Tanks & Tommy Guns
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Lamps flickered above us as the railcar rolled slowly into the train yard, the wheels clacking smoothly along the tracks as the brakes screeched a bit to bring us to a stop in the maintenance shack. I switched the railcar off, the headlights dimming as the engine’s rumble died down. Night Strike slipped off of the railcar and pulled the lever beside the large wooden doors, gears cranking loudly as they swung shut, keeping out the errant freezing gusts. Opening the door to the shack, we saw Oil Slick trotting up to us, his hooves leaving a trail in the thin layer of snow on the ground. “Ah, good to see you guys back already. I hope you didn’t have to deal with any Hellhounds this trip.”
“Nah, they must’ve gotten the message the first time around.” Night Strike said as the others climbed out of the coal hopper. Oil Slick stepped inside to take a look at the spare parts, lifting one of the shaped pieces of metal off of the flatbed car to check it over. The jacketed pegasus wore a smirk, patting the side of the flatbed. “And I doubt they’ll be forgetting the last message we just gave them either. We did get those parts out before blowing the place up, you’re going to need a team of excavators to get anywhere in that mine anymore.”
Oil Slick chuckled a little as he placed the part back onto the pile of metal, following us out. “Yeah, I think we heard that thing go off from up here. I wouldn’t be surprised if it caused a rockslide somewhere.” My stomach clenched slightly. Ooh, yeah, in retrospect that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do... damnit, Night Strike. Hopefully we don’t end up crushing somepony’s house or blocking that Steel Ranger Vault door, especially if Cerberus is friendly with them...
“You know, Oil Slick, I’d say we’ve done more than our end of that bargain for the new parts for our mini-tank, taking all this into consideration.” I said, the stallion’s smile faltering slightly. “I think a bit of a discount on that upgrade isn’t unrealistic. Say, 30%?” Oil Slick’s face pulled into a small grimace as we made our way towards the hotel, the blue lighting overhead casting long shadows on the snow. Why's the railyard lit up in blue, anyways? “At the very least it should be considered some compensation for using up one of those bombs on the mines. Those things aren’t exactly common much anymore, not to mention how hard it was to haul just one all the way here, and who knows how big of a problem those Hellhounds could’ve been.”
Oil Slick gave small defeated sigh, hooves crunching in the snow. “Yeah, I suppose that is fair. Not to mention this would let us try digging in those mines for some coal again, electrics can only keep so many houses warm, you know?” He turned away, moving back towards the building housing the generators as we trotted up to the doors of the hotel. “Well, thanks again for the help. I should have the tank fixed up around the day after tomorrow.”
I waved and stepped into the warmth of the hotel lobby, spotting the receptionist dozing in a chair through the door to the back room. “You think we could actually get some real food with the money we’re saving on that repair, now, Static?” Night Strike said as we trotted up the steps, which creaked a little under our weight. “I’d rather not eat nothing but snack cakes and Sparkle Cola… even if that is one of the main food groups. Besides, new town, new restaurants, we should see what they have available” I rolled my eyes as we trotted down the hallway, Scouring and I breaking off from the others as they unlocked their own room.
“Fine, fine. Just try not to order the whole kitchen, alright? I’ve seen what you can do when you actually do decide to eat.” The lock to our room clicked open and Scouring and I stepped inside. I let my saddlebags fall onto the floor before climbing into bed, Scouring slipping off his armor before hopping into the bed beside mine. I sighed, burying my face into the pillow as I closed my eyes. I really could use tomorrow to relax after everything we’ve done today.
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I awoke to the sound of Scouring fitting his armor on, the servos and fans whirring to life as he slid his hooves into the metal plating. Yawning and rubbing my eyes, I sat up in bed as the metal shifted on small gears to cover up his back, leaving him enclosed in the armor. “Mornin’. I was just planning on heading down to the roundhouse for a few drinks.” Scouring said, a bit of a smile on his muzzle. Sheesh, drinking this early? Hope you don’t have a problem you neglected to tell us about.
“Ah, erm, well, alright.” I yawned again, pushing the covers off of me. “We’ll probably end up finding someplace to eat later, we’ll swing by to find you.” Scouring nodded and headed out the door, myself rolling out of bed and trotting into the bathroom. C’mon, please let this place have some warm water. I cranked open the faucet, water cascading down from the slightly rusty showerhead, the meager heat from it being enough to fog up the mirror. I slipped off my jacket and stepped into the lukewarm water, bending my head to try and wash out some of the blood that had dried onto it from yesterday. Ech, at least the smell was gone by now.
Rinsing down my mane and tugging some knotted hairs out, I closed my eyes as some water flowed down over my face and fell to the floor of the tub. I gave a sigh of relief as I let the water coat me, feeling a bit of a weight fall off me. We really need to get some warmer showers back up north, I swear they always feel like they’re on the verge of freezing. Not long after I’d managed to clean my coat, I flipped the faucet back shut, reaching out for a towel, that... turned out to not exist. Gah, what hotel doesn’t have towels available? Dripping, I stepped out of the shower and picked up my jacket, slipping it back over me. The fabric clung to my skin as it absorbed the moisture, my hooves leaving faint marks in the old carpet as I walked back over to the bed.
My saddlebags clinked around as I slid them on, slipping the key to the room into one. I reached down into my saddlebags and slipped out the folded up stealth armor I’d found, looking over its fabric for a moment. My muzzle scrunched at the smell before I stuffed it back in. Yeah, should probably find somepony to clean that thing while we’re here. I stepped into the hallway, walking over to Night Strike’s room and knocking on the door a few times. The door swung open to reveal Aerith in her puffy winter coat. ‘Morning, Static. Night Strike’s off looking at the tanks again, Crash Dive tagged along.’
“Oh, ok. Well, I was just planning on wandering around, looking for somepony that might be able to wash or fix up that armor I found. Wanna tag along?” Aerith shrugged and smiled, stepping out of the room and walking with me down the hall. I shivered a little as we stepped outside, my still-damp flanks extra sensitive to the cool air. Ponies were starting to mill about the town, sliding the large doors of the boxcars that were now their homes open. I spotted a few ponies dragging the flatbed car full of engine parts over from the railcar house along the tracks towards the generators.
The sound of raucous laughter could be heard as we passed by the roundhouse, a snippet of somepony’s standup act being heard before being drowned in another round of cheers and laughter. I looked around, spotting a boxcar with a sign hanging beside the large door that read ‘Laundromat’. Aerith followed as I turned towards it, walking up the few wooden steps inside. The smell of detergent wafted through the boxcar as I trotted up to a makeshift counter, a couple ponies scrubbing away at clothes in tubs of water. “Heya! You here to drop off or pick up?” One of them called, dropping the clothes into the bin and drying her hooves off with a rag as she stepped up to the counter.
I flipped open my saddlebags, sliding the stealth armor out. The clerk’s muzzle wrinkled as the smell of rotting flesh hit her nose, trying in vain to keep a smile on her face. “Uh, so I found this armor on somepony... I was told it’s some kind of stealth suit, but I don’t think it’s going to work all… you know…” I tried to think of a better description than ‘reeking of the zebra corpse’. “…pungent.” The clerk unfolded the armor, inspecting the fabric and electronics lining it.
“Yeah, sure, ‘found this armor’. Look, we really don’t care what you do out in the wastes for clothes, but I’m legally obligated to tell you killing somepony for their suit is frowned upon at this station.” Before I could reply, the clerk continued. “Anyway, this looks like some pretty sophisticated stuff. I’m going to say… five hundred caps if you don’t want this thing clean without shorting out all the electronics on it.” My jaw fell open. Five hundred?! Come on, they’ve got to know how to clean blood off of stuff easier than that, it’s not that uncommon! “This thing’s got to be about as advanced as power armor, and we clean that for eight hundred. Take it or leave it.”
Grumbling and reaching into my saddlebags, I pulled out my bag of caps and began to count out the payment. Five hundred… highway robbery hundred more like… The clerk scooped up the caps and folded up the armor, trotting back to her basin. “Come back ‘round eight, we’ll have it done by then.” I turned and trotted back out, Aerith following me. We began to trot through the train yard, passing by a few cars converted into food stands, steam rising up out of their windows.
“Well, anywhere in particular you want to go?” I asked Aerith. She shrugged and we continued through the yard, passing by a few ponies. A large crane stood overhead, the gears that moved the beam having long ago been ruined by rust and repeated winter freezing. As we continued along, Aerith tapped me on the shoulder and pointed over to a small building. As we changed our course towards it, I could read the paint on a rusted sign hanging from the upper deck of the shack. “Triage: Maple Station Outpost” We trotted up the steps, kicking a bit of snow through the gaps to let it fall to the ground below us.
Stepping inside, we were greeted by a small track switching station that had been converted into an office, desks shoved up against the wall, a coffee maker bubbling away on a small table. A mare sitting at one of the desks looked up from her computer, her eyes magnified by the thick glasses balanced precariously on the tip of her nose. “Hello? Can I help you?” She pushed her glasses up her nose, blinking a bit as she tried to focus on us.
Aerith’s horn glowed as a sign popped up beside us. ‘Hello, we’re Aerith and Static of the Vanhoover Five. We were wondering if you might have any work available. We'd be happy to help if you do.’ The mare’s eyes widened as she pushed her chair away from the desk and trotted around to shake our hooves.
“Ah, I’ve heard of you! You helped fix up the dam for the Triage branch in Hopeville, out of the old hospital there, right?” I nodded and the mare trotted over to a filing cabinet squeezed into the corner, pulling open one of the drawers and rifling through the papers. “Maybe you can help me out with something here. I was doing some research on the lake fauna before I was moved up here. I think you might have noticed, there’s this strange species of creatures that don’t seem to have mutated from any of the native animals, at least as far as we can tell.”
She trotted over to her desk with several files stuffed under her foreleg, dropping them onto the desk and opening them up. “They appear to have mutated from ponies, but I can’t seem to find any way such a mutation could occur, their genes are just a mess of different species cobbled together.” She pulled out a sheet of paper, showing several blurry photographs, revealing nothing more than a few vague sihlouettes. Some arguably familiar vague sihlouettes, at that... “It doesn’t help that they can’t stay out of the water very long.”
‘Didn’t those files at Shady Shores have some information on those weird pony fish things?’ Aerith's face lit up as she looked over one of the files with us, flashing up her screen for me to view. I quickly began to rummage through my saddlebags, pulling out the stack of files we’d recovered from the small base. I handed them over to the scientist, who adjusted her glasses and stared down at the paper. She flipped through the files, her expression changing between fascination, horror, and confusion.
“Where did you say you got these?” Aerith’s horn glowed as she popped up a map, circling the shore of the lake opposite Hopeville where the research dock used to be, labeled as Shady Shores. The mare looked back down to the paper, frowning. “The coordinates on this thing don’t seem to match up with that… how big was this place? Is this where that bomb was set off a few days ago?” I nodded, and the mare only looked more confused. “They would have needed much more space than that, there’s no way that’s where these creatures are coming from.”
I glanced over the shoulder to get a better look at the files she was rifling through, though it was such a mess of equations and genetic sequences, I could barely understand more than a few words. “You think there could be another base? I mean, the place we blew up did seem kind of small for some sort of biological research facility. More of just a testing dock, or something.” The scientist glanced down to see my Pip-Buck. Following her gaze, I lifted up my leg and let her flip to the map, shifting between staring at the screen and fiddling with the knobs and referencing the coordinates printed on one of the pages.
