morning, you can meet back up here... we do have a pretty nice break room inside, if you need it." The pegasus flashed a small smile as I looked back towards the earth pony in my hooves, biting at the inside of my lip gently. It's just for the night, Night Strike...

Static let off a small sigh, nuzzling myself lightly for a moment, before planting a gentle kiss on my lips. He rose to his hooves, helping myself up onto my own, both of our eyes locked to the others'. His glanced down to the snow behind me for a moment, before he trotted over, pulling a quarter-empty bottle of Sparkle-Cola out of it and passing it over with a gentle smile. "I'll see you in the morning, Strikey. Will be waiting for you."

A smile grew on my muzzle as I passed him a nod in return, watching as the blue earth pony moved through the doorway and back into the hangar. I took a sip from the opened bottle, feeling the cool liquid settle in my stomach - we've got each other. We've made it this far... we can get through this.

---

"Vell, these new engines vill certainly be much more useful zan ze one zat vas left for us. Least of all because zey actually turn over..." Serene had begun fiddling with the two mini-tank engines by the time we arrived back in the hangar the next morning, a much cleaner diagram of the flying machine Sharpwing sketched out hanging from a board nearby the unicorn. Yeah, definitely does seem like it's a little less ridiculous without the big arcane reactor on top - not to mention, I don't think I'd want to have to be guzzling Radaway just to fly it. A pair of tanks wheeled themselves over in Serene's magic, the unicorn picking up some lengths of piping and a cutting torch, consulting the diagram again. "Most of ze frame can be made using ze piping, though we vill need some of the other parts sooner zan later."

"Long as it can keep pace with that fancy aircraft Turbine's got, we can at least give him a scare. And if that fails... well, I've sabotaged stuff before." Static gave a shrug as a jet of flame burst from the torch's nozzle, the unicorn turning the valve to a smaller blast and picking up a few lengths of piping. He set them aside for the moment, retreiving a pair of tinted goggles and letting off a sigh.

"Zat shouldn't be necessary, ze Dragon Mare is fast but it does have its limits. Unlike zis one, it flies on a large electric motor turning fanblades, so he can't run it at full throttle for too long. Ve just need to make sure zat ze Storch can outpace it at cruise speed, luck villing he underestimates us and doesn't bring a full charge." Pulling the pair of goggles down, Serene started to cut through two of the pipes, making them both even in length. The hot metal clattered to the floor as the unicorn pulled the cutting torch back, checkng the two cuts. "Of course, it vould help if we actually had all ze parts we needed. Vhere is Sharpwing, by ze way?"

"Uh... she said something about needing Crash Dive's help, then went off somewhere with her. I guess she might show up later?" Scratching at my mane, I passed on a shrug, Serene letting off a sigh and getting two more lengths of pipe. That was a good question, all things considered... suppose she must be doing something helpful. Wherever they are.

As if to answer us, the hangar's large doors started to slowly slide open, the bright morning sun streaming inside with the black silhouette of a power armored pegasus pulling a wagon casting a large shadow across the floor, a smile on her face. Sharpwing flew in beside Crash Dive, as she pulled the wagon inside, the earth-colored pegasus shutting the door. "Ah, sorry we're a bit late, had to call in a favor from those three blokes you saw yesterday. Captain Slow... er, Calm May, had a fair bit of fireproof fabric left over from his airship, just took a little convincing to get 'im to let us have enough for our flyer."

I blunk a few times as Crash Dive unhitched herself from the wagon, my wings carrying me aloft to head over to the wagon with Static. Serene turned off the cutting torch, setting it aside and moving himself over as well, his magic encompassing a large swathe of the fabric and holding it up for us to see. Well, I mean, it being fireproof is nice, I guess, but... "Uhm, Sharpving, why is it all colored zis deep red?"

"Eh, uh, well, red goes faster, obviously!" Serene shot the earthen pegasus a glare as I looked at the fabric for myself, rubbing a hoof over the material. Well, I don't know how well it'll actually work for wings, but I guess it's better than trying to make them out of solid metal or something. Sharpwing leaned herself against the cart, letting off a weak chuckle and a cough. "That, and, uh, this was all they had left of it. Heavy Strike said that Fast Track set most of what wasn't used in the airship's balloon on fire... somehow."

"I... guess we can be happy that this stuff is definitely fireproof, then?" Wearing a weak smile, I glanced between Serene and Sharpwing, the former giving his eyes a roll and going back to working with the piping while the latter seemed to thing for a moment, before giving a light shrug. She hopped herself up onto the back of the wagon, starting to slide the masses of fabric off, myself and Static helping her. It flopped to the floor of the hangar with a heavy thud, Sharpwing giving a nod and looking towards us, her eyes focusing on the band on my tail... I think.

"Say, um, Night Strike, just is somethin' I noticed while you were recovering... um... how do I put this... why d'you have two tail bits?" I only blunk a few times in response at first, the whirring of power armor servos and Serene lighting the cutting torch again filling the silence. Crash Dive appeared beside Sharpwing, looking towards myself.

"I was actually wondering the same. Had to take everything they could off of you to properly patch you up after the explosion, didn't realize that I've never seen you without those bands on before." That... was actually a good point. Knew it felt weird getting dressed again yesterday, it was fitting the bands back on...

I looked between them both for a moment, before giving my tail...s a little swish. "Well, uh, one of my dads -is- named Twintails for a reason... don't ask me how it passed down to me. Not like it's obvious, anyways." Myself shrugging, Static trotted up alongside me, wearing a confused look on his face as well. Oh, c'mon, you of all ponies would've known it... unless you didn't. Somehow. Which I have a pretty good guess as to why. "I dunno, doesn't matter any, does it? I wear 'em bound up anyways, just feels... it just seems more normal than wearing them seperate."

Sharpwing only seemed even more confused, glancing over to Crash Dive for a moment before turning back to me. "I... guess. Just never seen anypony with somethin' like that before, least not anypony that didn't also have a few other extra things on 'em..." The earthen pegasus shrugged for a moment, moving over to pick up part of the unloaded fabric, checking it out. That expression still stuck on her face for a while, before she looked back up at myself. "Wait... what did you mean by 'one' of your dads?"

A dry chuckle left Crash Dive's mouth as she trotted over, drawing Sharpwing's attention. The power armored pegasus shook her head, resting an armored hoof on Sharpwing's shoulder. "Trust me, that is not a can of worms you want to open without a fresh bottle of Wild Pegasus in hoof. Let's just focus on the flying machine for now." Giving the earthen-colored pegasus a gentle pat, Crash Dive moved herself over to the rest of the stuff we'd gathered up, Sharpwing nodding weakly.

"Right... So, anyways, we've got an engine, we've got fuel, we've got stuff for the frame, and we've got fabric for the lifting surfaces. Just leaves..." Sharpwing's confused expression gave way to one of deep thought, the pegasus taking off from where the pile of fabric laid to hover over to the board near where Serene was working on building the flyer's frame. Looking to Static, we both joined her, watching as she read over the few notes dotted around it. "Well, gonna have a nice full shopping list, at least. Do we really need shock absorbers for the skids, Serene?"

