Vera
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I coughed as Scouring helped move the large automatic grenade launcher forwards, letting me flip up the back of the mini tank, steam billowing out from inside. Shit, I really don’t want to have to try and push this thing all the way up to Maple Station... if we can even get this thing moving without the engine, it’s just so damn heavy. I waved the steam away from my face, letting it clear up and drift out of the garage, the chill wind from outside taking it. I peered in at the inner workings of the mini tank, trying to locate the source of the problem. Guh, I know it’s chilly outside but the heat coming off of these parts really isn’t a good replacement. “It looks like the seal we put on the new gasket blew out.” I informed the others, letting off a small sigh. “I thought you said you knew how to get a nice even seal on this.” I chastised Crash Dive, only to immediately regret it and step around to the other side of the tank as she glared at me.
“Aaaanyway,” Night Strike spoke up, much to my relief. “Well, try again, or we’re going to be stuck walking the rest of the way, and I’d rather not have to brave this storm if I can help it. I only like snow when it involves forts, snowball fights, or craters to hide in.” I grabbed the toolbox and flipped it open, digging around inside for the ratchet and some pliers. I bent down into the guts of the machine, doing my best to twist some of the bolts holding the engine feed pipe in place without burning myself on the metal. As I looked again, more steam was coming from the engine itself - oh, great. Something really must’ve gone wrong to get enough pressure to blow this thing apart...
I leaned back out of the tank, Scouring’s horn lighting up as he carefully lifted up the unbolted head of the engine, some coolant and water leaking out from it. A few of the separators of the gasket had completely shattered, leaving the three cylinders open to each other. Oh, this isn’t going to be an easy fix, is it… I carefully slipped the gasket out and placed it onto a workbench in the garage, Aerith moving so the heat from the engine wafted onto her. “Alright, I think I’m going to need some metal bits… glue… and probably three rolls of duct tape to get this thing secure enough to last us up to Maple Station.” I began to dig around in the cupboards of the garage, thankful to find a roll of duct tape and a bottle of glue.
Night Strike tossed a few bolts onto the workbench beside me, chewing at her lip and heading back over to the mini-tank. Alright, let’s see if I can figure this one out... I started to seal the bolts together with the glue, unwrapping some of the duct tape and starting to wrap it around, creating a rough seal between the holes of the gasket. I repeated this with the other two breaks, and wrapped some extra duct tape around the other divider as well. “You can’t really think that’s going to hold, can you?” Night Strike asked. I shrugged and slipped the gasket back into place on the engine.
“Well, it’s the best we’re really going to get, just gotta find a four leaf clover or something, that should help.” Scouring lowered the head of the engine back on top of it before I began to fit it back into place. I leaned back and shut the hatch of the tank before hopping back into the driver’s seat, Boomer moved back into place and Night strike taking her spot as well. “Alright, hooves crossed.” I turned the ignition, the small dashboard lighting up and the reactor starting up the tank. There was a sputter and another cough of steam before the little half-track rumbled to life once more. I breathed a sigh of relief, the rest climbing aboard the wagon, before rolling the tank out of the garage and starting to head northwards again.
The cold air bit at our exposed coats as we slowly trundled along the ground. The treads rolled smoothly over some of the loose bricks laying in the road as I turned towards the large quarry. I eased up on the pedal a little, not wanting to bring the poor little engine up to full revs with the jury-rigged gasket in place. We rolled past a police station, my Geiger counter starting to tick a little faster as we turned down a road that led to the large highway passing the quarry. A rusted over sign pointed the way towards the crater. ‘Gemdale Mining Company. Private property, trespassers will be arrested.’ Well, seeing how that law’s hardly enforceable nowadays, I don’t think we’ll be in too much trouble taking a peek.
I turned off towards the quarry, approaching a large factory sitting on the edge of the crater. I glanced over the edge into the mine pit, following the twisting paths of mine cart tracks, several of them falling away into a pit in the center of the crater filled with rubble. Okay, maybe I actually wouldn’t want to go digging around in a direct hit from a balefire missile, the factory’s good enough for now. Glad to know Night Strike hasn't rubbed off on me quite THAT much yet... The large cooling tower of the building loomed over us as we approached, casting a shadow down over the entrance.
I rolled up to the doors, the engine rattling a little as I switched it off. “Are you sure there’s even going to be something valuable here? I thought Equestria had an overabundance of gems.” Night Strike asked as I lifted up a large metal door beside a conveyer belt running down into the mines. “Wasn’t that the whole reason the war started anyway?” We entered the floor of the factory, the belt from outside leading to a large metal bin filled with rocks embedded with the shiny precious stones.
“Well, yeah, I doubt most ponies now are demanding gems as much as pre-war Zebras were. Still, there’s plenty of machines running on these things, you never know when you’ll need a replacement board... Not to mention this being an ammo goldmine for energy weapons, too.” We trotted further into the production lines, myself lifting up one of the ores and looking it over. I tossed the amethyst chunk back into the bin and followed the cableway it hung on with my eyes, smiling widely. “Heck, if we could find a number of ponies with nothing better to do, we could fix up this place start a monopoly of gemboards!... ah, after we clear out the radiation, at least.” I reached into my saddlebags, digging around for a bottle of Rad-X as my pip-buck's geiger counter clicked away merrily.
Popping one of the pills into my mouth, I tossed the bottle over to Night Strike. We approached a large furnace, a barred door on the front allowing me to peer inside to see several ores sitting on top of a large pile of coal. Ok, so lack of anywhere to get a good amount of coal may be a roadblock to gem monopoly, but I’m sure I can figure something out; I’ll just have to hire a dragon, or something. Maybe convert the place to flamer fuel... I walked around to the back of the furnace, finding a large valve connected to a few pipes running from the wall to the smelter.
Thinking for a moment, I took a hold of it and gave it a spin, the valve creaking loudly as the surface rust broke away with some effort. There was a series of clicks before a small flame appeared in the pile of coal. The black rocks quickly caught fire and began to spread, heat emanating from the furnace. “You aren’t actually thinking of waiting around until those ores have smelted, are you?” Crash Dive asked, annoyance clear in her voice.
“You never know, maybe it’s enchanted to smelt them down faster.” I stared into the furnace, watching as the ores did indeed already begin to glow with heat, the gems shining brightly inside the rocks surrounding them. It wasn’t long before the rock began to slowly ooze off of the gems, dripping down into a trough that ran off into a bucket also filled with useless gravel. Scouring placed his hooves on a lever connected to the grate the ores had been sitting on, tilting it up to cause the gems to roll off and down a chute into a vat of water... er, well, ice. The gems hissed and a cloud of steam rose into the air as they fell in, the heat melting away the frozen top of the pool and their glow subsiding. I stared into the bucket of water, carefully fishing out one of the gemstones after it had cooled off.
The hunk of mineral shone a little in the light, its surface slightly cloudy. Night Strike dug out a few of the other stones, rolling them over in her hooves. “Uh, are you sure these are actually going to be worth anything like this? Don't they have to be cut and treated, and printed, or something like that?” I shrugged a little, taking them from her and tossing them back into the bucket of water before continuing through the factory floor.
“Alright, I got ahead of myself. There might be some cut gems around here, though.” Crash gave a sigh of irritation as we continued through the factory, a door on the opposite end opening up into a small room lined with desks, each one affixed a large lamp sporting several movable lenses. One of the desks still had a few gems resting on it, catching my attention. I picked one of them up, holding it underneath one of the magnifying lenses as the others searched the room for supplies. My eyes widened as I could see the gem glowing even more brightly through the lens, an aura of energy slowly pulsating around it.
I fiddled with the mechanism holding the lens to the table, managing to unscrew it and lift it up to my eye. Scouring glowed through the lens as he dug around inside a filing cabinet, his horn shining brightly despite him not casting a spell. Lowering the lens I waved Aerith over. She took the lens in her magic and glanced through, an amused smile crossing her face. “Any idea what kind of enchantment this is?” I asked, turning the piece of glass over in my hooves. Aerith shrugged, holding a gem under the lens again.
‘I think it’s something that detects inherent magical energies. The cutters probably used them to make more powerful stones, or pick out the right ones or something.’ Her sign read. I raised my eyebrows a bit, holding the lens up to my eye again. I could see Night Strike’s silhouette glowing faintly, her wings especially so, in a darkened office through the cracked wood as she rummaged through the desk, slipping something she found into her duffel bag.
“Hey, don’t hog all of those for yourself, Night Strike!” I chuckled, Night Strike’s head popping up in surprise. She opened up the door to see me grinning through the lens. “You know, these make for a pretty good impression of night vision goggles. Short of a megaspell going off, I won't be blinded by them, either.” I placed the lens carefully into my saddlebags before trotting over to another gem cutter’s table and unscrewing the one affixed to it. Night Strike rolled her eyes as I pocketed the second piece of glass, a faint sigh escaping her lips.
“Pfft, yeah, I’m sure you’ll look really intimidating with those Grandma-thick lenses tied to your face.” She chuckled, giving her head a shake. I rolled my eyes in return and ignored her, digging around for something to help keep the lenses around my head. Come on, you can’t tell me this place doesn’t even have some strips of leather lying around, or a belt or something... Night Strike glanced out a dirtied up window, seeing grey clouds rolling across the sky, a few flecks of snow starting to drift down from them. “I think we better get going, it looks like the storm’s coming in again.”
I abandoned my search for goggle equipment and followed the others back through the factory and out to the mini tank. Hopping in and twisting the ignition, the tank thankfully rumbled to life once more, and I was able to turn and start to drive uphill towards the road leading north. As I reached the top of the hill, though, the engine began to sputter again, the tracks jerking along roughly underneath us. No, no, no, c’mon, don’t die on me already! I pressed down on the pedal a little harder, but all this did was cause another pop from the back of the mini tank. We stalled at the top of the hill, myself looking back as we began to roll back down the hill towards the mines. Oh, shit!
I twisted the bars wildly, trying to turn us away from the gaping pit, my hooves pressing the brake pedal as hard as they could. Aerith’s horn lit up, the trailer’s wheels turning and leading us away from the mines, bumping along and slowly rolling to a stop back in front of the factory, steam pouring out from under the hood once more. “Fuuuck!” I cried, flopping my head down onto the handlebars.
Night Strike slid off the back of the tank, flipping open the hatch and letting the steam pour out. “Alright, we get it, you don’t like running without replacement parts. Stupid thing.” She whacked the side of the tank, another burst of steam flowing out and prompting her to grimace. I climbed out of the tank to look at the various interlocked pieces as Scouring shifted a little on the back.
“There’s no way we’re going to get this fixed enough to get us to Maple Station.” I said, stepping back from the engine. I sighed in frustration, leaning against the side of the tank, taking a moment to rub at my temples. Snow fell around us, a little thicker than yesterday, the skies dark as night even with it being early on in the morning. “Well, now what?” Crash Dive climbed off of the back of the tank, moving to unhitch the trailer from it. She grabbed the chains holding in the cargo and began to undo them before walking back around to the front of the tank.
“You’re dragging this thing the rest of the way. It’s either that or leave it here, and we’re not setting up camp in the middle of a radioactive crater and hoping somepony stumbles across us.” She lashed the chains around the front as I trotted around to her. Scouring took another set of chains, hooking them up to the trailer to form his own makeshift hitch to drag the trailer behind himself.
“You can’t actually think I’m going to be able to drag this whole thing alo-” My protests were cut off by Crash Dive grabbing me around the neck, pulling me over and slinging the chains around my shoulders, keeping them secure. I glared back at her as she stepped in front of me, Scouring trotting up beside me carrying the trailer behind him with Aerith curled up in the blankets in it.
“Hey, least she’s only making you carry the tank, lad.” He chuckled as he began to slowly trot forwards. I grumbled, but began to move forward, the chains tightening as I did. I dug my hooves into the ground, the heavy vehicle rolling along the ground behind me. I was able to move up to a slow pace behind the rest of them, the chains digging slightly painfully into my shoulders. Guh, this is not going to be fun, couldn’t you have at least given me that power armor to make things easier? Scouring walked along beside me, the wheels of the trailer squeaking slightly as they made fresh trials in the snow.