“Hang on… I think I’ve got this…” She muttered, tugging on my leg a little as she worked with it. She punched a button, marking a location on my map and dropping my leg. “Well, that’s where those papers are pointing. Doesn’t seem anywhere near where you set that bomb off, from pre-war maps the closest landmark I can give you is the Battered-Sea Power Station.” I lifted up my Pip-Buck, Aerith looking over my shoulder as I scrolled through the map. The area she’d marked was on the western coast, almost at the top of the map, practically due west of Maple Station.
“So, you think this is where those experiments first took place?” I asked, looking back up to her and raising an eyebrow as she began to cross reference the files we’d given her with her own. The scientist nodded, grabbing a pen and scribbling some notes on the back of one of the sheets of paper. Well, that’s just great news, there’s Celestia knows how many of those things still swimming around in the ocean... do megaspells work underwater? Wait, what did I just think? Gwuuh, I've been spending way too much time with Night Strike...
Still scribbling away at the paper, the scientist looked back to us, Aerith nuzzling the neck of her coat for a moment. “This is fascinating… Do you mind if I keep these files? The Triage could always use more information on pre-war tech and biological studies. At the very least this should help explain more about these creatures.” I shrugged, answering her with a nod; It’s not like any of us could really understand it anyway. “Look… this might be a little much to ask of you, but would your team be willing to go searching around that site? Any facility that could create things like this has to have some information on medical technology that’d be invaluable to the ponies of the wastes.”
I hesitated, understandably not too thrilled of the prospect of heading into those fish monster ponies' breeding grounds. Aerith looked over to me, giving me a bit of an annoyed look. Oh c’mon, it’s not my fault I’m the only one in our group with any sense of self preservation! “Yeah, we can go search that place for you. The others would probably want to go just for the chance to get rid of those monsters.” The scientist looked both relieved and thankful, starting to rearrange her files.
“Thanks a ton. If you’re not heading out of town anytime soon, you could stop back in some time later today, I’ll be looking over these files in case there’s more to them.” I nodded and we turned to head back out, the wind causing me to shiver as we walked down the wooden steps. Well, at the very least there’ll probably be some valuable tech in Shady Shores too. Assuming we don’t get our faces ripped off.
As we trotted back through the town, my stomach let off a low grumble, causing my face to turn red and Aerith to giggle. “I suppose we could go and find the others for lunch now.” I said, starting to trot towards the building that held the tanks. Heading past the roundhouse, the sound of the doors opening prompted me to glance over to see Scouring trotting out, a little unsteady on his hooves. “What happened to you?” I asked.
“Oh, aye, somepony thought 'ey could drink me under the table… bugger barely ha' three shots b'fore he passed out. Er… was it five?” Scouring paused, scratching his head. I rolled my eyes and helped lead him away from the roundhouse, the whiskey clear on his breath. He was able to keep pace with us, though it was pretty clear he had had more to drink than he’d originally intended.
“Maybe you should head back to the hotel for now. We’ll pick something up for you to eat from somewhere around here, alright?” I patted Scouring on the shoulder and he nodded, starting to walk back to the hotel, albeit with a slight wobble in his gait. Aerith and I trotted up to the door of the long railshed meanwhile, opening it to find Night Strike sitting amongst a circle of ghouls, Crash Dive leaning up against the wall nearby with an armored hoof on her forehead. Night Strike turned around to see us trotting up, waving us over.
We trotted up to the circle, Crash Dive stepping over to join us. “So, Static and I are flying in this Vertibuck we stole from these Steel Rangers, but then one of their scribes jumps out from an onboard locker. Luckily I was able to fight her off and throw her out of the side before she drew her plasma gun and turned us into piles of goo! Of course, Static didn’t know how to fly the thing, so next thing I know we’re now stranded in the middle of the wasteland with a wrecked Vertibuck and a whole chapter of Steel Rangers on our tails!” Oh yeah, that’s definitely what happened.
Before she could continue, I stepped into the circle. “Are you talking about when you decided to throw my third cousin from a helicopter while we were in the middle of a flying lesson I bought us into? And then proceeded to try and take the controls from me when I turned us around so Fringe didn’t kill us?” Night Strike blushed, stammering a little. The other ghouls laughed, causing Night Strike to scrunch her muzzle and stand up.
“Oh, come on, Static, don’t ruin the story! Sensha was totally gonna let me drive her tank around!” I shook my head and we turned around to leave, the others going back to fixing up their tanks. “Besides, you should be thankful I at least tossed Sugar Flare out of the Vertibuck before she tried to make out with you. Pretty sure I saved us from crashing then.” I shuddered, not needing to be reminded of her. Guh, maybe this unexpected trip did have an upside... “Anyway, we going to actually have something to eat other than 200 year old snack cakes now?”
I nodded, and we trotted out into the main section of the railyard once more, walking past several railcars converted into food stands. Smells wafted through the air as we trotted through between the wide lanes of rolling stock, my stomach growling again. Night Strike stepped up to one where a unicorn was expertly tossing about ingredients on a stove, slicing them and flipping them into the air with the large knife. She scanned over the menu as I stepped up and did the same, the unicorn continuing to put on a show. “Alright… can I get the molerat slider?” The chef nodded and glanced over to me.
“Uh, same, you guys?” I asked, turning around. Crash and Aerith each placed another order, the chef dropping some meat on the stovetop as I counted out the necessary caps. Okay, four of us, and 20 caps apiece... d'oh, wait. “Oh, I almost forgot, one more for Scouring. He went back to the hotel, wound up in a drinking contest.” Night Strike let off a small chuckle as Crash Dive gave her helmeted head a shake, hopping up onto one of the stools mounted on the side of the railcar. The chef kept up his show as we joined her, enjoying the heat from the stove and reveling in the smells of freshly-prepared food. Mmm, I did miss this...
It wasn’t long before we were trotting away with our food, my stomach quieting down now that it had something in it. Night Strike was washing hers down with another Sparkle-Cola as we trotted back towards the hotel, more ponies milling about now that the sun had warmed up the air a bit. The door to the lobby creaked open, revealing a pony standing confused at the main desk as the receptionist was out cold, a thin line of drool leading from her mouth to the ledger her head was resting on. Erm, okay then… I guess she isn’t a daytime pony either. We headed upstairs and trotted towards our room to find Scouring asleep outside our door, snoring loudly.
Ooh… I forgot to give him the keys, didn’t I?
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Aerith let off a sigh as Static fumbled the key into his hotel room's door, a blue aura encompassing the inebriated ranger as he slept off his drink. If that's how he acted before we ran into him, small wonder why B Company got a name like that... setting Scouring down on the bed, Aerith looked towards the earth pony standing in the doorway and rubbing at his forehead. "Really hope not too many saw him like this. A-and that he's alright, too... He seemed a little, um, tipsy, when we picked him up. Kinda doubt he would've walked straight if he didn't have the armor on."
"I'd have some water out for him when he wakes up, he'll need it to help with that hangover." Crash Dive spoke up, drawing our attention as Aerith unlocked the door to our bedroom, stepping inside for a moment. The power armored pegasus glanced back at the alicorn for a moment, before continuing. "Trust me. A cup of water makes the difference between a head-splitting hangover and a survivable hangover... had plenty of personal experience." She let off a small cough, following with a weak chuckle, ending with a sigh. I fidgted slightly on my hooves, finishing off that bomb-bottle and tossing the empty container into my duffel bag, Static giving her a nod and heading inside his room, shutting the door.
"Mmh, alright, so, I think I'm gonna head back out over to the tank ghouls' shed, see if there's anything I could help them with, or, uh, something. Really wanna know what the inside of Rheinmetall's one looks like, and figure out just what kind of gun that is." Okay, so it wasn't the best excuse for spending time with tanks, but hey, it's something. Crash Dive gave me a small glare for a moment, heading inside our bedroom. "What? Not like we have much else to do meanwhile, and it's better than me stalking Vera, isn't it?"
"Just try to not annoy them too much, I don't exactly fancy learning what those guns would do to somepony for myself. I'll be hanging around here for the time being, after the last few days I just want to stay in one spot for longer than an hour. Think you can handle yourself alone for that long, at least..." The power armored pegasus let off a soft sigh as she hefted herself onto the bed, Aerith levitating two jangling bags of bottlecaps in her magic, and a bottle of Sparkle-Cola RAD, as she returned from the far side of the beds. She looked towards myself, slipping the smaller of the two bags into my duffel bag and keeping the other out, Crash Dive passing on a confused look that I matched. "Where in Equestria... pardon me if I doubt that Static would just give you one of his cap bags."
Aerith returned a smirk, looking towards myself and fitting her heavy jacket on, flashing up a screen for us both to see. 'You'd be surprised how easy it is to nick stuff when you can turn it invisible. Only needed a couple hundred, saw something earlier that just... well...' She let off a small giggle, holding a hoof to her muzzle and wearing a faint blush, adjusting the wide-brim fedora on her head. Erm... kay then, well, at least she's being sensible about it. I let off a small sigh, giving my head a shake before stepping back out into the hallway and tapping on the door opposite ours, Aerith turning the large satchel invisible again and coming up behind me. Come on, let's get that back into Static's saddlebags before he has a heart attack...
The earth pony answered the door, rubbing some powdered sugar from his lips - gone back to snack cakes again, huh? I let off a small chuckle, hearing a particularly large bag hover over my head in a magic aura as Static kept his attention on me. "Crash Dive's going to be hanging around here while me and Aerith go back down to the tank ghouls' shed. You and Scouring gonna be alright?" Static answered with a nod, a dull thud and jangle heard from inside the room, the earth pony turning to look towards it while I glanced back at Aerith. Smooth, just drop a bag of a couple hundred thousand bottlecaps, yeah...
"Erm, yeah, yeah, we should be. I'll just be reading up more on the Valkyrie meanwhile, have to head out to get the stealth armor we got off of that zebra anyways. No more dead corpse smell, yaaay." He let off a weak chuckle that I joined him in, us both sharing a nod as the alicorn troted up alongside me. Static glanced back into his room for a moment, before turning his atention towards myself. "Alright, just try to not make a fool of yourself. I might drop by there later, correct any 'facts' you were telling them about us before it winds up on Radio KAOS."
"Hey, I was being mostly accurate! Just, with a little flair here and there, is all..." Sticking my tongue out at him, he gave a weak chuckle as he shut the door, Aerith already starting down the hallway. I moved to catch up beside the alicorn, heading for the stairwell, glancing back towards our rooms for a moment. Static's not poking his head out again... good. "Okay, so, gonna tell me why you took a couple hundred caps out of the First National Bank of Static Charge, or..." Aerith answered with a small chuckle, looking down towards myself for a moment as we reached the lobby, heading for the doors. She flashed up a magic screen as we started to exit, giving a wink as well.
'You'll see.'
---
"Well, um... well." We stood outside what was once a train of passenger cars, a wood and metal sign erected atop the first one proclaiming it as 'Station Seamsters', with a pony or two milling about inside. Aerith grinned as she climbed up onto the running board at the end of the car, myself following behind her as she headed inside, a bell ringing above the doorway. Fancy-looking pre-war clothes lined the length of the railcar where there were once seats, a unicorn stallion at the far end leaning over a desk and waving a hoof towards us, wearing a wide smile.
"Oh, do come in! Welcome, it's always pleasant to see some new faces in town, especially in my humble little shop here. What can I do for you two fine mares today?" Aerith trotted over towards the desk as I looked over some of the items on display. Whoof, didn't think you could get fabric like this in the wasteland, definitely not that thick cotton or wool that Cross Stitch always had around. Is... is that actual silk? "Ah, planning a night out on the town? That's in the style of one of Vera Lynn's old gowns she brought in one time for repairs, very light silk. Only have a few of those in stock - and I would be glad to tailor one to fit around your wings, as well." Dressed like Vera... No, no, hang on Night Strike, not here for you.