The unicorn looked up from the pipes he was working with, setting them aside and shutting off the torch. "Vell, yes, since zis won't have any proper landing vheels we need as smooth a takeoff as ve can get. However, zere is one thing zat I vas thinking over zat ze Storch could do vith..." Pulling the welding goggles off, Serene levitated them over to a nearby desk, opening up one of the drawers and pulling out another schematic. This one just looked like some kind of odd turbine, except with the chambers seperated off and one being labeled 'exhaust in' for some reason. He wore a grin, tacking it up alongside the diagram of the... what did he call it, Stork? "A turbocharger. While ze engines should be putting out around six hundred horsepower combined already, zis vill give it a little more oomph. Higher pressure air in ze cylinders allows more fuel to be burnt, might get ze engine up to eight hundred forty horsepower. Vith ze right propeller, would like to see zat desk fan vith wings try and beat it."

Oooh, I do like the way that stallion thinks. More engine power's gotta mean more speed, after all, especially with such a light craft... I don't think even the TOG has a power-to-weight ratio like that. A wide grin was on my muzzle as Sharpwing only wore a smirk, passing on a nod. "Turbocharger, alright. Looks like we're gonna have a pretty sizable list for stuff to nick, then... kind of hoping that hangar'll have all of it." Serene wore a grin as he pulled a notepad and pencil from the desk, looking to the diagram he'd nicened up and starting to put down the parts.

Static stepped forwards, looking between us all. "So, far as all this goes, am I going to have to do this alone or will I get some help? Carrying my umbrella is one thing, I don't think I can haul all of this stuff too." Static bit at his lip as Serene continued jotting things down, eventually tearing off the page... only to start putting more down on the other side. How much stuff went into making a freakin' flying machine!? Really not envying Static at this point... then again, I think I know how well 'stealth' and 'me' mix.

The unicorn eventually finished, looking over the long list he'd just made up, before turning to face us. "Vell, if needed I suppose I can accompany you. If ve can set zings up right, zen ve may even be able to use your own Kettenkraftfahrzeug to some extent. Ve just need to set it up for a fly-over on zat part of ze air base, the loose snow vill do ze rest for us. Subdue ze guards somehow, break in, grab ze parts, out scott-free."

Sharpwing passed on a nod, looking to the partially-built frame that sat in the middle of the hangar. "Sounds like a plan, we'll get on with setting what we can of the flyer's internals up while you get on with the heist. Can at least set up the engines and some of the bodywork, maybe get started on building the wings, too." Serene answered with a nod of his own, folding up the list neatly and trotting over beside Static, heading towards the mini-tank. The earth pony turned to follow him for a moment, before turning to face myself, a hoof lifting to rest against my shoulder as we both looked into each other's eyes.

"Good luck, Sparky. Stay safe." He let off a small chuckle, us both meeting with a small parting kiss, my hoof gently brushing against his as he took a trot back and turned to head for the mini-tank. Sharpwing opened the hangar doors with a clatter, the engine of the small vehicle purring to life and pulling it forwards, the wagon being left behind. My eyes followed the little half-track for as long as they could as it sped off, Sharpwing eventually having to shut the hangar up again, hovering back over to us. I let off a small sigh, turning my attention towards the partially-assembled frame before straightening myself and looking towards Sharpwing and Crash Dive.

"Alright, let's get a flying machine built."

The engine roared loudly as I drove across the tarmac, Serene bouncing a bit behind me as I drove over a hole in the runway. The back of my mind wondered how these ponies expected to take off and land on such a poor strip of road as Serene guided me through the airbase. I began to focus more on the issue at hand as we followed a dirt road away from the upper runway and hangers towards a small group of hangers stationed at the edge of the mountains that rose up around one side of the base. Some of the hangers appeared to have been built into the stone, and across from them, set at the brink of the drop off into the forest below. “Alright, pull over here, zhere’s a crack in zhe canyon. And svitch off zhat headlight.” Serene pointed towards a large split in the rock, partially concealed by dead shrubbery.

I complied, pulling my hoof away from the side of the tank to avoid being scratched by the brambles. The mini-tank was just able to squeeze into the crack before I switched the engine off and turned around to face Serene. “So, what exactly is the plan? And do you know anything specific about these hangers? I mean, I can go in kind of blind if we need to, but it’d be nice if I actually knew what the whole security detail is, where we’re supposed to actually find the parts, y’know?” Serene grimaced, leaning over some of the brush to look down at the hangers.

“Nein, I really don’t know vhy Sharpving didn’t volunteer to help out, she’s usually gung-ho about zhings like zhis.” Well, that’s just great. I watched as Serene thought, scratching his head a bit as he repeatedly glanced back between the hangers and me. Eesh, this would be a lot easier if we could've had that stealth armor fixed long ago... “Alright, I zhink I have a bit of an idea. It won’t distract zhe guards for long, but it might be enough for you to get zhe stuff out. Get in zhere and see if you can get zhe parts over to zhe door, I’ll give you… tventy minutes, zhat’s enough, Jah?” I nodded, hoping that the parts weren’t too hidden. Serene nodded in return, climbing into the driver’s seat beside me as I hopped out over the side. “Alright, tventy minutes, maybe zhirty, and you’ll know it when it happens. Zhen I’ll come in and get zhe parts out wizh you after it goes off.”

I nodded again, trying to hide my confusion to his plan as I grabbed my umbrella from the mini-tank. Serene started the engine and pulled back out of the cliffs to head back towards the larger runway. I waited a few moments to make sure nopony was still watching the area, before I began to creep down towards the hangers. I spotted a few ponies standing guard on either side of the hanger doors, each with a rifle slung over their shoulders. Working my way slowly along the side of the cliffs, I tried to spot some way of sneaking my way past, but both were standing stock still, simply staring off in the distance. “How old did you say your sister was?” One of the guards asked the other.

“Ugh, piss off.” Mm, elite minds I’m dealing with here. I bent down and picked up a rock, tossing it a couple times to get a feel for its weight. Taking careful aim, I chucked the rock into the distance, hearing it bounce and clack across the runway. One of the guards looked over to try and find the source of the sound, swinging his rifle over his head to hold it at the ready as he wandered away from his post. “The hell’re you doing?” The other guard wandered after the other as he trotted away from the door. As they walked off, I quickly dashed forward, slipping in through the small door beside the large hanger one before they returned. That was almost criminally simple.

The hanger was filled with shelves of mechanics, various parts and pieces that I could only vaguely recognize. I reached down into my jacket, trying to fish out the list of parts that Sharpwing had written up. Alright, let’s see, shock absorbers, wire cable, tubing, turbocharger, portable generator… I grimaced, finally coming to realize just how much stuff they’d sent me out to get. Oh, this isn’t going to be fun to try and get before Serene returns. Not to mention our absolutely horrid luck when it came to finding any sort of generator that we could pick up and move around. I snapped back to reality as I heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching. Ducking down behind a few boxes, I peered around the corner to see a pony meandering through the hanger, levitating a clipboard in the air as she ran inventory on the items.

I glanced down the hallway, trying to spot if any other ponies were around. Spotting no one, I pulled out my umbrella and began to sneak up behind the unicorn. With a jab and the crackle of electricity, the prongs connected with her spine, just below the base of her skull. The pony collapsed, and I was just able to grab her under her legs and have the clipboard bounce off of my leg to try and prevent it from clattering to the floor. Quickly dragging her back around the corner, I went to pick up the clipboard to look it over, occasionally glancing around to make sure nopony else was coming to investigate. Alright, now we’re talking. Scanning the page, I began to trot down the aisles of the shelves, following the guide of the inventory checklist.

