Goodbyes and Hellos
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“Aye, think that’s the last of ‘em?” Scouring asked as I parked the mini-tank, and we all climbed out. The smell of burning flesh and the acrid scent of spent gunpowder filled my nostrils, causing me to gag slightly. Guh, why does she always insist on doing things the worst way? Going in quietly would've been much cleaner... I passed the helmet back over to Knight Strike, who promptly fit it back over his head, returning a nod once it was in place. Stepping around fresh craters, we walked across the battlefield towards the main doors of the ski lodge.
“Looks like it, at least the ones outside. Might still be a few indoors, though, so I wouldn’t let your guard down just yet.” Crimson replied, carefully balancing a large plasma caster hanging off the side of his power armor. He peered through one of the windows into the lobby, before stepping up to the large oak doors. “Yep, got one hanging out inside. Cover me.” Sweets moved in behind Crimson, nervously glancing about as he kept his Gatling laser at the ready. Crimson kicked open the door before whirling back around and firing off a few shots with the caster.
The raider barely had time to let out a squeak of fright before the bolts of superhot energy made contact, dissolving his body with deadly efficiency. Sweets and Crimson stood in the doorway for a moment longer, waiting for somepony to take notice and come through from a different part of the building, but the room was still. Crimson lowered his caster and trotted inside, the rest of us following him closely behind. The lobby was partially illuminated by a large chandelier adorned with luminescent crystals that glittered in the sunlight streaming through the windows, some hints of red coming in on the lighteams - I don't want to try and guess why that is...
Trotting up to the desk in the center of the lobby, I was able to spot a few rows of keys hanging from hooks underneath the desktop. I swiped a few from off the hooks, stashing them before stepping back around the other side with the others. “Right, suppose we split up and search the rest of this place? Can’t imagine there’d be many more raiders, prob'ly all ran out when they heard us arrive, heh.” Scouring suggested, letting off a light chuckle. Aerith nodded, tagging along with Crash Dive and heading to search the eastern half of the lodge as B Company split into two groups to search the upper floors.
“Alright, guess that leaves us to sweep this part. You promise me you won’t get too distracted if we find the kitchen, right?” Night Strike teased, heading towards a smaller side lobby. A small stone fireplace built into the wall sat empty and cold, Night Strike readying Thumper as we wandered through the large room. We walked past a few old couches, heading down a hallway, the hard wood flooring scuffed and dirtied with age. I pushed open one of the many doors down the hall, revealing a standard hotel room, in nearly pristine, albeit dusty, condition. The bed, however, was covered in empty Dash and Rage containers, piled high on top of the sheets. “Sheesh, did the raiders think these were breath mints or something?” Night Strike asked, poking at the pile of syringes and needles with the end of Thumper. A few vials fell loose from the disturbance, tumbling down the small pile before we headed back into the hallway.
The other rooms were in similar conditions, though none with nearly as many drug containers as the first. Finding nothing of note, we headed back to the main room where Aerith and Crash Dive were standing. “What happened to you?” I asked, noticing all of their hooves were a deep shade of red, about halfway up their shins.
“One of the raiders must’ve thought it’d be funny to set up some kind of practical joke. Thought we found a working elevator, but there were just a bunch of paint cans balanced up against the doors. Spilled everywhere, you’d think a pool of blood decided to just go running down the hallway.” Crash Dive responded, scratching a bit of the drying paint from her armor.
Knight Strike leaned over the edge of the railing on the second floor, looking down at us. “All clear up here, you guys find anything?” Night Strike shook her head. “Alright, well, come on up, we think we found a few rooms that aren’t too messy we can set up in for the night. ‘Course, we still got plenty of time left before that, but if you wanna drop off your saddlebags might as well do it now.” He pushed himself off of the railing and headed towards one of the upper hallways. We trotted up the steps after him, finding a couple empty rooms. I unhitched my saddlebags, tossing them onto one of the beds as Night Strike did the same with her duffel bag. Crash Dive and Aerith stepped into one of the other rooms, the power armored pegasus leaning her harpoon gun up against one of the chairs as the alicorn hung her hat on a rack by the door.
The members of B Company headed back down the steps and we followed suit, heading back into the fireplace room. Knight Strike flopped down onto one side of the couch, lifting his hind hooves onto the coffee table as Sweets sat opposite him, wiping his glasses clean. “So, uh, you guys’re from up north, right? At least, according to the radio and Scouring… y’know.” Sweet’s voice trailed off awkwardly as he fidgeted with his spectacles. “You guys ever here about some place called Frosthill? Supposed to be some small town near the Crystal Empire, figured you might be from nearby or something.”
Both Night Strike and I glanced towards each other for a moment, before shaking our heads. “No, why? Have you been there?” I asked. Sweets shook his head, grinning as Knight Strike let off a chuckle. Aerith trotted over to the fireplace, her horn lighting up as she attempted to spark a small fire in the stonework. Soon the logs caught, and the room grew a bit warmer as the fire crackled away softly.
“Nah, even with my armor I’d probably freeze to death before I even made it to the north shore of Luna’s Bay." The power armored unicorn re-seated his glasses, leaning back on the old couch as it creaked under his armor's weight. "We were just passing through Maple Station a while back, heard a rumor about some mailmare or something that went and shot up some big crime lord. Middle of the night, under a full moon in the graveyard, something about settlin’ a score for a stallion named Reigndall. Like one of those old pre-war westerns y’know? Just wondered if either’ve you knew anypony like that.”
“I’m pretty sure the mailmare running around Mooscow is old enough to remember the Great War, I’d be pretty impressed if she managed to track down somepony for killing a friend of hers.” I responded, grinning a little at the thought of old Torn Envelope having a showdown against some black cloaked villain with a handlebar mustache. “Then again, maybe being so close to death herself she was able to get some ghosts on her side.” Night Strike grinned as well, settling back into her own chair.
“Hey, there was that time she chased Saberclaw down the street for setting that squirt-gun trap in a mailbox. I’m kind of surprised she didn’t manage to take an ear off with that pistol of hers.” Night Strike said. “Though speaking of ghosts and other creepy things that should be dead, when are we going to blow up that fair? I want to send that thing back to Tartarus before it becomes possessed and starts hunting down campers.” Nice segue, Strikey.
Crimson inspected his plasma caster, flicking a few knobs on it as Knight Strike responded, “This evenin', of course. That’s when explosions look their best, right?” He reached into a small pocket of his power armor to pull out a deck of cards. “So… any of you know how to play Caravan?”
---
“So, remind me again why we’re blowing this place up?” I followed the two Strikes up a small wooden staircase behind the hotel. Aerith was gliding around in the air beside us, simply enjoying the night air as we ascended the small hill towards the summit. The fair could barely be seen in the darkness, only the large Ferris wheel and exposition buildings marking it out amongst the mountainous region below. Crash Dive followed behind me, her armor causing the wooden steps to creak as she trotted up.
“Because animatronics are scary and explosions are awesome. Do we need another reason to do it?” Night Strike responded, grinning widely. I shook my head, looking down at the ground as we continued to climb. The path was thankfully easy to see, thanks to the cloudless sky and bright moon as we trotted up the hill. Crimson pushed a branch out of the way of the path as we continued. I ducked under another branch, all of use soon reaching a clearing near the top. A large oblong rock sat near the edge of the hill, Aerith fluttering down on top of it as we looked out over the expanse below us.
“Alright, should have everythin' set up. Goggles on 'r turn away, you get blinded it's your fault!” Knight Strike said, fitting his helmet on over his head. The rest of us - well, the sane ones, anyways - slipped on the darkened goggles from back at the sub-base, Night Strike electing to take the 'turn away' option. There was a moment of silence before Knight Strike pressed the small toggle on his detonator. Then another moment of silence. A rather long one. “Aw, come on!” Knight Strike toggled the detonator’s switch up and down multiple times, glancing between it and the undamaged fairgrounds. “Dammit, Sweets, I thought you said that I had it wired right to blow!”
The unicorn scratched the top of his helmet, staring down at the fair below. “Ahm-ah-duh, it should’ve been. You sure we aren’t out of range for the detonator?” Knight Strike simply threw down the detonator in frustration, whipping out his missile launcher instead. Oh, this can’t be good. Sliding a missile into the breech, he flipped the front up before taking careful aim and firing. The fuel caught, and the missile flew out of the end, a casing becoming disconnected as the missile split off into a small cluster.
“Alright, give that about forty seconds and it’ll be there, should be just enough fuel to reach something in there and start the reaction.” He said, slinging the launcher over his back. I stared at him as the missiles disappeared off into the darkness, a couple unable to crest the tree line and instead detonating as they smashed into the branches. For once, Night Strike shared my look of confusion - as for why, anypony's guess. Is setting off an explosion next to a megaspell not supposed to cause it to explode?
“You can’t honestly be-“ I began, but my voice died in my throat as suddenly the sound of distant explosions could be heard. I looked back down at the fairgrounds, a series of detonations starting from one end. They travelled along the perimeter of the grounds, the Ferris wheel shuddering violently as its base went up in a ball of fire. The explosions soon approached a station where a short freight train stood waiting. There was suddenly a bright flash of light, all of us shielding our eyes. I dared to peek out after a few seconds, to see the familiar looking mushroom cloud rising up into the sky as the shockwave spread across the ground below. A few figures could be seen buzzing out of the trees as the shock approached them in turn, making the forest bow towards us.
A low rumble could be heard as the shockwave travelled up the mountain, needles falling from trees as they were shaken. I covered my ears, bracing myself. The shockwave flung itself over the edge of the hill, causing me to stumble backwards as it felt like I was punched in the gut. Crash Dive managed to remain standing in her power armor, while Night Strike simply laughed as she was flung backwards. I really have to question the sanity of that pony…
The rumble soon died away as the shockwave dissipated. “Eeeeeheeehee, rust in pieces, you horrid, nightmare inducing manticore!” Night Strike cried, getting back to her hooves. Yes, yes, I definitely need to question her sanity. We paused for a moment, Aerith and I catching our breaths, watching the mushroom cloud slowly deform and blow away into the sky. Night Strike let out a sigh, laying down against the rock with a wide grin across her muzzle. After the cloud had lost enough form, she finally picked herself up, starting to head towards the steps leading back down to the hotel. “We seriously need to get the Valkyrie fixed up soon. I need megaspells on demand, dangit.” I resisted the urge to facehoof as I followed her down the hill. Isn’t that what we’ve been trying to do for the past month? Or… however long it’s been?
The moon shined down on us as we made our way back to the hotel, myself letting off a long yawn as I shook my head to stay awake for the small trek. It thankfully wasn’t too long before we were stepping back inside the hotel, the warmth welcoming after the brisk chill of the night air. We all headed upstairs, Crash Dive and Aerith breaking off to head into one of the vacant rooms as B Company followed the hallway on the opposite side of the stairwell towards their rooms. Night Strike and I stepped into the room we’d dropped our stuff off in earlier, Night Strike closing the door as I flopped down onto the bed.
The pegasus crawled under the covers next to me, curling up beside me as I buried my face in the pillow. I gave a small squeak of pain as something jabbed me lightly in the leg. Reaching down, I pulled an empty Dash inhaler out of the blankets before tossing it aside, listeninga s it clagttered against the floor. Guh, stupid raiders... I closed my eyes, cuddling up to Night Strike as sleep washed over us both.
---
The door to our room creaked as Night Strike and myself both stepped out, well rested after the long night’s sleep. We headed down the hallway, knocking on Aerith and Crash Dive’s door as we passed. After a short moment the door swung open and Crash Dive trotted out along with a yawning Aerith, who was still trying to slip her hoof through her vest as she followed us. We made our way downstairs towards the kitchen of the hotel, our hoofsteps echoing through the large hallways. As we entered the dining area, though, we found it empty, despite the aroma of hay bacon that had been wafting through the air. “Huh, wonder where they headed off to in such a hurry...” Night Strike said, looking down at the plates that had been left out on one of the tables.
