Welcome to the Machine
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Leaning back after having finished my bowl of stew, I covered my mouth to muffle a small burp, Marchie taking the bowl from the table and trotting back over to the pot on the stove. The stew fell cleanly from the ladle into the bowl, steam rising up from it as she placed it back in front of me. “Go on, eat up. We’ve got way too much for just us too, and we don’t get guests very often.” I began to eat the second bowl of soup, Night Strike pushing her bowl away only for Marchie to refill it as well. Well, I suppose I can’t complain; it is free food.
“So, what brings you all over this way?” Norm asked after swallowing a mouthful of stew. Marchie was attempting to refill Crash Dive’s bowl, but the power armored pony was obstinately refusing any more of the food. She sighed, looking defeated and slightly insulted before moving to pour the rest of the stew out into a large plastic container that had clearly seen better days, fitting a lid on it. “Not much west of Maple Station other than some abandoned towns and campsites, after all.”
“We’re heading to the coast, there’s supposed to be some big pre-war biological research facility there, gonna check it out.” Night Strike answered in between gulps of stew. Norm’s eyes widened a bit as Marchie sat down beside him. “We think there’ll be a generator there, at least one we can take back to fix up our plane. Do know it's gona be a death trap one way or another if that's where the freaky fish-things are really from...” Norm looked even more surprised, not to mention somewhat confused. Night Strike's expression shifted to one of slight confusion as well, finishing off another gulp. “Uh… have you guys not heard about us yet? Vanhoover Five? We’ve been on the radio a lot recently.”
Marchie shook her head as she leaned forward, her interest clear on her face. “Goodness, no! Our radio’s been busted for a few weeks now! What’s all this about a plane, then?” A grin spread across her face as she sat eagerly awaiting our answer. Norm stood up and began to clear the table as we finished off our second helping of the warm stew.
“Uh… well, long story short, Night Strike and I kind of crashed a big plane south of here and have been looking for a generator to power up its onboard repair systems for a while now. We figured we could help out around the wastes while we looked, seeing how we’re sort of stuck here till we find one.” I explained. Marchie gave a little squeal of excitement, glancing back over to Norm as he began rinsing out the bowls.
“Can you believe this, Norm? Real live celebrities here in our home!” Her grin widened as she leaned a little further in. “Oh, you can’t just leave it at that! What else have you been doing? Were you the ones that caused that big lightshow in the sky a few days ago?” I raised an eyebrow, Crash and Scouring looking a little more concerned as well. Marchie sat up straight, looking between all of us. “You know? That big glimmering in the clouds! There was this biiiig streak of somethin’ like lightning shooting up into the sky, then sparks and fire were shooting between the clouds, it was a real sight!”
All of us sat in silence for a moment, unsure of what it was that Marchie had just described. “Ah… well, we did overload some sort o' old Tesla cannon emplacement on the coast down south, but that was a few weeks ago, and I don’t remember any fire with it. Jus' a big ball of light.” Scouring finally said, scratching at his chin a little as he thought. “Suppose there could be some other tesla cannon mounted somewhere up here, but can’t know where it’d be or what the heck it’d be guardin'.”
Marchie looked disappointed, slumping down in her chair somewhat. “Oh well, if you ever see it, you oughtta go investigate! I betcha anything whatever’s powering that thingie’s got to be a generator big enough to fix up that plane of yours.” The clock on the wall suddenly struck 11, a small bird popping out and chirping once for every hour. “Oh, goodness, is that the time? We should all go to bed now before it gets any later; you don’t want to be drivin’ all bleary eyed.” Marchie pushed herself away from the table, stepping over to a large satchel and flipping it open. “It’s a good thing I’ve always got some extra blankets. Take your pick of the campers around, and don’t forget to drop them back off in the morning!” She handed us each a thick woolen blanket.
“Uh, thanks.” Night Strike said. We all took our folded cloth and stepped out into the cold night air, Norm shutting the door behind us as we spread out to search for a place to sleep. I opened the door to one of the campers, leaning in to see a skeleton laying on the mattress inside. Nope, don’t feel like snuggling up to some bones tonight. I followed Night Strike over to another, the light inside flickering to life as she flipped a switch. The interior of the camper was slightly less inviting than the one Marchie and Norm had set up in, but it was at least corpse and critter free. “Suppose this’ll do.” Night Strike said, tossing her blanket down onto one of the mattresses in the camper. I let my blanket fall onto the mattress beside hers, laying down my umbrella between the mattress and the wall before climbing under the thick fabric.
Night Strike flicked the light back off and rolled over on her mattress, wrapping herself up in the blanket. I layed my head down, staring into the dented metal wall as I tried to get comfortable. I thought about what Marchie had described, my brain straining to think of what in Equestria could’ve caused it. I shook my head and closed my eyes. Whatever it was, I’m not going to think of a way to stop it while I’m half asleep.
---
I awoke to the sound of Night Strike clattering around in the kitchen of the camper, the oven door squeaking unpleasantly as she opened it. “The heck’re you doing?” I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Night Strike glanced over to me, pushing the oven door closed again, only for it to fall off of its hinges and onto the floor with a loud crash. Night Strike gave a weak chuckle, moving over to roll up the blanket Marchie had lent her.
“Just looking around, thought there might be some food or something still in the cupboards. Anyway, good thing you’re awake, Crash Dive came in a few minutes ago, wanted to hit the road as soon as we could.” She tucked the rolled up blanket beneath her wing as I sat up and cracked my back, leaning down to begin folding up my own blanket. “You’re lucky she didn’t bother to check inside, she probably would’ve dropped a grenade down the back of your coat if she saw you were still asleep. I think she thought you were getting the mini-tank ready.”
Standing up and flipping my umbrella onto my back, I trotted outside behind Night Strike, heading back towards Marchie and Norm’s camper. The sun had only just barely cleared the mountains to the east, casting long shadows from each of the campers in the park. Aerith and Scouring were already standing outside their campers, using sticks to draw out little games of tic-tac-toe as they waited. Scouring glanced up as Aerith drew a line through her three O’s, tossing his stick aside as he realized it was us. “Good to see you guys’re up. Was getting sick of losin' to this mobster wanna-be.” He chuckled, Aerith scrunching her muzzle as he did, smacking him lightly upside the head with her wing.
“I take it you guys already gave back your blankets?” I asked. Scouring nodded, glancing around the side of the camper we were in front of to check Marchie and Norm’s. Upon seeing the door was closed, he lined in a little, dropping his voice somewhat.
“Yeah, and just as a warning, they’re gonna offer you some pancakes before you head off. Try not to let them give you thirds, I feel like a beached whale.” He leaned against the side of the camper and I glanced over to Night Strike, who simply shrugged. We trotted over to Marchie and Norm’s camper, leaving the two to set up another game of tic-tac-toe in the snow.
I stepped up and knocked on the door, Marchie opening it and beaming upon seeing us. “Come on in, we’ve just got a fresh batch of flapjacks off the stove, you’ll want ‘em before they get cold!” She stepped back, allowing us to walk through the door and lay our blankets down beside the others. In the middle of the table sat a large stack of fluffy pancakes, a small glass jar of syrup resting beside them. My stomach growled and I blushed as Marchie went to cooking up a few more, Norm quietly eating his own small stack of pastries.
Stabbing a fork through the top few pancakes, I slid them onto my plate, reaching over to drizzle some of the syrup on top of them. If these things taste as good as they look, I don’t care if I’m going to end up carsick- er, half-track-bike-sick... you get what I mean. My expectations were confirmed as I bit into the pancakes, practically melting in my chair as the syrup oozed out of the batter. Night Strike was looking equally impressed with Marchie’s cooking as she ate her share of the cakes, the chef sitting down opposite us and taking a few for herself. “You five all heading out right away, then?” She asked.
Swallowing my mouth full of pancakes, I nodded. “Yeah, I figure we’ll want to get as far in a day as we can. With our track record it usually takes at least three times as long to get anywhere as we plan.” Night Strike poked me with the back end of her fork, smirking a little as syrup dripped from her mouth.
“We’d cut half of that time out if you didn’t keep wanting to explore every place for more junk to sell off.” Night Strike jibbed. I rolled my eyes, taking another bite of pancakes. Yeah, and the other half would be cut out if you didn’t insist on helping every single pony that crossed our path, or hoarding every single bottle of Sparkle-Cola in Equestria. Norm finished up his plate of pancakes, trotting over to the sink to begin washing it out before slipping it into a large backpack along with the cuckoo clock that had been hanging on the wall. Night Strike and I soon had empty plates as well, though they didn’t stay empty for long as Marchie set down another stack of steaming flapjacks.
“I suppose we’ll be heading out just after you do, then. We don’t want to hang around this place for too long if more raiders show up without your help.” My stomach protested as I shoveled more pancakes into my mouth, but the taste was too good to resist. It wasn’t too long before Night Strike and I had finished off our second helping of cakes, Marchie taking up our plates and washing them clean before stuffing them in with the rest of her dishes. “Sorry you two didn’t get as much as the others, but that’s what you get for getting up later than them!” She playfully chastised. I gave a muffled chuckle, feeling plenty full from the two servings we’d already got.
Standing up and heading for the door, Marchie saw us out, waving to us as we trotted over to our mini-tank where the others were waiting. “Thanks for stopping by! If you’re ever back in Maple Station, we’ll be happy to have you over for dinner again!” I waved farewell before hopping into the driver’s seat, Night Strike climbing on top beside Boomer, Scouring still looking a little sick. The engine rumbled to life as I began to weave my way through the campers towards the edge of the park, Marchie and Norm trotting out of their camper with their overloaded backpacks.
We bounced along the somewhat rocky terrain as I searched for a road nearby heading east towards the coast. Upon spotting a beaten dirt path, I turned the mini-tank towards it, leaning a bit from the sharp turn. As the treads rolled up onto the path, Scouring leaned back towards me, clutching at his gut a little. “Hurk... would ye mind slowin’ down a bit?”
“Seconded.” Night Strike added. I slowed the tank a bit, shaking my head as we slowed to barely moving faster than a brisk jog. Pff, lightweights...
---
The sun was almost directly overhead as the shadow of some buildings came over the horizon, Night Strike and Scouring’s stomachs having settled enough to allow me to pick up the pace. A small power plant sat at the very edge of town, several shacks each with a short cooling tower connected via large, rusty pipelines to the ground. We drove past the plant, turning down a road towards the tight cluster that was the downtown area. I slowed a little as we passed by a theater, the faded sign still displaying that there was a showing of ‘Stallions and Dolls’.
As we continued down the road, we passed by a large marble building, a sudden scream emanating from inside. I brought the mini-tank to a hard stop and slid my goggles up onto my forehead, all of us staring towards the doors leading in. I glanced over to Aerith, Night Strike hopping off of the tank and pulling Thumper out, the rest of us following suit. I gave a nervous gulp as we stepped into the building, pulling my umbrella around. Opening the doors revealed the building to be some sort of library, a large circular desk in the center surrounded by bookshelves filled with old, decaying literature. The middle of the building rose up several stories before it folded into itself to shape a large dome, broken windows lining the bottom of the hemisphere.
Light streamed down through the windows as we walked into the center of the building, fanning out slightly. I glanced around the side of the desk, seeing a pony laying prone on the floor. I rushed over to her, Crash Dive’s head turning to watch as I bent down to look at her. Dried blood was pooled around her head, her mane partly covering what appeared to be a bullet hole. Looking more closely at her, a crumpled note caught my attention, lying beside her body. I picked it up, reading it over; ‘Say Cheese’. Oh, fuck!