Okay, shock absorbers, those shouldn’t be missed, I doubt they’d notice any extra pipes disappearing either. I swiped some of the parts, trotting back towards the large doors of the hanger and stashing them beside the exit. The pony stirred a little on the ground, but remained unconscious as I headed back towards the rear of the hanger. I checked the clock on my Pip-Buck, trotting past a collection of large turbine blades. Ten minutes, and I’ve still got turbocharger parts to snatch. Crap. I picked up my pace, rushing between shelves as I tried to find the parts needed. Come on, come on, fuel converter, spark plugs…

Rushing back and forth through the storage area, I gathered up more parts, stashing them in the slowly growing pile near the door. As I hurried, looking for a modified power generator, I suddenly stopped in place, my ear flicking as I thought I heard something outside of the hanger. I stood motionless, my heart pounding in my chest as I listened to voices on the other side of the door. Moving over to the boxes, I ducked behind them, hoping the guards weren’t planning on coming in, my mind racing with what they could have heard that’d have raised suspicion. Then there was the sound of something burning loudly from off the in distance, steadily growing louder and louder over time. I tensed up as an explosion rang out overhead. It was quiet for a moment, but soon I could hear a faint rumbling that steadily grew louder. The ground began to shake as the sound of groaning metal met my ears and I dove underneath a table, looking up at the ceiling of the hanger nervously.

The rumble eventually died down and I was stuck laying in silence for a long while before there was a knock at the door. The guards wouldn’t knock, would they? Creeping up to the keyhole, I peered through to see the sapphire and gold jacket of Serene, who was glancing about with worry. I opened the door and he slipped inside. “Ve have eight minutes maximum before zhe guards return. I vas able to start an avalanche on zhe other side of zhis runvay, zhey’re going to check it out now. Come on!” He hurried over to the parts I’d collected, quickly gathering a few in his hooves. I followed suit, heading out of the hanger behind him. He’d parked the mini-tank just around the corner of the hanger, but it was out of sight of the ponies rushing in the opposite direction towards an enormous pile of snow where other ponies were frantically working with shovels. Holy Celestia, he wasn’t joking. We rushed back and forth, moving the smaller parts over to the mini-tank before Serene stopped, looking down at the pieces of machinery we’d gathered. “Vhere’s zhe generator? I'm sure Sharpving wouldn't have put it on zhe list if ve didn't need it!”

“There’s nothing in there! And there’s no way they’d not notice something as big as a generator missing, what am I supposed to do? I don’t even think we’d be able to get one out of there with the Mini-tank without the trailer.” I retaliated, trying to keep my voice low. Serene grumbled, pacing back and forth quickly as he looked around the corner to watch the guards. He jumped back inside the hanger and I followed, resisting the urge to yank him back and speed out of here before the guards noticed what was going on.

“Zhere has to be somezhing in here, you just weren’t looking hard enough!” Yanno, I’d like to think I did pretty well, given the time limit I had to find all that stuff, ya stuck-up unicorn. This stuff's stressful! I managed to keep down the retort as followed him, watching him push aside some parts as he frantically searched the room. As he turned around a large stack of crates, he suddenly stopped in place, coming up to a curtain I hadn’t noticed. He pushed it aside, climbing up onto the back of something. I raised an eyebrow, momentarily forgetting the danger as I climbed up behind Serene.

I quickly realized we were standing on the back of some sort of vehicle, a small window revealing a driver’s seat not unlike that of the mini-tank, while on the flatbed behind the seats sat an intricate machine, covered in dials, knobs and switches. Wires dangled from the sides of the strange box, but as I went to inspect it, I was snapped back to attention as I suddenly heard the large engine at the front rumble to life. Looking over to the driver’s seat, I caught Serene sitting, looking over his shoulder as the vehicle shuddered and roared. I rushed up to him, hissing through my teeth, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?! They’ll see you driving out of here a mile away!” Serene ignored me, waving a hoof as he pulled out into the main path of the hanger.

Flipping a switch, he began to roll forwards, heading towards the door. I stood, frozen, for a moment, before jumping out of the back of the truck, running to the lever next to the hanger doors. It creaked loudly as I pulled it down, my mind shouting that this was an absolutely terrible idea. Gears spun as the doors began to slide open, Serene plowing forward as the crack became wide enough for the much more massive half-track to head through, myself rushing back around the corner. Leaping into the mini-tank, I flipped the ignition, the headlight flickering to life before I spun around, the parts bouncing against me as I watched Serene turn out of the hanger, heading back up the road to the larger runway. Oh, Celestia, oh Celesita, why, who thought this was a good idea?

I shook my head and sped off, racing up the road away, praying the guards weren’t watching as Serene and I disappeared around the corner.

---

“Why in Tartarus would you ever think that was a good idea?!” I shouted, all of us gathered back in the workshop the next morning. Sharpwing dropped down the parts she had been carrying from the half-track and the larger truck that were now hidden away in a crevice of the canyon. “Holy shit, I’m just surprised they haven’t come to skin us alive already! There’s no way they didn’t see us leaving!” I flopped down onto the seat of the Stork, dropping my face into my hooves.

“Jeez, and you said -I- was melodramatic. Calm down, Sparky, you’re fine. I don’t think they were too bothered with a few stolen parts when they were digging one of those huge guns out of the snow.” Night Strike was busy sifting through the new parts, picking up a wrench with her wing and beginning to crank a few screws into the framework. “Besides, what’re they going to do? Worst case scenario they put one of us in jail and we just stage another big break out. You did it before, you can do it again.” She stuck her tongue out playfully and I shook my head, sighing.

Crash Dive shut the door behind her as she trotted in after the rest of us. “As much as I’d like to tell him to shut up, Static’s not being completely paranoid, Night Strike. If any of the judges at the races were to see the stolen equipment during an inspection we’d be kicked out immediately, if they do anything like that.” Night Strike finished tightening the bolts on the frame of the plane, Crash Dive going to pick up some of the shock absorbers to begin attaching them to the skis of the Stork. “Regardless, we need to get this plane built before tomorrow or it won’t matter whether or not they find out we stole these parts. Go help Serene get the rest of the stuff out of that truck so we can get this daft thing functional.”

I reluctantly got out of the seat, heading back outside and beginning to make my way towards the edge of the canyon. I glanced over my shoulder to check to see if anypony was following me before I turned and trotted along the cliff side. Soon coming to a wide crack in the mountain, I turned into it, just able to see Serene digging around under the hood of the vehicle. I stepped up behind him, Serene suddenly standing up straight as he heard the sound of my hoofsteps. His head collided with the hood, causing Serene to spout several foreign expletives as he rubbed his skull. “Schiesse, you couldn’t have given me more of a varning?” He went back to the guts of the machine, reaching in and digging around. “Vell, for vhatever Sharpwing wanted it for, ve’re in a bit of luck. Ve won’t need to pull zhat huge generator off of zhe back for zhe Storch, zhe spark battery in zhis should be powerful enough. Not to mention it doesn’t veigh an extra four, five hundred kilograms...”

I raised an eyebrow, looking back up at the vehicle. It was actually much more impressive than I’d noticed the night before, rather than being more akin to the motorized wagons I occasionally saw at the sides of roads back up home, the rear wheels were replaced with twin long tracks that ran the length of the bed, not unlike the mini-tank. Resting on the back stood what I now realized to be an auxiliary arcane reactor, spools of cables resting beside it. My eyes suddenly went wide as I stared at the large, portable reactor. “Serene, you wouldn’t mind if we took this thing back when we leave, would you?”