"Ahm, actually, we're here for something which my friend Aerith wanted done, didn't tell me exactly what." The alicorn let off a small giggle as I trotted over, looking around the shop for a moment before levitating over an old photograph. Closer inspection showed it to be a rather dapper-looking stallion in a fine longcoat, vest, and undershirt, and adorned in a familiar-looking wide-brimmed black fedora. Uh... huh. I'm all for crossdressing, but, um... hm... oh, wait, I think I know what she's going for. That would explain the Tommy Gun. Aerith let off another giggle as the seamster stallion took the picture in his own aura, putting on a pair of glasses to better see it, blinking a few times.
"Hm... will say, isn't often I get a mare such as yourself coming in looking for a suit, but I'd be a bold-faced liar to say I didn't like your style. I'm certain I have something similar to this in back, if you wouldn't mind coming with me to take a few measurements, I can see about getting it put together for you. Oh, eheh, I'm Singer, by the way, pleasure to meet you both." The alicorn gave a nod towards him as he led her off to somewhere else in the long railcar, myself trotting over to a cushioned bench that I'm pretty confident in guessing was one of the original ones from the car. Sitting down on it, the soft leather gave a small bit of bounciness to it, my eyes peering out of the frost-tinted windows at the railyard beyond.
My breath fogged the window slightly as I sat there looking out, watching the soft clouds of steam rising from the main district where food was being prepared, the stacks over by the engine house chuffing out at a quick, steady pace, both of the larg eengines rumbling away pleasantly on the new parts. Resting a sleeved foreleg on the back of the chair, I let my muzzle fall against it, letting out a sigh - kind of hard to call a place like this the wasteland, isn't it? I mean, up north, we have the excuse of it snowing 13 months of the year, down here though... There's greenery. Actual plants not being grown in stables or underground, for Celestia's sake. Sure, you go through an abandoned or destroyed town here and there, but... Vanhoover took a balefire bomb to the friggin' face, and ponies are still living in it. Persistence? Stubbornness? Who knows... Pretty heartwarming to think about, though.
The little radio in my legputer clicked on and hummed to life happily, myself glancing over the stations. Maple Station Local Broadcast, Radio KAOS, old familiars. Hell, just think, two centuries and a decade after the bombs, we've still got radio and live entertainment. Ponies who have jobs like, like this. Where would an eveningwear tailor fit in with a place called the wasteland? Or a performer, singer like Vera? It just wouldn't make sense... the little diodes and other electrics inside tuned in to find Radio KAOS, myself slowly bringing the volume up, catching that jingle as it came through.
"You and I are listening to K A O S, KAOS in Vanhoover. It's a pleasant wintry afternoon out there all across the wasteland, with clear skies predicted for a few days going forwards, and I think it's the perfect time for something out of our collection here at Radio KAOS that's a bit mellow. I don't think I need to introduce this one - the song'll do it for me. Just hope anyone out there's willing to show some Sympathy for Discord, heh..."
The song started up, catching in my ears as a chill breeze blew past the window, carrying with it a small billow of snow. I sniffled slightly - oh, please tell me I'm not getting a cold - letting myself feel the cool surface of the glass inches from my face, leaning a cheek against the sleeve of my jacket. A distant part of my brain was on alert, half-expecting the thunderous retort of a 17-pounder gun mounted in the turret of an 81-ton tank to interrupt the music, almost hoping for it. The blast never came, but that didn't make my eyes keep from getting reddened... guh, st-stupid glass-penetrating snow...
The radio fizzled out as I turned it off, sniffling in through my nose again and resting back on the cushioned seat. Get ahold of yourself, Night Strike, you're... you're a strong mare. You'll get through this. You'll get the Valkyrie fixed, we'll take out all of the Harriers, and then you'll ram one of those megaspells so far up the ass of that Cerberus cunt that he'll be coughing up the impact fuse on the nose. Better yet, make it two, just to be sure he gets the memo. Then you and Static, and Crash Dive too, you can all just go back up to the north, go home, and go back to your fathers' hooves again... I rubbed at my muzzle with the sleeve of my jacket, choking back the tears. Sp-Sparkle-Cola RAD, maybe I just need one of those... yeah...
Three of the emptied bottles clanked beside me on the bench as the fourth's contents quickly disappeared down my throat, myself not really savoring the taste as much today. Come on, if these things work for repairing bone fractures and other injuries on me, why can't they do the same for emotional distress? I mean, I guess I'm definitely feeling a lot more awake than before, but... nnh... gasping for breath, the door at the far end of the railcar opened, the ghoul unicorn stepping out first with a smile on his face and an old measuring tape draped about his neck, stepping to one side and giving a small bow. "Ahem, may I present now, the latest of the winter collection for alicorns, the perfect getup for a fast firefight or class in a late-night brawl, the Chicacolt Newsmaker."
Aerith wore a grin behind her fedora's brim as she strode out adorned in her new clothes, spreading her Featherweight-sized wings out wide until their tips were brushing the walls of the railcar, turning her head to one side so that her hat and mane covered one of her eyes from me. Her hooves clacked against the hardwood floors as she turned, folding one wing and allowing me to see the black material that covered the outside of it while she had it held against herself. The seamster stallion smiled widely, trotting over to show off the flap of fabric. "Of course, practicality was kept in mind, as was survivability. The vest is designed to be bulletproof up to a direct hit from a .308 caliber round, and repair itself given a long enough time and some magic stimulation in the right places, and this coverage extends for the wings. If desired, the overcoat can certainly live up to it's name and cover the plates from view, and the wing covers can be removed if they prove too cumbersome, naturally. The perfect blend of class, style, and survivability, if I do say so myself."
Shoving the four emptied soda bottles into my duffel bag, I hopped up onto my hooves, trotting over to get a better look. Yanno, I never really thought about how good Aerith looked in some actual clothes... brain, I swear to Celestia if you start making me think the thoughts I think you're thinking of making me thinking, I'll drown you in Sparkle-Cola RAD again. The alicorn grined widely as she trotted around for a few paces, letting the long fabric of her coat sway around her strong, bare flanks, mane swishing slightly underneath her hat in the mild air of the railcar, and one of my own forehooves flinching to almost smack myself across the face. Brain, you're fired. Again. "Wow, Aerith, you really look fantastic. Just like one of those old movie posters."
The unicorn let off a chuckle as he moved back over to the desk, Aerith and myself following along with him as he hefted up an old cash register onto it. It landed with a heavy thunk, causing him to grimace slightly and look it over, a small cloth moving to wipe it down. "Ah, sorry, been a while since I've used this. Not a lot of ponies come through asking for full outfits, mostly it's just repairs nowadays. Anyhow, overcoat, armored vest, undershirt, wing covers..." The register rung a few times, the numbers on the display progressively rising. Ooh, I hope she took enough from Static to cover this... "785 caps ought to cover everything. That won't be an issue, will it?"
Aerith gave a smile and shake of her head as her horn came alight, levitating out the small satchel of caps and setting it onto the counter. She opened it up slightly, a stream of bottlecaps flowing out of it, myself flicking on my pip-buck's EFS out of curiosity. Just like the register's display counted up, the number of caps in the satchel quickly ticked down, Aerith keeping the ones she pulled out in neat stacks as it soon passed below 800. Stopping at 785 for a moment, the alicorn paused, seeming to think - o... kay, what's the issue? The smallest stack of caps she had levitated out went back in, followed by another half of a stack. Blinking a few times, my EFS re-registered the new amount being a solid 820 caps, the alicorn grinning and levitating the satchel to the unicorn behind the counter. 'Just a small tip as thanks, I'm sure Static would understand.' Hey, it's your skin and new clothes on the line, not mine.
The seamster smiled widely, taking the satchel and emptying it's contents out fully into the drawer of the register before returning it, Aerith moving the remainder of the caps into it. The register closed with a small ding, the unicorn seeming to strain slightly as he levitated it back below the counter, readjusting his glasses on his muzzle and resting his hooves back against the counter as we both gave light nods and started to head for the doorway. "Thank you both very much, have a nice afternoon!"
"You too!" Returning a small wave, both Aerith and myself stepped out onto the running board and platform, the nip of the cold air returning after so much time spent in the warmed railcar. I tugged my jacket around myself a little closer, the alicorn levitating some heavy cloth onto my back, making me glance back to look at it. Oh, just her old jacket... huh, her new clothes are that good against the cold? Eh, well, might still be worth it to keep this around, anyways... 'sides, it is nice and warm. She troted forwards a few steps, looking back at myself as I stuffed her old jacket into my duffel bag, soon moving to catch up with her.
"Alright, little later than I thought, but I'm sure if we hurry we can get back there in time. Mad Jack said something about today being the day they take their tanks out onto the range to test the guns... wanna know if I remember what a 17-pounder sounds like. C'mon." Trotting over off the platform, I made it to the other side of the tracks before noticing a distinct lack of an alicorn mobster beside me. Trotting back, I was greeted by a slightly confused look on her face, before she glanced at her back and spread her large wings out wide. As per usual, it took me a moment - and an eyeroll from the alicorn - to understand what she meant by that.
We can both fly there. Duh.
---
Setting down outside the opened doors of the railshed, we were greeted by the sound of four engines purring along loudly, trotting inside and finding the ghouls shuffling inside the driver seats of their war machines. Mad Jack caught sight of us just as he was about to pull the roof hatch on Avery shut, passing on a smile underneath his old trench hat and giving us both a wave as we trotted over, Aerith looking towards the mini-tank for a moment. I hopped up onto Avery's track cover, the ghoul keeping that wide grin as he ducked back down inside the tank for a moment before returning. "Night Strike, glad you could make it, we 'ere gettin' worried you'd forgotten. Looking at your friend, though, suppose you've got a good enough excuse for being late, heh."
Returning a small chuckle, Aerith soon returned with her rifle and Chicacolt Typewriter, and an ammo box. Er, two ammo boxes... and War Crime. She passed on a smile as Mad Jack and myself looked at her in some confusion, before she threw up another magic screen. 'Night Strike said you were going to a firing range or something. Figure it'd be a good place to get some sniping practice of our own in, if we could.' The smirk returned to Mad Jack's face as he gave a quick nod, the other tank ghouls revving their engines impatiently. Or, well, could've just been Rangefinder.
"'course you can, more guns the merrier! Shame ol' stripey and his land-cruiser are still off Stalliongrad-ways, he did love setting up his guns for broadsides whenever he got the chance to. C'mon, load it in, Avery can take it!" Letting out a chuckle, the old ghoul shut the hatch over his driver's spot as I climbed up onto the turret's roof, slipping inside through that hatch and helping get the guns and ammo settled as Aerith passed them through. Well, will be nice to shoot War Crime and not have to worry about hitting someone accidentally, at least, and besides - 17-pounder guns, baby! Kay, brain, you're re-hired, now's a time where you can let me think those thoughts you thought about making me think. Aerith slipped herself inside as well, adjusting her longcoat as she settled on the small seat for the gunner, the engine roaring before we started to move.
A soft sigh escaped me as I let myself get lost in the gentle rocking and sounds of the tank's movements, feeling the smooth movement of the clattering tracks as they rode over the deep snow, taking in the faintly familiar smells of motor oil and gun grease, and the clatter of loose memorabilia inside the fighting compartment. All it was missing was the clinking of empty bottles and Dad's soft voice... hang in there Strikey, just focus on the fun you're gonna have. And try to not make a mess when they fire those guns off... huh, yanno, might be worth asking. Once we get there, anyways.