“They’re probably just out playing golf with grenades, or something.” Crash Dive answered, opening up one of the drawers to pull out a frying pan. Heading over to the fridge, she pulled out a few tins of daisies, pulling open the top and emptying them onto the pan as she began to heat up the stovetop. Night Strike and Aerith took a seat at one of the empty tables as I opened one of the cabinets. Finding a pack of Dandy Colt apples, I took it down and began to tear into it, the daisies and haybacon Crash Dive was cooking sizzling away. Picking out a couple of the preserved candy apples, I handed the box over to the others, though neither accepted. More for me, then.
Crash Dive placed the pan in the center of the table, Aerith using her magic to help slide the food from the hot metal onto our plates as we began to eat. I looked out of the window, the makeshift barricades surrounding the hotel blocking the view of the rest of the mountainside. We finished our breakfast in relative silence, only speaking up to wonder aloud what B Company was up to or to pass more food over. Stepping outside, I blinked a bit at the bright morning light, a bit of fog hanging in the air. “You’d think Scouring’d have been back by now…” I said, looking around the hotel grounds. “Did he tell us they were going somewhere last night and I just manage to forget?” Aerith shrugged as we trotted past a corpse of one of the raiders, which was already starting to rot.
Stepping around another one that had several radroaches chewing on its leg, I was about to head around the side of the hotel towards the trail we’d hiked up the night before, when the sound of an engine suddenly came up from around the back of the lodge. Looking between ourselves for a moment, we all rushe over to find where itw as coming from, Night Strike taking to the air before suddenly stopping and flying backwards. "Mother of Celestia!"
Reaching the end of the non-destroyed barricade, the source of the noise pulled up in front of the hotel, Night Strike setting herself down on her hoves to get a better look at it. It had tracks like a tank, and the same gun, I guess, but aren't tanks supposed to have turrets, or something? It looks like this thing can only fire at what's in front of it... the pegasus took to the air again, landing on the front of the vehicle and tapping against the gun's armored bits, the noise from the engine quieting down as it was turned off. After a moment, the doors on the back of it swung open, Scouring's head poking out of it as we trotted over to see, the power armored unicorn waving a hoof at us.
"Aye, nice to know we caught ye before we left. Nice new ride, inn't it? Were used for causin' controlled avalanches before the war, hundred fourteen millimeter howitzer in this thing and loads'a ammo." He wore a smile as he rested on the bottom edge of the hatch, us all trotting around to see inside. The rest of B Company was in with him, along with a lot of rounds all labeled as 'high explosive' - well, it's certainly fitting for them. Scouring's smile faded, Night Strike's eyes wide at the sight of all of the cannon shells. "Unfortunately, this is a goodbye. Crimson's figurin' we oughta head back to Mountain Springs now we're all back together, check in with the Elder and report on our, erm, 'scouting' mission. Would be for the better if ye didn't come with, the Elder's not exactly much for outsiders..."
Night Strike and myself both shared a glance, before she trotted forwards, a bit of a worried look on her face. "Ah, ehm, are you sure you have to go so soon? I mean... why not stick around with us more, or something? What if we run into more megaspells that need to be armed?" I let off a small sigh, giving my head a shake. If we need to arm any more megaspells while we're up this way, I'm walking back home... though, it is a little hard to think about the Vanhoover Five being down to just four. Scouring wore a faint smile, his breath caught in a cloudy chuff.
"I'm sure you'll manage without me, and I doubt we won't be seein' each other again. Least I'll be sure to swing by before you're all leavin' here for good, will say my proper goodbyes then." Night Strike just stared up into the fighting compartment for a while, the rest of us following with her, before Crimson leaned over on the other side and said something to Sweet Water, who seemed to be in the driver's seat. The engine in the not-tank started back up, Scouring looking over as Crimson rested an armored hoof on his shoulder. "Right, we're settin' off now, and again, please don't follow us t' Mountain Springs. Try to not blow yourselves up too much while I'm gone, aye?" The power armored unicorn let off a small chuckle as his horn flared, the doors shutting back up. I could just about make out the word 'Avenger' painted on the back before the engine in front roared, the tracks digging into the snow and pulling the vehicle towards the north, the sound of the wind in the valley filling the air after a while.
We all stood watching the not-tank as it soon disappeared over the snowy hills, Night Strike watching for a while longer than the rest of us before hovering herself back over. Her ears flopped down against her mane as she trotted in through the large doors, Aerith shutting them behind us to keep out the cold. Looking back towards the heavy doors, she spoke up after a moment. "Yanno, why can't we just follow them? Because their Elder doesn't like outsiders? That's a load of shit..."
“He’s kind of got a point, though, Night Strike. We're still trying to find a generator for the Valkyrie, how many times have we stopped whatever we’re doing just to go exploring some old abandoned facility or run some errand for a town? You’d think whoever’s been attacking the places would’ve done something by now, just seems like they’re sitting around waiting for us at this point, or something…” Night Strike let off a sigh, as Aerith trotted over to the other lobby to get the fire going again, Crash Dive accompanying her. Watching the pegasus trot up the steps to the upstairs bedrooms, I let off a soft sigh of my own, looking down to my pip-buck for a moment before tuning in the radio.
“It's a beautiful, bright wintry morning out there today, and you're tuned into Radio K A O S, Kaos in Vanhoover. Hope you’ve all been keeping safe and unirradiated the last few days, unless you're of the type who enjoys that, since there’s news of a bit of a rad storm blowing in from up north. It should stick to the coast, however, so if you had any beach picnics planned in the next couple of days, I’d think about rescheduling, heh.
"Anyways, time for a little public service announcement. Lately there’s been reports of an increase in Bloodsprite attacks near the swamps just north of Vanhoover. Remember, just because the Lightbringer may have helped clear the skies doesn’t mean the products of years of pre-war magic aren’t still wandering around the wastes. Don’t go wandering off common roads on your own, and for your own sake remember to stock up on health potions and antidotes if you do decide to go for a nature hike.
"Anyway, that’s all for now, let’s get some music back on the air for all of you…” There was a moment of silence, before the sound of clattering tapes filled the air, along with a muffled apology and an exasperated sigh. “…if my assistant could hand me a tape without breaking half of them, that is. You're listening to Radio KAOS, enjoy, Vanhoover.”
"You shake my nerves and rattle my brain,
Too much love drives a man insane,
You broke my will, but what a thrill!
Goodness, gracious,
Great balls of fire!"
-----
My muzzle dug into the musty pillows and old bedsheets as I let myself flop back onto the bed, wings falling to my sides loosely. So... Scouring's left us, now. Vanhoover Four it is... no, hang on, we can make this work. Besides, after he's checked in with his Elder, he'll probably come back out again and we can be the Vanhoover Five once more, right?... Releasing a long sigh, I let my forehead lay against the pillows, closing my eyes. Come on, Strikey, you'll see him again, it isn't like he's dead or anything. He's just gone back to his home, for a while, just like you have to try and focus on being able to do, too. Just... get a grip...
The door to the room creaked on it's hinges as it opened up, a song playing over the radio of the pip-buck around the blue earth pony's foreleg, which quieted down before I heard his hooves trotting over. His heavy flanks made the springs of the mattress creak slightly as he sat himself down beside me, myself rolling to the side to rub at my eyes with my foreleg. Laying on my side, Static looked towards myself for a moment, as I looked up towards him in return. "Ahm... Strikey, are you feeling alright? You don't... you were acting kind of off earlier."
I sat myself up, drawing in a breath and holding it for a moment, before releasing it in a small sigh. "I... yeah. I'm just... just still trying to process Scouring leaving. It's been the five of us for so long, now, I think I'm just trying to cope with it going down to four so suddenly." Sniffling in the cold air of the bedroom, I rested my hooves on my back legs, hunched over with my wings slack. The earth pony shuffled himself closer to me as I held my eyes shut for a long moment, looking over to him. "I'm just not sure how to feel about it. It's like crashing down here all over again, except... I don't know."
Static let off a light chuff, wearing a light smile on his muzzle as he rested a hoof around my shoulders in a light hug. "Oh, c'mon, Strikey, it's not that bad. You heard him, we'll see him again sooner or later... besides, how d'you think I feel now? I'm the only stallion in the group again." Joining him in a light chuckle, I managed a small nod, rubbing at one of my eyes with a hoof. Yeah, like of all things THAT'S something to complain about... He let off a sigh, looking down to his pip-buck for a moment. "Look, the air base isn't going anywhere, and the mercenaries were probably spooked from the most recent detonation anyways. We can stick around here for a bit, a day at least... Stable 117's just to the west, how about we see what's up with that place? Might get your mind off of Scouring."
I released a small cloudy sigh, looking out into the room for a moment. Okay, either sit in this lodge all day and wallow in mild greif because somepony left our group to go home, or go exploring a Stable and unravel what might be the pre-war mystery of the century as to why nopony's ever left it and nopony's ever heard about it. Seems pretty clear-cut to me. "Yeah, Stable 117, that sounds like a fun time. Come back to the lodge afterwards, get a good sleep, then we can set off for the east tomorrow." Static gave a nod in response, shuffling over to the edge of the bed and hopping back to his hooves, myself following behind him. Trotting up beside him as we reached the doorway, I gave his flank a small bump with my own, letting off a little giggle as he blinked and looked towards me. "So, why exactly are you worried about being the only stallion in the group, now?"
"C'mon, Strikey, you know how you are. It was hard enough staying sane when you and Scouring could both gush over explosives with each other, now I'm going to have to deal with full, concentrated you again." He bumped my flanks back in return, wearing a smile on his muzzle. Aw, you flatter me, Sparky... "I mean, I suppose you've gotten a little less crazy, but not by much. Have guessed by now asking you to try and be sane is like asking you to give up Sparkle-Cola... you think there's a correlation there?" The earth pony stuck out his tongue towards me as he stood at the top of the stairwell, starting to head down it. I passed on an eyeroll and shake of the head, hopping up onto the old bannister and leting myself fall off of it, my wings catching me before I hit the floor. Could hear that pony sigh from a story up...
"I love you too, Sparky~"
---
"Welcome back to Radio KAOS, we interrupt the usual broadcast to bring you a rather surprising news story out of Maple Station. Apparently the sudden radiation storms from up north may have originated from the detonation of a megaspell, as one of the tank ghouls reported seeing a distinctive fireball heading a mushroom cloud rising from the eastern mountain ranges. Best guess as to where that thing detonated that they could give me is the old amusement park out that way - as for how it was set off, well, I don't think we really need to speculate too much. The Vanhoover Five work in mysterious ways, all that I can really say, heh.
"We'll get you right back on to the music here, it's a beautiful Vanhoover morning and you're tuned in to Radio KAOS on Radio KAOS."
---
"So, whaddaya think went wrong with this Stable?" Resting on the back of the Mini-tank, we wound our way through the snowy mountain ranges, after being sure to drop a marker on our maps just so we could find our way back to the lodge. I shuffled up against Boomer, idly sipping from a bomb-bottle of Sparkle-Cola. "I mean, what kind of experiment could cause a whole Stable to go silent? Oooh, maybe they only had auto-docs and robots for medical staff, and after a while things went wrong and they started chopping up the residents. Or, or maybe the door had thermite charges so when it was pushed into place it was permanently sealed, and the fumes just killed everypony. Or-"
"Night Strike, please stop theorizing until we get there. I'd really rather not lose that breakfast I had earlier so soon..." Static shuddered in the driver's seat as we powered on through the snowy hillsides, eventually drawing near a road littered with derilect wagons. Well, sure seems like that a few ponies knew about Stable 117, at least before the war. Makes sense... "Have you considered that maybe they're just a Stable that haven't wanted to open their door yet? There had to have been a few Stables that were meant to be used as actual long-term bomb shelters, not all of them had to have some big tragedy befall them."