I shivered a little in the cold air as we reached the top of the hill and began to trot along the northern road, the snow crunching under my hooves as we turned to follow the curve of the road, moving slowly further away from the edge of town. The large grey clouds rolled across the sky as we trotted onwards, the snowfall becoming heavier, the wind starting to whip around more violently. Night Strike brushed some of the excess snow that was building up on the tank and trailer off, her ponytails flittering in the wind slightly. Scouring's breath came out in large steamy chuffs even from behind his helmet, struggling to keep the trailer’s wheels plowing through the snow on the road. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think 'e’re goin' to be able t' pull these things much further in this storm!”
Night Strike looked worryingly over to Aerith, who was curled up under the blankets, trying to keep warm. “Yeah, we better find somewhere to stop soon, I don’t think we’ll do really well in the middle of a blizzard. At least it’s not really radioactive like back home, right Static?” She turned to look at me with a weak smile as I trudged through the heightening snow, the tank slowly rolling behind me. I grunted as I pulled the tank a little further - radioactive or no, I’m not getting this thing anywhere in three feet of snow. She pulled up the map on her Pip-Buck, scrolling through it. “It looks like there’s some small rest stop a little further ways up according to the caravan route we got. It’s closer than trying to turn around at this point.”
Crash Dive nodded and we trekked onwards. The road sloped downwards, allowing my muscles a little bit of time to relax. As we trotted down the street, a split appeared in the road, turning off into a small cluster of trees. Night Strike led us down the exit, the trees shielding us from the harsh winds somewhat. The road curved around through the woods, the path becoming much rougher than the smooth stretch of road we had just left.
A sign appeared next to a curve in the road along with a small booth. 'Starlite Drive-In Theater' it read, the movable tiles that spelled out the names of the movies having almost all fallen off or faded away. Beside the booth lay an overturned cart that had crashed into one of the trees. Night Strike trotted up to and pushed the curtain hanging over the back away before shouting, “Woah, screw digging around in dead ponies’ fridges, we just hit jackpot!” She leaned back out holding several bottles of Sparkle Cola designed like miniature bombs. Huh, that’s kind of neat. She began to trot over to the trailer, placing them down into it.
“I’m surprised a stockpile like this hasn’t been taken already!” She giggled, moving back and grabbing some more of the bottles, stuffing a few into her saddlebags. I gave an eyeroll, watching her - probably because nopony out here is as obsessed with soda as much as you are, Strikey... A strong gust of wind blew through the woods as Night Strike carried over another batch of soda and dumped them into the trailer, Aerith taking one and popping the cap off.
Beginning to trot forward, I pulled the tank through the drive-in's gate towards a clearing on the opposite side. “How about we grab the rest of the sodas when we’re not on the verge of freezing to death?” I suggested. Night Strike rolled her eyes, but only took a couple more sodas from the wagon before following me into the clearing. On the opposite side was a large metal structure with a flat white face, some abandoned wagons poking out through the snow-covered ground. Snow was piling up on a small building in the center of the clearing, all of us flocking to it to get out of the cold. I began to unhook the chains tying me to the tank as Scouring did the same with the trailer, Aerith and Crash Dive trotting into the building.
I followed the others in once I was unhitched, thankful for the safety from the harsh winds as we entered the building. A small concessions counter stood opposite a wide window facing the screen. I opened a door into a small adjacent room that held a stairway, following it up to be met by a large projector, a spool of film already sitting on the machine. I stepped inside, looking at a few other canisters of film labeled with faded marker. Night Strike trotted upstairs behind me, pausing at the stairwell to see me inspecting the reels of film. “You think this thing still works? It’d be a good way to pass the time while we wait for the storm to blow over, at least.”
“Worth a shot.” I took one of the reels, blowing some of the dust off the case. ‘The Iron Giant’ - Eh, sounds interesting, at least. I removed the reel sitting on the projector before hooking up the one I’d picked off the shelves, carefully slipping the film through the rollers in front of the bulb. I flicked a small switch at the back, the spools beginning to spin as the projector hummed and heated up. Heading downstairs and back out into the main room, I found the others sitting on a musty couch in front of the counter.
“Found the couch and this in a break room behind the concessions.” Night Strike said, handing me one of the new bottles of Sparkle Cola. “There were some bags of popcorn back there too, Scouring’s working on getting the popper running. Good thing, too, seeing how we forgot to grab something to eat back at Gemdale.” As if on cue, my stomach growled as I realized what time it was. Sheesh, I’m turning into you, Strikey. I headed around back to see if Scouring needed any help, only to find him bent down in front of the popper, fiddling with some of the metal bits. He hit something with a clang before standing up and flicking a switch on the front. The sound of bubbling oil met our ears, swiftly followed by a few pops as the kernels began to explode.
Night Strike fiddled with her Pip-Buck for a moment, and music suddenly filled the air before fading away to be replaced by the soft beeping of the space-probe visible on screen. I helped Scouring pour the popcorn into small bags before we trotted back into the main room and sat down beside her on the couch. Aerith lay on the floor in front of us, curled up in her blanket as Crash Dive pulled up a spare wooden chair to sit on. I passed a bag to Night Strike as the space probe’s quiet flight was interrupted by a rumbling as a large object passed by it, hurtling towards the Equestria. I began to munch down on the popcorn as well, the flurry outside reminding me of home as we sat down to watch the movie.
Well... better than being cramped in the TOG...
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"I just wanna point out that there's no way a missile like that would be fused for impact detonation, but... damn..." Slumping back against the musty old sofa, the film audio faded out as the credits rolled by, the blizzard outside the window serving more like a screen than the actual screen itself. Sheesh, you'd think stepping inside this place really was a fast way to get back home with how that storm looked, could just step outside and walk a day, wind up back in Mooscow... Letting off a quiet sigh, I took another sip from the new bottle of Sparkle-Cola, looking at the half-emptied glass bomb. Heh, I really do like these new bottles, this were one of the old ones I'd have finished it by now. The audio gave way to a small musical flourish, Static giving his back a long stretch as Aerith slept on the floor in front, Scouring and Crash Dive adjusting their armor.
"From the way things sounded like 'efore the war, surprised a film like that was allowed to get made. Was entertainin', at least." Scouring's armor clanked against itself slightly as he shuffled around, hopping off of the couch and heading back towards the counters again. Fiddling with my legputer, I flicked through the various screens, glancing at each one in turn - radio options; Radio KAOS, Maple Station Local Broadcast, Starlite Drive-in... map? Shit, why'd this storm have to pick up now, we couldn't be more than a few hours' drive from Maple Station. Assuming the mini-tank didn't currently have a pretty necessary gasket completely written off, anyways... I let off a small sigh, glancing at the time. Only 4 in the afternoon, huh... storm must be -really- bad. "Tell you what, though, I know the Rangers wouldn't have minded havin' something like the Giant. All that hardware aboard with it's own power source, would've made Cauterize a sure curb-stomp... ah, no offense."
Crash Dive glared deep at Scouring, the unicorn electing to shuffle to the far side of the couch from her as he sat himself back down, the frame groaning under the weight of his armor. "I think that kind of misses the point of the film... as in, entirely. Just because something has guns doesn't mean it should use them." The power armored pegasus let out a small sigh, peering out into the grayish blizzard for a long while. Static picked himself up onto his hooves, giving a glance towards myself before nodding and heading for the stairwell to the projection booth. Eh, yeah, could go for another film... wonder if they have anything for playing holotape files...
Hopping off of the couch myself and following behind the earth pony, the projection booth was rather pleasantly warm from the projector - suppose that makes enough sense, even that smaller one in the TOG makes it a little hot after watching Dr. Strangemare a few times in a row. Static moved to get the reel off of the projector as I took to perusing the other films they had on offer, looking over the small rack of reels. Okay, not a bad selection, I mean, not films that I've heard of before, but nothing obscene... I think. I don't see Dr. Strangemare here, is what I mean to say.
Static drew in a sharp breath through his teeth as the reel clattered into it's tin, rubbing at his hooves afterwards and glaring at the projector. After a moment's pause, he smacked the hot metal case of it again, with his hoof - for somepony that's so smart when it comes to computers and caps, you're not exactly the fastest learner, are you, Sparky? Giving a small chuckle as he glared my way, he trudged his way over to myself by the rack of reels, glancing at them with me. "So, see anything good?"
"You tell me, I haven't heard of half of these movies... Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Big... Lebowski? 'TMMITFM'? Is that even a word?" Static answered me with a shrug, trotting closer to look over the films. Okay, we gotta find something to pass the time, at least. Letting off a small huff, my eyes scanned over the rest of the reels, not really focusing on any of them. At the far end, one of the reels laid askew on the table, some scorch marks apparent around it - ooh, that can't be good. Trotting over to look at it more closely, the metal tin was discolored by flame, the strip of tape that named the film visibly charred but miraculously left in one piece - then again, upon reading the name, 'miraculous' probably isn't the best word for it. "Hey, Static? How well is nitrate cellulose supposed to burn?"
"Uh, pretty well, I think, long as it has enough surface area open to air. Isn't it like that stuff in the TOG's shells, or something?" Picking up the tin with my hooves in the sleeves of my jacket, I set it in a more well-lit part of the booth, the earth pony coming over to look at it with me. He wore a somewhat annoyed look before catching sight of the film's name - what, did you think I wanted to burn this place down? I might like explosions but I'm not crazy enough to do that!... before converting all these movies onto holotape files, anyways. I mean, besides... "Why the hell did a pizza place get a movie made about it?"
"That's not the weirdest part of it. Because..." The tin separated with some effort, heat having warped the metal and charred the inside black. As we both looked inside, what we saw was... unsettling, to say the least. Even with the film canister looking like it was put through a balefire explosion and firestorm, the film inside seemed to show no damage whatsoever, made all the more prominent when Static pulled the reel out and looked at the 35mm-wide plastic strip. I knew there was something really freaky about that Molly Manticore place... goddesses, I'm glad Scouring vaporized it with an obscene amount of explosives. "Well, on the upside, guess we've got something to burn for heat or food or something. Or replacement cordite, in a pinch."
"Uh... are we even sure this -can- burn? I mean, the evidence is pretty clear... maybe it has some kind of spell to prevent it from igniting, that makes sense, right?" Slipping the reel back inside it's charred case, it took a bit of force to re-close the tin, which seemed to start heating up as it was sealed. Pushing it off to the side, I glanced back to Static, wearing a small frown and giving a shake of the head. If the spell was supposed to keep it from burning, then it was only applied to the film... curse over a blessing. Even then, it's the only reel like it here...
"Let's just try and find another movie to put on for now. Uh... huh, they made Daring Do films?" Grabbing the first reel of the set, I pulled it out and read the taped-on title. 'Daring Do and the Raiders of the Lost Ark' - Eh, Daring Do, let's see what this has in store for us. Tossing it over to Static, he caught it and took to setting it up on the projector, myself looking back to the burned canister. Mmh... really don't think we should leave that thing here, not where it could cause damage... b-because of the obviously faulty fireproofing spell, of course! Eheh, uhm, yeah, that... maybe... "Static, that pair of magic goggles you're putting together, where are they? Just want to see if it is a faulty spell or something... weird that this is the only one that's fire-damaged."
"Oh, uh, yeah, the lenses are in my saddlebags downstairs. Considering the film isn't damaged, I'd say the spell works just fine... then again, magic is confusing enough as it is." He let off a small sigh and shut the projector up, flicking the switch on it's side. Unlike the first film, this one didn't start up quite immediately, something inside the projector whirring before the screen - or, well, snowstorm - had a short animated feature scroll across it, two clown ponies with large-bore flare guns pacing away from each other before shooting at the same spot, the shell meeting in the center and turning into an explosion with the number 5 in the center. The radio in my legputer happily announced it being 5 minutes to showtime, another short animation starting as I headed back down, Static letting out a sigh. I answered with a chuckle - well, it -is- a drive-in theater, Sparky...
Heading downstairs once more with the burned tin in hoof, the smell of more old popcorn being popped met my nose, Scouring, um... scouring the cabinets in the kitchen behind the refreshments stand for more food. Aerith was still curled up in her blankets on the floor - sheesh, she's a heavy sleeper, ain't she? Crash Dive, for her part, kept staring up at the screen in the distance, and the short cartoons between each minute of the countdown. Hot popcorn and a refreshing Sparkle-Cola, mmm, pre-war ponies knew how to have the good things in life... letting off a soft chuckle, I set myself down by our bags, grabbing one large bottle of Sparkle-Cola from my own and popping it open. Taking a sip of the sweet carbonated soda, I looked over to Static's own saddlebags, my legputer happily announcing it being 3 minutes to showtime.