Serene grunted, tugging out the large battery after a few moments. He let out a sigh of relief before levitating it up into the air and beginning to trot back towards the workshop. “Nein, I don’t zhink ve’d need it for anyzhing. If ve’re able to get you zhree out of zhis place, it’s yours. Vhy do you need it?” We were soon back at the workshop, both of us stepping inside to see Crash Dive covering the wings of the flying machine in tarp as Night Strike jiggled the newly added control shaft. She got up from the seat, and Sharpwing leaned to look around from the back of the engine to see us enter.

“We’ve kind of been looking for a generator for a long time now, and that we might be able to rewire that thing on the back of the truck to power the repair talismans on our crashed Valkyrie. And at this point I’m willing to try driving that thing out of here under fire from those guns just to have an actual generator we can use.” Serene shrugged, walking up to the bare half-track engine Crash Dive was working on and dropping the battery onto the workbench beside it. I wandered over to the Stork, looking it over - Certainly looked like it was getting close to being completed, I suppose.

Night Strike stood from securing the shock absorbers into place, stepping back to admire the work done so far on the machine. “Well, I’d say that’s about the most flight-worthy thing we’ve ever built. Barring the time you accidentally sent that propane tank into space,” She said, looking over and grinning at me. I rolled my eyes, Night Strike looking back down at the Stork in contemplation. “Hm... yanno, probably wouldn't hurt if whoever wound up flying this thing had some weapons they could use. Which probably means it's not gonna end up being you, Sparky, unless you want to try flying close enough to hit them with your umbrella.”

Shooting her a small glare, I thought for a moment, wondering if there was a way to nicely mount something onto the front of the machine. My ears perked up a bit as I got an idea. “Hold on,” I said, as I made my way towards the door. I stepped outside and hopped up onto the wagon parked just outside of the workshop. Digging through the crates of ammo, I quickly found the gauss gun we’d retrieved from the mercenaries. Jumping down and heading back into the workshop, I presented the rifle to the others. “Could just hook up this thing up to the Stork's circuits. Assuming you don’t run out of ammo somehow, you should have more than enough power for it.” I suggested. Serene looked up from his work on the turbocharger system, his eyes going wide as he saw the gun. Sharpwing shook her head, looking back down at the bolts she was tightening.

“Well, now you’ve done it. Serene’s not gonna get any more work done on this thing until you satisfy his curiosity.” She said, with a mix of humor and annoyance. Serene glared at her, sniffing indignantly. “Besides, if we can avoid adding on extra weight and screwing up the balance of this thing, I’d rather do that. This thing'll have enough issues with drag on account of the fuselage shape, and no reason to give us more yawing issues to worry about than we have to. I hate aerodynamics sometimes.” My ears flopped back down again, my muzzle scrunching a bit. Oh, fine, ruin the fun. Night Strike looked mildly disappointed as well, but conceded and went back to inspecting the machine.

Serene still trotted over to get a closer look at the rifle, levitating it out of my hooves. “Vhere did you find one of zhese? I don’t zhink I’ve ever seen an energy weapon like zhis before!” He turned the rifle over in his hooves, a few of the loose wires jiggling a bit as he lifted it up to peer through the scope. I shrugged as Serene turned the crank on the side of the gun, the arm clicking with each setting.

“No clue. I mean, we got it from some mercenaries that were after us, but I don’t know where the heck they got it. I remember my dad has something similar back up north, but this model of Gauss Rifle looks to be pretty heavily modified. Maybe whoever the mercs were working for got a hold of plans from old military tech, or something?” The unicorn wore a smile as he peered through the scope, fiddling with some of the bits and switches. Huh, wonder if unicorns just have a predesposition to energy weapons, or something...

"A Gauss Rifle modified for burst-fire abilities, certainly is quite zhe impressive zing. Doesn't seem to veigh zat much, either... Sharpving, are you sure?..." The pegasus poked her head out from behind the body of the aircraft, passing on a firm glare in response. The unicorn's shoulders sank as he released a sigh, looking back to the rifle. "Ach, fine. No biodiesel for ze Sturmvalker, no Gauss rifle on ze Storch, take all ze fun away, vhy don't you?" Laying the modified gauss rifle on a workbench, Serene turned back to the Stork, his magic levitating over the turbocharger system and fitting it in place inside the boxy fuselage, connecting it up.

The rest of the aircraft came together quickly, the large tank wrapped in the same red fireproof fabric fitting in place above the engine and the wings coming in on top of it, sheet metal being placed on to cover most of the innards. Glancing between everyone as they stepped back, I dug into my saddlebags, pulling out the few bottles of moonshine we’d taken from the shack so long ago. Popping open the cork, I reeled back, coughing at the strong scent of alcohol. Well, let’s hope this stuff isn't so strong it manages to blow up the engine... beginning to pour the alcohol into the fuel tank, everyone watched in anticipation, myself wearing a gromace as I thought.

Climbing onto an alcohol powered home-built box bird plane put together in only a few days... What could possibly go wrong?

The strong-smelling liquid sloshed as Static emptied the last bottle into the Stork's fuel tank, the simple skid suspension taking the weight well. Stepping down from the small stepladder he was using to reach the top-mounted tank, the earth pony let off a sigh, setting the emptied bottle on the ground. "Well, that's all we've got. Hope it'll be enough for... well, however long this thing'll have to fly." Serene passed on a nod, turning to the aircraft and starting to turn the propeller around a few times, for... some reason. Static looked towards myself for a moment, leaning back. "Speaking of, have we decided on who's flying this thing? Because I'm not really going to trust something we just threw together over a few days that's supposed to run on distilled moonshine."

Sharpwing let off a small groan of annoyance, planting a hoof against her forehead. "In case ya didn't get the memo, we haven't really got many choices in pilots. The race is sort of Stallions-only, and I doubt Serene could have a tapeworm's chance in a pet shop when it comes to flying this thing." There was a small clatter from the other side of the Stork, drawing our attention to a notably annoyed red-coated unicorn. Sharpwing responded with a roll of her eyes. "Oh, come on Serene, piloting an aircraft and piloting your Sterm-vulker at night are two very different things. Besides, you wanna risk falling out of this thing without me to back you up?"

"I'm beginning to regret allowing you to handle most of ze construction. Zhe seat is nothing like I designed it, especially..." Oh yeah, because we can totally afford strapping a whole fancy throne onto the front of this thing. I shared in Sharpwing's annoyance, the unicorn adjustibg his glasses and releasing a sigh. "Either vay, zat is a good point. If Static von't und neither of us can, our options are quite limited... und I doubt zat powered armor would vork well vith zis airframe, even being ze Enclave kind."

"So... guess that just leaves me, then. Yay." Putting on a weak smile for a moment, it fell to a sigh, myself trotting up to the flying machine. Come on, Strikey, you're gonna have to figure out how to fly a big metal thing without crashing it into the ground sooner or later... this'd probably be the best place to do it. You can get this, you know how all it works, you helped build the darned thing... "So... do we have to get permission to test fly or something, or can we just take it out and start it up?"

"Well, first things first, we probably need some sort of disguise for you if you're going to be flying in the race. I was able to find something in the back room of those three stallions' hangar, while you were getting the slow one to give up the fireproof fabric..." Crash Dive wore a smile on her muzzle as she trotted off to a side room for a moment, sounds fo rummaging around coming from it. After a moment, she reappeared, carrying a frankly ridiculously heavy-looking jacket, scarf, hat and set of goggles, letting them fall to the shop floor. "From the looks of it, this should cover up all of you without fuss. Not like they'll be able to tell once you get airborne, unless they have binoculars or something."