"Killjoy. C'mon, don't you want a little more intrigue than a Stable full of introverts? Oooh, what if they're all crazy clones, and they can only say their name or something? Or maybe they've fused with plants, or something... What if it's a Stable full of foals, and robots take care of everything so all they have to do is grow up, fuck another resident, make more foals, and then get killed afterwards?" I held a firm grip on the grenade machine gun as Static swerved us around one of the old wagons, the sickening crunch of bones shattering under tracks being heard through the snow as our own wagon clattered behind. Crash Dive passed on a glare from the back seat of the mini-tank as we settled again, Aerith sticking her head up from the trailer to see what'd caused the commotion. Static, meanwhile, was hunched over the handlebars - what, bit too much there?
"Gonna ask you just one more time Strikey, shut up until we get there or I will turn this half-track around." We rounded a corner, following the road further along the snowy valley as it started to narrow. Broken carts that were picked clean long ago littered the path, forcing Static to wind to and fro with the mini-tank to try and avoid smashing them, until he brought us to a stop a little further down. Looking ahead, it was fairly easy to see why... "...or I might have to turn us around, anyways. Guess we'll have to find another way around with that blocking the road..."
One of Aerith's screens flashed up in view as Static looked behind us, the alicorn hopping out of the trailer and trotting alongside, looking up at the blocked road ahead. 'Must've been one hell of an avalanche, looks like part of the road from up the mountain came down with it. I think we might have a few possible solutions left, though...' She wore a smile as she looked back towards me, trotting over to my duffel bag. Well, if she's going through my stuff, then I know what she's got planned is right up my alley... and enough to get another sigh out of Static. Oh, live a little, Sparky...
After a few moments she produced two black and gold-painted hoof grenades from my duffel bag... wait, don't tell me, ahm... Solar Burst, right, forgot I had a few of those in the hoof-thrown option, heh. Oh, I like where this is going already. 'A couple of these and that roadblock should be a little less roadblocky, at least enough to get over with this thing. Saves us some time finding a different route, at least.' Wearing a wide grin, I looked down towards Static, who just let out a long sigh and gave his head a shake in response.
"Fine, fine. I swear, there's gonna be some day when the issues we run into can't be solved with explosives..." The earth pony gave the mini-tank's engine a rev, looking around for a moment before pulling forwards and turning us around, myself hopping off as he stopped back by Aerith. He looked back towards the avalanche, before facing towards me. "I'm gonna drive back a ways, try and avoid getting hit by any shrapnel that might be in that thing. Please at least try to not cause another avalanche, and if you do end up causing one anyways, for the love of Celestia just fly above it. Have some sense of self-preservation, Strikey..."
A small chuckle escaped myself as I trotted over beside Static, wearing a light smile. "Come on, Static, ya gotta give me some credit. I can think of at least two good reasons to want to stick around..." Resting my forehooves on the side of the mini-tank beside the driver's position, I leaned forwards to plant a kiss on the earth pony's cheek, watching as it went from blue to a faint shade of red. He blunk a few times in surprise, before letting off a light chuckle, a smile forming on his own muzzle. I set myself back down onto my hooves, trotting back over to Aerith, the mini-tank's engine revving for a moment before the tracks clattered as he drove back up the road.
Watching the mini-tank disappear around the corner, I felt Aerith nudge me with her wing, another one of her screens flashing up as she wore a smile. 'Come on, we've got a roadblock to blow to smithereens. Stare at cute stallions on your own time.' Letting off a weak chuckle, I answered her with a nod, both of us taking flight in the small roadway. The sheer size of the avalanche became apparent as we drew close, the alicorn holding place a few meters away from the start of the blockage. 'So, gonna guess that the best we can hope for is to blast out a ramp so Static can drive over, because there's no way we'll be clearing the whole valley with just two grenades. See any obvious weakspots?'
Looking over the landslide for a moment, I let myself drop down to the base of it, starting to look over the wall of debris. Weak spots, weak spots... hm. Yeah, weak spots are easier to find on armored vehicles than giant landmasses, usually... "Um... well, anywhere that's mostly wagons would probably be weaker than the rest. Bury one of them in deep enough, pull the pin and release the spoon, best we can hope for. Think these have a timer of... five seconds? Or three?" Aerith looked towards the two grenades with me as she held them in her magic, seperating one off and giving it to me. We both trotted along the base a little further, my eyes scanning over the icy wall. "Should only take one if we put it in the right spot. I'm pretty sure balefire egg-yield explosives weren't that often used for standard demolition purposes before the war, so, yanno, might be enough."
Aerith passed on a nod as I stopped by some wreckage in the avalanche, looking at it a little more closely. Hm, halfway down the blockage, seems like the wagon frame's caused a bit of a cavity to be left... should work out. The alicorn stepped up beside me, looking in as well, as I started to dig out the hole a little bigger with my free hoof. Stepping back, Aerith pulled the pin off of the grenade she held, keeping a firm grip on the lever with her magic as she gingerly placed it on the far side of the cavity. Horn still aglow as she kept the armed grenade from igniting, she spread her wings wide and started to fly back to the abandoned wagons further up the road, myself folowing close behind. 'Alright, here goes nothing. You ready for it?'
Wearing a grin and settling down behind a wagon, I answered her with a curt nod, peering over the top towards the roadblock. The light sound of the alicorn's magic disappeared, Aerith doing what Static would call the sensible thing and ducking down behind the wagon she chose. As for myself, the wind over the little valley the road was in the middle of filled my ears as I started to count the seconds off in my head - one... two... three!
...Erm... four? Fi- There was a bright flash from inside the landslide before the snow, ice, mud and dirt exploded out from the face, raining down and clattering loudly against the rusting wagons. Little bits of metal and wood debris from the buried wagons flew out as well, pinging off of the abandoned ones in the road and sizzling in the snow, left white-hot by the blast. I let loose a small giggle as everything started to quiet down, a massive plume of smoke rising from what was formerly the block in the road, forming into a semi-mushroom shape. Eh, well, suppose you can't get that with every explosion...
Letting off a relaxed sigh and leaning against the wagon, the purr of the mini-tank's engine caught my ears again as it came back around the bend, weaving through the assorted wrecks. Aerith took flight to land back in the trailer as I kept where I was, Static pulling up beside me and looking off towards the new ramp. He sat back, pushing up his goggles after a moment. "Well, at least we'll have a fast way getting back, I suppose. That gonna be good enough for us to get up it?"
Putting the unused Solar Burst grenade back into my duffel bag, I hopped up onto the back of the mini-tank behind Boomer, looking over the blast site. Thinking for a moment, I answered him with a shrug. "It's better than it was, just use low gearing. It's half-tank and has a lot of grunt in the engine, should do us fine." Static passed on an uneasy look, before pulling his goggles back down and giving the engine a rev, myself fitting the welding goggles over my own eyes and flipping the opaque lens up. The mini-tank and wagon weaved through the wrecks towards the base of the mound, tracks biting the loose snow as Static shifted into a lower gear, myself hanging on tight to Boomer as we started climbing up the slope. It didn't take too long for us to reach the top, thankfully, and we were soon back on the road towards the Stable. "So... ooh, what if the Stable turned its residents into freaky half-pony burrowing creatures?"
"Oh for the love of- drop it until we get there, Night Strike..."
---
"Huh. Didn't think there actually was a junky old door outside -every- Stable's entrance..." It was around late morning as we finally pulled up outside the door that lead to Stable 117, a quick check of our maps confirming this being the place. An old bus sat rusting outside it, the front firmly smashed into the rocky mountain face with a few skeletons laying hapazardly inside. Closer inspection just made out the faded lettering on the side showing that it'd come from the Twin Peaks Lodge - huh, that'd really suck if you were on vacation up this way from Gemdale or something, get halfway there just to have a great view as your home took a balefire bomb to the face.
I hopped off the back of the mini-tank as Static shut the engine off, the earth pony leaning back after a moment and looking off in the other direction from the mountainside. As Crash Dive and Aerith disembarked as well, I joined him - damn, sure is a scenic place for a Stable to get put in. The mountain dropped away to overlook a large lake below to the north, and looking east you could just about make out what was left of the Gemdale pit mine and the highway that led up by the Starlite Drive-in and Maple Station. Static let off a soft sigh, climbing out of the driver's seat, Aerith pulling open the old wooden door of the entrance behind us. "Sure is a pretty view for a last one, isn't it? I mean, it was for whoever made it inside 117, anyways... Yanno, besides, well, Gemdale."
"I dunno, Sparky, I'd still call that view pretty beautiful... ignoring the fact that ponies were being irradiated and crushed under rubble in their own homes." A quick shiver shot up my spine as I said that, remembering that one skeleton wearing the metal hat back in Gemdale - ewuh, okay, if I knew that was happening maybe seeing a balefire bomb go off wouldn't entirely outweigh that. Static passed on an eyeroll and shake of his head, wearing a light smile as he trotted over towards the entrance with his umbrella by his side. Thinking for a moment, I grabbed Thumper and the Gryphon sword out of my duffel bag, slinging the large olive-green sack onto my back and joining them at the entrance.
The icy cavern ahead stunk of stagnant water as we slowly made our way inside, mine and Static's legputers providing light for us while Aerith's horn and Crash Dive's helmet eyes glowed, trotting into the side of the mountain. Static blunk a few times as I moved up alongside him, his light glinting off of the cover-thing for the handle of my sword. "Huh, you're actually planing on using that sword? I would've expected you to just do what you've been and use War Crime instead."
A chuckle escaped me as we moved depper into the entrance, echoing off of the hard rock walls. "Are you kidding? War Crime in a Stable, if I shot her off I'd be liable to blow out all of our eardrums. Only reason I might be able to use Thumper is because the shells aren't fired at supersonic velocities, would at least have less of a chance of making us all go deaf." The earth pony just blunk at me a few times, myself trotting ahead a short ways. I looked back towards him after a moment, wearing a smirk. "Oh, c'mon Static, give me some credit. I'm not ENTIRELY self-destructive..."
Still trotting forwards, I stopped as I felt my hoof kick against something hard, white, and empty, a clattering noise accompanying it. Looking down, I took a step back... and then took several more after that, staring at the pile left in front of us, just outside the great steel door. Pony skeletons laid in various positions on the rocky ground, some in front of the door with their hooves scratched to nubs, scrape marks left in the paint above them. Other equine skeletons held on to each other, some of varying sizes, Static's jaw hanging slack beside me. Well... that's not something you see every day.
Aerith trotted forth, her magic encompassing and clearing a path for us to reach the control panel for the Stable's doorway. I let off a cold breath, trotting forth and looking up at the massive steel cog, the number 117 welded to it's front. Moving over to the panel, I looked it over for a moment, pushing on the big red button and looking back to the door, bracing for the sounds of warning klaxons and screeching metal. Unfortunately... nothing happened.
Static trotted up beside me as I was still looking at the door, waiting for it to open, his attention turned towards the control panel. "Huh, didn't Hi-fi's Stable just have a number pad and a lever? Not seen one with a button before... hm..." Looking it over for a moment, the earth pony stallion pused an upraised section of the panel up, revealing an access port underneath it. He looked it over for a moment, before opening his eyes in surprise. "Oh, that's nifty. These Stables down here only open for ponies with pip-bucks, not surprised nopony's been able to see what's inside here. Just let me..." Static pulled a connector off of his legputer, hooking it into the port, before pushing the red button again.
This time, the familiar warning klaxons sounded out, filling the cavern with noise, while the massive hydraulic arm inside the Stable's entryway moved into it's spot on the door. An allmighty screech sounded out loud as the door was pulled in, the rusty metal scraping against itself as it rolled away to the side, an old walkway extending to provide passage over the massive gear tracks. Light flooded out from inside the Stable, us all able to turn our own lights off as we stood outside, looking between each other. Alright, Stable 117, ready or not we're coming into you...