Undoing the flaps, the somewhat unorganized mess of stuff in Static's bags met me, myself grimacing a little as I started to look for the lenses. Smooth Strikey, you ask him where the lenses are but not which one of his bags they're in... how's he even carrying so much in these small things? Rummaging for a moment, the lenses finally came to the top, myself picking one up and looking it over. So, this thing can see magic? Huh, hate to know what'd happen to someone's eyes if they lopoked at a balefire bomb or megaspell through it... Holding the lens to my eye, I scanned around the area, having to pause and blink a few times. Okay, wasn't expecting quite that much blue. Huh, so that's where the solar burst grenades are in my duffel bag... Sheesh, Aerith is just a solid glowing form. Crash Dive... the power armor occluded much of her body, but under the wing covers you could just faintly make out her wings, or what was left of them, anyways. Gives me the shivers just thinking about how they feel for her... okay, stop goofing around, Strikey. Let's see what that spell looks like...
Turning my focus to the canister, I had to stop and rub at the eye I was hoding the lens to at first glance, looking between it and the charred tin. Uh... hm... holding the lens back up, the canister glowed again, but not with a bluish glow like pretty much everything else. Nope, no, that was definitely some kind of blood-red deal going on right there - Oh, why didn't we grab a magic cheat sheet or something before leaving that gem processing place, it'd at least tell me why this thing's all funky. That pit in my stomach that seemed to deepen the more I looked at the sickly red glow coming from the canister, though, eventually convinced me to stop looking at it. Okay, no, there's a rational explanation, maybe it's just something due to the lighting, or something with the spell in the lens or something. Black magic is a thing, right?
Putting the lens back, Scouring reappeared with his hooves full of containers of popcorn, sitting down on the couch and setting them around us. Picking up my freshly opened Sparkle-Cola, I trotted over to join him, Static eventually coming back downstairs and flopping on the couch as well. There was a small musical flourish as the screen announced it being time for the feature presentation. Okay, Daring Do, let's see if your films are as good as your books... please tell me there is a scene where she rides a megaspell out in a fridge in at least one of these.
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The icy wind howled outside through the small window in the projection booth, the blizzard outside still going strong. A long sigh escaped me, staring out into the grey night - the cool bite of evening, that familiar chill around my flanks, that, that... I pulled up the sleeve of my jacket, rubbing one of my eyes as it started to sting. Oh, probably got a fleck of snow in it or something, that'd explain the chill on my cheek, yeah, and why my nose kept running like it was. Stupid snow, you were never good for anything... besides bringing all those ghouls up north. And snow forts, and snowball fights, and keeping Sparkle-Cola perfectly cold, and making craters with explosives that'd be filled in a few days later... stupid snow blowing in my eyes...
"Night Strike? Do you have a second?" Blinking my eyes a few times - stupid snow blowing on my cheeks again - I rubbed the blurriness out of them, looking to the stairwell. Static stood at it's top, his silver hair glinting in what little light there was in the room, his pip-buck providing the majority of it. I sat back, answering him with a nod, the earth pon glancing down the stairwell again before trotting closer to me. "I'm just... I don't know. I can't get to sleep, this storm, it's... it's making me..."
"Homesick?" He paused for a second, thinking, before letting out a sigh and nodding in response. I drew in a bit of a sniffle, rubbing at my eyes again. "Y-yeah, I know how you feel. Can't say I miss home that much though, really, b-because of the stupid snow stinging my eyes and making them water up." Letting out a weak chuckle, Static wore a faint smile over his frown, myself rubbing at my reddened eyes again. Stupid... weather... "I never brought us out scavenging when I knew there was a blizzard coming."
"Yeah, only when you knew we were going to be scavenging in hellhound-infested places and feral ghoul territory." He let out a small chuckle, myself joining him, the wind howling outside the small window. After a moment, we both wound up looking down at the floor, letting the chill air fill the void of silence for a moment. So I might've had a few fuck-ups here and there, we always got out of them intact, safe, and without too much harm. Then again, we always had a tank and a deadshot with a magnetic sniper rifle to help us... "I really miss our dads."
"I... I miss them, too..." Oh, come on, I'm not even looking through the window, how'd a snowflake melt on my cheek again? And my nose is running again, too... oh... Static shuffled himself closer to me, resting a hoof against one of my own, myself looking up at him through blurred, stinging vision. His own eyes were reddened faintly, my breathing starting to shallow a little the more I thought about things. Dad's eyes looked a little red when he picked me up the other day in Quebuck... he was worried about me. Can only imagine how he must feel now... A small whimper escaped my lips as I leaned forwards, Static moving his hooves to wrap around my body as I did the same to him, resting my cheek against his shoulder and letting out sputters and sort gasps. I felt his own chin rest heavy beside my head, the both of us squeezing each other a little closer.
And we cried.
We held each other for a long while, our tears staining each others' coats, the frigid air inside the projection booth chilling our tears and stinging our eyes. Eventually we'd managed to cry ourselves out, falling back to shuddering breaths and sighs, just holding each other close and feeling the warmth from the other's body. I blunk my stinging, blurred eyes open, moving a foreleg to rub at the front of my muzzle, wiping it off. We both leaned back against the wall nerest the screen, Static pulling back to break our embrace and rub at his sore eyes. Shuffling around, I let my head rest against the wall, drawing in another short sniffle and releasing a sigh, watching my breath condense slightly in the cool air. It's good to cry sometimes.
Static picked himself up onto his hooves after a moment, still rubbing at his eyes. "I think... I think I can try to fall asleep now. You gonna come down anytime tonight?" I let out a small sigh, giving a moment of thought. Probably would be better than staying up here, even with my jacket on... I lifted myself to my hooves, trotting over to the stairwell with the earth pony. He wore a small smile, waiting for me at the top. A sigh escaped him as we stood there, looking down to the concessions area. "Night Strike? Thank you." I returned a smile, giving a faint nod to him before he started to head down. Thinking for just a moment, I leaned in quickly, planting a small kiss on the blue earth pony's cheek - which quickly took on a shade of red. Oh, you look so cute when you blush, Sparky...
Yeah... we'll make sure things are gonna work out.
---
"Well I'm thoroughly depressed. Anyone else?" The snow drifted up high in front of the large windows outside, some hoofmarks left where Scouring and Crash Dive had taken turns shoveling as much of the snow away as they could while the storm let up. Tell you one thing about living up north, at least the snow's a consistent six feet deep and everything's built around that... flicking my pip-buck radio off, Static came back from upstairs, scratching at his head.
"Hey guys, we've got... company, I think. Saw something out towards the north, I think it's a group of rangers or something." Scouring lifted himself up from the couch and immediately rushed towards the windows on the right side of the structure, the rest of us following him and peering out into the restarting blizzard. Sheesh, even back home storms weren't quite this nuts... maybe. Fuck, I can't remember... Staring out into the snowfall, a grayish form did make itself apparent in the distance, headed by a pair of yellow lights either side of it's head. Okay, so what is that thing gonna be? Friend, foe, apathetic robot, depression-stricken robot? Hopefully not something headed here to blow us all up...
Static broke away from the window for a moment, grabbing for something in his saddlebags. Uh, yeah, I don't think we can barter our way out of fighting Sparky, and now is not the time for another snack cake, either! Glancing back again, he returned with a leather strap around his head, two glass lenses hung over his eyes. I thought for a moment, before slaping myself in the back of my head in my head - duh, magic-vision goggles. He seemed to try and peer at it as close as he could, his face giving a small grimace. "Damnit... I'm gonna need some magnification for these things. I think there's only one pony out there, but there's a lot of interference."
'What kind of pony would have a head that wide?' Aerith had brought up her sniper rifle, looking out the window in the direction of the lights. She idly licked at her lips, her comforter-sewn jacket hanging on her body easily. After a moment, she flashed up her screen again. 'Uh... how many ponies have tracks for hooves? And really really big circular muzzles with flat heads?' Tracks for hooves? Flat heads? Glowing lights? What kind of creature... fuck, what is wrong with my head today? I really hope that that's a friendly tank, though... -seriously- hope that that's a friendly tank...
"Heh. Ain't the comp'ny, but at the same time I don' think we've much to worry about. Tank Ghoul from Maple Station, probably... just begs the question as to why he'd be down here." Aerith pulled her rifle down as Scouring turned away from the window, moving for his helmet. Crash Dive, for her part, fit on her visor - well, if that tank's anything like the TOG, it's a damn sight better to be in that thing rather than stuck in this place. I definitely do not want to watch When the Wind Blows again, I prefer enjoying the idea of dying in a megaspell fireball, thanks... that was a weird sentence to think.
Static shuffled for his own saddlebags as I moved towards mine, slipping the strap over my shoulders and back and adjusting my wings to fit it. Nnfh, man, this thing is getting heavy, ain't it?... oh, wait, right, that crashed Sparkle-Cola truck. Crap, we haven't cleaned that thing out yet. Looking to Static, he slipped his umbrella underneath his saddlebags, looking back towards the window before looking towards me. I bit at my lip, Scouring and Crash Dive already heading for the doorway. "Well, we might as well find out what they want, right? I mean, if worse comes to, you know how to disable a tank up close too, right?" Well, duh, just throw some explosives in the fighting compartment or douse the radiators in a flammable liquid... both things I really hope we won't have to do in this case! Answering him with a small nod, we followed the rest out into the thinning blizzard, Aerith shuting the door behind us.
Trotting around to the other side of the building, the twin beams of the tank's lights caught us through the storm, Crash Dive and Scouring standing in front while we moved up behind them, myself electing to hover as I watched them both sinking into the drifts. The front of the tank finally came close enough to make out features, looks around three and a quarter meters wide and two and a half tall, with a... damn, that's a big gun... okay, REALLY hope that that's a friendly! The tracks clattered from covers that seemed to encapsulate the forward guide wheels, with the top of the skirts flush with the top of the hull, the front recessed behind the forward guide sprockets by a good distance. It came to a stop a few meters in front of us, the lights either side of the turret casting our shadows long across the drifts, the turret remaining stationary with it, same with the hull-mounted gun. Okay... they're not shooting us with their guns, that's a very good thing.
There was a small moment of silence where the wind of the storm outside took over, before one of the hatches of the tank clattered open and a ghoul popped his head out of it, looking around for a moment fore his eyes settled on us and a smile crossed his face. "Ah, brilliant, thought it might be you lot that wound up stuck here! Dreadful storm, isn't it?" We all glanced at each other for a moment, another chill breeze affirming the ghoul's words, prompting him to duck inside as the gust met him. Okay, we get it, you're a snowstorm, you can piss off already. The ghoul reappeared, rubbing at one of his eyes and looking back at us. "Aren't you supposed to have one of those motorbugs and a wagon with you? She's gotten on in years but she can handle pulling a little thing like that if you need her to!"
"That'd be wonderful, thanks! Ah, can you bring her over here, closer to us?" Crash Dive glanced up at me for a moment, before she shuffled herself along with the rest of the group, clearing way for the tank. I hovered in front, helping guide him along - okay, we parked the mini-tank... there, so if there are welded loops on the back of this thing then we should be able to pull it free of the snow. Tanks are usually pretty powerful, right? Guiding him to swing left, and a stop, he gave a small nod from inside, myself returning it and then motioning him to reverse up. Scouring hopped to the side near where the mini-tank and wagon were, myself watching him while the ghoul watched me, us eventually getting the tank close enough. Motioning for another stop, there was a chuckle from inside the tank, the hatch opening again.
"Where'd a mare like yourself learn to guide like that? You happen to be a ghoul that found a good dermatologist or something?" The stallion inside the tank let off a small laugh as I trotted up, hearing the clatter of chains and dull thuds of large amounts of snow being picked up and dropped to the side as the rest took care of getting things hitched up. Trotting alongside the tank a few steps, it's length finally became apparent - okay, not as long as the TOG by about two and a half meters, but still a pretty big tank regardless. With an equally big gun, too... Ooh, I wanna know how it feels to fire that thing off... "Mad Jack's the name, pleasure to be of assistance to the Vanhoover Five! Just let me know when you're ready to go, we'll be in Maple Station soon as this crate can get us there."