“Sniper!” I cried, leaping away from the body. What felt like a millisecond later, the pony’s ear blew apart as a bullet tore through it before ricocheting off of the hard floor. The others scrambled away from the center desk, each of us taking cover behind a bookshelf. I panted, the library now eerily quiet as we all sat behind the shelves, waiting for the sniper to let off another shot. I could see Aerith carefully levitating one of the books off of the shelf, hovering it over to the edge of the shelf as she crept towards the other side. She suddenly threw the book out and dashed to another shelf, the tome she’d just thrown exploding into a shower of pages that slowly fluttered down to the ground like leaves.
I heard a slightly muffled curse and the click of a gun being reloaded coming from the floor above us. I began to slide myself along the bookshelf, keeping my head low. The sound of another book falling from the shelves met my ears, which was swiftly followed by the sound of splintering wood as the sniper took a shot through the bookshelf. Night Strike squeaked a little, lying flat against the ground, holding her breath for fear of making another noise.
Crash Dive unclipped one of her grenades, pulling the pin and chucking it up towards the center of the library. The grenade arced in the air, falling just short of the second floor bannister before it exploded mid-air, knocking one of the crumbling pillars loose. The small marble column fell down and shattered as it hit the floor, sending several chunks flying off in every direction.
I dared to peer around the corner of the bookshelf, spotting Aerith crouching behind another pair of bookshelves by some broken steps. Her horn began to glow as a sign popped up. ‘I think he’s using a stealth-buck, I can’t see anypony up on the second level.’ Her magic suddenly fizzled out as yet another shot rang out, punching a hole through the shelf above Aerith. Shit, this sniper’s actually listening for magic too? What the hell kind of raider is that professional? Aerith made motions of pulling goggles down over her eyes before she vanished, turning herself invisible. Oh my godesses, I’m stupid. I pulled my goggles back down over my eyes, the room lighting up as I could see Aerith’s invisible form sneaking over towards the steps.
Scouring, Night Strike, and Crash Dive were each still laying down behind a bookshelf, Scouring sitting with his rocket launcher at the ready, but unwilling to fire off a blind shot for fear of being on the receiving end of the sniper’s rifle muzzle. Glancing upwards, I could see the magical signature of the sniper laying several feet off of the ground, the glow slightly dulled by the thick marble between me and him. Must be on one of the bookshelves to get a bit of a better view of the central room. Shit, now how am I supposed to tell Aerith that without giving away my position? The sniper was scanning the room with his rifle, one of his ears twitching as he listened for any noise.
I carefully picked up one of the books from the shelf, following Aerith as she climbed up the steps, closing the distance between her and the sniper. She soon reached the top of the steps and was looking around, trying to spot the gunner. Alright, Aerith, please tell me you can spot muzzle flashes. I tossed the book out, the sniper’s head turning to see it skid across the floor, but he didn’t fire off a bullet… of course not, now he’s actually waiting for a clear shot. Cursing to myself, I glanced back over to the others, but they were all unable to see me, limiting any means of visual communication. Not that any of them would be any more willing to step out and be the target for this guy than I would.
Gulping, I got to my hooves, still remaining partially crouched. My legs shook a little as I approached the edge of the bookshelf, glancing over to see the sniper’s barrel still trained on the gap between my bookshelf and the next. Oh, Celestia, this is a terrible decision. I threw myself out of cover, the sniper firing off a shot. Instead of my brains peppering the floor, however, his gun seemed to burst apart, sending him falling off of his shelf with a thud. Aerith rushed over, and before the sniper could react to her suddenly standing over him, she fired off a quick stream of bullets into his head, blood starting to ooze from the holes as he lay still, dead.
I panted as beads of sweat fell down my face, laying stock still on the floor, still in shock I wasn’t dead. Night Strike, Scouring, and Crash Dive all tentatively stepped out from behind cover, looking about at each other. Night Strike gave off a shriek of fright before rushing over to me as I sat up, my legs still a bit wobbly. “What the fuck kind of a plan was that?!” Night Strike said, distraught. “I’m just going to throw myself out of cover and hope for some intervention from Celestia? Sweet Luna above, you could’ve died!” She fell against one of the bookshelves, slumping to the floor. I hurried over to her, helping her back up. She shook her head, still shaken from what had happened. “Just... don’t do that again, Static.” She was uncharacteristically serious, staring me right in the eyes. Hers seemed to be dampened.
Catching my breath as Aerith fluttered down from the second level, I gave a little grin. “Hey, somepony had to be the hero, and you were still cowering underneath books.” Against her will, Night Strike gave a little chuckle, punching my side lightly as she shook her head again. Aerith trotted over to us, her horn lighting up as she cast a sign into the air.
‘Thank the Goddess you’re alright, you’re lucky his rifle blew apart with that shot. I've seen catastrophic breech failures before, but that was... a hell of a lot more catastrophic than usual.’ She levitated a note over to Crash Dive as Night Strike and I collected ourselves. The note gave a description of some sapphire Pegasus raider named Cobalt, wanted for several caravan attacks. ‘This bounty notice was on him, I think he might’ve mistaken us for some raiding party.’ Jeez, you’d think somepony would be able to tell I don’t have any wings looking through a sniper scope like that.
Crash Dive began to trot back towards the mini-tank, the rest of us following. “Let’s hope that’s the only pony going after that bounty. I don’t know why that bounty hunter’d be looking for a caravan raider out here, none of the caravans come around this far west anyway.” We stepped out of the library, the rushing blowing in through the doors blowing some loose pages about. Crash Dive climbed onto the back of the mini-tank as Scouring and Aerith hopped into the trailer. I looked over to Night Strike as she jumped up onto the back as well, settling down beside Boomer. What would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten so lucky? Would he have still missed my head, just shot my side? A pit opened in my stomach as I imagined myself laying on the ground just as the pony we’d found was, blood pooling out of me.
I pushed the thoughts out of my head, climbing into the front seat and starting up the mini-tank. The engine rumbled to life as I began to speed through the streets, rushing towards the edge of town. Night Strike flipped on her radio, a smooth swaying tune filling the air as we headed further west. I sighed, trying not to think about what might’ve happened. New rule, Static: Don’t ever do something so stupid again.
-----
The chill air bit at my face as we traveled along, myself leaning forwards towards the wagon and retreiving one of the bomb-bottles of Sparkle-Cola, settling back against Boomer as we trundled through the old town. Static... was, fine, but... why'd he take a risk like that in the first place!? He, he could've... could've... I sniffled in the cold air, popping the cap off of the large bottle and starting to drink it down, trying to drown those thoughts out. C'mon, Night Strike, you really have to stop getting yourself worked up like this... but, damnit, I have every right to be! What'd happen if... if one of us didn't make it back home? Our dads would be devastated... more than that, so would whoever made it back. The contents of the large bottle swiftly disappeared into my stomach, a hoof moving to rub at my eyes.
"I'll be first to admit, aside from the ranger I thought you were the only crazy one in our group. Does northern Equestria just breed insanity or something?" Crash Dive looked over at myself through the visor of her mask, wearing a small grin that I opted to not return. Not really in a joking mood... just wanna drown myself at the bottom of a glass bomb. The power armored pegasus let off a sigh after a few moments, readjusting herself. "You know, it's said there's a fine line between braveness and stupidity. For someone who seems to do everything in his power to avoid geting in harm's way, what he did back there I'd say was pretty firmly on the brave side."
"Didn't make it an less of a stupid move, though. We could've figured something else out, I dunno, he could've given Aerith the goggles, or something! Anything else would've ben better than... than what he did." Letting out a small huff, I slumped back against Boomer, watching the old buildings of the town pass by. Looking a little further towards the front, the blue ear and silver mane of the earth pony in the driver's position caught my eye, myself lingering on him for a moment longer before turning back, peering down into the empty glass bottle clutched to my chest. "I just... I don't know what I'd do without him."
Crash Dive sat silent for a moment, before a smirk hopped onto her muzzle. "You know, I'm probably one of the worst people to be talking about relationships, but from what I can gather I think you might care about Static a fair bit more than you let on." I blunk a few times, my brain processing that. Sheesh, I thought cold air was supposed to help computers work, or something... anyways. The power armored pegasus glanced past me at the earth pony in the driver's seat, settling her eyes back on me as we passed through the town square. "You should probably let him know. Before... well, before you can't."
"I..." We slowed as we reached another street, turning down it with the engine rumbling quietly beneath us. Meanwhile, I... well, what's that thing that computers and consoles do when something goes wrong with the non-physical electrics? Yeah, that, that's pretty much what was going on while I tried to process that. We're both gonna make it out of this just fine, Strikey. We're gonna get the Valkyrie fixed, go back home, Static can go back to Mooscow and I can go back to falling asleep in the TOG while Dad sings Vera's song to me, and everything'll be alright. No more snipers, or hellhounds, or bugs, or mercenaries, or flying attack jets. Just... normal. Whatever normal was.
The engine slowed as we drew to a stop in the snowy road, Static turning it off as we all looked towards him. He turned about to face us, starting to climb out of his seat. "Mh, it's just around noon, isn't it? Lunchtime, anyone?" Pretty sure all of our reactions were to blink at his question. He looked across us all in return, hopping out of the mini-tank and landing in the snowy street, pulling his umbrella out as well. He looked back up at us as we sat there, watching him. "What?"
'Sorry if we aren't exactly feeling that hungry, between the generous pancake breakfast and the Library.' Thank you, Aerith, for answering him with an elegant statement. I would've just asked if he's really gone nuts or not. The earth pony shrugged, trotting around to the back of the wagon and rummaging around inside of it with Scouring watching. Hopping off of the mini-tank to join him, I looked up just in time to catch him drawing a very large fire axe out between his teeth, sliding it underneath his saddlebag strap beside his umbrella. When did... oh, right, the fire hall back in Gemdale. Aerith and Crash Dive also hopped off, Scouring landing with a heavy whump in the snow as his heavy hooves met ground beside the earth pony.
"Erm, lad, you expectin' to have to chop down a whole tree for a meal?" Trotting around the wagon towards the storefront we stopped in front of, Scouring kept the confused look on his face, myself looking over at the facade. Snow drifted up a foot or so against the doorway, which seemed to've been boarded up at some point. Gonna have to get the door open then... Oh, sergeant Thumper, call to action! High-explosive if you may, should only take one shot... or, not. At least, not while Static's standing right in front of the bloody door.
The earth pony reached behind him and drew the long axe out off his back, adjusting it a few times in his mouth. Standing in front of the door, the earth pony turned his head and the axe up, before bringing it down against the wood with a heavy thwack, some splinters flying off as it cut through the first board. We all watched on as he repeated the process a few more times, eventually getting the door clear and pausing to take a breath, the chill air causing each chuff to condense into clouds. Ehm... okay then.
His last swing brought the pike on the end of the axe inbetween the door and the frame above the lock, the earth pony then trotting backwards a few steps with it, the broken frame yielding and allowing the door to come open. A bit of the drifted snow fell in with it, Static sliding the axe back onto his back and looking back at us, myself just then realizing I'd had Thumper in my hooves halfway through loading him while I watched. Pulling the unspent shell out of the barrel and dropping it back into my duffel bag, I trotted over ho him as he stepped inside the building, looking around. "You really like busting doors down with that thing, don't you?"