The wire grating of the walkway creaked under our weight as we made way into the underground shelter, the walls looking nicer than I was expecting. I mean, it's no Stable 92, but there's no blood and gore, at least... so much for medical robots gone crazy. Then again, this is just the entryway... "Hm. Lights are on, somepony's gotta be home, right? Reactors don't run themselves." Static moved over to the interior control panel, looking at it for a moent, before proceeding to a storage room just off to the side. I trotted over to another door in the entryway while Aerith and Crash Dive both spread out to investigate the rest of the entrance. Huh, Stable 92 didn't have an elevator...
"Guys, over here. Looks like we'll be getting to the bottom of this... literally." Letting off a light chuckle of my own, the rest of the group converged with me, Static letting off a long groan. Whaaat? I thought it was clever. Pushing the call button with my hoof, the doors opened wide, allowing us all to step inside the lift... which was easier said than done. Eventually we managed to squeeze ourselves in, Aerith reaching over to push the button, some music playing through the small speakers overhead. Hopefully the rest of the Stable isn't this cramped...
The elevator eventually reached the main atrium, us all flopping out onto the old tile flooring. Eugh, maybe we take two trips going back up... I picked myself back up onto my hooves, looking around. Old walls that could really do with a fresh coat of paint covered the sides, some of the heavy hydraulic doors left open to other areas of the Stable. Looking down a stairway that led to the lower level, a garden seemed to be half-growing in the far left corner, in what seemed to once be a dining area. Crash Dive pulled off her helmet, looking around cautiously. "Really not liking this, should be ponies down here. Night Strike, Static, you go see if the office overlooking from that window up there has anything to explain it, I'll go with Aerith and figure out where the residents are."
I passed a nod to the power armored pegasus, both her and the alicorn heading down the stairs while myself and the earth pony trotted along the upper walkway. The sign above the door at the far end illuminated the word 'Overmare', both of us heading up the short stairwell down the hall. Well, least this is a little more straightforwards than trying to find where Hi-fi is in her Stable, between the radio station and the stage... the large hydraulic door lifted up into the roof, the office left sitting empty yet more well-kept than expected. I hung back by the door as Static trotted inside, heading for the terminal at the desk in the center of the room. "Yeah, I'm with Crash Dive on this. I was expecting some horrific experiments or something, not... nothing. If anything, this is even worse..."
"See, Strikey, this is what you get for theorizing. There's probably going to be something to let us know what happened, I really doubt that an entire Stable of ponies just up and vanished without a trace. Now, let's see..." The earth pony sat himself down at the desk, a hoof reaching to turn on the terminal's power switch with a loud clack and whirr of fans. I made myself busy looking at the rest of the room, the earth pony letting off an annoyed grunt. "Nuts, password... ahm, this one looks like a full-length, might take me a while to crack... if you find it anywhere, let me know. Think her quarters are through that door."
Passing him a nod while he clacked away at the keyboard, I headed for the large hydraulic door, opening it up with a hiss of pressure. The living room of the Overmare greeted me, looking just as well-kept as the rest of the Stable was. I took a few tentative steps inside the room, trying to look for something - anything - that might've shown that somepony was still around. Not even a tripwire or pressure plate caught my eye as I trotted through to the kitchen, heading for the fridge. Pausing for a moment to look towards the bedroom door, I continued on towards the fridge, opening it. Well, it's entirely possible that the overmare left her password on a bottle of Sparkle-Cola... I better check, just to be sure.
Opening the door of the still-running fridge, the chill air flowed out and against my hooves, faintly reminding me of the snow outside. Buh, darn heated floors... man, this was a fancy Stable. As I scanned through the fridge, however, rather than several bottles of sweet, sweet Sparkle-Cola, several half-emptied plastic bags of Radaway rested on the metal shelves. I blunk a few times, shutting the door and bringing up my legputer - no, no, I'm not getting any radiation here. Huh...
Turning around, I made way towards the door to the bedroom, reaching for the handle before catching myself. All that Radaway... oh, I hope the Overmare's one of those stupid ghouls that just run straight at you. Readying the gryphon sword, and remembering how oddly weighted it was, I reached for the door's handle again, bracing myself. The door opened with a hydraulic hiss, myself closing my eyes and leaping forwards into the room, hoping to slice the now-ghoulified Overmare clean apart. Though, after a moment of standing in the quiet room with the sword out and eyes held shut like an idiot, I eventually relaxed myself and opened my eyes to look.
The room just looked like a standard Stable bedroom, a small desk and wardrobe on the right side and the bed on the left, myself slipping the sword back to it's place under my duffel bag. Looking to the bed, I blunk a few times, not quite realizing what it was that my eyes were resting on. The blankets were pulled and resting over a skeleton, undisturbed and left there from the day it, well, whoever it was... yanno, maybe I should leave, there's no password here and I'm sure Static has cracked it by now.
Stepping back out of the bedroom and shutting the door behind me, I trotted silently back to the main office, Static looking up from the terminal as I shut the Overmare's bedroom door behind me. "Turns out the password was Swordfish. Who knew? Anyways, uhm... yeah, this, uh, this isn't looking good, Strikey. Don't think we can even blame Stable-Tec for this one failing." Blinking a few times, I trotted over to see the screen, Static moving aside so I could. The green lettering scrolled out on the terminal as he selected an entry, myself starting to read it out silently. Stable-Tec Official Breifing, FOR OVERSTALLION/OVERMARE EYES ONLY...
'Congratulations on your new position in control of one of Stable-Tec's most advanced state-of-the-art Stables, Stable 117! You should be enthralled to know that...' yada yada yada, guff and words. Sheesh, pre-war ponies liked their fluff when it came to paperwork, didn't they? Alright... scanning through, I eventually found the next non-filler-looking paragraph. 'The purpose of Stable 117 is for researching and generating a particular mutation that has been observed in some citizens of Equestria; as it stands, all residents - including yourself - lack this mutation. This strange genetic anomaly is observed to cause ponies exposed to extreme levels of radiation to appear to suffer from coat decay, severely advanced radiation sickness, and deadness, however the ponies themselves are left healthy and fully functional. Your medical bay has been supplied with the equipment to detect this anomaly, and your goal over your time in Stable 117 is to see if this genetic anomaly can be forced to occur in a large enough sample...' "They were trying to breed ponies that genetically couldn't become ghouls to make foals that could?"
"Sure seems like that was the initial plan. The only problem was, um... here." Static backed out of the file and moved back a few screens, scrolling down and selecting something labeled 'Seismological Activity Log'. The screen filled with a list of several different dates, the top one... being from just earlier today. Taking over control of the terminal and selecting that one, latitude and longitude played out, as well as an approximation on the energy released. .02 tons of TNT... no, couldn't have been...
Moving back, I picked out the second most recent event, watching as it played out on the screen. Latitude, longitude... 70 kilotons of TNT. 70 kilotons, really? Dang, that valley sure kept the blast contained... oh, crap. I clicked back again, selecting the third most recent. Latitude, longitude, 500 tons of TNT. Fourth most, 1 kiloton of TNT. Fifth most... huh, that BLEVE actually registered all the way over here at half a ton? Sheesh...
Static pushed me aside after a moment, scrolling down the list to an entry marked as being from only a few decades after the war and selecting it. I looked towards him as he passed a slightly annoyed look - what, I like knowing how big these booms were! This entry played out the usual latitude and longitude, and blast yield, but was followed by a note. Static moved back away, letting me read the screen as it played out. 'Main reactor sustained heavy damage, heavy radiation leak. Contained 12 hours post-incident - Stable contaminated beyond saving.' What...
"So... a stable full of ponies that can't become ghouls, and they suffer a radiation leak because of an earthquake... starting to see what happened. Sweet Celestia..." Static flicked back through the screens, chewing on his lip and nodding solemnly.
"The radiation sterilized the whole Stable. They couldn't reproduce, couldn't turn into ghouls, and didn't want to open the door. They just... let themselves die out." The earth pony let off a sigh, looking down to his pip-buck and pulling the connection wire off of it, plugging it into the terminal. He passed me a weak look as he downloaded the data from the terminal, myself letting off a sigh and starting to trot towards the office exit. Static soon followed behind, shaking his head slowly, both of us trotting down the stairs to the main atrium. "That... that's just not right. That's... it's..."
"C'mon. Let's just find Crash Dive and Aerith and get back to the Lodge, I think we're explored-out for the day. Start off for the Airbase tomorrow." The earth pony nodded in response, letting off a sigh. Maybe some mysteries are just better left undiscovered...
---
"Hello, and welcome back to Radio K A O S, KAOS in Vanhoover. It's a lovely night out there tonight, and folks in Maple Station are basking in the nice hot breeze coming down from the former site of the Vanhoover Mountain Fairgrounds. Sources report that the Vanhoover Five are once again to thank for the most recent explosion, in a development that surprised absolutely nopony whatsoever. The fallout should fully fall out in another week or two, so to anyone of a ghoulish deposition, enjoy it while you can. I dunno about you, but as far as I'd think, the Vanhoover Five are hell-bent on making new vacation spots for those lovely ponies who've been around for far longer than most of us will ever be, heh.
"In other weather news, it's looking like cloudy skies and light flurries will be the usual for most of the next few days, so stay warm out there. Those stallions and mares running the big guns and the small guns of Maple Creek, Vanhoover, and Hopeville especially, since as far as I can guess aerial defense is a definite full-time job. Just make sure that whoever you're shooting at, they're definitely an enemy, heh...
"That's all for tonight, folks. You're tuned into Radio KAOS, and this next album is The Final Cut by Roger Trotters. Goodnight Vanhoover, and enjoy."
-----
I groaned as I felt my Pip-Buck vibrating as the alarm went off, a small beeping eminating from the speakers. My other hoof slapped onto the screen as I fiddled blindly with the knobs, my eyes still clenched shut tightly. With a click the alarm went off and I slowly opened my eyes, staring at the bedside table my umbrella was leaned up against. Night Strike grunted and snorted a little as I rolled out of bed and wandered over to my saddlebags, hitching them up and taking a hold of my umbrella. Thinking for a moment, I lifted up Night Strike’s duffel bag, and tossed it onto her in the bed. She snorted again as her eyes fluttered open, lazily flailing against the loaded olive-drab sack. “Gnnngh, couldn’t just shake me awake?” She asked once her brain had ground back into action, pushing the bag off of her. Sliding out of bed, the pegasus slipped the large bag onto her back, before following me out of the room and towards Aerith and Crash Dive’s.
“I think if I did that, I’d just shake up all the soda you’ve got in your gut.” I said, cheekily. Night Strike shoved one of my legs lightly before reaching into her duffle bag to pop open another bottle of Sparkle-Cola. I mean, I guess caffeine and sugar -is- a good way to stay awake... Stepping up to the others’ room, I knocked a couple times, Night Strike covering her mouth as she burped. Crash Dive greeted me as the door swung open, looking much more alert than Aerith as they stepped out of the room together. Sheesh, I really need to get whatever it is that gets Crash Dive up and moving so easily.
We all headed downstairs, going straight for the door outside, having emptied the kitchens during dinner the night before. Stepping outside into the brisk morning air, we trotted up to the mini-tank and piled in. I twisted the ignition, which only caused the engine to sputter for several seconds. C’mon, stupid cold weather… I smacked the back of the mini-tank as I turned the ignition again, which thankfully caught as the engine rumbled to life. Easing forward, I began to drive towards the eastern mountain ranges, looking for a gap we could head through.
---
The half-track bounced over a few rocks as I drove along, the biting wind causing me to bury my muzzle into the collar of my jacket. Twisting the handles of the mini-tank, I steered around a cluster of fallen rocks as we approached the base of the mountain crests. I squinted through my makeshift goggles, spotting a valley in the distance where some trails of the earth’s underlying magical energy converged to flow through. Night Strike leaned back into Boomer, watching the landscape roll by as Aerith took a few potshots at some roaming bloatsprites with her machine gun.