The red-coated unicorn trotted over, looking over the pile of loose heavy fabric for a moment, before picking it up in his magic. Well, I guess it might work, kind of would lose use of my wings but concealing Thumper and a few rounds of buckshot and high explosive shouldn't be too much of a hassle with it... which begs the question as to why Serene instead passed it over to Static. The earth pony stumbled a little as he took the clothes, Crash Dive quickly going from surprised to confused to annoyed - how can she do that so well? "Zat vill work for ze race, though ve don't need it quite yet. Stallions are allowed to choose mares to test fly their flying machines, in case of... vell, unforseen complications. Nothing more zan zat, though. Still, it vould be helpful if you wore zis around until ze day of ze race, Static, give Turbine no reason to assume an impostor."

"Nnf, well, I guess that makes sense. I'll just have to hang back on race day, so Turbine just thinks I'm flying." Static shuffled the heavy flight gear around, starting to slip it on over his regular jacket, adjusting the heavy fabric on himself. I trotted over to the small seat on the front of the Stork meanwhile, climbing up onto it and looking about at the bare controls. Alright, so we've got the flight stick-thingy here, rudder pedals there, and the throttle lever strapped to the side of the seat... aside from the fact that there's no way to strap myself on, if it works, it works. Static pushed the pair of flight goggles up on his head, voice muffled by the thick scarf. "So, we gonna take this thing out for it's first test flight or what? Kind of hoping the fuel doesn't eat its way through the tank before we have a chance..."

Serene gave a nod in response, his horn flaring with magic as it pulled open the hangar doors wide, myself raising my foreleg to shield my eyes from the bright daylight reflected off the snow. With a sudden jolt, I grabbed onto the control stick for stability, feeling the flyer lifting up into the air a short way and looking around in confusion. Serene's magic had taken ahold of the aircraft's base, the unicorn carefully easing it out onto the snowy runway, myself letting off a sigh. Okay, just like flying a Vertibuck or the Valkyrie, you can do this, Strikey... hopefully without plowing into the ground.

The Stork settled on the two skids after it was fully outside, Sharpwing trotting up on my left side to check things over. She fiddled with one of the knobs on the side of the chair for a few moments, before giving a nod. "Alright, the engine should be primed and ready to start up, just push on the ignition and hold it until it starts purring. The snow should give you low enough ground resistance to take off once we get to the runway, hopefully... just pull back when it feels right, yeah?"

She wore a weak smile, myself answering her with a nod before pausing to think for a moment. If it's annoying to ride on the mini-tank without goggles on... Looking back, Static trotted over on the opposite side, myself waving him closer. He blunk a few times as I pulled the flight goggles off of his head, fitting them on myself. A giggle escaped me as he let off a cloudy huff through the scarf, pulling it down from his muzzle. "You could've just asked, yanno."

"Aw, but then I wouldn't have gotten to see your cute face before I took off~" Wonder if it was the heavy clothes or me that made him blush like that. Giving him a quick parting peck, Serene trotting out ahead caught my attention, the unicorn looking back with an uneasy expression for a moment. Looking past him, the sight of three other figures coming out of a hangar caught our attention - as did their, um... what. "I... is that supposed to be their flying machine?"

"Well... it's a far cry from May's airship, at least it doesn't seem like it has a balloon for lift. It... -might- work?" Sharpwing looked on with the rest of us, just as confused by the sight. After a moment of watching them, the earthen-colored pegasus let off a sigh, a forehoof meeting her forehead. "Oh, barking spiders, they're doing one of their presenting bits. Won't clear the runway until they're finished... ech, come on. Least we can be entertained for a bit before takeoff, and size up their... whatever the heck that thing is."

Looking to the rest as Sharpwing started to trot over to the hangar on the far side of the runway, I was met with a shrug from Crash Dive and Static's bewildered face. Well, I'm sure the Stork can just sit for however long it takes these guys to take off... well, without damaging itself, hopefully. Hopping out of the seat, I passed on one last glance before following behind Sharpwing, Serene already trotting along before Crash Dive and Static finally followed. I landed up beside Sharpwing, scratching at the back of my head a little, pushing the flight goggles up. "So, these guys think they're presenters for some pre-war TV show? That's... something."

"Haven't a clue what's made 'em think like that, but they're pretty harmless on the whole, and relatively entertaining. Not that great at vehicle design, but they mean well." By the time we arrived at the hangar, they seemed to be starting to roll whatever their flying machine was supposed to be further out, one of the trio trotting over to us. Sharpwing let off a small chuckle, putting on a smile. "Ah, Calm May, that's quite the, um... interesting flying machine you've got."

The brown-maned unicorn nodded in response, watching as the rest of the group caught up with us, before glancing back at the machine. "Ah, yes, this here was actually mostly Heavy Strike's and Fast Track's idea. The idea was to make a flying machine that's both small, light, and comfortable for driving on an average repaired road as well. Using a tricycle-wheeled chassis and sporting a foldable wingspan of about six meters, the hope is that the little half-ton thing should easily take to the air, given a long enough run-up. Rather optimistically, Track decided an appropriate name for our tiny vehicle would be the Reliant Robin - asking me, considering it'll be relying on heavy steel wings rather than a comfortable heated balloon, I think they just want to rub my successful attempt at a flying machine in."

A small scream came from where the, uh, Robin was, us all looking to see a pegasus' flanks sticking out from one of the windows. The legs kicked open air as the third of the group, a larger grey-maned earth pony, trotted over with a look of annoyance. May let off a quiet chuckle, looking on with the rest of us. "Oh dear, seems that the Hamster's gotten himself stuck again. I told you we couldn't have the wings extend to block the doors, ya pillocks!" The older unicorn shook his head in disbelief, trotting over to the other two, while I just sat my flanks down in the snow and watched on. Well, got the entertaining part down...

"Alright, they oughta get their flyin' machine out onto the runway without fuss now, we'll just wait for them to wrap up their laps and then see if the Stork compares. Kind of think most of the time they just want someone to talk to, bless 'em..." Sharpwing turned and started to trot back to our hangar with Serene, myself still sitting in the snow for a while. I mean, if we have to wait for them anyways, might as well be entertained in the meanwhile. Static and Crash Dive both settled in as well, May and... ahm, I think the earth pony's Heavy Strike, right, eventually managing to pull Fast Track out of the window.

Definitely feeling better about our chances.

---

"Engine primed, control surfaces moving, turbocharger... turbochargering. Right." Some considerable time and a lot of Heavy Strike shouting the word 'Power', and an astonishing spectacle of the Robin actually managing to take off and land later, we were finally able to get the Stork out onto the runway to perform our test flight. Sharpwing moved up alongside myself, passing on a nod, the goggles moving down over my eyes. "One full lap of the air base and we can call it, remember that you're going to have a large bit of prop torque so be prepared for that. If anything goes wrong, try and get it low to the ground and bail, least you've got wings to help you with that. Good luck."