"Hey, it's something to use it for. Besides, better than blowing them in with explosives, isn't it?" He let off a chuckle, myself answering him with an eyeroll. Certainly isn't faster than explosives, I can say that much... The interior of the shop revealed it to be a small diner, with chairs stacked upside-down on tables and a fallen board over the counter listing food items in broken lettering. Static trotted in past the tables and over to the counter, moving behind it and popping open the register, to really noone's surprise. Letting off a sigh, I took one of the chairs off of the tables, flipping it over and setting it up, resting back on it in the cool dry air of the pre-war diner.
"I thought you were the sneaky type, how's making a racket of smashing through a wooden door supposed to be sneaky?" Aerith and Scouring pulled the rest of the chairs down off of the table and set them up, before heading towards the back of the diner. Crash Dive set herself down on one of the old seats, the wood creaking as it took the weight of her power armor. Meanwhile, Static pushed the register back closed, his saddlebags letting off a few jingles here and there as he trotted back over.
"I hope you realize you're comparing a train wreck to a megaspell explosion. Least with the axe there's less chance of someone coming to investigate about why there's suddenly a hole in the floor, and you won't end up burying yourself in rubble, either." The earth pony took the seat next to me, sticking his tongue out. Yeah, yeah, keep yucking it up... siting back, he looked down at his legputer, flipping through the screens a few times. "Speaking of, hope the roads are pretty clear heading towards the coast. Think we've still got a day or so of travel to get through, even with the new engine."
"You think there's any place in this town that sells goggles, if we are gonna be booking it to there? Kind of get the feeling pony eyes didn't evolve with high speds in mind, even Pegasus ones." Static blunk at me a few times, seeming to think for a moment before responding with a shrug. Hey, it was at least worth checking out if we've got the time. Aerith trotted back out from the kitchen, a few bottles of soda levitated beside her - Oh, I do love the sight of full bottles of Sparkle-Cola.
Setting the glass bottles down on the table, the alicorn brought up a screen, sitting herself down at the table as well. 'Scouring's cooking up a few hayburgers we had on the grill, should only be a few minutes. And, um, seconded on the subject of us finding some goggles. I think I saw us pass a metal fabrication shop, welding goggles would probably do the job.' Wouldn't be able to see out of them that much, but yeah, that'd fit the bill. Not to mention it'd be something useful to have if the situation ever comes up that we need to use one of those megaspells... no, I'm not looking for an excuse for us to do that, shut your face. Popping open one of the bottles, I started to take long sips of it, Crash Dive leaning forwards and pulling her helmet off.
"Did that couple we saved, erm, Marchie and Norm, did they say where the lights in the sky they saw were?" We all blunk, looking between ourselves. Ehm... hm... nope, just said they were in the sky, I think. The power armored pegasus let off a small sigh, pushing her helmet aside. "Sorry, just, I really think we should try and figure that one out. Best case, it's just something off with one of the SPP towers down south, odd weather patterns or something... not really that great a thing, but better than the alternative of what could've caused it."
"Eh... robo-dragons, or something? That one we saw while we were going to Seahoof breathed fire, right?" And now it was my turn to be stared and blunk at. It could've happened, we don't know for sure yet! Scouring came trotting back out with an old metal tray held in his magic, the smell of the hayburgers meeting us. "I mean, I know what you're thinking, but c'mon, at least we know how to really combat those robotic dragons without them standing still so you can shoot a lengh of rebar into their engines."
"Oi, thought we agreed that thing never happened. The, uh, robot dragon thing, no' the Harrier gettin' shot down by a steel rod thing." Setting the tray down, Scouring pulled up a chair, and we all started to partake in the two-century-old food. Mmm, well, least most pre-war food's 85 percent preservatives. Making me miss those pancakes, though... Scouring took a bite of one of the burgers, gulping it down before looking over the table. "Mmh, so, settin' off after we're finished, aye?"
Looking towards Static, he had his mouth full of burger, chewing madly to swallow. Meanwhile, Aerith happily munched away and flashed up a magic screen. 'We'll be hanging around in town first, just going to swing by a welding place so Night Strike and myself can get some goggles for the wind. Will let Static drive the half-track a little faster if we aren't griping about snow in our eyes.' She wore a smirk, myself stifling a giggle as she turned the screen for the second sentence so Static could better read it, the earth pony blinking a few times before letting of a sigh of defeat, swallowing the last of his hayburger down. Scoring looked between the alicorn and the earth pony, Static giving a weak nod and rubbing at his forehead.
"Yeah, hanging around until they get the goggles. Least we'll really be able to book it afterwards..." Score one for mute magic.
---
"You and I are listening to Radio KAOS, Kaos in Vanhoover, and so far it's been a pleasant winter day out there, far as we can tell, anyways. Can hear the ice out in the water banging against the hull of this ship even from the comms room, heh. The weather seems to be overcast over most of the wasteland, with a small chance of bullet fire depending on location - but really, that's not news.
"What is news is the recent reports we've got out of Hopeville. Ahm... right, we have some more solid confirmation on what at least one the craft are that were spotted a few nights ago. According to a relatively new resident to the town, Marigold Skies, at least one of the craft seemed to be a pre-war design, a reconaissance jet aircraft operated out of what we can only assume to be the Vanhoover Air Base. To her knowledge the aircraft did not have vertical take-off or landing capabilities like the Harriers do, so there's really only that place for it to land and take off from. I might not have much swing in it, but unless that recon plane flies right over your head, I wouldn't go shooting it down. Far as we know it's still just a recon plane, meaning nothing more harmful than a big camera aboard it, heh.
"Anyways, as we move on to the afternon here, I think it's time to put on one of the other classics we've got here. First, a question; what do ponies, cows, sheep, wolves, and pigs all have in common? If you answered that they're all Animals, well... heh, enjoy."
---
"The hell kind of name is 'Hornsworth?'" The sun was dropping low in the sky as we drew nearer to the coast, myself wiping down the plastic screen of the welding goggles and blinking slightly behind them. Well, not the most comfortable things in the world, but better than eyes getting snow-blasted. The snowed-over sign welcomed us to the small town, a stiff breeze blowing from our backs and out to sea. We slowed on the crest of a hill, Static bringing us to a full stop, looking across the town. Alright, looks like a pretty typical wasteland town, a few ponies milling around down there with lights on, so... "...follow up, why're we stopped?"
"Just map-checking, shouldn't be looking at your pip-buck while driving, yanno." Answering him with a small eyeroll, I pulled the goggles off, shaking my mane out. Hoo, forgot how it can get all icy and heavy... slumping against Boomer, my eyes traveled back to the town ahead, and the coastline beyond. Okay... huh, that's a pretty big building out that way, even has a couple cranes in front of it. Might be a cargo building, or something... then again, not many cargo buildings have four smokestacks on the corners like that. Or big fenced-in transformers feeding out into heavy-duty wires. Static flicked his Pip-buck back off, leaning back and pulling down his goggles once more, biting at his lip. "Eh... I dunno, guys, got a bad feeling about this place. Seeing plenty of magic signatures down there, but they're all around just one of the buildings."
"So? Could be a town hall or something, not like everypony has to have their own home. Maybe the other buildings are just too worn down or damaged to use." Passing him a shrug, the earth pony still looked a little uneasy, looking down at the town through his goggles again. Come on ya scaredy-stallion, it's just another town. Letting off a sigh, I gave my head a shake. "Look, I thought you didn't want to be stopping until we got there. What d'you want us to do, scope out the building and see what the ponies down there are first, or something?"
"Well?" We both blunk at each other for a moment, the earth pony giving a small shrug of his own. Why did I have to suggest that? Brain, how many times have I fired you so far? Add one more onto that number, and then pack your things. No, I don't care you finally got your cubicle set back up again. Grumbling lightly, I hopped off of the back of the mini-tank, pulling War Crime out and trotting over in the street, flopping down prone in the snow. Shouldering the large rifle, it took me a moment to focus in the scope, peering through it and down into the town. A pair of large wings flapped in the air overhead, Aerith landing beside me with her own rifle, peering in as well. Hope that Static's happy, two eyes on the town now.
Scanning through the dark streets, my sight settled on the lit-up building with all the ponies around it, looking around. Flamethrower, hunting rifle, SMG, SMG, rifle, flamethrower again... kay, might not be just another wasteland town. Or if it is, sure isn't one we'll need to sell guns to. Then again, I've seen townsponies in winter, and barding like the stuff those ponies are wearing is definitely not townspony barding. Looking around the area, a large hulking... thing also caught my eye, following it through the scope as it turned down a street, passing by a light. The skin seemed to shimmer like plastic, bits of metal exposed externally here and there with plenty of bullet holes as well, and a pair of blood-red eyes. Swear I've seen something like that before... pausing for a moment, I turned my focus back on the structure they were all crowded around, looking at it. Flat intact roof perfect for landing vertibucks on, small parking lot, faded sign in front with a few letters missing, but just barely enough to spell out 'Mo--y --nt-c-re's'...
Wordlessly, I picked myself up from the snow, brushing the white stuff off of War Crime and slipping her back into my duffel bag, rummaging around instead for Thumper, and a solar burst grenade. Static watched in confusion for a moment as I did so, which was quick in turning into alarm when he saw the type of boom-ball I just slipped into Thumper's breech. "Night Strike..."
"You were right, they are definitely not a friendly wasteland town. No friendly wasteland town in their right mind would be living out of that place, and frankly, neither would they be using the friggin' animatronics from it as impromptu guard bots, either." Aerith was looking up at myself in surprise for a moment, before looking through her rifle's scope again, myself trotting out to the middle of the road. Okay, Solar Burst has roughly the same ballistic trajectory as a regular explosives one, the pizza place is roughly only, what, a hundred, two hundred meters away? I can reach that range, Thumper's got enough oomph to lob a shot that far. "Aerith, what's the range on that place they're all gathered around?"
Just as I was starting to adjust my aim with the sights, an aura of bluish magic took Thumper from me, undoing the breech latch and popping open the break-action, letting the unspent grenade fall out the back of the barrel. I fumbled a little, regaining my balance and looking over to the alicorn as she snapped Thumper back shut, putting it into my duffel bag. 'Well out of the range of your grenade rifle, even with the barrel extension. Besides, we can't attack them all from one direction, that robot-bear-thing looks like it can tank a lot of punishment, and it's got some teeth...' She paused for a moment, looking back through her scope. 'Strike that, running circular sawblades. Lots and lots of running circular sawblades.'
"...yanno, we can probably make it back to the lighthouse tonight if we really book it, there's no need to go down there and go looking for a fight. That and I'm pretty sure I'm severly allergic to being mauled." Static gave the engine of the mini-tank a few revs, his coat turning a shade of white I'd compare to the snow around us. Shooting him a look, he chewed at his lip, quite anxious to get out of there. Pff, scaredy stallion...
"Yeah, the Lighthouse is at least a day or two's worth of driving down the coast, and it's been established you won't take up Sparkle-Cola RAD for staying awake for prolonged periods. Besides, pretty sure these guys are from the same crowd as the ones that attacked Marchie and Norm, might as well kill two baddies with one bomb..." Hopping onto the back of the mini-tank, Aerith picked herself up from the snow, setting her rifle in the back wagon and nodding. Static, meanwhile, let off a small frustrated groan - see? I can do the persuasion stuff with the words!... brain, didn't I fire you? Well, you're fired again.