I turned into the valley, the mountains rising up on either side of us as we zipped through. A few large boulders lay on either side of the valley, showing signs of ancient landslides. The path wended this way and that, growing so narrow in some spots the sides of the tank grazed up against the rocky walls. The ground sloped up a little as we continued through, eventually widening back out to allowing for a comfortable amount of wiggle room as we drove along. As we continued, though, the sound of the engine’s rumble grew louder, sounding as if it was straining a little. “The heck? You can skate across a newly made land-bridge over a river, but can’t handle a ten degree incline?” I said aloud, looking back at the engine casing of the tank in confusion.
“Sheesh, maybe I should have Oil Slick look you over agai-” I looked forward again, only for my voice to die in my throat. Looking down into the small valley ahead, the sight of a large mechanical beast caught my attention, glowing bright blue with magic through my goggles. I pushed them up onto my forehead as I brought the mini-tank to a shop, just looking down at the rumbling beast with everyone else. It vaguely resembled a tank, I think, plates of armor that had been rather unprofessionally bolted and welded on giving it a bit of a scruffy appearance as two of the smaller turrets on the front scanned side-to-side lazily. Blinking for a few moments, I slowly began to look around where the tank rested - massive skeletons, some stripped bare while others were still decaying littered the area, making bumps in the fresh snow that filled the valley floor.
I chewed at my lip for a moment, looking back to the others, unsure of what to do. Aerith looked equally puzzled, staring down as the tank's turrets continued to scan the valley. Night Strike, of course, was beaming as she shot into the air off the mini-tank's back, rushing for the valley floor to get a better look at the multi-turreted landship. Oh, Celestia, she’s going to be turned into swish cheese by all those guns! Grimacing, I followed closely behind her with the mini-tank, hoping that whoever or whatever's in the turrets can tell a bunch of ponies from a hellhound. She dropped onto the back of the tank as we drew near, her hooves clanking against the metal as she landed. A second later the turrets stopped in place, slowly starting to rotate themselves around to focus in on us. Oh, shit.
There was the sounds of scuffling from inside, along with a raspy call before the main turret turned about, pointing it's significantly larger gun towards me as Night Strike hopped herself up onto the roof of one of the smaller rear turrets. I fumbled with the controls, twisting the ignition and speeding backwards. The trailer bounced and swerved behind me as I tried to back away from the gunner's view, only to veer off course and jacknife behind me, the fender resounding with a metallic crunch - oh, come on... Desperately trying to move the tank back into gear to drive forwards, I barely had noticed the top hatch of the tank had opened, landing against the metal with a loud clang. “Ach! Calm down, you're no hollenhund...”
I looked up to see a zebra popping its head out of the tank, leaning up against the rim. He blunk a few times, looking us over, before turning to see Night Strike. “I do have to ask vhat you were intending on doing to my tank. Is your first reaction upon seeing something vith seven fifty-caliber maschinengewehrs always to try and jump on it?” Hey, that was entirely Night Strike’s idea! As I caught my breath, I noticed the zebra’s coat was not only striped grey and... darker grey, but had large gashes across it, revealing tendons and blood vessels shifting about as he moved. Jeez, just how many ghoul tank owners live in Vanhoover? “So, ahm, anyvays... who’re you?”
“Vanhoover five… well, four at the moment. You, uh, wouldn’t just so happen to be allowing tours of your tank here, would you?” Night Strike, asked, still grinning widely. Crash Dive shook her head as I carefully drove the tank forward, dislodging the trailer and pausing to look back at the crushed fender. That's gonna take a lot of polish... The zebra ghoul raised an eyebrow quizzically as Night Strike inspected one of the smaller turrets that sat around the main one, the cannon-caliber gun sporting coils in a similar fashion to Jolts' barrel - wait... a gauss cannon?
The zebra gave a nervous chuckle, watching Night Strike inspect the tank. “Aheh, ahm, not unless you’ve got a month’s supply of Rad-X you can chug down all at once. Deathtrap's been through a lot over ze years, time hasn't been entirely kind to her. Or her main reactor... not as much a problem for yours truly, but I wouldn't have my face quite that close to the viewslots if I were you.” Night Strike took a moment to retreat from her close inspection, her pip-buck audibly clicking away, looking a bit crestfallen. She hopped down off of the tank's back, looking over it for a short while, seeming to think. “Ah, vhere are my manners, I'm Caution Tape, und, heh, this big landship is Deathtrap.” He patted the steel casing, the tank releasing a quiet electric hum as the turrets seemed to start to scan back and forth again, ignoring us, apparently. Another raspy squawk could be heard from inside the tank, when suddenly another head, this one belonging to some sort of bird, popped out beside Caution Tape’s. Its feathers were a vibrant green and seemed to flicker and shift slightly, almost looking like a slowly burning candle as it shone with an unearthly glow.
“Ah, und zis little troublemaker is Peridot.” The bird clicked its beak indignantly, staring down at us. Caution Tape chuckled a little, placing a hoof down by Peridot’s chest. She stepped up onto his arm, her talons grasping tightly as she slowly walked up to his shoulder. “I, ah, take it by your faces you’ve not seen a balefire phoenix before?” I suddenly realized my mouth was hanging open, and closed it. Balefire phoenix... why am I not surprised that that's a thing. “I found her not long after the war, was hanging about in the rafters of the Stalliongrad Ordinance Depot when I went in to give Deathtrap a few firepower upgrades. She was pecking at the top of Deathtrap all while I vas trying to refit the piddly thirty caliber machine gun placements with ze fifty caliber guns, und add the dual fifty pintle mount here. No more ordinance officer to deny my requests, heh...”
Before I could respond, Aerith let out a long squeak of joy, her wings spreading out as she flew up to get a better look at the bird. It eyed her warily as she approached, spreading its wings a bit in an attempt to look more intimidating. Caution Tape gave a small grunt of pain as her talons dug a little more deeply into his skin. Aerith leaned in, grinning widely as she looked at the glowing bird. She puckered her lips, making little kissy-sounds. Peridot relaxed a little, lowering her wings to her side. “Careful now, fraulein. I think ze only reason she hasn’t torn more holes in my skin vith those claws of hers is just because the rads help keep it intact.”
Aerith placed a hoof up to Peridot’s chest, who proceeded to hop on, only to hop off her hoof a moment later. Aerith rolled her eyes as Peridot hopped down onto the body of Deathtrap, myself thinking. “Hang on, did you say you were from Stalliongrad? Like… pre-war Stalliongrad? You wouldn’t happen to've known a mare named Rolling Tracks, would you?” Caution Tape froze, his eyes going wide.
“Rolling Tracks? She’s alive?” Caution Tape let out a giggle at a far higher pitch than any stallion should be able to produce. “Oh, wunderbar! I need to contact her! Where is she? How’s she still alive? Vell, I guess she’s probably a ghoul zen too, oh, right you said that, und War Mare’s still working? I just can’t…” Caution Tape prattled on and on, even Peridot looking at him a little uneasily as he bounced in place from the excitement. He eventually took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “Ok, ok, sorry, it’s just been a very long time since I’ve last seen her, I knew she was a very strong mare but I'd thought I was the only one at the Stalliongrad Proving Grounds that survived the war.”
“Well, uh, eheh, I hate to burst your bubble, but she’s kind of a couple hundred... thousand kilometers north of here. Last I saw her, she was escorting a group from NEAMO Crater to Topatow… that’s a fair way further north than Mooscow and Quebuck, you probably know of those places better.” I said, looking up at Caution Tape. He frowned a little, looking down at his tank.
“Oh, schiesse, I had enough difficulties getting to Cantercross, I’d never be able to make it that far in Deathtrap... even besides the obvious. I hit an old anti-tank mine laid on ze highway between Merritt und Hope, blew Deathtrap's track und a few of her road wheels clean off. A passing caravan was able to help me jury-rig it back together, but, vell...” Caution Tape let off a sigh, looking down at the busted track. "Hit a snowstorm, wound up straying east, ended up caught in this valley. The muck caused her own engine to strain und snap the fixed track link, and I've been here for months." Aerith looked over to us, and I immediately knew what she was thinking. No, no, I am not backtracking a several days’ trip just to escort a freaking tank! We'll help fix his track for him, after that he can make it just fine!
Aerith, sensing my annoyance, rolled her eyes, her horn flaring up. 'Oh, calm down, Static. I don’t think we’d all need to head back anyway. I mean, I don’t mean to be rude, but at the same time I'm pretty sure neither you, Night Strike, or Crash Dive would be of too much help in repairing the track. This thing seems like it's a hell of a lot heavier than the mini-tank.” She nodded her head. I calmed down a little, though even splitting up to leave Aerith heading back alone seemed like a bad idea. 'Aaaaaaand,' the word was drawn out on her screen as her magic suddenly encompassed my saddlebags. “I -can- think of something you stand to gain from this.” She levitated out the old stealth armor I’d picked up from the Sunrise Sarsaparilla plant, holding it out with a smile.
She floated the armor over to Caution Tape and let it fall into his hooves, the zebra looking it over in confusion. 'You’re pretty resourceful. Know anything about old zebra tech? We found this a while back but can’t find anypony around that’d know how to fix it.' Aerith passed on a smile, looking to the tank ghoul. Caution Tape’s eyes went wide again as he turned the armor over in his hooves. He stammered a little, leaning against the hatch rim and inspecting the wires and casings of the armor.
“I, uh… meine gottin, vhere did you find this? I mean, ah... I think I might be able to get it working again, yes. Though it’d probably take a few days for me to find the right parts, und some stealth bucks to rewire the thing.” Aerith looked smugly over to me, causing me to grumble a little. Geez, I’m losing my bartering touch.
“Alright, you can stay to help him get back to Maple Station. Hopefully we can tag back up with you again when we get back from the Air Base.” I said, a little defeated. Aerith beamed and clapped her hooves together, Night Strike looking a little disappointed as she hovered back over to Boomer, letting off a sigh. “Aw, cheer up, Strikey. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of other death machines to distract yourself with once we’re up at the airbase. Contrail did say that they had plenty of those big anti-air craft guns you like so much.”
Night Strike set herself up on the back of the mini-tank and answered me with a light nod, waving up to Aerith and Caution Tape with a weak smile. “Well, see you guys later, then!” Aerith waved back as Caution Tape ducked down into the workings of Deathtrap, Peridot hopping down after him. Aerith dropped down into the tank as well, and there was just enough time to hear the sound of a Silver Shroud radio play crackle over the air and the alicorn let off another squeal of delight before the hatch fell shut with a clang. The engine of the half-track rumbled as I pulled forwards and went around the long sides of Deathtrap, settling back towards the east and speeding up. “Alright... so, how far until the next town?” Night Strike asked, leaning over the side of the mini-tank a little.
“I dunno, a couple kilometers, maybe? Don't think that Caution Tape would've strayed that far east if he was coming from the north... then again, don't know if the towns he mentioned are even on our wasteland maps.” The valley only grew more jagged as we drove along, one of the mountain ranges falling away, leaving us climbing along the side of one mountain. I slowed, not particularly in the mood to attempt to grow wings in a near-death scenario should we go careening off the edge. Gwuuh, stupid pre-war road designers...
---
The sun was starting to lower in the sky as we eventually spotted a town in the distance, placed precariously close to the edge of the cliff side. The road widened as we crested the summit of the mountain, the cold air whipping around us as we slowly approached the town. I glanced down, suddenly bringing the mini-tank to a stop as I noticed large glowing disks scattered about in the fresh snow through my goggles. “What’s up?” Night Strike stood up, trying to peer over my head.
“This place has a hell of a lot of frag mines in it, I don’t know if I can see any good place to try and drive through.” I scanned the ground before me, but I couldn’t spot an area that was wide enough for me to bring the mini-tank through without blowing off one of the treads, or worse. And if to add insult to injury, the field layed between the edge of the cliff and another sharp incline in the mountains, negating the option of heading around. I grimaced, pulling back and moving the mini-tank away from the minefield and towards a ditch. I brought the tank to a stop at the bottom, shutting off the engine and climbing out, releasing a sigh. “Unless you want to try and disarm every mine in that field, I think we’re just going to have to walk it. We can figure out some way to get it across tomorrow, just cover it with the tarp until then.”