"I'd hardly call this thing a crate, myself... ah, thank you, though!" I answered with a small chuckle, pausing in front of a door mounted through the track and into the hull. Glancing up at the ghoul - ah, Mad Jack, right? - he gave a small nod as he leaned back in the driver's hatch, myself pulling the door open. Okay, not quite as big as the TOG - well, not that there's a lot of stuff that's as big as the TOG in the first place - but still rather spacious. Least, compared to War Mare. "How'd you find us, we didn't send out any distress signals or anything, I think." I scratched at my head, Mad Jack pulling the driver's hatch shut and leting out another chuckle.
"Didn't have to, knew somepony had to be at the Starlite if it were broadcasting again. Since you lot were the only ones likely to be coming up here knowing what weather was coming, didn't take much for me to fit two and two together." ...huh. I guess that does make sense, I mean, the film audio is broadcasted via radio, after all... Score one for convenient coincidences. There was another small clatter at the back of the tank as I shuffled my duffel bag off and pulled up into the turret, Static and Aerith soon appearing at the side door and clambering in as well, with Scouring just sticking his head through. Mad Jack bit at his lip a moment, seeing the unicorn at the side door. "Ahm, sorry chap, don't believe we quite have the door space for you to squeeze inside. You and your other power armored friend can ride outside, though, I'm sure."
"Heh, suppose it makes enough sense, somepony in power armor wouldn't really need a big thing like this. Alright, we'll be ready to head off when you are." Ducking back outside, the unicorn shut the door up, the sound of a pair of ponies in heavy metal armor climbing aboard filling the air before Mad Jack engaged the forward drive, the tank giving a small lurch as it's tracks bit the snow and we pulled forwards, moving out away from the drive-in building and off towards Maple Station. I let off a small sigh, resting back in the turret of the tank, feeling the gentle rocks as the tracks moved beneath us, enjoying the familiar motions. Almost felt like the TOG, well, sans the clinking of lots and lots of empty Sparkle-Cola bottles...
...goddess-damnit.
---
"...and for our next performers here at the Roundhouse, Mockery and Styles!" The audience inside the large building erupted in light applause, us all shuffling inside and out of the storm. Mad Jack was looking after our mini-tank and wagon with the rest of the tank ghouls in a long rail service shed, affording us a chance to have a proper warm meal for once since we started heading up here. Brushing some snow from my mane, I let out a long sigh, taking a breath of the warm air inside the roundhouse - oh, that's really nice...
Trotting further in, we passed by a bar at the back of the structure, a pair of similar-looking gryphons sitting at it, the female one simultaneously drowning herself in Wild Pegasus and staining the bar with her tears. Eesh, someone's been having a bad day... See Static, aren't ya glad my stomach's only set to recieve Sparkle-Cola and food? Don't need alcohol to make me happy. The male gryphon gently patted the female one's back, his right wing bundled in healing potions, myself giving a small grimace as we passed by. Yikes, sorry that happened, buddy... Our eyes met for a moment, his lighting up in bewilderment before the female turned to look at him, following his gaze to... oh, so THAT's why they seemed so familiar.
"Oh, you are FUCKING KIDDING ME! WHAT THE FUCK IS OUR LUCK, HUH!?" The female merc's voice echoed throughout the roundhouse, drawing everyone's attention towards us, the rest of the group having stopped to come back behind me. Please don't let this turn into a... okay, now she's crying. Or, falling onto the floor on her stomach. Or, um, groveling. What. "For fuckin' Celestia's sake, why the fuck did you let us live every goddess-damned time? You have any idea what that does to someone's mind? Huh?" Uh... why did we let them live each time they've attacked us? Er, well, it wasn't that we meant to the second time, but still... I'd call it more luck than anything. Really shitty luck. The female gryphon grabbed the front of my jacket, pulling my face close to hers - sheesh, she really -has- been trying to drown herself in wild pegasus, hasn't she? "Just finish the freakin' job, you cunts. Celestia's sake, just finish the job, -please-."
"Uh..." Awkward, yeah, this is really awkward. The female gryphon stared into my eyes for a long while, before her emotions came back and she let herself fall back into a crying wreck. The male gryphon with the bandaged wing wore a grimace, hopping down from the bar and picking up the female one from the floor, her falling to cry against his shoulder. He released a sigh, myself rubbing at the back of my head. Okay then... lot of people in this place, isn't there?...
"We're sorry, it's... we've been under a lot of stress lately. My sister's been crazy since you nearly shot my wing off..." Uh... huh, so this is what it feels like to be struck dumb. The sister let out another bawling cry, the brother's face going into a big grimace as she wrapped her claws around him in a squeezing hug - ooh, yeah, that has got to hurt. But when could I have shot his wing off? I mean, usually when I do that it's with Thumper and a buckshot shell, but I haven't fired any buckshot lately, just War Crime... at that tree... when two of the shots missed, and missy merc came flying out of the sun in a pure rage afterwards. Okay, no, that makes a lot more sense now. Sheesh, talk about bad luck to be hit by a stray shot like that...
Prying his sister off of himself, the male merc let off a sigh, catching his breath on the bar. "Look, I know you must really want to put bullets in our brains for coming after you so many times, but we're just trying to make a living. We're finished trying to hunt you guys down, the guys paying us aren't going to pay us again until we have your heads to bring to them, and it's pretty clear you're all pretty adamant about not letting that happen." Letting out a long sigh, he rubbed at his forehead, his sister supporting herself on the bar as she found a fresh bottle to drown herself with. Okay, no more mercenaries, that's a good thing... I think. Probably. I mean, it was starting to become a real way to waste ammo... "We should probably leave. I'm sorry about what we've put you through, it's just... it's a living, you know?"
The brother grabbed his sister's arm as she drained a bottle of Wild Pegasus, myself glancing back to the rest of the group, a little confused but at the same time a litle... I dunno, what's the word... sick? Sad? Disappointed? Disgusted? Fuck... Static thought for a moment, before jumping forwards. "W-wait! Who was paying you to come after us in the first place?" That... was a very good question to ask. The brother stopped in the doorway, his sister using one of her wings to wipe down her eyes... or cover her face. Can't really tell from this angle.
"Uhm... look, we'll be in the hotel in town, and we're not going anywhere while she has her hangover. Can we talk about it tomorrow?" Okay, that was dodging a question if I ever saw it, but I guess I can understand the reasoning. He readjusted his sister by his shoulder, carrying the plastered gryphon towards the doorway, before stopping and releasing a sigh. Man, this place was quiet to let me hear that. "I know you hate us, but we're finished. Just... we'll talk tomorrow."
Static glanced to me, before answering with one solid nod, both of us trotting back to the group as the gryphons stumbled through the doorway. The idle chatter of the bar area started up again, the stage's audience erupting in a light applause once more as we found an open booth to sit in. I let out a long sigh, leaning back to think, the announcer bringing on the next act, the audience's applause being a little louder this time. Okay, run down of what's happened today; Mad Jack picked us up in his... Churchill AVRE, or, Avery, Maple Station is home to about a whole battalion of Tank Ghouls from all over Equestria, and we're no longer being hunted down by mercenaries and to top that I'm pretty sure we gave both of them a healthy case of survivor's guilt or something. Fan-fuck-me-with-a-17-pounder-tastic. Leaning forwards against the table, I rested my head on my hooves, stopping my thinking and focusing in on the song that was starting up - music's always helpful... wait, I didn't just start this song on my pip-buck, did I?
Leaning back and looking towards the stage from the booth about six notes into that stunningly familiar orchestral eight-note opening, my ears were met with an honestly shockingly familiar voice. Nope, no, Static's umbrella was still back behind in Avery. Yep, my heart's still beating I'm still alive. Sweet mother of Celestia and Luna above, this can't be real... "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again, some sunny day..."
I sat straight up in the booth, peering over the audience as much as I could, that familiar mare's voice still coming across clear and resonating inside the roundhouse. If my eyes could open any further, I'm pretty sure they'd pop out of my skull. There, on the stage, in a blue and white evening dress and a red poppy on her lapel, stood a mare, a ghoul mare, her brunette hair resting in bobs on her shoulders and voice pouring out loud and clear as day. Such a familiar voice, just, so bizzare to have a face to go along with it, I, I, I... The song moved onto the second part, the audience joining in readily, singing those same words I've heard so many times. A part of me wanted to join in, would love to have joined in, but the rest of me was pretty much too plain numb to answer it. "So will you please say hello, to the folks that I know, tell them I won't be long! They'll be happy to know that as you saw me go, I was sing-ing this song! We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when!... But I know we'll meet again, some sun-ny, daaay!"
The roundhouse erupted in cheers and laughter, myself sitting numb in the booth, Static staring at me from the other side, equally as bewildered. "U-uh, Night Strike? Are you..." Halfway through his sentence, my body decided that the blood that was being used to keep my brain from exploding was of in dire need in several other parts of my body, myself quickly becoming quite dizzy. As I felt a dull thud of something heavy hitting a hardwood table somewhere, one last thought permeated my brain, consisting of four simple words.
Vera Lynn is alive.
-----
Dammit, Night Strike, do you have to keep drawing attention to us? Aerith and I bent down to help her back upright as a few ponies looked towards our booth. Night Strike was out cold, though I suppose she should be thankful her head didn’t seem to be cut up at all. Well, that’ll at least be one trip to the hospital we won’t need. I slapped her lightly across the face a few times, Night Strike mumbling a little before her eyes fluttered and she lifted her head back up. “Guuh, what just happened?” she asked, rubbing her head lightly as she looked around. I shook my own head and leaned back against the cushions of the booth, letting off a long sigh.
“Sheesh, there’s being star struck and then there’s being obsessed, yanno.” I said as Night Strike collected herself. She suddenly perked up as another song began, Vera’s smooth voice reverberating through the hall. Night Strike squealed as she tried to look above the audience again, balancing precariously against the table, myself moving up to grab her by the jacket and pull her back onto the cushions. “Okay, we’re not going to test your head’s ability to withstand blunt trauma again.”
Night Strike continued to shift in the booth to look through the ponies sitting in front of us, trying to get a good view of Vera. I let off another sigh and leaned against the table as a waiter walked by, supplying a nearby group of stallions with a few glasses of scotch, Scouring waving him over to request one himself. Sitting up a little straighter, I was able to see Vera partially over the heads of those in front of us, watching her sway a little as she sang. I’m just surprised her voice sounds as good as it does, every ghoul we’ve met so far sounds like they’ve been gargling gravel. Then again, I can’t really expect near lethal doses of radiation to be any kinder to vocal cords than it is to other bits of flesh.
“When the world is free, come on and wait and see, when the world is free, you gotta wait and see!” Vera’s final note rung crisply through the hall, to be followed by several more cheers and applauds, the loudest of which coming from Night Strike. Vera took a small bow before stepping off stage, the pianist beginning to play some filler music as the curtains drew to a close. Night Strike immediately leapt up, pulling me along.
“Omigoshomigoshomigosh, I gotta get her autograph! Or, no, wait, we gotta convinve her to come back with us on the Valkyrie! But first the autograph! What do I have for her to autograph...” Night Strike exclaimed, her giddy expression worrying me somewhat. I glanced back to see Crash Dive shaking her head, Scouring looking back over his shoulder to watch Night Strike drag me over to the door leading backstage. Uh, I don’t think we’re allowed there… The door nearly fell off its hinges from the force of Night Strike blundering through it, interrupting a few ponies practicing a comedy skit and causing one to give off a less than flattering scream.
Before I could apologize, Night Strike yanked me forward again, dashing down the hallways towards the dressing rooms. The pegasus screeched to a halt in front of one of the doors, myself almost smacking into the wall from the sudden stop. She hopped up and down, beaming before taking a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Knocking with a shaky hoof, Night Strike said, “H-hello? Ms. Lynn?” There was a pause before a few hoofsteps could be heard and the doorknob turned, revealing Vera in her gown.
“Oh, hello. Is there something I could do for you?” Night Strike simply stood stalk still, her mouth slightly agape. I could almost see her brain trying to un-fry itself. She stammered for a moment before her hooves began to wobble, and she crumpled to the floor again. I sighed, Vera looking rather taken aback. Nice first impression, Strikey.