After a few minutes, we soon pulled up somewhere outside of town, myself moving for the commander's hatch to get a look outside. The snow-blanketed wasteland expanded outwards in all directions for a good kilometer or two, scattered forests marking the rough boundaries of the firing range while depressions in the snow filled in the rest of the info needed. Well, that and the fact that Mad Jack parked Avery facing that way, anyways. Hopping up onto Avery's warm engine deck, Rangefinder and Fyre came through soon after with a covered cart, setting up a short ways down the firing position, with Rheinmetall and his tank taking place past hers. Sensha's was the last to show, the, um, bow of hers forming a small depression through the drifts that was punctuated by the tracks. Didn't know better, could misake it for actually being a land-boat...
Aerith started to move some of the guns up from inside Avery, Mad Jack opening up the hatch in front with a creak and climbing himself out of it, looking over the turret with his wide grin. "Well, here we are! Good old Vanhoover Proving Grounds, largest tank gunnery range in the north. Only tank gunnery range in the north, far as we can be certain of." Letting off a chuckle, the ghoul hopped down from his tank's track covers, moving over towards Rangefinder's tank. Aerith moved one of the ammo boxes out from the turret as she gave War crime over to me, myself taking the time to fit the rifle on my back before moving to join him.
"You'll probably like this, this is something that Sensha brought with 'er when she first showed up. MWT Heavy Ammunition Carriage, stick in a shell and it'll create copies of it over time, takes about a month to make enough to fill all our tanks' munitions stores. Far as we can tell, only works with 37mm caliber and up, though - suppose it's a right good thing that our coaxials are all bored for more common rifle rounds, eh?" He gave off a chuckle as we approached the wagon, Aerith close behind with her own rifle levitated beside her. Coaxial machine guns are nice, but I think if I had a choice I'd rather have a tank with more bite than a 7.62 beside the main gun. Mad Jack stepped up to the carriage and threw the tarp back as Rangefinder was working with something on it, the ghoulified earth pony glancing back at pur weapons before going back to looking through. "So, what're yours bored out for, 5.56, 7.62?"
"Ahm, Aerith's is a thirty-aught-six, mine's a fifty MG. We did bring along our own ammo, though, so..." Mad Jack fumbled slightly before looking back at me, his usual cheerful smile replaced with faint bewilderment. What, were we not supposed to do that, or something? Kind of thought that would've been a common courtesy to bring your own, ammo is pretty expensive, usually... "Erm, something the matter?"
"Uh... n-no, not at all, I just... um... just to check again, you said fifty MG, right? As in, machine gun, fifty caliber?" Answering a nod, the earth pony blunk a few times, leaning back to look at the rifle on my back. Returning a shrug, he went back to shuffling around ammunition, pulling out two boxes and brushing them off. "Sorry, just didn't imagine you carrying a gun with quite that heavy a caliber. Caution Tape's Deathtrap's got coaxials that use the same round, just am a bit surprised they made a light weapon to fire it. Let alone one that's... semi-auto?"
"Full auto, actually." Yanno, there's gotta be a point where I stop making people make that face whenever I answer a question. Mad Jack just answered with a nod, shuffling more onto the cart and grabbing a big cup-looking thing with a finned base, that did seem like it fit inside Avery's barrel well. So this is what that thing fires... oh, momma, did I just read that that thing has 30 pounds of high explosive inside it? Oh, that's gonna be niiice...
Aerith took to getting us set up on an old bench and table nearby, ammunition at the ready and range clear, with Rangefinder's 17-pounder moving into a firing position. From the shell that she first brought over from the cart, assuming she doesn't keep some in her tank's ammo racks, anyways, standard AP shot to start, not as fun as the APBEBC the TOG's got but still pretty fun. Shouldn't change how the gun sounds much, anyways. I sat back as Aerith got herself sighted in with her rifle, the range falling silent as the ghoulified pegasus stuck her head out from the turret and peered around. "Range hot, range hot, muzzleblast clear?" She leaned forwards for a moment to check, before sliding back inside. A moment later, firing pin struck primer, igniting the cordite inside the brass case and propelling the solid shot projectile out of the barrel and far downrange. The explosion from the muzzle sent a shiver up my spine, making me tingle - oh, yeah, that's the stuff right there - the solid steel shell causing a plume of snow to sprout up nearby a dead husk of a tree. Ooh, just a little more to the left.
Rangefinder stuck her head back out of the opened hatch, resting against it and letting off a sigh, rubbing at her forehead. Someone looks like they need a bit more practice... letting off a chuckle of my own, I picked up War Crime, settling it against my shoulder and pulling the bolt back to get a round into the chamber. Right, how far away is that, anyways... well, if the AP shell has the same MV as the APBEBC, or close to it, a good guess based on that travel time is about a half-kilometer or so. 500 meters, if those books I found about it in EQUAD are right then the .50 MG should have a similar MV to the 17-pounder's 900m/s, so... alright. The cool air blew around as my cheek settled against the stock, eye peering down the length of the scope at the magnified trunk, and the little elevation markings. 200m, 400m, 600m... 500m is there, and the best part is I'm not on a moving vehicle this time.
Taking a breath of the cool air, everything fell quiet for a moment before the faint click of the metal trigger reaching the stock was heard, releasing the hammer on the action and allowing it to fly forwards to strike the primer of the heavy round. Propellant burned rapidly in the brass case, the pressure forcing the jacketed shell down the barrel and out at full velocity, the resulting force pushing the barrel back into the body of the rifle to be caught by the recoil pistons. The brass case ejected to the side, another bullet taking it's place, the process repeating. I let War Crime spit out a loud seven-shot burst at the tree, at least four of the rounds actually landing on and splintering the dead wood of the trunk, releasing the trigger only mere moments after I'd pulled it back. My ears rung with that pleasant sound of heavy-caliber gunfire in them, that breath of fresh air being released as my hoof moved to flick War Crime's safety, setting her back down on the table. Getting better, Strikey...
Aerith scanned across the range herself as Rhinemetall proclaimed the same thing that Rangefinder had, his tank's gun going off with a far heavier-sounding thump when compared to the 17-pounder. This one's shell landed with a loud crack as it bored clean through the trunk of the tree downrange, splintering the wood and causing the old trunk to fall onto one side, held in place by half as much wood as it used to be. Okay, unless muzzlebrakes very significantly change how a gun sounds, I kind of doubt that whatever gun that that one has is a 17-pounder... Aerith semed to pause in her scanning, peering intently at something on the wide expanse, myself just resting back now as Mad Jack readied Avery.
"Range hot, range hot, keep your heads down!" Disappearing inside the turret of the tank after shutting the driver's hatch, Avery's turret turned slowly about to aim at the tree, the large barrel of it's gun raising up high. Okay, even with 45 degrees elevation, if there isn't enough propellant in that thing I doubt it'd get past a hundred yards, accurately anyways. Would make sense if Avery was made for more infantry support than anything, hate to be someone inside a bunker in that gun's sight with a round loaded. Probably would not end pretty...
The round left the barrel with a surprisingly quiet, um... bloop, I guess, beginning it's flight downrange. It kind of sounded like Thumper, actually... man, did it travel slow, too. I was able to follow the huge shell with my eyes as it slowly arced up, hit it's apex and then began it's descent back down, falling well short of the tree but still close enough for the blast to have an effect. A moment later, the force from the explosion reached us, the weakened tree toppled and the others around having the snow blown off of them as the snowy mounds vibrated and muffled the sound, the explosion giving way to a low rumble as the snow and smoke cleared. A neat crater was left in the snow, myself giggling lightly as I watched the debris settle - well, it wasn't a balefire egg, but damn that was a hell of a shell.
From the far end of the firing line, the ghoulified zony mare made the same proclaimation as the first two, prior to the retort of her tank's gun which I'd liken to a sharp rifle crack than the booming of the others, the alicorn beside me poking at my shoulder. Turning to meet her, her rifle was held in place, a magic screen popping up beside her as she nodded down at War Crime. 'Uh, dunno what you might know about robots, but there's this real weird-looking one at about 250, 300 meters distance just over there. Look familiar to you?'
Blinking a few times in response, I shouldered War Crime and followed where Aerith was looking, scanning the ground over. No robot, snow, no robot, no robot, crater, something shiny and metallic and... uhm... hm. Swear I've seen something shaped like that before. Was it in an old textbook, or something? Um... definitely modeled after some Equestrian animal, probably... oh, wait a second, that's it! Yeah, that thing looks kinda like a mantico-...
I set War Crime down, shuffling off of the bench without a word, spreading my wings wide and heading over to the ammunition cart. Landing on it, Rangefinder and Rheinmetall were both getting another shell off of it, with Mad Jack coming over and Sensha appearing behind her tank. The ghoulified unicorn blunk a few times behind his glasses as the pegasus wore a smirk, leaning the 17-pounder APDS shot against her shoulder. "'sup Night Strike, something up?"
I leaned back on my hooves slightly, Mad Jack getting another one of the big shells off, with Rheinmetall carefully inspecting the shell that he'd grabbed. "Yeah, actually. I was kind of wondering if I could take a shot at something with your guns, just one thing."
Rheinmetall's face seemed to flicker a smile, setting the shell down on the cart as he looked up at myself, readjusting his glasses. "Why, certainly dear, you seem to have at least some experience with it if your stories of your home and father are anything to go by. Which one of our guns would you like to fire?"
"Oh... all of them. At once. At the same thing."
The unicorn wore that incredulous look I seem to always manage to get on every single person I meet. Seriously, what's up with that? He stuttered for a moment, Mad Jack looking at him with another shell in hoof, Rangefinder hopping up beside me with a grin. "You -really- like overkill, don'tcha? I'm sure we could arrange that, just say what kind of ammo you want and which one you wanna sit inside to pull the trigger. Don't want to play favorites, but, well, you do know that Fyre's got a 17-pounder like you said your dad's TOG has, right?"
Answering her with a smile and nod, I looked to the cart, checking over the ammunition types available. C'mon now, I just need one, and one of 'em already fires it exclusively... there it is. 17-pounder high explosive, 880 meters per second; 88mm high explosive, 800 meters per second; 37mm HE, 790m/s; and of course Avery's bunker-busting HE shell that fires at the speed of slow. Pulling the shells out, sans Avery's, the group watched on in slight confusion, taking the ammunition as I gave it out. Sensha soon approached, just in time to fumble in catching her tank's 37mm shell before looking up in some confusion. "Erm, did I miss something?"
"Not much..." I looked back out across the range, catching that glint from the metal skeleton of the animatronic. This is gonna be satisfying. "...we're just gonna vaporize a manticore."
---
"Loaded?" I sat in the commander's hatch of Rheinmetall's tank, looking across the group. All guns were trained on the metal hulk half-buried in the snow 300 meters away, even Aerith with Thumper and one of the solar burst grenades. Wasn't able to fire her myself, but I think she's alright if Aerith does it instead. The three ghouls in the other tanks gave short waves of confirmation before disappearing inside, Aerith returning a nod and steadying herself. "Range hot, Range hot, muzzle blast clear. Fire!"
In that instant, five guns answered with their distinct retorts, five shells all flying for the same place. Hardly a third of a second later, the animatronic manticore was consumed in a furious series of explosions, starting with three high velocity shells and ending with one on par with a balefire egg, and another one packing 30 pounds of explosives. The combined shockwave nearly threw me out of my position atop hatch, a wide grin falling on my face as I steadied myself, the debris raining down and dust settling as the hills rung once more. Looking through the cloud, a massive crater marked where the rusted hulk once was, myself breaking down into a fit of giggles - might not have destroyed that film yet, but obliterating one of those celestia-damned robots was just as good. Rheinmetall looked up at myself from inside, scratching at his head. "Could I just ask the point of that?"