Crash Dive climbed out after me and started to pull the large tarp off of the wagon, spreading it out to try and hide both, Night Strike looking uneasily back at the rather poor hiding spot. “You sure there’s no way through?” She asked, following closely behind once she’d taken her duffle bag from the trailer. I shook my head, making my way towards a path that had been laid out in the field, just barely wide enough for two ponies to stand side by side. I looked down at the ground, carefully maneuvering myself through, the cold snow crunching underhoof. Night Strike hovered behind Crash Dive, who stayed as close behind me as she could. It seemed like forever, each time I looked up to check how far we’d gone, the edge of the field never seemed to grow any closer. Crash Dive’s light swept across the field, illuminating some of the mines as it passed over them.
Giving a sigh of relief and pulling my goggles off upon reaching the other end of the field, we were now standing at the edge of town. Night Strike landed beside us, and we headed in, looking about at the structures. The buildings appeared to be even more dilapidated than most pre-war settlements, and an eerie silence hung in the air as we walked down the streets. We turned down another street, bombed out buildings lining it on either side of us. My ear flicked as I heard a small clack of something bounce down onto the street in front of me. I had barely enough time to register what had happened before Crash Dive grabbed ahold of me and pulled me backwards. The grenade detonated with a loud bang, sending shrapnel everywhere as I shielded my face. A few pieces cut into my legs, though Crash Dive’s armor managed to deflect most of it - ah, crap, ambush!
Gunshots began to ring out as gryphon mercs appeared on either side of us, firing through the shattered windows of the storefronts. Night Strike whipped out Thumper, firing a grenade at one of the buildings. The blast tore apart the facade as it detonated, sending the mercenaries sprawling to the ground, feathers aflame and blood splattering the walls inside. Picking herself off of me, Crash Dive pulled the pin on a plasma grenade, before chucking it up towards a gryphon camping on top of one of the stores with a sniper rifle. He took his rifle by the barrel and just managed to smack the grenade away with the butt, causing it to explode mid-air harmlessly before he took aim again.
I pulled out my umbrella, the prongs sparking angrily as I ran towards a few of the mercenaries that were attempting to rush us with shotguns. My heart, already racing, began to speed up, when without warning, everything suddenly began to slow around me. The mercs were still clearly running at full tilt, and yet their hooves still took ages to swing up from behind and plant themselves back in front of them. One of the gryphons lifted his shotgun, pointing it at me before firing. I managed to jump out of the way of the buckshot before it went off, leaving him open to a jab at the neck from my umbrella. The mercenary stumbled, flopping to the ground in slow motion.
Before the others could figure out what had happened, I bit down on the handle of the umbrella, attempting to shock the second gryphon of the group, only for a feeble jolt to barely even arc across the prongs. Oh, of course this thing can’t recharge any faster... I resorted to smacking the merc upside the head, knocking him to the ground as Crash Dive slowly picked up one of their discarded shotguns and emptied it at the one I had just knocked down. I ducked as another one fired, causing him to instead fire upon one of his comrades. The gryphon was thrown backwards with the force of the blast, letting out a deep cry of pain.
I was about to jab the umbrella into the final merc’s neck when suddenly my vision became blurry, myself wobbling unsteadily on my hooves. Oh, fuck, not now, not now! I jabbed fruitlessly into the mess of colors as time slowly ground its way back to its normal pace. The gryphon had darted to the side, and I could only watch in wide-eyed terror as he pointed his shotgun towards my side and fired. I screamed, flung to the ground as blood began to pour out of my gut. My teeth clenched together tightly as I tried to get back to my hooves, tears starting to stream down my face. Damnit, not like this...
“Get the fuck away from him you motherfucking shitfuck!” I heard Night Strike yell, diving towards the merc that'd hit me. She slammed into him, both of them rolling on the road for a few feet as Night Strike punched at the gryphon, a crack being heard as she got a strike against his beak. He tried to get his wings spread and flee, but Night Strike hit him upside the head with the butt of Thumper, emptying a shot into one of the merc's wings. Yelling incoherent vulgarities, she pulled out the Gryphon's sword, stamping the merc against the snowy street. Sparks flew angrily across its blade as Night Strike raised it high into the air, before plunging it down into the mercenary's throat, silencing his screams.
Crash Dive rushed over to me as I coughed, blood splattering onto the concrete. “Sit back down, you idiot. You don’t want to lose any more blood, do you?” She bent down, tearing off one of the raider’s clothes into thin strips of cloth. Night Strike was panting, still standing over the gryphon’s body as she tried to slow her breathing, a momentary lull breaking the action. Another explosion went off somewhere, before the dark blue pegasus shot off again, the bloodied sword sizzling as the electricity burned off the gore. Crash Dive tossed me strips of the merc's underclothes as she tore new ones, a purple pouch landing in front of me as well. “Get those over the wound and that inside you, now. We’ll find some proper bandages soon.” I obeyed, wincing as I stretched my legs to wrap the cloth around my waist. My Pip-Buck buzzed as I was bandaging myself up, a small notice appearing on its front.
'Your health is low! You should find a healing potion or some water to drink!' Thanks for the alert, Stable-Tec...
-----
You know, I've never really been fond of the color red. I mean, the bright orange-red of a cooling fireball is nice, but it doesn't really compare to the brilliant initial white-hot flash that sears skin and muscle before the blast wave has a chance to tear them apart. It's a nice color for an accent here and there, those bands I wear are technically a muted red, but it's just not flattering when it's bright and in your face, and all that you can see.
And it certainly doesn't belong coming out of the side of a blue earth pony.
My wings carried me through the air as barrages of bullets and birdshot peppered me from all sides, some bouncing off of my jacket or slicing through my feathers. If it had hurt, I didn't feel it, not through the adrenaline forcing it's way through my veins and the rage burning behind my eyes. Thumper snapped shut as I reloaded him with a shotshell of my own, making a snap-turn to throw myself towards another one of the gryphon mercenaries. He released a muted scream as the 40mm-bore barrel dug into his chest, the automatic rifle he had in claw being thrown off to the side as momentum carried us skidding along the snow. His eyes met mine for only a fraction of a second before I released Thumper's hammer, the barrage of searing flechettes flying through the barrel and burrowing deep into the merc's chest with the muffled blast, letting off a sickening hiss. Doesn't feel that good on the receiving end, does it?
I just managed to wrestle Thumper's barrel out of the gryphon's body, shooting back off into the air with my sword held in my mouth. Thumper's action broke open to accept another round, more gunfire filling my flightpath. Darting in a zig-zag pattern towards another gryphon, she fruitlessly tried to track me with her gun's barrel, loud shotgun-caliber bursts ringing from it in automatic action. Her eyes were wide, and stayed that way as the crackling ozone smell filled the air, the electrified blade slicing clean through her neck and separating her body from whatever brains she probably didn't have. Her shotgun let off two more bangs behind me before her talons got the memo, myself following through to the next bastard with a deathwish.
A crackling shot narrowly missed me, my tail flicking high as the penetrating round imparted what energy it had onto them, four more shots similar to it flying around me as I maneuvered. That sound... I know I've heard that gunshot before, somewhere. Smaller automatic pistol fire struck against my jacket, drawing my attention, a slug round sliding into Thumper's breech. Snapping the grenade rifle shut, I broke left and turned myself around, catching a gryphon in the air, unsteadily trying to hit me with a ten mil auto. Closing the gap and taking quick aim, Thumper's recoil sent me into a roll as the solid projectile flew ahead of me and burrowed a hole through the mercenary's wing, leaving it hardly connected by a few shreds of flesh. The gryphon began to plummet, myself catching him mid-roll to cut a deep gash through his side with the end of my blade, the drag swinging me back around as his body cracked against the snow.
The gunfire had lessened to only a few errant bangs, screams of terror echoing around as windows broke and a few gryphons made to flee from the buildings. Crash Dive's rebar cannon sounded out beneath me - if any tried to escape, they wouldn't get far. Scanning the town for just a moment, everything was tinted a faint red, a birdshot round fitting into Thumper's breech. That familiar muzzleblast sound filled the air as more of the projectiles whizzed by me, one sending me spiraling as it caught the edge of my jacket, the force of the impact giving the sensation of a hellhound using my side as a hoofball. I tried to catch myself, just managing to get my hooves out before they crumpled underneath me, legs sprawling as I landed hard in the road.
Grunting hard, I forced myself back up, picking up Thumper and leaving the sword, looking around at the carnage. Crash Dive was rushing over to me, and behind her I was just able to make out Static, laying in crimson snow and with makeshift bandages on his sides. Tears welled in my eyes as a ghoul-like scream burst from my mouth, the power-armored pegasus even skidding herself to a stop as the snow erupted in a plume beneath me. The five-shot burst from the gauss rifle-weilding merc came again, the aim scattered and inaccurate, pointing me towards the clock tower at the far edge of the town. The cold air cleared my eyes as I beelined for it, the figure that was in the window backpeadling as the glow from something on the stock of their gun illuminated their face, a shot from Thumper peppering the brickwork and window before I reached it.
The mercenary tried to grab for a pistol nearby as I plowed into her, sending us both sprawling on the floor of the tower. I recovered before she did, snapping my wings back and tackling her again, slamming her against the heavy steel bell, starting to hammer my hooves against her body. Some missed, ringing against the bell instead, though most managed to shatter some of the bones in her left wing, loud screams of pain filling the air over the ringing.
The gryphon eventually managed the strength to force me off of her, sending me stumbling backwards for a moment before I charged forwards again. Her beak scraped along the steel of the bell before she hit the floor, my back hooves keeping her wings down as my front ones began pounding against her skull, forcing it against the hard wood underneath us. She clawed to try and get away, or turn herself over, my forehooves starting to try and smash against her ribcage and spine instead, vision blurring heavily. Each impact was compounded with a screaming grunt, myself managing just a few coherent words. "THIS is for STATIC, you COLOSSAL, CUNT!"
The mercenary writhed in agony underneath me, myself stepping back only to pick up the grenade rifle from the floor. The action broke open, myself pulling a 40mm slug from my jacket and slamming it home, snapping the barrel shut. Turning back to the mercenary, she was trying to drag her broken self away, myself leaping forwards with Thumper to slam the butt of the grenade rifle into the base of her neck, drawing another scream from her. Flipping Thumper around, I drove the end of the barrel into the gryphon's temple, tears blurring my vision and my hoof moving for the trigger lever. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE!?"
A loud bang filled the air in the clock tower as I felt myself thrown off of the gryphon, though it wasn't from the recoil of Thumper. I felt myself slam against the heavy steel bell as the grenade rifle discharged into the floor, flying from my hooves and landing a short distance away. Picking myself back up, I was met with the shocked eyes of Crash Dive, sputters escaping me as she looked down at the last mercenary I needed to kill. I tried to get back to my hooves, the power armored pegasus placing an armored hoof on my shoulder, looking into my eyes. "Night Strike, I'm... I'm sorry. We need her alive, at least for now."
My hooves fell weak underneath me, sprawling out on the floor of the clock tower, myself breaking out into shuddering cries. Celestia-damnit, why couldn't it have been me that got shot instead?
---
Night had fallen by the time we'd found the town clinic - apparently this place was nce known as Rock Ridge - Static resting in one of the medical rooms with proper bandages around him. I was sat next to him, a hoof holding onto his as he rested, my free one rubbing at my aching eyes. Come on, Strikey, this regrettably wasn't the first time that he's been shot, and that was with a single large bullet, not a bunch of small pellets. Small pellets that could be leeching lead and toxins into his bloodstream even as the bandages and healing potions worked their magic... He's gonna be fine, goddess-damnit. He's... he's a strong pony. I should be one for him.