“Erm, yeah, sorry about her, she's a... bit of a fan.” I said to Vera after having dragged Night Strike into the dressing room and dumping her unceremoniously in a vacant chair. “Was just surprised to see you still around, I suppose. We're part of the Vanhoover Five, Night Strike's dad's gotten her a little obsessed with you... i-in a purely appreciative way, though! Eheh, um, well, anyways, that's basically the whole story, at least the bits that were left out of the radio broadcasts.” She took a seat in a small chair beside a table where a cup and pot of tea sat, steam rising slowly out of the porcelain mug. I leaned against the wall, letting off weak chuckles and looking down at Night Strike as she mumbled a little in her dazed state.
Vera released a small chuckle, before taking a sip of her tea. “I suppose I’m flattered by your friend’s excitement, I just wish it didn’t have to lead to her getting a few concussions.” Vera’s gaze switched back to me as she set down her cup, a warm smile upon her muzzle. “You’re from the Mooscow and Quebuck area, you mentioned on the radio? I had been intending on touring there at some point, this was before the bombs fell, of course,” she shifted in her seat a little, taking a cube of sugar from a nearby pot and dropping it into the tea, stirring it in with a spoon. “I believe somepony else had managed to buy out the concert hall there first, for the life of me I can’t remember who…”
My eyes widened a bit, somewhat surprised Vera knew of someplace further north than the Crystal Empire - seems like everypony else’s knowledge stops at Canterlot. “It wouldn’t have happened to have been Tom Neighrer that you had heard about?” Vera's eyes blunk for a moment before she nodded, taking a sip of her tea again. She then raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering how I knew about him. “Well, you probably won’t believe this, but he actually survived the war too. Though, uh, things didn’t really turn out the best for him… flesh-wise either. No offense.” There was an uncomfortable pause as I tried to search for something else to say. “Oh, but he’s actually back in show-biz, sort of. My dad and his friend brought him to some old Stable with some radio equipment, he helps the disk-jockey there and teaches math now, doesn't sound too much like a ghoul, either.”
Vera’s grin grew a little wider as she drew the cup away from her lips. “Well, apparently us musicians are Balefire proof. Of all the ponies to survive the war, I wouldn’t have guessed singers to have the best chances.” Night Strike stirred a little in her chair, but simply rolled her head over to the other side before falling silent again. I should probably actually wake her up soon. “Where in Equestria did he find somepony to help fix his throat, though? Can’t remember how many places I'd searched before I found one that could help. Even then, I still need this thing to keep me clear.” She gestured to a shiny gem-studded pendant hanging from her neck.
I shrugged. “As far as I know he never did, I never heard of him needing a spell like that. I mean, he is a unicorn himself, and it’s not like his songs are very taxing on his range, maybe he was able to enchant his bowtie or something and we just never noticed.” Night Strike groaned yet again, her eyelids fluttering as she sat up in the chair. She placed a hoof to her temple, shaking her head as she pulled herself together for the second time tonight. Chuckling and poking Night Strike playfully I quipped, “Nice of you to join us. Now try not to pass out in front of your idol again, alright?”
Night Strike froze yet again, staring at Vera. She glanced over to me, then back to Vera, her voice failing her. “Hello, Night Strike. Static’s told me you’re a rather big fan.” She gave an amused smile as Night Strike sat back in the chair. I rolled my eyes before taking a hold of a burned book sitting on a nearby bookshelf and searching through it for a not completely ruined page. I tore one out and handed it to Night Strike, nodding towards Vera. As if in a trance, Night Strike trotted over to her, clutching the sheet of paper in her hoof. Vera chuckled and took it from her, reaching over to a desk to grab a quill and ink well. “Why, I’d be happy to give you an autograph.” Magic flowed over the quill as Vera wrote a short note on the page before singing it elegantly.
She handed it back to Night Strike, who looked down at it for a moment, still dazed. “Now, I do hate to be rude to the both of you, but I do have another set coming up soon and I really ought to change my dress before it starts. Perhaps we could talk at a later time.” Vera smiled sincerely, helping me direct Night Strike to the door. It wasn’t until we had exited the changing room and the door shut behind us that Night Strike snapped out of her stupor, looking up from the paper.
“Wha... what just happened?” I shook my head and led her back to the table as she slipped the autographed page into her saddlebags. We found our way through the tables in the roundhouse and back towards the others. Scouring was taking a swig of whiskey while an empty bottle of Sparkle Cola sat in front of Aerith. Crash Dive stood up upon seeing us, and the others followed suit, Scouring placing a few caps onto the table as payment.
“We should find somewhere to sleep for the night. I doubt the mechanics are finished looking at the mini-tank already,” Crash Dive said. Night Strike gave a small groan of disappointment, looking back up to the stage where the pair of ponies backstage were now performing. “You can see your idol again tomorrow, assuming you don’t crack your skull open upon seeing her.” Night Strike’s ears flopped down and she grumbled a little, but followed us anyway. A harsh wind bit at our faces as we stepped out of the roundhouse into the train yard turned town.
Our hoofsteps were muffled by the freshly fallen snow, the storm having thankfully mostly blown over to be replaced with the occasional flakes and frosty gusts of wind. Trotting past the old station that served as town hall, we made our way towards one of the taller buildings standing at the edge of the train yard. A few of the windows glowed as lights inside flickered, our hooves making a path towards the front door. The knob stuck for a moment having been frozen by the storm, but after a few shoves, it popped open, allowing us to step into the warmth of the hotel lobby. I shook my mane free of stray snowflakes before stepping up to the desk.
I scanned the top of the counter for a bell to ring, the others standing around in the center of the room as they brushed the snow off of themselves. “Uh, hello?” I called out, leaning a little to try and glance through the cracked open door on the opposite side of the desk. There was a small snort and the sound of a chair scooting across the floor before a bleary-eyed pony trotted up to us, her mane slightly frazzled. She stood opposite me, swaying a little as she rubbed her eyes. Ok, this pony clearly isn’t a night-owl. “Uh, how much for two rooms?” I asked.
“Hun-eighdy ca…” She slurred, opening her mouth and yawning. I fished through my saddlebags for the caps before placing them on the counter. She turned around and took two keys off of a rack behind her and set them on the desk before scooping up my payment and trotting back into the office. Taking the keys and turning back to face the others, I tossed one to Night Strike. We climbed the steps to the second floor, the floor creaking slightly under our weight as we headed towards our rooms.
“Alright, see you guys in the morning.” Night Strike lifted a hoof up in acknowledgement and we split off into our rooms, the wind howling outside the windows. Scouring leaned Sunburst up against the bedside table and began to slip out of his power armor as I let my saddlebags fall to the floor, only to have the sound of somepony snoring in response. Ech, forgot there were probably ponies under us. I climbed into bed, the moon shimmering through the window, illuminating a few ponies stumbling out of the roundhouse. I sighed gently, rolling over in my bed to face away from the glass, closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.
---
Ponies dug away at the snow blocking the front door of the hotel as we trotted out, myself thankful for the slightly warmer weather as we walked towards the empty railcar house Mad Jack had parked in. A few other ponies were milling about in the train yard, trotting to and from shops and houses built out of abandoned railcars, a few ponies attempting to clear the snow off of some of the tracks. One pony carrying a flamer trotted up to the wheels of one of the larger engines frozen on to the tracks, his acket clung tight to his back under the weight of the fuel tank. He twisted the end of the nozzle, a jet of flame shooting out as he began to slowly wave it along the rails, melting the ice that had accumulated during the storm.
We soon arrived at the railcar house, stepping through a smaller door beside the two large ones the tanks were driven through to find Mad Jack’s tank sitting beside our own half-track, a few ghouls snoring on some cots set up along the walls. “Uh, Jack? You in here?” Night Strike called out. She stepped up to the side of his tank and gave a few raps on the metal plating. No response came from the tank, though the sound of hoofsteps prompted us to turn and see a pony trotted towards us, his face and jumpsuit covered in oil stains.
“You looking for Jack? He’s already headed out with some of the others to help clear the tracks, probably won’t be back for a while.” He glanced over to the mini-tank. “This one yours, then? Jack said to expect you guys today when we were working on it. Nasty bit of work it took finding a good gasket that size.” I nodded and he grinned widely, sticking a hoof out to shake. “I’m Oil Slick, I help fix up some of the engines around here. At least, when they’re running, that is. Didn’t think I’d be fixing up the ride of the heroes of Vanhoover when I moved up here.” He chuckled a little to himself as I walked around the mini tank, flipping open the back hatch to admire the new parts.
“I got a few ideas working on that engine of yours, though. Used to work on boats down in Maple Creek, I’ve gotten pretty good at bringing up the horsepower of the little things.” I looked back up to Oil Slick, a grin starting to spread across my face. Oh, please tell me you did… “It wouldn’t be too hard to charge up the engine of yours, should help boost its speed quite a bit. At the very least you won’t blow a gasket carrying all that weight behind you again." The stallion let off a chuckle, myself and Night Strike joining him, albeit weakly - yeah, gonna guess these things were not built for hauling twice their weight all around the watseland. "I’d be happy to tune up the engine, if you help me out with one of my projects. Might even give you a discount on fixing up the gasket.” D’oh, stupid Static, you should always know there’s a catch.
Night Strike glanced over to me, the others wandering over to the wagon to pick up their weapons they’d left in it. I looked back down at the mini-tank, then back to Night Strike. Come on, Strikey, think of how much cooler it’d be to go blazing across the wastes on this thing! “What do you need?” Night Strike asked, caving in. Score one for me, finally! Oil Slick’s grin widened a little and he lead us back outside, Crash Dive slipping a few grenades onto her belt before following us out.
“Well, we’ve got a couple large engines that help keep this place powered and pump water for the town. Unfortunately, one of them broke down a week or two ago and the other's starting to show some strain too, and we don’t have any spare parts for them.” We came to a smaller shack, a low rumbling emanating from inside. Oil Slick pushed one of the large doors open, revealing the pair of massive engines. One was whirring along smoothly while a few mechanics milled about it, checking gauges and occasionally turning valves. Oil Slick shouted over the whir of the engine. “We’ve had to strip the worse one down to keep the other running smoothly, but if we don’t find replacement parts for it sooner or later, we’re going to have to start relying on traders for water, and not many make trips during the winter. A lot of ghouls here rely on electric heaters for warmth too, and we're barely breaking even on power running just the one.” He trotted up to a bookshelf, rifling through them before taking a binder off to hand to Night Strike.
“Here’s a diagram and list of some of the parts we'll need to get the other one back up. Most of it we can run without, but just to make her run we’re going to need a few of these pistons,” Oil Slick pointed to the schematics. “A few of the smaller arms, and one of the larger gears, here.” He began to lead us back out of the generator room, now heading towards another railcar house. Stepping through the small door, he fumbled for a moment before finding a light switch, the lights flickering on.
Sitting in the center of the building was a large rusted yellow railcar, just slightly longer than the mini-tank had been. Connected to the back was an old coal hopper, its paint peeling away after many years of neglect. “So, here’s the sticking point,” Oil Slick said, hopping over the tracks the car lay on and pulling a lever on the opposite side of the large doors. “The only place we know that’s got another engine like this is up at the old Basin Overlook Coal Mines, and those mines are crawling with Hellhounds now. These tracks should take you up to the entrance, but the engines are a bit further in past there.” Oil Slick turned back to us as the great metal doors began to open with a drawn out creak, straining against the icy hinges. “So… think you’re up to it?”
I looked back to the others, now a little hesitant. Hellhounds? No thanks, I choose life. Scouring looked equally nervous, and Crash’s expression was hidden behind her helmet, though I doubted she was any more eager to go along. Night Strike gave a confident smile and climbed up into the front of the engine, Aerith looking almost gleeful at the prospect. “Pffft, Static and I have taken down plenty of Hellhounds before, we’ll have those parts back before tonight.” Oil Slick looked thankful, if a little surprised at Night Strike’s coolness. I shook my head, but climbed onto the engine beside her as the others hopped into the empty coal hopper.