Scouring lifted himself on the back of the wagon, grunting a little as he pulled up his rocket launcher as well. "Lass has a point, don' think I fancy sleepin' near anywhere with somethin' with a mouthful of sawblades. 'sides, Battered-Sea is right over there, anyways, we're here already." Wearing a small smirk, I looked back to Static, the earth pony releasing anotehr long groan and letting his head fall onto the handlebars. Oh, stuff it, at least we've got the element of surprise on our side when we go in guns blaz-
"Fine. But we're gonna do things quietly, so there's not as much chance to, yanno, get turned into robo-food." The engine of the mini-tank purred as we started moving again, Static steering us for the edge of the town. Leaning against Boomer, I let off a small sigh of my own - sorry boy, seems like you won't be mowing up bad guys tonight after all. We drove for a little while before Static turned down an alley, bringing the mini-tank to a stop and shuting off the engine. He climbed out with his umbrella, myself hopping off as well. "Okay, Aerith, you probably should cast that cloaking spell on the mini-tank and wagon, just to be safe. Scouring and Crash Dive, watch out for patrols, if any come your way try to not draw much attention but take them out. Night Strike-"
"I'll just stay with the wagon, out of sight somewhere, being as quiet as I can and pretending I don't exist. That sound about right?" Grabbing my duffel bag, I trotted a short ways away from the mini-tank, watching as Aerith's horn flared and the whole thing vanished from sight. Looking back towards Static, he seemed to... be chuckling and shaking his head? What, what's so funny, eh?
"Actually, no, I'm... gonna need your help. You're gonna have to, uh, pacify anypony that I can't, if things go south. Besides... ehm, Scouring, how much C4 do you have?" I blunk a few times, watching as Scouring pulled a few bricks out of his armor, Scouring taking six from him and bringing them over to me. C4... stealth attack... yeah, I think I might be missing something here. Let's roll it back to the part where Static is asking me, subtle-as-a-megaspell me, to help him on a stealth mission, and work from there. "You I trust much more than me to handle explosives, and if we're gonna have a chance of getting rid of that thing we're gonna need them."
"Uh... alright. I think we can make do, yeah, six bricks should just about vaporize it, but... why don't I just fly up with Thumper and blow it apart with a Solar Burst grenade?" Brain, did you come up with that sound logic? Good for you, you're re-hired again. Static gave his head a shake, trotting over to the other end of the short alley and looking around the corners, before coming back over.
"On a night like this, they'd hear you firing that round and be able to turn all their guns on you before the round has a chance to hit. It'd be safer to lay these things down in it's path and blow it apart that way, not to mention give us a distraction to get inside." ...okay, fine, I can see the logic in that. But pretty explosions, though... "You can still bring Thumper along as a backup plan, the shotgun shells would probably help. Just, try and use your sword first." Giving him a nod, I set my duffel bag on the ground, starting to go through it. Thumper, check, slug, buckshot, and dragon's breath, check, electro-sword, check... Sliding the few spare shells and bricks of C4 into my jacket, I looked up in time to see the earth pony moving over towards the alicorn, wearing a weak smile.
"Aerith, ahm... one more thing."
---
The cool night air nipped at my wings as it flowed beneath them, circling around silently above the tartarus-sponsored pizza place. Three of the bricks of C4 lined the road that the bear animatronic was moving down along with two of the ponies, myself taking slow beaths of the night air. A shimmer caught my eye beside me, Aerith and Static both appearing, hovering in the air. Honestly surprised he isn't a lot more ticklish, being levitated in magic and all... I hovered a little closer, us all watching the patrol as it neared the trap. "Should be all good to go, when you blow it we'll wait a little while, then dive in. Give them a chance to go investigate."
Answering the earth pony with a nod, I slipped the detonator into my mouth, watching the patrol intently. Just a few more meters... right over the innocuous-looking pail, that's it. The pastic trigger dampened in my mouth, myself watching the lumbering hulk of the bear pass over the trapped bucket, halfway across. The trigger let off a small click as I pushed it with my tongue, a split-second later the road responding with a sudden firey explosion, the blast shaking us all in the air slightly. Screams arose from the pizzeria below, several of the guards outside rushing over to see what had happened, myself re-stowing the detonator. Ah, I love it when I get to blow stuff up stealthily.
A few moments let past, and we dove in, Aerith setting Static down on the ground beside myself at the back entrance. He passed along to her a short nod, the alicorn disappearing into the nighttime sky before he turned towards myself, looking along the back wall of the building. "Alright, we're almost in. If this place has heat, then it has to have a furnace, so that's going to be our target. Blow that through the roof, plenty of confusion all around, we get out and then you can pick off the stragglers."
"Are you sure you aren't turning into me?" Static wore a slight smirk, pulling his fire axe off of his back and trotting over to the back door. I pulled the sword off of my own back, wobbling a little as the weight settled - okay, what was it that Static was trying to teach me again? Something something not weighted for ponies, something something polar bear's neck cut in half. Eh, I'm sure I can wing it. The door swung out with a strong tug from the earth pony, myself sticking a hoof up to catch it before it banged against the wall, us both letting off a quiet sigh. Okay, we're inside, step one done...
The dark confines of the back rooms of the pizza place did not do anything to help me being freaked out by it, sticking close behind the earth pony as he traded his axe for his umbrella. My wings flapped rather silently as I hovered in the hallway, checking over the doors. Security, maintenance, broom... 'doom' closet - guh, I'm gonna give a lead suppository to whoever thought up that one - and, finally, basement access. Well, if stealth is this easy, why did Static get all up in arms about whenever we went scavenging? He just had to ask... didn't mean I'd listen, but still.
The earth pony cracked open the door to the basement, a small gust of heated air meeting us, along with a stallion's voice. Okay, this just got a little harder. "What!? What do you mean 'it just exploded'!? Figure out what the fuck happened to it and bring it back in, we need it working... if you think you can fix it there, fucking do it!" Oh, good, he knows his little monster is half the creepy-as-sin animatronic it used to be... hopefully. Static carefully trotted down the concrete steps with myself close behind, us both finding ourselves in what seemed to be one hell of a science lab... or, on second thought, drug lab. The stallion slammed whatever he was talking into down hard, grumbling inaudibly, as I set myself down prone beside the earth pony. "You just can't find the fucking help nowadays..."
There was a small bit of clattering as the stallion started to fit... something on, the sloshing of liquid in a tank catching my ears. Risking a small peek over a table, the glint of a familiar backpack-tank caught my eye, along with a much, much, -much- larger one laying along the back wall near him. Following the piping, it seemed to lead over to a few of the tables, connecting to burners via hoses... sweet Celestia above, we know where to put the C4 now. Static looked over at myself for a moment, before peeking around the corner at the stallion. "Flamer... Night Strike, you've got those fire shotgun shells for Thumper, right?" Answering him with a nod, he paused to think for a moment, the stallion grunting slightly as his weapon clattered with him. "Alright, got a plan. Get over there quietly, and when I pop out distract him. I'm gonna get close and puncture his tank, then when I'm clear set it off. Should go down easy."
Answering him with a nod, I gave one last peek over the table at the metal-armored stallion, before giving my wings a flap and coasting silently over to the far end of the basement. Okay Strikey, you just wait for Static and then things'll be cushty. Watching from behind another table covered in syringes and flasks and stuff, the earth pony crawled himself up close to the stallion, who thankfully was more preoccupied with adjusting his armor around the flamethrower. Pulling Thumper off my back, the dragon's breath round slid into the breech, myself waiting and watching for the earth pony before closing it. Almost there...
The earth pony rose onto his hind hooves and let off a small yell as he swung the pike end of the axe down into the tank, a loud 'pfffffssssh' noise coming from the hole. Snapping Thumper's breech shut, I jumped up from behind the table, watching as the armored stallion wrestled to get Static off as Static wrestled to get his axe free, both of them succeeding at the same time. The stallion stumbled in his heavy armor, Static rushing over towards me and diving for the floor as I squeezed the trigger handle, Thumper resounding with a loud bang as the searing hot flechettes flew across the room and sparked on the stallion, the spray of gas turning into a steady jet of flames as he screamed and struggled to right himself. Ooh, think I landed one of those in his eyes... that ain't pretty.
Static pulled himself to his hooves wearing a weak grin that seemed to translate to 'I can't believe that worked'. The spray of flames writhed with the stallion, myself chucking and fitting a buckshot round into Thumper, closing the breech shut. Static turned and started making way for the stairs, breathing easy, myself taking one last look at the flamethrower stallion in flames... and the very large tank of gas that was being bathed in flames as well. Too early for celebrations, Static!
"Fuck me, we gotta get out of here, this place is gonna blow!" Static blunk a few times at me in confusion, myself grabbing him and rushing for the stairs. Okay, so, if you're confused about this, here's a refresher; when you heat a liquid, it tends to turn into gas. Most flamethrowers and chemical burners use liquid fuel that turns into a vapor and is then ignited. Now, if you superheat a large sample of this liquid for long enough in a sealed container, or even a mostly sealed one, all that liquid starts turning into vapor, and the vapor starts to compress. And if it can't find a fast enough way out... it'll make one. And you don't want to be around it when it does make a way out.
Rushing up the stairs and out into the back alley, we were greeted mostly by chaotic screams, and the sound of something very big, nasty, and metal letting off an inequine roar. Boy, I'm so glad I don't wear pants. Static rushed alongside me as we came out of the alley and were met with a large group of raiders all screaming for their lives, weaponless and fleeing in all directions but the right one. The earth pony beside me looked back for a moment, myself watching our breaths turn into large clouds from the cold air. A small thump was heard from the basement of the place - yeah, gonna bet that was mister flamer-stallion's tank going. Which means now the big tank is covered in flames...
Rushing along the road leading away from the pizza place, I kept on leading the way away, trying to suss out just how big this thing was going to be. Looked like an old railroad tanker tank, or boiler, or something, and... oh, this'd be a lot easier if I could know how much fuel was in it. Jumping over another pile of rubble, a loud wooshing sound filled the air behind us, myself taking the second to throw myself against Static, driving us both into the snowbank. We landed stomach to stomach, my forelegs covering over his ears as we brushed cheeks together, myself bracing us both.
The pizza place instantly went up in a massive fireball, wind blowing over us towards the blast before the shockwave blasted us both with snow, leaving my ears ringing with a high-pitched noise. Aw, fuck, not my tinnitus again... lifting myself from the snow to look over at it, the debris began falling soon afterwards, myself huddling close against the earth pony as wood and brick fragments landed all around. Giving a few more moments, I finally lifted myself up again, greeted by the sight of a massive mushroom cloud over where the pizza place once was, and Static's heavy breathing in my ear. Looking back at him, our eyes met, a weak smile growing on his muzzle.
"Why does every time I try to do things sneakily it ends in explosions?" He let loose a weak chuckle, myself joining him in it, laying on top of him. He let his head rest back in the snowbank for a moment, our breaths condensing into small wispy clouds that intertwined, myself leaning closer to him. Wearing a smile, I placed a long kiss against his lips, the earth pony's eyes going wide in response. Breaking it after a moment, I released a giggle of my own, nuzzling him lightly.
"Because you always have me nearby, duh. Always will, too~"
---
"You're tuned in to Radio KAOS, and we've got some breaking news... seen firsthand here, actually. Up towards the north on the mainland tonight, my assistant and myself both caught eyes of a massive fireball coming up from the coast, cooling off into a mushroom shape. It took a little while for the sound to hit us, but I kind of doubt that kaboom was megaspell in nature. Looks like it came out of the town of, um... Hornsworth, no word on casualties but if anyone was living there before I doubt it has that many inhabitants now. Considering the Five were supposed to be headed that way anyways... three guesses to who caused that blast, and the first two don't count. Sure they had a good reason for it.