"Oh, well... just don't like animatronics that much. Damn things are creepy." As if I needed an excuse to blow something up.
-----
Flipping through the pages of the Valkyrie’s many manuals, I readjusted myself as Scouring let out another snore in the bed opposite. He rolled over in bed, his snoring muffled slightly by the pillow as I scanned through the wrinkled pages. The schematics of the large Tesla cannon turrets caught my eye, and I focused in on them, trying to make sense of the controls. Okay, so they’ve got standard automatic-fire, rapid discharge, and an overcharge mode… probably should save that for engaging targets on the ground. Even then, can’t go too high, unless we want to end up like popcorn on a stove… not to mention what any excess electricity might do to the bombs in the bay. I know bullets won't set them off, but electricity...
Rifling through a few more pages, I took to glancing over the auto targeting system. Hopefully that thing compensates for target speed, or we’re just going to be punching holes in nothing but their jetstreams. I shut the book and slipped it back into my saddlebags, pushing it down beside the now clean set of stealth armor neatly tucked into the satchel. Leaning back against the pillows, I closed my eyes, needing a small break from trying to figure out the workings of that machine. Guh, where’s Greasy when you need her? She’d probably have had us back north a couple hours after our crash… assuming she wasn’t freaking out about seeing Crash Dive’s Enclave suit and thinking she was going to execute her for fraternizing with the enemy or something.
Scouring snorted a little, groaning as he slowly sat up in bed and placed a hoof to his temple. “Oogghh… I never shoulda agreed to that contest.” He turned his head, spotting the small glass bottle of water sitting on the bedside table before glancing up to me. “Ah, thanks, do need this.” He gulped down the cool glass, still holding his head a little. He layed back into the pillows, closing his eyes and pushing the covers off of him.
“I think Night Strike wanted to see another show tonight. You think you wanna hang back here?” I glanced over to the unicorn as he rubbed a hoof against his forehead. Scouring groaned and nodded, pulling a pillow over his head as a few hoofsteps could be heard from the room above. I glanced at the clock on my Pip-Buck and climbed out of bed, hitching up my saddlebags. “Speaking of, it’s getting kind of late, I better go find her. Keys are with you this time.” I opened the door, making sure not to let it slam behind me before I started down the hallway.
Ponies were starting to make their ways back home as I trotted through the blue-lit train yard. I passed by a few shops that were closing up as I headed towards the tank’s garage, one pony being smacked in the back of the head by the tin awning as he loosened the beams holding it up. As I stepped up to the door of the garage, I noticed a group of depressions in the snow, all heading away from the large gate of the shed... tank tracks, duh. Following the four sets of tracks, my gaze was turned over towards the base of the mountain, the tracks curving around the corner of the slope. Oh Celestia, please don’t tell me Night Strike convinced those guys to go Hellhound hunting.
Picking up the pace, I began to trot between the large prints in the snow, my breath forming small clouds with each exhale. The sun was beginning to set in the sky as I hopped over a few train tracks as I followed those left by the tanks, running through them as the snow became higher. The sound of a shell firing suddenly met my ears, the explosion ringing through the air a moment later. As I rounded a small cliff in the mountainside, I spotted three large tanks and one small one sitting at the base of the slope. Rushing over to the side of Mad Jack's, I was about to bang on the side door to get the driver’s attention, only to be sent ducking for cover on the ground as another shell was fired from the large barrel. Shit, shit, why are those always so damn loud?!
I clutched my ringing ears, letting out a mixed cry of pain and surprise as I fell. A second later an even louder roar could be heard as several explosions went off in the distance, the shockwave sending me rolling back in the snow as I yelled. “Gaaaaah, what the fuck is wrong with all of you?!” I couldn’t even hear the metal hatch of one of the tanks flip open as Mad Jack popped his head up, glancing down to see me rocking back and forth, hooves over my ears.
“Oh, hell! Night Strike, your friend's here!” The red-coated stallion muffledly cried out to one of the other tanks before ducking back down into his own, Night Strike climbing out of the one with the forward-placed turret a moment later. My legs shook as I got back to my hooves, Night Strike helping me up as the hatch to the tank flipped open again, Rheinmetall climbing out. Mad Jack hopped out of the side door of his own and stepped up beside me as I shook my head, trying to regain my senses. “Jeez, who taught you to just go waltzing up to a line of tanks during a firing test, eh?” Oh, yeah, because it was totally my intention to go deaf today.
Standing a bit more steadily, I clutched my head, the ringing in my ears slowly fading away. “For Celestia’s sake, why were you firing off all those guns at once?! There isn’t even anything out there!” I gestured to the field where the mushroom cloud was dissipating, the others gathering around. Night Strike answered with a small smirk.
“Well, of course there’s nothing out there -now-.” I shot her a quick glare. Not really the right time for jokes, Strikey. “Though it was justified, though! It was an animatronic Manticore, and in my opinion we reacted quite appropriately.” She stood firmly, wearing a grin as the cloud was blown away by the wind. The others muttered quick apologies as Aerith returned Thumper to Night Strike. “Anyway, why’d you come out here?”
“I figured you wouldn’t be checking the time too often if you were gushing over the tanks again. I thought you said you wanted to see another show? It’d at least give you a chance to talk to Vera without fainting again.” Night Strike blushed as I heard the muffled crunch of hoofsteps behind us, blinking in surprise as Crash Dive walked over in her armor, Merlin and Royce following her. “What’re you doing here?” I asked, puzzled.
“There, see? They’re friends with a fucking battalion of tank drivers! We give up! You want to try killing them, go ahead and do it!” Royce said to - or, well, more yelled at - Crash Dive. I raised an eyebrow, even more confused. Merlin covered his face with a claw, shaking his head. Uh… does she think Crash Dive is with Cerberus, or something? Well, I guess that at least clarifies, whoever he is, he’s friendly with the Enclave.
“Ehm... sorry, Royce just thought you were... and... yeah... I'll just take her back to the hotel.” Merlin wore a small grimace, rubbing at the back of his head as Crash Dive trotted up to us. He turned and started to lead Royce back away, muttering something about dragging his drunk sister with them as said sibling was now shouting about why Cerberus would send them to kill his buddies.
Aerith’s horn lit up as the group of ponies began to disperse, heading back to their tanks after that little, um, show, a magical screen popping up. ‘I’ll admit it was funny, but was it really necessary to take those two along to try and find us?’ The rumble of the tanks' engines grew louder as Mad Jack began to drive his back towards Maple Station. I followed Night Strike into the top hatch of Rheinmetall’s tank, Crash Dive and Aerith following suit.
Rheinmetall flipped a few switches and levers, the tank shuddering before it began to pivot around in place before moving forwards to follow behind the one with the gun barrel that looked like the one from the TOG. “It hadn’t been my original plan, they ran into me at the hotel. The brother at least knew I was with you guys, but the girl wouldn't stop screaming and begging me not to kill her for, uh, failing. Kind of is one of the weirder things to have happened to me, but, if they're who I know they are, and she mistook me for who I think she mistook me for... it's not a good sign.” I braced myself on a handle nearby to avoid slipping out of my chair as we rolled over a large rock, the gun in the tank's turret settling beside me. Okay, that was... part of the gun aiming mechanism. Probably shouldn't touch that.
We rode along in relative silence, the rumble of teh tank's engine and clatter of it's tracks filling the air, the smell of oil meeting my nose after a short while. “Uh… you sure this thing is that safe?” I asked, glancing back towards where the engine of the war machine was located. Night Strike looked a little more concerned as she noticed the burning smell as well. Rheinmetall let off a weak chuckle, letting it fade off as he twisted around in the seat to look back at us, slowing the tank down slightly.
“That TOG of yours up north’s never really seen proper combat, or been running for that long, has it? Things just start to fail as they get old, unfortunately. Porschia does tend to set herself alight, but I've done my best to ensure she'll still run, been doing so for nigh on 210 years now by myself.” That really isn’t instilling any confidence in me, more I think about it - at least the TOG is still running on all it's original parts, I think. Still, we trundled onwards, arriving back at the tank ghouls' shed with no more incidence. The engines sputtered out smoothly as Rheinmetall flipped a few switches, Aerith pushing the hatch open and beginning to climb out through the turret.
“Thanks for letting me fire this thing's gun off, Rhymey! Might have to see about destroying that old film with it at some point.” Night Strike waved, fluttering down to the ground as I leapt from the treads to the floor. “Hey, where’s Scouring? I would’ve thought he’d want to see some of these things in action.” Night Strike asked as we headed towards the small door, the others climbing out of their parked tanks.
I pushed open the door to the garage, stepping out into the dusk light. Lamps flickered to life as we trotted past, helping to illuminate the dimming yard. “He’s still hungover. You don’t think actual hangovers are anything like whatever happens after you binge on RAD, right?” I chuckled, Night Strike rolling her eyes as we made our way towards the roundhouse. The warmth of the entertainment hall was inviting as we stepped inside, heading towards an empty table.
Piano music echoed through the hall, a dark grey Pegasus performing a few tunes before the acts. A waiter trotted up to us and placed a few glasses of water down on the table, along with a few menus before walking off to help another carry a large tray of drinks over to a rowdy group of ponies. “So, where are we planning to go once we get the mini-tank back?” Crash Dive asked, not paying her menu any attention. She let off a small sigh, looking over at the stage. "I'm not sure about you guys, but I kind of wouldn't mind going back to the lighthouse. Least there I think I can face the rest of them, if they come knocking..."
“We'll probably be heading west for the coast anyways, actually. Aerith and I found out the possible location for that Shady Shores place, somewhere near the, uh, Battered-Sea Power Station, I think? Whatever we blew up was really just a small research dock that the freaky fish-things were around, not the actual Shady Shores. They’d probably have some sort of generator there we might be able to salvage, not to mention the Triage would probably be willing to bankrupt themselves for any kind of medical tech we could find in there.” I suggested. Night Strike looked up from her menu, her expression one of concern.
“We’re going to go into the place that made those seapony things? Since when did you get a death wish?” I raised an eyebrow. Since when have you not been completely gung-ho about breaking into some pre-war facility? As if she could read my mind, Night Strike shook her head, going back to her menu. “Yeah, yeah, I’d just rather not go digging around someplace that’s crawling with those walking nightmares, alright? Don't even know if War Crime can hurt those things or not...” I glanced down at the list of foods before me, my eyes widening a little. Sheesh, how much do they really need to charge people for food here? Then again, I suppose a dinner theater would be pricier than the food stands we’ve been eating at before.
The waiter soon returned to take our orders, the pianist’s performance covered up by the applause and stomping of the ponies all around. The waiter scribbled down our orders before trotting off towards the kitchen, our drinks being levitated over by the unicorn managing the bar. Night Strike popped the cap off of her bottle of Sparkle Cola as Crash Dive took a sip of her Sparkling Rum. I turned in my seat, popping a cube of ice from my water into my mouth to suck on as the lights dimmed.
A spotlight appeared, Vera stepping out onto the stage to a chorus of cheers and applauds. She grinned as the pianist started up again, this time playing a much slower tune. Vera began to sing, her voice resonating through the round house. Night Strike leaned forward, resting her head on her hooves as she watched Vera sing. I poked her side, chuckling. “Come on, Night Strike. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you had a crush on her.” I whispered. Night Strike blushed, sticking out her tongue before going back to watching Vera. I leaned back in my chair, Aerith drinking some of her own soda.