Night Strike fiddled with the controls for a moment, the engine rumbling to life as the headlights began to shine brightly. Easing forward on the lever, the railcar began to roll forward along the tracks and through the town. A few ponies stared as we rolled by, slowly picking up speed as we travelled past the roundhouse and towards a large mountain outside of town. The wheels clattered smoothly along the tracks while the ground began to incline, Night Strike pushing the lever forward a bit more to keep our speed up as we scaled the base of the mountain. We turned into a switchback, passing by a large sign. The old warnings beneath ‘Basin Overlook Coal Mine’ had been painted over to simply read, ‘Hellhounds, Enter at Own Risk’. Well, that’s reassuring.
The air grew dryer as the train slowly climbed the mountains, snow starting to block the tracks somewhat. Hopefully it doesn’t get too deep, we should’ve brought along a flamethrower. Rocks rose up on either side of us, creating a narrow passageway through the mountain, the track curving to begin spiraling upwards. The boulders piled higher, soon forming a solid arch over us and leading us into a cave. The headlights illuminated the tracks as the sunlight faded away behind us. There was no sound, save for the clacking of the car wheels on the track and the occasional drip as water seeped down from above and fell into small pools below us.
I peered off beyond the edge of the headlight’s gaze, but nothing could be seen in the inky blackness. I flinched a little as the sound of something roaring echoed faintly through the caverns. Night Strike looked over to me, her expression a little worried. “Let’s just hope the Hellhounds haven’t managed to dig tunnels through here.” I muttered as we continued along. The tracks straightened out and the incline began to increase a little, prompting me to push the lever forward a bit more. The railcar strained beneath us slightly, but continued to move upwards, daylight soon reaching us through the opposite mouth of the tunnel.
Blinking as my eyes readjusted to the light, I stared ahead to the see the end of the track culminating in a small turntable. Night Strike slowed the traincar as the tracks leveled out, allowing us to roll smoothly onto the rotary table. The car jerked to a halt on the table, a few lights around the edge beginning to flash. Gears ground loudly against one another as the old track turned, reorienting us to face back down the mountain. Convenient. I hopped out of the car as the others did the same, looking around. The ground fell away quickly on one side of the tracks, showing off the sweeping landscape below us. The lake below glimmered in the sunlight, the silhouette of Hopeville just barely visible at the edge.
I gazed over the edge, my stomach clenching a little before I quickly stumbled backwards, bumping into the coal cart. Y-yeah, let’s not do that again, Static. Looking over my shoulder, I turned and followed Crash Dive as she walked slowly towards the mouth of another cave, more rusted over tracks leading in. She flicked on her headlamp, the beam cutting into the darkness of the mines. Scouring and Aerith’s horns lit up as well, a small aura of light surrounding us.
Rocks clacked and crunched beneath our hooves as we followed the tracks deeper into the mine, a few tunnels branching off from the main passageway. “You know, it probably would’ve helped if he said how far exactly down this engine was supposed to be.” Night Strike said. I nodded, still thankful we hadn’t stumbled across any Hellhounds yet. The tunnel we were in soon opened up into a larger room, Crash Dive’s light illuminating a large machine in front of us. We slowly stepped up to it, Night Strike consulting the binder Oil Slick had given us. “Well, this looks like it. Think we should try and strip what we can, take as many parts back as possible.”
Aerith’s horn glowed a little bit brighter, Night Strike handing over the schematics for her to look at. Parts on the machine began to glow, screws undoing themselves as the small arms flew off, the pistons starting to become undone. A low rumble echoed through the caves, Aerith’s magic freezing as Crash pointed her light in the direction of it. We all stood still, and soon Aerith began to quickly undo the cylinders to retrieve the pistons, dropping the arms onto my back to carry. Huff, okay, they looked a lot lighter back at Maple Station... Okay, deep breath, just the gear left. There was a sudden snap, the rusted metal bolts giving way. Before Aerith’s magic could encompass the gear, it fell against the metal body of the engine, the clang reverberating through the caves, only to be followed by several more as the gear toppled onto its side.
A loud roar could be heard coming from one of the tunnels, swiftly joined up by several others. Oh, fuck, we’re so screwed. Aerith heaved up the gear, straining to levitate it as Scouring took the large pistons in his own magic. “Come on, let’s move it!” Crash Dive shouted, starting to sprint back along the tracks towards the exit. We all sprinted after her, the arms clattering around on my back as we raced through the dark tunnel. The sound of pounding feet and whirring metal was slowly growing louder behind us, the light of the exit nothing more than a pinprick. Night Strike began to flap her wings, whipping out Thumper as she rolled in the air to face behind us. She fired off a grenade, the projectile arcing in the air before landing short, but the Hellhounds were gaining fast.
She loaded another grenade, glancing over her shoulder to avoid a rock jutting down from the ceiling before firing again. This time the roars were coupled by a few whimpers of pain, and I dared a glance back. A Hellhound was barreling after us, its claws raking the rocky floor as the various mechanical augmentations grafted into its body whirred and spun. A few others could be heard behind it and I turned my head back towards the entrance, my eyes burning a bit as we ran out into the bright sunlight. Night Strike landed at the controls of the railcar, firing off another grenade at the Hellhound as I leapt into the coal car, the engine arms rolling off my back. Night Strike slammed the lever forward as Aerith and Scouring piled in on top of me, the engine parts clanking against each other as they dropped them into the cart. The railcar shuddered as it began to roll forwards, Crash Dive pushing the car to get it rolling faster. Come on, move you damn machine!
I climbed out of the coal hopper and jumped to the engine, Aerith levitating up her Chicacolt Typewriter and letting off a stream of bullets at the Hellhound leading the pack. It cried out in pain, stumbling to the side, only to be replaced by another. I bent down, flipping open a panel to reveal the inner workings of the railcar. Gears spun and I reached in, taking a hold of a small lever. Oh, please don’t let this be a stupid decision. I tugged on the lever, metal shifting around inside as the governor on the small motor was released.
The railcar began to roll forward much faster, the engine no longer holding back as we powered down the rail line. Gravity began to take over, and Crash Dive clambered into the hopper as Scouring fired off a rocket at the pack of Hellhounds, the railcar picking up speed fast as we rolled down the mountain. Night Strike shot off a grenade at the chasing Hellhounds as Crash Dive tossed a few of her own. The resulting explosion knocked one of the Hellhounds off of the mountain, sending it careening over the cliffs and onto the rocks below.
Night Strike slammed into me as we rounded a corner, the wheels clattering loudly as we sped down the mountain. My vision was suddenly filled with blackness as we entered the tunnel, nothing to illuminate the chasing Hellhounds except Crash Dive’s headlamp and the flashes of light from the grenades exploding. I looked forwards, the light attached to the front of the railcar shaking violently with each railway tie we passed over. Aerith let out a few more bursts from her gun, the muzzle flashes lighting up the cave somewhat and allowing Scouring to get a better shot with Sunburst.
Sparks flew from the wheels as we sped around another corner, the light from the other end of the tunnel quickly overtaking us as we raced down into the narrow ravine. The few remaining Hellhounds were forced into a single file line, the rocks on either side of us scraping at their large bodies. One smashed into the rocky wall, starting to dig through in an attempt to get ahead of us. Crash Dive chucked another grenade at the few still in pursuit, managing to blow the arm off one of them. It fell onto the tracks, the Hellhound behind it tripping over it and landing with a thud onto the tracks, only to receive a rocket to the face from Scouring. The wall beside us suddenly burst open, a Hellhound jumping out onto the tracks in front of us. The railcar smashed into it, the beast giving a deafening roar as it slowed the railcar.
Scouring raised up Sunburst and fired into the maw of the Hellhound. Its head exploded into a shower of guts and metal, body slumping to the ground, leaving myself and Night Strike spattered with blood. We both sat silently for a moment, myself catching my breath from the fight as Crash Dive cut the throttle and hammered on the brakes, the small train slowing to a much slower speed, us all breathing heavily. I slumped against the side of the engine on the railcar, looking to the panel from earlier and flipping the lever back in place, before letting myself collapse fully.
“Never… again…”
-----
"Well, don't blame you for disabling the governor on this thing with hellhounds coming after you, but I kinda had hoped you wouldn't have done that, much less put it back after taking it off. Fast way to strip the gears putting it back in with the engine running, yanno." We'd gotten back to Maple Station well after the sun had set, the town railyard illuminated by the soft glow of electric lanterns overhead and light streaming from the windows of several of the buildings. Oil Slick was up on the small rail-runner looking over the engine as I helped myself to a clean rag, wiping both my face and jacket down to try and get the blood off, Static doing much the same. Bloody hellhounds... literally... The side panel clattered back down as the earth pony hopped down from the car, letting off a sigh. "Well, at least we should be able to get number two back and running with the parts you got, so thank you all for that. Won't be able to work on your Motorbug while overseeing the repairs, but, ah, that won't be too much of a problem, will it?"
Giving Static a small glance as I set the wet rag aside, and shivering at the sudden coldness of the room - Sheesh, I -really- hope I didn't just condemn my face to freezing up when I step back outside - I gave a small shake of my head, Oil Slick having brought over a small trolley to carry the engine parts. "Nope, we can afford to hang around for a few days. Better if we do, don't want the thing failing us again when we head back down through Gemdale." And I certainly don't want to have to try and repair the lifting modules for a Sparkle-Cola trailer in the middle of a blizzard, either. Ooh, hey, maybe if we ask really nicely we could have Mad Jack and Avery help pull that thing out, or at least move the crates out of it... Oil Slick gave a small sniffle, rubbing at his muzzle and moving one of the cam arms over onto the trolley.
"Eh, heard about what happened a few days ago down there, you guys really messed up that flock of mercenaries, didn't ya? Shot a balefire egg right back at 'em, did you catch one they shot at you, or somethin'?" Well, it was technically a forty millimeter rifle grenade that was specially designed to have the same explosive yield as a balefire egg, but whatever. Explosions are explosions - still can't believe I actually hit one of them directly in the face with it. "Ah, well, hey, at least you don't have to worry about them screwing up your Motorbug anymore. Hell, I were a betting stallion I'd say you pretty much turned the only mercenary pair in this part of the wasteland off of the gig for good. Only place I've seen those two since they showed up here is when I head to the Stiff Drink after work. Speaking of..."
Getting the last of the parts onto the trolley, Oil Slick pushed it over to the side doorway, slipping on a thick jacket and hat. Scouring and Aerith both trotted over with him as he shoved it through the door and out into the yard, myself, Static, and Crash Dive bringing up the rear as we all traveled through the freshly-falling snow and over to the brick engine house. Air condensed into white clouds with every breath, myself feeling that faint sting that comes with having a wet face and walking out into frigid temperatures - ow. The trolley slid in through the engine house doors, Oil Slick leaving it at the entrance as we caught up with them, the stallion latching the door shut. "Right, thanks again for your help, don't know how long we could've run on just the one engine before it gave out too. Shouldn't take more than a few days to sort out your Motorbug's engine, will keep it with the tank ghouls in the meantime. G'night!"
Passing along a wave as we parted, Static released a long sigh, looking around the electric-lit railyards and town. "So, we're stuck up here until they get around to fixing our mini-tank... not ideal, but it's better than that drive-in. You don't suppose we could ask for a discount on those hotel rooms, could we?" Answering him with a small roll of my eyes, my stomach let out a small gurgle, Static's own answering in return. Good point stomachs, we haven't had a thing to eat all day, have we? Looking across the railyard, my eyes scanned for anything that looked like it could be a diner or something, before hearing Static trotting off. Looking back, he did the same, heading for the railshed that housed all the tanks. "We got food with the wagon, don't we? We aren't made of caps!" Oh, I hate that he has a point. Then again, if Mad Jack isn't the only tank ghoul, I do wanna know what the other ones have...
The rest of us followed in behind the earth pony as he trotted forth, the high windows of the railshed casting the soft yellow light far across the snowy yard as we approached. Some music muffledly played out inside, the idle clanking of tools against metal following with it along with intermittent coughing and grunts, and occasional laughter. Static gave an uncertain glance back to us as we stepped up to the side door, pushing it open to be met with the sound of several ghouls singing. "Hush, there goes a whiz-bang, and it's makin' straight for you! And you'll see all the wonders of no-stallion's land if a whiz-bang - hits you!" The railshed broke out into some pleasant laughter, if in several raspy ghoul voices, anyways, Static moving over towards the mini-tank beside Avery while I took it upon myself to get a better look at the other tanks. Ooh, now that one looks neat... is that a 17-pounder?