"We'll bring you back to your scheduled music, you're listening to Radio KAOS on Radio KAOS. Goodnight, and enjoy."
-----
Reaching the small alley once more, Night Strike and I flopped onto the snow outsid it, panting a bit from the trek back over to the mini tank. Aerith fluttered down beside us, her horn lighting up as the air shimmered a moment before the tank became visible again. Crash Dive and Scouring Charge soon joined us at the top of the hill, all of us looking down into the town. The shadows of the buildings flickered as the pizza joint burned, a few ponies still scrambling around the streets in a panic. “Well, suppose that worked.” Scouring said, watching as a portion of the burning building collapsed in on itself. “Anyway, any plans fer where we 'ere gonna be sleepin' tonight?”
Aerith conjured up a sign, words scrolling across it. “There’re a few houses on the other edge of town that look intact and abandoned. We can probably hole up in them while these raiders keep running around like chickens with their heads cut off.” I gave a little sniff before turning to climb into the mini-tank. I thought the whole point of blowing that place up was so that there wouldn’t be any raiders left to worry about. The engine rumbled to life and I began to speed off towards the other side of town, making sure to give the downtown a wide berth in case any of the raiders heard the motor over the crackling of the large fire.
The roar of the fire quieted to a faint rumble as the distance grew larger between us and downtown, myself pulling the mini tank over in front of a small pre-war house. We hopped out of the tank, Aerith casting the invisibility spell over it again before we trotted up onto the front porch. The door creaked as Night Strike pushed it open, all of us filing in after her. Scouring and Aerith’s horns lit up to illuminate the dark room as I shut the door behind us. I turned around, pulling a chair up to the door and tilting it back to wedge the backrest below the handle. Eh, suppose it’ll do for tonight.
I followed Scouring up the stairs, stepping into the master bedroom as Aerith, Night Strike, and Crash Dive searched the bottom floor for a bedroom to share. Scouring slipped his helmet off and set it on the bedside table as I let my saddlebags fall to the floor with a thud. I crawled under the musty covers, Scouring doing the same once he’d slipped out of his heavy metal armor. I flicked my tail a bit as Scouring's armor undersuit brushed up into it. Ugh, I never did like sharing a bed. A small scream could be heard from downstairs, followed by the sounds of several things clattering to the floor. Well, I suppose sharing a bed with Scouring is better than the skeletons of whoever used to live here... oh, that’s not going to give me pleasant dreams.
---
The sound of a hoof pounding on the bedroom door awoke me, my eyesight a bit bleary as I tried to blink the sleepiness away. Crash Dive was standing in the doorway, looking mildly irritated. “For Celetia’s sake, you said you wanted to get there as fast as possible, now you’re going to sleep in until eight?” I grumbled a bit, throwing back the covers as Scouring rubbed his eyes and climbed out of bed as well. It’s not my fault we decided to stay up late… well, not entirely anyway. It’s not even that late now anyways, Ms. Drill Sergeant. Hitching up my saddlebags and following Crash Dive downstairs, I yawned, putting a hoof to cover my mouth as I did. Night Strike and Aerith were waiting by the door, both looking equally tired. Scouring trotted down the steps beside me, slipping on the last one and stumbling forward. Crash Dive sighed and slipped her helmet on before removing the chair from under the doorknob and stepping outside.
I reached into my saddlebags to pull out a snack cake, my stomach growling as I unwrapped the packaging. Crumbs fell onto the porch as I stuffed the cake into my mouth, handing the other cake off to Night Strike who shook her head and slipped a bottle of Sparkle Cola out of her saddlebags. I passed on a light eyeroll, swallowing down the first cake - suit yourself, ya soda addict. The tank sparkled into view under Aerith’s magic, allowing Night Strike to climb onto the back and settle herself in by Boomer. I bit into the second cake before hopping up into the mini tank, letting my saddle bags slide off my back so I could push them onto the engine deck behind me. The others stepped onto the small wagon behind, the headlight flickering to life as I flipped a switch, the air filling with the familiar rumble of the engine. I grinned, pulling my goggles out of my saddlebags and sliding them over my face. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this thing.
Revving the engine a couple times, the others slipped their own goggles over their faces as I began to speed off towards the coast again. We bounced over a few stones in the road, Aerith leaning onto the side of the trailer to be able to see ahead of us better. Night Strike’s mane fluttered behind her as we sped along, passing by an overturned cart, the skeleton of a pony partially crushed beneath it. The sun slowly rose up in the sky as we continued along, the air growing a little warmer and making the wind whipping against our faces a bit more bearable.
As the sun was reaching its peak in the sky, I turned my head to follow the faint glowing trails of the earth’s latent magical energy. They were starting to converge together into a spiderweb-like pattern, all seeming to flow out from a single point near the coast. I sped up, driving off the road to start following the glowing trails towards the destination. Crash Dive looked towards me, a little confused as I swerved around a few muck holes, the glow of the trails growing brighter. I suddenly pulled to a stop as we approached the edge of the cliff past the imposing Battered-Sea Power Station, my vision filled with a large structure pulsating with magical energy.
Pulling my goggles off, I stared down the cliff, the others trying to get a look over the edge as well. Partially built into the stone was an enormous concrete structure, pockmarked by age and sprouting several massive pipes that wound out to the sea beyond. The building rested on a wide stone base surrounded by chunks of granite that appeared to have been dug out of the cliffs, buffering the facility from the onslaught of waves continually crashing in from the sea. I scanned the edge of the cliffs, but could see nothing but sheer stone. “Uh… you guys see any way to get down there?”
The others looked equally perplexed at how to reach the bottom of the cliff that didn’t involve hundreds of feet of freefalling. “I can’t even see any docks or helipads… how the hell did anypony get in this before the war? Eh... did they ride those cranes, or something?” Night Strike said, looking bemused and gesturing to the pair of large rusted forms a short ways down the coast. I pulled the tank away from the edge of the cliffs a short ways before switching it off and climbing out. A gust of wind blew up from the ocean below, causing me to stumble back a little, my heart beating faster as I lost my footing despite several feet remaining between me and the cliff edge. Guh… maybe looking over the side is a bad idea.
‘Night Strike and I could carry you guys down. I can probably carry both of you down, we can just make two trips coming back up.’ Aerith’s sign read. I looked over to Night Strike, not feeling very confident, considering the last time she flew with me we barely made it over a six foot fence... and the time before that, well, that ended with us both getting lost. Night Strike looked a little worried as well, but shrugged, hopping off of the tank.
“Well, we don’t really have much of a choice. Just don’t bring all of your junk and we’ll be fine.” I raised an eyebrow as she lifted her saddlebags up onto her back. She looked back at me, then down to her saddlebags. “Uh, no, I’m not leaving my soda behind! You don’t know when it’ll come in handy.” Crash Dive climbed out of the trailer after Scouring, glancing over the edge of the cliffs as well.
“Aerith and Scouring can use their magic, calm down you two.” She said in her usual annoyed tone. “For Celestia’s sake, we’re not going to go barging into some prewar facility without weapons.” Aerith’s horn began to glow as she levitated up both mine and Night Strike's saddlebags, Scouring’s own horn glowing as he lifted up Crash Dive's rebar cannon to lighten her slightly. Night Strike and Aerith stood at the edge of the oceanside cliff, their manes being blown back slightly by another gust of wind. Scouring and Crash Dive climbed onto Aerith’s back, her legs straining a bit from the weight of their armor.
I carefully climbed onto Night Strike’s back, wrapping my hooves around her neck a little for stability, before feeling the pegasus poking at my forelegs and looking back at myself. “If you don’t want to drop out of the sky, you better stop choking me.” I loosened my grip, giving a nervous chuckle. We stood at the edge of the cliff for a moment longer, both Night Strike and Aerith preparing themselves. Night Strike gave a deep breath before leaning back, spreading her wings out. “Well, here goes nothing…” She jumped from the edge of the cliff, the wind blowing up from the sea catching her and lifting her into the air. She tilted a little to turn, my heart, already racing, beating even faster as she did.
Aerith glided beside us, Scouring nervously glancing down to the fierce ocean below, Crash Dive’s expression hidden behind her helmet as usual. Night Strike began to take a slow spiral downwards, the wind occasionally pushing her back up a little. I tightened my grip a little as we continued to spiral, my vision growing slightly blurry as my stomach protested the constant spinning. Oog, I think I’m gonna be sick. I shut my eyes, trying to ignore the motion as we reached the top of the building, Night Strike straightening herself out. She fluttered down onto the stone base of the facility and I immediately tumbled off of her, my eyes spinning a bit as Aerith landed beside us. The salty air from the sea wasn’t helping my situation, but I was soon back on my hooves, Night Strike twisting her back a bit to stretch it. “Jeez, you seriously need to lay off those snack cakes, Static.”
I ignored her, instead taking my saddlebags from Aerith’s magic and hitching them up as Crash Dive took her rebar cannon from Scouring. We stood facing the structure before us, sea spray occasionally flying up from the waves beating against the stones behind us. Night Strike trotted a short ways down the small concrete walkway before turning around and scratching at her head. “Uh… are there seriously no doors on this thing?” Looking over it, the structure was completely solid, not even so much as a window was placed into the facade to offer any sort of way in. Crash Dive tapped the side of the building, thinking.
“If this place is supposed to be as big of a technological powerhouse as it's supposed to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if any doors are magically hidden. You wouldn’t want some local wandering in on any experiments going on... might be able to find an entrance with your goggles. Or at least a weak point in the concrete for these two to blow open.” The power armored pegasus nodded towards Scouring and Night Strike as the jacketed pegasus produced her grenade rifle, loading a shell in. I pulled the two lenses of my goggles over my face, my eyes watering a bit from the bright energy emanating from the building. I scanned the front of the structure, just barely spotting a section of it glowing a slightly different color.
Trotting up to it, I tapped the section with my hoof a few times. A somewhat hollow sound returned from within, and I slid my goggles off, turning to Aerith. “I think there’s a door here, you think you can make it visible?” I asked Aerith. She stepped up beside me, facing the section of the wall. Her horn began to glow, the others gathering around as she attempted to dispel the concealment charms surrounding the barrier. With a bright flash of light, a thick steel door suddenly appeared. Etched into the door was a six pointed star, wings and a horn carved in on either side and above the top point respectively.
The door began to rise upwards into the building, the sound of gears spinning and grinding together echoing out as it did. The door opened up to reveal a poorly lit metal stairway leading down into the facility. Well, this isn’t ominous at all. I looked over to Night Strike, who shrugged, pulling Thumper to the ready and looking down into the blackness. “I’m not flying back up the cliffs with you right after we got here, you’re going in.” She shoved me forward and I stumbled down onto the steps, grabbing onto the railing for support. I shot her a glare before I turned forward, starting to slowly make my way down the steps as the others followed. Crash Dive and Scouring flipped on the headlamps of their helmets, giving us a bit better view as we climbed down into the facility.
I pulled out my umbrella, giving the handle a squeeze and watching as a spark jumped between the two prongs at the end. The staircase came to a small landing before switching back to descend further down into the facility. Another flight of stairs later and the steps opened up into a wide room, a section of the floor replaced instead with water. The ceiling was curved and sloped downwards as it moved closer to the pool of water, a small pier splitting the pool partly in two. Sitting, partially submerged, in one side of the pools lay a submarine, its rusted metal body covered in algae and barnacles. I guess that explains how ponies got in here without the main door. Crash Dive’s light tracked the edge of the water, revealing several large egg clusters attached to the side of the submarine and the docks via a foul smelling paste.