Passing her a single nod, the earthen pegasus flew off to the side of the runway, myself looking down to my left at the throttle and ignition controls. Whoo, alright Strikey, you can do this, just like flying a Vertibuck. My forehoof reached down to the starter lever, pushing it down two clicks, the electric motors on the engines whining and making the pistons turn over in the cylinders a few times before the two boxer 8s roared to life. The aircraft rolled slightly as the propeller started to spin, my hoof releasing the starter lever and moving to the throttle behind it. She started, good, step one done...

The throttle slowly eased open as I pushed the lever forwards, the engine's roar becoming louder and more air being sucked past me to the propeller and down the radiator and turbo intakes on the sides. The Stork slowly began to lean forwards on the shock absorbers, tilting left as the propeller pushed more and more. Eventually the aircraft began to move forwards, the torque from the engine sending me skidding towards the left - ergh, uh, right, um, right rudder? Right rudder. Pushing my back hoof against the pedal and pushing the stick to the same side, the aircraft settled itself back out, heading straight down the runway once again. Okay... really hope I don't have to worry about THAT with the Valkyrie.

Pushing the throttle open further, the wind really started to pick up against my face, the snowy runway rushing by much faster than before. Taking quick, short breaths of the frigid air, eventually I had the throttle fully open, the Stork beginning to leave shallower ruts in the snow. I pulled the control shaf to my chest, gritting my teeth and wrenching my eyes shut - please please pleeease take off before I run out of runway... the wooshing of snow under the skids faded, myself feeling as I was rolled backwards, body facing the sky. Cracking one eye open, the large clouds in the bright blue sky met me instead of the tall mountains in the distance, myself blinking. Leaning forwards - and easing the stick back forwards, because I -really- didn't want to throw myself into a loop right after takeoff - I peered over the side of the seat, watching the snowy ground fading away, the roofs of the hangars well behind me. This... this thing actually works!

"Ha-ha! Oh, fuck me with an ROQF seventeen-pounder, this is somethin' else!" Leting loose a gleeful cackle, the Stork settled back into level flight, myself just taking in the scenery for the moment. Alright, okay, she took off, let's see about that fly-around. Looking around to get my bearings, I let out a breath, nodding to myself more than anyone. The improvised engine thundered along behind me as I tilted the stick to the left, the whole aircraft rolling in accordance and slowly starting to bank that way. Pull it back a little... and we're in a nice easy turn. Good.

Leveling off as the Stork carried me back around over the collection of side hangars and buildings on the eastern edge of the airbase, I pushed the stick forwards, bringing us closer to the ground as it whizzed by. The roofs of buildings whoosed past as I passed over them, takng a hoof off the stick to wave at the few ponies on the ground. Oh, yeah, flying's nice, but I'm going this fast without getting tired... I can get used to being a pilot. Hell, I'd love if we could at least take this back with us... we're gonna need a bigger Valkyrie.

The extent of the air base passed by underneath, myself heading for the far edge of the box canyon the runway was situated in. Okay, so you do fine in a slow turn, let's see if you can handle a tighter one... the Stork rolled quickly as the air was deflected on the wing edges, the elevator pushing the whole thing around very quickly. I felt my stomach trying to force its way to my back legs as the scenery flew by in a blur, myslef tending and grunting from the sudden forces almost out of instinct. Releasing the stick saw the turn to settle back out, blood finding its way back into my head as i rolled back to level, passing over the landing strip once again. Okay, yeah, let's... not do that again.

The second pass and turn went by fast, myself finding my hoof moving for the throttle to actually pull it back. I had a feeling this thing was gonna be fast, but, damn, pulling a turn that hard and taking off as quickly as it did? This thing's nuts! I soon had to turn back around, weaving slightly in the air as I lined back up with the runway, looking across the long white expanse. Easing back the throttle turned the Stork from a plane into a glider, minor adjustments needed to keep it level as it touched down working just fine as the snow drew closer. Perfect test flight, if I do say so myself.

The skids took the weight of the airframe, the engine purring lightly behind me at idle as the Stork skidded to a stop a good distance away from the hangar. Wearing a grin and watching the rest starting to rush over, I nudged the throttle forwards, the Stork moving over to meet them. Yeah, definitely got the hang of her... hopefully. The engine fell back to idle as the distance became close enough, myself reaching down and pulling the start lever up, breaking the electrical contacts and shutting her down. The turbo whined to a stop inside the body, my head falling back against the small cushion as a sigh escaped me. Regular flight? Yeah, that's nice. Powered flight? Oh, baby...

Static was first to reach me, surprising considering how heavy that jacket must be, wrapping his forelegs around me. Woah, okay, easy there tiger... "Oh, thank Celestia that worked. You're alright, right? That was a really sharp turn you pulled back there Strikey, I was worried you'd fall off or something." I passed on a nod to the earth pony as he broke the hug and took a step back, myself climbing off of the Stork. Sharpwing and Serene started to move it off of the runway, us all trotting back over to the hangar doors.

"I'm fine, Static, a little positive Gs never hurt anyone, heh..." Rubbing at the back of my head, the red wing of the Stork came to a stop over us both, Serene and Sharpwing turning to face down the runway after pushing the Stork up to the doorway. Crash Dive joined them, both myself and Static peering around the boxy aircraft to see the hangar at the far end opening up... and a mini-tank coming out of it. Scratching my mane again, I watched on, Serene shaking his head and letting off a cloudy sigh. "What, who's that?"

A slender black nose poked its way through the hangar doors after the Motorbug, attached to a very large aircraft precariously balanced upon two centerline-mounted wheel sets. Temporary-looking wheel struts were on the far edges of the ridiculously long wingspan, which bent slightly under its own weight as the craft followed the half-track out onto the runway. It centered itself, the Motorbug driving out of the way, the stallion behind the handlebars pulling out a flag and waving it back and forth a few times.

The engine inside the slender craft whined up to speed, kicking up a masive white cloud behind it and sucking in even more loose snow through the intakes either side of the body. The brakes were released, and it didn't take particularly long for the strange airplane to get up to speed, the wings bending upwards and releasing the trailing wheels as air started to become caught underneath them, myself catching the words 'Dragon Mare' written on the side of it underneath the cockpit canopy as it shot past with blistering speed. The nose lifted up, and with a flurry of snow the craft was quickly up in the air and climbing fast. We all stood watching it as it darted over the far mountain range and out of sight, my jaw hanging slack as a subsidence crater found its way into my stomach. Serene brushed some kicked-up snow off of his jacket, scoffing slightly before releasing a huff.

"Zat... zat vould be ze competition vich ze Storch has to beat." Okay... definitely feeling a lot less better about our chances.

---

"Fine mares and stallions of the Vanhoover Air Base, welcome to the tenth annual North Vanhoover Aerial Rally! The race is due to begin shortly, with the takeoff in the traditional order of lowest to highest chances, so before they reach the start lines please allow me to introduce to you our fine competitors all aiming for the title of the Vanhoover Air Base's new Air Marshal!" The thick jacket and flight hat muffled most sounds as I trotted out of the hangar alongside the Stork the following morning, completely concealed by the getup. Thumper brushed against my side, along with a few spare buckshot, slug, and dragon's breath shells in my jacket pockets, making walking all the more awkward - Celestia, I hope that we can get started sooner than later...

Serene was busy topping off the fuel tank with as much of the alcohol as we had left, fitting the cap back into place, while Sharpwing did some last-minute fiddling with the control surfaces. Long as this thing can get me and all this stuff up in the air as easily as it did with just me, this is gonna be fine... the loudspeakers throughout the base opened up again, making me wonder just how loud they were for them to be coming across so clearly in this thick getup. "From the TGAF hangar and taking to the skies first, we have Hamster... ahm, correction, Fast Track, and the trio's aircraft named the Reliant Robin. With an astonishing roll rate and ridiculous engine aboard, it's a certainly amazing sight to see taking to the air, folks. Let's just hope they can manage that..."