I sniffled lightly, blinking a few times and looking up as I heard the door to the clinic opening, followed by heavy hoofsteps. Crash Dive appeared in the doorway, looking towards myself for a moment and glancing towards Static. "Well, I didn't get much out of her, but the merc did confirm that it's what's left of my old squadron that's coming after us, and they are working for someone by the name of Cerberus. Said that they took off to somewhere in the southeast after they'd paid up at Jericho Beach. Once you get the Valkyrie running, that should be where we start looking, might even be able to surprise them with one of the megaspells if you catch them offguard." The light smile on her muzzle faded as I turned my eyes towards Static, the earth pony sleeping quietly. Well, it's something to remember for later, I suppose...
The heavy armored hoofsteps drew closer, Crash Dive resting one gently on my shoulder. She looked to the floor for a moment, letting off a small sigh. "Night Strike, I... can you come with me for a moment? Static'll be fine." Lingering my gaze on the earth pony, I lifted myself to my hooves to place a gentle kiss on his cheek, turning to follow Crash Dive. She stepped out into the hallway, looking towards the resting stallion for a while before focusing on myself once again. "Look. I saw the look in your eyes earlier, I... I saw that you were hurt, ready to tear her apart. I had to keep you from doing it then, we needed to get what info we could on them." She paused for a moment, first looking into the room Static was resting in, then out towards the door, before meeting my eyes again. "I left the merc alive. I'll stay with Static, keep an eye on him. Whatever you want to do with her... I won't judge you."
I blunk a few times in response, just staring at Crash Dive at first. She wasn't suggesting... then again... what'd be one more? They were sent to kill us, and we killed plenty of them. Killed them too fast, even, didn't even give them proper time to suffer... my eyes fell on the bandaged, bloodied earth pony laying in the bed. I'll make sure this one doesn't have that luxury. I passed on a nod to Crash Dive, the power armored pegasus heading into the room with Static as I trotted through the clinic and out the door.
The mini-tank rested outside with the wagon behind it still, a nice wide path for us to drive through having been cleared through the minefield earlier courtesy of several of the other merc's bodies. Snow crunched underhoof as I trotted over to the green duffelbag on the side, pulling back the zipper and rifling through the contents. The familiar, reliable forty millimeter grenade rifle settled on my back, along with the electric sword and automatic sniper rifle. The large 20-round box clip that went with it came out next, along with a pair of dragon's breath rounds for my grenade rifle. As I slid these into my jacket, however, I paused, looking down into the opened inner pocket.
A pair of lime-green buttons stared back up at me from behind a black mane, the little golden pegasus plushie resting with his forelegs over the pocket's side. I set one of the shells down on the half-track's fender, reaching in to remove the duster-clad plushie. Closing my eyes, I set the plush into the duffel bag, grabbing the shotshell and sliding it into the plushie's place, zipping up my jacket. He didn't need to see this. He doesn't need to know about this.
The only other building that was lit up in the town sat across the street from the clinic, a few trails of heavy hoofmarks showing the few trips that the power armored pegasus had made between them already. 'Ironsides Savings & Loan' it was called, myself pausing halfway across the street to look at the sign. A sigh escaped me, before I pressed onwards through the door, making way to the back of the building. The sound of pained breathing came through a heavy steel door that was left open, a single light inside the room streaming down the hallway as I approached. The hinges creaked softly as the door swung open, my eyes settling on a single figure tied to a chair, resting in the middle of the room. They perked up as I shut the door behind myself, looking around.
"W-wait, please, I swear I told you everything I know! They-they didn't..." She trailed off as I trotted in front of her, seemingly surprised. I caught her eyes for a moment, before sliding my weapons off of my back, setting them all out onto the floor. Looking around the room, I let off a small grunt - sound-proof, blast-proof, bullet-proof, confined... not the ideal place, but it's the place I've got to work with. I sat myself down in front of my three weapons, looking them over, the mercenary speaking up behind me. "U-uh... you... you're not the one in the power armor... what're you going to do to me?"
My hoof grabbed the gryphon sword first, picking it up and looking over the blade. I rose to my hooves, turning to face the mercenary, her eyes darting between myself and the sword. "Spread your wings. Now." The gryphon blunk a few times, seeming to think, myself taking another step towards her with the sword in my hoof. Her eyes went wide as she sat upright, seeming to try and get herself away from me as I moved the handle to my mouth.
"You're the crazy bitch that was on me in the tower... like hell I'm gonna spread my wings for you!" She passed on a frightened expression for a moment, before lifting her head high, the tip of the sword held near her throat. I trotted myself around the chair, keeping the sword aimed towards her, looking at her wings; shattered, slightly bloodied, plenty of feathers torn out. Hardly could be used for flying... let's make sure she absolutely won't be able to do that.
Lifting my forelegs, I placed them on the back of the chair, shoving forwards. The gryphon mercenary fell, landing with a hard thud against the concrete flooring, her damaged wings splaying slightly as she let out a long grunt of pain. I placed my hoof on one of her wingtips, starting to slowly drag it open, holding it down. Her eyes looked up at me, wide and pleading, as I rested the sword against the ground for a moment. "Your friends hurt somepony I cared about. I'm here to return the favor... not that there's anyone left to care about you." Taking the handle of the sword back into my mouth, I lifted the blade high, holding it in the air above her spread wing.
My eyes held shut tightly and teeth bit into the wrapped handle as I brought it down in a slash, cutting a long parallel line through the furthest parts of the Gryphon's wing. She let off a loud scream of pain as I took a single step forwards, slicing again. And again. And again. Blood stained my hooves as it started to leak from the cut limbs, the mercenary pulling quick, pained breaths as she held on to consciousness. How nice of her.
I trotted back, setting my sword down as the electricity crackled, boiling off the blood, the ribbons of flesh and feathers that were once a gryphon's wing being stained a deep crimson in the puddle on the concrete flooring. The mercenary's eyes were clenched shut tight, tears streaking across her face, myself watching as she slowly came back from it. Wouldn't want her going and dying so soon, now would we? She shuddered her breaths, looking up at me through the tears, responding through clenched teeth. "You're fucking mental, I saw you cutting through those guys, like a damned rampaging lunatic! You're- you're makin' me suffer, just because your little bitch of a boyfriend got hit?"
I set my sword down with Thumper and War Crime, picking up the former and breaking open the action. Pulling the spent shell out and letting it clatter to the floor, I slid in a dragon's breath, trotting around the bloodied wing and stopping behind the chair, looking at the Gryphon's legs. Pushing the legs of the chair forwards, the mercenary flailed and screamed, her claws and paws eventually supporting her back end in the air. Her hocks stuck out clearly, allowing a clean shot down the length of her legs... I hope she's courteous enough to stay awake for this.
Bringing Thumper to bear, I placed her muzzle in line with the first of the gryphon's back legs, holding it firmly in place. The mercenary frantically tried to look behind her, her tail madly flicking back and forth between both her legs, myself eventually settling Thumper's position. I stood on my hind hooves to shoulder the grenade rifle, pulling on the trigger lever with my forehoof, the hammer releasing and igniting the propellant. The burning hot flechettes flew from the forty-millimeter barrel, cutting clean into the gryphon's back leg, the ones that did get through hissing on the floor while those that didn't sizzled inside, cooking the muscle and blood to a sickening boil. The gryphon let off a scream much louder than the earlier ones, myself pulling the casing out and giving her a moment to recover.
"Fuck me... I wish I'd blown your fuckin' heads off when I had the chance! Would've made my life easier if you were stuck standing still with that earth pony's brains on your face." She grunted loudly, straining her breaths as she tried to move her back legs, only causing herself to scream again. Thumper clacked shut, and I pressed the barrel's end to her other hock, listening as she screamed through a clenched jaw. The second shot from Thumper caused her screams to be muted, replaced with a whining sound for a few moments, the sounds of searing flesh and cooking meat coming back to me afterwards, along with her pained screams. Good, she's still awake, haven't gone too far yet.
She eventually caught her breath, myself trotting around the now-large pool of blood on the floor to pick up my other weapons. Can't have War Crime or the sword getting stained, after all. The mercenary struggled behind me, her teeth audibly straining together. "You think we're it? That you kill me, you don't have to worry about shit anymore? They're gonna find you assholes, they're gonna make you suffer..." Setting my weapons down safely away from the pool, I picked up War Crime, pulling the bolt back to load a fresh round. The mercenary let off a shuddering breath, that turned into a small laugh, causing myself to freeze. "I fuckin' hope they leave you alive, so you get to find what they left behind of your friends. Love to see the look on your face with half that earth pony in your lap..."
Teeth clenched, I threw myself over to her head, War Crime's muzzlebrake pressing firmly against her temple. Letting off a long, pained scream of my own, my hoof held the trigger firmly against the stock, round after round after round of the massive machine gun ammunition emptying from the clip and into the gryphon's head, the recoil shaking me violently about. My ears were left ringing loudly, the only indication I had of Thumper's clip being empty being the sudden lack of the force from the butt of the gun hammering my shoulder, myself slowly opening my tear-stained eyes.
I was left standing over a pulpy mess on the floor of the storage room, War Crime's barrel hissing slightly as crimson dripped down it's length, the bloody stump left behind leaking more out onto the floor and against my hooves. Short, shuddering breaths escaped me as I trotted back over to my other weapons, picking them up and heading out of the building, leaving the mess behind. The snow turned a dark hue as it soaked up some of the blood left on my forehooves, myself looking to the long barrel and smoky muzzlebrake of the automatic sniper rifle. Nearing the Mini-tank, I wiped it against my duffel bag, cleaning most of the blood and gore off of it. I unzipped the olive-drab sack, starting to move my weapons off before stalling myself, staring into it.
Thumper, War Crime, and the sword all resting on the back of the half-track, I reached into the duffel bag, retreiving the small plushie inside. The lime-green eyes stared back at me, my vision slowly becoming more and more blurry as I felt my legs give out, myself falling into the snow. My forelegs held the plush against my chest, the cold air stinging my throat as I cried out into the darkness, the freezing night icing over my tears as they streamed down my cheeks. I just wanted to go home, I just wanted to go back to my dad's hooves, where he'd hug me close and tell me everything's going to be alright...
My anguished screams were carried on the night wind for a few minutes longer, before I pulled myself back up onto my hooves, lips quivering and breaths forming into light wispy clouds. I drew in a breath and held it for a moment, before releasing it with a shudder, sniffling hard and trotting around to step back inside the clinic building. Crash Dive poked her head out of the doorway as I headed further in, trotting over to meet me. She seemed to pause to start to say something, though stayed quiet, simply watching me as I trotted over to Static's room, the plushie held in my hooves. I moved myself over to a small couch in the corner, dropping myself upon it, whimpering softly - why can't this nightmare be over?
---
"K A O S Radio~"
"You and I are listening to K A O S, Kaos in Vanhoover, and it's a beautiful wintry day out there today. If you're just joining us, we received a surprising and heartwarming bit of news out of Maple Station this morning, I'm quite happy to report that the long-lost fifth tank ghoul, Caution Tape, has finally returned, with the assistance of the Vanhoover Five. From the way his tank was described, the, ah, 'Deathtrap', I can only imagine that everyone in Maple Station let out a collective sigh of relief when they saw that land-battleship on the horizon. Welcome home, Caution Tape.
"This brings us on to the more surprising news, as apparently the Vanhoover Five... aren't Five anymore. Now, don't get me wrong, they're still all alive, but they've been split up over the last few days for whatever reasons - in the case of Aerith, the alicorn who I've got a feeling has been listening to my broadcasts of The Silver Shroud radio plays, she stayed with Caution Tape and Deathtrap to ensure both of them made it back to Maple Station safely and in one piece. Scouring Charge, a steel ranger from B Company, was called off and went back to his base after the Five had encountered the remainder of B Company by chance, so as it stands now the Vanhoover 'Five' are just down to Crash Dive, Night Strike, and Static Charge. If you guys are listening, here's hoping you're having good luck with whatever you're doing - try to not get shot or blown up too much, heh.