A few ripples appeared in the water, something having ducked down below the surface just as Crash Dive’s spotlight reached them. Feeling uneasy, I tried to look around in the darkness for a door into the main facility, not wanting to spend any more time in these seapony’s hatchery than I could help. A few small lights could be seen sparkling in the depths of the water as Crash Dive turned to follow me, her light now illuminating another set of metal doors bearing the same insignia as the doors we’d entered through.
As we were about to push open the doors, though, several hisses could be heard from behind us. I whirled around, barely able to make out the fish pony’s shape in the darkness. They stood almost as tall as Aerith, their bodies stocky and heavy. Jet black shells protected their body, the skin underneath a sickly green color. A few of them had small bulbs hanging from an angler of sinewy flesh where a unicorn’s horn would be. The bulbs emitted a faint blue light that illuminated their teeth, which were far too large for their jaws, causing them to hang open somewhat. One of the creatures stepped forward, letting off another hiss, opening its mouth wider.
Night Strike flipped up Thumper, but before she could fire, Scouring’s headlamp focused in on one of them. It shrieked, stumbling backwards as its completely black eyes were subject to light far more intense than they had been designed for. The creatures at the fringes of the light jumped out of the way, hissing as well before starting to charge towards us as the blinded creature leapt back into the water, its heavy tail splashing up a wave of water in a vain attempt to scare us off as it disappeared beneath the surface.
Crash Dive turned her head to blind one of the creatures charging us, but it dodged the beam of light, managing to slam into Crash Dive and send her sprawling to the floor. I twisted around, jamming my umbrella into the side of the creature. Its still wet body coursed with the electricity, limbs tensing as it cried out in pain. To my horror, instead of falling to the ground once the electricity had been discharged, it only stumbled back, pausing for a moment before turning on me, opening its jaws and leaping forwards. I yelled, falling backwards as the creature pinned me to the ground, about to use its teeth to slice through my throat when a stream of bullets flew through its eye, knocking it off of me and onto the floor where it lay for a few moments, twitching pitifully.
Aerith brought her guns back to bear on another of the creatures, her bullets cracking its shell and embedding themselves into its thick skin. The creature stumbled backwards, allowing Night Strike to fire a slug into the damaged armor, knocking it back into the water. Crash Dive was back on her hooves, pulling the pin from a grenade and chucking it into the water. The plasma explosive could be faintly seen sinking down into the depths before it detonated, a column of water shooting up into the air, the shockwave tilting the sub and shaking some of the eggs attached to it loose.
Even as we managed to take out some of the creatures, more and more continued to climb out of the water, quickly learning to avoid Crash Dive and Scouring’s headlamps. “Fuck it, no way we can kill all of 'em, run!” Night Strike cried before sprinting through the metal doors into the facility. I raced after her, Aerith, Scouring and Crash Dive firing off a few shots behind us in an attempt to dissuade any of the creatures from following us. The hallway we were rushing down soon opened up into a lobby of sorts, several turrets lining the circular room.
As we crossed the threshold of the lobby, a soft beeping could be heard, and lamps suddenly flickered to life on the ceiling, flooding the room with light. Crash Dive fired off her rebar cannon, the bolt piercing the throat of one of the creatures as Scouring knocked one of the others back with a few shots from Sunburst. Once the room had become well lit, however, those that hadn’t been prey to Crash and Scouring’s weapons scurried back down the hallway, bumping into the walls a bit as they recovered from their blindness.
I panted as we came to a stop in the middle of the room, the creatures disappearing into the darkness of the sub pen. "Yeah, no way in Tartarus am I going back in there!” I said, Night Strike sharing my distraught look. Scouring let Sunburst slide together into its storage length before slinging it over his back, looking around the room at the busted up turrets.
“Well, either back that way or we stay down here lad, unless we find another exit.” I gave an uneasy look around the room, not seeing any sort of indication of a way out besides the one we just came from. Aerith trotted up to the desk in the center of the room which was cluttered with various communication devices, clipboards and stacks of papers shoved haphazardly into files underneath the desk. The alicorn pushed a chair out of the way as she stepped up to a terminal, flipping a switch so the old computer whirred to life. Lines of code filled the screen before it went black, leaving only a flashing arrow, waiting for a prompt.
Stepping up beside Aerith, I watched over her shoulder as she tried punching in a command, only for the screen to freeze and stutter before a message appeared: 'Critical failure, Traceback: IOError: Central A.I. could not be reached. Please contact an administrator for repairs.' Well, crap. Aerith stepped back from the terminal, Crash Dive trotting up to us after retrieving her rebar from one of the dead creatures. Aerith’s horn lit up, a sign appearing in the air before her. ‘I don’t think we’re going to get any information off of the terminals in this place, unless we can find the main A.I. It seems like a good place to go first anyway, if there’s going to be any emergency generators, they’re probably going to be near the data stores in case of a failure of the main ones.’
Crash Dive nodded, Scouring and Night Strike trotting back to the group as well. “Got any ideas on where to go, then?” I shrugged, Scouring having been too busy looking over the turrets to search for any hint on a way out. Night Strike, on the other hand, started to trot towards a pair of swinging doors, a sign hanging beside it listing off department of Biological Research, Medical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Well, yeah, reading signs probably would’ve helped. We followed her through the doors, entering another hallway, doors running down either side every one hundred feet.
We trotted down the dimly lit hallway, my head turning as we passed by one of the doors to glance into the lab, seeing several bits of glassware and machines laying broken on the floor. As we continued down the hallway, we came to a section that had been caved in, creating a wall of rubble blocking our path. “Now where?” Scouring asked. Night Strike paused, looking around at some of the other labs. She peeked her head through the door of one of the labs we’d passed, glancing down into it.
“Uh… well, this one looks pretty big. I think I see a door on the other side too.” She stepped into the dark lab and the rest of us followed, Crash Dive and Scouring’s headlamps helping to reveal the lab a bit better. The room was full of long counters, each one covered in scribbled notes and various bits of glassware and metal. A few metal cylinders stood at the end of the room, each one engraved with a cross and a trio of butterflies on the door.
I walked up to one of the cylinders to investigate, punching a button on a small screen attached to it. The screen whirred to life, revealing several text files. Picking one at random, some more text filled the screen as Night Strike pulled open one of the drawers on the counters, digging through the various flasks and beakers inside. ‘Auto-Doc prototype test #154 Procedure: broken shoulder blade Results: Failure. One of the guards got too rough with a new Stripe, snapped his shoulder blade in two, administration figures he’ll make a good test on the Auto-Doc. Started fine, procedure continued as expected, but the Auto-Doc didn’t stop after the procedure. We think it got caught in a programming loop, the healing potion supplies ran out in thirty minutes (remember to check up on supplies before testing), Auto-Doc repeated the procedure for four hours before tech guys arrived to fix the program. Subject was alive, but clearly traumatized from experience. No longer fit for testing, will transfer to work camp in a few weeks.’ I glanced up at the arms hanging from the top of the Auto-Doc, the tools still glistening in the dim light. Stepping back, I turned to head out of the lab, trying to push the failed experiment out of my mind. Maybe taking back some of this tech wouldn’t be such a good idea.
Night Strike looked up to see me heading out and quickly followed, the others making their way through the lab as well. I turned down another hallway, a sign pointing us in the direction of the A.I. chamber. I heard a faint hissing and stopped in my tracks, Aerith readying her guns. A lone monster sea pony stepped out around the corner, its eyes - unlike the others - a bright white, and its body was thin and ragged, ribs visible through the skin beneath its poorly developed armor. It hissed again, turning its head around, unfazed by Scouring’s helmet light, yet not seeming to notice us either. We all stood still, not wanting to wake another horde of the creatures, and the lone mutant turned back, continuing down a separate hallway.
I sighed, realizing I’d been holding my breath as Crash Dive took charge. “Come on, the sooner we get a generator, the sooner we can leave.” I nodded, following suit. We continued towards the central chamber, soon arriving at another set of large metal doors. My ear twitched as I tried to hear something on the other side of the door, but nothing emanated from beyond them. Crash Dive placed a hoof on the door and pushed it open, all of us ready to face another nest of sea creatures.
The door opened to reveal another domed room, much bigger than the lobby had been. The floor was cold metal, servers and supercomputers towering over us and rising up to the ceiling of the building. At the far end of the room sat an impressive screen, a few smaller ones surrounding it and a wide keyboard sitting in front of the terminal. Wires ran from the supercomputer connected to the back to those scattered around the room, giving the terminal an almost spider like appearance as the thick cables coiled around on the floor.
Trotting to the console, I looked it over, wondering how to turn it on. I bent down, looking underneath the keyboard to find an almost comically tiny console, the power button flipped off. Uh… well, I guess it’s worth a shot. I pressed the button, a light beside it flickering to life. Fans began to whir all around as the console booted up, the screen glowing underneath a layer of dust. It flickered, the room growing warm as the computers began working, a few lines of code appearing on the screen. ‘Running diagnostics… central CPU: online, connections: Rerouted, Power: Minimal level. Launching AI.' There was a moment before the screen flickered again, and the image of a mare’s head appeared on the screen, grinning widely as a voice clip played from an unseen speaker.
“Good morning, Shady Shores, let’s get some science done!” Um... okay then.
-----
We all stood in the AI's chamber, the soft hum of cooling fans and flickering of tape heads reading off old reels filling the silence as words lost us, staring up at the screen ahead, and the cheerful mare's face on it. Glancing at each other, the scren flickered for a moment, the mare's face upon it changing to one of concentration, or thinking, maybe... "Huh, that's weird, the logs say I haven't been woken up for around 210 years. Alright, fess up, which one of you smart-alecs changed the date on me?"
Static cleared his throat, taking a small step forwards. Yeah... this is something different, for sure. "Ahm... don't know how to break it... the date's correct. There was kind of a big war, bombs fell, everyone died... mostly. Are you... alright?" The screen held on the thinking face, the fans seeming to whirr a little louder in the room, a small breeze of warm air flowing over us. After a few moments of relative silence, the screen changed to show the mare's face in surprise, a gasp coming over her speaker.
"Oh my gosh, that must mean... you're all from the future! Or, well, I'm in the future now! Oh, this is so exciting, I always love learning stuff! What's new in the world of science, did they ever figure out what happens when you conjoin a pony and a zebra at the waist? Did they publish it yet, because if not, hello first new future experiment!" The screen flickered back to staying on the happy face for most of that, myself taking a step backwards. I knew the world was pretty messed up before the bombs hit, but... jeez, that's a whole new level of freaky. Flickering back to the thinking face, the computer paused for a moment, letting off a small chuckle. "Ehm, any of you know where to get a zebra? Apparently they don't keep that well in storage cells... and neither do ponies."
"You regretting turning her on yet?" Static gave me a glare at that, myself shrugging in response to him and trotting up. "Eh, no, we don't know where to get you zebras... and pretty sure we wouldn't want to do that, anyways. We're here because of some sea monster fish pony-things that have been attacking Hopeville and Clearwater, d'you know anything about them?" Well, worth a shot at asking, anyways. Hopefully we don't have to crack any file encryptions or passwords or stuff... and if we do, hopefully threatening her with a grenade rifle works. Or an umbrella-taser. The computer thought for a few moments, reels running and fans whirring, heating the underground room.
"Oh, right, that experiment! That was my best one, crossing a sea pony with a pony with an anglerfish, and a little genetically modified armadillo in there, too. I call 'em Anglerponies, aren't they just adorable? They don't breed that fast, but since their skin and plates can handle pretty much anything a stripe can carry and shoot at them, they're definitely hardy little things! How are momma's adorable creations getting along?" We all just seemed to stand and stare up at the monitor, and the mare's smiling face on it. Yeah, that... well, not sure what we were expecting, but that's edging close to not quite being it.