Looking down the runway, the three stallions were all pushing their craft into place, the odd ridiculously shiny car making it difficult to see some portions of the action from this angle. Seriously, couldn't they have built a thing a little less... polished? At least the Robin was easier to look at in comparison. The smaller pegasus of the group eased himself in through the window of their air craft, adjusting the helmet he wore and strapping himself in, the unicorn and earth pony taking up opposite sides of the craft and chatting with him for a few moments. After a couple nods, they headed back over to the side of the runway, May encompassing the vehicle's small rear-mounted propeller in his magic and starting it up.

The tiny motor aboard buzzed as Fast Track opened the throttle wide, eventually generating enough power to get the thing rolling down the runway. After a good few hundred meters, the front wheel lifted off from the snow, the rear wheels threatening to do the same as it buzzed by our hangar. A stiff breeze lifted it for a moment, the craft gaining altitude just as it had yesterday, myself, Serene, and Sharpwing all watching on. Alright, breathe, they were the ones least likely to be issues... and most likely to have issues in return. The Robin fluttered in the air for a moment before flipping upside down on the far end of the runway, the nose end burying into the snow and causing it to roll end over end a few times before finally settling on its roof. That didn't look good...

A white-painted half-track rushed out from between one of the hangars towards the crashed aircraft, a siren on it blaring wildly, the two other stallions on their team either disregarding or forgetting the vehicle they'd brought and starting to run towards the crash site themselves. Okay, I knew they weren't going to be too much of an issue as competition, but I wasn't expecting or hoping for anything like that! Passing a worried glance to the earthen pegasus mare beside me, the anouncer came across the loudspeakers. "Ah, the ever-present danger of crashes shows its unfortunate presence once again here at the Vanhoover Air Base. Thankfully our other competitors should not have to worry about this impeding their takeoff, as Fast Track had the courtesy to crash off of the runway's end. While the paramedics are tending to whatever injuries that Fast Track may have, could we please see the next competitor line themselves up at the runway's start?"

"How callous can ya get?..." My voice was muffled by the heavy scarf as Serene and Crash Dive started to move the flyer down the runway, myself taking a long look towards the crash site before following. It was a long walk to the runway's end, my forelegs shaking slightly by the time the Stork was centered and set up. The heavy bottom of the flight jacket acted as another layer of cushioning ontop of what little there was on the seat, myself squirming about again as Thumper jabbed into my side. Sharpwing trotted up beside the stork, fiddling with the throttle a little once again and letting my eyes catch hers.

"Alright, you'll have a minute headstart or so, I don't think Turbine quite knows what this thing can do. The race route's just through the mountains, extends to Saddlebrook and then a straight shot back here, that's when you have the most to worry about him overtaking." Nodding in the thick clothes, my hoof reached down and pushed the ignition, the engine whining for a moment before turning over and coming to life with a healthy roar. Moving the stick around confirmed the control surfaces were all working, with some right rudder being applied already. Sharpwing checked over everything one more time, before looking back towards myself. "And remember, try to not open up the jacket unless you have to. Don't want to end up disqualified..."

I answered her with another nod, the pegasus rushing over to the side of the runway with Serene and Crash Dive, the loudspeakers crackling again with the announcer. "Our next racer comes from well out of town, one of the esteemed Vanoover Five, hailing from a little city to the north known as Mooscow. Considering how he and his mare assistant wound up all the way down here, we can only assume that he made the mistake of allowing her to fly their original vehicle. Static Charge and his aircraft the Stork, let's hope you have some better luck than Fast Track did, gotta keep things interesting, after all." Taking a few slow breaths to calm myself, I gazed out to the end of the runway, gloved hoof moving for the throttle and easing it open. Here goes nothing...

The engine's roar started to grow louder as more fuel entered it, the Stork once again leaning forwards on its landing skids before overcoming the friction on the ground, starting to push forwards over the snow. Quickly picking up speed, my forehooves pulled the control shaft in, the Stork pointing its nose upwards for a few moments before gracefully lifting off the runway, starting to climb high. The crashed Robin flew by underneath me as I let off a sigh, giving my head a light shake, all sounds replaced by the loud roar of the Stork's engine and the wind wooshing by my thoroughly wrapped head. Good work, boy, now let's get this race started.

The mountain ridge to the south of the airbase rushed past underneath, myself dipping the nose of the Stork down to slip into the natural snow-filled valleys on the other side, starting to wind my way through them. Saddlebrook's the halfway marker, and until then I should be safe, if this is supposed to be the race route then that wide-winged Dragon Mare's gonna have a hell of a time trying to get through while at speed. Probably would be a good thing if I knew where Saddlebrook was in the first place, though... duh, legputer's got a world map. I probably should have remembered that fact sooner than now, I was just about to try and blindly meander my way to a town I've never seen before in a time-critical race... Goddesses, I'm such a genius sometimes.

The Stork settled on its flight in a decently long valley, allowing me a moment to push the thick sleeves back on my left foreleg, revealing the screen. Statis, Inventory, Data... Local map, World map. Okay, so if I just- A wooshing sound filled my ears as the Stork sudddenly rolled violently, my hooves grabing the control stick in time to narrowly keep myself from plowing into the side of the valley. Hohohokay, pip-bucking and driving a tank is one thing, pip-bucking and flying is another, pip-bucking and flying a flying machine? I'm just full of stupid decisions today. Ensuring that I wasn't about to hit the side of another mountain in the next few moments, I looked back to the map, zooming it in for a more detailed picture of the surrounding area.

Weaving with the valleys and following along some old roads and train tracks drew me further towards the south, a group of streets arranged in a grid pattern situated in the base of a valley several kilometers from the air base looking like the halfway point to me. Pushing on the throttle lever, there was a little more give yet in the movement, my hoof nudging it open slightly more. The engine roared just a touch louder behind me, the shearing wind biting at parts of my exposed foreleg as it flew by even faster, myself all the more thankful for this heavy coat. Halfway to the halfway mark...

The mountains and valleys started to grow larger as I drew closer to Saddlebrook, the black wispy clouds of chimney smoke denoting it's location on the far side of the range just up ahead. Meandering my way towards it, I pulled back hard as I drew near the mountain's base, the Stork climbing fast up the snowy, rocky formation. I drew in breaths as deep as I could manage of the chill, high-altitude air, the Stork's turbocharger still whining away and force-feeding air to the cylinders, myself eventually cresting the top, able to level off and start heading back down into thicker air. Letting of a sigh and peering out to the valley beyond, the sight of the town inside it... wasn't what I was expecting.

Craters and wrecked buildings littered the area below, the smoke columns I'd thought were from fireplaces instead being from the smouldering remains of the houses themselves. I settled the Stork out for a moment, flying out long over the town and getting lower to get more detail. A few figures seemed to scramble about on the destroyed roads, none of them appearing to be pony in nature, the southern edge of the town coming up almost as soon as I'd reached the northernmost side.