"You're tuned into Radio KAOS, it's a beautiful Vanhoover day out there, and I'm feeling a little mellow today. Here's a Roger Trotters album that I'm surprised made it past the censors with this name intact, The Dark Side of the Moon. Enjoy."
---
"I really hope that isn't what I think it is." It was just around mid-day by the time Static was recovered enough for us to set off again, continuing on east through the mountain ranges towards the Vanhoover Air Base. As we crested a ridge and spotted the telltale continuous bump of a snowed-over railroad embankment, however, following it along with our eyes had us finding something that was a little more than unsettling, to say the least. We pulled up beside the mechanical body of a robotic dragon, stopping outside the entrance to some sort of tunnel. "What d'you think brought it down? Are we that close to the Air Base already?"
"Either they did, or whatever's inside there did this." I lifted a hoof, pointing into the darkness that was only slightly illuminated by the afternoon sun. Static switched on the headlight, illuminating the tunnel further, myself looking up around at the valley the tunnel's entrance rested inside, and where the dragon laid. The more I looked, the more that things started to bother me - the valley walls were more than high enough to make sneaking through here a viable option, and if this thing did take an 88 flak shell to it, it didn't look like it was flying when it did. I'm not even certain that it was a flak shell that put this thing down... "I've got a bad feeling about this, guys."
"Look at all the claw marks around the entrance. Whatever this dragon was doing here, it wasn't the only one." Blinking a few times, I finally properly looked at the snow by the tunnel's entrance. More robotic dragons... oh, crap. Crash Dive fitted her full helmet on as Static started to slowly pull us inside the tunnel, the engine purring quietly as we followed alongside the rusted steel rails. I grabbed ahold of Thumper, before pausing, having the grenade rifle at the ready with a Solar burst but keeping her set aside as a backup. War Crime'd be better in this place if I have to go dragon hunting, at least a little tinnitus never hurt anyone - can't exactly say the same for what a balefire egg equivalent would do inside a confined space like this.
The half-track bumped slightly as we passed over a parallel set of tracks, Static looking around in the darkness out of surprise as I took hold of Boomer to steady myself. What kind of tunnel needs a switch inside of it? He pulled his goggles on, suddenly bringing the mini-tank to a halt, turning the headlight to illuminate something further down the line. I hopped off the back of the mini-tank, War Crime held at the ready, approaching the parked carriage the light was focusing in on.
The strange rail vehicle rested on two massive trucks, six pairs of rusted wheels apiece, the whole thing made of hardened olive-green-painted steel. Looking along it's length, it seemed to be around three times the length of the TOG, right in the ballpark of thirty meters or so, and shaped kind of like an elongated hopper car with a towing loop on the top middle. I hopped up ontop of the carriage, confused as to why a hopper car was hidden away inside a mountain, but the sight of the central 'hopper' just left me more confused. Why would a hopper car ever need a shell loading trough?...
"Uh... oh, crap. Static, remember those old films that Twintails like to watch, specifically that one about the 28-centimeter gun? And how that gun was a road modification of a previously rail-transported cannon?..." My eyes met with those of the earth pony, him pushing his goggles up in confusion for a moment. Crash Dive glanced between us, also seemingly confused. Don't tell me I'm gonna have to spell it out... "This is the same carriage that that old gun was carried on, or at least the same type. Problem is... there's a distinct and extremely worrying lack of 280mm gun in it. I don't want to be drawing conclusions, but..."
"Let's see if there are any more deeper in, maybe this one's just a fluke." Crash Dive's helmet lamp flicked on as she sat up on the back seat of the mini-tank, myself hovering alongside as Static drove deeper into the tunnel. I kept War Crime at the ready, reaching the end of the first carriage and the start of the second - 12-wheel trucks, hopper with two tow hooks... gun elevation rollers, rather, on top at the middle, no gun. Another set of tracks ran along the other side of the tunnel, myself hovering over to check the railcars on it - trucks, hopper with elevation rollers, no gun. This can't be a coincidence.
We passed seven more of the empty railway gun carriages before turning back, every single one of them lacking the actual gun, myself landing on the back of the mini-tank and swallowing hard. Okay, math time again, what do you get when you take ten or more 280mm railway cannons with effective ranges of several kilometers, remove the guns, and factor in a disabled robotic dragon and plenty of markings from other robo-dragons at the entrance to the tunnel they were being stored in? A hell of a bad time and some very worrying implications, that's what. "So... whoever owns the robo-dragons now also owns a lot of railway guns that have been converted to fire small megaspells before... Yeah, I think that at this point, getting back home is second on our to-do list after fixing the Valkyrie, first being tracking down and smacking wherever all these guns are being kept in the face with a couple 500 tons yield equivalent megaspells. Or kiloton-equivalent megaspells, because there are still a few of those at the sub pen."
"And if they can build robotic dragons, something tells me that setting up those guns isn't too far out of their reach, either. Do you have any idea how far those things can throw the kind of shells they fire?" Crash Dive looked towards me, myself only able to answer with a sobered shake of the head. Ask me how fast they fire the shells, ask me how big a boom the test conducted on the Fancymare Flat lake bed was, ask me how screwed we are, I can give you a rough answer. These things could use rocket-assisted shells for all we know... Crash Dive suddenly sat herself up, looking around frantically. Oh, as if I didn't have enough to be worried about... "We need to move. Now. Drive to the other end of the tunnel, fast!"
Static just blunk at her for a moment, before an odd sound started to funnel it's way through the valley at the entrance. I swear I've heard it before, that wooshing sound, with a high-pitched whine backing it... why do I remember my wing getting injured when I heard it? Unless... it couldn't... oh, crap! The engine roared as Static finally got us moving, myself looking back towards the tunnel entrance we'd come through initially. The whine drew closer, echoing loudly through the tunnel, before it passed overhead rapidly, something landing with a loud thump nearby the downed robo-dragon. Oh, sweet Celestia and Luna above, please let it be a dud.
I tried to make myself small as a small thump echoed through the tunnel, followed by a massive wooshing sound as the air was rapidly burned up by the detonation of the thermobaric explosive. The blast wave hit us hard, myself managing a scream as I was thrown clear from the back of the mini-tank, everything fading to black. Static...
---
My eyes met those of a unicorn mare as I gasped, feeling a woolen blanket underneath me. My legputer and jacket were missing, and as I looked around... grassy hills and trees stretched out as far as the eye could see, a few ponies playing down by the shore of a lake. The mare beside me brushed her hoof against mine, a faint look of surprise poking through her gentle smile, the breeze blowing her lime-green mane around. "Oh, dear, what is it with Twinnie's family and getting caught in explosions. At least I can't scold you for doing something like climbing into a fridge to escape it." She let off a light chuckle, myself only managing to blink in response. Where the hell am I... the unicorn levitated up an old bottle of Sparkle-Cola, moving it to my hoof. "Here, probably would want this. Isn't as big as those other bottles, but if you're anything like your father... shame I wasn't around to see you grow up for myself, Night Strike."
"You... you know my... have we met before?" I blunk, trying to remember who that mare was. She seemed familiar... somehow... I started to look over her more closely. Soft blue coat, a lime green mane, wears it in a pony-tail like I do with mine... She let off a small chuckle, watching me as I racked my brain. After a moment, I let out a weak chuckle of my own, taking the Sparkle-Cola bottle and popping the cap, taking a sip.
"The name you're looking for is Gamma Ray, sweetie, I used to take care of your father. The knock you took this time was a little more rough than before, an explosion usually is a little tougher to recover from compared to high G-forces..." Explosion... we were in a tunnel when the entrance was hit with a fuel-air bomb. I just remember screaming as everything shook, the air getting sucked out of my lungs, a glimpse of a silver mane... oh no.
"W-w-what about... am... is Static going to be alright? Oh goddesses, the blast could've forced some of those pellets around in his body, we're days away from an actual doctor that could..." I looked around again, starting to scuttle myself up the blanket, breathing quickening. The fresh grass, the sunny sky, the ponies frolicking by the lake shore... oh, Goddesses. "Am-am I... is this..."
The unicorn mare - Gamma Ray, gently grabbed my hoof, pulling me into a soft hug as she hushed softly into my ear. It at least kept me from a total freak-out... for the moment. "Ssh, ssh, it's alright. You and Static are both going to be fine, your friend in the power armor, Crash Dive, right? She's getting you both some help now, I promise. You're both strong ponies..." I weakly rested my forehooves on the unicorn's shoulders, letting off shuddering breaths and sniffles as I tried to calm myself. Gamma Ray started to slowly, gently, run her hoof along my back between my wings, drawing a soft shudder from me as I finally caught my breath again. Her soft eyes met mine as I leaned up, rubbing at my own sore eyes.
"Al-alright..." I drew in another breath, letting it out slowly, sitting back. The unicorn brought over my opened bottle of Sparkle-Cola, myself taking it in hoof and going for a long sip, draining half in one go. You're gonna be fine, Static's gonna be fine, Crash Dive must be fine. Just... hang in there. I looked over to Gamma Ray again, watching as she pulled out her own od-style bottle and started drinking it. "You know... why'd you show up again? If I'm not dead, then..."
A smirk came to the unicorn's muzzle, herself leaning back. "A promise I made, a long long time ago. I'd always be there for my Twinnie..." She took a sip from her bottle, eyes looking up towards the sky. "I suppose you just have enough of him in you to count, too."
Passing on a weak nod, I rested myself back, swirling what's left of my own bottle around and watching it settle and fizz. Unicorn magic... I guess. Something like that, maybe... love is a kind of magic too. "He's coming to get you, you know, all the way in that tank of his. He'll be here eventually... suppose I'll have to be sure to be with him when he does show up.. Who'd have thought Vera Lynn was still alive, huh?" Gamma Ray wore a light smile as my own ears perked up, looking over to her. Dad... dad actually is coming to find us? With the TOG, of all things? Holy Celestia...
A soft, steady beeping faded in on the wind, myself blinking and looking around for it. Gamma Ray let off a sigh beside me, her eyes meeting mine. "Sounds like you're heading back. Keep yourself safe, Strikey, I don't want to have to see you again permanently. Least give my Twinnie the joy of being a grandparent..." She moved herself over to me, wrapping her forelegs about me in a tight hug, brushing her cheek against mine. Her mane smelled of an odd aroma... reactor coolant and machine oil? It was... oddly, comforting.
Consciousness graced me once more, followed nearly instantly by a splitting headache. I let off a long groan of pain, heavy hoofsteps rushing to my side, power armored hooves moving to rest against me as the blinding lights filled my vision. Crash Dive slowly came into focus beside me, smile on her muzzle, a sigh of relief escaping her. I blunk a few times, shuffling back on the bed, another amorphous blob trotting itself up along the opposite side. Eventually my eyes focused in on it - well, her, actually - a light-brown black-maned pegasus smiling softly beside me. Um... "Thank goodness, you finally woke up. You all were in pretty horrid shape when Serene finally found you - you rescued Contrail, right?"
"Um... yeah, that was us, the, uh, Vanhoover Five... Three-ish, nowadays." I held a foreleg up to block the light, resting back against the bed. Well, back in the land of the living... "Ahm, just, who are you? And, after that, where are we, now?"
"Oh, I'm Sharpwing, and... well, hope you don't plan on leavin' for a while. Welcome to the Vanhoover Air Base."
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Wow, quite a fun chapter! I really liked the idea of the Stable! I'd never even thought about something like that, let alone the twist to it. x3 Quite neat!
Also, I like the shifting of the party members. Keeps things interesting and helps let more mischief crop up! Overall I found this chapter fairly enjoyable, and am already looking forward to the next!
another fun chapter, and I hope whoever takes up the new spot will be as crazy as the rest of them, or the sane one. Hard to tell which is more fun.