"Your 'adorable' creations have caused an entire town to become deserted, and have taken thousands of pony lives in the meantime. They're a menace, and we're here to try and get rid of them." Crash Dive stood firm as the screen flicked back to the thinking face for a few moments, myself glancing over at her and Static. Well, hopefully she takes this well... A short laugh escaped from the speaker, the screen going back to smiling.
"Oh, silly future-ponies, the Anglerponies were designed to only go after zebras! Would be kind of counter-productive to winning the war if they went and attacked ponies, wouldn't it? I'm sure that was just a small fluke, can't expect everything to be perfect, right?" Yeah, sure, and the completely dead-silent Clearwater and eggs at the dam were complete coincidences, too. Somehow I doubt they reproduce as slowly as she thinks they do...
The large screen flickered slightly, holding on the mare's smiling face, Static rubbing at his forehead and myself taking a moment to think. Hm... did I get those logs off of the terminal back in Clearwater? That might be the proof I need to convince her... starting to scan through my pip-buck, the screen flickered once more, going back to the thinking face. "That's strange... the ten we had in containment are in the upper halls... and four more in research lab beta... six in alpha... three in gamma... and..." Flickering from thinking back to the surprised face, the AI fell silent for a few long moments, the whirring from the maneframe filling the room. "They... that's the labcoat of Dr. Cave... on a skeleton. And those scratch marks on the bones... Dr. Cave loved the Anglerponies, they would've never hurt him..."
"They did, though. And the ponies at your research dock, and everypony in Clearwater, and the Hydroelectric dam. We had to clear them out so they wouldn't hurt anypony anymore, and even then, they're still in the reservior." Static took a small step forwards towards the large screen, looking up at the mare's face on it. The AI, for her part, flickered to a saddened face, which she held for a while. C'mon, Static, I know you're good at the talky-word stuff... thanks, brain. The earth pony glanced back towards us, before looking back at the computer screen. "They might've been made as a weapon to win the war, but they're a danger to Equestria now. We need to make sure they're gotten rid of, or at least killed off enough to not be one. Can you help us?"
The AI was silent for a few moments, before her voice came over the speaker, more saddened than shocked now. "Yes, I can. They were designed to not listen to reason and with as few drawbacks in mind as possible, but... I at least have access to the Shady Shores internal defense turret network. I'll... I'll put as many of them to the long sleep as I can. Momma's sorry, sweeties." There was a small thunk from the soorway at the end of the room, the lights flicking to a red color, and overall, not giving us that much comfort as to what was about to happen. The AI's coice was replaced with one of a generic security computer, drawing our attention, and from the sounds of the clattering of weapons being unfolded and loaded our collective guns' barrels.
"Attention: Shady Shores Biological Research automated security online. Scanning for sentient life in designated safe zones... sentient lifeforms found; 5. Engaging 'No Mercy' weapon charge protocols." Outside the doorway, and seemingly throughout the entire facility, turrets all over beeped to life and began blasting away with what sounded like lasers... really big, powerful lasers. The barrage seemed to keep up for several minutes, a few dull explosions heard over the course of it, before the lights switched back to the soft blue glow of the servers and the green terminal with the mare's face upon it.
"It... it's finished. As much as I could, anyways. Turrets and cameras are offline in submarine access pens A, B, C, and D, and are completely obstructed in the bio-food processing rooms. Saltwater's to blame for the former, but the latter has me stumped... unless..." She said bio-food processing... I really hope that isn't meaning what I think it means. Because if it does, well... I don't think Thumper has enough incendiary ammo to clean it out. The mare's face flicked over to the thinking one, holding on it for a few moments before changing to the surprised one. "Oh my... either my babies have been reproducing a lot faster than I remember, or somepony dreamt up, developed, and detonated an Anglerpony egg bomb in that room while I was out."
"Okay, so we've at least thinned them out here, we can just destroy the eggs, right?" Static loooked at all of us, myself answering with a light shrug as the console thought. After a few more moments, it swapped to a surprised face, then a saddened one. I... kind of doubt that's good news. Static let off a weak chuckle as the computer remained silent, rubbing at the back of his head. "I-I mean, they're eggs, that's when these kinds of creatures are at their most vulnerable... right?"
"Maybe for the boring kinds of pony-sized bio-engineered zebra-killers, but I made sure my little babies would be tough. Their eggs... they're really more like external embryos, the shells are the armor plating bits that make them pretty much impervious to anything a normal pony or zebra can carry. Unless one of you happens to be carrying an anti-tank rifle chambering Royal Ordinance 20mm or better, no chance of you getting through them!" Well... fuck me with a 17-pounder ROQF anti-tank gun. And I'm serious this time, because then we'd have something to use against them. I mean... my pelvis can handle a 4, 5-inch diameter muzzlebrake... maybe. Brain, do I even have to say it? Static looked over at me, and then nodded to my duffel bag, myself taking a moment to realize what he meant.
"Nope, Thumper's low-velocity, wouldn't get through a shell like that even from point blank firing slugs. Not enough thump." Passing on a small shrug, Static seemed to pause for a moment, before answering with an eyeroll. What, you think just because a rifle's chambered for forty millimeter caliber means it can take a shell like the ones for the Valkyrie's cannons? Calibers and ammunition don't work that way, Sparky, those guns are designed to bust through armor and deliver little booms on the other side, I'd snap my neck if Thumper shot those shells. Thumper's all about the boomsplat, not the armor penetration... but shockwaves travel through armor pretty well. Explosions 101, Strikey, ya moron. "What about balefire egg explosions? We can't get through the shells with kinetic projectiles, what about explosive shockwaves?"
The AI mare paused and thought for a moment, the fans humming a little louder in the room, before slowing down again as the screen flickered to her saddened face. "That might work, but it wouldn't really do that much. They're at such an early state in development like this that they don't have any organs to rupture yet, unless you can crack the shells open it wouldnt do anything, maybe cause them to have to develop for a little longer, but they'd still grow up." Well, nuts. Can't shoot them, can't blow them up, willing to bet that armor plating makes them pretty fireproof too, so so much for cooking them... we can probably get a thermobaric bomb through the doorway, right? I mean, we only need one, and there's probably enough air in this facility to ensure the reaction, probably. Unless humid air reduces effectiveness... which it probably does. Nuts.
Maneframe fans hummed a little louder as the mare on the screen flickered to thinking once more, us all watching her expectantly. I mean, if she's got an idea, it'd be far better than what I have right now... "The seismic sensors are returning a lot more responses of fault lines in the ground above than they used to. It's a long shot, but if you future-ponies have powerful enough explosives for the job, you might be able to crack one and bring the roof down on this place, bury it. Eh, once I figure out some way to leave myself, anyways... I'm sure I have the files on my mobile science body floating around here somewhere..." The mare kept on her thinking screen, some other monitors running through long lines of code and computery stuff I couldn't be bothered to read, even if I could. The fans whirred louder as she spoke again. "A couple tons of trinitrotoluene would do the job, if you have that handy. Ten or so, has to be right on top of this place."
"Would a 500-ton blast yield equivalent tactical megaspell fit the bill?" Okay, now you're speaking in a language I understand; big bloody brilliantly beautiful bombs. The screen seemed to hold on the thinking face for a lot longer than it did previously, the AI mare possibly considering me a genius... while the reactions from the rest all pointed towards me being nuts. With varying degrees of severity. Especially Static's alarmed, dumbfounded slack-jawed gaze. "We've got four of them, just down the coast and waiting for use."
"...in a disabled jet bomber. You know, the thing that usually delivers bombs, especially megaspells, because it's safest when you can drop it and run away immediately afterwards? Think I found a hole in your plan, Night Strike." Static shot me a smug look, which I answered with a glare. Oh, right, because as we've proven by driving two 1-ton bombs halfway across the wasteland via half-track and cart, a dedicated bomber is the ONLY way to deliver explosives without killing yourself. For all the flak I give it, my brain ain't that bad sometimes...
"I never said we had to use the Valkyrie to get it here. We'll unload the cart anyways when we head back to the Lighthouse, and it's only one one-ton bomb, not two~" Aaaand he's back to that face again. You keep doing that, your face is going to stick that way, Static. Looking up at the console again, the mare's face was back to the smile - suppose she was just listening for the time being. Static stammered a little, myself readjusting the duffel bag on my back. "So, it's settled then, one megaspell to bring this place down. So, miss Shady Shores computer AI, is there a passageway that we could take to get out of here easier than flying? Static's put on a few pounds, and my wings can only carry so much..."
"Noooooope. Hang on just a minute Strikey, we still have something left to do here. Remember what I said about helping the Triage?" Uh... was that before or after Vera stopped by us while we were having breakfast? Because honestly a lot of the past few days has ben a bit of a blur at this point. The mare's screen flickered as Static approached it, looking aorund the console for a few moments before turning his attention to the central screen. "Before we leave, we came here to also see if we could get any medical data from here, along with taking care of the... Anglerponies. Can you help us out in any way there? We do have pip-bucks for carrying the data, so..."
The AI thought for a few moments, before her screen flicked back to the smiling mare. "Oh, I'm sure I can pull together a mostly complete registry for you. Physical experimentation on zebras, millions of kilobytes of data on it! Apparently they made for pretty good pony analogues for experiments, you won't believe the kind of stuff we learned about what happens when you subject a living body to low-kelvin temperatures! We almost got around to figuring out how to get them back without sustaining much damage, too! Oh, and don't get me started on the applications for zebra-targeting plagues, pesticides, and poison joke - minus the bubble bath weakness!" Static blunk a few times, letting off a weak chuckle. Yeah... maybe we can do without the recipes for bio-weapons, Equestria's gone through enough...
"Ehm... can you omit any developments having to do with the zebra-targeting bio-weaponry, or stuff like that? We're kind of trying to save the wasteland, not... commit genocide. Future thinking has moved past the whole zebras being the enemy thing, for the most part." The computer mare thought for a few moments, the screens either side scrolling through more tech jargon, some flashing to red as they hastily scrolled past. After a few minutes and a few passing blocks of red, a panel flipped open beside the keyboard, a small cord and plug extending from it as the mare's face flashed back to smiling.
"Alrighty, all the soft medical research data in my databanks is nice and compiled for you to have. I got... most of the bioweapons and plague stuff out. I think. There were a few things about poison joke I may have missed, but, well, they're probably inconsequential. Maybe. I think that test was trying to turn a stallion into a mare, or mare into a stallion, or at least swap organs, or something... why did we stop work on that one? Zebra stallions actually were kinda cute when they went all effeminate!" ...Brain, you're re-hired again, please do a complete wipe of those last few sentences before they get committed to long-term memory. They're already there? Oh, great, what do I even pay you for?... handling my other bodily functions on time? Okay, fine, you win. Bwuh. Static seemed as equally disturbed by the revelation, but still stepped forth and took hold of the cable, plugging it into his legputer.
"Alright, RobronCo tech, let's hope you have as big a storage capacity as you advertise..." A long empty bar flashed up onto Static's pip-buck screen, which rapidly began to fill up as the data was transferred over. He watched it for a few moments, before looking up at the terminal, and the mare's face upon it. "Eheh, ahm, sorry, I don't think we ever caught your name. If you have a name... you have a name, right?"