Upon finishing her number, Vera was once again met with applause. She waited for it to die down before speaking up, “Thank you very much, it really is a pleasure being able to perform for all of you tonight. Before the rest of the show, though, I’d like to take this moment to thank the Vanhoover Five for braving those Hellhound-infested mines to retrieve the parts for our fine town’s engines. With their help, we can rest assured we’ll be sleeping warm in the coming nights.” Another round of applause broke out, a light blush crossing my face. Well, she sure knows how to talk somepony up. “And an extra special thanks to Night Strike and Static Charge, who like many of us are still trying to get back to their homes up in the north. We know you and your family will meet again, some sunny day.” She grinned, the music starting up again.
A thud could be heard to my left, and I glanced over to see Night Strike sprawled out on the floor, a giddy expression on her face as she fainted. I sighed and shook my head, grinning a little. Never change, Strikey.
---
We trotted out of the roundhouse, my belly now comfortably full and cap bags uncomfortably emptier. Snow was drifting slowly down from the sky as we headed back to the hotel, a few ponies exiting the roundhouse behind us and trotting off in their own direction. “Bluh, I should not have had that tiramisu…” Night Strike grumbled, putting a hoof to her stomach. “Who the heck puts coffee in a cake and thinks that’ll sit well in a full stomach?” I pushed open the door the hotel and trotted in, kicking some of the snow off of my hooves as we stepped inside.
“The same kind of pony who orders a coffee cake and thinks it will sit well in her stomach full of Sparkle-Cola and roasted molerat.” Crash Dive chastised her, her armored hooves thudding loudly on the steps as we walked up. “If you’re going to throw up, you’re sleeping in the bathroom tonight. Or I could have Static make you a diaper for your head, if you'd prefer it.” Aerith slid the key into the door to her room, the lock opening with a satisfying click. Wearing a grin as I watched Night Strike's face go from blushing to indigestion, I stepped into Scouring and my room, finding the unicorn still dozing in bed, the glass of water resting on the bedside table now empty.
I carefully twisted the bolt shut on our door, trying to make as little noise as possible as I walked over to the window to pull the shades down. The room grew darker as the moonlight was blocked from streaming in, and I climbed into the unoccupied bed, tossing my jacket onto my saddlebags. Thinking back to what Vera had said earlier, my ears flopped down a bit as I buried my face into the pillow. It’s been so long since we’ve left… I hope they’re not getting too worried.
I tried to imagine dad pounding on Twintails’ door with his prosthetic leg, Jolts slung over his back. Him and Twintails trundling along on in the tank as Nikolai blasts groups of raiders away with his Tesla cannon, Fringe, Flash-Bang and Sugar Rush providing fire from a vertibuck overhead. I grinned, closing my eyes, chuckling a little - well, I suppose there could be a worse team coming to find us.
---
Sunlight shown through the blinds as I sat up in bed, yawning and twisting my neck a little to crack it. Scouring rolled out of bed beside me, looking much better after the night’s sleep. “Mmh, so, how was the show last night?” He asked, trotting off into the bathroom to get another glass of water. I climbed out of bed, picking up my jacket to slip it back over my head.
“Pretty good, Night Strike fainted at the sight of Vera again, but that’s not new.” I joked, Scouring chuckling to himself. He stepped back out of the bathroom, taking a sip before setting the glass down and getting to work putting his armor on. I paused as he did so, glancing into my saddlebags before hitching them up, catching the black plates of the fresh-smelling armor. “Do you think I’d need any sort of power armor training for this stealth suit? I mean, it doesn’t look as cumbersome as most power armor, but I still don’t know how exactly it works.”
Scouring shrugged, the armor plating over his hooves releasing a bit of steam as they closed over his legs. “Not sure. If there is anything to it, it’s probably just how to activate the stealth field, I bet Crash Dive or I could teach you some of the basics of power armor if we needed to.” I trotted out of the door behind Scouring once he had his armor on, going to knock on the girls’ room.
Night Strike opened the door to reveal Crash Dive slipping on her helmet as Aerith slipped on her clothes... Aerith has clothes? Wait, when did she get that new suit? They all stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them. “So, when did you get a new suit, Aerith? Looks pretty clean for something you might’ve found off a dead body. Not to mention fitting perfectly...” I narrowed my eyes, Aerith’s expression growing a little worried. Her horn lit up, flashing up a sign.
‘Somepony was looking to get rid of their… old clothes, and… thought it’d be reward enough after… Taking out the Hellhounds… and stuff. Yeah, that.” The repeatedly flickering magical sign and long gaps between her words didn’t help to relieve me. Night Strike stepped in front of Aerith, opening her mouth to speak, though she quickly found she was at a loss for words.
“You stole some of the caps, didn’t you?” I stepped forward a bit, both Night Strike and Aerith gulping. Oh, they did. “For Celestia’s sake, you can’t just take caps like that! We can’t go around willy-nilly buying everything! At the very least could you've left an I.O.U., so I don’t go around thinking we lost the money or somepony else stole it? We still need to pay for the new engine on the mini-tank, who knows how much that’ll cost!” I went off on a tirade, Aerith shrinking back a little. Before I could continue, though, Crash Dive smacked me on the backside of my head.
“Oh, shut up, you cap-pincher. We’re not a company and we’ve still got enough caps to buy out half of Vanhoover.” She began to trot back towards the entrance of the hotel, the rest of us following behind. I grumbled to myself, tossing my key onto the desk as beside Night Strike’s as we passed it. A cool breeze whipped around us as we stepped out into the hotel’s courtyard. One pony in a janitorial jumpsuit was tossing salt onto the stone pathway to stop any ice from forming. We walked through a long line of train cars, the fresh snow crunching under our hooves as we made our way towards the garage our mini-tank was resting in.
The small door to the garage creaked as it opened, alerting Oil Slick to our presence. He stood up from the stool he had been sitting at and set aside a magazine that boasted of an interview decrying the usefulness of a plasma caster on the cover. “Hey, got her all tuned up and ready to go! Now, the new regulators installed on the engine should help keep the engine’s power in check and give it that extra boost. At the very least you won’t blow a gasket again, save if you try to tow a tank behind it.” I looked over the mini-tank, tossing my saddlebags into the driver’s seat as Oil Slick listed off the details of the improvements. “Speedometer won’t show exactly how fast you can get, though if you’re ever going at that speed I’ll assume you’ve got bigger problems on your mind. Anyway, with the fixed gasket and upgrade, along with the discount for getting the extra parts back from the mine, I’d say… 2,000 caps should cover it.”
I paused, not entirely happy with that price. I’m supposed to be the one demanding caps like that, not the one paying! Glancing back to the others, they simply trotted over to the tank, Aerith and Scouring hopping into the trailer as Crash Dive and Night Strike climbed onto the back. I glanced down at the mini tank, giving a little sigh. Oh, the thing I do for the machines I love… I flipped open my saddlebags and began to count out the caps, pouring them into a small satchel he tucked into a pocket in his mechanic suit. “Thanks again for what you’ve done, really. If you ever need a tune up, I’d be more than happy to oblige.”
Oil Slick trotted over to the controls to the garage door, the large metal gate creaking open. I flicked a switch, the mini-tank’s engine rumbling to life. Twisting the handle bar, the engine roared as I rolled out of the garage, turning to speed through the town. “Hoohoo, Oil Slick really gave this baby the special treatment!” I said, feeling the tank roll smoothly over the hills as we approached the edge of town. I pulled my makeshift goggles out of my saddlebags and slipped them over my face, the ground lighting up with small trails of latent magical energy as they blocked my eyes from the harsh winds.
Night Strike flicked on her radio, and the air began to fill with a jazzy piano riff accompanied by a small group of saxophones. Heh, now this is some music to speed to...
"You women have heard of jalopies,
You've heard the noise they make,
Let me introduce my new Rocket 88!
Yeah, she's straight, just won't wait
Everybody likes my Rocket 88
Babe we'll ride in style movin' all along!
A V8 motor baby, it's modern design
Black convertible top and the girls don't mind
Sportin' with me riding all around town with joy!"
-----
"...aw, fuck! We didn't go back to the drive-in!" The mini-tank's rebuilt engine purred underneath as I rested on the back with Boomer, eyes faced away from the chill wind as we traveled along. Crash Dive and Aerith both looked at me from their position in the wagon behind, the dressed-up alicorn's eyes going wide and the power armored pegasus' hoof meeting her forehead as they both realized what I meant. Can you blame me though, a whole trailer full of big Sparkle-Cola bomb bottles, just sitting there! It's a tragedy!
Turning to face the wind, I took ahold of Boomer to help pull me along the length of the mini-tank, reaching out a hoof and tapping Static on the shoulder. Gaaah, I know I've said that it was the stupid snow stinging my eyes before, but by Celestia does it actually hurt a hell of a lot more when it really -is- the snow stinging my eyes. Why do we have such huge eyes, anyways!? They take up about half of our skulls, for cryin' out loud... The engine fell to a quiet purr as we started to slow down, Static turning around to look at myself in confusion. He pushed his goggles up on his head, blinking a few times as we slowed in the snow. "What, what is it? Did you binge on Sparkle-Cola while I wasn't looking and have to use the bathroom?"
"Well, technically yes, but it was only four bottles yesterday and that's beside the point. We're not going the right way, the drive-in was south of Maple Station." Letting off a sigh and small glare at the first sentence, the earth pony returned a confused look to me afterwards, a gentle snow falling around. Okay, more I'm sitting here, more I think I'd rather be sitting here - this engine is really warm. A sigh escaped myself as I looked at him, adjusting myself. "You know, the drive-in we stopped at during the storm? The one with the crashed truck outside of it that you didn't let me clean out?"
"Erm, well, yeah, I know the drive-in, but the crashed..." There's the eyes lighting up as he remembers it... and there's the sigh and hoof to the forehead. Damn. "Okay, let me get this straight, you want us to go all the way back there, delaying us getting to that Shady Shores place further, just so you can have a trailer's worth of Sparkle-Cola. How about no." Oh, I'd hoped he wouldn't have said that right off the bat. Okay, puppy-dog face, hope that you work on Static better than Dad... making him feel awkward, very good. "Oh, come on, Night Strike, we'll probably wind up going back there anyways. Seems like we always wind up returning to places we've been no matter what..."
"Well... look at it this way, if we have a trailer's worth of Sparkle-Cola, I won't have to try and steal caps from your collection to buy more, because we'd be pretty much set. Even moreso if there's some bottles of RAD in the truck, too." The earth pony let off a small huff as he sat back in the driver's seat, the white cloud of breath beight caught on a chill breeze. After a moment, he took to shaking his head, grabbing the handlebars and turning us back around on the road, engine purring.
"For the record, this is only because I know we can at least get back to heading west as soon as we're finished, and that there's probably at least something worthwhile back there." I answered him with a small chuckle that was lost on the wind, sliding off of the warm engine deck and back to the rear seat, tugging my jacket around myself. Score one for Strikey and her medically-neccessitated Sparkle-Cola. As I settled back in, my stomach gave a small growl, prompting a hoof to move to it. Hm... the tank slowed for a moment, allowing me to just catch Static's grumbling as it was brought by the wind. "And the fact that I forgot to get breakfast before leaving..." Never change, Sparky.
---
The warm air of the Roundhouse greeted us as we stepped inside, the stage empty but the tables full of ponies eating various meals. Mmm, smells like... pancakes, and eggs, and... maple candy? Huh. Finding ourselves a booth once more, Scouring pulled his helmet off and rubbed at his temples, letting off a yawn. "Mmnh, cannae remember last time I had some'in proper fer breakfast. Sure hope this place's mornin' food's as good as it's dinners." Well, if the smells are anything to go by, I'd say it's a solid bet on yes. Looking over to Static, I couldn't really tell what was grumbling more, the earth pony as he fished around in his saddlebags or his own stomach.