"Aye, hey boys, 'ere's the group I was tellin' about!" Mad Jack's head poked up out of Avery's driver hatch, a grin across his muzzle. I returned it as he climbed up out of the tank, myself landing over by him, getting a better look at the other vehicles around, and the ghouls tending to them. Mad Jack let off a small laugh as he rested a hoof around my neck, waving over to the rest of the hangar. "C'mon, they won't bite and your crates can handle a break in being tuned, introduce yourselves, eh?" I let off a weak chuckle, Mad Jack wearing a grin before blinking and pulling his foreleg off of me, releasing a weak chuckle of his own. Kay, let's hope intros go smoothly otherwise.
From the tank beside Mad Jack's Churchill, an odd-looking one with sloping only on the front and the distinctive muzzlebrake of the 17-pounder gun at the end of it's barrel, and a... bulldozer blade on the front, a pegasus mare lifted herself out through the top hatch, grease stains covering what was left of her coat and blond mane in a mess. She gave her head a shake, ruffling her old wings and hopping down, seeming to only glide on them rather than really fly, a warm smile on her muzzle. "Glad to know Jack's crazy where it counts, would've gone to get you with Fyre myself but we were getting a railcar out of a snowdrift. Name's Rangefinder, glad to meet ya." Taking her outstretched hoof and giving it a shake, Aerith trotted up beside us with a bomb-bottle of Sparkle-Cola in her magic, levitating it off to me. Opening the cap, Rangefinder cocked her head as she looked up at Aerith, keeping her eyes on the alicorn as she moved back over to her tank. Huh, guess she's just surprised to see an alicorn up here, or something...
From the third tank down the line, a kinda boxy-looking one with extra plates bolted on the front and a forward-placed turret with a gun that looked like it was about the same caliber as the 17-pounder but with a real funny-looking muzzlebrake, a ghoul unicorn approached, wiping his hooves down with a cleanish-looking rag and adjusting his glasses. He let off a soft chuckle, levitating the rag aside and straightening himself. "Sergeant Rheinmetall of Her Majesty's 188th armored vehicle division, pleasure to make your acquaintance. Do offer my most sincere apologies for not being able to come to your aid as well, my tank is rather high maintenance and tends to not handle long journeys well with only one crewmember to look after her." There was a small scoffing noise from over by Rangefinder's tank, the pegasus mare pushing herself off of it and trotting back over.
"Here's the pretentious-to-normal translation, Rhymey's tank apparently likes to burst into flames and he hates getting her dirty, too. You can drop your rank and position shpiel whenever you introduce yourself nowadays, yanno, most ponies don't give a flying shit." Rangefinder wore a smirk on her degraded muzzle, the bespectacled unicorn ghoul seeming taken aback by her. Myself and Aerith gave a small glance between ourselves before taking a trot off to the side, moving to actually look at the tanks while those two bickered. "C'mon, Rhymey, you know I'm ri-ight~"
"What I know is that you're an arrogant Private of Her Majesty's Army Aerial Scout wing who had the misfortune of finding that tinderbox you call a tank in working order." Huh, so, not every tank ghoul actually worked in the tank they have? I mean, it kinda makes some sense, but... oh, hey, look at the pretty tanks! Come on Night Strike, let's just see what else there is and leave petty arguments alone. Yeah. Taking a long gulp from the bomb-bottle of Sparkle-Cola, both myself and Aerith trotted by Rheinmetall's tank, an imposing-looking one if I ever saw it. Angled cheek armor on the sides of the hull when looking at it from the front, some pretty hefty armor plates bolted on too, and that flat-faced turret with the big gun and a co-axial thirty mounted in it... yeah, I'd be pretty scared if I saw this thing charging towards me. Assuming it didn't spontaneously combust halfway to getting there, anyways...
There was a rather sizable gap between Rheinmetall's tank and the next one down the line, which now that I have a good look at it kind of looks like somepony tried to cross the bottom half of the Seaddler with a really tiny but not quite mini-tank-sized tank. Aerith seemed just as confused by the thing as I was, as we trotted the gap to get a better look at it. Seriously, a tank-boat, I know that dad's heard all the jokes about the TOG being a battleship but I never thought that they actually made tanks that could swim... Not immediately seeing anypony standing outside of it, I trotted over to where the actual tank part of the tank seemed to start, taking one glance back towards Aerith before tapping on the outside with a hoof. Yeesh, that sounds hollow... with armor that thin, I'm not sure if this thing can actually be called a tank.
There was a muffled yelp from the tank as I knocked, followed by the sound of somepony banging their head against something inside - ouch, sorry - the occupant releasing a sigh before the top hatch on the really small turret squeaked open. It was pushed out and aside by a black hoof, followed by the face of a mare... who I really couldn't tell if she were a pony or some kind of technicolor zebra. Congrats, Aerith, you're now the second strangest person we've seen so far! She rested herself in the small hatch that seemed to make up the majority of the turret's roof, looking over us both and rubbing at her eyes. "Mmh, yeah? O-oh, visitors, huh, imagine that."
"Oh, um, sorry to wake you, we just didn't see anyone around this tank and... um... yeah..." Smooth, Strikey. Rubbing at the back of my head as Aerith took another long drink from her bottle of Sparkle-Cola, the zebra... pony... hyrid-ghoul blunk a few times, letting off a yawn. She winced, moving a hoof to rub at her forehead, leaning forwards against the hatch ring. "A-ah, yeah, sorry about making you hit your head on something, too..."
"Don't worry, not the first time it's happened. Won't be the last... Name's Sensha, since you're over here I take it you've met the others..." The ghoul mare looked up past us, the sound of muffled arguing still coming from the other end of the shed. "And Rangefinder and Rheinmetall are arguing again. Sheesh, can't they go one day without yelling at each other?..." Leaning up against her tank hatch ring, Sensha rubbed at her temples annoyedly, letting off a long sigh. Glancing at Aerith, she returned it, her mouth full of another gulp of Sparkle-Cola - take it easy, we still need to get that truck by the drive-in unloaded! The ghoul in the tank tapped her hoof against the side of her tank's thin armor, letting off a small grunt as she cleared her throat. "Mmh, well, nice meeting you both, shame that Caution Tape isn't back yet, he loves new faces... uh, your face always like that, or..."
I blunk a few times as she addressed me, stammering lightly. Was I staring? Gah. Well, you can't blame me, I've never seen a technicolor zebra before! Resorting to weak chuckles, Aerith's screen flashed up for me, reading at least partially why I kept on staring - thanks for covering for me... 'She's just a little confused about your tank, why it looks like a boat. Also, well, the whole colored zebra thing, too. And, um... Caution Tape?'
Sensha blunk a few times in response before letting off a small chuff, a smile crossing her muzzle as she leaned back against her hatch ring. "Never met a Zony before? Can't blame you too much, weren't many of us before the war and there are even less of us after it. Kind of taboo to have a foal with the enemy, and all that... my father was an Equestrian zebra, and mother a pony. We were hiding out inside a walled-off sewage drain when the bombs were falling, came out a few weeks afterwards like those old films said to for food and fresh water. Apparently the films we saw were a little out of date, heh..."
The zony mare trailed off, leting out a soft sigh before stammering herself. "A-ahm, anyways, yeah, Caution Tape, he and Deathtrap usually take up that spot beside me, keeps us away from Rheinmetall and Rangefinder. Equestrian-born Zebra, he actually did own his tank before the war." Sounds of arguing came from over by the other tanks, myself glancing back to catch Static trotting along in front of them with a snack cake in hoof. Sensha let loose another sigh, lowering herself into her tank. "He's been gone for a while, was bringing a wagon train of ghouls up towards Stalliongrad last I saw him. Hope he's doing alright."
Static soon made his way over to us, crumbs littering his lips and cheeks full of those two-century-old pastries. He swallowed down what was in his mouth, panting a few times, the small hatch clattering back into place behind us as the zony took shelter back inside her tank. "Ah, kay, you gonna get something to eat or just stare at tanks all night? Because we're pretty much ready to head back to the hotel now..." Opening my mouth to answer him, my stomach took the liberty of doing that for me, the earth pony wiping his muzzle down and wearing a smirk on it. Gwuh, stupid sexy tanks...
---
"Probably should've figured you'd be busy today. Do you guys ever take a break from being heroes?" The male gryphon mercenary let off a small chuckle as myself and Static followed him to his hotel room, the railyard outside the hallway window still illuminated in that soft blue glow. Scouring, Crash Dive, and Aerith had all elected to head for their beds early - frankly, after geting chased down a mountain by hellhounds and traveling pretty much down to the reservior and back, I don't blame them. The gryphon stopped in front of a door, pulling out his key and opening it up, bringing us inside.
"Only when we overdose on Sparkle-Cola RAD." Static let out a small chuckle as I shot him a glare, the gryphon looking back at us, confused for a moment, before moving over to a small fridge beside his bed. He reappeared with a bottle of Sparkle-Cola, popping it open with his beak and taking a few gulps, the female mercenary laying on the other bed with an ice pack covering her eyes. Yeesh, how much did she have to drink last night? "Anyways, uh, I don't think we actually caught your names yesterday. You, uh, probably know ours, anyways, eheh..."
Mister merc finished off his gulp of soda, rubbing his beak dry and setting the bottle on the nightstand. "Mmh, Night Strike and Static Charge, yeah. Well, alright, but I will warn you that you'll probably want to laugh, and that might end up with my sis getting mad. Again." He let off a small cough and rubbed at his bandaged wing, missy merc letting loose a faint groan. Clearing his throat, the male gryphon leaned back on the bed, letting off a small sigh. "Well, I'm Merlin, and the hungover bundle of joy on the other bed-"
"Fuck you."
"-is my oh-so-pleasant sister Royce. Been in the mercenary business for about five years now, just been going after low-key targets with the help of some local muscle from Vanhoover. You guys were the first ones that we got with a full hundred K on your heads, each. Guess that's a couple million we'll never see... least we got some of it paid up front." Good to know they're at least business-smart. Seriously though, I dunno about whoever put that bounty on my head, but I'd say I'm worth a little bit more than a measly hundred thousand caps... hundred million, maybe. Why am I thinking about how much my bounty should be? Brain, you're really not being helpful. Static scratched at his head, looking over to me for a moment, before turning back to face mister merc - er, Merlin.
"How you got to millions of caps from five hundred thousand aside, who was paying you to go after us, anyways? And why?" Merlin paused for a moment, looking up at the ceiling. I... guess he was thinking. Guh, it's way too late and I have way too little Sparkle-Cola RAD in me to think right now. Static seemed to be doing some thinking of his own, chewing on his lip. "I mean, unless we pissed somepony off by blowing up stuff that seemed uninhabited... if that's the reason why, Night Strike I swear I'm going to buck you into next week."
"Yeah, because someone would totally send mercenaries after a group who've proven time and again they know how to blow shit to kingdom come for that exact reason and that reason only." Come on Static, it might be almost midnight but you can still think. Giving my eyes a roll, he glared back at me in response, Merlin having shuffled over to chat with his sister for whatever reason. "If it's wrong to cause explosions with yields greater than that of an average brick of C4 or balefire egg, then I don't want to be right. I stand by mine and my fathers' principles."
"Sorry about that, Royce handles all of the cap stuff usually. Don't know who it was who had all the caps, never let us see their face, but their cronies who paid us wore some kind of power armor. Real cunts about it too, flashing their fancy energy weapons around like we were supposed to be intimidated by 'em. Said they worked for someone who called himself Cerberus... if it's the same Cerberus from those old stories, I gotta say, if you managed to piss off that beast and get away, I am so glad we're not hunting you down any longer." Merlin let off a weak chuckle, myself and Static both looking towards each other for a moment. Uhm, Cerberus, Cerberus, Cerberus... I wanna say... three-headed dog? I think? Yeah, I don't remember seeing one of those since we crashed down here.
"Pretty sure it's some guy using that as his name, and not -the- actual Cerberus. We'd probably remember pissing off a three-headed dog." Letting off a short chuckle, I let myself trail off to thought. Okay, if these guys are who they could be, then we've got some distinctly large issues... "Did you ever get a look at their power armor, enough to recognize it as either Enclave or Steel Ranger?"