The AI mare flashed up her thinking screen for a moment, the bar on Static's pip-buck stalling as more data flowed on the screens beside hers. Her smiling face showed up again, along with a short giggle through the speaker. "Oh, of course I do! Pearl, Shady Shores' own, well, overmare, I guess! Or overwatching AI, anyways. Sorry, I kinda got distracted by you all being from the future and all, or, well, me being from the past, or something like that. It's really nice of you guys to've turned me back on before you decided to blow this place up!" She held on her smiling face for a moment, then swapped for the thinking face, the fans whirring a little louder. "Hang on a minute... if you guys blow the place up, I won't be able to do any more science that could help everypony. And even after that, my maneframe isn't built to withstand being crushed, either, and I really like it! That kinda sucks..."
Pearl's face swapped to the saddened one, Static blinking a few times as his eyes moved between the progress bar and the big screen in front of him. Okay, so this AI is smart enough to have a sense of self-preservation... don't suppose we could find an empty Sweetie Bot chassis to put her in, or something. If only I could've disabled that robo-dragon without blowing it's head off, that seems like it'd fit her. Scouring scratched at his head, taking a few steps forwards and looking around at the server banks around us. "Right... bit of a shot in the dark, but ya wouldn't happen t' have any sort of service drone you could transfer onto, would you? Like a, er, Mister Handy, or somethin'?"
The large screen flickered as Pearl went back to thinking, more data scrolling across the screens and Static's pip-buck's loading bar stalling again. Fans whirred louder as she thought, a soft hum coming through the speaker beside her. "I think they were developing a portable unit for me at some point, but the funding was transferred over to the Anglerpony project. Same deal with the implants they were almost finished with... Huh. Storage room B, four stories up and down the hall, I might be able to get it into a working order if you guys can get it out of storage for me. I can't transfer over to them, but I do have control of some of the auto-docs and the diagrams for putting it together." There was a short pause, and then Pearl went back to her smiling face. "Tell you guys what. If you get the chassis out for me, I'll repair it and be ready to come with you when you come back to blow this place up. I kinda do want to see what the effects of a massive enough ground detonation would have on the coast! I was asleep for all the fun for two centuries straight, I'm itching to get back to doing more fun science like that!"
I let loose a small chuckle as Static's pip-buck dinged, signifying the data transfer finishing. Oh yeah, now that's definitely some science I can get behind... Hm, yanno, that wouldn't be a bad idea. Trotting up beside Static as he disconnected the transfer cable, Pearl's smiling face seemed to look at me, myself clearing my throat. Ewuh, it got hot in here fast... "Ehm, Pearl, does Shady Shores have any portable video recording equipment anywhere? Yanno, just to document the blast for study later on, and stuff like that. Or, uh, how about any way to convert film onto holotape?"
The screen flickered to thinking for a moment, then went back to smiling. "Well of course we do, in both cases! Storage room A, just across the hall from the one with my new body, we've got loads of video cameras and holotape converters. The cameras record directly to Holotape, though, so I don't know why you'd need the film converter - that thing is heavy, last I checked!" A wide grin came across my face as I passed on a nod, Static looking through his pip-buck for a moment before turning his attention to me, myself turning about. Pearl kept her smiling face up as I readjusted my duffel bag, Crash Dive and Aerith already trotting for the doorway. "I'll help guide you through to the storage rooms, this place can be a bit of a maze at the best of times. You guys came in through the roof entrance, alongside the old power station, right?"
I'd like to imagine I wasn't the only one who stopped and blunk at the screen as we stood in the doorway, halfway out into the rest of the Shady Shores facility already. Static let off a weak chuckle and rubbed at the back of his head as one of Crash Dive's armored hooves clanked against her helmet, myself shooting the heavy earth pony a look before turning around and heading through the doorway. Oh yeah, those fancy goggles were such a great help, showing us the most difficult way to get inside this place while the back door's just inside the friggin' power station on dry land. Why, I oughta... "Oh, you came in through the lower docks entrance? Eesh, with the cameras and turrets all offline down there I kinda don't want to know how many of the Anglerponies you guys ran into. You wanna go out the same way, or..."
"N-no, the roof entrance is fine, thanks! Eheh... yeah..." Smooth, Sparky.
---
"Alright, and just down the hall this way, and... here we are!" Pearl's voice came over through the old loudspeakers running through the facility, crackly and slightly distorted, as we found our way through the partially-lit hallways. I'll be honest, this place is starting to make the Clearwater police station smell bearable... hurk. A short walk down one of the hallways placed us all outside two sets of doors on either side, one listing itself as Storage Room A while the other was labeled as Storage Room B - jackpot. "Just get the storage pod for the prototype open and I can handle it from there. There's also a few medical experiments you might want to take too, would be nice to save as much as you can now. I'll gather up whatever you don't take before you blow the place up."
"Thanks, Pearl." Static replied with a smile and small nod as he stepped into room B with Scouring and Crash Dive, myself and Aerith pushing through the door of room A. Alright Shady Shores, let's see what your camera tech is like... switching the lights on, the bulbs flickered and fizzed before finally popping, myself letting off a sigh. Stupid pre-war underground facilities... Aerith's horn lit up with a glow of blue magic, illuminating the room fully. Eesh, the sign says storage, but this looks more like a junk pile...
"Okay, has to be something functional in here, uh..." ...yeah, this is one of those few rare moments where I wish I knew more about electronics. Stepping about the pile of junk on the floor carefully, I finally managed to reach the far end of the room, and a small collection of black cases and familiar film tins. Reaching under a table for one of the cases, the heavy thing eventually slid out, allowing me to undo the latches and look inside. Uh-huh... yup, that looks like a camera, I guess. Maybe. Okay, probably gonna want two of these... three if we want Radio KAOS' perspective... and then the converter, too. Hopefully it isn't really that heavy. One of Aerith's screens met my view as she stepped up alongside me, looking over the shelves.
'Okay, this place is officially creeping me out. Don't read the names of some of these tapes, it's... they aren't pretty.' Oh, please don't tell me not to do something I wasn't planning on doing anyway, now I wanna read them... considering I've never seen an alicorn shudder in disgust before now, though, probably would be better if I didn't. Turning attention back to the camera case, I shut and latched it tight, pushing it aside and reaching in for another one of them. Good thing we're heading back to the lighthouse after this, I don't think I want to listen to Static complaining about how heavy this stuff is for more than I have to.
Sliding the third one out, a screwdriver levitated past my head in Aerith's aura, myself following it for a moment as the alicorn brought it over to a large device mounted to a table. She quickly put it to work unmounting the device, myself trotting over beside her to get a better look - okay, kinda looks like that projector back at the Starlite, just without the big lens pointing out a window. Gonna take a guess and say that's the film-to-holotape converter... oh, joy. This thing had better be able to convert with minimal quality loss, all I can say.
Getting the last few screws out of the feet, the alicorn embraced the massive thing in her magic, lifting it up off of the table with a small dust cloud and loud creak as the wood of the table resettled, free from supporting all that weight. Aerith released a small grunt as she began to move the large thing towards the doorway, still wearing a smile. I gave her a nod as I grabbed one of the cameras, stumbling slightly as it settled on my back, the weight of it pressing down. Guh, I'm gonna need a lot of Sparkle-Cola RAD to fix this...
Stepping out into the hallway, the rest were there to greet us, Crash Dive taking the camera case off of my back and putting it on hers as Scouring went into the other room, gathering up the other two cameras. Aerith set the large converter down on the floor for a moment, releasing a sigh, as Static... seemed to be caught up looking at a small wire-thingy in a seale glass jar... thing. He trotted over after a moment, wearing a small smile. "Well, guess it's a good thing we're being all nice to the AI. This is apparently one of the implants they were working on, supposed to be able to grant whoever's got it installed a few shots of a time-dilating drug or something, with minimal addiction risk. Considering I can actually function without downing a bottle of Sunrise or Sparkle-Cola every day, I'd say I don't have too much to worry about~"
"Yeah, great, so who's going to install it for you, then? One of those Auto-doc tube things?" I know it's wrong, but there's just something funny about seeing Static shudder in fear, or disgust, or whatever he was feeling right then. Scouring reappeared with the other two cameras levitated beside him, Aerith picking up the converter as we started heading back towards the stairwell.
"I'd rather take my chances with a regular hospital. The Triage in Hopeville should be able to do it for me... maybe. I mean, we'll give them all the notes beforehand, so..." He gave a small shrug, fitting the container into his saddlebags as we reached the stairs, starting to ascend back towards the surface. Signs pointed us to the way out, a loudspeaker at the top of the stairwell carrying Pearl's voice over it.
"Thanks for the help, future-ponies! I should be able to have the Porta-Pearl chassis all ready when you swing back here again, make sure you come inside before you set the thing off - I want to get to see this test!" Looking around for a camera for a moment, I passed along a wide smile as we passed by it, Static pushing through the last doorway and heading up another flight to a pair of cellar doors. The faint light of day shone through the crack, a healthy shove causing the door to clatter aside and allowing us to step back outside, myself taking a deep breath of the fresh air. Ah, this was a lot better than carrying Static...
Aerith and Scouring both moved around to the back of the mini-tank as Static hopped into the driver's seat, myself wearing a small grimace as the suspension of the wagon behind us creaked under the extra weight of the cameras and converter. Oh, yeah, that's definitely not a good sound. Static blunk a few times and looked back as well, rubbing at his head. "I thought we were just getting cameras, not a whole science lab!"
"Hey, it's not my fault that the cameras are heavy! It can't be any worse than it was hauling all of the bombs back from Seahoof in the first place." The earth pony shot me a look and let off a small grumble as I settled myself behind Boomer, slipping on the pair of welding goggles, Aerith climbing into the back wagon and doing the same. The wagon didn't creak quite as much as it used to when Crash Dive and Scouring both climbed aboard it, fitting their helmets on as well, Static starting up the mini-tank.
After feeling the engine beneath me give a few revs, the tracks began to dig into the snow finally, pulling the mini-tank and laded wagon forwards, albeit slowly. Static turned us around towards the south, heading a little further inland and picking up speed, myself resting back against the large grenade machine gun and letting off a sigh. Huh, yanno, that power station doesn't really look half bad, for being a really old pre-war building. Kind of a shame we'll have to blow it up... eh, ah well.
---
"You and I are listening to K A O S, that's Radio KAOS, and it's looking to be a pleasantly overcast winter afternoon tonight and tomorrow for most all of the Vanhoover wasteland. Always going to have a chance of snow, just don't expect many sunny days over the next week or so, heh. Good thing this place isn't solar powered.
"From out of the town of Maple Creek, and I hope you five are listening, they'd like me to pass on the message that they've got everything together to pay for the AA guns you guys delivered a week or so ago. Now, I've always run under the assumption that a donation of guns means you aren't expecting to get paid for it, but considering how much the Five have been doing in the meantime I'm not surprised if Maple Creek just wanted to show some gratitude in return. Keep up the great work, guys - and as always, try to not blow yourselves up too much, heh.
"It's just getting past three in the afternoon here at Radio KAOS, and I think it's high time for me to cut the chatter and get on with the music. From Hornsworth to Vanhoover and Maple Creek to Saddlebrook, You're listening to Radio KAOS on Radio KAOS, heh. Enjoy."
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Angler Ponies. So how far spread are the angler ponies anyways. Is it possible that a few herds of them have moved out to sea? Hehe it be funny to have a Spark-Lurker Vs. Angler pony fight.
6714941 Those Anglerponies actually reminded me of your Sparkle Lurkers, and a battle between them would be great.