Putting the Stork into a banked turn, I brought her around again, cutting back on the throttle slightly - what the hell happened here? Couldn't have been megaspells or balefire bombs, there wouldn't have been anything left. Looking more closely at the debris trails, parallel dotted lines of scorched asphalt caught my attention in the streets, my brain faintly recognizing that distinctive electric burn... tesla cannons. Automatic tesla cannon fire at that... oh, crap. This place was hit by the Harriers. But, why would they go out of their way to take this place out, anyways? Unless...

A massive stream of flames shot up from the ground in front of me, myself catching it just in time to shove the control shaft hard right, rolling and narrowly avoiding the plume. Okay, Harriers killed it and now robo-dragons are occupying it, just great! Shoving the throttle open as wide as it'd go, the burst of acceleration pushed me back into the seat, climbing towards the north fast. I held the stick back as the mountain range and clouds drew closer, leaning over my shoulder to look past the body of the Stork. Right side was clear, but as I looked over my left, the faint glint of very angry metal caught my attention coming up from the valley, and from just to the east... Well, so much for that head start!

I leveled the Stork off in a cloud bank, breathing the frigid, thin air and wiping water off of the goggles, trying to listen for the sounds of billowing flames and the whine of an electric turbine below. Pushing the stick forwards, the Stork's nose fell, and it slowly appeared out of the cloud bank, myself scanning around. Okay, no robo-dragons behind me on the left, none on the right... but a lot of problems directly ahead and below. Oh, no...

A few hundred meters ahead was the Dragon Mare, and between it and myself flew a smaller robo-dragon, the metallic skin glistening in the morning light. The robo-dragon seemed to keep pace with the long-winged flying machine, the foreleg that wasn't keeping the Stork steady reaching to open up the thick flight jacket over my regular one, and grab Thumper. Swapping hooves on the stick, I was able to pull Thumper comfortably against my shoulder, the strap around my body keeping her from falling off anytime soon. Got a... birdshot loaded, alright, not standard anti-dragon ammo but it'll have to do. I hope.

The Stork picked up a little more speed as I dropped in closer to the pair, the robo-dragon getting far enough ahead to look into the cockpit before slowing down slightly, landing carefully on the back of the Dragon Mare with its wings still outstretched. It crawled its way along the aircraft's body, myself drawing the Stork in closer and closer, Thumper held firm in my shoulder. Right, what's gonna be the best place to shoot at this thing from... that isn't going to also hit the other plane. Answer, not many places. Not going to have much of a window to do this in, either, not at this speed... on the upside, I'm overtaking him still.

Pulling the Stork up off the wingtip of the Dragon Mare, I readied myself and held Thumper out, which was a hell of a lot easier said than done when you had to manage keeping an air craft steady at the same time! The robo-dragon dug its claws into the skin of the electric jet, the head snapping over to look at myself for a moment before it let off a roar, keeping its mouth open. The firey pilot light of its flamethrower ignited, myself tugging Thumper's trigger lever at the same time the first few sputters came from its mouth, the dragon recoiling as its head was met with forty millimeters of pellets. Flames sprayed wildly around, my hooves pulling the stick back hard and gaining altitude as the dragon's momentum shook the other aircraft about. Oh, come on you bastard, let go!

Fumbling another shell into Thumper - solid slug this time, that should do it - I looked back to the Dragon Mare, and the robo-dragon on it. The latter was following me with its gaze, another roar caught on the wind as it let go of the black fuselage, soaring up to me instead... I take it back, you didn't have to let go! Throwing the Stork into a dive, I braced Thumper with my shoulder and knee, a hoof reaching down and opening up the throttle as wide as it'd go. The little movement I got in response for my attempt wasn't much, but it was comforting. Leveling back off and readying Thumper again, I scanned around in the sky, looking up just in time to see the slightly-larger-than-pony-sized robo-dragon coming in above me. Oh, fuck me with a 17-pounder...

Swinging Thumper skywards as fast as I could, the shot rang out loud, the 40mm steel-cored slug burrowing through the belly of the robo-dragon and sending it rolling off to the side with another roar. An orangeish mist sprayed from inside, before it gave way to massive flames, the robot exploding as it smashed hard against the mountainside. A breath I didn't realize I was holding escaped me as Thumper fell back to his resting position, myself catching my breath afterwards. Okay... now that's out of the way, winning the race, so I can go and just pass out for the rest of today. Yeah...

Gaining back some altitude with the Stork, I scanned the sky behind me, trying to find where the Dragon Mare was. Couldn't have gotten ahead with a dragon weighing it down, and I'm sure I probably picked up enough speed to have a healthy lead from that dive alone. A loud roaring sound filled my ears as I checked behind myself again, looking over just in time to see the aircraft in question spewing large flames from its fuselage, and closing fast. That can -not- be a good thing... though the way he kept the craft flying steady as if it was meant to be doing that did beg the question. Then again, as the Dragon Mare shot past with a sudden extra burst of flames from a section on the fuselage, and then started to rapidly slow down again... shit.

Diving back down to try and meet with the crippled aircraft, the familiar shape of the mountain range at the southern end of the runway came into close view, my eyes focusing on the black-painted jet burning up beside me. Pulling up along its length, the stallion inside seemed to be in a panic, trying to look behind at the rest of his aircraft. We crested the mountaintop at roughly the same time, the flames from the fuselage licking at the tail section and catching on it just then. His eyes, wide and panicked, met my own through the canopy, the southern end of the runway approaching fast. Come on, Strikey, think!

Looking down to the control stick, I rolled the Stork to the right, flying just above the back of the Dragon Mare. Staring down into the canopy at the stallion inside, I waved my free hoof in an upwards motion, pointing to the landing skids on the bottom of my own flying machine. Well, it wasn't the best of ideas, yeah, but it was better than him going down with it! It took him a precious half-second to realize what I meant before a burst from his horn blew the canopy off the top of the aircraft, and he leapt for the landing skids.

His forelegs wrapped around one of them tightly, myself pulling the Stork up and away from the flaming aircraft and pulling back on the throttle, watching the Dragon Mare touch down on its belly. It skidded down half the runway, heading off the northern end and landing in a snowy mound several meters beyond, a motorbug with a water tank rushing over to the scene and starting to douse the flames, myself putting the Stork into a banked turn as we finally passed over the runway's end. Well... that's one way to end a race.

Swinging low over the air base atfer finishing the turn, I leaned forwards far as I could, looking into the terrified face of Turbine. Okay, now how to deal with him safely... "Uh... I'm gonna bring us in low and slow over a snow bank, you can leap off there. It's either that or I land with you still on the skid!" He blunk a few times in response at first, before answering with a quick nod. Passing back over the southern end of the runway with the throttle barely open, the large snowy berm at this end drew ever closer. Welp, now or never... "Jump!"

The unicorn's hooves released the landing leg, myself watching as he fell and rolled against the snow, opening the throttle back up and bringing the Stork around a third time for the landing. She purred into a stop about fifty meters from the mound, the skids taking her weight and allowing me to finally let go of the control shaft entirely. Pulling the ignition lever up brought the engines to a stop, a long sigh escaping me as the constant noise finally ceased, just resting myself back in the seat. The loudspeakers sounded out across the air base, the announcer understandably flustered - not every day a mare wins this race, right?

"U-uh... um... r-right, Stallions and Gentlemares, since Fast Track crashed on takeoff and it seems that Turbine's Dragon Mare had become critically damaged before landing, thank Celestia he's alright, uh... well, it is my pleasure to announce the new Air Marshal of the Vanhoover Air Base, Static Charge!" Well... I mean, at least we won.