Merlin paused to think for a moment, Static fidgeting a little beside me. Yeah, slightly-not-worst case scneario, we pissed off the Steel Rangers somehow, which means we could possibly wind up trapped down here with some looney-bin candidate for a head paladin then having posession of a huge bomber and four megaspells big enough to wipe out a sizable chunk of any of these towns with a near miss. Worst case... well, I mean, the Valkyrie has turrets, turreted tesla cannons for that matter, so it's not like we'll have to rely on my skills of flying the thing to shoot those Harriers down... "Dunno, Royce always made the exchanges at night and it seemed like they kept their armor covered much as they could. Think she said their eyes glowed, but I dunno, maybe she was just imagining stuff. Kinda started hitting the bottle hard after you did, well, this." The gryphon showed off his bandaged wing, drawing in a sharp breath as he moved it, releasing it and shuffling over to the night stand to get a healing potion.
"Ehm, yeah, sorry about that... Really didn't mean to do it, I was practicing shooting off War Crime, and with the three-round burst and heavy recoil... there was a lot of dense vegitation, I didn't even see you there!" The purple potion quickly vanished down the gryphon's throat, myself swaying a little on my hooves. Woof, it's too late for me to be doing this. Wiping his beak clean with his foreleg... talon... thing, Merlin held in a breath for a few moments, releasing it and panting a few times.
"I've got every right to be pissed off at you even if that's so - and I am, for the record, because it's gonna be at least a week or two before I'm flying like I used to again - but accident or not, I can't blame you for shooting at us. You were all just dollar signs to us, at the time." He broke out into a fit of chuckling, shaking his head as he leaned back on the bed. "Really fucking annoyingly hard to get dollar signs. But that's not the case any more. Hell, just with the ten percent we got upfront, we've got enough caps to live comfortably for a while, and with our now very-well-known mortality rates - thanks for that - I doubt we'll be doing much high-stakes mercenary work in the immediate future."
Letting off a dry chuckle and rubbing at the back of my head, I felt myself lean back a little, hind hooves quickly moving to steady me. Guh, I really did not drink enough Sparkle-Cola today... Static rested a hoof on my shoulder, looking to Merlin. "We probably should go back to our rooms, it's pretty late. Thanks for the info, and sorry about your wing." Merlin gave a small nod and wave, myself following the earth pony out of the bedroom and back into the hallway. The door shut behind us with a click, us both heading towards the stairwell. "Cerberus... well, at least we sort of have a name to ask about now. And kind of a lead, if we can call that vague description of power armor and energy weapons one."
"Anything's better than nothing." Passing on a shrug, Static let off a small sigh, our hooves echoing in the dim hallway. A light snow was falling outside, the flakes caught in the blue light glow of the railyard. "We've got bigger things to worry about tomorrow, anyways. I was thinking on the ride back, the Basin Overlook mine is pretty much that central chamber with all of the other shafts branching off of it, yeah? Well, there's only so much air in those caves, and if we can burn it up we can take care of the hellhound issue."
Static shot me a confused look as we reached the stairs, heading down them to our hallway. "And how exactly do you propose we do something like that? Open up that weird film and set it on fire, hope that it'll do the job?" ...huh, didn't think of that. I mean, if it burns fiercely enough, it might work, but... nah, would take too long to do it. Letting off a small chuckle, I shook my head in response, looking towards Static.
"No, silly. We've got that other fuel-air bomb to do the job for us." Oh, it's so cute when he's struck speechless. C'mon, Sparky, you know I'm right~ he let off a sigh as we reached our rooms, rubing a hoof on his face.
"I'm starting to really hate when you have ideas. Can you stop doing that, or at least make them sane?" Leting off a chuckle, my room's door opened with a click, myself trotting inside while looking back at the earth pony across the hall. "Who'm I kidding, 'sane' and 'you' don't work in the same sentence."
"I love you too, Sparky~"
---
"Okay, I got the list of other parts which would be useful to have spares of made up for you, but you guys really don't have to go back to the Basin Overloo- WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA!?" Oil Slick dropped a small binder of papers from his hoof as he caught sight of the longer flatbed that was hooked up to the little rail-runner, and - which, in retrospect, was probably the more likely cause of his alarm - the one-ton thermobaric bomb that Scouring and Aerith were strapping onto it. I hopped down ans trotted over to him, moving to get the binder as he looked down at me, wide-eyed. I returned a grin. "U-uh, what... what's that, that you're doing there?"
"Just a one-ton fuel-air bomb, we're gonna set it off in the mine after stripping the engines down for parts. Fuel mixes with the air in the shaft, burns it all up, hellhound problem either suffocates or dies when the blast wave hits 'em." Flipping through the pages in the binder, I trotted back over to the rail runner, glancing back at the oil-stained stallion. Sheesh, it's like he's never seen a nine hundred kilogram bomb before... fair point. The binder shut with a small clap, myself letting off a sigh and leaning against the side of the miniaturized locomotive. "Relax, we know what we're doing. We'll get you what you need to have both engines running perfectly again."
"Ahm... alright, if you say so... how many more of those things do you have with you?" Glancing over to Scouring as he tightened down the straps to keep it in place, I answered Oil Slick with a shake of the head, nodding at the bomb, the stallion rubbing at his forehead and letting off a sigh. Don't worry, we're not stupid... just a little explosion-happy. "No wonder your poor motorbug's engine blew that gasket if you had it hauling that thing along with all of your stuff. I'll have to see what I can do about re-tuning it for heavier pulling, if you're carting those things around regularly."
"Believe me, we really try not to when we can help it." Static wore a smirk as he poked his head up from the rail-runner's deck, his saddlebags laying on the floor with some papers pulled out of it. I gave a roll of my eyes and went back to looking through the binder as he looked towards me. "Thanks, though. Something tells me that our trailer won't be getting lighter anytime soon, so every little bit helps. Suppose we can discuss reimbursement for this once we get back with the parts..." Glancing up from the page, Oil Slick looked a little confused at Static's last sentence, the earth pony clearing his throat and stammering. Smooth, Sparky. "I-I mean, um, we shouldn't be too long, could we get an estimate on when you'll have our mini-tank tuned up and ready?"
"Ah... well, I'll try and have it repaired by the time you get back, but it might take a while, at least a day or two. Assuming the engines don't explode in the meantime, or something, anyways." Oil Slick scratched at the back of his head as Scouring hopped up into the mine hopper between the runner and the bomb's flatbed, Aerith and Crash Dive following with him. I hopped myself up into the runner, Static turning the little thing's engine on, the headlights illuminating the doors of the shed. The maintenance stallion moved over to help get the doors open, standing beside them as we started to set off. "Ah, well, good luck, guys! Eheh..." Giving us a wave, I returned it, the inside of the shed giving way to the crisp snowy air of the railyard.
The small trough we passed through just barely allowed us to see the rails we ran on as we moved forwards, heading for the town limits at a steady pace. I leaned back in the chair, watching Static as he held down a few of the papers from his saddlebags, looking them over. Reaching down to pull a Sparkle-Cola from my duffel bag, I glanced over one of them - words, words, words, words, picture of a wire diagram, words, words, words... guh. Plans for something electronicy, at least. The cap popped free easily, myself tossing it into my duffel bag and taking a sip, the earth pony beside me intent on reading that novel as we picked up speed, reaching the forest. "What'cha reading? Some diagrams from Greasy, or something?"
Static glanced up at me, the papers ruffling in the chill breeze. "Ah, technically. Manual for the Valkyrie, figure it might have something useful inside, or something. I dunno, guide for how to use it safely without blowing up, or how to get those bombs out of it without them detonating." Swallowing the gulp of soda that I had in my mouth, I looked over one of the papers as well, glancing at the title - 'Electronic Bombsight Guide; Situational use, Toss-Bombing configurations, and Gunnery options.' Well, that doesn't have anything to do with actually flying it, so... eh. Suppose it'd be good for at least one of us to know how to work all that stuff in the second seat. "Really some interesting stuff in here, actually. Apparently that bombsight will automatically track a target once it's located, give readouts in true color, night vision, or black-white heat signatures, same for the cameras in the turrets, too..."
"Mmh, yeah, well, guess it's a good thing I'm the pilot, then, so I don't have to do as much reading." Letting off a small chuckle, I leaned back in the seat, watching as the grey sky above started to toss down a light dusting of snow, getting caught on the canopies of trees around. Static let off a long sigh beside me, taking the page I was glancing at as I gave it back to him, myself looking over my pip-buck instead. Long trip ahead, let's see what's playing on Radio KAOS...
"-out of Maple Station, the lead engineer working on the pair of double-acting tandem natural gas engines that run the town is happy to report that the Vanhoover Five have done it again, and brought the parts that they desperately needed to bring both engines back into a functioning state out of the hellhound-infested Basin Overlook Coal Mines. It really has to be said, these stallions and mares have some balls of steel to be able to face down hellhounds like that - I know they've gotten a lot of praise lately, but, damned if they don't deserve every bit of it. I'm just running out of ways to do it- ahm, hold on for a second..." The radio swapped to a small tune for a little while - huh, sounds like something you'd hear inside an elevator.
"Sorry about that folks, radio was blinking and by some chance it was about the Five again. Just a short while ago they were seen heading back off towards the Basin Overlook Mines, this time with a one-ton fuel-air bomb in tow. Apparently they're heading back up that way to grab some spare parts for Maple Station's engines - adamant, crazy, or just plain heroes, whatever you want to say about them they always seem willing to lend a helping hoof. I'm not a betting stallion, but I can probably hazard a guess that that fuel-air bomb they've got this time isn't just to give the hellhounds something pretty to look at, heh. Try to not blow yourselves up guys, we've really grown pretty fond of you.
"Anyways, I've jabbered on for long enough, here's some music to get all of you fine stallions and mares out there through the day. Roger Trotters - Wish You Were Here. Enjoy."
---
"She's all set an' ready for blowing. Think we got everything we need from those engines?" Looking over the railcar now loaded with engine parts in place of a very large bomb, I let off a small chuckle, nodding towards Scouring. The sun was high in the sky, reflecting brightly off of the snow around, Static sitting in the rail-runner at the controls. Aerith levitated the binder back over to me, Crash Dive resting in the mine hopper and watching expectantly. The alicorn passed on a smile as she hovered herself into the hopper as well, hooves landing against the metal bottom with a few clacks.
"Should be everything, at least most of this stuff was easily taken off. Glad we didn't have to deal with hellhounds again..." Hopping up into the cabin of the rail-runner, Scouring clambered onto the flatbed behind us with the engine parts, pulling out a detonator. Looking towards the entrance to the mines, and hearing Static start up the engine of the little railcar, I lifted a hoof to stop them for a moment. Best to cause as many casualties as we can hope to... Static shot me a look as I ducked down and started going through his saddlebags, eventually returning with a 25-mil bore flare gun. Grinning with the bit of it in my mouth, Crash Dive let off a sigh, putting a hoof to her forehead, the rest of them looking on in varying levels of confusion. Turning to face towards the mine entrance, my tongue squeezed the bit, a bright red flare shooting with a screech from the gun and traveling down the shaft, illuminating it for a far ways. Putting the flare gun back in his saddlebags, Static let off a sigh, starting the rail-runner down the track.
"You really just like making things more difficult than they have to be, don't you?" A low roar echoed out of the mine shaft as we trundled off of the turntable, starting to head off down the mountain. We quickly picked up speed down the tracks, Scouring's activation of the detonator answered with a sudden loud thundering roar of the air inside the mines being rapidly burned up in a firey blast, some trees behind us being blown over by the focused explosion erupting from the mine entrance. A pillar of smoke and dust rose high from the entrance as we sped back towards Maple Station, myself letting off a small chuckle.
"Really, Static, you know I prefer to call it making things interesting~"
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"Mmh, yeah, well, guess it's a good thing I'm the pilot, then, so I don't have to do as much reading." Yes, because the piloting you did before in the Valkyrie was helpful at all...
Overall it was a good chapter! On top of that, we finally have a name to put on the shady badguys!
done. well lots of stuff happened, and we get more action. All and all a well rounded chapter.
Plot Intensifies.
I liked this chapter, lots of explosions and such. Also Aerith is freaking hilarious in the way she acts. Everyone is chilling out and she's laying on the floor bundled in blankets.