"Yeah, well, let's try to not go too fancy when getting this, we only have so many bottlecaps after all. Nnnfh... think they have any big breakfast platters here?" Ah, the eternal struggle between the cap hoarder's brain and the earth pony stomach's appetite. Letting off a small chuckle in response, I leaned back into the booth, a unicorn waiter trotting over and laying out five menus for us with a smile. Well, if we're gonna be buying food, might as well get drinks, too... Scouring opted for a glass of water while Crash Dive got herself a bottle of wild pegasus - pretty early for whiskey, isn't it? - Static getting a bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparswilla. Aerith gave a look towards me and flashed a hint of a smile, myself returning it.
"And, ah, Sparkle-Cola RAD for myself and Aerith, thank you." The waiter gave a nod before trotting away, Static watching him before turning his attention back to us, ending with a faint glare. "What?"
"I thought you said that you wouldn't be using the caps to buy more Sparkle-Cola if we came back here. What happened to that, huh?" Answering him with a roll of my eyes, I let off a sigh, leaning forwards against the table and picking up the menu. Yeah, yeah, we're buying warm food anyways, can't we get cold drinks too? My eyes scanned over the food on offer, flipping it around to check out the breakfast menu. Okay, sausages and maple syrup, pancakes, eggs, standard stuff... and bacon? Mmmh, so many choices... I could get that coffee cake again. Probably sits better on an empty stomach. Eh, maybe not, might just stick with the regular breakfast stuff... even if coffee -is- a breakfast thing.
"C'mon, Static, it's just two bottles, and I meant that I wouldn't after we unload that trailer. Promise I won't get any more with your money after we do that." The earth pony let off a grumble, going back to looking over his menu. Eh, think I'll probably just go for a regular breakfast or something, whatever's standard around here. Setting my menu down on the table, I leaned back in the booth, looking out across the roundhouse - the bright sun of morning shone in through the high windows, making the interior seem much more alight than the last few times we've been here. Huh, this really is the first time we came here before noon, ain't it? Weird to think about...
The light sounds of ponies conversing and eating their food was permeated momentarily by the heavy door shutting at the entrance, myself glancing that way in a bit of boredom. Suppose it must be really busy... or they only have the one waiter, for mornings, anyways. A red sun hat caught my attention, a ghoulified unicorn assisting the earth pony mare in removing it from her grey-streaked auburn mane, making me adjust myself a little on the end of the booth to better see. Wow, even without all the makeup for performing, Vera really looked nice... no wonder dad loves her so much. Watching as the unicorn helped her out of her winter coat, I felt a hoof annoyedly jab me in the ribs, turning around to look at the blue earth pony beside me. "Do you know what you're getting, or are you just going to try to pull sustenance from Sparkle-Cola and the aether again?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, just the regular breakfast, whatever it is, um... eggs, bacon, and sausages, yeah, that." Static looked at me for a moment before giving a small shrug, looking at his own menu again while I went back to watching Vera. It's not creepy, I'm not a stalker, shut your face. An annoyed Static-brand sigh was released next to me, myself glancing down to catch him shaking his head and glancing at me while looking at the menu. Oh, shut up. Sitting back down, I snuck one last quick glance over the side of the booth, seeing Vera walking over to find a table of her own. Okay, Strikey, let's not faint if she gets close, she's a normal pony just like you and probably doesn't want to be bothered during breakfast, so stay in your seat and don't make a scene going over to talk to-
"The esteemed Vanhoover Five, I'd thought you'd left for the west already. What brings you back here, if you don't mind my asking?" Yeah, nope, I think that was my heart just stopping for a second right there. Brain, could you roll back the tape and play it again for me so I'm not sitting there like a moron? Thanks. Vera wore a smile as I looked at her, Static adjusting himself beside me and leaning forwards on the table.
"Just passing through to get something to eat, and then cutting south to get something by that old drive-in. Strikey here found a trailer full of Sparkle-Cola while we were coming up, and she wouldn't let us get on with what we have to do until we emptied the thing out." Thanks for giving my brain time to catch up, Static. Also... okay, yeah, it is delaying us, but Sparkle-Cola, though! Vera gave a small chuckle, giving a nod, as I made sure my jaw was still on my head and put on a smile in return.
"Well, suppose I really can't blame you for returning for that, the brunches here are always rather lovely, and I'm not just saying that because I've been coming here for nigh on thirty years now. Did just want to wish you all the best of luck with your travels, had hoped that we could meet again, some sunny day. Suppose that doesn't entirely specify the weather..." The earth pony mare let off another light giggle, my brain going bust again. Don't let her see you going gaga again, Strikey, you're better than that. Static answered with a chuckle of his own as my brain recollected itself, again, catching that last part of her first sentence.
"Ehm, sorry, thirty years? You've been here in Maple Station for that long?" A coherent question, that's a good sign that my brain isn't completely broken. Vera turned her eyes towards myself, the smile on her muzzle staying a moment longer before she released a sigh. Oh, damn it, stupid brain forming that stupid coherent question! The singer gave a faint nod, lookng over towards where the unicorn who came in with her was before turning back.
"Yes, unfortunately. Wasn't my intention to stay for this long, but traveling's taken it's toll, and the next stop is much too far for me to head there like I'd done before - Stalliongrad's a sight further away than Vanhoover..." She released a small sigh, reaching to rub at one of her old hooves, before looking back up at us. "Suppose it was a good thing, though. Maple Station was mostly out of the way when that nasty scuffle went down ten years ago, and so far it's been nice to be the Wasteland's Sweetheart once more. I'm afraid that I won't be able to stay for much longer with the way things are changing, going back to how it was before the bombs and radiation, but..."
'Can't you just take a train to more irradiated climates? Isn't that a big part of what makes Maple Station a, well, station?' Aerith's screen flashed up for a moment, myself reading it with Vera. She did have a point, surely if this place was a town made as a gathering point for ponies heading north, they'd have some trains running, at least one. Vera's face was in a frown as she let off another sigh, shaking her head.
"I'm afraid that being a celebrity doesn't carry quite as much weight nowadays as it did back before the bombs. It's all bottlecaps this and barter that... for all of my glamour, most of it is just fans who've wound up here and cared to offer a helping hoof. I simply can't earn enough with my singing to purchase a ticket, even if the trains weren't held up for whatever reason." The earth pony dug at the floor with her hoof, sniffling slightly in the warm air of the roundhouse. I glanced back at Static, seeing him returning a gaze of faint surprise - guess this is what happens when the wasteland starts getting back to normal, hard to do anything if you can't get caps. He seemed to figure out what I was thinking about asking him - well, hey, I wouldn't be spending them on Sparkle-Cola in this case, would I? Unless...
"We can take you to the north, free of charge and in only a few hours worth of travel. Once we get the Valkyrie fixed, anyways." The old ghoul's eyes opened wide in surprise, herself resting a hoof on the table. Taking another glance back at Static... oh, come on, it's not like I'd leave you down here. We can probably find room for her to be inside when we take off. Eventually. "Really, it wouldn't be any trouble, and I'm sure my dad would love to learn you're still around. He's a bigger fan of you than I am, and trust me, that's saying a lot."
Vera's eyes seemed to dampen, the mare pulling a small cloth from her pocket and dabbing her eyes with it, a smile on her muzzle. "S-sorry, I think I just... got something in my eyes. I... thank you, for the offer, really. I do hope that you have the best of luck in... I... good... goodbye." Vera gave one last nod before trotting off, one hoof still wiping her eyes clear and the smile still on her muzzle, myself watching her for a few moments longer. I sat back in the booth seat, all of us quiet for a few moments, my brain still working on what'd just happened. Okay, so, just to recap, list of ponies coming back in the Valkyrie now includes Vera Lynn herself... maybe...
We might need a bigger plane.
---
"You're tuned to Radio KAOS, and it's making for a beautiful wintry wasteland day out there. Don't think it'll stay this way for long, so take advantage of it while you can, heh. Seems to me that we might have another snowstorm brewing for later tonight if not early tomorrow, so keep your eyes open and heaters at the ready, and for those of us going traveling out in the wintry wasteland be sure to bundle up tight or find some pre-war place to hole up in until the cold clears. I don't think I need to explain that being turned into a popsicle isn't exactly pleasant, eheh...
"From the town of Maple Station we've got an update on those fantastic five, as well as a bit of an explanation for why they set off that bomb awhile back... ah, the one on the Vanoover Reservior shoreline. Heh, not sure if it's really that good of a thing I have to specify their explosions... anyways. The reason they set off that bomb a week or so ago was to destroy a dock owned by a pre-war Biological Research company called Shady Shores, that they think is the source of those nasty creatures we occasionally get news about terrorizing nightly caravan routes. You can question their methods of removing dangers from our wasteland, but damned if they don't manage to get good results doing it. Kinda have to feel sorry for anything that ends up on their bad side, if their response is going to be a massive explosion, heh... The Vanhoover Five are last reported to be heading off towards the west, going to try and find the actual home of Shady Shores Bio Research, and as far as I can guess, blow it to high hell, too. All I can say is, good luck guys - hope our winter weather isn't too warm for you, eheh.
"In other news around the wasteland, spotters in Hopeville have been caught on record claiming to've seen more flying craft coming in from the east, though they were unable to identify or contact the craft with their radio equipment. The newly spotted craft are described as spitting either flames or sparks from portions of their bodies, as well as producing intense droning noises when close by, and... unfortunately, there hasn't been any further information concerning their appearance. There hasn't been any confirmed maliciousness from them, however, but chances are it might be a smart idea to keep eyes watching and guns ready just in case. Already proven those things can work if you let them, just be sure whatever these are are an actual threat first, heh...
"That's it for the morning news report, you're tuned into Radio K A O S, and let's see about geting some music going for everyone out there traveling. I think this speaks for anyone waiting for someone to come back to them; Wish You Were Here. Enjoy."
---
"Are you guys almost finished? We could've watched a whole movie and stuck around for the intermission by now!" Static let off a notable grumble as Aerith levitated another pallet of the bottles onto the back of our wagon. Well, sorr-ee that moving lots of glass bottles takes time, Sparky. Shooting him an annoyed look, I came out with a few more stray but undamaged bottles, setting them carefully among the other pallets on the back, landing next to the loaded wagon. Woof, we might need to get a bigger cart sooner or later... or a bigger half-track.
"Quit whining, we've got it all loaded. Or, well, half of it anyways... it's a whole trailer and all we have is a half-size wagon, what do you expect?" Static wore that annoyed look, the mini-tank's engine growling idly as Aerith pulled a tarp up over it to keep it in place. I settled myself back behind Boomer as the alicorn found space in the wagon for herself, the sound of one of the bottles popping open meeting my ears as she took to partaking in our spoils. Oh yeah, we're gonna be set for a good, long while... "We are gonna head up this way when we come back to check out that Air Base towards the east, we'll just get the rest when we come through again."
"And you'll be the one paying the bill when we have to get this thing's engine fixed, again, after it hauls all this soda around the wasteland. Had enough trouble hauling a one-ton bomb, how many tons of soda do you have in there, hm?" Yeah, yeah, I get it, you love the half-track, I love the thing mounted on it, just drive. The engine revved and purred smoothly as the tracks bit into the snow, pulling us and the wagon forwards towards the drive-in's concessions stand. C'mon Static, it barely sounded like it was straining, you don't have anything to worry about! On arriving, the earth pony shut the engine off and hopped out of the seat, myself and Aerith accompanying him as we headed for the door. Mmm, lunchtime...
The smell of fresh meat being cooked on an electric grill met my nose as we stepped inside the familiar place, the couch still left undisturbed in front of the drifted window that faced the screen in the distance, faint diffuse light streaming in from above where scattered clouds blotted the blue sky. Crash Dive was idly working with her rebar cannon, Aerith trotting over to her side as Static headed towards the back where Scouring was preparing the food, myself flopping on the musty couch and stretching out myself. Ah, good to relax sometimes... certainly is better than being attacked by stuff.
A few lengths of steel rebar clattered to the floor from the clip of the cannon, myself looking up at the noise and catching Crash Dive giving a thoroughly annoyed sigh. Aerith gathered the ones that fell in her magic, setting them on the couch beside the power armored pegasus, myself adjusting to a position to better look at the cannon. "Yanno, I don't think I ever asked, why have something like that rather than the regular Enclave weapons, those fancy beam-rifles or energy guns." Crash Dive readjusted the cannon in her lap, looking up at myself, a faint look of surprise on her face. "Definitely not gonna argue the effectiveness of throwing a foot-long solid steel rod at someone or something, but, yeah, why?"
She sat back for a moment, seeming to look over her own cannon. "Practicality, I suppose. Already was a harpoon gun at the lighthouse when I turned up at it, and I did have the air tanks and compression system from what was a balefire egg launcher with me. Wipe off the blood and brains, stick the two together, a few years down the line add a revolving feed system and feed magazine, there you go. Ammo's reusable, too... most of the time." The remaining time being when it winds up shredding the engine of an aircraft, I can probably safely assume. I gave a small nod, looking over the cannon itself - well, guess that does explain why it fires so far and with so much force, power of a BEL being focused down on a small point like that, gonna go through a lot of stuff when it's fired. Crash Dive shut the opened parts of the cannon, sliding the rods that fell out back in and latching the lid down, letting off a small chuckle. "Other good thing, will fire underwater. Up to a certain depth, anyways... water pressure, yanno."
"Huh... never thought about that. So, it'd only be effective to whatever depth equals around... thirty, forty-five pounds per square inch?" The power armoed pegasus blunk for a moment, looking down at her cannon and pulling on the charging lever, her eyes opening a little wider in surprise. Huh, so she did at least keep the pressure gauge from the BEL's air system... not gonna think too hard about what she meant by 'wipe the blood and brains off'. She glanced back up towards me, a faint look of bewilderment on her face, myself giving a small shrug. "Dad owns a balefire egg launcher. Figure they all operate at a standard pressure, and if you didn't change the air system at all that's right around 40 PSI. He named it Kindness."
"...right. Kindness." Flopping onto one side, I let the wing on the opposite spread out wide, shaking it in the air a little. Wuh, really should use these things more often, shouldn't I? Traveling with Static's gonna cripple me... good thing Crash Dive can't read thoughts and my brain to mouth connection managed to keep that one from getting through. The power armored pegasus set her cannon aside, leaning forwards. "Thumper, I get, it does make that sound. Boomer, yeah, War Crime, I guess it makes sense, but... Kindness. A Balefire Egg Launcher, named Kindness."
"Hey, my other dad's name is Featherweight, and I'm pretty sure he's what happens when you cross a Clydesdale with a Pegasus and a bombing wagon. Seriously, he's as big as Aerith, maybe even a little taller." I sat myself up, giving a shrug and retreiving a bottle of Sparkle-Cola, starting to partake in it. Unfitting names just run in the family, I guess... that, or Twintails just has a weird sense of humor. He's my dad, so the latter is probably true. Crash Dive sat back, looking at myself for a moment, before letting off a small snort and giggle. Huh, definitely don't think I've heard her do that before... "Hm?"
"Nothing, nothing... Just, I hope that, if you ever have foals, for your sake, they don't take genes from Featherweight's side of the family." Mouth full of the delicious nectar of the goddesses, it did take my brain a moment to process what she meant... after which I promptly turned that mouthful of Sparkle-Cola into a fine sticky mist in the air, coughing a little. Just, woah, yeah, that's... something to think about. Guess I could forget about flying in that case... REALLY hope that the hospital back in Mooscow has a very good maternity ward. Or that EQUAD would take a walk-in. Maybe if Static were the father, they'd have to...
BRAIN, STOP THINKING, NOW. Okay? Good. Now, what I want you to do, is never, ever, EVER, think about this again. Got it? Alright. We can tune reality back in now. Blinking a few times, the musty couch I was sitting on returned to feeling, the snowdrift held back by the glass meeting my vision as out of the corner of my eye Crash Dive and Aerith both seemed to be laughing. The pink-maned pegasus rubbed at her eyes with an armored hoof, snickering back laughter and catching her breath. "Oh... oh dear, I think I broke her."
"Y-yeah... that... that's one way to put it."
---
"Guh, finally, back to where we were twelve hours ago. And a lot slower, too, I might add..." Static let out a long grumble, the headlight of the mini-tank cutting through the darkness and illuminating errant flakes of snow that lazily drifted to the ground in front of us. I shot him a glare as we crested a small hill - hey, we drank some of the bottles! Even I can't drink a whole truck's worth of Sparkle-Cola in a day. Get Twintails and Featherweight on it, though, then we might be able to work out half of it over a few hours... the forests either side of the road thinned out, allowing us to see down into the valley ahead, where a few old pre-war camper wagons layed out, one with lights on. Well, hope they're friendly. The road turned to the left, and we began driving down a winding path heading for the valley floor.
The moon shone high overhead, hidden and blurred to a faint light patch behind the stormclouds, the mini-tank's engine purring gingerly as Static brought us through the first turn. Watching down in the valley, a mare's scream echoed out from the floor, followed by a sharp crack. Okay, yeah, we need to be down there on the double. Static reached the second turn for the valley road, before Aerith flashed up a screen in front of him, the earth pony bringing the mini-tank to a stop as she hopped out of the wagon, her rifle glinting in the night. I watched her for a moment as she pulled her old jacket out and laid it out in the snow, laying down on it with her rifle, Scouring and Crash Dive getting off the wagon as well. Her screen flashed up again, this time so I could see it; 'Night Strike, Scouring, get your long-range weapons and help me see what's going on down there.'
Blinking a few times, I watched as the steel ranger nodded and unfolded Sunburst, myself looking towards my duffel bag for a moment before getting War Crime. Well, if it means we can still help them, whoever they are, it'll probably be a good thing. Scouring fitted his helmet on and steadied himself, as I dropped down beside Aerith, pulling the large rifle up to my shoulder, peering down the scope. Okay, adjusting, adjusting... right. 300 meters to the valley floor from here, can see through the windows of that lit camper wagon. Mare at the door with a... short .38, think that's where the crack came from, and she's firing at... mercy, that's a lot of raiders.
"Bugger me... targets southeast of the lit camper, mess of raiders. Wait, more due east... south... west... okay, target-rich environment. Shoot 'em if you can get 'em." Wearing a small smirk, I steadied War Crime in the snow, Aerith's rifle already letting out a loud retort, followed by a raider's head popping a moment later. The lever on War Crime's stock squeezed easily, myself keeping her steady on the massed group as the rounds flew in, limbs flying off and snow getting kicked up, the mare in the camper doorway letting her .38 sound off again. Or, maybe that's just us. Letting go after a healthy seven-round burst, Sunburst sounded off as well, the red missiles flying in and blanketing the area in a few fireballs. Looking back through War Crime's scope, the raiders seemed to be scattering a little - or, maybe there were just fewer of them - Aerith still putting shots downrange before her rifle's magazine pinged out and landed in the snow.
They both took to reloading their guns while I settled in, scanning around for a moment before settling on a runner. Or, well, he was a runner... kind of imagine it's hard to do that when a .50 MG takes your legs off. War Crime seemed to love the sustained fire as much as I did, a small trail of impacts leading to another raider's head caving in, and another suddenly being half the pony he used to be, before she clicked on an empty chamber. Aw, and just when I was getting into the swing of things, too... Oh well, we did what we aimed to do. and with minimal possible casualties, too, I think... looking back down the scope, the mare at the door rubbed at her forehead, pulling the .38 from her mouth and looking around for a moment, before trotting back inside the camper.
We picked ourselves up from the snow, myself hopping back onto my spot behind Boomer while Scouring and Aerith returned to the wagon, Static starting to bring us down into the valley again. Two more sharp turns and we were on the road towards the campers, the headlight cutting a beam into the snow, reflecting off of the crimson stains being left by the many bare body parts around. Whoof, hell of a mess, ain't it?
As we drew closer, the doorway of the camper opened up again, the mare standing in it with her .38 in her mouth for a moment, before a bright flash erupted from the end and a sharp crack filled the air, followed by a sharp whizz of a bullet flying past. Yeep, nope, I like having a full head, thanks! Static swerved the mini-tank, myself stepping up from hiding behind Boomer and flailing my hooves in the air, trying to get her attention. She shot one more time, before she dropped the short pistol form her mouth and put a hoof to cover her muzzle, rushing out into the snow. We both soon caught up with each other, myself catching my breath as the mare trotted alongside.
"Oh, gosh, sorry about that. Didn't think there would be friendlies coming through this way after all those raiders..." Static let off a small sigh as he caught his breath as well, pulling the half-track up by the camper and turning the engine off, slumping forwards on the handlebars. The earth pony mare looked us over for a moment, before turning to the camper. "Golly, you all look beat. Norm, make some room, we've got company here! And it's not the nasty kind!"
Letting off a small grunt as I lifted myself off of Boomer's controls - gonna guess they weren't meant to lay on - I took a few breaths, steadying myself as the mare stretched a hoof out to help me. "Ah... thanks... Sorry about the mess, we, ah, heard the shot from your... thirty-eight... wanted to help, eheh." Her eyes went wide for a moment, a smile crossing her muzzle as we trotted over to Static, helping him to his hooves.
"Oh, don't worry about it, sure did save our flanks from that pickle, don'tcha know. Why don't you all come inside, was just putting together some bear meat stew for dinner before those raiders all showed up, plenty for everyone." She wore that warm smile, Static rubbing at his head as the rest of the group trotted over, a stallion taking the mare's place at the doorway - guessing that's Norm. The mare looked over all of us, giving a small nod and extending a hoof out, the light snow still falling around. "Really nice to meet'cha all, you can call me Marchie. Heh, I tell ya, we've come through this way every year once the weather starts getting cold, and this is the first time we've run in to so many gosh-darned raiders up here, don'tcha know. Sure, there's always one or two of 'em walking around here, but never this many! Oh, do come in, mighty chilly out here."
"Erm, thanks, uh... Marchie." O... kay, she takes the cake for most cheerful person to survive a massed raider attack. I looked towards Static for a moment, the earth pony answering with a small shrug. Glancing back at the group, their general expression returned the same feeling, myself trotting up into the large camper. Marchie trotted around inside happily as Norm stood by a stove, tending to the food on it, us all piling in and shutting the door behind. The earth pony mare sat herself down at a table, smiling and waving us over, her husband filling a few bowls and laying them out.
"Feel free to stay for the night, we can make space and it's supposed to be a nasty blizzard out there anyways. We're in no rush, just gonna be heading for Maple Station by tomorrow. Sure is nice to see some friendly faces out here!" We all glanced between each other, Static's stomach rumbling as the smell of the stew met us, the earth pony wearing a small wince as he trotted over with a chuckle, sitting down at the table. We all followed suit, or at least did as well as we could, myself getting squished between Static and Aerith. As we all started to take in the stew, my brain formed a thought from what my eyes were giving it, looking aorund the nice interior of the happy couple's camper.
Man, the wasteland is a weird place...
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